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You were born to live in a state of happiness to eternity. Your trial of fitness for such a state is on this earth, this paradise for such it is-with things innumerable, animal, vegetable, and mineral, teeming for your use or pleasure. Why turn all the blessings and gifts of your good Lord and Father into curses and evils? Do not so; be wise, be thankful; know that as a man you will live to eternity, either happy or cursed. On earth you choose which lot you desire. Work, then, whilst it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work. "As the tree falls, so will it lie." We shall all be judged according to our works, or rather our ruling love will lead us either to Heaven or Hell. And now for your choice. Oh strive, strive, endure to the end, and let your trust be in the Lord that He will not desert you, that He is ever near, a present help when danger is nigh, to succour and hold you by the hand, to keep your foot from stumbling. His divine care watches over you sleeping and awake. He is your true Father, ever ready to receive the prodigal with outstretched arms. Remain, then, happy in His forgiveness and acceptance all the days of your life; and, according as you thus trust Him and keep His word, your happiness will increase to eternity. Do this, and "sin no more, lest a worse thing happen unto thee;" for who can tell the hour of his death? But be it to-day or not for years, let it find you ready, when you may say with the Psalmist from a full heart, "My Lord and my Redeemer!" And know that death is the gate of life; that you have run in the race, fought the good fight, and may fall off like ripe fruit to be gathered in the harvest of your Lord. Oh fear to offend Him who made this wondrous and yet uncomprehended universe; and do not endeavour, with vain curiosity, to argue and inquire concerning that Deity, of whose slightest work man's life is insufficient for discovering successive wonders. In vain you seek naturally the cause of life. In vain you seek to penetrate what are called the mysteries of Nature; and it was thousands of years before the learned discovered that the earth goes round the sun, revolving also on her own axis; or, what we now think so simple, namely, the circulation of the

blood. How incomprehensible then to us must be He who thought of, put in motion, and sustains, the universe! How very foolish our endeavours to reason on Him, when the whole world might set to work on a fly, and never fully comprehend its wonders!

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"Who is more restless at heart, more frequently fretted, or more grievously enraged, than a lover of himself? This is the case so often as he is not honoured according to the pride of his heart, or when anything does not succeed according to his wish and pleasure."-SWEDENBORG'S "Divine Providence," p. 245.

Do you think the love of self is your great stumblingblock, or can you clear yourself of the imputation which conscience has put on you ?

Why for such a time were you dead to what is called wordly advantages, but because your love of self was supreme, would not allow a compeer, and would not undergo those slight restrictions which the attainment of them requires? Why are you vexed and irritated when people do not treat you according to your ideas of your own worth? What is the moving principle of impatience, anger, and love of praise-excessive love of praise? In your desire to communicate to others Swedenborg's works, was the welfare of their souls your motive? If really impelled by anxiety for them and love, speak; but do not let it be a disguise for self-love, for exhibiting what you consider your superior wisdom. When you meet again, let them commence the subject, for you do not know what harm you may be doing them by thus forcing on them truth, especially if a bad spirit actuates the feeling. The soul of every one is in the hand of the Lord, and He will incite it to knowledge at the fit moment. "From the habitation of His dwelling He considereth all them that dwell on the earth; He fashioneth all the hearts of them and understandeth all their works."-Psalm xxxiii.

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How wonderful is the circulation which all things experience! Our spirits which return to their Creator;

our thoughts, taken from material subjects, which from the interior return to the exterior again in the form of speech or action; the circulation of the blood from the heart to the heart; of material life as in vegetables, from seed to seed; of man from dust to dust. Moisture taken from the earth and returning in freshening showers, the circle of the seasons, in fact, everything on earth the work of the Creator, one and all contain an image more or less vivid of His infinity. And as the vegetables fails to return to its primitive form, the blood fails in its proper circulation, and all other instances in so failing become useless or noxious, so do those spirits which shun the source from which they spring, and refuse to recognise their regulated circulation, turn themselves proportionally to useless or noxious beings.

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Our character changes like the skies-the evening shall set in dark and threatening, whilst in the morning there shall not be a cloud in the atmosphere. Being aware of this, never give way to the evil of the day, for who can tell what good the morning may bring to us? Combats against evil are fully repaid by the calmness and happiness of soul after success, together with the increased wisdom which it consequently receives. Truly "the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom." It is He only who can endue us with true wisdom. Place your whole heart on Him, and ye shall be wise as serpents but harmless as doves. May His gracious spirit teach me secretly, and His word be a light about my path!

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RECEIPT.-When restless, go home, sit down and read or meditate, or write; never think you have nothing to do. Our lives are made up of moments, and tell well or ill, according to the use to which we put those moments. Restlessness is as much a habit as anything else, and may be easily exchanged for its contrary by the course you are pursuing.

Thoughts should be written down-those which you consider likely to benefit yourself or others, but not those which, after examination, you conceive to have been excited by a bad motive.

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Were it not for the antiquity and respectability of the Papist religion, we should find in it as much ranting as would serve for two or three clubs of Ranters, Shakers, and other fanatical sects. But the world has become accustomed to it, or it could never allow such an intolerable farce to be kept up. However, what I wish to remark is the unbounded devotion of the lower classes to old statues, pictures, &c. On one occasion I saw an instance of this, at Venice particularly, where old people really threw themselves before two old mutilated statues, repeating all the time their prayers, or whatever it was, in a gasping, tremulous voice, then rising and kissing the images all over-face, hands, feet-good, loud, hearty smacks. This species of adoration to an image of our Saviour, or a picture of a Madonna, is usual, but to such old, ugly, broken statues, stuck in a dirty corner, I never saw the like homage done. To an image of our Saviour on the Cross some one had applied a yellow satin petticoat as a votive offering. This was one that was kept at the corner of a street. What Mr. Wreford saw at Capri, though, astonished me most. At this little island, every year and. a half, a mission came to make the people religious and serious, so that for a month or two after their departure the girls looked frightened at their sweethearts, and not a guitar was heard or a dance seen in the place. He was there when a celebrated missionary came, who preached three successive nights. I forget now all that occurred, but such a frightfully disgusting case of religious madness, or rather heathen folly, I never heard. He brought, I remember, a skeleton with him into the pulpit, and told the girls to look at that, and see their lovers without disguise. He inflicted also various pains on himself, amongst which, I remember, he put his hand in the flame of the candle and let it burn. The third evening he was too exhausted to act at the appointed hour, having broken a blood-vessel; but he did come later, and the whole affair ended by an universal whipping. Mr. W. says it was the most awfully ridiculous thing imaginable-young and old all down on their knees laying away at themselves like furies, shrieking and yelling; many of the women

fainted. The money being collected throughout the island, and universal gloom having been effected by the priests, they left the poor inhabitants to think about it for another year and a half. There are very few good points that strike me in this Church. Its encouragement of music and painting I approve of, since, though the body should not rule the soul, I think it ought to be a help to it in such an important case; and I have often felt the effect produced by a beautiful painting, an anthem, or chant, passing a church, and the general effect which the clergy gain over the senses of the people is remarkable, also the usual cheerfulness of their system of service, and all external aids not carried to excess. But how a person who has once ever read the Bible, or consults his common sense, can turn Roman Catholic is to me surprising.

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You must perceive that you are yet far off from the goal, that mark which may be attained even in this world; but that by slow and difficult paths you are arriving at it. Your way is uphill, and you must be patient. Even when you have thoroughly conquered your leading evil, so as to keep it in its proper balance, you will only have overcome one enemy, though it is true you will have weakened all the others. When you shall have arrived at that state in which sin will disgust you from itself, and not from the greater or less offensiveness of those who commit it, then will you have reaped the benefit of your warfare; for until you have fought, you will not fully comprehend the cunning and malice of your foes. You will but obscurely perceive the profanity of any particular sin considered in itself, and only turn aside from its more poor and revolting devotees, those in whom its bad effects are most apparent. The act, and not the actor, must displease you, or you are still in the spiritual commission of sin.

What causes anger? Self-love. When you are not treated as you wish, get what you desire, or are contradicted, can you be angry with others and think of your God, who, were He even what is called justly angry, must refuse you His comfort for a period, and deny the help of His