eminence without character, and national glory without virtue. But the laws of God have their sanctions, and are immutable. The individual or the nation which transgresses them must suffer their penalty. Industry, justice, honesty, are indispensable elements of real prosperity; and. a nation may as little hope to be rich, and strong, and happy, without them, as an individual.

The road we had chosen had led us into difficulties which all had come to see; and the need of some strong and skilful hand to lead us out of them was felt by all. But alas! how little did we realize that without HIS help who had "chosen our inheritance for us," all human powers must be unavailing. We added to all our sins the folly of looking to a mortal to save us: and God has smitten our hope, and laid our expectations in the dust. May we learn that the prosperity, the returns of which we were seeking from the talents and virtues of an individual, can be recovered only by the righteousness which exalteth a nation; and secured alone by the government and blessing of him who gives to the wise their wisdom, and to the mighty their power!

4. May we not also hope that this event will convey a lesson to those who occupy the high places of power—a lesson on the vanity of human greatness, and the value of "the honor that cometh from God only?"

They who are in exalted stations are not among the most favorably circumstanced for attending to their religious interests. And hence it is not unfrequently observed that men who are distinguished for secular wisdom, know least of the wisdom that is from above. Among those who have obeyed the injunction to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, are "not many wise men after the flesh, nor many mighty, nor many noble." And we have no need to seek an explanation of the fact in the divine sovereignty, when so many causes are in operation to render them inattentive to the wants of their immortal nature. Superiority of station is not favorable to humility; the consciousness of power is not favorable to meekness; the control of mankind is not favorable to a sense of dependence; their adulation is not favorable to selfabasement. Yet these are indispensable to the safety of the soul. Without them we cannot be "meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." The press of business, also, seems to leave little time to think of the things which are unseen and eternal; and the blandishments of society and the fascinations of pleasure leave less inclination.

To those who are in such circumstances, even this national calamity may be a blessing, by calling up a sense of their condition as dying men, who need, as much as the humblest of their fellow creatures, the graces of piety, to fit them alike for the destinies of the present life and for the destinies of that which is to come. Death has not, indeed, been a stranger in our high places. The arrow of the insatiate archer has often entered our capital: and great men have fallen in the midst of our national assemblies. But never before has it reached that height where one stands alone -the observed of all observers-on the pinnacle of human greatness. Never before have the aspiring been taught the vanity of human greatness by such a fall. A new light has been thrown over the objects of ambition; and a voice from the invisible world has been heard: "The Lord of Hosts hath purposed it to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth."

I cannot persuade myself to close our attempt to derive improvement from this afflictive dispensation, without expressing the conviction that we shall fail of much of the benefit that may be drawn from it, if it teach us not to sympathize with those upon whom it has fallen most heavily; and, if it prepare us not, as a nation, to give expression to our sympathies in a way more affective than eulogy of the dead, or resolutions of condolence for mourning survivors.

Ours are obligations which cannot be thus discharged. The lamented Harrison was, in no ordinary degree, the benefactor of his country. While yet a stripling, he gave himself to her service in the hardships and perils of border warfare. And when the sword gave place to the pipe of peace, he served her in the forming of treaties; in procuring the cession of lands; and in the survey and sale of them. In this way he very greatly added to her territory, wealth, and power.

So constant was his employment through a long life in the public service, and so prominent was the part he acted in all the events by which the region west of the Ohio has risen from a trackless wild into populous and happy sovereignties, that the history of the great North West may be said to be his own history. In this service he had almost unparalelled opportunities for enriching himself, but he was content with humble competency: and while he added to the wealth of his country, he himself remained comparatively

poor. He has had but few equals in any age for self-sacrificing devotion to his country's interests; and his name will be enrolled in history as the Fabricius of America. Let the nation remember the example which the country of that model of patriotic virtue has set her; and, while she honors the dust of the glorious dead, let her evince her sense of the value of his services by a generous requital of them to those who are first in the inheritance of his fame, but are also deepest in sorrow and suffering by his death.

There is one, a lone and aged widow,-to whom this stroke has come as it can come to none of us. To smooth the path of her, -the helper of the nation's benefactor,-has become a national duty. Let it be the nation's pleasure.

Loved and honored consort of our country's chosen head, receive our sympathies! Thy tears fall not alone. Millions weep with thee; and, if they might, would gather to support thy footsteps, and speak some word of comfort.

On the bosom of Almighty Love, where HE-thine own and ours -sank to rest, there is room for thine agonized heart. To the God of the widow we commend thee! Give thy days to him: and, though the well known footfall may never again break the silence of thy chambers, the presence of Christ the Redeemer shall soften and disperse their gloom; the Dayspring from on high shall cheer thy pathway to the land where, among the angels of God, the pure in heart shall find their lost love again, and be parted no more for ever!

NOTICE BY THE EDITOR.

Six years have rolled away since the painful event transpired which formed the unwelcome occasion of the foregoing discourse, and caused an unwonted tide of the sincerest sympathy to flow in the hearts of all American citizens. Time has in a measure subdued the emotion, and with its oblivious power effaced the freshness of its impressions. It is well to have them, in some degree, reproduced, and to recur often to the most important lessons taught by such national calamities. The excellent and eloquent discourse is not dependent upon the touching event that occasioned its delivery for its interest or value; but contains truths, happily expressed, of vital interest at all times to the citizens of these republican states; and also, as showing the propriety of sanctifying public and political events, by appropriate pulpit discourses: and as exhibiting a successful specimen of this class of sermons, it will be received with pleasure by the clergymen who patronize the PULPit.

SERMON LX.

BY REV. DAVID DYER,

PASTOR OF THE VILLAGE CHURCH, DORCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

THE DIVINE BEAUTY AND DESIRABLENESS OF HOLINESS.

Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. Psalms xc: 17.

THIS is a most emphatic and comprehensive prayer. It breathes the mind of God. It was prompted by an enlarged view of the wants and destinies of man. It ascended from a heart that burned with deep, compassionating, holy love. It is the expression of a soul that cherished a vivid sense of eternal things, of the obligations and blessedness of piety, and that admired and loved the ways of God. In it we see not only the sentiments and dispositions of the man, but the mind of "the spirit who maketh intercession in the saints according to the will of God." And for what did he pray? Was it for the wealth, the honors, or the pleasures of this world? Was it that the objects of his kind solicitude should enjoy great possessions, high temporal distinctions, extensive control among the nations of the world, or be renowned for their wisdom or valor? These things, however important and desirable in the estimation of the world, were not the subjects of his prayer. He knew and felt that they did not concern man's highest duty; that their possession does not constitute man's highest dignity; and that they would not advance man's everlasting good. He sought a higher, more satisfying and enduring boon than this; something which unites the man to God, which imparts to him the mind of Christ, which adorns him with the graces of the Holy Ghost, and prepares him for celestial honors before the throne. He desired they might possess the image of God, be animated by a living, godlike principle, and walk in the beauties of holiness. He felt that in this was their peace, their security, their glory, and their heaven. And he felt aright. For, whatever men of the world may think, this is the sum total of present and eternal good. Having this, we shall pos

sess that which will expand and elevate the mind, purify and delight the heart, prepare us to meet with intelligent tranquility the trials of life and the arrest of death, and after having blessed us on earth, will invest us with everlasting wealth in heaven. What a boon! How desirable and important! May we importunately pray, "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us." text presents two points for our consideration.

The

I. THAT THE POSSESSION AND EXHIBITION OF GOSPEL HOLINESS IS AN EXPRESSION OF DIVINE BEAUTY.

II. THAT THIS BLESSING SHOULD BE SUPREMELY AND PRACTICALLY

DESIRED.

I. THAT THE POSSESSION AND EXHIBITION OF GOSPEL HOLINESS IS AN EXPRESSION OF DIVINE BEAUTY.

What this gospel holiness is, we find plainly presented in the word of God. There it is taught both by the direct assertion of the spirit, and by the example of the saints. It is possessing the mind that was in Jesus Christ. It is loving God with all the heart, the soul, and strength. It is putting off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts: and putting on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. It is doing all things to the glory of God.

Would you know the separate features of this moral beauty? It is "that wisdom, which is from above, and is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy." It is that purity which loathes sin, and avoids "the appearance of evil." It is that humility which exclaims, "If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord who shall stand?" It is that meekness which is patient under injuries, and receives with cheerful submission "the ingrafted word which is able to save the soul." It is that filial submission which says to God "Not my will but thine be done." It is that devotion which finds its meat in doing the will of God. It is that moral sympathy which "rejoices with them who do rejoice, and weeps with them who weep." It is that manly energy which "keeps under the body and brings it into subjection," and "walks worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." It is that heavenly ardor "which presseth forward towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Amidst all the beauties which surround us, there is none so striking nor attractive as this; neither is there any so beautiful or