importance of securing the union of these States, and of supporting a form of government, which, while it has conferred the greatest amount of temporal comforts and happiness, has thus far, by the blessing of the all-wise Disposer of events, proved the most congenial to the growth of true religion and the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom.

And does any one ask, 'What can I do to secure the perpetuity of the Union, and the multifarious blessings incidentally resulting therefrom?' To such an one I would answer, that it is not my purpose, at this time, to enter into the minutiae of duty which devolve upon every Christian citizen in such a time as this. It is my intention to point only to one duty which every true patriot owes to his beloved country, to his own bosom, and to his God. It can be performed alike by the rich and the poor, by the learned and the unlearned. It is simply this to wit Let every man who believes that God is the hearer of prayer, offer one prayer daily for the salvation of this our beloved country from disunion and anarchy. Do you not think, kind reader, that such a united cry for peace and the consequent blessings to Zion, would come up as sweet incense before God? Do you not believe that such a petition, offered in the spirit of intelligent dependence and faith, would enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth? Most surely it would; and legions of angels, if needed, would be sent forth

as ministering spirits to accomplish the glorious work. The honor of the Almighty, and the honor of his holy word, are both pledged for the fulfilment of such an appropriate request. Let me conjure you, then, by all that is precious in the inheritance which, as a citizen of this free country, you have received from your fathers; by all that is lovely in the realization of the contemplated growth of our country, and a co-extensive growth of the facilities of peopling the kingdom of the Redeemer; by the love which you bear to the Saviour, to the souls of your fellow-men, and to yourselves; let me conjure you, I say, to pray, pray earnestly that the clouds which hang over us - portending evil to our civil and religious institutions-way be dissipated by the Almighty, and that the bright beams of the Sun of righteousness may pervade our land in all its length and breadth. And let me beseech you not to be diverted from this duty by the insinuations of Satan, raising in the mind the questions of administration and anti-administration. For, fortunately, the subject is not left to revolve upon so feeble an axis. It is Christianity! Christianity! that we are pleading for. Let us keep Christianity before our view continually, and pray for the removal of every obstacle that would at all retard the wheels of the chariot of her salvation. Let us pray that the allwise Disposer of events may so over-rule the unpropitious operations of governmental polity, (if any

such occur) that good shall be brought out of evil, and that his providence shall be glorified. And while by our acts of devotion we show that we 'fear God,' let us also by our every act show that we honor the King,' lest the enemy have occasion to triumph. Let us view the untoward events that have recently occurred, as evils suffered to fall to our lot by the permissive providence of God, rather than refer them to the maliciously preconcerted arrangements of the prince in power; and however great the evils may be, forget not, I beseech you, that they are not so great that Jehovah cannot at his fiat remove them, in answer to the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous,' which always 'availeth much.'

THE CONCLUSION.

"WHAT?"

The conclusion, my kind reader! Pray, did you never hear of a conclusion? I doubt not you have often and gladly met with such a thing, however unpoetical the word may be for the title of a literary composition. But in plain English, this is intended for the last piece in my book. For "more copy is the cry, and although I have "copy" enough to

employ a printer's urchin (I will not call you "devil," my lad) a whole day in transporting from my house to Faust's, I cannot at present attend to its collation. I cannot say, as did Geoffrey Crayon in early life, while he was performing a poetical pilgrimage at Stratford-on-Avon, that I am "a homeless man, who has no spot on this wide world which he can truly call his own." Nor can I say, with Burton, "I have no wife nor children, good or bad, to provide for. A mere spectator of other men's fortunes and adventures, and how they play their parts; which, methinks, are diversely presented unto me, as from a common theatre or scene." No; thank Heaven, I have a home, a wife, a child. The items of care resulting from such fortunate possessions, and the duties involved in such relations, together with sundry little imperatives arising from a small interest in a small establishment for the purchase and sale of small matters, and some few out-of-door transactions with the world, must be my apology for taking my leave. And in doing so, I have one favor to ask of my patient (?) reader; it is, that although he may charge me with being beyond redemption affected with cacoëthes scribendi, and not a little pedantry, he will nevertheless give me the credit of perpetrating this volume for a benevolent purpose, since the object of the work is practically to set forth to young men especially, a mode of recreation more

rational in itself than many of the numerous plans that are devised for the occupation of their leisure hours, and one which may prove itself greatly conservative to society, by its diffusive influence upon the intellects and hearts of the people.

MEM. Never, until writers are better paid for their services, let literature interfere a jot or tittle with the demands of accustomed business, if you have any.