been playing on the busy scene, without being convinced that here is something essential to the completeness of humanity, something so deeply implicated in its structure that it can no more be taken out of it without destructive consequences, than the bones can be taken out of a man's body or his muscles unstrung of every quivering nerve. No other force or institution has played such a stupendous part in human history, has reared such splendid fanes, dominated such mighty nations and events, inspired such hopes and fears. And when we think of what religion has been in its total manifestation, in its terror and its beauty, in its loveliness and its joy, in its strength to build, its energy to sway, its might to set up and cast down, then might we not as rationally believe that the art of government, the State, or the passion for beauty, or the love of men and women for each other was something superficial, something that might have its day, and cease to be, as to believe these things of religion? It may be subjected to incalculable transformations in the future as it has been in the past, but they will not destroy its identity nor bring upon its perpetuity the shadow of a doubt. JOHN W. CHADWICK. UT of the heart of nature rolled The burdens of the Bible old; The litanies of nations came, X. The Wisdom of the Wise. Who, like the wise man, knoweth the meaning of a thing? his wisdom maketh his face to shine pleasantly and softeneth the boldness of his countenance -Ecclesiastes viii. 1. WISDOM is the greatest good, for it doth not depart from man. And the mark of wisdom is that a man is modest, humble, and mild; that his bearing is polite, peaceful, and forgiving; that his actions are moderate and his speech sparing. The wise man harbors neither revenge nor envy; he speaks good of all men, and belittles none. He avoids vain distinctions of honor before men; he is moderate in his merriment, and rejoices not at the misfortune of others. He cleaves fast to the men of truth and faithfulness. And by these modes he seeks to peacefully instruct mankind. The ornament of the wise is morality; as the Romans said: Morality is the external revelation of the soul, therefore seek to model it as perfectly as possible. Aristotle said: Morality needs no nobility of birth; and he adds: Morality ornaments riches, and hides the poverty of the poor. I counsel thee, make no alliance with fools, and with those puffed up with vanity; for he that does that, is like a man that waters a tree that is already dead. JECHIEL OF ROME. To discern truth in everything and accept it by whomsoever spoken, that is wisdom. Hindu. They asked Lokman: Of whom he had learned philosophy; he answered, Of the blind; they never advance a step until they have tried the ground. Not a word can be said, even in the midst of sport, from which a wise man will not derive instruction; but if a hundred chapters of philosophy are read to a thoughtless person, it will seem to his ears folly and sport. Saadi. XI. The Trials of Great Souls. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His pious ones.—Psalm cxvi. 15. The Lord hath chastened me sore, but He hath not given me over unto death.-Psalm cxviii. 18. In the night-time His song was with me.— Psalm xlii. 9. GOD! Thou lookest down upon my misery (his utter deafness). Thou knowest that it is accompanied with love of my fellow-creatures and a disposition to do good! O men, when ye shall read this, think that you have wronged me; and let the child of affliction take comfort on finding one like himself, who, in spite of all the impediments of nature did all that lay in him to obtain admittance into the ranks of worthy artists and men. You, my brothers, as soon as I am dead, ask Prof. Schmidt to write a description of my disease and to that description annex this paper that, after my death, the world may be reconciled with me. What you have done to me to grieve me, that, you know, has long been forgiven. Recommend virtue to your children; that alone, not wealth, can give happiness. I speak from experience. It was this that upheld me in affliction; it is owing to this and to my art that I did not terminate my life by my own hand. Farewell, and love one another. How glad I am to think that I may be of use to you even in my grave. If death come before I have had occasion to develop all my professional ability, he will come too soon for me; but even then I am content, for he will release me from a state of uninterrupted suffering. Do not quite forget me; I have deserved to be remembered by you; for I have often thought of you to make you happy. May you ever be so. LUDWIG VON BEETHOVEN. My music is the product of my genius and my misery; and that which I wrote in my greatest distress is that which the world seems to like best. t 'HE good are better made by ill, As odors crushed are sweeter still. FRANZ SCHUBERT, XII. The Continuance of Our Life. May the All-merciful suffer us to inherit that Day which is Sabbath altogether, and that Rest which is everlasting Life.—Ancient Hebrew Prayer. THE life we live here is the parent of the next. "Heaven is but earth made richer." The rest of death is as the work of this life, dropping the body only, as the Sabbath Day is like Monday or Friday. The distinction is plain. There is in every one of us, in so far as we are thinking beings, a separate life: the life of thought and feeling, the reverie and the keen anxiety of the future, the sense of sin and guilt, the fear of punishment; we toil and drudge long after the wants of the body are satisfied; we are all being driven by this second life, by the passions of the mind. The larger portion of our religious experiences lies in the contest between the sense of right and wrong, that requires a faith in something higher than the things that are seen. The lover of fashion is, in a sense, living after a faith in something which art declares necessary. The man of pleasure who rises above a brute, guilds the horizon of his low landscape with some sort of faith. It is the other part of us, asserting itself. We may well say then, dropping the body, the identity of the two lives is certain as a fact of revelation. In this body of clay we fear death. There we lose that fear. We lose the pains of sickness. There God will wipe away all the tears from the eyes. But this very promise implies the sameness of the real life, linking together the two parts of man's destiny. CHARLES H. HALL. TERNITY! O mighty, wondrous thought, A dream that points to hope of future need, |