Assuredly, if the mind were unbiased by this strange perverseness, and unoccupied by a most undue and irrational love for those things which perish in the using, there would not be wanting sufficient inducements to seek the things which concern our everlasting peace. How comes

it that we do not love God? He is our Creator, Preserver, and Lawgiver; and He so loved us, that He gave his only begotten Son to save us. How comes it that we feel so little affection for the Saviour? He offers us eternal life. He died to bestow this blessing upon us; and, assuredly, his generous and surpassing kindness addresses itself to every rational and tender feeling of our heart. The children of this world are, indeed, wise with regard to the things of the present life; but what shall we say of them in the view of eternity, except that they are altogether reckless and unwise!

Considered in a religious light, the various characters which exist in the Christian world, may be reduced to the two alluded to by our Saviour,—the children of this world and the children of light. On those who belong to the former class, all motives and all arguments have been urged in vain. A thousand appeals have been made to their sense of duty, of interest, and of gratitude, but in vain. In vain have they been exhorted to obey their Creator and Redeemer; in vain have they been warned to flee from the wrath to come. They have been reminded of the glory, honor, and immortality which awaits believers; they have been adjured by the love of God, and by the mercy and compassion of Christ, but all in vain. They have listened to these appeals, and have been roused, perhaps, for a moment; but they have fallen again into their deep sleep; or have only remained awake, that reflection might be drowned in the intoxicating cup of the world, which they again empty to the very dregs.

Neither has the warning voice of Providence power to gain admittance to their hearts. Alas! in what expressive language does God speak to our souls, in the events which are daily passing around us! How solemnly, how pathetically, does He warn us, that our treasure is not on earth; that there is here no continuing city or place of

abode! How painfully are we reminded that human strength is but a shadow; that human pleasure is but a dream; that life itself is but a vapor, which appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. Men see their hopes blasted, their enjoyments fading, their friends, one by one, perishing around them ;—and what is the consequence They shed a tear; they breathe a sigh; they say all is vanity; and then, (O strange infatuation!) they return with greediness to those very pursuits of which they have seen the emptiness and the termination.

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Such is the state of those who are emphatically called the children of this world. But there are others on whom these appeals and warnings produce a very different effect. At one period of their lives, they were perhaps as callous and unmoved as their fellows; but now they are awakened, and they wonder at the weakness and perverseness of their former selves, being sensible that "there is no profit in those things of which they are now ashamed." These have become impressed with the importance of spiritual truths. They realize to their souls the doctrines of the Gospel, and behold all things in a new light. The love of God is shed abroad in their hearts, and gratitude to their Redeemer glows in every feeling of their souls. They hear the warning voice of Providence in every event of their lives. "In prosperity they are joyful, in adversity they consider ;" deeply sensible that it is God who "has set the one over-against the other." When they are in distress, they sorrow not as others who have no hope." When they rejoice, their gladness is a foretaste of the joy of angels. They possess, in short, that faith "which is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen :" which exhibits time in its true light, and realizes the eternal world.

Whence this difference, so entire, so universal, so astonishing? How comes it that human beings should be so opposite to each other in their feelings, their desires, and their affections? Nay, how does it happen, that the very same individual should, at different periods of his life, be so opposite to his former self? Is it by his own efforts that this change is effected? Does he exert his own mental

energies, merely when he is renewed in the spirit of his mind,-when he dies and lives again; and, throwing aside, like a chrysalis, his earthly coil, soars, as it were, a new creature, in a new element ?

If our deliverance depended on Our own unaided strength, what anxiety, what despair might not a sense of our weakness and perverseness occasion! But when we remember, that He who is All-good and All-sufficient, has promised to do every thing for us, if we will only employ the means which He affords, and cast ourselves entirely on the teaching of his Spirit, it is still, "with fear and trembling" indeed, but it is also with confidence and joy, that we work out our own salvation."

The promises of Divine aid, to those who desire it, are numerous and express. "Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." "All things, whatsoever ye ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive." "Those who come unto me, I will in no wise cast out." "If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him ?"

These, and many other promises, give to the believer hope and confidence. He is assured, that "what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, is accomplished by Him who came in the likeness of sinful flesh," and who has declared that his grace is sufficient for those who trust in it. It was this which supported Paul, when, deeply affected by the perverseness of his fallen nature, he exclaimed, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death!" and immediately checking himself, he exclaimed, "I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit." These sentiments breathe the very spirit of our Christian faith; and it is thus that he who humbleth himself is exalted ;" and Divine strength is made perfect in human weakness.

TENTH WEEK-MONDAY.

ARCHITECTURE.-ITS ANCIENT HISTORY AND PRACTICEEGYPT, THEBES.

In giving an historical sketch of ancient architecture, I commence with Egypt, not because it contains specimens of the art which can be proved to be the most ancient, but because its ruins are in many respects the most remarkable and imposing which the world contains. The early history of the art, however, is lost in the gloom of antiquity. The devastating conquests to which the ancient Egyptians were subjected, have destroyed the memorial of their internal transactions, and placed the records of their arts out of the reach even of the earliest historians. Herodotus only commences his account after the seat of empire had been translated from Thebes to Memphis, and his personal knowledge of the country was not acquired until a hundred years after Cambyses had laid the unrivalled edifices of Upper Egypt in ruins. The origin and progress, therefore, of the powerful state which erected these imperishable traces of its ancient glory, are totally

unknown to us.

From the magnificent description of Thebes by Homer, we learn that it had risen to great importance previous to the Trojan war, or about 1200 years before the Christian era. Cambyses invaded Egypt about 700 years subsequent to this period, and the inhabitants had, during this long interval, continued to flourish, and to increase in wealth and population. This seems to have been a sufficient extent of time for the accomplishment of those mighty works which have immortalized the Thebaid.

With the invasion of Cambyses terminated the splendor of Upper Egypt. He carried with him, not only conquest, but destruction. His warfare was not merely with the people, but with their palaces and religious houses. He bore off in his triumphal train, the artists as well as the spoils; leaving this once-splendid valley a hopeless

scene of desolation. And to add to its deplorable condition, two centuries afterwards war again visited it with exterminating fury, under the ruthless hand of the destroyer of the dynasty of Cambyses. And yet, such is the indestructible nature of these gigantic efforts of art, that, notwithstanding the repeated attacks of those not less powerful enemies, the Romans, united to the natural waste of three thousand years, the ruins of Upper Egypt still continue so magnificent as to form a theme of astonishment and admiration, even to the present enlightened age.

Upper Egypt contains structures of three distinct forms. -1st, The simple pyramid; 2d, Apartments enclosed by sculptured walls, with flat roofs, supported by rows of columns, and connected by open porticoes; and, 3d, Caverns, grottoes, or tombs.

It would be inconsistent with the design of this work to enter into any lengthened description of the various ruins of this wonderful country of the dead; but some acccunt of the remains of the ancient metropolis itself, the date of whose destruction is far anterior to the first erection of the most celebrated cities of Greece and Rome, cannot fail to be interesting and instructive.

The sentiment which first strikes the mind of the traveller, in viewing this immense ruin, is that of surprise and awe at the enormous size of the materials, and the extraordinary efforts of human power which have been lavished in their erection. Sonnini describes his sensations, "not as simple admiration, but as an ecstasy which suspended his faculties, rendered him immovable with rapture, and inclined him to prostrate himself in veneration of such monuments, the rearing of which appeared to transcend the strength and genius of man. Denon assures us, that "the whole French army, coming suddenly in sight of the ruins, with one accord stood in amazement, and clapped their hands with delight, as if the end and object of their glorious toil, and the complete conquest of Egypt, were accomplished and secured, by taking possession of the splendid remains of this ancient metropolis."

The following is a plain and unexaggerated account of

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X.