judgment of your conscience-it will speak to you firmly and unreservedly-it will say: 'Do not soit is dishonourable. You would not do it before the eyes of the whole world-not before the eyes of your better acquaintances, without a strong sense of shame.' Relinquish, then, the wish condemned by your conscience. Do not ask afterwards, whether it would have afforded you pleasure or profit. No; what is disgraceful in itself cannot give true pleasure to any Christian, to any mind that is worthy of immortality. What is wrong can never be profitable. Whoever even inquires after interest and pleasure, when his conscience has already given sentence against his criminal thoughts and wishes, he is about basely to sell his soul and its exalted hopes, for a transitory gratification.

Exercise yourself daily in being true to yourself -restrain your lips from ever speaking otherwise than you think. We should, indeed, never thoughtlessly utter all we think, but we should think what we do speak. And, as the word of your mouth is the true reflection of your thought, so let your deed be, as it were, the distant echo of your words.

Exercise yourself in abstaining from every thing which you consider unallowable, that you may not step beyond the delicate boundary-line of duty. And if, at any time, you should transgress through ignorance or error, or through overhaste, and too

great vivacity; rest not till you have made ample amends for your wrong, and have restored harmony actions and your principles. your principles. This is

between your
to be conscientious!

Accustom yourself not to consider any thing in life as admirable but what is good-any thing useful, but truth-any thing pleasurable and delightful, but what is allowable-any thing as honourable, but what is just-any thing as worthy of envy, but virtue -any thing as unhappiness, but sin. By such exercise will your spiritual strength increase, and you will experience moments, when, lord of the storm which rages in your senses, raised above the prejudices, terrors, and joys of the world, you will feel the highest bliss of which the human mind is capable beneath the heavens-the soul's harmony with itself, with the whole creation, and with God its creator.

And always do I return to Thee, O Jesus Christ! For when I think of the most sublime perfection to which human nature can attain, how can I do otherwise than look to Thee? Conscientiousness was the leading trait in the picture of Thy life, and produced therein admirable unity and effect. Thy first public word, as well as Thy last, which dying Thou didst utter on the cross, was demonstrative of the same mode of thinking, and testified the sublime immutability of Thy mind. Conscientiousness

guided Thee in the fulfilment of the divine mission to the human race, through persecution and a triumphant death. Thy discourses were an echo of Thy thoughts, and Thy deeds a re-echo of Thy words. What Thou didst promise was performed. In the plenitude of divine independence, pleasures, honours, possessions, goods, and profits, were to Thee only secondary matters. Independent of all earthly things, without despising the proper use of them, Thou didst prove Thyself to have that freedom which is the property of a heavenly mind; a mind which despises fetters, tortures, and even death itself.

I

In Thy conscientiousness will I follow Thee, that may become like unto Thee, O Jesus, and like unto that heavenly Father, who is pleased to impart to me the power of His sanctifying grace-even to me a feeble creature. Amen.

XXI.

THE YOUNG MAN.

PROVERBS ii. 1—5.

"My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding: if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God."

'WILL the times become better or worse?'

This

is a question which every now and then is proposed; and which, in general, is answered very differently.

The times are in themselves neither good nor evil. They are made what they are, by those who use them. We should rather ask, therefore: 'will men become better or worse?'

What the times and men will be in future, depends in some degree on the men who live at present. They lay the foundation for the fate of their posterity by their virtues or vices, by their discernment or errors, by their moral strength or

effeminacy. One generation is the source of another morally as well as physically. Ye parents who take an interest in the future welfare of your children, it is you alone who can insure to yourselves perfect tranquillity on their account. Only ask yourselves whether you have fulfilled your parental duties towards your children to their full extent. The question is not whether you procured them a sufficient income, or whether you will leave them an ample fortune, but whether you have so turned their minds to God and virtue, that they shall not abandon the sanctuary erected in their hearts; whether you have so instructed them, and caused their understanding to expand, that they shall acquire as much as possible in their actual situation; whether you have so accustomed them to moderation and hardihood, that without difficulty they can dispense with as much as possible. you answer this question in the affirmative, with your hand upon your heart? Then is the fortune of your children made; and it is established on a firm foundation. You may confidently cast your remaining cares on the Eternal Father: He will do well by them, as He has done by you.

Can

Will the times become better or worse? This depends on the improvement or deterioration of our posterity. Above all things observe the youth of your community. In their morals, their incli

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