for himself makes secure the foundation of his own hopes, let our prayers ascend for our country, that amid all the flashings of its brightness, it may be irradiated by the light of religion, blessed by the prayers of its citizens, worshipped with the gratitude of every patriot heart; and then the return of this glorious day shall be hallowed by increasing associations of moral sublimity, till every beam shall have met in one common focus, even the salvation and happiness of every individual who forms a part of, and lives within, the boundaries of the great Republic of the western world.

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There can be no enthusiasm excited by this subject that shall seem disproportioned to the thrilling importance which gathers around the contemplations of this day.One of the noblest moral pictures of antiquity is that of Curtius leaping into the gulph that had yawned in the Roman Forum-and the patriot poet could not have found in the rainbow regions of fancy a more glorious picture than that drawn by Robert Treat Paine, which represents Washington standing at the portals of our national temple, catching, on the point of his sword, the lightnings of faction and guiding them harmlessly to the deep. But higher honors await the American patriot who walks around the bulwarks of our empire, lifts the voice of warning at every suspicious appearance, and moulds its highest towers to the transcendant model of Republican beauty and christian simplicity. Bombastic, inflated forms of speech, although used to surfeiting on the subject of our national independence, do not belong

to it any more than the gaudy coverings and silken frippery belong to the perfect forms of ancient statuary. The sublimity of circumstance and of fact is enough to chain the tongue to its most chastened simplicity, while the ardor of the grateful, distended heart burns in the eyes, and lends eloquence to language.

of

We have alluded to infidelity, as a serpent foe in the midst of us-but although we warn, we do not fear. This serpent shall trail the dust beneath the chariot wheels pure Republicanism-and a little further onward, chained to the millennial car, the monster's blood and the torn fragments of his sinous hody, shall be scattered in the whirlwind revolutions of angry wheels. There is a natural land where there is no serpent. There shall be an entire world where no moral serpent's hiss shall startle innocence, or interrupt the singing of the turtledove for a thousand years. We boldly, on this day of national joy and independent emotion, dare the monster, infidelity, to do his worst to enslave the empire of free christian minds around us. We have a bill of rights which we dare vindicate, and a bill of a thousand wrongs to thunder at the head of the infidel, while he remains an incorrigible one. We have a declaration of independence from the slavery of vile principles and moral pollution in the words of a greater than Jefferson. We, as christians, this day stand to our arms. We abjure the blighting breath of scepticism;-we defy the legions of hell, in the name of the living God, and foresee the day when the sneers of the enemies of the cross shall change

to the settled, deeply-graven lines of despair-the galling mockery of scorn, and the burning venom of unavailing envy.

Then, Christian patriot, comes your triumph! The meek then shall inherit the earth. The bat-winged minions of darkness shall retreat before this morning of moral independence; and one wide generous glow of radiance diffuse itself above, around the lovely and loving disciples of the ever-blessed Jesus. Then shall earth be like heaven. Then the rejoicings of this day, shall break out in every desert, and barren land, while the ancient fertility hastens back to earth, as when Adam first sung his morning hymn in Eden. Then the sons of God will shout for joy, as in the morning of the young creation. Then a more heavenly song than the hoarse trumpets breathe, or the deep-mouthed cannon utters, shall roll its harmonies through the vocal creation, swelling its solemn sweetness to every ear-'PEACE ON EARTH, GOOD WILL TO MAN.'

'One song employs all nations; and all cry,
'Worthy the lamb, for he was slain for us!'
The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks
Shout to each other, and the mountain tops
From distant mountains catch the flying joy;
Till, nation after nation taught the strain,
Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round.
See Salem built, the labor of a God!
Bright as a sun the sacred city shines;
All kingdoms and all princes of the earth
Flock to that light; the glory of all lands
Flows into her; unbounded is her joy,
And endless her increase.'

GLORY.

'Tis a stain on hill or strand,
A flash upon the sea,

The gleaming of a gorgeous brand
Through charging chivalry.

'Tis a flower of tearful leaves

That tells of sudden deathWhile friendship o'er the fallen grieves And wastes elegiac breath.

'Tis a wreath of battle smoke

Thrown ruddy up to heaven,

What time Bellona's thunders broke Through clouds of sulphur riven.

'Tis eloquence or song

In soft-or brazen strains, Sweeping a thousand hearts along In ecstacy-or chains.

'Tis a flash of wisdom's eye In council chambers bright, To guide a nation's destiny

Through triumph, wane, and night.

'Tis beauty's pearl eyed, sunlit form
On death's cold shadow gazing-
Or rainbow arches after storm,
In humid splendor blazing.

'Tis death and life so strongly blent

That mortals in the strife

Know not for whom the boon is sent

Till they have done with life.

'Tis cyprus, urn, and bust,

The mausoleum of fame,

To lend a pile of buried dust
A never ending name.

ADVENTURES OF A CONTRIBUTION BOX,

I am a square-built old gentleman, and have a very prominent member to my face which is, by many who have the same feature in full perfection, considered a sign of sagacity. I say no more about my personal appearance, but will briefly tell what I have seen, heard, and what I have done. I sit in the altar at church looking anxiously around on every new face-I know all the old ones--and on no human being do I so imprint my countenance as it were as on the clergyman if he is a stranger. I read the lines of his countenance, notice the movement of his head, and count his steps up the pulpit stairs, to know if he makes two steps to a stair, or two stairs to a step. I then count the audible beatings of his heart, and cast about in my mind what his message is and what he has come for. If he smoothes down his hair to prevalent fashion or adjusts it a la mode in any way, I have not great hopes that he will aid me, or that I can be of any great benefit to him; but if he passes his hand unconsciously through his hair, making it assume an erect and fierce position, I regard him as a workman who is determined for one not to be ashamed of his calling.

I proceed to relate the proceedings of a certain Sabbath morning. Far and wide through the papers and in a previous meeting had the fame and the benevolent errand of the minister preceded his appearance. He did He did not appear in an obscure pulpit-nor was there a contribution box in the altar below him which had not been in good society. He was

not come unawares.