like this image in the mist-the reflection of its own thoughts, an image of the brainnothing more. It is never realised. How can it be? It is a fancy,—a dream-land never to be trodden,—an imaginary terrestrial paradise without any real existence.

But the ideal of a Christian mind is a reality. Its future is not a fancy, but a fact; not an image, but an entity; not a dream, but an experience to be enjoyed; not a shadow glistening in the mist, but an actual possessiona heaven filled with precious treasures-to be entered on, lived in, rejoiced over, and that for ever. It springs not from the mind itself, but from the reality of future things made known to the mind by the Spirit of revelation. It is an everlasting life of unspeakable bliss,a rest that remaineth for the people of God,— a substantial treasure laid up in heaven.

Which is your ideal, friendly reader? What is the character of your future? Is it the latter, or is it the former? If the former, I counsel you to reject it. Embrace the entities, those mighty substances of the universe, -God, heaven, eternity!

I beg you to live in and on these, and not on dreams, fancies, images. Thus living, you

shall find a delightful life in the present, and a more perfect one hereafter.

"Through the cross comes the crown; when the cares of this life,

Like giants in strength, may to crush thee combine, Never mind! never mind! after sorrow's sad strife Shall the peace and the crown of salvation be thine."

HEAVEN.

OH talk to me of heaven, I love
To hear about my home above,

For there doth many a loved one dwell,
In light and joy ineffable.

Oh tell me how they shine and sing,
While every harp rings echoing;
While every glad and tearless eye
Beams like the bright sun gloriously.

Tell me of that celestial calm

Each face in glory weareth,
Tell me of that victorious palm
Each hand in glory beareth.

O happy, happy country, where

There enters not a sin,

And Death, who keeps the portals fair,
May never once come in ;

No grief can change their day to night,
The darkness of that land is light,
Sorrow and sighing God has sent
Far thence to endless banishment.
And never more may one dark tear
Bedim their burning eyes,
For every one they shed while here
In fearful agonies,

Glitters a bright and dazzling gem
In their immortal diadem.

O lovely blooming country, there
Flourishes all that we deem fair.
For though no fields nor forests green,
Nor bowery gardens there are seen,
Nor perfumes load the breeze,
Nor hears the ear material sound,
Yet joys at God's right hand are found,
The archetypes of these.

This is the home, the land of birth,

Of all we highest prize on earth;
The storms that rack this world beneath
Shall there for ever cease,

The only air the blessed breathe

Is purity and peace.

Oh may heaven's gate unclose to me,

Oh may I, too, its glories see,
And my faint, fighting spirit stand
Within that happy, happy land!

F

"If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Without me ye can do nothing."

MONG some of the ancient nations, a banner peculiarly consecrated to the gods acquired such a sanctity in the popular mind. as to create a belief that, so long as it remained in their hands, their armies could not be defeated, nor their nationality extinguished. Animated by this superstitious notion, they guarded it with care in time of peace, and defended it in the field of battle with an enthusiasm which frequently wrought out a victory. They concentrated their energies beneath its folds, and chose

rather to die in its shadow than to live after

its capture.

What these pagans only imagined of their sacred standards, is actually true of faith in its relations to the safety and happiness of Christians. With a living faith in his heart, a Christian cannot be conquered or even seriously injured by any foe. For all the duties of his vocation it makes him omnipotent in action. While, if he lets it slip, he sinks from irresistible might to infantile weakness. Believing in Christ, he can do all things. Without that belief he can do nothing. So Paul felt when he triumphantly exclaimed, “I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me." And so Jesus taught when He said, "Without me ye can do dothing." "All things are possible to him that believeth!"

Glorious things are spoken concerning faith in the Scriptures. Wonderful achievements are ascribed to it. By it weak things are said to be made mighty. Miracles have been wrought by it. It has held the laws of nature in mysterious suspension. It has invaded the grave, and wrung victories from the tyrant Death! It has even won the harder conquest of sin in the human heart, and restored to