The love of money is the root of all evil.

Gold may be bought too dearly.

THE PURSUIT OF WEALTH.

T is not surprising that our young men become easily inflamed with an inordinate desire for property. They see its power in the world; that wealth can hire the strong,

retain the learned, and secure honour, or at least place, in society. Hence pride seeks money, to give it elevation; vanity seeks it, to attract the admiration and excite the envy of others; and avarice seeks it, to fall down and worship it.

Money itself is good-in the words of Solomon, "it answereth all things;" not only luxury, but comfort, convenience, necessity demand it. And yet the acquisition of it is beset with moral perils. In our insane eagerness to be rich, we delude ourselves with the idea that gold can fill and satisfy the soul. We regard no calamity so great as pecuniary want. The boy has his money-box, and learns to hoard as he learns to speak. "The chief end of man," he is taught, is to make a good bargain. He is fired with a passion to set up in business for himself prematurely, and to rush into every path that seems to open out into a boundless accumulation of wealth.

Two tempters stand before the young man, and beckon him to follow them. First, a reckless specula

Money answereth all things.

Many man's wealth is many man's death.

Rather live usefully than die rich.

Money never wants a master.

tion. Under this influence, men are ready to invest
their all in projects, the greater portion of which
are chimerical. Bales of goods and risks of commis-
sions are staked at the table; and even many kinds
of business, once followed with honesty, moderation,
and a healthy success, are now pursued as games of
chance. Not a few merchants thus spread out their
business till it gets beyond their control; they over-
buy goods; they live beyond their means, trusting
that at last everything will come right. So eager are
they for all possible investments that, as one said, “If
it were proposed to build a bridge to Tophet, the
shares would readily be taken up." But soon every
mercantile project so founded totters to its fall, and
great is the fall thereof.

Others, in their passion for sudden accumulation,
practise secret frauds, and imagine that there is no
harm in them, so long as they are undetected. But
in vain will they cover up their transgression, for God
sees it to the very bottom; and let them not hope to
keep it always from man.

In the long web of events, "be sure your sin will find you out." He who is carrying on a course of latent corruption and dishonesty-be he engaged in some mammoth speculation, or involved only in lesser private transactions-is sailing in a ship like that fabled one of old, which comes ever nearer and nearer to a magnetic mountain, that will at last draw every

With all thy getting get understanding.

Desire of having is the sin of covetousness.

He that lends you hinders you to buy.

Better buy than borrow.

nail out of it, and scatter its timbers to the waves.
Faith in God and all trust in man will eventually
be lost, and he will get no reward for his guilt. The
winds will sigh forth his iniquity; and “a beam will
come out of the wall," to convict and smite him.
"My

Better the noble resolution of Franklin
years roll round," said he, writing to his honoured
mother, in early manhood, "and the last will come,
when I had rather have it said, 'he lived usefully,'
than that he died rich.""

B

friend.

BORROWING.

EWARE of suretyship for thy best friend.
He that payeth another man's debt, seeketh
his own decay. But if thou canst not other-
wise choose, rather lend thy money thyself
upon good bonds, although thou borrow it. So
shalt thou secure thyself, and pleasure thy

Neither borrow money of a neighbour or a
friend, but of a stranger; where, paying for it, thou
shalt hear no more of it. Otherwise thou shalt
eclipse thy credit, lose thy freedom, and yet pay as
dear as to another. But in borrowing of money be
precious of thy word; for he that hath care of keeping
days of payment is lord of another man's purse.
LORD BURLEIGH.

Borrowing causeth sorrowing.

Borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

Understanding is a well-spring of life unto him that hath it.

The use of knowledge is to know God.

THE USE OF KNOWLEdge.

F knowledge, as of wealth, the true value
depends upon its use.

Laid up, under lock

and key, in the coffers of the miser, the
largest amount of riches, in bags of rusting
gold and silver, serves no good end.
Its owner

may please himself with the thought of having
it, and of being known to have it. He may take
delight in opening his chests and gloating his eyes
from time to time on his accumulating heaps; but
how mean and pitiful such a gratification even to a
reasonable, and how much more to a morally respon-
sible being! Yet, in a similar way, a man may plume
himself on the extent and variety of his knowledge.
He may feed his vanity in enumerating to himself its
subjects, and the amount of it on each. And the
gratification arising from the possession of it—apart
from the thoughts of vanity—may be of a far higher
and more rational kind than that of the former; but
if its possessor keeps it all hidden in the depths of his
own mind—shut up in the coffers of his memory,
uncommunicated, unapplied to any useful purpose-
what character does he bear but that of being an
intellectual miser?

DR. WARDLAW.

All our knowledge is, ourselves to know.

Knowledge is the candle by which Faith sees to work.

By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.

Righteousness exalteth a nation.

PRECEPTS OF GOLD.

S

TRIVE not with a mighty man, lest thou fall
into his hands.

Be not at variance with a rich man, lest
he overweigh thee: for gold hath destroyed
many, and perverted the hearts of kings.

Strive not with a man that is full of tongue, and heap not tongue upon his fire.

Jest not with a rude man, lest thy ancestors be disgraced.

Reproach not a man that turneth from sin; but remember that we are all worthy of punishment.

Dishonour not a man in his old age; for even some of us wax old.

Rejoice not over thy greatest enemy being dead, but remember that we die all.

Despise not the discourse of the wise, but acquaint thyself with their proverbs; for of them thou shalt learn instruction, and how to serve great men with

ease.

Miss not the discourse of the elders; for they also learned of their fathers, and of them thou shalt learn understanding, and to give answer as need requireth. ECCLESIASTICUS.

Sin is a reproach to any people.

A mind content both crown and kingdom is.