"Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit."-EPH. iv. 3. "So we, being many, are one body in Chrift."-ROM. xii. 4.

UNANIMITY.

Look! where the foldiers form a hollow fquare,
And thus the fortunes of the day repair;

On every fide a bristling front prefent,

On which the fury of the foe is spent ;

"Union is ftrength"-'gainft odds they win the day, And proud their banners o'er the field difplay:

The camp, the Chriftian Church may fometimes teach,
To gain a triumph, or to mount a breach :
So when the armies of the crofs unite,
They quickly put the alien foe to flight;
When, up and doing, united and awake,
They drive back Satan, and his kingdom shake;
The ftandard-bearer with his brethren stands,
By love united. Love binds hearts and hands,
The flag of Jefus high aloft he bears,
That tells of vict'ries won, by groans and tears

Of future victories, too, this is the fign,
When all the kingdoms, Saviour, shall be thine;
Then let the heroes of the cross unite,

And quickly put the alien foes to flight;
And win the world in great Meffiah's right..

THE foldiers are here feen formed into what is termed a hollow fquare. They have been wellnigh beaten on the field of battle; this position is reforted to as a laft effort; on every fide they present an array of glittering arms. The foe advances; ftill they ftand their ground; they repel the onset; they change the fortunes of the day. By union, they rout the enemy, and gain a complete victory.

Behold," fays the Pfalmift, "how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." It is not only good and pleasant, but effential to fuccefs. Chriftians have a work to do-a great work. Union is ftrength in religious warfare, as well as in military tactics. "United, we ftand; divided, we fall." It is a part of the plans of military commanders to divide the forces of the enemy, both in the council and in the field; fo likewife it is the plan of the grand adverfary of fouls to divide Chriftians. The great Head of the Church has provided a principle which binds, nourishes, and confolidates the various members of the body together, for we are all members one of another. If this principle is neglected, the army of the cross becomes eafily difperfed. The principle is Love.

An aged father, when dying, called his fons

around his dying bed, and, in order to show them the neceffity of union among themselves, he commanded a bundle of fticks, which he had provided, to be brought before him. Beginning with the eldeft, he requested him to break the bundle of fticks; he could not. The next was called, and so on down to the youngest; all failed: upon which the old man cut the cord which bound the sticks together, and they were eafily broken, one by one. Love is the cord that binds together. Union alone fupplies the lack of numbers, of talents, and of wealth. The minister of the gofpel is the ftandard-bearer in the Christian army; the membership are the foldiers of Jefus. If every foldier rallies round the ftandard, and all are determined to conquer or die, nothing can stand before them; they would drive back the powers of darkness, and make Apollyon fly. For want of union, antichrift and infidelity prevail, and finners go unreclaimed. When profeffing Chriftians cease to vex each other, and turn the whole tide of their ftrength against the common foe, the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and of his Meffiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.

PART II.

RELIGIOUS ALLEGORIES.