making full proof of his ministry. You dare not consult your inclinations; you dare not confer with flesh and blood; you dare not be influenced by the inconsiderateness, partiality or selfishness of your parents, relatives or friends. Your life belongs to Christ as really as does his eternal throne in heaven. Then, whether or not he designs your time, talents and labors for his service in the office of the ministry, is a matter that you can not dismiss without careful inquiry, earnest deliberation and importunate prayer to God for the guidance of the spirit. Consider, also, that your mind and heart, your peculiar powers and capacities have been fashioned by the hand of the Lord. Think you, without an object? Are you not adapted to some particular sphere? Have you not a mission? The drop of water, the ray of light, the grain of sand, the bird of the air, the beast of the field, and the worm on the earth-each has a mission. To each God has given a place and an agency in the order of creation and Providence; and each obeys its own law. Even "the ox knoweth his owner's and the ass his master's crib." The Lord of Glory, the King of Saints, designs you also for a particular place in his kingdom of grace, to which you are adapted. What awful levity, what low unbelief, for you to select a calling at will, as if nothing were to be consulted but impulse, the prospect of wordly comfort, or the notions of poor, sinful, erring men. What hardihood to be indifferent to the will of Christ as it respects the bearing of your whole life! I beseech you, suffer the question to stand out clearly before your eyes: Shall I become a minister of the gospel? Is this the will of Jesus Christ concerning me?

Do not dispose of the question hastily. But revolve it in all its bearings upon the church, upon the world, and upon yourself. Fix your mind upon it intently. Pray earnestly, humbly, believingly. For remember that you cannot set it aside lightly, without committing grievous sin.

THE DAISY.

Nor worlds on worlds in phalanx deep,
Need we to prove a God is here;
The daisy, fresh from winter's sleep,
Tells of his hand in lines as clear.

For who but he that arch'd the skies,
And pours the day-spring's living flood,
Wondrous alike in all he tries,

Could rear the daisy's purple bud?

Mold its green cup, its wiry stem;
Its fringed border nicely spin;
And cut the gold-embosomed gem,
That, set in silver, gleams within;

And fling it, unrestrained and free,
O'er hill and dale and desert sod,
That man, where'er he walks, may see
In every step, the stamp of God.

ONCE, in winter time, some boys made a snow-ball.

The snow lying soft on the ground, they rolled the ball until at last it became so heavy that they could move it no more.

"This," said Gotshold, "is an emblem of human cares; they are often at first small, but through impatience and unbelief they grow so large that we can manage them no more. Many a one revolves his troubles day and night in his mind, and as these boys gained nothing by their labor but the gathering together of a large ball of snow, that those who pass by might see that some children had been playing, so those who roll their troubles till they are so increased, gain only a weary head and sorrowful heart.

How often, unwilling to leave to God the honor of providing for us, as though he were too negligent or sleepy, do we seek to aid his wisdom by our folly. Alas! how little do we gain by it! Do we not sin greatly by our unbelief? When he has opened the bosom of his mercy, and asks us to cast all our cares upon him, we fear to trust him. My God! thou hast made the eye and dost not thou see? Thou hast made the ear, and canst not thou hear? Thou hast created the heart, and wilt not thou provide for it, and help it to carry its cares.

I will, henceforth, roll my troubles and cares no farther than to thee. When I cannot even do this, I will open my heart and show thee my wants and woes. Thou wilt remove those increased cares which my poor strength can roll no more. SCRIVER.

A certain wise man says: "Repent one day before thy death! Which is this day, and who knows when he shall die?"

Once, a certain king invited guests to a feast, but he did not tell them the hour when it would be ready. Those that were wise prepared themselves immediately, for they said: "Any minute the feast may be ready, and we may be called in." The foolish who were invited, went their way, and said: "There is time enough yet!"

Suddenly they were called. Those they were ready went in. Those that had delayed were shut out. They lost the honor intended for them. Solomon says: "Let your garments be always white." Your graverobes are also white. Be you clothed in them daily, and stand prepared. Be wise one day before your death.

HERDER.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

BY REV. ALFRED NEVIN.

THE geologist, as he bores and drills the earth, is able from the different strata and deposites which he discovers, to ascertain not only its past and present condition but its original intent. So, too, an individual, by examining old title-deeds, may sometimes learn enough about the elevation and dignity of his ancestry to show him that he is, in his ignorance and vice, living unworthily of those of the same blood who have preceded him in the journey of life, and to stimulate him to attempted imitation of their virtues.

It is strange how language conveys important truths from age to age. A single word will become the vehicle of a thought, and send it down from generation to generation, with a life-power in it which makes it work as it passes on through the mass of humanity. Take the word man as an example. It is fuil of significance. It follows the race in all its wanderings, as an antiquated coin, which is often buried but never loses its "superscription," and is at once denotive of our origin and our destiny. Man!-the very mention of the name wakes up unnumbered echoes in support of the grand ideas which are lodged in it, and points us to the most diversified and convincing proofs of the verity and forcefulness of its import. It says to us, and it says it in more senses than one

"Thou hast a noble guest, O flesh!"

"Man, in Hebrew, to which the term is possibly indebted for its earliest origin, occurs under the form maneh-a verb directly importing to 'discern or discriminate,' and which, hence, signifies, as a noun, 'a discerning or discriminating being.' In that very ancient language, the Sanscrit, the word has both these senses in the directest possible manner. So, too, in Greek, men and menas signify mind, or 'the thinking faculty' the latter of which terms, being contracted, is mens, which, in the Latin language, imports the very same thing. Not to multiply instances, we only add that, in the Gothic, and all the northern dialects of Europe, man imports the very same idea as in our own tongue, the English indeed having descended from the same quarter."

Thus you see, intellect is one of our marvellous endowments. It is an essential part of our constitution. It is a gift from God. "The inspiration of the Almighty hath given us understanding." What a wonderful donation is it! Who shall guage its capacity; who shall measure its susceptibility of expansion and improvement? How much would Newton and Bacon have known by this time, if they had lived on, thinking, and observing, and exploring as they did, when dwelling in "the earthly house of this tabernacle?" If any one chooses to ignore his pre-eminence over all sublunary creatures, or if he wishes to unman himself, he can easily do so. The road to such a result is such that "a fool need not err therein." Let him neglect his mind, and he shall most

certainly shrink from approximation to the angels above him, and sink to a sad nearness and likeness to the animals beneath him. Let him be satisfied to be as the beaver that is content with building its hut, and the bee that is content with constructing its hive and its comb, and the ox that seeks for nothing beyond abundance and variety of herbageinstead of developing as he ought the principle which qualifies him to reason, to combine, to acquire, to compare, to judge, to measure the stars in their distances and mutual relations, to weigh the globe, to know and master the forces of nature, to unfold the teeming wonders of creation, to search into Truth-physical, mathematical and moral, in its various phases and forms, and to rise—

and his wish will be gratified. His name will, in effect, be withdrawn from the list of men. His genus will be changed though his species

may be hard to determine.
What does the word "mankind" mean? Is it a term which indi-
cates merely the race of human beings? By no means. It signifies
that men are "kinned"—that is, of kin; that they are of common
origin, and are united by common ties, which nothing but unnatural
violence can sever. Every time we use this word, we "declare our faith
in the one common descent of the whole race of man, and in making
this declaration, we make it with an acknowledgment of kind feelings,
dispositions, sympathies, and deeds due from us to our brethren." Of
a like import is our adjective humane, which comes from the Latin root
humanus. Both words signify "having the feelings and dispositions
proper to man-having tenderness, compassion, and a disposition to
treat others with kindness, particularly in relieving them when in distress,
or in captivity-when they are helpless or defenseless-kind, benevolent."
Thus is it shown that we are not separate, solitary, isolated beings,
but "members one of another." We are not to be selfish and snappish.
We are to look not only upon our own things, but also upon the things
of others. We are to exert our influence, whatever it may be, to cheer,
and comfort, and elevate our fellow beings. We are not to act like the
snail, which shuts itself up in its own shell, but to be as the sun which
shines, and the dew that falls, and the winds that blow, and the flowers
that bloom, not for themselves but for others. The following sentiment
can be seen from several points of view:

"That man may breathe, but never lives,
Who much receives, but nothing gives,

Whom none can bless, whom none can thank,
Creation's blot, creation's blank."

Some, in human form, have for their maxim: "I am not my brother's keeper." You can see it written on their foreheads, and the palms of their hands, and upon the cold smile of self-gratulation which a contrast of their favored circumstances with those of the children of wretchedness and sorrow generates, instead of melting their hearts to deeds of generous sympathy and pity. God, in his mercy, save me from such iceberg coldness! I would not thus feel myself a broken and dissevered thing; I would not thus make Ego my idol; I would not thus breathe the same

atmosphere with the first fratricide who purpled the green fields with a brother's blood, and attempted to conceal his guilt by the plea which at once showed that selfishness-the poison of our nature-had not only prompted the horrid deed, but also been strengthened by it.

If we turn to man's religious nature, we find it attested by such words as religo (Latin,) which signifies to bind back, or anew, referring to those ties which originally bound man to God and to humanity; and anthropos (Greek,) which means turning the countenance upwardsreferring, doubtless, to our recollection of heaven as our original and proper home. Religion is the more probable specifying difference of man from all other creatures than Reason. Cicero says, that "if a person travel the world, it is possible to find cities without walls, without letters, without kings, without wealth, without coin, without schools and theatres; but a city without a temple, or that useth no worship, prayers, &c., no one ever saw." Another philosopher says: "I judge invocation of God, with hope towards him, to be, if we will speak the truth, the only genuine property of man;" and he adds, "only he who is acted by such a hope is a man, and he that is destitute of this hope is no man"" preferring this account to the common definition (which he says is only of the concrete man,) "that be is a reasonable and mortal living creature." Another remarks, "that upon accurate search, religion and faith appear the only ultimate difference of man, whereof neither Divine perception is capable nor brutal imperfection." This last author gives us the middle position between the incorporeal intelligence above us, and the animal creation below us, which furnished the poet his ground-work for that striking and truthful delineation

"How poor, how rich, how abject, how august,

How complicate, how wonderful is man!

How passing wonder He who made him such,
Who mingled in our make such strange extremes
Of different natures, marvellously mixed!

Helpless immortal! insect infinite,

A worm, a god-I tremble at myself!"

Let the truth thus presented be well pondered. It ought to be. Religion is not to us an exotic, but an indigenous plant. It is natural to us, and we cannot renounce it without running into monstrosity. I do not say, understand me, that the religion of the Bible is natural to us that is, Christianity. But I affirm that our nature is religious in its tendencies and demands, and christianity, which God in answer to prayer will make to us a personal and practical interest is the only truth that meets our case. If embraced by a cordial faith, it will save us in both worlds. "A christian is the highest style of man."

TO THE MOON.

ART thou pale for weariness

Of climbing heaven, and gazing on the earth,
Wandering companionless

Among the stars that have a different birth,

And ever-changing, like a joyless eye

That finds no object worth its constancy?