army drawn up in order, crowned with laurel, and decorated with the gifts which they had received for their valor, sing, ing their own and their general's praises. The triumphal procession was not confined to the Romans; the Greeks had a similar custom, for the conquerors used to make a procession through the middle of their city, crowned with garlands, repeating hymns and songs, and brandishing their spears; the captives followed in chains, and all their spoils were exposed to public view.

The great apostle of the Gentiles alludes to these splendid triumphal scenes, in his epistle to the Ephesians, where he mentions the glorious ascension of his Redeemer into heaven: 'When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.' These words are a quotation from the sixty-eighth Psalm, where David in spirit, describes the ascension of Messiah, in very glowing colors: The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels; the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive,' or an immense number of captives; ' thou hast received gifts for men, yea for the rebellious also ; that the Lord God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with his benefits, even the God of our salvation; Selah.'

Knowing the deep impression which such an allusion i calculated to make on the mind of a people familiarly as quainted with triumphal scenes, the apostle returns to it i his epistle to the Colossians, which was written about the

same time: 'Having spoiled principalities and powers,' he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. After obtaining a complete victory over all his enemies, he ascended in splendor and triumph into his Father's presence on the clouds of heaven, the chariots of the Most High, thousands of holy angels attending in his train; he led the devil and all his angels, together with sin, the world, and death, as his spoils of war, and captives in chains, and exposed them to open contempt and shame, in the view of all his angelic attendants, triumphing like a glorious conqueror over them, in virtue of his cross, upon which he made complete satisfaction for sin, and by his own strength, without the assistance of any creature, destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. And as mighty princes are accustomed to scatter largesses among the people, and reward their companions in arms with a liberal hand, when, laden with the spoils of vanquished nations, they returned in triumph to their capital; so the conqueror of death and hell, when he ascended far above all heavens, and sat down in the midst of the throne, shed forth in vast abundance the choicest blessings of the Spirit, upon people of every tongue and of every nation.

The officers and soldiers also, were rewarded according to their merit. Among the Romans, the noblest reward which a soldier could receive, was the civic crown, given to him who had saved the life of a citizen, made of oak leaves, and by order of the general, presented by the person who had been saved to his preserver, whom he ever after respect

ed as a parent. Alluding to this high distinction, the apostle says to his son Timothy; 'I have fought a good fighthenceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me at that day; and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing.' And lest any one should imagine, that the Christian's crown is perishable in its nature, and soon fades away, like a crown of oak leaves, the apostle Peter assures the faithful soldier of Christ, that his crown is infinitely more valuable and lasting: 'Ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.' And this account is confirmed by James: Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that fear him.'

The military crowns were conferred by the general in presence of the army; and such as received them, after a public eulogium on their valor, were placed next his person. The Christian also receives his unmerited reward from the hand of the Captain of his salvation: Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.'

And like the brave veteran of ancient times, he is promoted to a place near his Lord: 'To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne.' The saints must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, who will produce the proofs of their fidelity before assembled worlds, to justify the sentence he is about to pronounce. Holy angels will applaud the justice of the pro

ceeding, and condemned spirits, and reprobate men will have nothing to object; then, while he pronounces a sentence which at once eulogizes their conduct, and announces their honorable acquittal, 'Well done good and faithful servants, enter ye into the joy of your Lord;' he will set upon their heads a crown of purest gold, put a palm of victory into their right hand, clothe them in robes of celestial brightness, and place them around his throne: And so shall they be for ever with the Lord.'

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THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.

Ev'N thus amidst thy pride and luxury,

Oh Earth! shall that last coming burst on thee;
That secret coming of the Son of MAN,

When all the cherub-thronging clouds shall shine,
Irradiate with his bright advancing sign;

When that great Husbandman shall wave his fan,
Sweeping, like chaff, thy wealth and pomp away.
Still to the noontide of that nightless day,
Shalt thou thy wonted dissolute course maintain.
Along the busy mart and crowded street,
The buyer and the seller still shall meet,
And marriage-feasts begin their jocund strain,
Still to the pouring out the cup of wo;

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.

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Till earth, a drunkard, reeling to and fro,

And mountains, molten by his burning feet,

And heaven his presence own, all red with furnace heat.
The hundred-gated cities then,

The towers, and temples, named of men
Eternal, and the thrones of kings,

The gilded summer palaces,

The courtly bowers of love and ease,
Where still the bird of pleasure sings.—
Ask ye the destiny of them?

Go! gaze on fall'n Jerusalem!

Yea, mightier names are in the fatal roll,

'Gainst earth and heaven God's standard is unfurled,
The skies are shrivelled like a burning scroll,
And one vast common doom ensepulchres the world.

Oh! who shall then survive?

Oh! who shall stand and live?
When all that hath been is no more:

When for the round earth hung in air,
With all its constellations fair,

In the sky's azure canopy,

When for the breathing earth, and sparkling sea,
Is but a fiery deluge without shore,

Heaving along th' abyss profound and dark,

A fiery deluge, and without an ark!

Lord of all power, when thou art there alone
On thy eternal fiery-wheeled throne,