Our outward forms are

"We all do fade as a leaf." governed by the same law with all the outer forms of Nature. They will fall to the ground, crumble to dust, and mix with the elements beneath our feet. But the soul, whose light gleams in the fair face of infancy, and burns with intenser glow in the cheek and eye of manhood or womanhood, and flames and mantles like a mellow celestial glory on the evening sky in the countenance of calm, serene old age, - this soul, this inner life and light will live and shine forever. Long after its glorious ray shall have lighted the old man's visage, or glistened in the eye veiled with the mists of age, it shall burn on like a quenchless lamplike a planet shining brighter and brighter in the realm of spirituality and love. "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand forever."

It is to this idea of the immortality of the soul, and its tendency to perfection through the way of Christian truth and discipline, that we are in debt for our power to look on Nature, in all her forms and changes, with a cheerful heart, and to interpret correctly all her aspects and her many voices. It is in the thought and belief, that, as after Winter, Spring will come, so, after death, there will be a resurrection to new prospects, new occupations,. new and higher, and better, and happier life, that we can contemplate with lofty delight "the seasons as they roll," with their successive, various changes.

Did we not entertain this idea, did we not know the truth and the eternity of the divine word—that our

souls will outlive all outward forms, and even sin, and go forward evermore in the society of guiding angels, Nature, with all her grandeur and splendor, the earth with all its mountains and valleys, its woods and streams, the seasons with all their wonderful and charming attractions, would be dark, dark, dark, to us, and in all our rounds we should find no light, no beauty to cheer us, we should feel no influence within our hearts, taking away our sorrow.

It is the Christian faith that we shall rise from the dead, that we shall, at length, soar above the degrading influences of sin, and that we shall live forever in holiness, which supports and fills the soul with joy, and illumines the face of the dying in the last sad hour of earth. The radiance of the soul on the face in that hour, is like the rich, mellow beam which the sun leaves on the western sky, when he sinks to rest; or like the warm, golden light of the Indian summer, that halo of loveliness, almost supernatural, which makes November more beautiful than May.

Thus, have I not reminded you, my friends, on this day, that the season of Autumn is not altogether sad? Have I not led you to consider now, though you may not have done so before, that this season is one not merely of sombre hues and wailing winds, of fading and dying objects, and of sad, desponding thoughts, but also one of glorious colors, the richest and most beautiful the eye can behold; of Beethoven-like airs, sonates and symphonies, the grandest and most charming the ear can hear; and of profound and pleasant reflections, the most divine that can pervade the mind, or warm the heart?

DISCOURSE XXV

MOUNT ZION.*

HEBREWS XII. 22-24.

BUT YE ARE COME UNTO MOUNT SION, AND UNTO THE CITY OF THE LIVING GOD, THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM, AND TO AN INNUMERABLE COMPANY OF ANGELS, TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND CHURCH OF THE FIRST BORN, WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN, AND TO GOD THE JUDGE OF ALL, AND TO THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN MADE PERFECT, AND TO JESUS THE MEDIATOR OF THE NEW COVENANT, AND TO THE BLOOD OF SPRINKLING THAT SPEAKETH BETTER THINGS THAN THAT OF ABEL.

Mount Zion is a spiritual elevation, immense and grand, towering from a boundless base. Upon this holy height, visible only to the inward eye, is building "the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem;" in other words, the immortal and universal church of Christ. So, if we have, in our journey of moral life, followed in their well-worn and ascending paths, the true Christian disciples of former times, we have come, at length, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first born, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just

* Preached before the Maine Universalist Convention, in Augusta, June 30, 1853.

men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant; and in this society we shall forever dwell. Here, God is our Father, Christ is our Elder Brother, and the unnumbered angels and saints, are our undying companions. And these companions are like, in glorious form, the transfigured Saviour. Their faces shine with holy light; their eyes are clear with holy thought; and words come to our ears from their hallowed lips, freighted with wisdom and love.

How lofty is the life of this upper region. Are we not here so filled with joy, that we can only feel that we are one with God, and Christ, and angels, and all the good. How wonderful it is, that we, though dwelling upon the earth, can take up our abode in this spiritual city, and employ here our powers on so high a plane, and for such noble ends. How wonderful it is, that we, inhabitants of this world, called to struggle through this world's paths of toil and trial, can be united with God in divine companionship, in sacred purpose, and in holy effort; that we can be citizens. in God's highest place of habitation, and herein worship him, and hold communion with Christ, and pass a life of blessedness with those who have been made perfect by the power of Infinite Love.

Crying from the ground the blood of Abel called for revenge. On this mountain where we stand, in this city of the living God, this New Jerusalem, whose bounds are forever being extended, the voice we hear is that of love and mercy. On Sinai a fire burned, and blackness, and darkness, and tempest joined together in awful and appalling form, and so terrible

was the sight, that Moses said: "I exceedingly fear and quake." On Mount Zion there are no terrors God comes to us here not in gloom and storm, but in light and peace. He speaks not here in the tones of thunder, but in the small still voice of benevolence and compassion. Here, by the benignity of his look, and by the kindness and constancy of his providence, he draws his children up to his very throne. Here, the soul is in peace. In God's palace of light and glory, and in his many mansions prepared for his countless offspring, love is the all-pervading and ruling spirit. All darkness or terror is below in the domain of sin. When we climb towards God, we leave behind us the evils that hurt the soul; we escape from the prisons and dungeons of gloom and sorrow and ascend into the abodes of sunshine and joy.

The great attraction on this mountain of the Lord, in this holy city, in this New Jerusalem, is the Cross of Christ. Once it stood on Calvary, a thing of shame. Now, on this loftier eminence, it is a sign of love and beauty, a standard of honor. Visible to all the world, it will be a guide to the wandering till they all shall reach the home of the blest. Being a monument of moral perfection, the eyes of all men will be turned to it, and the feet of all will move towards it. The time must come, at length, when the last of the lost will arise from the depths of darkness and iniquity, and, drawn by the power of this symbol of love and forgiveness, go up to the light and life of the city of the great King. Up to this tree of sacrifice, won by attributes that have no counterparts, that excel