adoration to her Redeemer and Creator, holding fast by faith, and hope, and charity, to the bosom of her God!? Such, my lord, will be the opening scene of paradise; and often, at stated intervals for heaven also hath her Sabbaths while the eternal ages roll, will every occupation cease, while angel, and archangel, and patriarch, and prophet, and apostle, and every order, class, grade, and tribe of heaven's busy multitudes will come from every region, thronging to the Mount of Worship, where the throne is set where the martyrs stand-where the elders sit-where where the harpers harp-where the company of the singers shout where the lightnings and thunders are mingled with the sound of trumpets-where the voice of every creature that is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and of such as are in the sea, and of all that are in them, are heard, saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever!'. This, my lord, is the spiritual life! It will occupy us much in the future state; and ever, so long as man is man, so long as God remains unchangeable, will the two lower forms of life be but tributary to this, and this employ and expand our highest faculties, thus opening in each breast a personal and inextinguishable heaven, while all shall be rising to that transcendent beatitude and glory for which every man was made!'

The philosopher ceased speaking. His countenance was

flushed. His eyes sparkled with unearthly radiance. His audience sat mutely gazing on him. Never, perhaps, since Moses descended from Sinai with shining face, were the features of a man so changed, so elevated, so transfigured, by the inspiration of his thoughts. The lieutenant was as pale as death; Buckingham, with his lips still working, as if busy with a thought too deep for words, was yet silent, until, looking round upon the prisoners, he was touched to the quick by what he saw, and broke forth into a flood of passion. The convicts were shedding hot tears, that fell like showers upon their chains. The lieutenant, turning his eyes and catching the infection, too, fell to weeping with the rest. The duke, recovering himself, and feeling within his own heart what all the others felt, became again their representative, and, with a trembling but impassioned tone, exclaimed:

"Tell me, then, O thou sage, if such be heaven, how can a mortal man most quickly fit himself to go and make it his?

The philosopher, roused by the magnitude of the question, stood upon his feet. Seizing a little volume of the king's new version of the Scriptures as he rose, and lifting his right hand in the most emphatic manner, he spoke : "Live, sir, according to this book. Let faith take the place of sight. Let love come in and purify thy heart, Then, sir, thou carriest a heaven within. Wherever thou art, sir, there will be a heaven. Thy first heaven will be

here on earth; thy second, between death and the resurrection; and the third, when the glorified soul shall take possession of the spiritual, wonderful, immortal body, to dwell in that upper, gorgeous, universal world of love, and truth, and beauty, of which we have been discoursing. But remember, sir, nay, lay it to thy heart, whatever thou art at death thou wilt be for ever, whether in hell or heaven ; since heaven itself would be a hell, and hell a heaven, according to the character a man shall carry with him!”

THE COMING AGE.

BY REV. J. T. PECK, D. D.

WHAT will be the character of the coming age? Who can penetrate the veil that conceals it? Is there no seer, inspired of God, whose bright pre-visions of at least half a century, can relieve our doubts and gratify our curiosity? No. The sacred canon is closed. The grand scheme of salvation is demonstrated. God has no further use for

miracles.

But we forget that no age is self-produced-that all periods of human being are inseparable parts of all other periods and that the present age is mainly decisive of the next. Indeed, the very elements are now around us, and a part of us, which are in the act of unfolding themselves into the future. With sufficient powers of analysis and generalization, we might determine the character of that future with as much certainty as the chemist can judge of his experiments from the preparations of the laboratory. Limited as our intelligence is, we can, upon certain contingencies, predict, with high probability, the character of any period.

From an American stand-point, in the light of Christianity and science, without attempting minuteness of analysis or special refinement in philosophy, let us boldly inquire

into the character of the coming age, indicated by the elements and tendencies of the present.

It will be an age of great activity and improvement. Looking out upon the world, we behold multitudes moving, hurrying hither and thither, as though urged forward by the most pressing emergencies. Continuing the view, we observe no pause, but the same restless, ceaseless action; always and every where, comparing the present with several periods of the past, we perceive a surprising increase of human activity. New and strange impulses have repeatedly thrown the race into the future with frightful velocity. Resistance increases rather than retards the movement. The activities of the present immeasurably exceed those of any previous age; and the conviction is irresistible, that those of the coming age will, in an equal ratio, exceed those of the present.

Education is a powerful quickener of mind. Its blessings are rapidly extending in all directions. The spirit of an enlightened philanthropy has wisely exerted its best efforts to improve its processes, and to cheapen and diffuse its benefits among the masses. The progress of the last fifty years may be regarded as an indication of its broad, and deep, and sweeping power in the age approaching. It cannot admit of a doubt, that the practical sciences will be better understood by the working classes than they now are by the learned of the present day.

Literature must be the common privilege of all, from the