often cherished vain and idle aspirations after temporal prosperity. Let us also be like her, when with filial love and confidence, she looked up to her heavenly Father, and cheerfully submitted to his wise provisions for her welfare.

Are we to conclude then that all the dangers and evils of life are associated with wealth, and that poor people are by their poverty preserved from wrong influences? Nay, this is not the moral of our story. Our object has been to show that oftentimes what we in our ignorance and pride covet as a blessing, may prove to us a curse; and that it is not where we are, but what we are, which determines our happiness. You may be certain, dear reader, that God has put you in that situation which is at present the best adapted for the promotion of your real interests, and the fulfilment of his own purposes. We have used the term, (at present), in order to meet at once the difficulty which may now be suggesting itself to your mind.

"Can it be right then?" you ask, "If God has placed us where we are, for us to better our condition, to increase our income; to raise ourselves in the scale of society ?"

Yes; it is perfectly right for us to do so, provided that our efforts are made in a lawful manner, and in a proper spirit. "Not slothful in business," is as much the characteristic of a Christian as "fervent in spirit;" and "the hand of the diligent maketh rich, and shall bear rule," Prov. x. 4, 12, 24. With childlike submission to God's will, and with a hearty desire to glorify Him, whether in prosperity or adversity, we may, we ought to be diligent and persevering in the honest use of the means which are committed to our disposal, and to believe and to expect that God will vouchsafe us his blessing.

It is not the earnest and the steady prosecution of our appointed callings for the purpose of providing for our wants and augmenting our comforts, which is condemned by Dora's Dream; but the dissatisfaction and discontent which murmurs at God's providence, and finds fault with the distribution of his mercies. It is true there are mysteries in his providential arrangements which we cannot explain, there are trials in our daily life which may be hard to bear, there are comforts in the possession of others which are denied to us; but God knows and wills what is best for us, and therefore we are safe, and should be happy in his care. Our grateful determination should be, "He shall choose our inheritance for us!" Ps. xlvii. 4. We will rely upon his tender love, and rejoice in his benevolent superintendence of our earthly affairs; satisfied with whatever He appoints for us, and ready to go wherever He may lead us ; assured that all things work together for good to those who love Him, and that when the full development of his purposes con

cerning us shall be unfolded, we shall discern and admire the wisdom which arranged and directed the events of our past life.

"There are briars encircling every path,

There are ills which all must share;
The lordly hall, and the lowly cot,
Have each their weight of care.-
But the childish mind that trusts in God
Will be happy everywhere."

ORPAH AND RUTH.

IF Naomi's husband had found her a pleasant wife, the new relatives which she acquired in the country of Moab, found her also, a "pleasant" motherin-law. This is not a relationship usually regarded with kind feelings. A mother-in-law is one of the most terrible bugbears of childhood, and it is probably owing to the prejudice early implanted in the young mind, and to the fixed resolve thereby produced to yield neither obedience nor love to the hated relationship, that the stepmother finds her advances coldly received, her motives misunderstood, and her plans opposed. If children were taught that a mother-inlaw, could also become a mother-in-love, they would be prepared to let her try to fill the aching void which a beloved parent's death must ever create.

Of course, stepmothers frequently have themselves to blame. They forget that they should seek to win rather than command; they adopt plans which are unpleasantly contrary to her ways who now sleeps quietly in a grave over which a child's tear is still dropped; and, sometimes, by careless or unkind remarks upon the memory of the dead, they alienate the hearts of the living.

There was no coldness of feeling between Naomi and her daughters-in-law. Their own mothers were

still living, and so their tender regard for Naomi becomes still more remarkable. One would be inclined to imagine that they were dead, and that they therefore were more willing to stay with Naomi. But chap. i. 8, forbids such a supposition.

This is a new and beautiful manifestation of Naomi's character. She had so attracted her sons' wives by her pleasant deportment, that they professed their willingness to return with her to her own land. And when it is taken into account that these young women were idolaters-Orpah at any rate still, and Ruth was-their mother-in-law's influence appears in a more striking, important and instructive point of view. We ought to deal very tenderly with unconverted relatives. No lesson of deeper and more solemn import can be learned from this narrative. We are to win souls to Christ, and if the souls of any, surely, of our relatives. The unconverted husband, an apostle tells us, may be gained to the ranks of the disciples, by the tender and unobtrusive piety of his godly wife. An affectionate sister may see her counsels rudely spurned by a wicked brother, but her changeless affection may become to him a well-spring of spiritual life. He may be melted—not preached, not counselled, not frightened— into a Christian.

Deal very kindly, then, with the ungodly. A harsh look, an unkind word—it may lose a soul!

A large book might be written upon relative duties. I am sure it would be a large one, for it must, of course, take in other relationships than that of stepmother. It would be a large one, for there would be a great deal to say-of duties to define, of dangers to describe, of difficulties to provide for, of perplexities to solve, of rules to lay down, of motives to urge, of encouragements to mention. In the effective and loving discharge of relative duties consists, I have no hesitation in asserting, the larger part of the religious life.

When Naomi resolved to return, Orpah and Ruth determined to accompany her. They were in earnest ; they went part of the way with her. When Naomi kissed them in mourning but affectionate farewell, they refused to leave her. They said, "Surely we will return with thee unto thy people." They were excited, and strongly, by their natural affection, and by the loveliness of Naomi's religious character; their common grief helped to deepen the excitement. They were desirous to go unto her people. They had formed a favourable opinion of the Israelitish piety from the specimen furnished by this Israelitish family. How important is it that we should adorn the religion we profess, that the Gospel should be judged favourably by its fruits, as beheld ripening in our own conduct.

Think of this, Christian young man. Probably you are the only specimen of a believer in Jesus, that several young men of your acquaintance will ever meet familiarly. They are watching you with an interest which their own consciences heighten; they cannot get rid of the conviction, despite their levity and profligacy, that there is something in religion. Take heed that they do not get rid of the conviction after all, by your own miserable caricature of the Gospel. Take heed to let your steps be in wisdom towards them that are without, that your light shine very brightly, and that a holy and unblemished life furnish them with a better commentary upon the Bible than even good Henry or Scott have ever written. Brother, you may win them-if you do not, none other, humanly speaking, can!

Christian tradesman, think of this. Some worldly people want to know what godliness has to do with this life, whether religion walks behind the counter and takes its seat on the high counting house stool, as well as reposes in dignified ease on the soft cushions of your house of prayer. Show that it does, that holiness is written on the bells of your horses, is a motto

for your ledger, and an important item in your accounts when taking stock. They are very curious about all this; they have heard sermons, they have learned creeds, they have been told of piety. They want to see and judge for themselves. Afford them an opportunity, the only one they may ever have, and pray that your shop may be a Bethel to their souls.

Think also of this, Christian parent. These children of yours are rapidly growing up. They are learning to think for themselves. They will not take your ipse dixit much longer. They will not believe it is proper to be a Christian, because you say it is. They will make the discovery for themselves. How, do you think? By watching the development of religion in your own life. You may talk glibly, you may pray fervently, you may subscribe munificently, your praise may be in all the churches; but your children, acute, unsparing critics, will care little for all these things. The one question which interests them is :-How do you live? Is it thorough, consistent, earnest, spiritual life? If these dear investigators form unfavourable notions of religion, because forming unfavourable notions of your piety, it may have an unhappy influence which their future life shall never shake off.

And I do not only mean that our religion should be evidently a practical thing. I mean that it ought to be "lovely and of good report." There may be a Christian earnestness which is stern and repulsive, a form of piety such as in Puritan days was too frequently shown. But the times made the men in those by-gone days, while we have no social nor political apology for our religion, if it is not full of gentle sweetness, and if we are not outbreathing that sweetness with every pulsation of our spiritual life. Most of us should take the disciple whom Jesus loved as our pattern, rather than that other John, who rushed among men from his desert haunts, burning with the spirit, and wielding the power of Elijah.