Earlier text: Thoughts on the Law and SabbathBeneficence.
By Mrs. E. G. White
“Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.” “The liberal deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand.” “Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now here-with, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all the nations shall call you blessed.” God is abundantly able to fulfill his promises. Every earthly good comes from his hand. The resources of the Lord are infinite, and he employs them all in accomplishing his purposes. Faithful stewards, who wisely use the goods which God has intrusted to them to advance the truth and bless suffering humanity, will be rewarded for so doing. God will pour into their hands while they dispense to others. He is advancing his cause in the earth through stewards intrusted with his capital. Some there are who, notwithstanding they greatly desire wealth, would be ruined by its possession. God has tested individuals by lending them talents of means. It was in their power to abuse the gift or use it to the glory of God. If they have hoarded or wasted the Lord's money, the Master finally says to them, “Thou mayest be no longer steward.” They have been tested and proved, and found unfaithful in using that which was another man's as though it was their own. God will not intrust such with the eternal riches. Those who make a judicious and unselfish disposition of the Lord's goods, thus identifying their interest with that of suffering humanity, will be advanced; for they act the part which God designed they should in his own system of beneficence. The first great principle contained in the moral law is supreme love to God. The second is this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Every good thing upon the earth was given to man as an expression of the love of God. He makes man his steward, and gives him talents of influence and means to use for the accomplishment of his work in the earth. Our Heavenly Father proposes to connect finite man with himself. As laborers they may be his instruments in the salvation of souls. He has accepted those who have consecrated themselves to his service to preach the word to those who have not a knowledge of the truth. But these are not the only ones whom he uses to advance his work in the earth. Every man who professes to be illuminated by the Spirit of God in this time will be required to enlighten others. “No man liveth to himself,” and yet loves God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself. Every one has his station of duty adapted to his capacity in the accomplishment of this great work. Those who walk in the light of truth will emit light to those around them. They are living witnesses for Christ. They will not be like the world, living in moral darkness, loving themselves and the things of the world, and seeking for earthly treasures. They will be “a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” It will cost much self-denial and self-sacrifice to imitate the pattern, Christ Jesus. In order to become like him, we must cultivate a benevolent disposition. Those who have the most of this world's goods often manifest a selfish penuriousness in giving to the cause of God. The333most liberal donations frequently come from the poor man's purse, while those with whom God has intrusted an abundance, for the very purpose of supplying the wants of the cause, fail to see where means are most needed, and do not regard the cries of the needy who are in their very midst. These cries go up to Heaven, and are a powerful testimony in condemnation of the unjust, selfish course of the unfaithful stewards. The offerings of the poor, given through self-denial to aid in extending the precious light of saving truth, will not only be a sweet-smelling savor to God, and wholly acceptable to him as a consecrated gift, but the very act of giving expands the heart of the giver, and unites him more fully to the Redeemer of the world. He was rich; but for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. The smallest sums given cheerfully by those who are in limited circumstances are fully as acceptable to God, and even of more value in his sight, than the offerings of the rich who can bestow their thousands and yet exercise no self-denial and feel no lack. The poor widow manifested love, faith and benevolence combined in contributing her two mites; for she gave all that she had, without questionings or doubts in regard to her uncertain future. Christ represents her little offering as the greatest gift of all that had been cast into the treasury that day. The rich gave of their abundance. They did not need to exercise faith, for they had means enough left to supply all their wants. It was not the value of the coin that was regarded by Christ, but the devoted purity of the motive which prompted the sacrifice. The small gift, with God's blessing upon it, could become instrumental in accomplishing important results. The widow's mite, cast into the treasury with thousands of other coins, would appear insignificant and be lost to human vision, but not to the eye of God. The Source of all riches, the great Benefactor, would make this sincere, genuine offering of the highest value for good. The widow's mite has been like a stream, small at the source, but continuing to flow through all time, until it has widened, and deepened, and run in a thousand channels, contributing to the extension of the truth, and supplying the wants of the needy. The influence of this small gift has acted and reacted upon humanity in every age of the world, and in every country upon the globe. The tiny rills which have flowed into the treasury of the Lord from the liberal, self-denying poor have formed a living fountain, and its streams flow forth refreshing the needy and resulting in the salvation of thousands of souls. Again, the example of the widow's mite cannot be estimated in its influence upon the hearts of those who are inclined to selfishly withhold from God the goods he has intrusted to them. Her liberality, her faith and sincerity, are a standing rebuke to the ease-loving, selfish, doubting ones who have means with which they might do good if they would. They are provoked to good works by the unselfish gifts of the poorer brethren. That little deed of benevolence manifested by the widow was but a small light in the beginning; but it has been steadily burning brighter and brighter, and shedding its rays farther and with more intense radiance, and it will still continue to shine brighter and stronger, reaching to all countries and climes. The poor as well as the rich may enjoy the blessed privilege of knowing that they are God's Stewards, and may identify their interests with Jesus Christ, and with suffering humanity, who are the purchase of his blood. But God would not have rich or poor entertain the idea for a moment that he is dependent upon them, nor that their liberalities can in any case supply defects of Christian character. Liberality is but one of the traits which are characteristic of a Christian. The inspired apostle says, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity [love], it profiteth me nothing.” Charity is thus defined: “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth.” The character of a tree bearing all these fruits may be readily discerned. For “by their fruits ye shall know them.” As followers of Jesus Christ, we must be wide awake to discern with heavenly eye-sight the devices of Satan. God has given us his word as a chart to mark out our way to the eternal shore. With the Bible for our guide, aided by our own reason kept clear by strictly temperate habits, we may be able to acquit ourselves like servants of the Master who have duties to perform and eternal interests to secure. Benevolence is one precious trait of character which needs to be cultivated and strengthened by continual exercise. God is not dependent upon us. He could speak the word, and every mountain would be turned into gold. “For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell thee; for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof.” These words were spoken as a reproof to Israel, whose hearts were not right with God. They were multiplying their sacrifices, as though to make a compromise with God, while they were separating from him by wicked works. While they multiplied their victims upon the altar of sacrifice, they did not cultivate pure and vital godliness in the heart, which would move them to act constantly in reference to the two great principles of the moral law, love to God and love to man. Gifts and offerings will not purchase salvation for any of us. The religion of the Bible is that development of our moral natures in which the soul holds converse with God, loves that which God loves, and hates that which God hates. God will not accept your offerings if you withhold yourself. He asks not only for that which is his own in the means intrusted to you, but for his own property in your body, soul and spirit, purchased at the infinite price of the blood of the Son of God. God might have made angels the ambassadors of his truth. He might have proclaimed the law from Sinai with his own voice. But he has chosen to take man into his counsel, and connect him with himself, that through the instrumentality of man the mysteries of the cross of Christ might be fully explained in an audible voice. Man has a work to do. And in this work, life will prove a blessing. The real value of life to him is indicated by the character of the work which employs his powers. If the powers which angels possess were given to man they would be of no use unless some new work was given him in which to engage them. All the riches intrusted to man are only a curse unless he employs them to relieve his own daily wants and those of the needy around him, and to glorify his Maker by advancing his cause in the earth. Objects which shall call benevolence into action must be placed before him, or he cannot imitate the character of the Great Exemplar. Man would have no gifts to bestow were they not first given to him. But our Heavenly Father has made every provision for man, that he may be fully tested and proved, and through the merits of Christ perfect a righteous character. God has made man his brother's keeper, and will hold him responsible for this great trust. God has taken man into union with himself, and he has planned that men shall work in harmony with him. He has provided the system of beneficence, that man whom he has made in his image may be self-denying in character, like Him whose infinite nature is love. He has appointed man as his almoner to distribute the blessings he has given him. “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” God has done for our good all that a kind Heavenly Father could do. He appeals to humanity whether he has failed in a single instance to do all that he could do for the highest interests of man. “Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?” God has reposed confidence in us in making us stewards of means and of his rich grace. How shall we show our appreciation of his care and love and unparalleled mercy, except in grateful returns to him of our talents of means and ability with faithfulness and integrity. We cannot possibly enrich the Lord by bestowing any favor directly upon him, for he is the giver of all our bounties. But he points us to the poor and suffering and oppressed, and to souls bound in chains of superstition and error, and assures us that if we do good to these he accepts the deed as though done to himself. Christ identifies himself with suffering humanity. “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Are There No Changes?
By R. F. Cottrell
"Knowledge shall be increased." Dan. 12:4. "The wise shall understand." Verse 10. "There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity." Luke 21:25. "All things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." 2 Pet. 3:4. These several texts all have their application at the same time. The two from Daniel apply at "the time of the end," a short period just before the close of this state of human probation. It is called by Nahum, "The day of His preparation." The words quoted from the Lord Jesus are followed by the words, "And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." And those from Peter are expressly located "in the last days." Skeptics tell us of contradictions in the Bible. It is true that the scoffers of the last days were to contradict, and do contradict, the inspired utterances of prophets and of Jesus Christ. While they foretell an increase of knowledge and other signs portending the end of the age, the scoffers say, "Where is the sign of his coming?" "All things continue as they were." In the time of the end there is to be an increase of knowledge. Let this be understood in a general sense, as applying to all sorts of knowledge, and it is truly verified in these our days; therefore, we have reached the time of its fulfillment. But it is reasonable to apply it especially to the theme of prophecy, which Daniel was told was "closed up and sealed till the time of the end." At the time of the end these sealed words will be unsealed, and the consequence will be an increase of knowledge of these prophecies, and the wise will understand it; but "none of the wicked shall understand." They scoff on, acknowledging no signs and claiming that there is no change. The time of the end consists of the days which follow the close of the papal persecution. Dan. 11:35. "And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end." The saints have ceased to fall; the days have come for knowledge to be increased on that which was sealed up, and for the wise to understand it. The prophecies of Daniel and of Revelation are clearly opened as never before, and the great and important truths which are revealed in them are being proclaimed. But many, when they hear these things, will go to their commentaries and expositions written one, two, or three hundred years ago, and perhaps prefer these expositions to the clearer light of the present day. Such persons ignore the revealed fact that these prophecies were sealed up till near the end of time, and that the knowledge of them would be opened to the last generation of men. Going back to past centuries for light on these things is going away from the promised light and approaching the dark ages of the past in search of that knowledge which, according to the prophecy, was reserved for the last days. The word of God has not failed, and cannot. If we are in "the time of the end," the last days, light upon the prophecies is increasing. On the other hand, the flood of light on the prophecies, poured out in the present generation, is proof positive that we are in the last days, the period to which they were closed up, and in which they were to be unsealed. Do all things continue as they were in this respect? or, has the promise of God been verified by increasing knowledge? And have there been no signs of Christ's coming in the natural world?—in the heaven's above, and in the earth and elements? Said Jesus, "There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming upon the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth near." Have not these predictions been verified? In 1780, the sun and moon were supernaturally darkened, according to the words of Christ in Mat. 24:29. In 1833, the stars of heaven fell as there foretold, and as described in Rev. 6:13. Following these events, the nations have been in perplexity, foreboding the evils of war and under the excitement of immense preparations for the coming event; not knowing what it will be, but fearing the worst. And, together with these things, do we not see unprecedented distress of nations" with famines and pestilences? The elements are in commotion. Great and destructive earthquakes are becoming exceedingly frequent. These rock the earth and ocean, raising tremendous tidal waves, so that "the sea and the waves roaring" are poured in upon the land, deluging cities and destroying their inhabitants. And terrific storms and tornadoes abound, pouring out floods of water to drown the people, or sweeping them and their habitations away by cyclones and hurricanes. In this respect all things do not continue as they were within the memory of those of fifty or sixty years of age. What do these things mean? They conspire to remind us "that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand." Believers in Jesus believe his promises, and, as the consequence, they "look up," and lift up their heads, knowing that their "redemption draweth nigh." The Lord will soon come, according to his plighted word. Reader, are you prepared for the event? If not, Get ready, get ready! R. F. Cottrell. WHOEVER would be sustained by the hand of God, let him constantly lean upon it. Whoever would be defended by it, let him patiently repose himself under it. (Condensed from Review and Herald.) HALF ROCK.—Elder Butler reports a debate held with Elder J. Podget of the Christian (Campbellite) church here. He says: "The debate closed October 22. We claim a triumphant victory for the truth. So far as I know, all of our people who heard the debate, and a goodly number not of our faith, claim this. The debate covered six propositions on the subjects of the Sabbath, Sunday, consciousness in death, destiny of the wicked, and the kingdom. Sixteen sessions were held of two hours each. I think we shall hear no more of debates at Half Rock. On the kingdom question I felt we gained a special victory. He made a desperate effort to maintain the position that the kingdom of God was set up during the lifetime of the apostles, but signally failed. Our position on the kingdom of grace admits all they can possibly prove, while the great fact that the glorious and everlasting kingdom of God will be set up in connection with Christ's second coming stands out as clear and full as a mountain lighted up by the blazing sun. Debates are generally unprofitable, and hence to be avoided; but there are cases where it seems hard to avoid them without conveying the impression that we fear to meet our opponents in open discussion." ROBERTSON COUNTY.—October 22, Brother Owen reports: "Since Elder Osborn returned to Kentucky with the tent, we have continued our labors in Robertson county, Tenn. The Lord has turned the hearts of fifteen more to keep the Sabbath. There are more calls for lectures than we can fill in six months. Have just given two lectures in an adjoining county (Simpson, Ky.), with apparently the best interest we have seen yet. We expect to return here after the Kentucky Conference, for which we start this morning." NIANTIC.—Elder Mooney writes, October 21: "I commenced meetings in this place October 3. Have held twenty-two meetings, and have given about twenty discourses. Our meetings have been well attended every evening. The Lord is at work in the place, and quite a good number have started to serve him. The interest is still good; the people say there has not been so great an interest here for many years." NORTH LANSING.—Brethren Ballou and Robinson write, October 23: "During the tent season here, sixteen, who continue faithful, have accepted the truth; three others, children of Sabbath-keeping parents, have come to a full decision to obey the Lord; eight have been baptized, and ten have been received into the Genoa church, some of whom kept the Sabbath previously." OLIN.—Elder Pegg writes: "Closed our meetings at this place, Sunday evening, October 20. Sixteen decided in favor of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. They will hold regular Sabbath meetings." SOUTH AMHERST.—In report of labor by Elder D. A. Robinson, it is stated that at a recent meeting in this place six were baptized and added to the church. Others are expected soon to unite with them. NORFOLK.—At a recent meeting at this place seven were baptized, and a church was organized of scattered friends here and in western Massachusetts. The history of Moses is divided into three periods, each of forty years. The first extends from infancy, hid among the Nile rushes, found and adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, to his flight to Midian. During this time he was in the king's palace as the adopted son of the princess, where he enjoyed not only princely rank, but also a princely education. The second period was from his flight till his return to Egypt; and the third extends from the exodus out of Egypt to his death on Mount Nebo. In Acts 7:22 it is stated that "Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." Says the Bible Dictionary: "This is no unmeaning praise. The wisdom of the Egyptians, and especially of their priests, was then the profoundest in the world." Existing monuments place beyond all reasonable doubt that Egypt was in Moses' time, and had been for centuries, the source and center of the world's civilization. She was mistress of the nations in letters, science, and art. Giving the date of the exodus at about 1300 B. C. places it about midway between the original founding of the empire by Menes, and the Christian era. Of this period, and the intellectual culture and supremacy of the nation, Rev. J. Havens, LL. D., writes:— "The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries B. C. were the golden period of Egyptian greatness, and Elizabethan age of her culture. The education of Moses would naturally, under such circumstances, be that of the highest nobles and princes in the realm, the best the nation could afford; and that this was of a high order, there is the clearest monumental evidence. "From the first, the Egyptians possessed the arts of civilized life. From the earliest centuries of their national existence they had been workers in wood, and stone, and brass; gold, silver and bronze were in common use among them; so was iron, that latest product and surest test of high civilization. The gold neck-lace and ear-rings of Menes, the first king of Egypt, and the signet-ring of Shufu, the builder of the great pyramid, are as elaborate and elegant in their workmanship and finish as anything in that line which modern art can produce. In the chamber at Karnak, which commemorates the wars and triumphs of Thotmes III., of the 18th dynasty—some two hundred years before the time of Moses—there is a record to the offerings made to the temple to complete it, in which list mention is made of the metals, silver, copper, iron, tin and lead, good bronze of the land of Babel, and tusks of ivory richly carved and polished, and solid rings of gold. The value of the treasure contributed to the temple by Thotmes as the result of these military expeditions is set down in the record at 2,374 solid rings of gold. It was in the ships of Tyre that these treasures were brought by the king to Thebes, his capital. The art of working iron must have been possessed by the Egyptians from the very first, for a piece of wrought iron has been found by Col. Howard Vyse imbedded among the solid masonry of the great pyramid, near the summit, where it must have been left by the original builders. "In other arts, the great proficiency of the Egyptians is attested by the paintings in the tombs at Thebes and Beni-Hassan. The process of glass-blowing, usually regarded as a modern invention, is there plainly depicted; while the articles of luxury, the vases, couches, ottomans, chairs, and other furniture of a richly furnished house, can hardly be surpassed for elegance, richness, and variety. And, what is singular in regard to the matter, the older monuments and works of art, as compared with those of later date, are not the less but the more perfect of the two. The sculptures and inscriptions of the age of Thotmes III., and of Sesostris, prior to Moses and the exodus, are far superior to those executed by the Ptolemies in the later period of the empire. "Of the science of the ancient Egyptians not much is known to us, but it is certain that they understood the science of agriculture, and carried it to perfection. They understood and successfully executed works of civil engineering, before which modern science stands aghast. They turned the course of the Nile into new channels, so as to redeem wide regions of desert from barrenness to highest fertility. In mathematical and astronomical science, the Egyptians seem to have been proficient. The great pyramid is itself, according to the astronomer royal of Scotland, Piazzi Smith, one of the most remarkable scientific and astronomical buildings ever erected. On the ceiling of the temple at Denderah, one sees the characters and signs of the Zodiac as complete as in our modern astronomy. "Nor was Egypt without a literature. On the walls and columns of her sacred edifices, graven in the rock forever, under the care and keeping of the gods, her history, so regards at least its leading events, stands written. Not merely the wars, the battles, and sieges, and conquests, are there recorded, but accompanying the pictorial representations of these are historic inscriptions, and invocations addressed to the conqueror, often in the highest style of oriental poetry. I had intended to give a few specimens of these, as illustrating the character of Egyptian poetical art, especially its marked resemblance to the spirit and style of the Hebrew prophets; but space will not permit. "But such historic inscriptions were not the only literature of this remarkable people, at the time of which I speak. They had also books, libraries, and schools of instruction. An inscription on one of the tombs of the period of Sephres, the builder of the second pyramid, some 2,000 years B. C., speaks of lands devoted to the library of that monarch. This was several centuries prior to the time of Moses. One of the beautiful tombs at Beni-Hassan is that of one of the nobles of the twelfth dynasty—Nahrai, who, as the inscription informs us, was steward of the land tax for the support of the schools of the sons of the kings of lower Egypt. This was a thousand years or more before the exodus; and shows the care of the nation, at that early period, for the education of its future rulers. The famous Memnonium at Thebes, palace of Remeses II., the Pharaoh by whose daughter Moses was adopted and educated, contained a library of sacred books, over the entrance to which may still be seen this most appropriate inscription,—The Remedy for the Soul. When after the death of this monarch, and of his son who survived him but a few years, his infant grandson, Sethos II., came to the throne. Thouoris, the daughter already mentioned, who was guardian and co-regent of the young king, appointed scribes to write books of instruction for him, that he might be incited to noble deeds by the histories of his ancestors. The tomb of one of these scribes has been discovered at Thebes, and in it the books he had written for the young king—the Pharaoh, it is supposed, of the exodus. "From these various facts respecting the general culture and attainments of the Egyptians in art, science, and literature, in the time of Moses and earlier, it may be inferred with almost absolute certainty that the education he received at the court of Thouoris, and perhaps also of her father, the great Sesostris, was of the very highest order, and such as could probably have been obtained in scarcely any other nation at that time." The mention of Moses occurs repeatedly in Greek and Latin writings, and still more frequent in those of the Arabs, and the rabbinical Jews. Maimonides, an illustrious rabbi, drew up for the Jews, in the eleventh century, a confession of faith in which is expressed belief and perfect faith in Moses as the father and chief of all wise men that lived before him, or ever should live after him. "What Shall We Do with Our Boys?"
SET them to work. "Twenty devils employ the man who does not employ himself," says a Spanish proverb; and boys are no exception. They have a superabundance of animal life, which is always boiling over, and it must run into one of two channels—the channel of mischief or the channel of use. And it depends altogether which channel it takes as to which one of the two types of character will be found in manhood—that of shiftlessness or that of thrift. About one hundred miles from Boston is a village in which resided the families of Doctor Pillberry and Farmer Bloomfield. Doctor Pillberry had seven boys, who became very decided characters, and were very much "developed" and "progressed." The doctor was called early in the morning to see his patients, and returned late at night; and the boys out of school-time had abundant leisure and opportunity to seek seven other spirits like themselves, and hang about stores and taverns, lounge in the streets, learn to fight and swear, and get down the gun and trample the clover-fields to blow bluebirds and robins in pieces. The Bloomfield boys were kept at work on the farm when school was not in, except when a holiday came around, such as the old election and general training days. At first they thought it rather hard, and they quoted to their Father the case of Tom Pillberry, who had a good time, and had such a fine chance to be somebody, while they were kept at work. Tom had time allowed him to hunt and fish, skin live eels, stone windows, rob orchards, steal melons, torment the cat, shoot at marks, smoke cigars, and all such pleasant pursuits and recreations; while the Bloomfield boys had to drive cows, dig over potato-patches, and do the like tedious and vulgar things. It was rather hard, and they wished their father had been a doctor, a minister, or a lawyer. However, Farmer Bloomfield knew what he was doing; and the boys finally learned to love their duties, and took pride in raising the largest potatoes and pumpkins in the town; though it mortified them when the Pillberry boys flourished over them at election-balls and fourth of Julys, where the Pillberrys always appeared exhaling essences and strutting in buckram. Thirty years makes a wonderful shifting of scenery on the theater of life, and—presto!—the Pillberrys and Bloomfields are coming up now in the fifth act. Exeunt the Pillberry boys and enter the Pillberry men. They have exhaled all their cologne and pomatum, and the buckram has got all its stiffening taken out, and they look draggled and forlorn. They have gone into business and failed, married wives and have families they cannot support, have not forgotten the store and the tavern—in short have "progressed" into general thriftlessness and dissipation. They run in debt and never pay, and never mean to; borrow and never return; have added chewing and drinking to their first narcotic accomplishments, and are generally loose in their habits. The Bloomfield boys have gone into business and succeeded; one of them holds a high office in the state; and the chief enterprises of the town depend mainly upon them. And whenever anything is started requiring perseverance, hardihood, energy, public spirit, conscience, generosity, and capital, people always call first upon the Bloomfields. This, we pledge our readers, is no fancy sketch, but a chapter of history. Now for the "improvement" of our sermon, or story rather, showing the advantage of giving boys occupation. First, it is the best physical education they can have, giving them good digestion, hard muscles, and robust frames; and you will not be obliged to put them on spare diet for dyspepsia, to send them abroad to be turned blue in water-cures, or put them on beef-tea and water toast at home. Secondly, it is the best way to keep the twenty devils out, by first bringing the opposite virtues in; for then the virtues have the ground by the right of pre-emption, and the vices will be kept out forever by a moral statute of limitations. Thirdly, they very soon learn, and in the only way they ever will, that life is a serious matter, and is not a frivolity and a farce—a thing which a great many people do not learn till they learn it to their sorrow. Fourthly, you give practical point to your moral instructions, instead of spending your breath for nothing in giving advice. Moral instruction is well, but standing alone it is worthless; and to apply it to boys boiling over with animal life, and with nothing to do, is like reading the ten commandments to a tornado. Fifthly, you settle practically the question about corporal punishment; for, generally speaking, only idle boys will need it. Lastly, and summing up, and putting it as a maxim of education, as fast as the faculties develop, give them something useful to do.—Religious Magazine.