[3] He sat within a silent cave, apart From men, upon a chair of diamond stone; Words he had not, companions he had none, But steadfastly pursued his thoughtful art; And as he mused he pulled a slender string Which evermore within his hand he held; And the dim curtain rose which had concealed His thoughts, the city of the immortal king: There, pictured in its solemn pomp, it lay A glorious country stretching round about, And through its golden gates passed in and out Men of all nations, on their heavenly way. On this he mused, and mused the whole day long, Feeding his feeble faith till it grew strong. --_George Craly._ [4] No man is in so much danger as he who thinks there is no danger. Why, when the bell rings, when the watchman rends the air with cries of "Fire! _Fire!_ FIRE!" when in every direction there is the pattering of feet on the sidewalk, and when the engines come rattling up to the burning house, one after another the inmates are awakened, and they rush out; and they are safest that are most terrified, and that suffer most from a sense of danger. One only remains behind. He hears the tumult, but it weaves itself into the shape of dreams, and he seems to be listening to some parade, and soon the sounds begin to be indistinct in his ear, and at length they cease to make any impression upon him. During all this time he is inhaling the deadly gas with which his apartment has become filled, gradually his senses are benumbed, and finally he is rendered unconscious by suffocation. And, in the midst of peril, and the thunder of excitement, that man who is the least awake, and the least frightened, is the very man that is most likely to be burned up.--_Beecher._ RELIGIOUS CONSIDERATION. i. 3. _My people doth not consider._ In a former discourse we noticed that one of Satan's chief devices was to keep men from consideration, and we referred to a variety of subjects upon which it is important that we should reflect. We now call your attention to _the true character of religious consideration._