manliness, all their public, and all their social virtues, for heavy burdens, hardening cares, destructive fears, and crushing sorrows; and we hear only "of wars and rumors of wars,' " and of the numberless and appalling injuries occasioned by the unholy conflicts of individuals, of clans and nations. But let us not be blinded by these works of sin. We may grieve for the harm occasioned in ourselves, and in the world at large, by this monster taking possession of us in so many shapes; but we should resolutely and persistently seek to overcome this foe; and we should also, through all the period and all the changes of life, hold to our faith in the omnipotence, and in the universal triumph, of Christ's reforming power.

Not long since, I walked, on a week-day, in the streets of a crowded city, surveying its massive ware-houses, stocked with costly merchandise, visiting the marts of commerce and trade, noisy with the rumbling of drays, and the tumult of men; I wandered down to the wharves, and watched the loading and the unloading. of ships, and overlooked the harbor, bristling with a forest of masts; I passed up the street of banks, and listened to the calculations, proposals and bargains of stockholders and merchants; I waited till the fall of night, and then, in the glare of gas-lights, reaching even to the clouds, I saw the way in which the multitudes press to the haunts of worldliness and dissipation. And, after performing this round of observation, I said within myself, is there no higher law, no higher life, in this metropolis of proud New England? Is there no Christ in this modern Jerusalem to give

direction to these forces of commerce and trade, to impart the spirit of justice and love to these tides of worldly industry, to dignify and consecrate these worldly callings? Is there no Son of God here, to call out from these retreats of excess, these dens of sin, the deceived, the wanton, the pampered and spoiled child of wealth and luxury, the pale and haggard child of poverty and want?

At length the Sabbath dawned; and I again perambulated the crowded streets. The roar of commerce had ceased. The ware-houses and stores were closed. The merchant, the sailor and the mechanic had left their toil. And scores of church-bells called the people to worship.

Then I thought,-not with the faithless man, that all this was but outward decency-the man who sneers at all forms of religion, declaring that because it has not yet completed the reformation of the world, Christianity itself must be a fable-but this I thought,that the Saviour was indeed enthroned in the midst of those blocks and squares. The clang of the bells reverberated from wall to wall, and from town to town, and reached through all the thoroughfares, asserting, it seemed to me, the supremacy of the great Prophet of Nazareth; commanding the world to be still in the presence of God; pealing forth a welcome to the weary, and to the heavy laden, to the cheerful, to the sad, who were wending their way to the temples of worship, and prophesying to all the victory of the Redeemer over sin.

At night I was leaving this populous city. The hour was late and stormy. The winds were furious, and wailed and moaned around the stores and dwellings, and struck doleful chords from the shrouds and rattlings of the ships; and the rain fell in torrents, joining in the wild concert of the winds. But aloft, in the old tower of Christ's church, the chimes of the sweetest bells in all the land poured out their psalms and hymns, reminding me, that, as their tones were distinct and mellow in the uproar of the elements, winning the ear, and cheering the heart of man, so the power of the Saviour is supreme in this sinful, tumultuous world, and will draw the souls of men to holiness and peace. And so in my bounding heart, as I kept my way, I sang in concord with the chimes:

"Joy to the world! the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King!

Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing."

DISCOURSE II.

TRUE GREATNESS OR DIGNITY.

MATTHEW II. 6.

AND THOU BETHLEHEM, IN THE LAND OF JUDA, ART NOT THE LEAST AMONG THE PRINCES OF JUDA.

From what small beginnings great and momentous interests extend. From what obscure retreats the grandest and most benevolent blessings emanate. How much are all men indebted for lessons of wisdom, and for rare and invaluable systems and inventions which have come forth from lowly and unhonored localities. We cannot say, because of the poverty of an abode, or the mean reputation of a village or town, that it will not be the home of greatness and beneficence. We cannot be sure, because of the seclusion or littleness. of a town, that nothing of consequence to the world at large will happen there, or that no great truth or moral good will go out to the world from its inhabitants. Not always to proud and noted cities, the seats of wealth, of worldly power, of outward show or splendor, ought we to look for the improvements, discoveries, lessons and revelations for which the world is longing and waiting. Not always in those places

where the circumstances and attractions are broad and glorious to the natural eye, ought we to look for the cradles in which the greatest and best of our race were rocked.

God is every where, and so the grandest events are as likely to take place in obscure as in noted localities. He looks down as a sun upon all places, and so at any point the streams of goodness may take their rise, and their channels may stretch away in any direction, or they may flow through any course to irrigate and enrich the valleys. God commands where the great and good shall be born, where they shall work, and to what end their power shall reach. Under his direction, now one locality, and now another, becomes a place of dignity or influence, as the birth-place of some great system of science or some grand form of religion, or as the scene of some noble event, or as the theatre of some splendid spectacle.

God is just and impartial; and so his Fatherly care is felt in every habitation, in every part of the worldnot only in such places as men in their pride honor or look upon with eyes of favor, but in the humbler places which they despise. He does not see with once when human eyes

the eyes of men. More than looked upon a little village as cursed of God, he has visited it in special regard, and made it the birth-place of a new and grand life for the world, the honored home of a messenger from heaven. He humbleth the exalted, and lifteth up the lowly. He repeatedly teaches us that not to outward places or rank, not to worldly circumstances or advantages ought we to look