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good;' and I know that in faithfulness he has afflicted me; but still I find it hard to 'glory in tribulations.' No one but God can enable us to rejoice in the furnace. St. Paul spoke of 'light affliction;' but I feel that mine is very heavy, and is only light when compared to the glory which shall be revealed: but, blessed be God, this does not weaken my faith in the gospel of Christ; for I know of a surety that 'it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.' The foundation standeth sure; I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day,'" 2 Tim. i. 12.

Then she spoke of the goodness of God towards her, that in the midst of her transgressions and infirmities she had been kept from bringing a reproach on the people of God. Then she dwelt on the abundant mercies of which she had been an unworthy partaker all her life long, until, at last, her spirit revived afresh, and she did indeed rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the God of her salvation.

This is the way in which it pleases a gracious God to uphold (in the feebleness, and infirmities, and afflictions of age) the hope, and the faith, and the joy of his people. It is a pleasant thing to converse with the youthful Christian, while he

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drinks of the "brook by the way," and ardently pursues his heavenly course; but it is more abundantly profitable to hear the heart-pourings of the aged, who are on the threshold of eternity, and to whom the everlasting gates are about to be lifted up, that they may have an abundant entrance into everlasting life.

When flesh and heart are failing fast,

And hope has almost fled away;

E'en in that trying hour, at last,

The Lord their God becomes their stay.

THE TOO HASTY REPROOF.

"NEIGHBOUR," said I, to one of my friends who lives near me, "you have sadly splashed your stockings! In the state in which the roads now are, a little care is required in crossing them, which care, it is very plain, you have not exercised. If you were a little more careful, your appearance would not be a whit the less respectable."

My neighbour civilly thanked me for my very excellent advice, and then added that as I had so narrowly scrutinized his stockings, it would do me no harm to take a glance at my own. This I immediately did, and found to my confusion, that if he had been in the mud, I had as surely been in the mire. How it happened, I cannot tell; but certain it is that I was by no means in a fit state to call him to account in the manner I had done. However, this advantage attended the affair, that I resolved another time to give a sharp look-out for my own im

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perfections before I ventured to rebuke those of

another.

"O wad some power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us,

It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
And foolish notion."

If it were only half as easy to amend ourselves, as to reprove others; and if in giving advice we could secure the benefit we are so intent to confer on our neighbours, how often would Old Humphrey be spared the mortifying reflection that he was scattering abroad what was wanted at home. Only two days ago, while in the very act of recommending more care to a servant who had upset a saltcellar, he knocked a drinking-glass from the table with his elbow, and broke it to pieces.

WHAT GOOD CAN I DO?

"WHAT good can I do?" is an observation more frequently made by such as wish to excuse themselves from doing good, than by those who sincerely desire to effect it. This is much to be regretted, because it is next to an impossibility to be in a situation wherein we can do no good. He who really wishes to do good, may do something.

If by doing good we mean something unusual, something great, something that people may talk about, we certainly may not have it in our power to perform it; but to do good on a small scale, is in the power of every one.

When the poor widow, mentioned in the New Testament, could not put a large sum into the treasury, she cast therein two mites: and it was said of her, that she had done more than others, because they had only given of their abundance, but she of her poverty. You must be poor indeed, if you cannot spare two mites in a case of necessity.