tion may be beneath. Though heedless of it, we move in a universe of spiritual life. It is with us as with men that lie dreaming in their beds at sea, between whom and the ocean is but a single plank: cabined, cribbed, confined in our narrow, individual existence, there is all the time rushing by us, its moanings in our ears, its tremblings reaching to our hearts, the mystic tide of spiritual life. "The spirit giveth life." We need not go far, if we will but open our eyes, to see how the most ordinary acts of man are penetrated by a spiritual element. And where this is, nothing can be tame or common-place. Nothing, at first sight, is more worldly and unspiritual than a commercial newspaper. It deals solely with the affairs of the day, and with material interests. Yet when we come to consider them, its driest details are instinct with human hopes, and fears, and affections; and these illuminate what was dark, and make the dead letter breathe with life. For example:-in the paper of to-day, a middle-aged man seeks employment in a certain kind of business. The advertisement has, in substance, been the same for weeks. For a time, he sought some place, which presupposed the possession of business habits and attainments. Then there was a change in the close of the advertisement, indicating that he would do any thing by which he could render himself useful to an employer. And, this morning, there is another change: he is willing to commence with low wages, as employment is what he especially wants. All this is uninteresting enough; yet what depths of life may lie underneath this icy surface of business detail! It is easy for the fancy to seek out and make the acquaintance of this man. He is a foreigner, in poverty, with a family, brought to this country by the hopes which have brought so many hither, only that they might be overwhelmed with disappointment. He is a stranger, and finds all places of business full. Already his family is parting with every superfluous article of dress and furniture; their food grows daily more scanty and meagre; broken down in heart and hopes, he seeks, through all the avenues of business, some employment, and cannot find it. The decent pride, and the desire to enter that business for which his previous habits had fitted him, have kept him up for a time; but these are fast departing under the pressure of penury; and this morning's advertisement means, that the day seems near at hand when his children may cry for bread, and he have none to give. Not always, by any means, but how often might such advertisements tell tales like this! Could we but look, through this long line of advertisements, into the hearts of those who have published them, what a revelation would there be of human life! Here are partnerships formed and closed; young men entering into business, old men going out of it; new inventions and speculations; failures, sales of household furniture, and dwellings. These have been attended by the most sanguine hopes, by utter hopelessness, by every form of fear, anxiety, and sorrow. This young man, just entering business, looks forward, with anticipations bright as the morning, to his marriage day. This sale of furniture speaks of death, diminished fortunes, a scattered family. There is not a sale of stocks, which does not straiten or increase the narrow means of widows and orphans. This long column of ship news-a thousand hearts are at this moment beating with joy and thankfulness, or are oppressed by anxiety, or crushed down by sorrow, because of these records, which to others seem so meaningless!One reads here of his prosperity; another of ruined fortunes. And the wrecked ship, whose crew was swept by the surge into the breakers, and dashed on the rockshow many in their solitary homes are mourning for those who sailed with bright hopes in that ship, but who shall never return! And, more than this-could these lines which record the transactions of daily business, tell of the hearts which indited them, what temptations and struggles would they reveal! They would tell of inexperience deceived or protected; of integrity fallen, or made stedfast as the rock; of moral trials, in which noble natures have been broken down or built up. Had we the key and the interpretation of what we here read, this daily chronicle of traffic would be a sadder tragedy than any which Shakspeare wrote. LESSON XLVII. The Seventh Plague of Egypt. The Tempest.—ANON. 'Twas morn-the rising splendour roll'd The slave, the gemm'd and glittering page- A dazzling ring round Pharaoh's throne. Shrank backward from his stately stride: A shudder of instinctive fear Told the dark king what step was near; He stoop'd not at the footstool stone, On Pharaoh's cheek the blood flush'd high, Yet on the Chief of Israel No arrow of his thousands fell: All mute and moveless as the grave Stood chill'd the satrap and the slave. "Thou'rt come," at length the monarch spoke; Haughty and high the words outbroke: "Is Israel weary of its lair, The forehead peel'd, the shoulder bare? Go, vilest of the living vile, Shouted in pride the turban'd peers, Sail'd vapoury mountains, wild and dun. 66 'King! be the word of freedom given: What art thou, man, to war with Heaven ?" There came no word.-The thunder broke! Like a huge city's final smoke, Thick, lurid, stifling, mix'd with flame, Wide flew the men of spear and shield; Lay, corpse-like, on the smouldering ground. Still swelled the plague the flame grew pale; Down pour'd the ministers of fate; Till man and cattle, crush'd, congeal'd, Still swell'd the plague-uprose the blast, On ocean, river, forest, vale, Thunder'd at once the mighty gale. And, lo! that first fierce triumph o'er, Then bow'd thy spirit, stubborn king, To heaven the sage upraised his wand; LESSON XLVIII. Danger of Prematurely Tasking the Mental Powers of the Young.-A. BRIGHAM. MUCH of the thoughtlessness of parents, regarding the injury they may do their children by too early cultivating their minds, has arisen from the mystery in which the science of mind has been involved, and ignorance of the |