It might be taken as a curious emblem how perfectly the purity of a superior nature may be preserved in the most contaminating contact, to inspect a colony of beautiful gold fish, which are bred in multitudes, and reared in all their native beauty, in a pool of the foulest and most noxious water that can be imagined, near the town of Leeds, where, in defiance of the rankest scum and vapours, the gay and beautiful little community may daily be seen, far more bright and far more happy, than in the melancholy glass goblets in which they occasionally ornament a drawing-room, and in which their lives are as dull, and almost as unnatural, as that of a recluse in a cloister.

The social duties of relationship among Christians nothing can supersede, for they are divinely appointed. Our kindness is the birthright of those with whom God has connected us, and we cannot, with justice, disinherit them of our affection and good offices.

The less congenial with himself in point of temper, habits, or pursuits a man's relatives are, the greater proof it is of conformity to God's will if he persevere in praying for them, and in aiming to serve them effectually. They are, for some wise reason, selected to be inalienably our associates; and it may be said of parents and children, of brothers and sisters, as decidedly as of husband and wife, that those whom God hath joined nothing should put asunder.

The truest criterion of a man's character and conduct is invariably to be found in the opinion of his own nearest relations, who, having daily and hourly opportunities to judge him, will not fail to do so. It is a far higher testimony to attain the esteem and good-will of one or two individuals within the privacy of our own home, than of hundreds in our nearest neighbourhood, or of ten times the number residing at a distance. In fact, next to a prayerful self-examination, no scrutiny on earth comes so near the truth as for a man to ask himself what is thought of him by the familiar circle of his own fire-side.

When the man so miraculously cured at Decapolis expressed his anxious wish to follow our Lord, he was desired, on the contrary, to return home, and there tell what God had done for him; and Christ himself, though for a time he retired into the mountain solitude, soon returned to society, where he showed a perfect pattern of friendship, teaching us not only what we may hereafter be in heaven, but also what we should now be on earth. Those who neglect to promote the happiness, or to seek the salvation, of any with whom the providence of an all-wise Creator has connected them by the most sacred ties betray one of their chief trusts, and lose one of the greatest felicities which this world can offer.

It was the remark of a disappointed man, who

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had squandered all his time in general company, and in any house rather than his own, that “ SOciety consists of people combining to counterfeit happiness;" " but he might safely have added, had the experiment ever been tried by him, that the reality may be best enjoyed within a well-constituted home founded on religious principle, and exemplified by domestic affection. In such a home a Christian finds the very metropolis of his felicity; and there should the brightest evidence be seen of that elevated mind and self-denying spirit which ought to appear on all occasions, great or small, public or private, as the badge of his high profession.

If we are not doing good in our own sphere, we must inevitably be doing harm, as no man can squander his own time without defrauding others. Each has a charge from God, which cannot be neglected without injuring his neighbours as well as himself. They are born with a right to our good offices; no man is entitled to live for himself alone; and all are responsible stewards, not merely of their money, but what is much more precious, and never to be recalled if we misuse them, our time and our talents.

The most hopeless state of unhappiness falls to the lot of those who endeavour to reconcile a worldly and sensual life with religion; for such an attempt causes the loss of both, as it prevents

the thorough enjoyment of either. The real treasures of human life, when sanctified to God, are books, friendship, and the love of nature; or, according to the poet's moderate wishes, "A small house and a large garden, few friends and plenty of books." An accomplished and most judicious author, Mrs. Grant of Laggan, gives her advice to women, that they should cultivate " 'peace, friendship, and needle-work"-advice which she found her own happiness in following: but Madame de Stael, the idol of worldly fame and of worldly society, had found so little real permanent happiness in either company or celebrity, that, wearied of both, she said in her last hours, though no hope unfortunately was expressed beyond those scenes in which she had been so conspicuous and admired, "I leave life without regret.'

Lighter than air, Hope's summer visions fly,
If but a fleeting cloud obscure the sky;
If but a beam of sober reason play,
Lo, Fancy's fairy frost-work melts away!
But can the wiles of Art, the grasp of Power,
Snatch the rich relics of a well-spent hour?
These, when the trembling Spirit wings her flight,
Pour round her path a stream of living light,
And gild those pure and perfect realms of rest,
Where Virtue triumphs, and her sons are blest.

ROGERS.

CHAP. V.

THIS WORLD IS, AND OUGHT TO BE, AN UNSATISFYING PORTION.

Think we, or think we not, Time hurries on

With a resistless, unremitting stream,

Yet treads more soft than e'er did midnight thief
That slides his hand under the miser's pillow,
And carries off his prize.—BLAIR.

THE only happiness that leaves no shadow behind is derived from religion; the bright unfading colours of which are dipped in heaven itself; but they who remain careless of those deep wants in our nature which only God can satisfy, rest their hopes on mere worldly prosperities, and feel often a lassitude which is, in fact, a weariness of themselves, some tormenting discontent at what they are, or some unavailing struggle to acquire what God has not chosen that they ever shall reach. This last dying advice was given by an old lady of 90, to a young friend, who had expressed surprise at her unceasing cheerfulness:-"If there be any object on earth that, in the progress of life, you have set your