tinuance preserved, and in their application rendered efficient, by the Divine Being.

III. The use of the house.

The house is a habitation for man.

1. Why does man want a habitation?

He would not want it, were he in the state in which God created him to be :-he wants it, because he has lost his primitive being and abode—he is in a region where the elements are out of course. Tempests, storms, winds, heat, cold, rains, and damp, encumber the atmosphere. Eden is become a wilderness. From the airno longer balmy and salubrious as the breath of heaven, man must be defended, lest it injure him. His body is disordered, and requires not only shelter from inclemency, but a place of repose, an asylum for pain.

2. How long does man want a habitation?

The time for which man wants his habitation, is limited to this mortal life.-Ought he, then, to be very solicitous about the building and furniture of what he must so soon leave?

Ought he not to be satisfied and thankful, if he have a habitation which serves the end for which it was designed?

But will the time of the house end with the life of its possessor? One dwelling often sees the birth and decease of several generations. Many a humble tenement has been successively transmitted from father to son, many a stately edifice has endured the lapse of centuries.-We may here glance at man's immortality. If man were not immortal, would it not be melancholy to see a building endure, while the bodies of generations lie mouldering in the dust?

We have considered a house as a habitation for the body of man:-what is the habitation of his spirit?

Who is the former of this habitation? Of what material is it formed? (Gen. ii. 7.)

What is its time? What is its use?

Let us each then ask ourselves—when my "earthly house of this tabernacle" is dissolved, have I " a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens?"-Is my soul employed in the work for which it was sent into its present habitation?—Am I daily advancing towards the mansions prepared in the house of my Father?

Another consideration presents itself. Upon what, did we say, every house must be raisedor, what is the most essential part for the security of an edifice?

And what is essential to the security of a foundation? Read the comparison and allusion of our Lord, Matt. vii. 24-27.

Upon what must every spiritual house be erected? What does St. Paul say, 1 Cor. iii. 11-15?

66 OTHER FOUNDATION CAN NO MAN LAY THAN THAT IS LAID, WHICH IS, JESUS CHRIST."

Whatever good works we may perform, though apparently valuable as gold, or silver; whatever virtues we may possess, though brilliant as precious stones-if not built upon the only foundation, Jesus Christ, will never stand the fire of the last day.

TELESCOPE.

The Instructor is supposed to invite his pupils to look through a telescope.-What do you observe?

Did the moon ever appear to you so near?

What difference do you perceive in its size? And what do you discern in it that you have never yet discerned?

Look again through the telescope.-Now again.

You can see an assemblage of the heavenly bodies by your eye alone, but a far greater number is discovered by the telescope :—what is the use of the telescope?

You perceive that it brings distant objects nearer to our sense of vision; that it renders invisible bodies, visible; that those which were before visible, appear of greater magnitude, and that in some of them, you perceive what you never could have perceived by the unassisted sense of sight.

What knowledge has been acquired through the use of the telescope? [But for the telescope, we had remained in obscurity with respect to the celestial universe. By means of this instrument, worlds have opened upon usnew planets have been discovered-moons revolving round the planets-fixed stars, in number and remote extent exceeding our power of

calculation; and these, possibly, suns to other systems-system upon system has been unfolded to our view.]

Can you think of any instrument of spiritual vision, the use of which bears a resemblance to that of the telescope?

What is that supernatural power, by which the realities of Eternity are unfolded and brought nigh? (Heb. xi. 1, &c.)

Can we discern heavenly things by our senses?

Can we comprehend them by reason? (1 Cor. ii. 11, 14.)

By our natural powers, we may perceive the existence of some heavenly truths-but we comprehend not their nature, their glory. It is Faith which brings near these distant realities; it is by faith we learn their magnitude and importance: according to the exercise and strength of our faith, we discern more of their real nature, grandeur, and excellence.

We may look through the telescope, without making use of that power of discovery, by which so many wonders have been unfolded.

We may likewise possess a barren faith, or a faith which we do not improve. We may take transient views of heaven, without seeking to render the effects of those views permanent, without practically realizing them.-But true faith enters into calculation upon heavenly things, abides by the results of that calculation,

renders them influential upon our whole life and conduct.-St. Paul well knew how to estimate the relative importance of earth and Heaven. See Rom. viii. 18; 2 Cor. iv. 18; Phil. iii. 8.*

Reflect for a moment upon the advantages to be derived from a lively exercise of Faith.How much of spiritual truth is wholly indiscernible by reason alone; what an immense proportion of heavenly realities, exists in vain for us, until we receive the supernatural gift of God! How do we sit involved in darkness, till realizing faith brings nigh eternal things; and discloses wonders-mercies and goodness, which, even in anticipation, fill and elevate every power of the soul !

*For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.'

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us e far more exceeding and 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."

"Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord : for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ."