"'Tis now the time of strife and war,
The conteft founds on every fide;
Nations are bound to Satan's car,
And who shall meet him in his pride ?
Is there no arm his power to break ?
Are there no hearts that deeply feel?
Sons of the kingdom! rise, awake!
Obey, at length, your Saviour's will.
Go, bear the gospel banner forth,
Its glittering web of light unrol,
To gleam fublime from fouth to north,
And scatter light from pole to pole."

"Whosoever, therefore, shall be ashamed of me, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed."-MARK viii. 38.

Right in the narrow way the Cross it stands,
And all the space completely it commands;
On either fide behold! vast rocks arife,
Expand their width, and reach the topmost skies :
See numbers there, who fain the Crown would have,
But will not touch the Cross their fouls to save;
They feek some other way, but 't will not do,
They wander on, and find eternal woe.

But one is seen advancing right ahead,
And like his Lord-the Cross he will not dread;
He takes it up-'t is feathers-nothing more-
He travels onward faster than before;
He loves the Cross, nor ever lays it down,
Till he receives instead the starry Crown.

On a gently rising ground, a Cross of fomewhat large dimensions is seen to stand erect; above it, and suspended in the air, a bright Crown sparkles with a brilliant light. On both sides of the Cross rocks, vast and precipitous, lift up their tops to the heavens; on either side they extend as far as the eye can reach. Many persons are seen going round the base of the mountain chain; their object appears to be to get the Crown; it is theirs if they will but get it according to the condition proposed. They have been trying to go through the narrow passage, but the wooden cross blocks up the entrance; they never think of moving that, although they try to climb the mountain barrier, which is much more difficult. See! one is now attempting to afcend, but it is all in vain-there is no other way than through the chafm. Away they go, wandering round and round; fome are seen falling off a precipice, they are dashed to pieces; others lose themselves among dark labyrinths, and some are torn to pieces by wild beasts. All come to a bad endnot one of them obtains the Crown.

One, however, is seen alone, marching up to the terrible Cross; he walks with a firm step. Decifion is his name; he goes right up to the Cross, he quickly throws it down-it is only a few inches in the ground; he takes it up, its weight is nothing, for it is hollow. He carries it to the place appointed, lays it down, and receives the glittering Crown, and bears it away in triumph.

By the Cross here is signified religious duties; by the Crown-immortality in heaven; thofe who pass by the Cross and wander round the wall, represent those who think of heaven, but neglect duty; the man who boldly takes up the Cross-the faithful Christian. Many persons think about heaven, who, alas! will never arrive there; nay, they do more, they actually set out for it-perhaps make a profeffion of religion; they do not like the idea of being loft; submit to a partial reformation, and make an approach toward the performance of religious duties. They just obtain a fight of them, and they are frightened; this is the Cross. What is there in the Cross so dreadful! Let us fee. Of all who present themselves as candidates for heaven, it is required that they become poor in spirit-humble as a little child-penitent for fin "perfect and pure, as He is pure"-that they do deny felf-crucify the flesh-mortify the body-fubdue inordinate defires-set the affections on things above-hun

ger and thirst after righteousness-forgive enemies -submit to perfecution for Christ's fake-to exercise a conftant watchfulness over themselves, and against the world and the devil. The hand, if it offends, must be cut off-the eye plucked

out.

They are told of the straight gate-the narrow way-the yoke-the burden-the race-the warfare, &c. Yea, the whole man is to be brought under new influences, governed by new principles, and to live for new ends. Self-denial, self-difcipline, and self-conquest, are made indifpensable prerequifites for the kingdom of Heaven. This is the Cross, it stands in the path of life; to proceed, it must be embraced. Christ is "the way" to God. His atonement, example, doctrines, commandments there is no other way, there can be no other-a wall of adamant, wide as earth, high as heaven, meets us in our attempts to find one; on which stands inscribed in letters of light, "He that entereth not by the door, but climbeth up some other way, the fame is a thief and a robber."

Religious duties are irksome and disagreeable to the carnal mind-to the unconverted; it is their nature to be so. By them a man may know what he is, whether he is converted or not; the Cross is a mirror. Religious duties are imposed, not that by performing we may earn a title to heaven, but because they are necessary for the purification of our moral nature, through the grace of Christ, that we may become meet