the destiny which awaits it-a realization of the Universe and of God; what is the nature, course and tendency of those thousand-fold agencies, whose activity resounds through all space, and what directing Influence God manifests in their exercise. Now, till we have some consciousness of these things, it seems to me that all Excellence of Character must be accidental and unreliable. We wonder not at the ferocity and meanness which characterize brute existence, because it has no uplifting sentiments or hopes. It is destitute of thought, and Thought is the parent of Virtue. But, until a rational religious illumination beams upon our faculties, human existence itself is mainly brutal. Leave us to our Selfishness, and we rock the earth with our dissensions, and blast its beauty with burnt sacrifices to our ambitions. Leave us to our Passions, and we re-enact all the follies that marked the rosy days of Grecian Luxury, and all the crimes that shrieked through the battle-morn of Revolutionary France.

So long as darkness envelopes the origin. of our Being, so long as impenetrable Night

covers its Future, we are whirled, in "blind mazes,” along an unknown path. Mysteries distract our thoughts; Pain and Pleasure, in their different extremes, madden our nerves; and Death opens before us a gulf of vivid horrors, which no faith of ours can span, and no earthly power escape.

When, however, Religion enables us to trace our Being back to God, its Creative Fountain and its Inspiration-when we behold His Paternal Love reflected upon it through all its earthly meanderings, whether it flowed through the Wilderness of Trial or through the Canaan of Plenty-then our Life is not only made happier, but nobler also. The value, the dignity of our life is enhanced by the thought that it came from God. Men are proud of their earthly ancestry, if the blood that inflames their veins ever bounded in the heart of a noble, or flushed the face of a king. "Tis a pitiable pride-every modern Lazarus, even St. Giles, in the cellars and quagmires and prison-hells of London-may boast a nobler parentage than this. The thought that God is our Father, is the most ennobling of all

thoughts; for we instinctively ask ourselves, How shall we best reverence, guard and sanctify a gift, which came from the Pure and Perfect Spirit of the Universe? The assu rance of God's constant protection affords the highest incentive to virtue; for we conclude that a Life worthy of Divine care, must be too sacred to be given up to sinful violation, or bent solely to earthward purposes and labors.

And when we further learn that we are individual members of one mighty Worldbody, which we name Humanity-that Christ, the Perfect Man, is our Head, Counsellor, Deliverer and Example for ever-we are yet further consoled, and yet more ennobled. The acknowledgment of Universal Brotherhood is the practical denial of Selfishness, for the instant we identify our interest with the interest of Humanity, competition becomes impossible. United in one Cause, inspired by one Purpose, owning allegiance to one Leader, conflict and dissension expire inevitably. Then the thought that we are joined to the world of mankind, in fellowship with

such a Being as Jesus Christ!-He whose life-giving Spirit has flowed onward in the mighty Nile of progressive thought and sentiment, which has enriched and quickened the broad domain of Modern History-onward, from that Roman Cross to which he was nailed, to the latest pulsation of your heart and mine-onward, into the most seIcluded village church, and into the hidden life of the innumerable Thousands who answer the peal of Sabbath-bells! The thought that we are joined in fellowship with Him, so perfect in every virtue, so submissive in every sorrow-so strong and beautiful in the harmonious adjustment of all his powers and emotions-the Image of God and yet the Companion of men, the Holiness of Heaven dwelling unspotted in the world--this thought must give strength to our faltering resolutions, and a permanent authority to our better feelings. Belief in Christ includes that most inspiring of all faiths--belief in Immortality. And when our human vision acquires that expansive sweep which covers all the eras of our Destiny, and which reflects the glory of

the Past and the Future upon the Present hour--we discover in the endless continuance of our Being the assurance of its in-born divinity, the pledge of its ever-unfolding beauty, and, in all, the grand reason why we should reverence and honor it to the utmost of our ability.

This earthly Temple-though arched with a roof of unequalled splendor, and carpeted with a variegated verdure of a thousand dyesthough filled with the music of the unresting ocean, the winds from the mountains, the reverberating thunder, and the impetuous cataract-this earthly Temple, I repeat, is not for our eternal occupancy. We are but tenants in a house, the deed of which we can never possess: when our lease expires, we must go hence and give place to others. Even the brightness of the Sun and the colors of Nature are not to be ours forever;-much less the low delights of the senses, and the intoxicating breath that is wafted through the halls of Pleasure. The place of our permanent abode is beyond, in what to us is an undiscovered country-but where there are luminaries,