THE LAND OF BEULAH.

BY MARY ELLEN.

Ye have called me back from the golden gates

From the verge of my Heavenly Home.--HARBAUGH.

In the far-off regions of the West, beyond the Rocky Mountains, lie parks or rather table-lands, the beauty of which far surpasses that of any other portion of our continent. At least, so travellers tell us. They speak of its mines of gold and silver-fertile valleys and majestic slopes-its gurgling brooks and noble streams-balmy breezes and radiant skies, bringing renewed vigor to all who come within its magic influence. They describe the plumage of the birds as of matchless brilliancy-their songs of endless variety. Then, too, the richness of the verdure-density of foliage, and above all, the exceeding loveliness of its flowers. So fascinating is the picture presented to our imagination, as to almost lead us to exclaim-Oh! what must it be, to be there? Speed on the day, when all barriers being removed, we, too, may view this goodly land-find

"Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,

Sermons in stones, and good in every thing."

Most eagerly we would know of the people, who live, love, suffer and die, in this garden spot of earth.

"Lo, the poor Indian! Whose untutored mind

Sees God in the clouds, or hears Him in the wind."

Feeling sad, yea disappointed-we turn from this scene, in which the blight of sin is so plainly manifest: where natural beauty and moral depravity are so closely allied. Truly we must seek another country, even a Heavenly, if we would find harmony suited to our threefold nature.

"There are mansions exempted from sin and from woe,
But they stand in a region by mortals untrod;

There are rivers of joy,-but they roll not below;

There is rest,--but it dwells in the presence of God."

Would we satisfy our yearnings for that which is truly Beautiful and Good, let us direct our attention to "Beulah's Land," and thither guide our aspirations.

Bunyan, in his inimitable work, placed next the Bible, by the good and pious of all creeds, gives us an enrapturing description of that Pisgah, from which the pilgrim views the promised land.

"The Dreamer" locates it, as bordering on the Jordan of Death, immediately opposite the Eternal City. In other words, on the extreme confines of this life,-just before the soul puts on immortality. A truthful description of this beauteous clime could alone be given by an inspired

writer. Such a one tells us, that its air is sweet and pleasant-the sun shineth night and day-the birds continually sing-every day the flowers appear, and the voice of the turtle is heard in this land. Corn and wine, yea orchards, gardens and vineyards are there for the refreshing of pilgrims, and when weary, walks and arbors invite them to rest. From thence, through a glass, the pearly gates of the "New Jerusalem" may be distinctly seen, while the reflection from its golden streets dazzles the naked eye. But what of the people, who sojourn in this land? It is a favorite resort for the "Shining Ones"-"they who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." "Tis there they commonly walk, just on the verge of Canaan. Methinks it was from this land, that the lamented author of the "Sainted Dead" was, for a time, called back. Most certainly it was of this country he loved to think, speak and write. Need we wonder at his plaintive tones, "Ye have called back-from the verge of my Heavenly Home." Sordid indeed must appear the scenes of earth to one, who has had but a glimpse of "Beulah's Land." It was in writing of its white robed inhabitants, that he so well succeeded in applying balm to bleeding, crushed hearts. When out of the depths of secret sorrow, such yearningly cry-Oh, shall we see them again? Do they love there still? To them he comes with the soothing response-you shall find them-love them -your fadeless treasures-the "Sainted Dead." Could language fall on the ear of the afflicted better calculated to raise the drooping spirit? Surely not. It is the exceeding beauty of his theme, that has rendered his messages so tenderly welcome

"In the low huts of them that toil and groan"-

as well as in the stately palace. In suffering all are equal. The rod of affliction falls just as heavily mid purple and fine linen, as when in mercy the child of penury is smitten.

Are not the views of Bunyan and Harbaugh confirmed by the experience of many dying saints? May we not conclude, that there are instances, in which the parting soul of the child of God is permitted to meet friends, who have "inherited the promises"-in the "Land of Beulah?" Have we not reason to believe, that such minister to the "heirs of salvation" in the trying hour, and even lead them to that point, at which Jesus Himself says" Fear not, I will be with thee." Else why that halo that sometimes diffuses itself over the countenance of the Christian, just before the soul takes its flight?

Whence come those "Sweet Sounds" so enrapturing to their ear-or, those seraphic visions, causing them so often to assure us, in their ecstacy, that angels with crowns and palms are awaiting them. Who, who that has witnessed scenes like this, can doubt the "Land of Beulah"?

"The tongues of dying men

Enforce attention, like deep harmony:

When words are scarce, they're seldom spent in vain ;
For they breathe truth, that breathe their words in pain."

Dear reader, all do not enter the "Golden Gates" by way of "Beulah's Land." The same authority, founded in God's word, tells us of one who was ferried over the "Dark River" by "Vain Glory." This one, crossed

with little difficulty and still less anxiety, having a bold, self-confident pilot-but, we are told he went alone to the "Pearly Gates," and there utterly failed to obtain admittance. He could not "read his title clear." May you and I take heed.

"The path is rough, my Father! Many a thorn

Has pierced me, and my weary feet, all torn
And bleeding, mark the way.

Yet Thy command

Christmas and Easter are twin Holidays-not in time, but in joy-for the young and old, in nearly all quarters of the world where Christianity is established. The GUARDIAN, at all events, circulates principally in such families and neighborhoods, in which those grand old traditional days are honored and celebrated.

Christmas-day, with its Christ-Kindlein—the "unspeakable gift"-and its minor presents has gone by for another year, and Easter-season is upon us with all its plenitude of gladness. Those festive days are deeply rooted in all the primitive Reformation Churches, and all who regard that as a disease to be eradicated, will find it most malignantly set against a removal. May they never succed.

The Children know Easter-day full well, and associate with it, from the earliest childhood, the "Rabbit" and the "Eggs." Strange symbols those, for a Christian holiday-are they not? And yet not wholly inapposite and foreign either. We can trace their relationship with far greater ease, than we can discern the analogy between "Thanksgiving Day" and a pumpkin pie. An egg is no mean model of a vaulted tomb. No more closely are man's mortal "remains" walled in the long and narrow grave, tapering towards the foot-end, than is the substance of the future bird, buried within its arched shell. As the one will, in time, break its prisonwalls and come forth a new creature, so will the other prove but the womb of man's immortality in the morning of the Resurrection of the just. The crimson-colored Easter egg, we were told already, when yet very young, tells of Good Friday-the cross and the precious blood of Jesus. "But the rabbit-what has it to do with the Resurrection festival?"

The Rabbi Ben Israel taught in the village school this sweet little lesson :

"Jesus, the 'Carpenter's son,' was called Rabbi Theou, by the crowd accursed." Now, Rabbi Theou came to be written rabbi-t, which soon coalesced into rabbit. Thus child-fancy, with a little parental connivance, associated the rabbit and eggs with Easter. It is a pardonable delusion, which children soon outgrow.

The Youths of the Church know Easter-day equally well, and enjoy it no less. The very happiest associations cling around it. It is the time in which many catechumens make their first communion at the altar. They attain their majority, we may say, in Christ first then. They have changed from babes to sons and daughters. Henceforth they are enrolled as ripe members of Christ's kingdom on earth. They are responsible now, since they have ratified the vows of their parents in their own name and by their own hand, as it were. It is a solemn happy time. How many rejoice with trembling during such a transaction! It is fashion with some to think little and speak lightly of the confirmation of the young. They are but a giddy crowd and know not what they do," they say. For our part, we declare that we have seen hot tears roll down many a cheek, which we looked in vain to see on the countenances of their revilers. Charity, we think, ought to do better, than to foster suspicion with reference to a score of catechumens- -as if not one earnest and sincere soul were to be found among them all. It were well for the older and laps d ones to recall this hymn

:

Where is the blessedness I knew,

When first I saw the Lord?

Where is the soul refreshing view
Of Jesus and His word?

What peaceful hours I then enjoyed!
How sweet their mem'ry still!
But now I find an aching void

The world can never fill.

We verily do not envy any man his head or heart, who cannot admit more sincerity than hypocrisy to reign in the large number of hearts, who approach the cross of Christ, during their first communion on Easter Sunday. There is enough evident wrong among those who are older in the service; why then canvass for more among novices, and on bare suspicion, too?

Easter-day has its social significance as well. Many parents, among the lowly and pious poor, are so circumstanced as not to be able to retain their grown-up sons and daughters under their roof and at their familyboard. They are hired and bound abroad. This is a sacrifice, which the indigent must frequently make, and of which the affluent are wholly ignorant. Still the children of the poor will revisit their homes. Now a time must be set, when all shall meet together. The time is generally on one or another festival. On Easter-day

"All come marching home!"

We think of a young man just now, who for weeks and months in advance, scored the intervening days on the gable end of an old wood shed,

and when Easter broke in, he bounded off and home almost at a single leap. At this season, indeed

"There's no place like home."

Ask the bound-out boys and girls, or the young hired men and women. "when are you going home," and they will answer you-" On Easter," or "On Christmas,' or "On Whitsuntide." Then it is too, that the communion is held in the "church at home." Their parents, they know, will commune then, and they will likewise. Thus their familyunions are unions in Christ indeed. The beauty here can, of course, only be discerned by such, as have an eye and a heart for it.

It were downright robbery of the poor, to call it nothing worse, to abolish these re-union festivals. It is on Easter-day especially, that we see an admirable prophecy of the joyful meeting in the Resurrection,

"Where congregations ne'er break up
And Sabbaths never end."

It is a far wiser and sounder policy to celebrate more holidays, than to abolish the few that remain. The children of this world acknowledge it, and national holidays are on the increase. We are pleased to notice, that the Free School Board exempts both teachers and scholars on several days of the civil year.

And how can parents be but similarly affected on Easter, since, as we have seen, their offspring are all Easterized-from the oldest down to the youngest? Is it not like to a contagious epidemic, spreading over the entire household? But an epidemic, which breeds no evil, only good.

Who can object to such a wise and salutary arrangement in the economy of society and the Church? Ought there not to be such pleasant oases in the tiresome desert of human life? Here old and young sit down, eat, drink and refresh themselves, and start forth on their pilgrimage all the more briskly. Thus life becomes a mere pleasuring along over what would otherwise seem like a journey too long to perform.

At a season of the year, when nature is orienting itself by means of a veritable revival of life, in earth, meadows and fields; in woods and gardens; in insects and birds: when a resuscitation is witnessed in every part of the physical world, ought there not to be a corresponding phenomenon expected and hailed in the kingdom of Christ, which shall reveal itself in the congregation, family and heart by virtue of His grace, who is the resurrection and the life?

"Hallelujah! Das Grab ist leer!

Gerettet ist die Welt!

Das Leben ist des Todes Heer!
Erstanden ist der Held!"

A BEAUTIFUL PRAYER.-As one of the Scottish kings was dying, an attendant heard his last sentence: "Lord, I restore Thee the kingdom wherewith Thou didst entrust me. Put me in possession of that whereof the inhabitants are all kings."