THE JERUSALEM ABOVE. 119 



Is it fanciful to discern a faint sliadow of tliese 

 glories in a poor Polype ? If it is, bear with the fancj, 

 for it is not lost time to tnrn our tliouglits heavenward 

 for a moment, whatever be the occasion. When I 

 look on the multitudes of Polypes inhabiting such a 

 structm*e as I have alluded to, each bearing his starry 

 crown, and all engaged in harmony, building up, wall 

 by wall and cell by cell, an edifice whose walls are of 

 crystalline clearness, often studded with what look 

 like gems,* and whose cells are closed with pearly 

 doors ; f when I watch the building gTOwing up into a 

 City, a commonwealth, of mjriad individuals ; when 

 I know that, besides the separate life of each, there is 

 a common life, a bond of identity, that constitutes the 

 vast assemblage but one Being — One though Many — 

 I cannot help thinking of the heavenly City, the 

 Jerusalem which is above. 



* As in Membranipora, and Crisia, for instance. 

 + As in Cellularia. 



