It is not pearly gates, nor mansions, nor golden harps, nor crowns, nor thrones of principalities and powers-though al these should literally exist,—these will not make a heaven. No external glory would compensate for some inward and indwelling spring of bliss-some well of living water within the breast. No sounds, though rapturous as the song of the angelic host on the plains of Bethlehem, or as the strains that were heard when the morning stars sang together over the new-born creation, could inspire delight, unless there were the principle of harmony within. Apart from this, all were but the voice of the charmer to the deaf adder, or as music to the heavy heart. "Nor could heaven consist in the mere contemplation of the wonders of Omnipotence, displayed in new and ever-varying forms, inconceivable to man as mortal: or in a gigantic reach of mind, surpassing that of the most gifted of the sons of men, a thousand fold more than his powers exceed the first dawn of an infant's reason. Not even the most ineffable revelation of the moral perfections of God in Christ-the manifestation of all that is glorious, which a creature can comprehend, could produce delight, were it possible for these displays to be made to a mind destitute of the reigning principle of a spiritual and holy world. The element of heaven is LOVE-love emanating from the everflowing fountain; and circulating through all the glorious ranks of angels and redeemed spirits-uniting all-and for ever! Heaven centres within-the mind is its own heaven! As a professed christian on earth, is nothing without love; so an angel in heaven, without love, would be a fiend! "Ye who hope to dwell together for ever in the heaven of holy love, hold that dear, which is the earnest of your inheritance! The church on earth, and the church above, make but one communion. The brotherhood of saints is the image of that world where love is universal and eternal. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.' For your brethren and companions' sakes,' say 'Peace be within thee.' Strive, O strive for peace! Forget not the divided church, in your private intercessions-at your family altars —in public worship; and whatever plans may be adopted in order to benefit the world, remember that the soul of the moral power of the church must be sought in her unity. "When the blessed hour shall have arrived, which shall witness that the church is visibly one, then may we hope for that glorious consummation, to be announced by the seventh angel,' and by 'great voices in heaven,' saying, 'The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever!' "May He, whose name is 'Love,' speedily heal the wounds, under which the church is languishing through her manifold divisions! May the ancient unity, which once made her glorious, return!-May the presence of her Lord and Master return!— "The Spirit and the bride say, Come.'-' Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"" CLAIMS OF SOCIETY ON YOUNG MEN. [Extracted from a Series of Lectures to Young Men, on the Formation of Character,' by JOEL HAWES, D.D. Pastor of the first Church in Hartford, Connecticut.] WHEN Catiline attempted to overthrow the liberties of Rome, he began by corrupting the young men of the city, and forming them for deeds of daring and crime. In this, he acted with keen discernment of what constitutes the strength and safety of a community-the VIRTUE and INTELLIGENCE of its YOUTH-especially of its YOUNG MEN. This class of persons has, with much propriety, been denominated the flower of a country-the rising hope of the church and society. Whilst they are preserved uncorrupted, and come forward, with enlightened minds and good morals, to act their respective parts on the stage of life, the foundations of social order and happiness are secure, and no weapon formed against the safety of the community can prosper. This, indeed, is a truth so obvious, that all wise and benevolent men, whether statesmen, philanthropists, or ministers of religion, have always felt a deep and peculiar interest in this class of society; and, in all attempts to produce reformation and advance human happiness, the young, and particularly young men, have engaged their first and chief regards. How entirely this accords with the spirit of inspiration, it is needless to remark. Hardly any one trait of the Bible is more prominent than its benevolent concern for the youthful generations of men. On them its instructions drop as the rain, and distil as the dew; around their path, it pours its purest light and sweetest promises; and by every motive of kindness and entreaty, of invitation and warning, aims to form them for duty and happiness, for holiness and God. It is, I trust, in the spirit of these sentiments, that I propose to address myself, directly, to young men. I feel, that in doing so, I attempt a service for a most interesting portion of society; and while I shall aim, as is meet, to use great plainness of speech, I beg you, my friends, to do me the justice to believe, that not a word or sentiment will be uttered, but with the sincerest desire for your present and everlasting happiness. The subject proposed for present consideration, is the claims of society on young men. In illustrating this subject, I shall explain the nature of these claims,-show how you are to be prepared to meet them, and enforce the duty by appropriate motives. - I. The claims, then, of which we speak, are of the most weighty and serious character. They grow out of those indissoluble relations which you sustain to society; and those invaluable interests, social, civil, and religious, which have come down to us, a most precious inheritance, from our fathers, and which, with all the duties and responsibilities connected with them, are soon to be transferred to your hand and to your keeping. I look forward a few short years, and see the aspect of society entirely changed. The venerable fathers, who have borne the heat and burden of the day, are dropping, one after another, into the grave, and soon they will all be gone. Of those too, who are now the acting members of society, some have passed the meridian of life, others are passing it, and all will soon be going down its decline, to mingle with the generations who have disappeared before them, from this transient scene of action. To a mind, seriously contemplating this mournful fact, it is an enquiry of deep and tender interest-who are to rise up and fill their places? To whom are to be committed the invaluable interests of this community? Who are to sustain its responsibilities and discharge its duties? You anticipate the answer. to you, young men, that these interests are to be committed, and these responsibilities transferred. You are fast advancing to fill the places of those, who are fast retiring to give place to a new generation. are soon to occupy the houses, and own the property, and fill the offices, and possess the power, and direct the influence that are now in other hands. The various departments of business and trust, the pulpit and the bar, our courts of justice and halls of legislation; our civil, religious, and literary institutions; all, in short, that constitutes society, and goes to make life useful and happy, are to be in your hands, and your control. under It is You This representation is not made to excite your vanity, but to impress you with a due sense of your obligations. You cannot take a rational view of the stations to which you are advancing, or of the duties that are coming upon you, without feeling deeply your need of high and peculiar qualifications. In committing to you her interests and privileges, society imposes upon you corresponding claims: and demands that you be prepared to fill, with honour and usefulness, the places which you are destined to occupy. She looks to you for future protection and support, and while she opens her arms to welcome you to her high immunities and her hopes, she requires of you the cultivation of those virtues, and the attainment of those qualifications, which can alone prepare you for the duties and scenes of future life. Such, then, being the claims of society, let us inquire, II. How you may be prepared to meet them. 1. And first of all, it is demanded that you awake to a serious consideration of the duties and prospects before you. I mention this first, because, if a young man cannot be persuaded to consider what he is, and what he is to become in future life, nothing worthy or good can be expected of him. And, unhappily, this is the character of too many young men. They cannot be made to think. They seem resolved to live only for the present moment, and for present gratification; as if the whole of their existence were comprised in the passing hour, and they had no concern in any future duty or event, they never cast forward a thought to their coming days, nor inquire how they are to fulfil the great end of their being. Of these gay and thoughtless triflers, society has nothing to expect. They may have their little day of sunshine and pleasure; then they will vanish and be forgotten, as if they had never been. This is unworthy the character of a rational being. Man was made for a nobler end, than thus to pass away a life in mere levity and trifling. He was made for thought and reflection; he was made to serve God and his generation in a life of beneficent action; and he never exercises his faculties more in accordance with the dignity of his nature, than when he considers the end for which he was created, and inquires how he may best fulfil the great purposes of his being. And this, my friends, is an exercise peculiarly appropriate at your time of life. Joyous and flattering as the prospect before you may seem, let me tell you, there is much in it that is fitted to make you serious and thoughtful. You cannot take a just view of your state and prospects, without feeling that you are placed in circumstances of deep and solemn interest. Your Creator has placed you here in the midst of a shifting and transient scene, to sojourn a little while as probationers for eternity, then to pass from the stage and be here no more. He has formed you for society, for duty and happiness; and has so connected you with the living beings around you, that they, as well as yourselves, are to feel the good or ill effects of your conduct, long after you shall have gone to render up your account at his bar. How imperious, to beings in such a state, is the duty of consideration! How wise, how all-important to inquire,-What am I, and what is my destination in this and the future world? For what end was I created, and for what purpose placed here in the midst of beings like myself? What are the relations which I sustain to those beings and to society? What the duties which I owe to them? How can I be prepared to perform those duties, and how accomplish the great end for which my Creator gave me existence, and placed me in this world of probation and trial? The man who thinks lightly of such enquiries, or who never brings them home to his own bosom, as matters of direct, personal concern, violates every principle of reason and common prudence. Let me press them upon you, my young friends, as demanding your first and chief attention. They are indeed grave inquiries; and light, trifling minds, may reject them because they are so. They are suggested by the reality of things; and never, without a due consideration of them, can you be qualified for the duties of life, or sustain the responsibilities so soon to come upon you as members of society. 2. Another requisite for meeting the claims of society is intelligence, or a careful cultivation of your minds. In despotic governments, where the subject is a mere vassal, and has no part either in making or executing the laws, ignorance is, no doubt, as the advocates of legitimacy claim, an essential qualification of a good citizen. The less he knows of his rights, the more contented he is to be deprived of them; and the less he understands of duty, the more pliable he is as a mere instrument of ambition and power. Not so in this country. Here every man is a public man. He has an interest in the community, and exerts an important influence over the interests of others. He is a free man; and this ought always to mean the same thing as an intelligent man. He possesses the right of suffrage; and in the exercise of that right, he is often called to aid in the election of rulers; to deliberate and act respecting the public welfare; to fill offices of influence and trust, and to perform innumerable duties in the course of life, which can be well performed, only in the possession of an intelligent and well-furnished mind. And certainly, whatever be a man's circumstances, he cannot but be a happier and more useful man, by possessing such a mind. It is not an extended, critical acquaintance with the sciences, on which I here insist; this must of necessity be confined to a few; but such a measure of knowledge as may be acquired by men of business, by all men who will but make a proper use of their faculties and time. Franklin was a man of business, he was an apprentice boy in a printing-office; but by a careful improvement of that time, which by many young men is thrown away, he became one of the wisest statesmen and most distinguished philosophers of his day. Sherman, too, of our own State, was a man of business; he was a shoemaker; but by self-impulse-by patient, untiring effort, he rose from the bench of the shoemaker, seated himself in the halls of congress, and there took his place with the first. A small portion of that leisure time which you all possess, and which by too many is given to dissipation and idleness, would enable |