A CHRISTIAN'S FREEDOM.

"Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."-2 Corinthians, iii. 17.

SEEK'ST thou freedom, far more glorious

Than the hero ever found,

When, in battle-field victorious,

His the brow with laurel crown'd?

Know-a Spirit, ever nigh thee,
If His aid thou meekly crave,
With that freedom would supply thee,
Which no bondage can enslave.

Christ that Spirit still remaineth ;
Liberty, which He would give,
Earthly thraldom ne'er enchaineth,
For in dungeons it can live.

Where his Spirit dwells—no token
Of earth's bondage can appal ;
Doors are open'd, chains are broken,—
Overthrown the prison wall.

These may, in the world's opinion,
Slavery's bitter doom fulfil;

Christians, through their Lord's dominion,
Claim a glorious freedom still.

Freedom from each fatal error,

Freedom found and felt within; Freedom from the grave's dark terror; Freedom from the yoke of sin.

Where these are-oh, what are fetters,
Which the mortal body wears?
What brief tyranny's abettors?-

Objects of their love, and prayers!

OUR TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS.

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.' -2 Corinthians, iv. 7.

WERE it not thus, how soon might we
Humility and fear disown;

And in Thy gifts our glory see,

When glory, Lord, is thine alone.

But Thou hast wisely seen it right,
In earthen vessels here to place

Thy own inshining gospel light,

The golden treasure of Thy grace.

That so each power's true excellence
May be of God, and not of man,
Humility to us dispense,

And magnify thy gospel's plan.

How gracious unto lost mankind,
The love which bade a gem so rare,
In such frail caskets be enshrin'd,

Till thou shouldst worthier ones prepare.

These earthen vessels, late or soon,
Shall in their native dust decay;
But thy imperishable boon
Shall long outlive their transient day.

The Spirit, earth's ethereal guest,
Whom thy inshining light hath led,
No more in fleshly garments drest,
Shall rise immortal from the dead.

And there, before Thy holy throne,
Shall yet more worthily employ
Those gifts, whose glory is thy own,

In songs of praise, and grateful joy.

A CAUTION AND PROMISE.

"And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap if we faint not."-Galatians, vi. 9.

HE who would endless glory reap,
Must here the word of patience keep;
That word which gives the eye to see
The glorious harvest yet to be.

The husbandman, his seed who sows,
Must wait with patience while it grows ;
And he who would the oak uprear,

Must cherish hope from year

to year.

The architect who lays the while
The basement of a lofty pile,

By slow, laborious toil alone

Can reach the turret's topmost stone.

L