done. Why not rejoice in it as much when done by another, as when done by yourself? The good itself is the same. Why wish to be the instrument of it, when Providence has not given you the opportunity? It was not (we have supposed) your duty. That which was your duty you have been enabled to perform. To be sure, in doing good you attract notice to yourself; you stand in a posture very agreeable to flesh and blood. But are you to value duty for the opportunity it affords of bringing yourself into notice?

C. But is it not pleasant to reflect on doing good?

The

In fact,

F. If it be done, so far as the benefit goes, it is the same to the benefited man whether you do it, or another. pleasure of doing it, then, of which you speak, only refers to yourself. But why desire pleasure from the mere species of duty? Your joy is to be, that you are enabled to do the will of God as God calls you to it, and that his grace disposes you to do it in whatever form he brings it before you. there is a danger lest, under the guise of benevolent feeling, selfish complacency should creep in. A creature is not to choose how he will serve his Lord, but to joy that by the might of the Spirit he is enabled to do what his Lord requires. If the duty be such that its performance attracts public notice, and wins public praise, he will tremble lest men, seeing his good works, laud him, instead of glorifying God. If he feels, at another time, when he sees a brotherdisciple made an instrument of good, that he cannot rejoice in the good so much as if he had done it himself, he may well fear that the desire to be noticed and applauded still lingers in him. If the fear of man bringeth a snare, so does the love of praise bring one. The true joy of conscience is, when we know that by the grace of God we have done what God gave us to do. We must take care that we do not use unmeaning words when we speak humbly. Let us be willing to be what God would have us to be. His appointments are all wise. John's holy joy was "fulfilled" when the multitude began to leave him and flocked to Christ. "He must increase, and I must decrease," he said. O seek for that rich grace of God which shall enable you always to rejoice in his will; to rejoice only in that when you do good, and the people

may flock about you, as if ready to worship you as Jupiter and Mercurius. And if He throw you into the dungeon, and calls you to rejoice in Him while you walk in deep darkness, and at the same time, raises up other instruments of usefulness by whom He does good to man, why should your joy be less? Can you tell me?

C. We really cannot.

F. God is not less near to you in the dungeon. Of the reward of grace and mercy, you shall not receive less at the last. Only take care that, whether doing or suffering, in the dungeon, or at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, you set God before you, have his glory in view, feel that your only ground of acceptance is God's mercy in Christ; and then go on your way rejoicing. Maintaining this true simplicity and purity of intention, your whole life shall be but as one sacrifice, living and holy, sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and acceptable to God by Christ Jesus. God will at length crown the work of his grace with the rich blessings of everlasting glory.

FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS.

SUPERSTITION AND CRIME.

NOTHING is more deceitful, nothing more destructive, than a religion of external rites and performances. The human mind almost unavoidably attaches to them an importance and value so great, as that attention to them is not only considered as sufficient in itself, when connected with some degree of present seriousness, but as compensating for the neglect of directly moral duties, and as making what is regarded as an atonement for the commission of actual and acknowledged crimes. The religion of the Gospel, therefore, is altogether of another character. True religion provides an atonement, indeed, but that atonement only avails personally where there is the "repentance towards God" by which sin is both seen, and felt, and abhorred. It is in its own nature spiritual, and works from within to without, not from without to within. It requires outward actions, but these must be the result of implanted principles. We are to be "transformed by the renewing of our mind." And therefore it is uniform. It

allows not the regular alternation of neglect and attention; of sinful forgetfulness of God, and ostentatious performance of seemingly religious ceremonies. The Christian is devout from choice, and therefore seeks to be devout always and in everything. They who love the world, and live in the pursuit of its vanities, may yet have a restless conscience; and by occasionally indulging this uneasiness, and practising certain religious austerities, an utterly unfounded confidence of security may be obtained. There have been persons in our own country (such persons there may be still) who think they are very religious by eating salt-fish some days in Lent, keeping from the theatre during what they call "Passionweek,' or abstaining from cards while they attend to the form of a "week's preparation for the Lord's supper." Among the causes of spiritual mischief found in the Roman Church, there is not a greater than her translation of the Greek word which signifies a changed mind, by the deceiving term, "Do penance." It is easier to say a prayer at certain appointed times, than to "pray without ceasing," or even than to pray at all; and voluntary austerities are within the reach of the unconverted, when Christian self-denial requires the experience of regeneration. A man may wear an iron girdle, or a hair shirt, or even scourge himself till the flagellation draws blood, who never even attempts to mortify an irregular desire, or to coerce a violent passion. Irreligious formalism is frequently very superstitious; and the superstitious conscience, so scrupulous in matters of voluntary imposition, is seldom otherwise than callous in those of divine obligation.

We were led into this train of thought by reading some notices of the history and character of Constance, Queen of Robert, King of France, son and successor to Hugh Capet, in some lately published "Memoirs of the Queens of France," by Mrs. Forbes Bush.

Of this Queen it is said: "Educated in the voluptuous climate of Provence, Constance had acquired a luxurious taste, and brought a troop of comedians, dancers, singers, troubadours, and extravagant young nobles, who insensibly introduced luxury and libertinism into the court. The affection of the King rendered Constance so arrogant, that she

alienated all hearts from her. The manly simplicity which formerly reigned in the palace, gave place to effeminacy and foppishness. The treasury could not supply her prodigal expenses each day she contrived new entertainments, in which she appeared in divers superb dresses, displaying to the best advantage the charms with which she was so richly endowed by nature. She gave directions that all the young nobles should wear arms in her presence, and occupied herself with instructions respecting the attire, accoutrements, and equipages of those who surrounded her.

“To all this extravagant display Constance added a most blind and ignorant superstition. She had a dream, in which Saint Savinien informed her that she would be supplanted by her rival Bertha, who would avail herself of the discontents which she caused the people; and to ensure his intercession in her favour, the Queen ordered a superb coffin, enriched with gold, to be made for the saint's remains."

And yet she procured the assassination of a person who had incurred her displeasure; and endeavoured to excite one of her sons to rebel against his father, that another son, her favourite, might be more likely to possess the royal favour, and to succeed to the throne when it should be vacant. Indeed she appears to have been, through life, the slave of her vindictive passions; and with what violence her superstition could be associated appears from another circumstance related in the history:

"Constance founded the convent of the Augustins of Notre Dame de Paissy, and the stronghold of Puiset, in Beauce. Her superstitious devotion amounted to fanaticism. Her Confessor, Stephen, was accused of belonging to a sect who professed Manicheism, by which he incurred the penalty of death by burning. The Queen met him when being led to execution, and, according to the custom of the time, put out one of his eyes with a small stick which she carried in her hand for the purpose, and afterwards assisted in the execution of this unfortunate man and his companions, who were confined in a small thatched hut, surrounded with combustibles, which being set on fire, they were consumed in the flames.”

She died at Melun, in 1032, and was interred at St. Denis..

SENSATION AND THE SENSES.

No. II.

THE question we are considering is, How is man consciously connected with the external world? In this question the actual existence of an external world, altogether independently of human perception, is assumed. Were man destitute of any power of perception, still there the world is, and all that it contains. It is, however, perceived by man; and the general answer to the inquiry is, By means of the organs of sensation, and, somewhat more particularly, by means of the nervous system. To this last, attention must in the first place be directed. What is the nervous system? The question may be considered in a two-fold point of view. First, There are the nerves. These are fine filaments, composed of a sheath, with a sort of pithy, medullary substance, proceeding from different sources in the human body, which, nevertheless, are all connected in one system. By means of these nerves, sensation, in some mysterious manner, is produced, while they are connected with their source. It is as if the actually sentient principle, the living mind, were, in some peculiar way more immediately connected with these ultimate fountains of the nervous system. Thus, if the optic nerve be destroyed, the eye conveys no sensation to the mind; or if, so to speak, higher up in the channel, its connexion with the fountain be cut off, the same result follows. Secondly, These sources, dividing the entire nervous system into three portions, are,--certain nervous clusters, or knots, in several parts of the body, called (from a Greek word of the same general meaning) ganglia; and that portion of the nervous system connected with them is the ganglionic system;—the spinal cord, or marrow of the back-bone, to which belongs the spinal system;—and the brain, (Latin, cerebrum,) giving rise to the cerebral system. These, all together, constitute the nervous system.

Perhaps this is the place to make an observation or two on nervous diseases. As the nerves are parts of the body as really existing as the veins, muscles, &c., it will be seen that they are capable of disease. Speaking popularly rather than