ye

An important branch of the divine mission of our Saviour Jesus Christ, was to establish the kingdom of Heaven upon earth. He announced, incessantly, the practical reign of Divine Wisdom and Love among all men; and it was a chief aim of all his struggles and teachings to prepare the minds of men for this glorious consummation. He proclaimed the universal brotherhood of mankind-he insisted upon universal justice, and he predicted the triumphs of universal unity. "Thou shalt love," he said, "the Lord thy God with all thy mind and all thy heart, and all thy soul, and thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Again: "If love not one another, how can ye be my disciples?" "I have loved you, that you also may love one another." "Ye are all one, as I and my father are one." Again: he taught us to ask in daily prayer of our Heavenly Father, "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." Ay, it must be DONE, actually executed in all the details of life! And again, in the same spirit, his disciples said, "Little children, love one another." "If you love not man, whom you have seen, how can you love God whom you have not seen ?" And in regard to the form which this love should take, the Apostle Paul says, "As the body is one, so also is Christ. For by one spirit we are all baptized in one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles," &c. "That there should be no schism (disunity) in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another; and if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored all the members rejoice with it." "Ye are members one of another."

These divine truths must be translated into actual life. Our relations to each other as men-our business relations among others-must all be instituted according to this law of Highest Wisdom and Love. In Association alone can we find the fulfilment of this duty; and, therefore, we again insist that Association is the duty of every branch of the Universal Church. Let its views of points of doctrine be what they may-let it hold to any creed as to the nature of man-or the Attributes of God-or the offices of Christ-we say that it cannot fully and practically imbody the Spirit of Christianity out of an Organization like that which we have described. It may exhibit, with more or less fidelity, some tenet of a creed, or even some phase of virtue; but it can possess only a type and shadow of that Universal Unity which is the destiny of the Church. But let the Church adopt true Associative Organization, and the blessings so long promised it will be fulfilled. Fourier, among the last words that he wrote, describing the triumph of Universal Association, exclaims, "These are the days of Mercy promised in the words of the Redeemer," (Matt. vi. 5.) "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." It is verily in Harmony, in Associative Unity, that God will manifest to us the immensity of his Providence, and that the Saviour will come, according to his word, in "all the glory of his Father: it is the Kingdom of Heaven that comes to us in this terrestrial world; it is the reign of Christ; he has conquered Evil. Christus regnat, vincit, imperat. Then will the Cross have accomplished its two-fold destiny, that of Consolation during the reign of Sin, and that of Universal Banner,

when human reason shall have accomplished the task imposed upon it by the Creator. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness"—the harmony of the Passions in Associative Unity. Then will the Banner of the Cross display with glory its device, the augury of victory in Hoc Signo Vinces; for, then it will have conquered evil, conquered the gates of hell, conquered false philosophy and national indigence, and spurious civilization; et portæ inferi non prevalebunt.”

CONCLUSION.

To the free and Christian people of the United States, then, we commend the principle of Association; we ask that it be fairly sifted; we do not shrink from the most thorough investigation. The peculiar history of this nation convinces us that it has been prepared by Providence for the working out of glorious issues. Its position, its people, its free institutions, all prepare it for the manifestation of a true Social Order. Its wealth of territory, its distance from the political influences of older and corrupter nations, and above all the general intelligence of its people, alike contribute to fit it for that noble Union of Freemen which we call ASSOCIATION. That peculiar Constitution of Government, which, for the first time in the world's career, was established by our Fathers; that signal fact of our national motto E Pluribus Unum, many individuals united in one whole; that beautiful arrangement for combining the most perfect independence of the separate members with complete harmony and strength in the Federal heart-is a rude outline and type of the more scientific and more beautiful arrangement which it would introduce into all the relations of man to man. We would givé our theory of State Rights an application to individual Rights. We would bind trade to trade, neighborhood to neighborhood, man to man, by the ties of interest and affection which bind our larger aggregations called States; only we would make the ties holier and more indissoluble. There is nothing impossible in this; there is nothing impracticable! We, who are represented in this Convention, have pledged our sleepless energies to its accomplishment. It may cost time-it may cost trouble—it may expose us to misconception, and even to abuse; but it must be done. We know that we stand on sure and positive grounds; we know that a better time must come; we know that the Hope and Heart of Humanity is with us that Justice, Truth, and Goodness, are with us; we feel that God is with us, and we do not fear the anger of man. The Future is ours-the Future is ours. Our practical plans may seem insignificant, but our moral aim is the grandest that ever elevated human thought. We want the Love and Wisdom of the Highest to make their daily abode with us; we wish to see all mankind happy and good; we desire to emancipate the human body and the human soul; we long for Unity between man and man in true Society-between man and nature by the cultivation of the earth, and between man and God, in Universal Joy and Religion.

50

THE MAID OF THE MIST.

BY J. M. KNOWLTON.

DAY dawns on the valley, the hill and the plain,
The swift flowing river, the wide spreading, main,
And glad Nature awaking, is beauteous and bright—
As she shakes from her breast the dark mantle of night;
And the starlight from Heaven is fading away,
As brighter and brighter the glow of the day,
While above the green tree-tops the mists of the morn
On its breezes arising, float lazily on;

And bending and turning, and dazzling they glow
With a brightness outshining the fresh-drifted snow,—
Now their pennons outspreading, now blended in one,
Rose-tinted and gilded, they catch the bright sun;
Till slowly unfolding, a vision of light,

Their white caverns indwelling, breaks forth on my sight,
And the robe of the morning its form half conceals,
And but renders the fairer the parts it reveals.
Still gaze I entranced and enraptured, on high,
Till fainter, and fainter, it melts in the sky-
'Tis the nymph of the morning, the goddess of air,
"Tis the Maid of the Mist in her beauty is there.

Now glancing and flashing the sunlight's full beam
On the face of the deep and the dark-flowing stream,
As it courses still onward, in strength and in pride,
With whirl and with rapid, still bolder its tide;
O'er its rocky bed bounding, its wild waves are dashed,
And its waters commingling, to fury are lashed,
Around and around, in the vast foaming sea,
Like a giant imprisoned it strives to be free:
For a moment exulting, it breaks the dark chain,
And now placidly onward, is coursing again;
For a moment triumphing, then down it must go
To the vast yawning depths of the cavern below:
For swift from the rock-crested turret 'tis cast,
And Niagara's thunder is borne on the blast.
Now gracefully bending against the blue sky,
The spray-wreathing column is mounting on high,
On its summit reclining she scans the bleak shore,
And she mingles her laugh with the cataract's roar :
On the brink of the torrent she poises her now,
Now she kisses the foam of the white wave below,
Now she skims like a bird on the face of the deep,
While in fury around her the mad waters sweep;
But she heeds not their threat'ning; and wanton her play,
As she bathes her fair form in the clash of the spray,

For swift is her coming, and beauteous and fair,
Is the Maid of the Mist, the bright goddess of air.

Lo! the King of the Storm is abroad on the blast,
And the blackness of night o'er the heaven is cast;
From the fast-spreading cloud comes the thunder's deep growl,
And from mountain and forest the tempest's wild howl,
And from heaven's wide windows, the vast sheet of rain,
In one torrent outpouring, descends on the plain;
Sweeps the wind in its fury, the thunder's loud crash
Follows, peal upon peal, with the lightning's red flash,
And the spirits of evil exult in its glare-

As their revel they hold in their kingdom of air.
Earth trembles and quakes, for its Maker is near,
And the beasts of the forest are crouching in fear,
And the strong, sturdy oak to the earth is downcast,
And the once towering pine-tree must bend to the blast,
Resistless its fury, resounding its jar,

'Tis the sport of the tempest-'tis Nature's wild war.

It has passed-it is gone, and the thunder has ceased,
And the Storm-King is hushed, and his anger appeased,
And the darkness is lifting from hill and from plain,
And the face of the landscape is smiling again,
And the soft-breathing zephyr steals up from the sea,
And the cloud-battling squadrons are borne far a-lee,
And the music of Nature is floating above,

From the pearl-dropping leaflet of tree and of grove,
And once more the glad sunshine in beauty breaks forth,
And lights up with glory the bosom of earth;
And the rainbow of promise is bright in the air-
Lo! the Maid of the Mist in her beauty is there.

When the bright stars are keeping their vigils on high,
And the shadows of even are dark on the sky;
When the daylight is gone from the faint glowing west,
And earth weary is still, and her children at rest;
Then her cloud-woven mantle around her she throws,
And softly, and gently, she seeks her repose:
And the deep quiet shade of the valley she loves,
Where the rose tree and laurel have planted their groves,
Where the eglantine blushing, scarce lifts up its head,
And its sweetness like incense around her is shed,
And the daisy and violet the brighter appear,
When they know that the cloud of her coming is near,
And earth joyfully welcomes the blessing she gives,
As refreshen'd and gladden'd, her form it receives,
And the glade's grassy bosom infolds its fair guest,
And its soft, tinkling music invites her to rest.
With the morning's first dawn she is up and away,
For she loves not to strive with the god of the day,
Least the robe that conceals her should melt with his rays,
And mortal unchecked on her beauty should gaze.
For though loving the earth, still her home is the cloud,
Still her brightness concealing, its darkness must shroud,
For she courteth its shadow, and coy as she's fair—

Is the Maid of the Mist—is the goddess of air.

In her being immortal, she sprang from the sky,
Time mars not her beauty, age dims not her eye-
For she revel'd in air when the stars had their birth,
And she welcomed to being the fresh-blooming earth-
And the flower groves of Eden beheld her glad smile,
E'er the heir of its pleasures was tainted with guile,

And a shadow of grief o'er her brow's sunlight crossed,
And a tear dimm'd her eye, when that Eden was lost.
Since then, though long ages above her have rolled,
Ever swift is her course, and her flight ever bold;
Still her cheek is as fresh as the glow of the morn,
And the white cloud indwelling, still graceful her form;
Still scales she the mountain, still loves she the vale,
Still breathes with the zephyr, still floats on the gale,
Still sports in the clash of the swift rushing spray,
Still flies from the glare of the sun's brightest ray,
Still seeks the glad earth for her dreamy repose,
Still on leaf and on herbage, her blessing bestows;
Ever fleeting and young, ever joyous and fair-
Is the Maid of the Mist in her kingdom of air.