pated. "Whom, having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory; receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls."

they think of

Others are "of the world; the world, speak of the world, live for the world ; whose minds the god of this world hath blinded. True, in the midst of this intense worldliness, there may be abundant discourse, poetic or speculative, about heaven, which, at best, has only an aesthetic influence, and has nothing to do with sanctification. But that occupation with celestial themes, which the Holy Spirit fosters, has a mighty assimilating power. By it the soul is elevated and ennobled. Its field and its powers of vision are enlarged, and the relative proportions and value of things seen and unseen are more clearly appreciated, and practically felt.

Worldly-minded men are like common pendulums, that feel every disturbing influence; the heavenly-minded man is like that of Foucault; though connected with the earth, and moving with it, still it keeps faithfully and majestically to its own independent plane of vibration, while surrounding objects rotate continually. Yea, more :

"His hand the good man fastens on the skies,

Bids earth roll, nor feels her idle whirl."

Men are not, however, thus unfitted for common occupations, and are rendered anything but indifferent to the smaller duties and mercies of life. Angels, probably, minister with no less alacrity to them who are the humblest heirs of salvation, than to Him who is their Lord and ours. The command of God dignifies any service; it equalizes all obligations. Growth in the grace now under consideration only infuses a more genial and holy warmth into the Christian's ordinary duties, and renders him more devoutly sensitive to the least as well as the greatest of all God's benefits. The spirituallyminded man is no gymnosophist, gazing vacantly at the heavens; he is a Copernicus, installing the sun as centre of the system, and reducing our earth to its proper subordination. No one who wisely contemplates the starry firmament which God has ordained will make it revolve round the insignificant planet we occupy; nor can any one who has surveyed the land flowing with milk and honey any longer so overvalue the wilderness through which he journeys. More just estimates will be thus formed, and higher aspirations awakened. Anaxagoras was so enamored with astronomical studies that

he thought himself born to contemplate the heavens; and, when reproved for not seeking the public honors and offices of his country, he replied, " My first care is for my country." So the heavenlyminded believer regards himself as having less to do with earth than with the skies. Present distinctions, possessions and amusements, cannot fill his eye. He is only a stranger here. He brought nothing into the world, he can carry nothing out. His citizenship, his treasures, his heart, are in heaven, and his hope is to be there himself, personally, wholly and forever. When the rude northern people had once drank of the sweet wines of Italy, they could not rest satisfied till they were themselves quartered in that pleasant land. So, when the true Israel of God have but tasted of the clusters of Eshcol, they are fired with new desires to go up and possess that land which the Lord hath promised them. A holy ardor is kindled. When, notwithstanding the report of Caleb and Joshua, the timid host were fain to return to the house of bondage, those assured champions "spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then will he bring us into this land, and give it us; a

land flowing with milk and honey.

Only rebel ye

not against the Lord."

"But all the congregation

bade stone them with stones." Of all then living

only those two entered Canaan, the carcasses of

the rest falling in the wilderness; for God swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest. Every true believer has a faith which works by love and impels to effort. In proportion as this heavenly temper takes possession of the soul, it urges to energetic, self-sacrificing enterprise. You may

know the men who have become familiar with the land of promise by their humble yet earnest bearing; by their disinterested readiness to do good unto all men as they have opportunity, but specially unto the household of faith; by their lovely and noble combination of amiable and commanding qualities. Their whole walk is fragrant of Paradise. "All their garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia."

"When one that holds communion with the skies

Has filled his urn where these pure waters rise,
And once more mingles with us meaner things,
'Tis e'en as if an angel shook his wings.
Immortal fragrance fills the circuit wide
That tells us whence his treasures are supplied.
So when a ship, well freighted with the stores
The sun matures on India's spicy shores,

Has dropped her anchor and her canvas furled
In some fair haven of our western world,

'T were vain inquiry to what port she went,

The gale informs us, laden with the scent."

How does love glow towards their fellow-travellers, their future fellow-citizens in the Better Land! Is it the heavenly-minded who slight or slander those with whom they are to dwell under the same roof, with whom they are to serve and to sing forever?

How do the heavenly-minded welcome death, desiring to depart! What foretastes do they often have, as they approach the confines of Canaan ! Land-birds, of beautiful plumage, greeted Columbus days before his eye caught a glimpse of the New World. A more southern voyager found himself in the fresh waters of the Amazon before discovering the continent whence they came. So, at the close of life's voyage, do birds of Paradise comè hitherward, careering on bright wings, and the river of life sends its refreshing current far out into the briny sea of this world. “The celestial city," said Payson, "is now full in my view. Its glories beam upon me, its sounds strike upon my ears, and its spirit is breathed into my heart."

In observing the transit of Venus across the