Is doom'd to dissolve, like some bright exhalation

That dazzles and fades in the morning's first beam. The gloom of dark forests, the grandeur of mountains, The verdure of meads, and the beauty of flowers; The seclusion of valleys, the freshness of fountains,

The sequester'd delights of the loveliest bowers: Nay more than all these; that the might of old ocean, (Which seems as it was on the day of its birth,) Must meet the last hour of convulsive commotion, Which sooner or later will uncreate earth.

Yet, acknowledging this, it may be that the feelings
Which these have awaken'd; the glimpses they've given,
Combin'd with those inward and holy revealings

That illumine the soul with the brightness of heaven,
May still be immortal ;--and destin'd to lead us
Hereafter to that which shall not pass away;
To the loftier destiny God hath decreed us,
The glorious dawn of an unending day.

And thus, like the steps of the ladder, ascended
By angels, (beheld with the Patriarch's eye,)
With the perishing beauties of earth may be blended
Sensations too pure, and too holy to die.

Nor would infinite wisdom have plann'd and perfected,
With such grandeur, and majesty, beauty, and grace,
The world we inhabit, and thus have connected

The heart's better feelings with nature's fair face,

If the touching emotions thus deeply excited

Towards HIM who made all things, left nothing behind, Which, enduring beyond all that sense has delighted,

Becomes intellectual, immortal as mind:

But they do and the heart that most fondly has cherish'd
Such feelings, nor suffer'd their ardour to chill,

Will find, (when the forms which inspir'd them have perish'd,)
Their spirit and essence remains with it still.

BARTON.

MAN is an inhabitant of two worlds: he has an intellectual as well as a corporeal existence: by the faculties of his mind he is made capable of holding communication with the Great INHABITANT of Eternity; and by his corporeal faculties, with the inhabitants of the visible and material world. A Christian born again from above knows this: he knows and feels that his spiritual existence depends as much on the breath of heaven, as his corporeal existence depends on the atmosphere of the earth: The breath of heaven is prayer; a Christian can no more live without prayer, than he can breathe without the atmosphere.

"Prayer is the Christian's vital breath

The Christian's native air;

His watch-word at the gate of death—

He enters Heaven with prayer."

It is true that his direct and immediate intercourse with the Father of Spirits is often suspended while he is performing the inferior duties of his complex nature and condition; but no sooner are those duties done, and his unbound spirit freed again, than he turns to his Father and his God, as the magnetic needle turns towards the pole when minor attractions are withdrawn. In God he " lives, and moves, and has his being." Knowing and feeling his dependence on spiritual aid for the animating principle of the divine life, he seeks that aid continually; VOL. I.

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but where he has any important duty to perform he seeks it more ardently, because he feels his need the greater. Now, what duty can be more important than the duty of Sunday School Teachers; what employment more properly the subject of prayer than this? They are engaged in sowing the seed which is to spring up unto everlasting life; they are laying the foundation of a building which is to last for ever. Can they venture on such an employment without prayer? It is to be feared, says a pious writer, that by too many the importance of prayer-meetings among Sunday School Teachers is not considered in its proper light; and the value of united prayer at a throne of grace is not sufficiently estimated. There is scarcely any work which needs more the spirit of prayer than the instruction of the young. This will be admitted when we contemplate the habits, dispositions, and tempers of the children, who are taught in our Sunday Schools. Teachers, in various instances, have to encounter obstinacy of conduct, stubbornness of heart, and inflexibility of character, which can only be subdued by the Spirit of God operating on the minds of such children; and it is well known that the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit is communicated in answer to ardent prayer.Ask, and it shall be given you." "If only two shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them." "For where two or three are gathered together, in the name of Christ, there is He in the midst of them." It is therefore earnestly recommended to the superintendants and teachers of every Sunday School to have regular and frequent meetings for prayer among themselves, for an effusion of the Holy Spirit upon themselves and their scholars. Were this generally done, it could not fail to be productive of essential good. Teachers, by being taught of God would be better enabled to teach others; and children, by being governed and instructed in love, would become more obedient and attentive to the admonitions imparted to them and thus both teachers and learners would have to rejoice together, and prove, by delightful experience, that the hour spent in prayer to Almighty God was not spent in vain.

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But the performance of this social duty must not supersede the duty of private devotion. The Sunday School Teacher who really desires to promote the glory of God in the salvation of the Souls of those whom he instructs, will frequently go into his closet, and when he hath shut the door, pray unto his Father, who is invisible, for success in his undertaking as a teacher; and his Father to whom, though he is invisible, nothing is secret, will reward him openly. Let this be accompanied with a daily perusal of, and deep and humble meditation upon the sacred writings; for in them, when opened to the inquiring mind by the Holy Spirit and prayer, is to be found "eternal life." If in the perusal of them, any one feels his want of wisdom to discern their true spiritual meaning, "let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him; but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." It is not to those who only want, but to those who ask for wis dom that the promise is made; but the petition must be put up with implicit confidence in HIM who made it.

In the exercise of private prayer none of those difficulties or hindrances which too often interfere with social prayer can ever occur; and it is one of the best means of preparation for the exercise of social worship. He who cannot tell out his sorrows, and express his wants and desires in private to his heavenly Father, when he approaches the mercy-seat in the Saviour's name, has just reason to suspect the safety of his own state; and ought not to lose a moment till he hath ascertained and amended it; nor ought he to rest till he hath opened a communication with heaven."

"What various hindrances we meet

In coming to a mercy-seat!

Yet, who that knows the worth of prayer.
But wishes to be often there!

Have you no words? ah! think again;
Words flow apace when you complain,
And fill your fellow-creature's ear
With the sad tale of all your care;
Were half the breath thus vainly spent
To heaven in supplication sent,

Your cheerful songs would often be,

Hear what the Lord hath done for me."--Cowper.

HINTS FOR THE FORMATION OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS-Continued.

and

WHEN the parents have been visited, and the names of those children who are to compose the school inserted in the register, or on the roll of the superintendant, it will be necessary when calling the children together, to examine, to class, and to discipline them previous to hearing a lesson; for until they have become perfectly accustomed to the order of the school, its regulations, it will be useless to put a book into their hands. To examine and to class the scholars will perhaps occupy one Sunday. By observing the following rule, this task, so difficult in a large collection of children, will be made quite easy. The superintendant should provide himself with four class books, one for the names of those who read the Bible with facility, to form the first class; one for those who require such books as contain progressive lessons of reading, to form the second; one for those who spell from one to four syllables, to form the third; and one for those who learn the alphabet, to form the fourth class.

The scholars are to be examined separately, and their names entered in the class books in the order they have been examined; the classes may then be divided into sections of ten, and if there is a sufficient number of teachers, one should take charge of each section.

It is the custom in most schools of which the writer has any knowledge to intrust the senior classes to the senior teachers, and the junior classes to the junior teachers by this arrangement those who are learning the alphabet are generally under the care of teachers little older than themselves; occasionally they have been entrusted to the care of boys taken from the senior classes.

It is said, that as these children are learning the alphabet, those who can teach it are sufficiently well qualified; and that it would be only wasting the time of those who are qualified to teach the senior classes to be engaged in this minor department. This may be correct so far as learning the alphabet is concerned bat we wish to teach them something more than