SERIOUS REFLECTIONS.
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In exact proportion as the brutal parts of
our nature arc enthrallcd by the noble attri-
butcs of humanity we are dissatisfied with the
littlcncss and worthlcssncss of all things a.
bout us and refused to regard the objects OF
this life, as adcquantc to our cndcavours,
or the pleasures this world offers as enough,
we lift ourselves in imagination and i'll hope
to heaven. There are moments in the life OF
most men, when there is a feeling, as it dark
ness and chains had broken away when the
affections are pure and peaceful, and the
Thoughts are ranging free and high; when
the cxistancc, the love, and the presence OF
God are borne in upon our souls, with pow
CT that will not be withstood, and the heart
is swelling as if it would open to receive
the whole influence of the Deity. We may
well believe it is at such times, that man is
most like to that which his spirit may be ;
and how idle would it seem to him, or rather
what loathsomc horror would it excite to
tel him then, that his mind could not wall-
der beyond the grave, and must rest salts
fled with the belief, that they, whom he had
loved and lost, were spiritual essences, with
out form or substance, which his hands might
as we'll lay hold of, as his imagination or his
faith attempt to approach.-Every thing in
his heart and in his mind would rise up to re,
futc the falsehood; there would be voice


within him too loud and too distinct to be
misunderstood or disregardctl, and it woult
tell him, that the world of spirits is not al
unimaginablc abyss Of nothingness, but tho
home of sentiment, of active beings, as con-
scous of individuality, and as full of thought
and of affection, as they were before they went
from time to eternity.