But we are often told that the rewards of virtue in this life are sufficient to bind men, through all trials, to her service, without a reference to a hope of future existence. It may be so. Every feature of Virtue hath a divine beauty. Her faintest smile is richer than the chiefest charms of her foe, and all the art of the syren cannot equal the music of the least whispered of her approvals. Yet let it be remembered, that it is the hope of a future life which gives man a conscious elevation of character, an aspiring after good, and a love of the spiritual and the divine, that he otherwise does not have,-aye, that he otherwise cannot have. "Why is this?" may be the inquiry. I answer,

1. Because it is this hope and assurance which make him realize that he is a spiritual, as well as a sensual being; that he is not only related to the earthly but to the heavenly, and the superiority of the eternal part of his nature is recognised and felt. Reason teaches him that he should not yield it to be triumphed over by that which relates him only to the animal kingdom, and in the strength of his immortality he feels power sufficient to resist evil and live for the noblest ends.

2. Because the promise of the future life, joy, and glory, appeals to his gratitude and sense of obligation, infinitely more than does the present. He acts upon the consciousness of being heir apparent to honors and blessings unutterably glorious, and acknowledges not only the visible and experienced rewards of virtue, but eternal riches of joy, he can never merit or claim by any deeds or labors, freely vouchsafed to him by grace. In

the most noble manner, the principle of gratitude is excited that principle from which springs the most honorable efforts of man.

Thus we see the justification of the Apostle when he deemed a belief in, and active assurance of, a future life necessary to give a high aim and purpose to the mind of man, to raise him above the influence of sensualism, and make him to live in sympathy with the ministry of pure and loving angels.

When we speak of the rewards of virtue in the present being sufficient to bind men to her service, without looking beyond this life, we should never forget the solemn fact that it is because we were created to be heirs of everlasting joy, that virtue has so rich earthly rewards. It is because we are related to God and eternitybecause he has given to us of his spirit, that virtue is our healthy and happy element; and in all the proofs of our purest and best enjoyment being found in the service of virtue, we see evidences of our relation to God and that our spiritual nature makes us heirs of heaven. Take away the consciousness that heaven is our home, and the visible perplexities of life in times of trial would oftentime overwhelm, and crush all power of resisting evil. We want religious hope-confidence in a happy immortality, to strengthen the heart and keep it true to duty-to go with it through trials and sorrows, and lift up our eyes to heaven when our spirit faints and our feet stumble on the dark mountains.

In the strength of the clear, distinct and full hope of immortality, the Apostle who treated most of this hope, resisted all the allurements of

the world-had cast aside all pride of heart, and came from the lofty to associate with the lowly; and in yielding rank, wealth, and all the accom. paniments of elevated and refined life, as the world judgeth, he felt his gain greater than his loss by his knowledge of the resurrection according to Christ. This knowledge to him was certain riches, durable honor, and lasting dignity. It enabled him to look clearly and understandingly on the beauty of Jesus in his mortal and resurrection glory, and drew out the admiration of his soul towards him as he went about doing good, and as the mediator between God and man to reconcile all things to the Father. This made him willing both to labor and suffer reproach, to spend and be spent, and to count it all joy to die in the defence of the great cause of Christ and humanity.

And so it may with us. Confident I am, that according as we realize fully and truly our immortal heritage-feel that we are born for heaven, we shall become freed from the sensual philosophy, and shall live not to eat and drink as the foolish, but eat and drink to live as the wise; laboring not simply for the day's advantage and selfish interest, but for social good and future benefit to mankind. The more our souls are given up to such a course of life, the more will the deep meaning of the servant of Christ's language be understood and felt,-"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made

manifest in our body. Knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise up us also by Jesus-by his own power. Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding, eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

MUSIC AT THE DEATH BED.

"Bring music! stir the brooding air
With an ethereal breath!

Bring sounds my struggling soul to bear
Up from the couch of death!"

DISEASE had well nigh done its work-the flame but glimmered in the socket-one moment more, and it would be out! The dying girl by a waving hand called her sister to her side and faintly breathed a wish for her to sing-to sing some sweet melody, that she might leave earth with the tones of inspiring music lingering on her ear. "And what, dear sister, do you choose for me to sing?" "Sing, Harriet, my favorite I leave earth willingly!" said the dying maiden. The sister well knew her choice, and she sat down to the instrument and brought forth its sweetest and softest tones; they were indeed born of heaven, for her emotions gave an unwonted skill to her effort, as she aimed to soothe the wearied one to a refreshing sleep. Her song breathed forth the elevated thoughts of a dying Christian-dying in youth, surrounded with friends and abundant blessings, and yet ready and willing to depart. The gathered group looked on her with sacred awe, for they felt themselves in the presence of a being of another