The meeting immediately broke

condition.

DEMETRIUS.

UNGODLY.

here this summer?

B. He is helping the ungodly.
A. They need help.

B. That is true, but not just the kind of help C— is giving them. As I have seen him in certain places, I have thought of this passage of Scripture,"Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?"

A. Does he associate altogether with worldly people?

B. Pretty much. He has not been to our prayer meeting since he came here. I asked him to come, and he said he would try to; but I suspect he did not try very hard; for when the night for meeting came, he was at, where there was a great gathering, with music and dancing.

A. I am very sorry to hear such an account of him. When he made a profession of religion, he appeared to be a very conscientious man.

cated man; but if his heart were right, he would prefer the image of Christ to all the refinements of human cultivation.

A. He has been accustomed to polished society.

B. I have no objection to his having polished society, if he won't go among the devil's friends for it. That is paying too dear for it.

A. Perhaps he associates with the worldly that he may win them over to religion.

B. To conform to their sinful habits is not the way to win them over. A life of self-indulgence is not well adapted to win over those who witness it to a life of self-denial. One of the consequences of his course has been, that several of the younger members of the church have been led to mingle in scenes which they had previously avoided. They were proof against the solicitations of those who were confess

edly without God, but could not withstand the example of such an accomplished Christian as Mr. C. He has in this way proved himself a most efficient helper of the ungodly.

A. I am very sorry he does not turn his influence to better account. Have you spoken to him on the subject?

B. Yes; but he is not one to take advice from a plain man like me. He told me he thought he could do more good by associating with people than he could by secluding himself from them. I told him I thought he could, if he had a heart to do good; but I asked him if he really had a heart to do good when he was with those thoughtless people.

A. What did he say?

B. He said he ought to have, and that he should be careful not to

neglect any opportunities he might have for exerting an influence for Christ. The last time I saw him, I placed a thought before his mind, which, I hope, may make some impression. It was this. Christ has gone to prepare a place for us among the mansions of his Father in heaven. It is a matter of some consequence how we employ ourselves while Christ is employed in preparing places for us in heaven. We should not be preparing ourselves for the society of those who hate the Lord, while Christ is preparing places for us, that we may be ever with the Lord.

A. I am obliged to you for the thought. It will do me good, I trust. If Christ is preparing a place for us, we should be preparing ourselves for the place. I, for one, need a great deal of preparation.

It might be supposed that what all the world are daily doing, they would do well; but it is not so. It is rare to meet, even amongst highly respectable and very intelligent men, with an individual capable of addressing with effect a small meeting, even on a subject with which he is well acquainted. It is quite possible that, in point of talents, education, and learning, they may greatly excel individuals capable of charming a multitude. How is this? In a great degree, it arises from the want of practice, and a neglect of those ex

ercises by which eloquence, or at least, ready speech, is cultivated.

Now, for all young men who aspire to be useful in this matter, we have a word of encouragement. Some years ago, in the celebrated Henry Clay's address to the students of the New York State and National Law School, one object of which is to train young men in the art of extemporaneous speaking, the great statesman said, when commenting on the advantages of the institution, "I owe my success in life to one single fact, namely, that at the age

of twenty-seven I commenced, and continued for years, the process of daily reading and speaking upon the contents of some historical or scientific book. These off-hand efforts were made sometimes in a cornfield, at others in the forest, and not unfrequently in some distant barn, with the horse and the ox for my auditors. It is to this early practice of the great art of all arts, that I am indebted for the primary and leading impulses that stimulated me forward, and have shaped and moulded my entire subsequent destiny. Improve, then, young gentlemen, the superior advantages you here enjoy. Let not a day pass without exercising your powers of speech. There is no power like that of oratory. Cæsar controlled men by exciting their fears; Cicero by captivating their affections and swaying their passions. influence of the one perished with its author; that of the other continues to this day."

The

Young men, there is the example; follow it. In these days of Christian and secular activity, it is of the utmost moment that free speech in early days should be diligently cultivated. It not only most materially adds to a man's social importance, but, which is far better, greatly augments his capacity for public usefulness.

MAXIMS FOR CHRISTIAN YOUNG MEN.

MIND your Bible and your closet. Keep good company, or none. Never be idle. If your hands cannot be usefully employed, attend to the cultivation of your mind.

Always speak the truth. Make few promises.

Live up to all your engagements. Keep your own secrets, if you have any.

When you speak to a person, look him in the face.

Good company and good conversation are the very sinews of virtue.

Good character is above all things

else.

Never listen to loose and infidel conversation.

You had better be poisoned in your blood than in your principles.

Your character cannot be essentially injured except by your own acts.

If any one speaks evil of you, let your life be so virtuous that none will believe him.

Always speak and act as in the presence of God.

Ever live, misfortune excepted, within your income.

When you retire to bed, think over what you have been doing during the day.

Never speak lightly of religion. Make not haste to be rich if you would prosper.

Small and steady gains give competency with tranquillity of mind. Never gamble.

Avoid temptation, through fear that you may not withstand it.

Earn your money before you spend it.

Never run into debt, unless you see a way to get out again.

Never borrow if you can possibly avoid it.

Do not marry until you are able to support a wife.

Never speak evil of any one.

Be just before you are generous. Keep yourself innocent, if you would be happy.

how durable and how dismal is the injury produced by the indulgence of degraded thoughts, if they only realized how frightful are the moral

of loose imagination produces on the

Never think that which you do for religion is time or money misspent.

Always go to the house of God when you can, ...

The cultivation of an amiable, elevated, and glowing heart, alive

A YOUNG MAN'S CHARAC

TER.

No young man who has a just sense of his own value will sport with his own character. A watchful regard to his character in early youth will be of inconceivable value to him in all the remaining years of his life. When tempted to deviate from strict propriety of deportment, he should ask himself, Can I afford this? Can I endure hereafter to look back upon this?

It is of amazing worth to a young man to have a pure mind; for this is the foundation of a pure character. The mind, in order to be kept pure, must be employed in topics of thought which are themselves lovely, chastened, and elevating. Thus the mind hath in its own power the selection of its themes of meditation. If youth only knew

to whatever is pure, and good, and grand, which is adapted to lead out the whole nature of man into those scenes of action and impression by which its energies may most appropriately be employed, and by which its high destination may be most effectually reached.

The opportunities of exciting these faculties in benevolent and self-denying efforts for the welfare of our fellow-men, are so many and great, | that it really is worth while to live. The heart which is truly evangelically benevolent may luxuriate in an age like this. The promises of God are inexpressibly rich, the main tendencies of things so manifestly in accordance with them, the extent of moral influence is so great, and the effects of its employment so visible, that whoever aspires after benevolent action, and reaches forth things that remain for us, to the true dignity of his nature, can find free scope for his intellect, and allaspiring themes for the heart.

INVENTOR OF GAS-LIGHTS. The inventor of gas-lights was a Frenchman, Philippe Le Bon, an engineer of roads and bridges, who, in 1785, adopted the idea of using, for the purpose of illumination, the gases distilled during the combustion of wood. He laboured for a long time in the attempt to perfect his crude invention, and it was not until 1799 that he confided his discovery to the Institute. In September, 1800, he took out a patent, and in 1801 he published a memoir, containing the result of his researches. Le Bon commenced by distilling wood, in order to obtain from it gas, oil, pitch, and pyroligneous acid, but his work indicated the possibility of obtaining gas by distillation from fatty or oily substances. From 1799 to 1802 Le Bon made numerous experiments. He established at Havre his first thermo-lamps, but the gas which he obtained being a mixture of carburetted hydrogen and oxide of carbon, and but imperfectly freed from its impurities, gave only a feeble light, and evolved an insupportable odour, and the result was, that but little favour was shown to the new discovery; the inventor ultimately died, ruined by his experiments. The English soon_put in practice the crude ideas of Le Bon. In 1804, Windsor patented and claimed the credit of inventing the process of lighting by gas; in 1805 several shops in Birmingham were illuminated by gas, manufactured by the process of Windsor and Murdock. Among those who used this new light was Watt, the inventor of the steam-engine. In 1816 the first use was made of gas in London, and it was not until 1818 that this invention, really of French origin, was applied in France.-New York Magazine.

CHRISTIANITY. Christianity, like a child, goes wandering over the world. Fearless

in its innocence, it is not abashed before princes, nor confounded by the wisdom of synods. Before it the blood-stained warrior sheaths his sword, and plucks the laurel from his brow; the midnight murderer turns from his purpose, and, like the heart-smitten disciple, goes out and weeps bitterly. It brings liberty to the captive, joy to the murderer, freedom to the slave, repentance and forgiveness to the sinner, hope to the faint-hearted, and assurance to the dying. It enters the hut of the poor man, and sits down with them and their children; it makes them contented in the midst of privations, and leaves behind an everlasting blessing. It walks through the cities amid all their imaginable pride and their unutterable misery, a purifying, ennobling, correcting, and redeeming angel. It is alike the beautiful companion of childhood and the comfortable associate of age. It ennobles the noble, gives wisdom to the wise, and new grace to the lovely. The patriot, the priest, the poet, and the eloquent man, all derive their sublime power from its influence.

THE FOUNDATION OF TRUE GREATNESS.

The foundation of true greatness is religion. This is the truth_that reason utters and history confirms. There is no such thing as a great atheist; you may as well talk of a great brute. Religion has ever been the source of the noblest emotions in every age and in every clime. Those splendid monuments of Greece and Rome which survive the influence of time, were consecrated to the service of religion. In Europe the most enduring monuments of the past are those erected by pious hands. The baronial castles have for the most part crumbled away, but the churches remain, with their turrets pointing to heaven, as if in eternal adoration. Whatever is most