next day; but, as God is true, you cannot put it off always. It will come home sooner or later. It may come suddenly, and come in circumstances only to tell you that your term of probation is closed, and your soul lost for

ever! The day of death will put an end to procrastination, and teach you, when it is too late to retrieve the loss, that the care of the soul is the first and great concern of man.

The Counsel Chamber.

ECONOMY.

IT is important that you should practise economy in the management of your business. Suppose you are devoted to mercantile pursuits,-without that rigid economy which is the result of much forethought and calculation, you can have no reasonable hope of success; for, though you may have ever so large a capital to trade upon, you will find that it will not be proof against a negligent and random sort of management. If you are careless in your purchases, and careless in your sales, and careless in your charges, you will inevitably reap the fruit of your carelessness in the gradual diminution, and, at no distant period, the complete, wreck of your property. If you will be a successful merchant, you must husband your means with the utmost care, and ever be on the alert to avert threatening losses, and to avail your self of every fair and honourable advantage And so in regard to every other occupation,-if you are a mechanic, or a physician, or a lawyer, you ought to realize the legitimate benefits of your profession; and this you can never do without adhering to strict economy.

Nor is there less need of economy in regard to your personal expenses; in which I include dress, furniture, equi- | page-everything that enters into the mode of living. And here allow me to make a remark to guard you against what I am constrained to consider one of the ultraisms of the day,—namely, that the same general style of living should be observed by all, without reference to the circumstances in which Providence has placed them; and that those who have large estates, whether by inheritance or by their own acquisition, have no right to appropriate

any part of their wealth for their own personal gratification, above what is necessary to their bare subsistence in the plainest manner. Now, I do not believe a word of this. It is evidently the design of Providence that there should be distinctions in society; these distinctions are clearly recognized in Scripture; and though they are capable of being greatly perverted and abused, yet, in themselves, they are not sinful,

they are even necessary to the accomplishment of the greatest good, and the enjoyment of the highest happiness. I say, then, that this levelling system, which would tear up all the carpets from our floors, and substitute for elegant furniture the plainest utensils, and carry us far back toward the ages of barbarism, however its advocates may urge it under the plea of benevolence, or even piety, receives no countenance either from the word or the providence of God. If you are in affluent circumstances, you have a right to live more expensively than if you were in indigence; and if you gather around you some of the luxuries and elegances of life, I do not believe that you are chargeable with wrong. But, after all, the obligations of economy rest on you, just as truly as if you were poor. You are bound to take heed that your property does not go needlessly to waste, and that you do not indulge your elegant tastes at the expense of the claims of either justice or charity. That is certainly a criminal extravagance that appropriates great possessions to mere purposes of worldly splendour, and turns a deaf ear to the imploring voice of human want.

But it is the few only who are rich: the great mass are in circumstances of mediocrity or comparative indigence;

and these should practise a degree of economy corresponding to the condition in which Providence has placed them. They should be particularly careful that their expenses are not greater than are justified by their income; and if there should be a necessity to curtail them, they should never hesitate from an apprehension of awakening suspicion in regard to their worldly circumstances. There are some young men whom everybody knows to be poor, who yet have a perfect passion to surround themselves with the insignia of opulence. They dress in an extravagant style, and adopt expensive habits, with the idea of hiding from the world their poverty, or possibly of forming wealthy connections. But such experiments only demonstrate the folly of those who make them. Let a young man who is poor thus try to appear wealthy, or let one only get the reputation of living in a style which his income does not warrant, and from that hour there will come a shade over his character; he will be looked upon, at I mean, the ability which it will least, with suspicion, if he is not set down as absolutely untrustworthy.

upon now, and you do not think it well to be anxious for the future. Certainly, you should not indulge an undue solicitude; but there is a degree of forethought which you are bound to take, and without which your prospect is shrouded in gloom. If you have enough, and only enough to support you now, what will you do in the time of sickness, when you will be unable to labour? what in the winter season of old age, if you should be spared to that period, when the grasshopper shall be a burden, and the almond-tree flourish? Surely, you will not wish then to be dependent on the charity of the world.

Cultivate economy, then, now, as the preventive of such a calamity; and, if no such exigency should arise, you need not fear but that your earnings may still be appropriated to bless and comfort your fellow-creatures.

And this leads me to advert to the other reason which Joseph's experience suggests for your cultivating this habit,

secure to you of administering to the wants of others-of helping forward There are two powerful reasons sug- the great cause of Christian charity. gested by the history of Joseph, why Though it does not appear that Joseph, every young man should cultivate the when he evinced such provident regard virtue which I am recommending. for the future, by laying up corn in The first is connected with a suitable store-houses, had any intimation that providence in regard to the future. he would ever have an opportunity of Joseph, in the prospect of the years of relieving the wants of his own family, famine, made provision for them during yet so it turned out: when they might the years of plenty; and it was this otherwise have perished from the only that enabled him to meet the famine, they were supplied, through demands of his people for bread. He, his provident bounty, with every comindeed, was apprised of the approach- fort that they could desire; and espeing dearth, by Divine intimation; but cially he had the privilege of ministeryou are left to the calculations of an ing to the necessities of his aged father, unassisted foresight. This much, how- from whom he had suffered a long and ever, you know, that your lot is cast cruel exile. Is it not worth while to in a world of vicissitude; that riches practise economy, even in the possioften take to themselves wings and flybility of such a result? Perhaps, by away; and that in the changes of business and life, even the richest man in the community has no security that he may not lose everything. Here, then, is a reason why you should look to what you possess with the strictest care; why you should not, from inconsideration or neglect, incur the risk of losing it.

You imagine, perhaps, that you have no particular need of economy, as you have enough to live

this means, you may be enabled to invite your parents, in the decline of life, to come and make their residence by the side of you, and to find their wants all supplied from your filial bounty; or else, if you are separated from them, you may gladden their hearts by sending them the requisite supplies-the fruit of your habitual economy. Or else, like Joseph, you may have brothers who are in need

possibly brothers who, by some visit- being a benefactor to your fellowation of Providence, are rendered un- creatures? Is there not a chord strung able to help themselves: what a com- in your heart, that vibrates gratefully fort would it be to you to be able to to the thought that your earnings may stretch out the hand of charity towards tell on the best interests of many them, and to offer them, perhaps, a whom you will never see on earth? quiet home and a comfortable support! that the blessing of some who are But even if you should have no rela- ready to perish may come upon you? tives to require your assistance, you Then, I say, yet once more, practise live in a world that is full of the suffer- the virtue of economy. Live frugally, ing poor; in a world where the bless- that you may live not for yourself ings of Christianity are yet but par- alone; that if you do not leave behind tially diffused; in a world where money you wealth to be distributed for the -worthless as we sometimes account benefit of others, you may at least it-will avail to a thousand purposes, leave behind you an example of excelof human happiness and improvement. lence which others should imitate. Do you not aspire to the privilege of

The Fragment Basket.

BAD BOOKS.

Books are company, and the company of bad books is as dangerous as the company of bad boys or bad men. Goldsmith, who was a novel-writer of some note, writing to his brother about the education of a nephew, says, "Above all things, never let your nephew touch a novel or a romance."

GOOD BOOKS.

The value of a good book is not often appreciated. Saints are built up in their faith by good reading, and an impenitent person is never more disposed to read than when he begins to take an interest in the salvation of his soul. It is important, therefore, for every family to keep on hand a supply of useful religious books. Religious books have a great deal to do with the destiny of families.

INCIDENTAL SPIRITUAL IN

STRUCTION.

The art of weaving spiritual instruction easily and naturally into the daily occurrences of life, is of incalculable value. Its acquisition is worth your most earnest, prayerful, and constant efforts. It was the remark of one of the sons of the venerated Dr. Scott, that the knowledge which he had found turn to most account in life appeared to have been gathered up

gradually and imperceptibly, from the
conversation that passed, from day to
day, in the family.

A LAMP THAT WILL BURN
TWELVE MONTHS.

Take a stick of phosphorus, and put it into a large dry phial, not corked, and it will afford a light sufficient to discern any object in a room when held near it. The phial should be kept in a cool place, where there is no great current of air, and it will continue its luminous appearance for more than twelve months.

TAKE THE HINT.

Dr. Franklin is said to have had a servant who never acknowledged he was wrong. The Doctor's patience was at length exhausted, and he said,

My friend, you and I must part. I never knew a man who was good at making excuses good at anything else."

LEISURE HOURS.

There is room enough in human life to crowd almost every art and science in it. If we pass "no day without a line," visit no place without the company of a book, we may with ease fill libraries, or empty them of their contents. The more we do, the more we can do; the more busy we are, the more leisure we have.-Hazlitt.

The Children's Gallery.

JUVENILE SMOKERS.

Who can see a group of boys, eight, ten, or twelve years old, in our streets, smoking cigars, without anticipating such a depreciation of our posterity in health and character as can scarcely be contemplated, even at this distance, without pain and horror?DR. RUSH.

That

But the worst of the case has not been told. There is in each of you boys an immortal spark, kindled by the breath of the Almighty. And this undying spark-this gem of matchless worth-suffers in common with his physical being. The sedative influence represses intellectual energy-it renders its votary indisposed to mental exertion.

BOYS! We have a word to say to you, I remember with what difficulty you and we say it not in anger but in love. formed the habit-how sick it made Will you listen? We tell you, then, you at first; and because you can now that you should not smoke because smoke without turning pale with nausmoking is injurious to health. Such sea and vertigo, do you imagine it has is the testimony of medical men, and lost its tendency to do you harm? By among them are many of the wisest no means. and the best. Dr. Rush, a good, kind, and benevolent, as well as a great man, says "Tobacco, even when used in moderation, may cause dyspepsia, headache, tremors, and vertigo." tobacco, in any form, is a slow poison, working its deleterious effects upon the system, is proved by all experience. But you say you feel quite well, and it has done you no harm. So says the gin-drinker-he says he drinks because it does him good; and in both cases the poison is so insidious, that its victim is ripe for the grave ere he is aware that the work of death is commenced. But you have seen aged men who have been all their lives addicted to its use. It is true that some may have escaped its ravages; but you have seen such persons a polluted mass of animal matter, lethargic, wheezing, coughing, and offensive; and because some have escaped with their lives through all its bad tendencies, will you run the dreadful risk, merely because you love it? Remember it is a vitiated and artificial taste, of which man alone is capable. The instinct of brutes ever prompts them to reject the vile and nauseous weed. Reason was given to man as a guide, and even boys ought to use it. Do you

Do you see young Empson coming this way?-he walks erect and looks happy. His lips have never been stained, nor his breath contaminated by tobacco. He fears the sin, and abhors the meanness of a lie. He shudders at an oath. He is not receiving his education in the streets, or in some place of common resort-idle boys and graceless men being his teachers. He honours and obeys his parents, loves his school, his Sunday-school, and the church. Everybody loves him and he loves everybody. His heart and mind are chiefly formed within the hallowed precincts of the domestic circle. He has an older sister who watches the developments of character in him with intense interest; and he, in return, yields to her his fraternal affection and confidence. She often