they respectively designate? No, verily ! There is a great thing among men, and they know it not; a wonder unwondered at,-a glory unnoticed! Is it generally known that a great problem is being solved by Infinite Wisdom; and that earth, in the first instance, and heaven, shortly, are the scenes of its solution? Have men, in any considerable numbers, recognized the fact, that a process of inconceivable sublimity is going on every day in the market-place, the streets, the fields, the houses, and the huts of this world? -that the Creator of the visible is forming, without rest or intermission, an invisible temple of living stones, which, when completed, shall be exhibited before the universe, as the most gorgeous and costly of all His possessions? that heaven has really come down to earth, and brought into sympathy with its plans and purposes myriads of the human family, who are every day journeying to the city not made with hands, and growing in the likeness of Him who is the Head of all principality and power, and the Sovereign of life? -that, amidst the thorns and thistles of earth's deserts, grow flowers which are lovingly tended

by angels, watered by the river of life, and destined to be transplanted to the garden of the Lord?—and that among those whom the world despises, as it did their Prince, are to be found men who shall ere long be acknowledged by angels as the sons and heirs of God? Is this known? Are these things considered when the word "Church" glides from the tongue? The street-passenger sees men going to some building consecrated to religious purposes, on the morning of the Lord's day. Does he think what that procession means? Is there not a hidden significance, a veiled glory, which will not burst upon his mental vision without the labor of trying to uncover it? May not that procession point to eternity, and signify the power of the invisible? Assume, for the sake of illustration, that the proper motives animate the travellers,-that they know wherefore they are moving thither, -that they understand the ultimate object of the holy convocation, that they feel the solemnity of their profession,-and that they devoutly wish for the great things involved in their voluntary avowal of attachment to the

Invisible King; and then, if asked by the passenger to explain all, what would they say? A correct answer would startle the querist, and very probably themselves; and a complete answer would convince him that his wisdom would be to go with them, and lead all to spend a day of rapt enjoyment and of exciting joy in the anticipation of the future.

How much there is to think about, and how strong the calls to thought, when the idea of a Christian Church rises before the mind? Originating before the world was streaming along the lines of all history, and pointing to perfection and duration when the world shall flee away, and no place be found for it, the Christian Church really challenges the study of all thinkers.

It is either an unprecedented imposture or a magnificent embodiment of divine love and wisdom. A thousand reasons prove that it cannot be the former: ten thousand demonstrate that it is the latter. In its constitution, spirit, purpose, and destiny, it is altogether a divine thing. In this earth it is a visitant for whom heaven longs as a resident.

Thus have I often seen a vernal rose,

Which midst the lowering storm untouched appears, Though hostile lances all around her close:

Still o'er the palisade of armed spears,
Her loveliness unharmed its beauty rears,
And day by day expanding drinks the shower.
E'en so unfolding to the eternal years,
The church discloses her ethereal flower,
The many-folded Heavens of her unfading bower.

All things which here are cast in beauty's mould,
Awful or fair, of soul entrancing power,
Speak but the things of her celestial fold.,
Heart-stirring love in youth's first blooming hour,
Gazing intense on beauty's short-lived flower,

Speaks but the love of that immortal bride,
And beauty, which is her immortal dower.

Riches speak treasures which with her abide,

And fame, the unerring praise which God sets by her side.

The gems in oceans breast and living spars
Deep hid in earth's dark bowels far below,
Shall pave her wondrous pathway to the stars:
The fairest hues on eve, or morning's brow
The emblem of her covenantal sign:

Birds' songs or angels' voices, as they go
Bearing their aid to weary souls that pine;-

All blessings are but streams from her life-giving shrine.

CHAPTER XII.

THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS.

Love resembles, in many points, the free, circumambient atmosphere, with its light and air. It is diffusive, and will not be confined. Pent up, it becomes foul and putrid, and laden with malaria, carries with it the seeds of death. Its life, purity and healthfulness depend upon its free and unrestrained circulation. It is while it thus circles about; now the fitful air playing with the leaves and curling the tassels of the flowers; anon, the gentle breeze . fanning the aching, fevered brow; at another time, the stronger wind speeding the vessel to the desired haven; and again, when needful to prevent the accumulation of morbid vapors and restore the proper equilibrium and due proportions of the atmosphere, the gale, the tempest or the tornado;-it is, I say, while thus free and diffusive that the air is pure, and that gathering fragrance and perfume from every garden,