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the evidence of the Scripture doctrine concerning future punishments, they likewise pave the way for the belief of what is revealed concerning the method of our deliverance by Christ. They suggest to the sinner, some deep and dark malignity contained in guilt, which has drawn upon his head such high displeasure from Heaven. They call forth his most anxious efforts, to avert the effects of that displeasure; and to propitiate his offended Judge. Some atonement, he is conscious, must be made; and the voice of nature has, in every age, loudly demanded suffering, as the proper atonement for guilt. Hence, mankind have constantly fled for refuge to such substitutions as they could devise, to place in the room of the offender; and as by general consent, victims have every where been slain, and expiatory sacrifices have been offered up on innumerable altars. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow before the Most High God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, and calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Or, shall I give my first-born for my transgression; the fruit of my body, for the sin of my soul?— These perplexities and agitations of a guilty conscience, may be termed preludes, in some measure, to the Gospel of Christ. They are the pointings of unenlightened nature, towards that method of relief, which the grace of God has provided. Nature felt its inability to extricate itself from the consequences of guilt: the Gospel reveals the plan of Divine interposition and aid. Nature confessed some atonement to be necessary: the Gospel discovers, that the

necessary atonement is made. The remedy is no sooner presented, than its suitableness to the disease appears; and the great mystery of redemption, though it reaches, in its full extent, beyond our comprehension, yet, as far as it is revealed, holds a visible congruity with the sentiments of Conscience, and of Nature.

Natural and revealed religion proceed from the same Author; and, of course, are analogous and consistent. They are part of the same plan of Providence. They are connected measures of the same system of government. The serious belief of the one, is the best preparation for the reception of the other. Both concur in impressing our mind with a deep sense of one most important truth, which is the result of this whole discourse, That as we sow now we must reap; that under the government of God, no one shall be permitted, with impunity, to gratify his criminal passions, and to make light of the great duties of life.

HAVE YE HEARD OF THAT SUN-BRIGHT CLIME?

Have ye heard, have ye heard, of that sun-bright clime,
Unstain'd by sorrow, unhurt by time,

Where age hath no power o'er the fadeless frame,

Where the eye is fire, and the heart is flame;

Have ye heard of that sun-bright clime?

HAVE YE HEARD OF THAT SUN-BRIGHT CLIME. 179

There are rivers of water gushing there, 'Mid blossoms of beauty strangely fair;

And a thousand wings are hovering o'er

The dazzling wave and the golden shore,

That are found in that sun-bright clime.

There is the city whose name is Light,
With the diamond's ray, and the ruby bright;
And ensigns are waving, and banners unfurl,
Over walls of brass, and gates of pearl,

That are fixed in that sun-bright clime.

There are myriads of forms array'd in white,
Beings of beauty clothed in light:

They dwell in their own immortal bowers,
'Mid the fadeless hues of countless flowers,
That spring in that sun-bright clime.

Ear hath not heard, nor eye hath seen,
Its swelling songs, or its changeless sheen;
For the vest of light, and harps of gold,

And crowns of glory, wax not old,

Or fade, in that sun-bright clime.

But far away is this sinless clime,
Unstain'd by sorrow, unhurt by time;
'Tis where the song of the seraph swells,
Where the radiant Lord of brightness dwells,
Where amid all things fair is given,

The home of the just, and its name is Heaven,
The name of that sun-bright clime.

WHAT IS HEAVEN?

I once addressed an infant group

And asked them what they thought of heaven? Alas! man's loftiest wing doth stoop;

Marred are his thoughts with earthly leaven.

Each brought, to swell that unknown joy,
What most did please his infant will:
Some favored hope, some loved employ;
But all, though fair, was earthly still.

Heaven-said a lip that echoed sweet

The bliss that gemmed a joy-fraught eye,— Heaven is a place where all things meet Of loveliest bloom in yonder sky:

The wood, the stream, the upland fell
By ever-vernal breezes fanned,
With landscape bright, snd shady dell,
All gladden that celestial land.

Nay, said a voice of solemn sound,
Heaven is a temple vast and high,
Where ceaseless anthems echo round
A boundless star-crowned canopy.

Heaven, mused a contemplative child,

Is thought's own world, unvexed by care: Sweet are the hours by thought beguiled, And I may think for ever there.

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And heaven was pure, and heaven was calm;
And woes were past, and sins forgiven:

Nor wanting was the radiant palm,

Or harp, to crown the joys of heaven.

Yes, Saviour! all delights are there
That ear can list, or eye can see;
But that which maketh heaven so fair-
Oh! 'tis to be fore'er with THEE.

[From the Christian Observer.]

A REFLECTION.

The longest life is a period scarcely sufficient to prepare for death compared with this work, all other business is vain and trivial, as the toil of emmetts in the path of the traveller, under whose foot they perish for ever; and compared with the happiness which follows that preparation, all enjoyment is unsubstantial and evanescent, as the colours of the bow that appears in the interval of a storm.

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