up my prayer, "Remove far from me vanity and lies give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me lest: I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be and steal, and take the name of my God in vain," Prov. xxx. 8, 9.

poor,

In one word, Gerard, riches will be a bar or a blessing to you, according as you use them; but you have need to be more watchful and prayerful than ever.

Art thou a pilgrim? dost thou travel straight
By Calvary's cross, to find the narrow gate?
Is Christ thy hope, thy trust? yea, day by day,
Thy guide, thy staff, thy lantern, and thy way?
Canst thou for him renounce thy worldly pride?
Is he thy riches ? is all dross beside?

Is he thy sword and shield in peril's hour?
Thy rock, thy refuge, thine abiding tower?

If with thy wealth around thee, thou canst bend,
And seek with all thy soul the sinner's Friend,
A beggar still at mercy's opened door,

Then art thou rich indeed-if not, then art thou poor.

That your spiritual riches may increase, is the desire and prayer of

Your Friend,

HUMPHREY.

ON SHOES.

AND is winter really come again? sharp, frosty, bleak-blowing winter? Yes, indeed, it is true. I once urged those who abounded in earthly comforts, to give a blanket to the destitute and shivering beings who knew not the luxury of a warm and comfortable bed. And now, again, while the raw, keen air, the descending snow, the sudden thaw, the wet, slippery-sloppy pathway, await the sons and daughters of poverty and affliction, I will again raise my voice on behalf of the needy and destitute.

Perhaps, reader, it may be your custom at winter time,

"To do some gentle deed of charity."

You may have given a blanket to some one who wanted it, thereby expending a few shillings in the luxury of doing good-have you slept the less warm for it, or been made poorer by the deed? You know that you have not; and, most

likely, since then you have expended ten times the amount in indulgences which yield not half the gratification that a deed of benevolence produces.

Think not that your gift already bestowed, should withhold your hand from bestowing another. Oh no! God, in his mercy, has not kept back his bounty from you; neither should you withhold your hand from doing good. Strengthen then the weak, bind up the bruised, encourage the broken-hearted, relieve the poor, and give a pair of shoes to some poverty-stricken being, who cannot afford to buy them. You may think me a bold beggar, but I am not begging for myself, and it is very cold.

If, accustomed to be well shod during the winter, you have a good stock of shoes and boots to defend your feet from the searching influence of the dissolving snow, you can hardly imagine what is endured by those who have wet feet from morning to night. Many a hapless fellow creature, brought up with care, and once watched over with tenderness, is reduced so low, that the possession of a good pair of shoes would be considered a luxury, a positive blessing. Think of your own comforts, and of other's deprivations, and shut not up your heart to the wants of the destitute, but give a pair of shoes, or something

towards enabling some poor creature, who stands in need of them, to obtain such a comfort.

Read the words of Scripture, "Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" 1 John iii. 17; and then say, can any one go guiltlessly through the world, treading on comfortable carpets within doors, and well defended from inclemency without, while he sees, and attempts not to relieve, the misery and wretchedness of those who suffer from the want of shoes?

How many hours of discomfort, how many days of affliction, yea, how many years of disease and pain have been brought on by persons getting wet in their feet! and will you let those who have fireless habitations, and blanketless beds, go almost shoeless through their splashy pathways, while, perhaps, lambswool stockings and strong well-made boots defend your feet from the least inconvenience? If you have humanity, you will not, and if you have Christian charity, you cannot refuse your aid; but, as you have ability and opportunity, you will "do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith," Gal. vi. 10.

If your eye be quick to discern, and your heart prompt to feel the distresses of others, you

will not long lack opportunities to relieve them. Look around at the throngs that continually crowd the populous city or town; regard not only their faces, but their feet; not only their clothes, but their shoes also, and you will be surprised at the wretched shifts to which many of them are driven. It is enough to make the heart ache to see the miserable plight in which hundreds pursue their daily calling. Here is a ragged lad dragging along through the miry street, with a pair of old shoes big enough for his father. There is a poor girl, who has contrived to tie on her feet with pack-string, another pair, already worn out by her mother; and yonder is a barelegged and barefooted being, between whose defenceless toes the mud oozes as he paddles onward through the descending rain.

Look towards the chandler's shop at the corner. Mark that meagre and tattered mother, with a child in her arms, wending her way there for a rushlight, splashing through the snowy puddle, with an old pair of thin-soled shoes on her feet, which cost only one and ninepence when they were new. Do not talk about her imprudence, and her improvidence; who is there in this wide world that has not been imprudent and improvident? David, perhaps, you will admit, was as faithful a servant of God as you are, and he says,