shall stand. First: The wicked are insecure. They are to be overthrown. Their hopes, their purposes, their possessions, their pleasures, are all insecure. "I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not." (Psa. Xxxvii. 35, 36.) These men build their houses on the sand, they cannot stand. Secondly: The righteous are safe. "The house of the righteous shall stand." They are established on the Rock of Ages. "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out," &c. (Revelation iii. 12.

IV. IN THEIR REPUTATION. "A man shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised." First: The good commands the respect of society. The consciences of the worst men are bound to reverence the right. Pharaoh honoured Joseph, Nebuchadnezzar Daniel. Secondly: The evil awakes the contempt of society. "He that is of a perverse heart shall be despised." Servility and hypocrisy may bow the knee and uncover the head before the wicked man in affluence and power, but deep in the heart there is contempt.

(No. LXXVIII.)

DOMESTIC MODESTY AND DISPLAY. "He that is despised, and hath a servant, is better than he that honoureth himself, and lacketh bread." - Prov. xii. 9.

VANITY, or love of display, is one of the most contemptible and pernicious passions that can take possession of the human mind. Its roots are in self-ignoranceits fruits are affectation and falsehood. Vanity is a kind of mental intoxication, in which the

that honoureth himself, and lacketh bread." There are in this age of empty show increasing multitudes of parents who sacrifice the right culture of their children, and the substantial comforts of a home, for appearances. They all but starve their domestics to feed their vanity. They must be grand, though they lack bread. Their half-starved frames must have gorgeous mantles. This love of appearance, this desire for show, is, I trow, making sad havoc with the homes of old England.

III. THE CONDITION OF THE FORMER IS PREFERABLE TO THAT OF THE LATTER. It is "better" to have comforts without show, than show without comforts. "Better." First: It is more rational. How absurd to sacrifice the comforts of life to outward show! Who cares for your display? None who care for you;

but only those who would despise you were you stripped of your costume. Better. Secondly: It is more moral. It is immoral to make outward grandeur the grand aim. Immoral, because vanity, the inspiring motive, is a devilish passion. Immoral to study the wardrobe more than yourself. Better-Thirdly: It is more satisfying. It is the nature of vanity that it cannot be satisfied. No amount of jewellery or tailoring can satisfy it.

(No. LXXIX.)

THE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS. "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."-Prov. xii. 10. THE world of irrational animals is a wonderful world. Its history, which is only begun to be written, is amongst the marvels of modern literature. The Bible commands us to study this world, sends us to the beasts of the field for instruction; it also legislates for our conduct in relation to this world. The text suggests two remarks concerning man's conduct towards the beasts of the field.

I. THAT KINDNESS TOWARDS THE LOWER ANIMALS IS RIGH

TEOUS. "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast." Three facts will show why we should be kind to them. First: They are the creatures of God. His breath kindled the life of all. His hand fashioned all, both great and small. Dare we abuse what He thought worth creating? Secondly: They are given for our use. He put all under the dominion of man: some to serve him in one way, and some in ancther: some to charm his eye with their beauty, others to delight his ear with their music: some to supply him with food, and some with clothing: some

to save his own muscular strength in doing his work-some to bear him about. Thirdly They are endowed with sensibility and intelligence. They have all feeling, and some a good degree of sagacity, amounting to something like reflection. They feel our treatment.

II. THAT CRUELTY TOWARDS THE LOWER ANIMALS IS WICKED.

"The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." Cruelty is wickedness. Man sins against God as truly in his conduct towards animals as in his conduct towards man. There is a divine law-"Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the

corn." (Deut. xxv. 4.) "Send

...

now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die." (Ex. ix. 19.) Great is the difference between the heart of a righteous and that of a wicked man. The righteous is kind even to his beast, and the kindest treatment of the wicked is but cruelty.

"I would not enter on my list of friends (Though graced with polish'd manners and fine sense,

Yet wanting sensibility) the man
Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.
An inadvertent step may crush the snail
That crawls at evening in the public

path;

But he that has humanity, forewarn'd, Will tread aside and let the reptile live." COWPER.

(LXXX.)

MANLY INDUSTRY AND PARASITICAL INDOLENCE.

"He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread; but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding."-Prov. xii. 11.

IT is implied that all men want

See a work for children, entitled "Animal Sagacity," by Mrs. Hal Published by Partridge and Co.

"bread "the means of physical | sustentation-and that this bread is to come through human industry. The earth spontaneously yields what irrational creatures require, because they are not endowed with aptitude for cultivation. Man is thus endowed, and his Maker will not do for him that which he has given him power to do for himself. Labour is not the curse of the fall; it is a blessed condition of life. Man in innocence had to cultivate Eden. The text presents two subjects of thought.

I. MANLY INDUSTRY. First: He has manly industry indicated. An agricultural specimen of work is given. "He that tilleth his land"-Agriculture is the oldest, the divinest, the healthiest, and the most necessary branch of human industry. Secondly: He has manly industry rewarded. "Bread" comes as the result. He is "satisfied with bread." All experience shows that, as a rule, proper cultivation of the soil is all that man requires to satisfy his wants. God sends round the seasons, and when man does his work, those seasons carry their respective blessings to the race. Skilled industry is seldom in want.

"Thrift is a blessing
If men steal it not."

SHAKESPERE.

II. PARASITICAL INDOLENCE. This Solomon seems to put as an antithesis to the former. "He that followeth vain persons is void of understanding." The word vain may perhaps be taken to represent persons in a little higher grade of life, and who are, more or less, independent of labour. First: There are those who hang on such persons for their support. Instead of working with manly independence, they are looking to the patronage of others. They fawn, flatter, and wheedle for

bread, instead of labouring. These base-natured people are found in every social grade, and they disgrace their race, and clog the wheels of progress. Secondly: Persons who thus hang on others for their support are fools. "They are void of understanding." (1.) Because they neglect the fundamental condition of manly development. Industry is essential to strength of body, force of intellect, and growth of soul. "It is bad policy,' says our great dramatist, "when more is got by begging than working.' "Man should not eat of honey like a drone from others' labour." (2.) Because they sacrifice self-respect. The man who loses selfrespect, loses the true feeling of his manhood, and such a loss must come to him who lives the life of a parasite. (3.) Because they expose themselves to degrading annoyances. The parasite's feeling will depend upon the looks, the words, and the whims of his patron. He will be subject to exactions, insults, and disappointments.

(No. LXXXI.)

world charge Christians with hypocrisy. No true Christian is a hypocrite. The better a man is, the less temptation he has to disguise himself, and the more inducements to unveil his heart to society. On the contrary, a wicked man must be hypocritical in proportion to his wickedness. Were his polluted heart and dishonest purposes fully to appear, society would shun him as a demon. To maintain a home, therefore, in social life, and to get on in his trade or profession, he must be as artful as the old serpent himself. Craftiness is essential to sin. Sin came into the world through craft. The devil deceived our progenitors. Sin is ever cunning: wisdom is alone true. Cunning is the low mimicry of wisdom;-it is the fox, not the Socrates of the soul. Secondly: Craftiness is no security against ruin. "The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips." Lies are the language of craftiness. The crafty uses them as concealment and defence, but the eternal

law of providence makes them snares. One lie leads to another, and so on, until they become so numerous, that the author involves himself in contradictions, and he falls and founders like a wild beast in a snare.

II.

HONESTY. First: Honesty is strong in its own strength. It has a root. The root of the righteous. It does not live by cunning and stratagems, but by its own natural force and growth. Honesty has roots that will stand all storms. Secondly: Honesty will extricate from difficulties. The just man may get into trouble, and often does, but by his upright principles, under God, he shall come out of them. "Honesty is the best policy." It may have difficulties, it may involve temporary trouble, but it will ultimately work out deliverance.

"An honest soul is like a ship at sea, That sleeps at anchor on the ocean's calm;

But when it rages, and the wind blows high,

She cuts her way with skill and majesty."

"Guilt still feeds its judgment

even here."

"The heavens are armed against

perjured kings."

"Judgment in truth belongs to God alone."

"Most just is God, who rights the innocent."

"Heaven is most just, and of our pleasant vices

Makes instruments to scourge us."

"Foul practices turn on their authors."

"To wrong-doers, the revolution

of time brings retribution." "States which have long gone on, and filled the time With all licentious measure, making their will

The scope of justice, come to an evil end.'

"

SHAKESPEARE'S APHORISMS ON

"OUR

PROVIDENCE.

indiscretion sometimes serves us well,

When our deep plots do fail. And that should teach us

There's a divinity that shapes our ends,

Rough hew them how we will." "There is a special Providence in the fall of a sparrow." "Heaven hath a hand in all events."

"What Providence delays, it not denies."

"He that doth the ravens feed, Yea, providentially caters for the sparrow,

Will comfort man's old age."

"All good ascribe to Providence Divine."

SHAKESPEARE'S APHORISMS ON

MERCY.

"Whereto serves

mercy, but to confront the visage of offence?"

"If the worst offender may find mercy in the law, 'tis his." Morality and mercy live in the

tongues of princes: mercy should live ever in their hearts."

"No ceremony that to great ones 'longs,

Not the King's crown, nor the deputed sword,

The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe

Become them with one-half so good a grace

As mercy does."

"How should we be

If He which is the top of judg ment should

But judge us as we are? Oh, think on that,

And mercy she will breathe within our lips,

Like men new-made."

"All the souls that were forfeit

once,

And he that might the 'vantage best have taken, Found out the remedy."

"It is excellent

To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous To use it like a giant.”

"Merciful Heaven!

Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous box

Splitt'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak,

Than the soft myrtle! O, but

man, proud man,

(Drest in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he's most assured,

His glassy essence) like an angry

ape,