danger of this Rev. gentleman's prescription, and I should not be at all astonished to learn of many deaths among those who employ it without any prudence or circumspection.

"Again, the bean of St. Ignatius is rarely met with in this country, never being used by physicians, and the person who receives the printed prescription and directions from the Rev. Mr. D., will, in most cases, after a fruitless attempt to obtain the remedy from druggists, be obliged to fee the gentleman for a quantity of the extract, or of the pills already prepared; and in no case can the patient know whether he receives the extract of the bean, or of the nux vomica."

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Does the reader now see how this Reverend Humbug can afford to send the prescription FREE." The benevolent man knows that the patient will not be able to find the ingredients called for in the prescription, and must send back to him for it. hat will not be sent "free," you may rest assured; and what is sent may be buckwheat flour, powdered slate pencil, the essence of caterpillars, or some other innocent thing that will not particularly excite nor yet destroy the most nervous. Prof. King suspects that "many deaths" might occur from the use of the dangerous prescription; but we have no such fears, for we feel sure the benevolent clergyman will not go to the expense of procuring the poison called for in the cure, when he can gather so many articles "free."

We have given the history of this case of Humbug not merely to expose it, but also to present it as one of a class, by way of specimen. Whenever the reader sees an advertisement of the kind, seemingly benevolent, professing great interest in patients, let him be on his guard. There is a trick in it. When, we may ask, will the press, and especially the religious press, assume a position of proper dignity and honor in relation to all such schemes, seeking victims among an unsuspecting public through their columns. Is it not plainly immoral and sinful to aid such deceivers, by advertising for them? What if they do pay for the use of the paper in this way, every cent of it is wrung from the hands of the victims of the imposture, and these are often the afflicted and suffering poor. God forbid that a penny of such unholy earnings should ever find its way into our pocket.

Nor trample in the dust

Such hearts indeed as from above
Sweet consolation borrow;

The heart that would look up to thee Who shrink not in the hour of need,

With hopefulness and trust.
But be thou like the noble oak
To which the Ivy clings,
And shelter the poor stricken soul
Beneath love's ample wings.

Oh, there are hearts upon this earth
By grudging nature given,
To show us here how pure and good
The angels are in heaven.

But closer cling in sorrow.

The lofty oak, beneath whose shade
We've played upon the lawn,
Though now the monarch of the woods,
Was of an acorn born;

And little seeds of kindness which

May in the heart be sown,
Shall raise up branches by which we
May reach our Father's throne.

HUMAN EXISTENCE.

BY REV. A. WANNER.

"WHENCE camest thou? And whither wilt thou go?" Thus, four thousand years ago, did a messenger from God address a young woman, who was approaching the meridian of life. The questions proposed are full of import. Especially are they interesting and solemn when applied to the young. With them the great problem of life, nay, of an unending existence, is yet to solve. They exist and will continue to exist when time shall be lost in eternity. That existence will have a history. What the character of that history will be we know not. We may safely assume, however, that the history of one individual will differ from that of another. As there is a difference in the natural constitution-the principles and habits of different individuals-so there is also a difference in their sentiments, actions and character. There will be, therefore, also a difference in their history. Some commence their existence in the most unfavorable circumstances, but advance gradually and constantly until they reach an eminence envied by thousands who, by natural talent, circumstances and means, were more favored than they. Thus, from a point of apparent insignificance, as the thread of existence is spun out, they rise higher and higher in moral worth and usefulness, until their names are engraved on the temple of fame, and their influence felt by millions. Others commence their existence under the most favorable circumstances. Fine natural gifts, a superior education, moral training, wealth and other means, all are ready to extend the helping hand for the accomplishment of that which is great and good. But, alas! all to no good effect. The gifts of nature have been bestowed in vain. Education, wealth, and all else only seem to impress so much the more indelibly on their history that disgrace and infamy for which the same is remarkable. Their influence will be felt only as a withering, blighting curse. They might have become great and good. Instead of it, however, they have become mean and despicable.

Thus have we brought to view two extremes. Between these we meet with an endless variety. Yet each individual approaches more or less the one or the other. Hence, dear reader, you may form at least some idea of what may or even is likely to be your own history in the future. Much will depend on your own exertions, and the use you will make of the means within your reach. Without persevering exertions and a proper use of means, no one need dream of excelling in an undertaking. Men do not grow up and attain to perfection in a day or an hour like a mushroom, but by a regular process, a gradual development. Whether conscious or unsconscious of the fact, and whether the final issue be good or bad, this regular process and gradual development commences with the moment of our existence. Hence, dear reader, the great problem of your history is solving. Every hour, every moment adds to that which is already past. The past is known and well understood;

but what of the future? Ah! it is a land of dreams and full of mysteries. It is still in advance of you. Ere the setting sun you may taste of its sweets or of its ills, of its joys or its griefs. You are constantly pressing forward and anxious to look into it; but a mysterious curtain shuts from your view all its realities, leaving you in uncertainty and doubt. The present moment is the last that precedes it, and yet for ages to come it will be in advance of you. You are now standing on its borders and constantly threatening to leap over its confines. Its vast treasures of good and evil, although concealed from your view, are partly yours. As your history will be unfolding, Providence will roll them out from behind the mysterious curtain. It may be you will "fall heir" to "apples of gold in pictures of silver," to wealth and happiness, or to shame, disgrace and misery. For aught you know the future may fill your cup with wormwood and gall. But be thou not alarmed at this. Call not in the aid of "the soothsayer," nor of "the fortune teller." The future is as much hid from their view as from yours by the same mysterious curtain. Look to a higher source, and call in aid of a more substantial nature. Let God be your light and Truth your guide, and you have nothing to fear. Although your way, like Hagar's, lies partly through the wilderness, whose dark shades occasionally fill the soul with a horrid gloom, there shall no evil befall you. If God be your portion, the future cannot fail to pour on your head its richest blessings.

Still, you may be doubtful. The idea of an unending existence, extending into the future with all its hidden realities, fills your bosom with anxious thought. You think of the divine law of human depravity and of eternal destiny. With these you dare not trifle. They are of vital importance to you. Hence your uneasiness. Nor would we have you otherwise than deeply interested in this direction. No thought can be brought to bear with equal solemnity on the mind with that of unending existence. Around it cluster all the inquiries relative to the immortality of the soul and its eternal state. We think of the past, of its joys and griefs, its pleasures and pains. We think of the present, of our circumstances and prospects for the future. But here we must stop, unless we would proceed on the ground of conjecture. We know indeed that there are laid up in the future vast treasures of good and evil, but the manner of their distribution is unknown. Hence we again call it a land of darkness and uncertainty. Over the vast territory it occupies are found many "fountains and streams," some of pure and living waters, for the refreshment of weary pilgrims and strangers, and others from which flow (though often in deceitful disguise, to deceive and destroy the young,) poison and death, in all their varied and most horrid forms. No wonder, then, that the soul of the sober thinker becomes awestricken, as he sees himself suspended between the past and the future, on the thread of unending existence. Reader, that is your position. You are just commencing the long journey of your existence. You are inexperienced and limited in your attainments. Probably you are altogether indifferent as to the manner in which you are performing it. Dreams of future happiness and greatness may be flitting over your mind. Anticipation of a glorious future may be indulged in. So long, however, as the present is not improved, all such happiness and greatness must remain objects of a delusive hope. So long, too, the precious

days and years of the young are passing away in their history, whilst they remain unconscious of their true mission in the world. The vanities of life, the pleasures of the world, and the madness of fashion, occupy their attention almost constantly. Thus many young men and ladies, whom God has favored with fine natural talents, spend their best days. Be not offended then, dear readers of The Guardian, at a stranger who desires to say to you a word in season.

Unending existence!-such is yours. For a moment imagine yourself on the banks of some mighty stream. You look up the stream and down after its rolling waters, but see no end. You commence to move up the stream and continue on until finally you stand at the fountainhead. You retrace your steps down the stream to the starting point. You pass it and move on and on until finally you find yourself on the water's edge of the great ocean. Here your stream rolls its contents into the mighty deep, and you see it no more. Yet its waters continue

in the ocean. So with your existence. You may find a starting place by going into the past. But no landing by moving down the stream of the future. You may follow on the stream of the present life until you lose it in the ocean of eternity. Although the inhabitants of time may no longer see you on entering eternity, your existence will continue to flow on. Will you seriously reflect on this fact.

The unending existence on which you have entered is one of constant development. Hence it has also a history. That history shows progress. This progressive history, however slow it advances, will conduct you in the future to an eminence in the development of your intellectual powers, absolutely incredible to all human calculations. In this unending process all your faculties for the accumulation of knowledge will expand, and all your reasoning powers be strengthened. What an inconceivably glorious eminence may not the human soul reach in its future history.

This development of our powers is conditioned on the proper and healthful exercise of the same. The mind, like the body, must have exercise or it will be a mere dwarf. In the case of the body, matter works on matter. In the case of the mind, although it has also to do with the world of matter, the pure regions of thought and faith form its congenial element. The finite contemplates the infinite. The mind may be cultivated by a careful study of the branches usually included in a liberal education, but will find no resting-place on this side the infinite. It is here only that the soul, in the exercise of faith, will find a pure and healthful atmosphere for the development of all its powers. The study of nature will always lead to that which is higher than nature. The material will always end in the spiritual. To exclude therefore from our thoughts the idea of God, and the sphere of spiritual existence and faith, is to throw a serious barrier in the way of that expression and development of our powers of which they are capable and for which they have been designed. The young, therefore, cannot well commit a greater error than to confine their thoughts and studies to things visible only, and not to the invisible also. Divine truth, grasped by the power of faith, which gives that truth a living power and actual existence in the mind, is the most healthful nourishment for the inner man, and best calculated to draw out and develop the moral and mental faculties of

the soul. Hence they who cultivate religion in its true form, in connection with their mental culture in the study of the arts and sciences, reach the highest eminence. And, true as this is when applied to this period of life, so true is it also when applied to an unending future. Would we then attain that high degree of moral and mental culture of which we are capable and for which we were designed, we must not confine our powers to the objects of sense only, but must extend them to those of faith also.

Again, this development will assume some particular form. It will be virtuous or vicious, moral or immoral. Whether it will assume the one or the other of these forms will be determined by the principles taken up and digested by the powers of the soul. By a regular process of mental assimilation, these principles give character to the development of our powers. Hence, if in early life we imbibe vicious principles such will also be the character of that development which will follow. This being the fact, it becomes a matter of the greatest importance for the young to guard against all unjust and unholy principles, and to cherish those of a virtuous nature.

The powers of man thus developing will be constantly engaged in some way or other. It is not possible for him, during the hours of wakefulness, to be altogether inactive. Man will be at work, either at the accomplishment of that which is good or that which is evil. He is capable of accomplishing much good or evil, as the case may be, in the short period of a single year. More will be done during a life time, and infinitely more still during that unending existence on which he has entered. Oh! who can form anything like a correct conception of that which he will yet experience and do in the future.

The activity of our powers as thus brought to view, will affect our inward state as well as our outward condition. The latter will be affected by the impressions produced by our actions on our fellow beings in the relations they sustain to us. The former by the relations we sustain to our Creator, and by those which exist between the divine law and human conscience. A course of action, found to be in strict conformity to the divine will and law, cannot fail to secure the favor of God and to produce an inward consciousness of moral rectitude. This is true whether applied in a legal or gospel sense. Hence such a course of conduct, whether in time or eternity, will in every case produce the same effects, namely, true happiness. Directly the contrary will be the result of a vicious, sinful course of conduct. It will incur the displeasure of God and bring into action all the evil passions of which we are capable. Connected with this is a consciousness of guilt, and this consciousness of guilt is ever productive in the creation of tormenting fear and misery! Thus an internal wreck is produced. The soul, like the mighty deep, is thrown into constant agitation. Its wild and confused action is continually exposing its own shame and misery. Passion burns. Wreaking vengeance seeks its victim. Envy tortures the soul. Lust craves the forbidden fruit. Covetousness reaches out the hand of fraud and falsehood. Oh! what misery is thus produced and endured in a single day. A petty quarrel, a pouty, fretful spell, a little envy, often embitter for days and weeks our existence. But who can bear the thought of enduring these evils, increasing as they will be in the case