been overtaken by the tempter, and the listlessness of sloth been made the occasion of evil.

I feel therefore that I am not stating the thing too strongly, when I say that the majority of crimes appears to originate from trifles, just as the cause of the chief multitude of explosions is nothing more than a spark.

But trifles also deserve serious attention, as being indicative of character, and it is fit we should remember that light, and inconsiderable as they seom to be, it is from them alone that we can form any just or proper estimate of men.

; we

If we wish to know the direction of the wind, we look not at the mountain, for we know that the mountain is immoveable. We look not even at the tree, which is tossing its foliage in the gale; for though we see the power of the wind displayed in the motion of the branches, we cannot accurately discern the quarter from which the motion proceeds. We look rather to the trifles of the earth for the information that we need look to the smoke, the dust, the feathers; we find that they supply a sounder criterion of the fact in question than the weightier matters around them; and the finer, the more minute the substance of these, the more accurate the judgment which is drawn from the observation. In the same way, as these light materials indicate the current of wind, trifles indicate the character of man; and he who might have eluded our observation, if we had only considered him at the moments of serious occupation, when he felt that the world's eye was upon him, and when the man spoke and acted under that impression; betrays his real disposition when he is off his guard. and shews in trifles which he deems too slight to deserve attention, the prevailing bias and temper of his mind.

But if this holds good with regard to the darker features in human character; if envy, malice, sensuality are to be discerned in trifles, and must be traced and detected there; we must not forget that the great occasion of human misery, the common most frequent mode of departure from God is Levity-Levity at least begins a separation which in after years may be confirmed by other habits, but levity is the first, the general, the most abundant cause of failure. For one that perishes through vice, hundreds are lost through levity, and experience compels us to see in that levity which the world justifies as harmless, and uses for the justification of graver things, a disregard and contempt of God almost more atrocious than a denial of his being.

The sacred history describes the way in which one of the most formidable rebellions of Israel against God took place,

under these words, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play;" and I think I see in their behaviour a picture of the frame of mind which supplants that salutary restraint which the awe of God includes, and prepares men to renounce their allegiance to God, by teaching them to trifle with his name and majesty.

It is also important to remark, that in a state of society like ours, when public opinion exercises so wide and so powerful an influence, and men live under an instinctive respect for the judgment of their neighbours; it is from trifles only that we can collect any real or satisfactory evidence of the feelings of others. In nations less civilized, or less refined, human nature acts without restraint, and temper is displayed immediately. A New Zealander who is offended, lifts up his weapon of offence, and returns insult by violence. The rough Englishman doubles his fist, and shakes it in the face of the person who provokes him. Each of these shew the evil of their nature openly; and unaccustomed to control their emotions, they display them in a form which leaves no room for doubt.

In a higher grade of civilisation the same feelings may exist, and exist just as strongly; but still they will exist under a restraint and concealment which have been rendered habitual by the discipline of the world. Their existence therefore will be shewn, not by the open signs which are employed in other cases, but by those which excite less observation and provoke less return; not by serious things, but by trifles. The sneer, the taunt, the sly but unkind insinuation, the contemptuous look or cold disdain, these form the weapons of civilised society; and these are the resources of the unsubdued malignity of man, when man appears as he does in the world; where we see him under the influence of civilisation, but that civilisation an unchristian and a godless process.

In such a state of things you may look in vain for any outward manifestation of the darker passions, though you cannot doubt their existence and their presence. The surface of society shall be smooth and unruffled; and whatever may be the excitement of the moment, there shall hardly be a feature which expresses the feelings that are working within.

Here then where the usual means of ascertaining truth fail, we must have recourse to conjecture. Trifles must be the auguries by which our conclusions are guided; and unless trifles are observed and noted, we never shall know anything of the character of those with whom we are concerned, nor much even of our own. But trifles do shew now what actions used to manifest; and as long as the evil of our nature remains un

changed, its workings will be exhibited in trifles; and trifles must be observed, for trifles will disclose a truth which is concealed on great occasions. Trifles then must not be neglected by him who wishes to know his own state, or who feels it necessary to know the state of others. The parent must not despise trifles in his child's behaviour; the instructor must not despise trifles in his pupil's conduct; man must not overlook trifles in his own. For slight and trivial as the things themselves may be, they may be the only means of ascertaining the truth which it is most important for us to know; and like symptoms in the human body they may denote the presence or the progress of disease, which nothing else would lead us to suspect. It is painful to remember cases, where this has been verified by experience. It is painful to call to mind the trifles which betokened levity, and which have had a painful confirmation in the course of life which followed. It is painful to think, how trifles which seemed to an indifferent spectator to mean nothing, awakened fears in a parent's heart, which were subsequently to have a melancholy fulfilment; and where things which seemed like the momentary flush on the cheek, have been found like the hectic glow, the presage of insurmountable and fatal disease.

Attention to trifles may be still further urged, from the effect that trifles have on the present happiness of mankind. It might well excite surprise, and with surprise humiliation and remorse, to think of the wanton sacrifice of human comfort that is made in this way. Selfishness exercises a strange influence on our judgments of the things that pass between man and man. All that we do to others is called trifling; all that they do to us is counted great. And while we assume the liberty of affixing the character of a trifle to everything we do, and wonder at the offence that is taken by others, or the way in which they resent the trifling inconvenience we occasion, or the trifling neglect we shew; we magnify every petty wrong which is done to ourselves, and turn the merest trifles into acts of premeditated insult and ingratitude. Out of trifles then selfishness contrives to form the materials of deep and bitter offence; by exaggerating all the wrong that is borne, and by diminishing the importance of all the provocation that is offered; and in trifles also it continues to exhibit the malignity which is excited and irritated by trifles. Petty acts of unkindness and neglect, selfish indifference to the feelings of others, display the bitterness of a heart which does not dare to shew its resentment more openly; and the well bred world sometimes exhibits in trifles, as much malignity and as much of hatred as is manifested in the carnage of a New Zealand battle. But without

supposing any more than usual malignity in the heart, it is painful to see the amount of happiness which is wasted every where by trifles. Inattention to trifling observances, neglect of trifling forms; the strong minded despising, and the weakminded feeling them too strongly; the multiplied occasions of offence which trifles offer, and the keenness with which trifles are felt when they fall on an excited or a depressed mind, lead me to suppose that the far largest portion of human sorrow originates in trifles, and might be obviated or prevented by paying a proper attention to trifles.

There are some lines of Hannah More's, which I quote from memory, and may therefore quote inaccurately; but which contain so important and so necessary a lesson on this point, that I am willing to repeat them as I can, and to close with them the remarks I have been making upon Trifles.

Since trifles make the sum of human things,
And half our misery from our foibles springs;
Oh let the ungentle spirit learn from hence,
A small unkindness is a great offence;
Large bounties to bestow, we ask in vain,
But all may shun the guilt of giving pain.

IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.

This spirit shall return to Him
That gave its heavenly spark;
Yet think not, Sun, it shall be dim
When thou thyself art dark !
No! It shall live again and shine,
By him recalled to breath,
Who captive led captivity,
Who robbed the grave of victory,
And took the sting from death.

Oh, had I like the dove but wings,
I'd flee to the home of the blest;
I'd bid adieu to earthly things,
And go where weary spirits rest.

This world is full of grief and care,
A home for me it must not be;
Each day of sorrow brings its share,
To fit me for eternity.

LINES.

Yours, truly, H.

O then, my soul, be not cast down,
Prepare for heav'n to take your flight;
Strive for an everlasting crown,
In regions of eternal light;

Where sin and sorrow are no more,
Where night and darkness are unknown;
Where angels worship and adore,
"God, and the Lamb upon the throne."
E. R. M. S.

The early efforts of Young Men, and the Rise and Progress of Societies for the Reformation of Manners.

ABOUT 1668, there were several young men in the metropolis brought under very great concern of mind respecting eternal realities. These serious impressions were made, under Divine influence, by the preaching of Dr. Horneck and Mr. Smithies, distinguished clergymen of the Church

of England, the latter of whom preached a morning lecture at Cornhill, chiefly to young people. When the minds of these young men were illuminated they began to view their own sins, and the sins of others, in a light very different from that in which they had formerly viewed them. Such was their distress and perplexity, that they were constrained to make application to these able ministers for personal advice, who encouraged them to meet once a week at some private house, for prayer and spiritual discourse. They presently found the benefit of these friendly associations; and, in a short time, their number began to increase; and as they saw the Divine blessing in their temporal and spiritual prosperity, they thought it their duty to devote a part of their substance to the relief of their necessitous fellow-creatures. For several years, each one relieved those objects of charity which came under his own immediate notice, without any particular plan; but when, by the blessing of God, the number of members and the stock of money increased, they found it necessary to adopt some more regular plan. Accordingly, in the year 1678, they chose two stewards to manage their funds, and to keep a regular account of their proceedings: thus they continued, with great regularity and success, till the reign of James II., when private meetings began to be suspected and suppressed. At this time they suffered persecution and reproach from various quarters, in consequence of which, many left the society. Still, however, their meetings were not entirely abandoned; for the apostacy of some was the means of exciting others to greater zeal and watchfulness. They were now forced to change the name of society for that of club, and their place of meeting, from a private to a public house; where they carried on their noble design to the end of that unhappy reign.

These young men, seeing Popery so much favoured, and mass celebrated at the Royal Chapel and other public places, established a monthly lecture against it at St. Clement's Danes, which was preached by the most eminent divines.

Having preserved their zeal and purity so long, and their number and usefulness increasing, they were drawn of course into public notice. Soon after the Revolution, in the reign of William III., several profligate persons, with others who were misinformed, represented these meetings to Dr. Compton, the Bishop of London, as calculated to produce fatal consequences both to church and state. Accordingly they were examined by the bishop, who dismissed them with these words"God forbid that I should be against such excellent designs!" They now received the approbation of Government, and in the course of a few years there were forty distinct societies in London and Westminster. By the money which they had voluntarily contributed, many poor families were relieved; some set up in business; several poor debtors liberated; a number of poor scholars supported at the University; many orphans maintained-with other works of benevolence. These pious men beheld with grief and indignation the profligacy and misery into which thousands of their fellow-creatures were plunging, and the national ruin which was likely to result from an unrestrained toleration of vice. This led them to devise some means for enforcing the laws against those who would not regard wholesome advice. At this time, four or five gentle