how much would his mind be relieved, his spirits raised, his confidence promoted. The Lord knows the precise state of all His churches. His vineyard, which is His delight, he keeps and waters every moment. He knows the name, and character, and works of every labourer there, and of every member of each christian society-When they pray, when they weep, when they rejoice, when they walk in darkness, when they decline in zeal, in love, in diligence. He walks in the midst of the seven golden-candlesticks, and says to each, I know thy works, and where thou dwellest." 66 This knowledge extends to every thing in the human heart. Hear the declaration, "I the Lord search the heart! I try the reins; even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings." (Jer. xvii. 10.) "I am He that searcheth the heart and reins, and I will give to every one of you, according to his works." (Rev. ii. 31.) The inward murmurs, the infidel reasonings, the secret depravity, are all before Him! "If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things; if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God." (1 John iii. 20, 21.) Now if God know all things, He discerns and weighs and judges all human actions. "Thou, most Upright, dost weigh the path of the just." He forms a righteous estimate of human character; and while man looketh on the outward appearance, and is dazzled, and awed, and influenced, by the pomp and carriage and persuasions of mortals, the Lord looketh at the heart. No semblance of devotion, no shew of sanctity, no affected austerity can deceive Him. "God is a spirit just and wise, He sees our inmost mind; Although Ananias and Sapphira might sell their possession, and thus outwardly display their devotion to the cause of God and to the interest of His disciples, yet He knew their secret covetousness, and their concealed dissimulation. He is acquainted with the principle from which all actions proceed, and the end to which they are directed. He saw the difference between the offerings of Cain and Abel. He saw the false zeal of John, directing him to objects of ambition and self-glory. He saw the principle which governed the widow when she cast her mite in the treasury. He beheld the Pharisee and the Publican in the temple, the proud self-important spirit of the one, the humble contrite disposition of the other, and weighed the actions of both the one he suffered to depart disapproved and unblessed; the other went down to his house accepted, justified, saved, and filled with joy and peace. The knowledge of God is accompanied by that help which He affords. He beheld the distress of Hagar, and provided a well of water. When "the brook dried up," he provided a supply for Elijah in the house of the widow of Zarepthah. When Peter was in prison, He sent an angel to open the prison doors; and when his saints are afflicted, perplexed, comfortless, He gives them the relief, and direction, and comfort they require, and makes His grace sufficient for them. Such are some of the sentiments that arise from the contemplation of the knowledge of Jehovah. To the young reader they are important, not only as they may lead him to stand in awe of the All-seeing eye of God, but induce him to seek from Him who knoweth the way that he takes, the wisdom necessary to guide him, the power necessary to preserve him, the grace necessary to convince, convert, and sanctify. Reflect, my dear readers, how much you are exposed to the temptations of Satan, the allurements of the world, and the evils connected with your inexperienced age-Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By seeking the influence of the Holy Spirit, to lead him into all the truth necessary to make him wise unto salvation. Assured that all his difficulties are known unto God, he will proceed with humble dependance on His efficient aid; and assured that all his desire is before Him, he will hope in His mercy, and expect the fulfilment of His promise, to guide him by His counsel, and afterwards receive him to His glory. This subject should excite our humility. The Lord is a God of knowledge. What an accurate discerner of our thoughts! what a scrutinizer of our actions! He sees us in our best as well as in our worst frames. When passion rages, when fear torments, when pride inflates, when dejected by care, and when elevated by prosperity. What confidence should the knowledge of God produce in the christian's mind! Even when we act uprightly, our conduct may be misrepresented, our piety questioned, our motives impugned. We may even write bitter things against ourselves, and condemn ourselves as hypocrites. In such circumstances we may appeal unto God, and say with the apostle, "Thou that knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee;" and even when we are fearful of appealing to Him as to the sincerity of our love, we may at least assert our desire to love, and confidently refer to Him who "knoweth the desire of them that fear Him," to whom the secrets of the heart are known, and by whom "actions are weighed." We shall shortly stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The priest and the people, the youth and the aged, will there appear, and " pass the solemn test!" He that knows the heart, and surveys the actions, will say to the righteous, "Come ye blessed;" and to the wicked, "Depart ye cursed." How necessary to be prepared for that solemn day, by seeking an interest in that blood which cleanseth from all sin, and in that righteousness which is unto all, and upon all them that believe! Penryn. TRUE NOBILITY.* R. C. "MA chére Ladi Emmeline, you must not walk upon the grass, you have your blue kid shoes on. Pray keep on the path-way, young ladies should never walk on damp grass. Oh, Ladi Emmeline, do not run, young ladies should never run. Pray miladi put down that flower, it will soil your gloves. Pray do not go near that dog, it will assuredly bite you!" The little girl to whom these entreaties were addressed, was of that class who are clothed in purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day. Emmeline, like many other little girls of the same rank, was burthened with the adornments of mature age. She had her silk pelisse, her silk bonnet with feathers and bows, her parasol, her * We have much pleasure in extracting this article from a sensible little volume entitled "Meetings for Amusing Knowledge," the object of which is to suggest a rational and improving mode of spending a portion of time too generally squandered in silly nothings-the holidays! We think it, however, a pity that such frivolities as " balls," should form any part of the bill of fare. veil, her thin kid shoes and sandals, &c.; but, alas! there was no gaiety in her mind, no cheerfulness in her temper, no joyousness in her heart! Lady Emmeline had lost her kind mother, before she was sensible of her kindness, and she was now under the care of a French governess. If her father, who was always immersed in politics, saw her in good health, he concluded she was well in every respect. Emmeline was an obedient, passive little girl; she believed what she was so often told, that she must not do many things which she saw other girls do, because she was Lady Emmeline Belmont. When she saw a smiling group of children gathering dog-roses, honeysuckle, and celandine; when she saw them garlanded with bind-weed or wild hops, and coming safely from the woods in their plain frocks and cottage bonnets, how often did she wish that she were not Lady Emmeline Belmont. Even the merry little girls of the Sunday school, when they ran up and down the banks, chasing the sky-blue butterflies, and running between the furze bushes in perfect safety, with their strong shoes and thick stockings, were objects of envy to the Lady Emmeline Belmont. When at the sea-side she was compelled to walk in full dress on a public promenade, how much did she envy the happy parties on the shore, with their baskets filled with the treasures of the deep. There were heaps of sea-roses, cuttle-fish, sea-pens, fine branches of sea-weed, corallines of various kinds, sea-purses, the sea-weed with large air vessels, which when dried make such fine strings of beads, sea-eggs, shells which little girls call dead-men's eyes, and stones which by common consent are called thunderbolts. All these, Madame La Vogue pronounced things of an unpleasant odour, and not fit for the Lady Emmeline to touch. Lady Emmeline, who was to attend the ball at the Pavilion, and be presented at Court! And she did attend the ball at the Pavilion; and being motherless, and the most juvenile, she attracted the Queen's attention, and it was she who, with childish simplicity, replied to the questions addressed to her by her Majesty,-" Yes, Queen! no, Queen! if you please, Queen !" Emmeline's toys were but poor substitutes for natural objectsthe painted dolls in wood, in wax, and composition, with eyes that moved, and eyes that moved not; the spotted horses, spotted as no animal ever was spotted; the gilded coaches, Dutch fairs, Noah's arks, too, with their ill-proportioned animals; lady-birds as large as pigs, gnats as lions, butterflies larger than lionesses; air balls, India rubber balls, of which she had as many as the heart of a child could wish; but these, even these soon ceased to please. Emmeline had none of the usual resources of a child: the animal creation usually forms a little menagerie in a child's mind, and its thoughts and affections are engaged in the proceedings of doves, and lambs, and dogs, and kittens. Separated, too, from children of her own age, on account of Madame La Vogue's fear of infection, her whole life was artificial, every step measured, every action controlled to what Madame La Vogue considered graceful, and comme il faut. Emmeline could never say "What a nice thing it is to be alive!"* When Lady Emmeline had reached her eighth year, the Marquis her father began to think he had sacrificed too much for French pronunciation. He, therefore, procured her an excellent friend, and that friend was her governess Miss Beresford. would surprise some little girls to be told how soon Emmeline learned to love her. She called her, "her good fairy," and she seemed to think her knowledge was boundless. Miss Beresford It had a most pleasing task, for every thing that was English was new to Emmeline. Her reading had hitherto been confined to French fairy tales, and little comedies. Books that most children never knew when they had them not, were new and delightful to Emmeline. Mrs. Barbauld's Hymns she soon learned, and dwelt with pleasure on. "The little birds praise God when they warble sweetly in the cool shade;" even "The little busy bee improving each shining hour," Emmeline thought beautiful, and with heartfelt devotion she could now repeat "What shall I render to my God, For all his gifts to me !" Books were, however, but a small part of her treasures-the wonders of creation were made known to her; every walk was full of interest, every day of every year brought a subject for observation. She learned to watch the rising lark—that Type of the wise, that soar but never roam, True to the kindred points of Heaven and home." *The words of a child five years old. VOL. IX. 3rd SERIES. 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