the giver nothing, but is invaluable to the sad and sorrowing. It raises from misery and degradation, and throws around the soul those hallowed joys that were lost in paradise.

One heedless word may sever hearts for ever. It is useless to say, "It was spoken in sport." A spark of fire, unintentionally thrown upon powder, will ignite it as soon as one thrown intentionally. Our motto should be— Kind feelings, kind words, and kind acts.

THE POWER OF KINDNESS.

I have always been a believer in the great power of kindness. Particularly was I struck the other day in an affair that came off in connection with my school.

Two boys, while returning from school one night, indulged in very harsh language towards each other. Their passions were so excited, that one (the elder) actually drew a knife, and threatened the life of the other.

The news reached me before bed-time on the same night, and I was excessively agitated. I knew that it would be my duty to do something on the next morning. After variou courses had been pondered, I concluded to try the power of kindness. I made the fire very early the next morning, and had been in the school-room but a few moments when the

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elder of the two boys came in. I asked him to sit, and had a very kind talk with him, and soon the tears began to flow from his eyes, and he owned that he had done wrong. Just then, other scholars came in, and I said no more, willing that he should know, guilty as I thought him, that I had respect for his feelings. About the middle of the forenoon, both of the boys who had been at variance asked to go out. I granted their request. Pretty soon they came back with smiling faces, exclaiming, "We have made it all up! We aint a going to quarrel any more!" And sure enough they did never quarrel more while I knew them! D. V. B.

TRUE MAXIMS.

Such is the goodness and excellence of the Divine character, that a clear and enlightened view thereof, is sufficient to render any human being perfectly happy.

Love and peace are special messengers from heaven; hatred and war are emissaries from hell. Every law which God has written upon the hearts of men, or in his word, is holy, just, and good. It is a ray, a radiation of love, the god-head of his attributes, and wherever it is obeyed, there is peace-perfect peace. "Great peace have they that love thy law."

LOVE is the sun, in which all the tributaries

of God's character meet and find their source. The light of that sun is PEACE, the reflection of his being.

War oppresses the industrious poor, to settle the disputes of the luxurious rich.

A wise man knows his own ignorance-a fool thinks he knows every thing.

How sweet is that happiness which, through Divine grace, your own hand has (mediately) created in another; and how does this fragrance intensify itself, while your grateful heart ascribes that happiness, and the power of producing it, to the Only Fountain of good. It is much to be lamented that a bad temper should be estimated, even by religious characters, rather as an infirmity than as a fault; for, is it not obvious, that such persons are to be classed with those who are 66 angry with their brother without a cause ?" But a man of irascible temper always assumes sufficient cause for his anger; while he assumes at the same time, that there is no cause for the opposition of those who are at issue with him, but how different is the view of an impartial bystander !

No spiritual man performs a harsh action on the ground of legal right; the main question with him is, how any act will be estimated in the land of spirits, according to the Divine standard of legality there extant.

The dark night of temptation seems to re

veal stars in our mental firmament, of the existence of which we should otherwise have had no knowledge.

The character of a gentleman-and there is no good reason why this designation should be confined to any particular occupation or external condition-cannot be separated from that of the christian, without the destruction of the latter. A gent.eman may exist who is no christian; but a christian cannot exist who is no gentleman. A gentleman never wounds the feelings of another wantonly, because it is ungentlemanly to do so; and a christian never does so, because it is contrary to christian charity and duty.

There are two kinds of self-teaching which resist legitimate instruction, namely, the skeptical and the superstitious. Both are equally grounded in the self-will of man; but while the former is the wolf in his own skin, the latter is the wolf in the sheep-skin. An unteachable disposition is the attribute of both.

The interpretation of the Word is fundamental to the whole theory and practice of religion; but the spirit of the interpreter is fundamental to the interpretation itself. Every thing depends upon his eye being single-upon the spirit and attention of his mind being pure and right. If the mental eye be evil, the very light of the sacred page will become to it as darkness.

By the necessities of life, and the complexities of human connections, all are united in secret Providential bands; these are cemented and blessed as far as good affections preside; and are disturbed and sundered by the activity of the selfish passions.

The Golden Rule, while its excellence is admitted, is often nullified by the want of fairness in applying it. Thus the rule of duty from others shines forth like the sun,-the clearest and most certain thing possible;while the glimmering point, now here, now there, in one's self, is for the most part invisible, except when self-interest aids the discovery by means of its politic lens.

He who retorts angry expressions, instead of letting them fall harmless, is like one who throws back a missile which has been hurled at him, only to have it hurled again with a surer aim and deadlier force. How much better to let it lie untouched at his feet.

TYRANNIES.

Of all the tyrannies which cause crimes, the worst is the tyranny of a desire. This is the cause of what is properly called crime. It is the demoniac aspect of man. Preferring ourselves to others is the essence of all vice and crime. "If I have in thought ever preferred