Allegorizing the idea which the "Second Adventists " have presented us, I give it my most hearty assent. Although I have no confidence in the supposition that the material globe is about coming to an end, or that Christ is soon to appear in person on the earth, yet I must think that in one sense at least the world is soon to end, and that Christ is coming, and is even now at the doors.

I look upon the old customs and practices,-upon the old institutions and doctrines, as destined ere long to pass away, and be consigned to a grave so deep that no trumpet-blast will ever call them to arise. The kingdom of Christ seems now to be extending its borders far and wide; and men are pressing into it. The Future, to my hopeful eye, presents a glorious prospect for the triumph of truth. I look out upon it, and my heart beats with a quicker motion.

"The morn

ing light is breaking," and it must ere long redden into full and perfect day. With truth may it be said, that Jesus is coming in the spirit of the age,-in the progress of light and knowledge, and in the triumphs of his religion.

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Cast your eye over the theological world, and what ap-' pears more prominent there than the great changes and modifications that have been made within the last half-century? How have the old iron features been softened down, and one after another utterly removed? And who, in the improvements that all acknowledge, and in the new light that all see to be evolved, can fail to read the sentence of condemnation written upon the old school of Christian doctrine of philosophy? As unseemly appendages have one after another been discarded, till they have now become so ungrateful to ears polite," that were they preached as they were fifty years ago, congregations would be both few and small. Now God has been revealed as infinite in kindness. His love from being extended only to a few, now compasses earth, heaven, hell, is as free as the air we breathe, and impartial as the sunlight. Now Jesus is regarded not as the Saviour of you and me, or of your sect and mine, but as the Redeemer who offers his mercy to all. One step more is required, and one only, and the division wall which narrow sectarists have imagined would exist hereafter, will be known no more save by the historian and the antiquarian. One step more, and men will see that as now the best affections of the heart cluster around the idea of universal holiness, so God will gather all spirits around his throne into one common temple, whose dome shall be the heavens, whose adornings shall be

perfection and love, and which shall be filled with all the fulness of God.

Again: Not only is the old theological, but the civil and political world is also, approaching its end. Men have learned the great truth that they were made for something else than to be the tools of kings and rulers. Long did it take them to learn the lesson, but well has it been conned. They have ascertained that they could possibly live without the ruler, though it would be somewhat difficult for the ruler to live without them.

They are beginning to realize the worth of man as man, that the human soul has a native dignity and an inherent worth far above all written documents and printed constitutions. It was this idea which overthrew the feudal institutions of the middle ages, which has been deepening and widening, till it has seen the poor soap-boiler's boy of Boston stand in the presence of Europe's crowned heads, and weave for his brow an unfading garland of the lightning's wing. And we, we listen with breathless attention to the burning words of our colored brother, who but eight years ago left the "patriarchal institution," and sat out in search of the polar star. And while we listen, our blood boils within us at the wrong done him and his race, and we hang our heads in inferiority to him.

And what an idea is that which is agitating the whole civilized world, that no property qualification is necessary to fit a man to decide who shall be his ruler,-that all have an indefeasible right to lift up their hands, though hardened by honest toil, and say what shall be law, and what not! How does it recognize the fact that the poor artisan has a heart beating with love and sympathy, has those that cling to him, and that make life's brittle thread as dear to him as it is to the rich and the titled! And it is this idea of man's worth, that he cannot be made a thing" without insulting God, that the soul is precious above everything else,that is hovering far in the van of all our noblest efforts for reform. It speaks in the plea of the temperance apostle, in the argument of freedom's advocate, and in the scorching words of the anti-gallows reformer.

Finally, look at our social state as it is, and at the promises for the future. I know there are many evils under which we are pining and groaning, and I am not so chimerical as to suppose that all these are to be removed by some miraculous interposition of divine providence. But I am so chimerical as to believe that human society is but just merging

into manhood, and that there is in store for us a state of things more glorious than human eye hath seen, or ear heard, save in vision. The Angel of Love is warring with the Demon of Evil? Is it doubtful which has the victory?

We are beginning to open our eyes, and to look upon the old and hoary evils around us with no sickly desire to gloss them over and palliate their enormities, and so deceive ourselves, but with a determination to lay the axe at the root of the tree and hurl it to the ground. We are asking ourselves if there cannot be some organization of society in which each man's interest will not be antagonistical to his brother's, but where the interest of one shall be the interest of each.

The conception of such an order of things is enough to cause the good man's heart to rejoice. When our eyes will behold the reality God only knoweth ; but I trust the present generation will not pass without some effort being made which shall tell in coming generations, far more than our poor worn-out organisms and sectarisms, for the welfare of the race.

For this reason, I look upon the various communities and associations that have recently been organized, with much favor. I am not yet a convert to their peculiar doctrines, though I know not but that I may be. Of one thing I am certain, the present constitution of society is rotten to its very core, and I know that it is by experiment, and by experiment only, that a better state of things can be evolved. There may be ninety-nine failures, and yet the hundredth experiment succeed. Therefore I say to those who are essaying to construct a fairer social fabric, Toil on, God bless you in your work, and enable you to realize the time when one class shall not be mere panders to the lusts and appetites of another, but when all shall stand on one level, and receive according to what they perform.

I may be dreaming, but if so, it is a pleasant dream, and has, I trust, the promise of fulfilment, that the time will come when poor day laborers and sickly women and children will not be starving for the want of honest employment. Says an able writer in London, "There is no cause so prolific of want and destitution as the small and unrighteous pay which is given for female labor. To many there is only a choice between death and pollution."

It is thus in many of our larger cities. The public has not the faintest idea of the squalidness and wretchedness, of the wo and sin, that are thus produced. We know not, the records of eternity alone will reveal,-how many have thus

been driven to those sinks of iniquity and dens of shame, where no breath of fresh air is inhaled, no light of the sun ever shines, and no sound of joy is ever heard.

The old fallow

But yet I look to the future with hope. ground has been broken up, and the good seed is being scattered by earnest and loving hearts on the upturned furrow. Eventually it will spring up, and bud, and blossom, and the air shall be laden with perfumes more sweet than float in the gardens of Ceylon, or "Araby the blest." Benevolence is the spirit of our age. Love is the watchword. "T is the " open sesame that unlocks the door of every heart. To the loving soul there is nothing hateful save sin, -to the hoping, nothing dark. He sees all things conspiring to one supreme design, to universal good.' To him Christ is coming, and the world is ending in a much sublimer sense than is generally understood. Reader, Christ is coming to you, and to me. He is coming to kindle in our hearts the fire of divine love, and to tune it to celestial melodies.

وو

May we be ready to welcome him. May we go forth with him in the work of salvation, for blessed are our eyes that see, and our ears that hear. Lo, the spirit of the Highest is with us!

THE STUDENT TO HIS SOUL.

BY E. CASE, JR.

It is the darksome hour of night!

Weary and pensive o'er the tedious page,

Through the long hours I've bent with toilsome thought.

Oh! Soul of mine, why dost thou urge me thus,

To waste away the happy, joyous hours,

To gather lore and wisdom, through long toil,

But to be used in frail life's fleeting day,

While Time and Death hang fearful o'er me!

SOUL.

Body! thou art my temple; I in thee
Am the sole master, sovereign ruler ;

And thou 'st designed subservient to my will.
Then why complain? I ask not for thee long!

But soon, a time-worn wreck, will cast thee by,
And thou return to thy dark nothingness.
But soft! Methinks from yonder starry dome
That spirit-worlds now veil from mortal gaze,
Sweet, whispering voices come in heavenly tones
And fall harmonious on the enchanted ear;
And all enraptured, I leap eager forth
To catch the all-absorbing sound of love,
From the dim portals of my own bright world.
Fair sister-spirits bend their melting eyes
And beck me upward to the starry spheres.
They whisper, "Come, child of the burning soul,-
Child of the harp and the poetic number!
Thy walks are not of earth; thy home is here,
In genial climes and fields emparadised.
Though thou hast deemed thyself full oft alone,
Yet o'er thy brooding hours we 've softly watched,
And mingled with thy musing thoughts till we
Are now of thee, almost, as 't were, a portion :
And thou hast o'er us exercised proud sway,
Making us beings pliant to thy will.

Come, with thy deep-hushed yearnings! Come,
Make our bright world thy world, and we
In kindred groups will gather round thee.
Here all enshrouded science reigns supreme,
Amid her cherished votaries and worshippers.
Here the bright beings of thine own imaginings
In houri bands shall wreathe the festal garlands,
And hold sweet converse with thee, pensive soul !

Alas, my temple! In thy carnal walls

I plume my pinions for their loftiest flight,
But thou dost hang like a dead weight upon me,
That holds me grovelling to the darksome earth.
Oh! would, frail structure, thou and I were twain !
I to my home beyond yon ethery realms,
And thou in thy ruin to crumble in oblivion.
Again, while yet I speak, a seraph's voice,
Sweeter than music, falls upon mine ear,
Wooing me back to my Elysiun fields,

Saying,-" "Come! O, Sister Spirit, come to us!
Thy home is here, and we are thine: Come, come !"
Clinton Liberal Institute, Nov. 8, 1844.

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In all societies it is advisable to associate, if possible, with the highest; not that the highest are always the best, but because, if disgusted, we can any time descend ;-but if we begin with the lowest, to ascend is impossible. In the grand theatre of human life, a box ticket takes us through the house. -Lacon.