them "worth doing well." His coat is ill-fitting enough to reflect discredit on tailor and wearer alike; one or two buttons are off his waistcoat; his hat has not been brushed for a long time; and his shirt-cuffs are in a condition of incipient fringe, because they have not had "a stitch in time." He looks as if he had slept in his clothes. You have hardly ever seen his hands as clean as they ought to be, have you? The homes of these slovenly folk are, like Pandora's box, full of discomforts and annoyances. Amere glance suffices to The prove that soap-and-water are at a discount; dusters, brooms, and brushes little patronized. There is a place for nothing, and nothing is in its place. "Order is heaven's first law," but no law at all as respects this household. The rule of contrary prevails. garden reminds you of Solomon's sarcastic picture of the sluggard's. The paths are green for want of weeding, and uneven for want of rolling. The box-border is regularly irregular. The beds are unraked, and occasionally ornamented with foot-prints, especially in the vicinity of gooseberry and currant trees. Fruit trees are drooping because not nailed properly, and running to waste through lack of seasonable pruning. As to the beautiful roses, they move your righteous indignation, hanging their lovely heads towards the ground, because the owner is too indolent to get a few slips of wood and a little string. The wateringcan cannot be found when it is wanted. The spade is stuck for days in the centre of a bed, instead of being put away when it is done with; the hoe is in the arbour; and one of the principal walks is obstructed with a wheelbarrow. Such are some of the agreeable achievements of some who forget the adage before us. They believe in what they call "make-shifts." If you reason with them on the folly of their conduct, they reply that you are "too particular." If you venture to point out the defects of their handiwork, they say, "Well, never mind, it will do. Just for once in a way it won't As we before remarked, matter." these people are far from being scarce. The quaint poetic words apply to them : "So number up the thousands dwelling here, Most useless here, and eke an endless task; From kings, and those who at the helm appear, To gipsies brown in summer glade who bask." What is thus true of one class is to a great extent true of the age in which we live. It is, if we do not misread it greatly, characterized by a feverish impatience which prevents the doing of things "well." We are too rapid in our movements. Not content with legs, we must, forsooth, fly. "Short and easy methods," not with atheists only, but with everyone and everything, are largely in vogue. Thus is it, for instance, with education. "There is no royal road to learning," said the ancient philosopher. Archimedes must have been wrong, replies the present generation. Its conduct is in keeping with its creed, and forthwith it pulls off its coat, turns up its sleeves, and, armed with shovel and spade, begins" royal roads." Handbooks take the place of histories. Volumes are by many abolished in favour of magazines; tracts substitute "German in six lessons," "French without a master," and other express-train systems of getting information, are in fashion. What is the result? Superficiality. Readers become mere dabblers instead of divers in the stream of education. They know a little of everything, much of nothing. To use another ancient saw, they are "Jack of all trades, but master of none.' They do not do their intellectual work "well." tomes; The same holds good in respect of wealth and its acquisition. There is a lamentable tendency in the commercial world to laugh at the old and rational plan of ascending the hill of prosperity step by step. A more expeditious and more perilous means of locomotion is desired. The summit must be reached per saltum. A certain seductive, fascinating, artful damsel, named Speculation, allures men. Meanwhile, the honest, demure, trustworthy dame, called Industry, is less esteemed than she once was. To be off to gold-diggings and pick up in a day as much as our forefathers could get in a year, is the great desideratum. To launch all their capital in some limited liability concern, in the hope of rising to opulence by a single throw of the dice as it were, is no uncommon risk which hundreds run. Setting aside the commercial evils that flow from this "hasting to be rich," the moral effects are very pernicious. The orb of honesty wanes. Tact becomes more popular than truth. Spartan standard of vice and virtue is brought into use, in accordance with which roguery is disgraceful only when it does its work blunderingly, while clever fraud is greeted with clapping of hands. Such is the tendency of the practice under consideration; a tendency which, like evil fruit, shows that the tree whence it is plucked cannot be good. A Moreover, there is an unreasonable demand for the cheap and the showy, which almost invariably ends in things not being done "well." Almost everywhere there is an unhealthful hankering for bargains. We allow low prices to blind us to bad qualities and doubtful quantities. We must have cheap food, cheap clothing, cheap furniture, cheap houses, cheap books, cheap servants, cheap everything. In The consequence is that we get nothing good; what we do, we do not do "well." You see advertised a "people's edition" of a certain great author. It is only a few pence. your innocence, you ask yourself, "Who would be without such a book, when it can be had for such a mere trifle ?" You get it. Alas! it was "distance" lent" enchantment to the view." The publication is hardly worth having at any price. Barefaced liberties are taken with the writer. Alterations and errors of all imaginable kinds are made. Type old, paper thin, covers gaudy but strengthless-such is 66 your magnificent purchase. Patronize that philanthropic outfitter, who provides you with an almanac every year gratis, and helps to keep up your stock of waste paper by his endless donations of circulars, handbills, and divers pub. lications in prose and verse. Experience makes you rue your choice. Think, too, of the way in which we are now sheltered (?) from heat, wind, and rain. Outside every large town, you see scores of smart, stuccoed houses, usually dignified with the name of "villa," terrace," or some other imposing title. These habitations may be had for a comparatively low rental. Woe betide you if you take one! You will find the walls so thin, that you can hear the voice of your neighbour when he is near the other side; of course, he has the same privilege in reference to you. If the children perform the customary series of eccentric juvenile gymnastics up-stairs, the floor of the nursery will bend beneath the weight thereof. Marvel not at draughts; doors are now made to shut, and not to fit. Be not surprised if mysterious cracks should appear in sundry places; if we insist upon doing things at such a cheap rate, we must expect to find that we are not doing them "well." If we persist in disregarding the voice of the old proverb, we must, of course, take the conse quences. Without entering into further par ticulars, we trust that enough has been said to vindicate our choice of the adage under consideration, as one urgently needed by the present genera tion. Most earnestly, therefore, would we ask the reader, whoever he may be, to make a practical application of it. Yes, "what is worth doing at all is worth doing well," whatever that "what may be. Doing what will promote health, mental robustness, business, domestic comfort, social wel fare, is certainly "worth doing at all.” Then why not do it "well"? How often have we found ourselves hurrying through, and therefore only halffulfilling, some of the minor duties of life, with this thought uppermost in It our minds, "It is but a trifle. hardly deserves one's notice. Any spare moment will do for it." Who of us has not sometimes done things with one hand instead of two, looking at it with but half an eye, albeit we knew they were useful and even necessary? A striking rebuke of this folly is afforded in the significant fact, that the Great Being who made and sustains the universe does nothing imperfectly. None of his works bear the marks of haste; what he does, he does "well." The least as truly as the largest indicate wisdom and goodness. Obviously, no single thing in nature has been hurried through in process of creation, as if it had been thought almost unworthy the Divine notice and care. "He from the glory of his throne, Bends down to view this earthly ball; Views all as if that all were one, Sees one as if that one were all ; Rolls the swift planets on their spheres, And counts the sinner's lonely tears." 66 The sun as truly irradiates an atom as a mountain. The smallest feather in a sparrow's wing, the least petal plucked from a flower, the very hairs of the head, are constructed with delicate precision. God glorifies himself in details as well as in aggregates. What then? Be ye followers of God" herein. 66 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord." Such is the voice of the highest authority. Let us strive to obey it, bringing wisdom and strength to bear on the common things of life. Though always far enough from perfection, we shall at least succeed in reaching an eminence which as yet is to many of us a land afar off. Sir Philip Sidney spoke truly when he said, "Who shoots at the midday sun, though he be sure he shall never hit the mark, yet as sure he is that he shall shoot higher than he who aims but at a bush." "FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH." BY THE REV. T. R. STEVENSON. "They go from strength to strength."-PSALM lxxxiv. 7. It is a trite but true remark, that we never appreciate our blessings so much as when we have lost them. We allow their commonness to hide their worth, and when they are gone we begin to value them as we ought. Who, for example, is the man that most prizes health? Not he who possesses it, but he who has been deprived of it. If you would find one who puts a due estimate on physical strength, you must not go to the stalwart son of toil, who, rising with the lark, labours "from rosy morn till dewy eve." No; you must rather enter the chamber of sickness, and in the poor, emaciated, weary sufferer, who lies there helpless day after day, you will meet with what you want. The same may be said of freedom. In our sea-girt isle we are favoured with liberty, ecclesiastical and political. But to our shame, it must be confessed, we seldom experience that gratitude for it which it demands. Week by week, month by month, we exercise the privilege of free thought, free speech, and free action, without a full consciousness of the boon which a kind Providence thus confers upon us. But were we to have this glorious birthright taken from us, we should learn, when too late, its importance. "Like birds, whose beauties languish, half concealed, This train of thought is suggested by the verses connected with the text before us. David was exiled from Jerusalem. The beloved city and the yet dearer sanctuary were far away from him. Of them, however, he might have truly said, "Though lost to sight, to memory dear." He found a sad pleasure in thinking of the past. He pondered the time when he gladly resorted to the house of God, and he now felt that it was more attractive than ever. Then, by means of the law of associa tion, he passes from his own bygone experience to that of others. He meditates on the hopeful and happy pilgrim-bands, that went up to the divinely-appointed feasts at the Hebrew metropolis. Picturing them to himself, he says, "They go from strength to strength." Learned and devout men differ as to the interpretation of this sentence. Some say that it should be rendered, "They go from stage to stage;" mile after mile they travel on until Zion is reached. Others put it thus, "They go from company to company;" one band is joined by another; this caravan of travellers is joined by that. Dr. Gill mentions as a third meaning, "They go from victory to victory;" manifold obstacles lie in their way but they overcome them all. Perhaps our authorized version is the best. Whichever you adopt, one idea runs through them—progression. Without staying, then, to discuss the merits of the respective readings in question, we will, in connection with the well-known words, ask the reader's attention to the subject of moral and spiritual advance ment. I. We can go from strength to strength.-Christian progress is a glorious possibility. Let us lay that doctrine as one of the foundation-stones in our creed. We are all more or less prone to doubt it, and perhaps, in this case, "the wish is father to the thought." There is so much of evil in human nature that we catch at any excuse by which to conceal our guilt in being less active and devoted in God's service than we ought to be. In the pulpit and in the pew alike are men to be found, who make the dogma of natural inability an apology for lack of vigorous effort. We fear there are not a few, who, under the influence of error or sin, do not thoroughly believe in the possibility of religious progress. "To the law and to the testimony," then. Let us hear the voice of "the lively oracles." grow in " and The Divine commands prove it. Beyond all doubt, God enjoins us to "go from strength to strength." We are told to "run with patience the race set before us; " to "walk" in the way pointed out; to " grace; ""to go on unto perfection;" to "increase more and more; to "add" to our "faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance." These passages are but specimens of a large class. Now is God unreasonable, demanding us to do what we cannot? Is God insincere, putting before us laws which he does not expect us to obey? That cannot be. We may be certain, that when he commands us to do a thing, he has either given the power, or will give the power wherewith we may obey him. Nor is this all. The Divine promises prove it. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." "The righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger." "The path of the just is as a shining light, which shineth more and more to the perfect day." Do these words mean anything? If so, the significance of them is palpable, namely, that we can, if we are willing, progress in each Christian virtue and grace. The divine promises are not rhetorical flourishes, but solemn pledges. They have their symbol, not in the fair but false mirage of the Eastern desert, but in the title-deeds, which, legally signed and sealed, give their fortunate possessor claim to large riches. Not to dwell on evidence so obvious, it may be well to consult for a moment the testimony of experience. What is the verdict of history touching this question? It is but an echo of the text. Look at such a man as Moses. "Meek above all men on the earth," was God's encomium of him. But that meekness was acquired rather than constitutional. Unless we read his biography wrongly, we shall find evidence that he was naturally a man of hasty, vehement disposition, Now and then the old tendencies gain the mastery for a brief season, and serve to remind us of what the great lawgiver was inwardly battling against. The breaking of the stone tables, the slaying of the Egyptian, and the words of anger uttered on the occasion of water given from the rock, are indications of his temperament. But so manfully did he watch and pray against his easily-besetting sin, that he, of all others, the man of hot and quick temper, became the model of meekness. A memorable instance is that of going from "strength to strength." Think, too, of Elijah. He who fled in fear from the place of duty, terrified at the wicked threat of a strong-willed woman, afterwards sits calmly and courageously on the mountain-side when the "bands of fifties," sent to assail him, draw near. Peter is also a remarkable case in point. "I know not the man; "" "Whether it be right to hearken unto God rather than unto you, judge ye, for we cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard." Remember the circumstances under which those two utterances were made, and you will not have to reason much or long to see what notable advancement he made, who was transformed from the Saviour's denier to the Saviour's faithful confessor. It were superfluous, surely, to multiply allusions of this kind. The very nature of real religion is essentially progressive. As the admission. of certain doctrines leads to that of others, so the possession of one moral or religious quality tends to the development of others. To use the words of a living theologian, "The graces are gregarious. They never come alone. If you have one virtue you may hope for another. Put into exercise what you have, just as the fowlers bring their own birds out to sing, so that others may come to them. Let one grace sing and bring others into thine heart." Faith and repentance are illustrations of this. They go together. One sometimes hears doctrinaires quarrelling about the order in which these graces should appear. Some maintain that repentance should precede faith, others the reverse. With all deference to their honest convictions, we cannot but regard the whole disputation as a blunder. What matters it which comes first? It is certain that faith will never rest until she finds out her sister repentance. It is equally |