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ascension! These are hopes and aspirations that have been born by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. These are longings which seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. In the power of these feelings, christian hearts, like the men of Galilee, stand gazing with a holy intensity of love, and longing after the ascending Christ up into heaven.

"Master-so we ever say-
Taken from the world away;
See, thy faithful servants, see,
Ever gazing up to thee;

Grant, though parted from our sight,
High above yon azure height-
Grant our souls may thither rise,

Following thee beyond the skies."

By our Saviour's ascension the mysterious aspirations of christian hearts heavenward have been intensified. He that has been lifted up draws all hearts toward himself. The members rise after the head. 'Toward his exalted and blest abode all hearts that live in Him are turned ; and all lips that are happy in his praise exclaim: "Whom having not seen, we love." Drawn by the words, "Where I am ye shall be also," they seek the things which are above, have their conversation in heaven, and look for their glorification with him in the glory which he had with the father before the world was, and which shall be revealed in all the saints.

The thought of being with him is as a new power in the soul to lift it above the love and dominion of sublunary things. The life of grace in It disdains what is beneath it, or on the saint rises towards its source.

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a level with it, seeing how Christ has opened the shining way upward before it. You shall be with me and behold my glory'-so calls the victor Jesus, from the holy heights of joy to which he has ascendedand the spirit replies-it is enough to be with thee is all-in thy presence is fullness of Joy

Forever with the Lord,

Amen! so let it be!

Life from the dead is in that word-
'Tis immortality!"

That he is there is all to us. "God is gone up." He has raised the In her have we already come unto church into the "heavenly places." Mount Zion, and into the City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, and to the general assembly and church of the first born!

Over his enemies and ours has he "God is gone up with a shout." triumphed. The glorious victor has returned home from the fields of the slain. He has led captivity captive-he has received gifts for men. These ever descending gifts show us the path upwards, and our hearts rest no more till they rest in heaven. Missing that, they never rest!

Now awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust. Be of good cheer, O heart, repressed by a painful sense of limitation-all your aspirations shall be satisfied! Every longing, now repressed, shall burst forth in victory. Every imprisoned thought shall shake off its fetters, and bound. forth into eternal freedom. Every fluttering endeavor of the heart after The earnest prophesies which our spirits an ascension shall be successful.

ever utter on earth, shall all be gloriously fulfilled in Heaven.

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The Glory of the Mind.

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THE GLORY OF THE MIND.

BY REV. DANIEL GANS.

WHATEVER estimate men, induced by the spirit of materialism and worldliness, may place upon other things; such as wealth, physical comfort, or mere social position, it still remains true, that mind is, after all, the highest in value; and that from it, under proper conditions, we derive our purest, most satisfactory and lasting pleasure. This is admitted by all. Money has its charms; position has its attraction; fine and comfortable surroundings are pleasant; and none, who knows the importance of mind, would reject all these, or refuse to make a reasonable effort to secure them; but mind is an interest which towers infinitely above them all. It is mind that radiates them-it it mind that shows their usesit is mind that gives them their application, so as to produce sensations of real pleasure, or true happiness. Mind is the priceless diamond, occupying the centre of all our possessions, giving to them, indeed, all the beauty and real excellence which they are found to possess. It is the sun, daily rising over them, revealing their uses and extracting their fragrance.

But, mind is not satisfied with the limited possessions, comprehended in the phrase, "personal property or real estate." It cannot be confined to the narrow legal boundaries of the man, under other views. It reaches farther; it comprehends more; it owns more

The right of the mind to possessions, is neither created nor determined by the Legislature-nor can it be. It carries the right within itself, and this right is bounded, or limited, by its own innate strength or weakNo civil engineer is authorized to drive stakes for it in any department, and say: "Thus far shalt thou come, but no farther."

ness.

The mind as such, has a right to possess all that it can know, or master, in the way of study; and this it does possess really and truly, without asking permission from any quarter.

A farm is bounded by civil authority, and the farmer dare not drive the plough one inch beyond the legal line; but the mind is at liberty to roam from field to field, from mountain to mountain, from sea to sea, comprehend both continents, and step from star to star; and looking over all, it can say: "I am monarch of all I survey-my right there is none to dispute." The real possessions of the mind are limited only by its own powers of acquisition. The uncultivated miser may own that beautiful landscape in a legal point of view-that is, in a material way; because he has paid his money for it; but the man of cultivated mind owns it really; for he only understands it-he only appreciates it truly -he only enjoys it-he only derives from it the highest and only true benefit which it is calculated and adapted to impart. The flower that blooms in vain for the uncultivated owner is to the man of science, a world of wonder, affording the most delightful employment in the way of examination, and creating at each new discovery, a thrill of the most ex

quisite joy. That flower, if it be a rare one, is of infinitely more real value than all the landscape besides; and in the labratory of science, may be made to yield more, even in the way of dollars and cents, which of course is always the last and lowest strength in the calculation, than its stupid legal owner can expect from his barley and potatoes, for half a century. It is mind that guides the plough as well the pen and the pencil; and the education that developes the strength and beauty of the mind, no less really brings out the physical resources of the country.

The mind alone is lord of this world, and the body is its servant. The uncultivated may legally own the clay and the clod; and in the ownership, assume the obligation to keep them in proper condition as security; but the man of mind, real cultivated mind, will enjoy the ri pened and delicious fruit. Humboldt may be the servant of a king nominally; but really is he not the king himself? Looking upon his real worth, of which his Kosmos is a particle type, how shriveled into infinite insignificance must appear in comparison, any, even the greatest of the petty kingdoms of Germany? Humboldt owns the world.

And what constitutes the real wealth of nations? Is it the body? Or is it the mind? And certainly it consists in nothing wholly beyond and independent of these. Wealth is wealth only in relation to man, and as it promotes in some form or other, the interest of man, either as an individual or nation: and the nation, after all, is only the full comprehension, under an organized form, of all the individuals in it. In what then consists truly the wealth of nations? Does it lie in just so much human body-so much combined blood, bone and muscle, capable of making just so much impression upon the material world, by which it is surrounded, without any definite plan, or comprehensive system? Or does it consist in mind, penetrating this human mass, setting before it a proper and definite object, and devising the best means to accomplish the object. The proper answer here is surely not very difficult. One man with a proper system, can, accomplish more than a dozen without such system, in every department. Where then lies the great power in the production of material wealth? Is it not in the mind?

Mind has felled the forest, laid open the rich mines, cultivated the plain, adapted the seed to the soil, and covered the whole earth, where it is covered, with the varied and abundant harvest. Civilization, with all its train of blessings, grows out of mind, liberated from the bondage of ignorance and superstition, by the power of education, and pervaded with the pure leaven of christianity. Mind has planned and built our cities, when once were the rude tents of the Indian, and filled them with all their comforts and conveniences. And what other agency has sent the railroad winding through every part of the country, like the veins through the human system; thus carrying the life from the heart, and circulating it through every member, imparting vigor, animation and beauty to the whole?

See that engine passing by your door with the rapidity of the wind, dragging after it its fifty and hundred cars, all laden with the bounteous products of the soil, enriched by mind, or the equally numerous and wonderful results of art; and what is the motive power? Some will answer steam. But, we say no, but mind. What is steam? The result of a certain condition of water. How is this power applied so as to

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produce the motion desired? Look at the whole complicated character of the engine. Whence came all these parts? By what agency have they been so united as to accomplish a given purpose? And now, when the iron horse marches forth in all the majesty of his mighty strength, drawing in his long train, almost half the world, with the rapidity of the light; what is it that governs its motion and stops it at pleasure? It is mind applied to it, perhaps only with the finger. Our wealth consists in our power, and our power lies in the mind.

If you turn your attention to the great ocean, and see it ploughed with the steamboat, against wind and tide-see it whitened with the sails. of commerce-nations formerly separated by thousands of miles, now brought so near as to be able to shake hands with each other, you can only behold the mind in its wonderful practical application more extensively illustrated. The mind of Franklin, by one effort, overcame the lightning; and in the great victory obtained over the seas, the mind of our own Robert Fulton stands out, perhaps the most prominent.

The same thing is seen in the telegraph, the annihilator of space and time, and in the "thousand and one" improvements in the way of machinery, of which the present age can boast, over ages in the past. These constitute the material wealth of a nation, and all these grow out of mind, just as the plant grows out of. the seed, or as the stream flows from the fountain. Mind is the great seed of the nation, from which grow both the oak, which is the emblem of majesty and strength, and the rose, which is the sign of beauty, love and pleasure.

What gave Rome the dominion she possessed in the days of the Cæsars, and afterwards? Was it not her mind? Why does England now sway such a mighty influence over all the civilized world? One mind, such as that of John Milton's, would be enough, of itself, to raise her to the proudest position and clothe her with a glory which might well be envied by all the other nations of the earth; but, instead of this one bright genius, England has been blessed with a long succession of brilliant and gifted sons, who, receiving the divine impulse from the age, have paid it back afterwards with double interest; and the last great representative of the power of mind, Thomas Babington Macaulay, to say the least, does not sully England's fair reputation in the republic of letters. And what would England be to day, were it not for the legacy left by her great men? Like the play of her own Hamlet, with Hamlet's part left out.

The same is true in the case of Germany, although mind here, whilst it is deeper and more for reading, has not connected itself outwardly and practically with the great movements of the age, as in the case of England. The full power of Germany is yet to be seen and felt: and while that of England shall lower and die, if great strength and schemes can die, that of Germany, being all the more mighty because of its slow growth practically, will rise and increase. The influence that Germany shall have when her theory shall connect itself with practice; or when the life in the root shall pass up the great trunk, and out into the great branches of her rational being, is a prophecy which her present material shows to be big with promise.

And looking upon America as she now stands, the youngest daughter in the family of nations, yet vieing with the oldest in point of greatness

and power, we ask, what shall she be when the full maturity of her intellectual life shall be reached, or when her broad forehead shall be silvered over with age?

If, as a nation, we can ever keep before us the important fact that mind is the great secret of strength, the great mine of wealth, and the true fountain of prosperity; and, if then we act upon the conviction with the solemn earnestness peculiar to a genuine faith, no future can be brighter than ours. The best products of the English and German mind have become ours long since; and incorporated with our youth, we are already men in intellect, active, energetic, progressive, and in the very best condition to apply to the highest practical account all that we may yet receive. Already has our country added to the great galaxy of human genius some of its brightest stars. We mourn their early loss by the mysterious hand of Providence, but we rejoice in the rich legacy they have left us the eminence to which they have raised us, and the intellectual impulse they have imparted to their sous. May we, as a nation never tarnish the mantle which they, rising, like Elijah, have made to pass upon us; but may each succeeding generation, enriched by the labors of the preceding, acquire increased mental wealth for their children, until America, blessed with the finest soil, the grandest scenery, and the freest government in the world, shall occupy a position equal to that of Rome even in her fabulous greatness. The glory of Greece and Rome, of England and Germany, pictured in their romance and poetry, is but a prophecy of the varied splendor of America, when the mind of America shall wake up to a consciousness of its great strength, and enter fully upon its grand

mission.

Already the glorious prophecy is realizing itself in part. The horizon of intellectual vision is rising higher and higher. Flowers of poetic beauty, and fruits of scientific discovery, are beginning to vie with the stately lily of her fields, "that toils not, nor spins," and with the golden harvest that covers her valleys. The deep prophecy has entered the masses and is beginning in earnest to lead them to the condition of its complete fulfilment. Schools of learning are rising up in every nook and corner, and from every city and hamlet crowds of the young go forth to enrich their minds, and join the noble army already in the field. We hail the coming prospect with a hearty good cheer, and pray that the day may not be distant, when every mind, made to think, to know, to enjoy, and thus to reflect the glory of God's works, shall fully realize its high calling to be made to contribute its part to the grand result to be accomplished by the American intellect.

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