heart of humanity well, "when they would do good, evil is present with them." I think, then, that it would be unwise to encourage good intentions, to say to men, Resolve to do this, and resolve not to do that, be determined to abandon such a vile practice, and to cultivate such a virtuous habit,—unwise, I say, and well nigh useless, thus to counsel men, without at the same time remembering the pitiable weakness of human nature, and therefore pointing them to Him in whom alone is our strength. Resolve! yes, resolve by all means to forsake the scenes of sensual amusement; to lead a life of perfect sobriety and chastity; to conduct all your business with unimpeachable integrity; to overcome every sin, however easily besetting; and to be a godly man; but trust not in your own heart, or these resolutions will be like many that are moved, seconded, and passed at public meetings, and when the fine speeches have ceased, and the assembly has dispersed, are forthwith and for evermore forgotten, proving themselves mere matters of empty form, and cheap compliments which people pay to philanthropy. Trust not to your own hearts, but to Him who, knowing our moral weakness, tells us that "they that wait upon him shall renew their strength," and in all duty, strengthened by him, shall "mount as on the wings of eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint!" But there is one good intention, and just one, which, if carried out, will, by God's blessing, save our souls from that hell, the existence of which is so certain, and the fear of which is sometimes awakened in our hearts. Form the intention of believing in Jesus Christ-of trusting in him as your deliverer, your Redeemer, and the

propitiation for your sins; and may you have the strength to act accordingly. You may be sober, you may be chaste, you may be truthful, but these virtues will not take away sin. The first matter-the matter of highest importance-that which alone can be the turning point which shall set you right, and put you in the right path-is, trust in Christ. This once accomplished, your good intentions, faithfully carried out, will pave your road to heaven-will be the steps by which, with God's help, you shall climb higher and higher in all virtue, until you reach that perfection of the soul which itself is heaven, and without which no heaven is possible for man.

LECTURE XIV.

POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC.

AMONG the writings of the celebrated Benjamin Franklin, there is a small tract called "The Way to Wealth, as clearly shewn in the preface of an old Pennsylvania Almanac, entitled Poor Richard improved.” One of Franklin's editors gives us the following information as to the origin of this tract. "Dr. Franklin, as I have been made to understand, for many years published the Pennsylvania Almanac, called 'Poor Richard' (Saunders), and furnished it with various sentences and proverbs which had principal relation to the topics of industry, attention to one's business, and frugality; the whole or chief of these sentences and proverbs he at last collected and arranged in a general preface, which his countrymen read with much avidity and profit."

I think that the wise sayings contained in the preface of "Poor Richard" are well worthy of our study, and therefore I propose on this occasion to select a few of them, and to offer some remarks by way of commentary and application. In this tract, "Poor Richard" represents himself as standing amongst a crowd of people collected at the door of an auction room, and as the sale

had not commenced, they of course began to talk of the badness of the times. Like the weather, the badness of the times is a topic that never fails. It seems very absurd that when I meet my neighbor, I should deliver myself of such a speech as this "It's a beautiful day, sir," a fact of which my neighbor is as fully aware as myself; still we do something like justice to the weather, for (unless we be farmers, who are often very hypercritical in this matter) when the weather is good, we say so; but who ever heard a man congratulate his neighbor on the goodness of the times? One might suppose there never had been good times since the beginning of the world; and many persons seem to think their own times worse than any which have passed by. If this impression be correct, then, year by year, and generation after generation, the world has been becoming a harder and more unpleasant place to live in; our times must be very bad. indeed, and we of all men that ever lived, must be "most miserable." I hope it is scarcely necessary to say that this impression, from whatever cause it takes its rise, is utterly unfounded; no past generation can be mentioned, which would not have great reason to envy us and our times, if they could be informed of our condition; to murmur at the badness of the times, betrays great ignorance, great ingratitude, or both; we, and not our remote ancestors, are the people who have a right to say, not boastingly, but with profound gratitude to God, "The lines are fallen unto us in pleasant places, yea we have a goodly heritage." Still men do fret themselves about the badness of the times; the times may be good, but they are never good enough; demonstratively better

than past times, yet far inferior to that ideal perfection which, with more or less of distinctness, men image to themselves. Perhaps in this disposition, unhappy and ungrateful though it be, we may recognise an evidence of a very great and important principle; man's discontent with the world, even at its best estate, goes far to show that the world is not his rest; that there is something in store for him, if he will but aim at it, greater, better than the world; time is never good enough; no, for man's real good is stored up in eternity. You may doubt your immortality, you may deny it, you may ridicule the idea of it, but your restlessness, your dissatisfaction, your perpetual craving after something that is always beyond your reach, ought, I think, to admonish you of the probability, the high probability, of a nobler state, to which it is your duty to aspire; and the way of obtaining which, I for one do most firmly believe God has pointed out to us in that King of Books, which, for reasons too numerous to mention now, I feel sure is His own Word to mankind-His loving message to his wayward and benighted children!

Well, these people, whom "Poor Richard" met at the auction room, talked of course of the badness of the times, and of course threw the blame upon the Government and taxes; for men are very unwilling to believe that their poverty, their difficulties, their calamities, are the result of their own folly and misconduct. The group in which "Poor Richard" found himself, appealed to an aged man, "What think you of the times? Will not these heavy taxes quite ruin the country? How shall we be able to pay them? What would you advise us