at the very occasion and opportunity of faith and hope in God. Shall I say I have no minor object-seek no lower end that I aim at waking a saving faith; at your being fed with the bread, and clothed in the garments of immortality? Do I seek less-and would I satisfy you with something less substantial and glorious? How can I, amidst these divine lessons? If I did not call upon you to seek FIRST FIRST FIRST, the kingdom of God; if I did not, with all earnestness, urge home upon you the offer and the claim of the Redeemer and the Spirit; - if I did not demand the hearing ear, and the understanding heart; if I did not urge a saving faith amidst all the occasions of your mortal life; if I did not call every soul of you to immortal joys, I should be put to shame by every flower that blossoms on the bosom of summer, and by every bird that sings along your path, and by every breath of your own life, and by every member and organ of your body. - What! shall I shall you, put the kingdom of God last-behind every employment and desire and hope; behind our daily bread and our raiment behind our youth and our middle age and our gray hairs and behind the very grave itself, when every flower of the field, and every bird of the air, call upon us to put that kingdom first? Nay, when the Savior has come to smile upon us in the bloooming fields, — to speak to us in the songs of the birds to breathe upon us with his Spirit in this balmy air of summer - and to renew our souls by the mystery of our wonderful will you body, and still more wonderful life-Say, thonghtless, stupid, and ungrateful man, if such can possibly be before me. dare you put last that kingdom? As you look upon your body, still perfect as the dwelling of your inward soul; as you reflect upon that life which animates your frame your heart still beating, after 30,000 strokes in the silence of the night: as you awake, conscious that you are still with God: as you ply those limbs which carry you out into His open temple; as the notes of the birds descend to the depths of your soul, through that mys terious passage, the ear, and ten thousand flowers paint themselves in the depths of that picture gallery, the eye; - say, such a man with such a body such a life-amidst such a scene, - will you, can you, dare you, put last the kingdom of God and his righteousness? Tell me, beloved youth, whose pulse is high with health, whose cheeks glow with vigor and beauty, whose heart throbs with hope, will you obey the Redeemer? Will you take the word of God that it may dwell in you, and that you may overcome the wicked one? Your undimmed eye is fitted to admire the beauty of the flowers, your perfect ear to hear the melody of the birds; your buoyant spirits, your active limbs are alert to go forth amidst the lilies of the field, and the fowls of the air. In solitude, sometimes, with your whole heart awake; your whole soul drinking in the beauty and the songs:-sometimes in company, amidst the glow and sympathy of youthful or older spirits, you will be inspired by these summer scenes. Yes; and the Saviour will breathe upon you, will talk with you; in the beauty of the lilies of the field, in the soft melodies of the fowls of the air. Say, will you turn and listen to the call; will you receive the Holy Ghost? Will you know who it is that meets you in the sights and sounds of summer? and will you ask of him blessings that will never pass away? Will you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness? will you lay up a treasure in heaven? Shall the flowers fade away and the birds be gone to other climes, before you give heed to the lesson they have brought you? before you have come boldly to the throne of grace, and received the Spirit, and become an heir of God through Christ Jesus? Tell me, ye men of toil and business, who complain till now of labors and cares and perplexities and anxieties which make impossible the seeking first the kingdom of God; will you yield to the rebuke of unbelief, about your common path; and acknowledge the occasion and opportunity for faith which God in wisdom has ordained? Will you obey the flowers in which the Savior smiles; and the birds by which he sings sweet music beside the path of your sufferings and toils? Tell me, ye men of many years, whose bodies are still unharmed after ten thousand exposures; whose mysterious life keeps beating at the heart after fifty or a hundred million of strokes; whose blood has been revived so often by your unheeded breathing of the vital air; but whose bodies yet show the signals of decay; whose pulse of life beats yet more feebly; will ye receive the invitation and the rebuke of the fowls of the air, and the lilies of the field? will ye hear the compassionate warning, the kind invitation of Him, who "is touched with the feeling of your infirmities?" and ere that decaying body die, that wasting life vanish away, will you secure to yourselves an everlasting life? And now, to that Spirit which takes of the hings of Christ, to show them unto us, I commend the invitation and the rebuke of the fowls of the air, and the lilies of the field-these LESSONS OF FAITH BESIDE THE COMMON PATH OF LIFE:-in the prayer and hope that blessings beyond all price may be received through them. By His Almighty aid, may these cheering sights and sounds, this merry lesson of the fields and groves fulfil the office to which they were appointed, when our Lord descended from the mount; - make you seek first the kingdom of God and lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. *12 THE OBSERVER OF THE TIMES. [The following articles were published in the autumn of 1832, as Nos. 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, of the OBSERVER OF THE TIMES, in the New York Observer, and are added to the present work in further illustration of its principles, and especially from the plans and expectations of the age.] THIS WORLD. THIS WORLD is not a fleeting show, The smiles of joy, the tears of woe, With promise shine, with warning flow,- The light that shines on glory's plume, And love, and hope, and beauty's bloom, Earth glows more BRIGHT in Heaven! Poor wanderers of a stormy day, From wave to wave we 're driven; Who guides our feet with saving light, |