If

are not so greatly in want of them-then are you unjust towards yourself and your family; you are, with the best design, a squanderer, for the benefit of those who would not starve without your aid. you modestly step back whilst another desires an office, to which you are competent, and if that man have already employment and bread, while you and yours still suffer want-then is your modesty an injustice to yourself; since you give him the advantage who already has enough, and wants it less than you.

This, then, is the simple rule-always first to perform what is needful, indispensable, and just; and then to do to ourselves and others, what is fair, what is kind, what is liberal. This rule, if we pursue it with prudence, will always lead us to the best choice in the conflict of duties.

But since we are to love others as ourselves, hence arises the following duty: that where we can effect a decided advantage to several others, we must postpone our own interest. Each man is only a part of human society; he must willingly in case of need, sacrifice himself for the whole; and not expect that the whole should be sacrificed for a part.

Willingly and joyfully, therefore, should the Christian, when the commonwealth is in danger, disregard his own security; if the country need his

support, he is with readiness to pay such contributions and taxes as may be demanded. Yes;-he should by his patriotic example arouse others; he should, if his native land be menaced with ruin, and require his arm for its defence, willingly take part in its protection, and be prepared to purchase its welfare with his blood.

Therefore are ye revered in all ages, and in all countries, ye exalted men, ye who have courageously offered, as a sacrifice for the happiness of your contemporaries, yourselves and your best possessions! Therefore do we extol your names, dear heroes! ye who have rushed to a glorious death for your country's sake! Therefore do our hymns commemorate you, ye holy men, ye who bore witness to the truth of religion with your life, and sealed its value with your blood.

O God! let me also, in the hour of severe trial, exhibit this Christian heroism! Far from my heart be the cold vanity, the mean self-love, which will not permit a man to be useful to others, unless he can gain advantage for himself; which knows of no sacrifice of self; which values gold above virtue, and worldly honour above innocence and holiness of mind.

XV.

MAN AND HIS ACTIONS.

PROVERBS XVi. 3.

"Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established."

It is in vain! We labour and strive after improvement, and struggle against the stream of events: the waves of life beat high against us, and overpower, alas! often too easily, our strength and courage. How many hundred projects have I not formed since my childhood; how many thousand wishes have impelled me to a thousand various actions! And what has become of the hundred projects, the thousand wishes! Often has one day, perhaps, seen them originate and vanish-often have I borne them in my mind firmly and perseveringly from one year to the next; and at length, when I thought the long-desired good to be at hand, some little circumstance, in itself insignificant, threw me far back; and sighing, I gave up the hope which had for years delighted and deceived me.

If I retrace the sweet hours of my childhood, oh how different then was all! How fervently did I long to be but this or that, or to have this or that! Of a thousand hopes, not one came to pass; one supplanted another; blossoms smiled in abundance -but one gentle breath of heaven, and the bloom fell off. I look around in vain for the fruits.

And I grew older, and my conceptions became more animated; new desires arose in my breast: more brilliant plans were formed, and adorned with all the magic, of which a warm imagination is capable. Look at the damsel, how she loses herself in silent dreams of her future life, and strives after the accomplishment of her secret wishes. Behold the youth, who, with a high feeling of his power and freedom, sees the whole world and the glory of it lie open before him, and thinks that he is able to grasp it all. Then by the side of those who are still happy in their imagination, behold the maturer man, the wife, and the mother. They pursue their course, already more seriously and calmly, amidst the seed which they have sown, of which thousands died in the germ, thousands grew up, to be snapped off by an unexpected storm before their maturity. Ah! of the children which should have been their pride, already the most beloved lie in their graves; of the friends, with whom they thought to spend a happy life, more than the half have already disap

peared from their side; of the reputation, of the prosperity, of the sphere of action, upon which they reckoned, has scarcely a shadow appeared.

The old man goes on to the limit of his days with resignation. He looks but unwillingly behind him. The past is the land of disappointment, the future the land of hope. He stretches forward his view over life, to that place where disappointments must end. He says: I had once the strength of a lion; I had gigantic courage; I had foresight, and unbending perseverance-but my best wishes were frustrated, and my actions produced entirely different consequences, from those which I expected of them.

'It is true, that it appears not to be the case with all men, as it is with me. It appears that many have their desires fulfilled-have accomplished what they proposed, and are become what they wished to be. But, when I examine more closely the circumstances of their life, I perceive with astonishment, that they themselves contributed the least to that which they have effected; that often, entirely contrary to their views, they have been led to things, which have afterwards turned out to their advantage; that nature and mankind have, as it were, co-operated to enrich and exalt them,-to raise their reputation, rank, power, and influence; whilst others who were before far more powerful,