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"St. Paul next bids them be of good comfort.' There are persons who I know, will tell you that religion is but another name for melancholy. The Apostle however, describes it as a source of 'com'fort.' And the address which was the usual herald of our Lord's approach, was, 'Peace be with 'you.' And O, my friends, take it, if not upon far higher authority, yet upon the authority of one whom you have so kindly trusted for fifty years of one who, at least, never meant to deceive you, of one who, standing on the verge of heaven or hell, is not likely either to deceive or to be deceived, that a life of religion is a life of peace and joy. If I have not been quite happy, it is because I have been far from good. But even I,-thank God, who has rescued me from some of the vices of the profligate and the worldly-have felt how happy those must be whose own hand does not dash away the cup which the mercy of God presents them. Even I, at the base of the mountain, have caught a ray of that beam of joy which sheds perpetual sunshine on its top. The good man melancholy! What, can he be melancholy whose happiness is bound up with that of God himself; who, when he lays his head on his pillow, feels that if he dies in his bed he shall rise

to glory; who knows that his Redeemer liveth,' and that he shall lead him by living fountains of

water, and wipe away all tears from his eyes? Can he be melancholy, who, when the sun shall 'be red as blood, the stars fall from heaven, and the stoutest hearts fail for fear,' has the command of God to lift up his head with joy, because his redemption draweth nigh-who sees by the eye of faith, in the air, in the seas, amidst the tumult of war or the fires of persecution, the sign of the Son of man- the cross of Christ-the throne of his Master's triumphs and his own-who hears as he bears on his neck the iron yoke of self-denial and humility, a voice which says, To-day 'shalt thou be with me in Paradise ?'

"After this the Apostle proceeds to point out a chief source of the comfort of which he has spoken-be of one mind. And I feel it right to say, that no virtue is more neglected, no pearl more trodden under foot, than the spirit here re commended. It seems too generally to be take for granted, that men must of necessity widely differ.-But why? Has truth a multitude of faces amongst which every man is at liberty to choos which he will? Have we not the same God-the same Gospel-the same nature-the same Spiri

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to teach, and the same Saviour to die for us?Can the God' who is love' delight in discord ? Is not the general feature of nature harmony? and shall man, the lord of nature, be destitute of it? Shall all the harps of heaven be, as it were, moved by one breath, touched by one hand, and employed in one song-and shall no echo of the

heavenly chorus be heard below?

Be of one mind, my friends. Desire union, even though you cannot obtain it. Supply your link to the golden chain, though others refuse theirs.-I know that union cannot be forced-that you cannot compel each man to bring his stone to erect the temple of concord and charity. But endeavour to lay the basis in humility and prayer-in humility, which may correct your own judgment; and in prayer, which may secure the direction of God ;and, without the sound of the hammer or saw, the edifice shall arise never to fall, because on its walls are inscribed that charity' that never faileth.'— One mind shall animate all its worshippers; and that, like the mind of God himself, be one vast impulse to do good.

"The last advice of the Apostle is, to live in 'peace. There may be those from whom, notwithstanding every effort, you must differ, because

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they had souls, which the madman of O. only supposes."

"What, therefore, is madness in them, would be religion in me, who have a soul ?”

"Assuredly."

CHAP. VIII.

"You will allow," said M., edging away from some conversation which had employed them after breakfast," that we form most of our opinions of others from what we know of ourselves."

"I believe so."

"You will admit, for instance, that scarcely any argument would convince an African, who had done nothing but pant and scorch among his ebony compatriots under the suns of the line, that there was a man as fair as you are."

"That is true."

To carry this farther-If a person were to meet you, and to say, Be assured, Sir, your pulse is at a hundred and twenty-your skin is 'parched-your tongue bleached-your drought is ⚫ insatiable—and not only yours, but such is the

state of many-such is that of the nation-be blooded all, or you perish'-what should you conclude "

"That he had a fever himself, and therefore gave me credit for being in the same condition.”

"If then I could show you some of the men of O. affirming publicly that other, men have no souls who assuredly have-arguing about them, and treating them as though they had none, what would be your conclusion ?"

"That what our Spaniard imputes to the Americans was true of these men of 0."

It was about two when M., in consequence of this conversation, carried his young companion to the house where the representative senate of O. is assembled.

"A senate of this kind," said M. as they walked, "is an assemblage of a few men who are supposed to represent the interests of the com munity."

"Apparently then," said Gustavus, "like the x and y of Algebra, not always great in themselves, but sometimes respectable from their unknown signification."

"These of course," continued M. "among a people endowed with souls, will be carefully