offended in any one point, was declared guilty of breaking the whole.

At this moment a sort of thick scales fell from the eyes of the multitude; they could now no longer take comfort, as they had done for so many years, by measuring their neighbours' conduct against their own. Each at once saw himself in his true light, and found, alas! when it was too late, that he should have made the BOOK which had been given him his rule of practice before, since it now proved to be the rule by which he was to be judged. Nay, every one now thought himself even worse than his neighbour; because, while he only saw and heard of the guilt of others, he felt his own in all its aggravated horror.

To complete their confusion, they were compelled to acknowledge the justice of the Judge who condemned them, and also to approve the favourable sentence by which thousands of other criminals had not only their lives saved, but were made happy and glorious beyond all imagination; not for any great merits which they had to produce, but in consequence of their sincere repentance, and their humble acceptance of the pardon offered to them by the King's Son. One thing was remarkable, that while most of those who were condemned never expected condemnation, but even claimed a reward for their supposed innocence or goodness, all who were really rewarded and forgiven were sensible that they owed their pardon to a mere act of grace, and they cried out with one voice, Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name be the praise !!!

THE

SERVANT MAN TURNED SOLDIER;

OR,

THE FAIR WEATHER CHRISTIAN,

AN ALLEGORY.

The

WILLIAM was a lively young servant, who lived in a great but very irregular family. His place was, on the whole, agreeable to him, and suited to his gay thoughtless temper. He found a plentiful table and a good cellar. There was, indeed, a good deal of work to be done, though it was performed with much disorder and confusion. family, in the main, were not unkind to him, though they often contradicted and crossed him; especially when things went ill with themselves. This William never much liked; for he was always fond of having his own way. There was a merry, or rather a noisy and riotous, servants' hall: for disorder and quarrels are indeed the usual effects of plenty and unrestrained indulgence. The men were smart, but idle; the maids were showy, but licentious; and all did pretty much as they liked for a time, but the time was commonly short. The wages

were reckoned high, but they were seldom paid; and it was even said by sober people that the family was insolvent, and never fulfilled any of their flattering engagements or their most positive promises. But still, notwithstanding their real poverty, things went on with just the same thoughtlessness and splendour, and neither masters nor servants looked beyond the jollity of the present hour.

In this unruly family there was little churchgoing, and still less praying at home. They pretended, indeed, in a general way, to believe in the Bible; but it was only an outward profession: few of them read it at all, and even of those who did read it still fewer were governed by it. There was, indeed, a Bible lying on the table in the great hall, which was kept for the purpose of administering an oath, but was seldom used on any other occasion; and some of the heads of the family were of opinion that this was its only real use, as it might serve to keep the lower parts of it in order.

William, who was fond of novelty and pleasure, was apt to be negligent of the duties of the house. He used to stay out on his errands, and one of his favourite amusements was going to the parade to see the soldiers exercise. He saw with envy how smartly they were dressed, listened with rapture to the music, and fancied that a soldier had nothing to do but to walk to and fro in a certain regular order, to go through a little easy exercise; in short, to live without fighting, fatigue, or danger.

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"O," said he, whenever he was affronted at

home, "what a fine thing it must be to be a soldier! to be so well dressed, to have nothing to do but to move to the pleasant sound of fife and drum, and to have so many people come to look at one and admire one:-O it must be a fine thing to be a soldier!"

Yet when the vexation of the moment was over, he found so much ease and diversion in the great family, it so suited his low taste and sensual appetites, that he thought no more of the matter. He forgot the glories of a soldier, and eagerly returned to all the mean gratifications of the kitchen. His evil habits were but little attended to by those with whom he lived: his faults, among which were lying and swearing, were not often corrected by the family, who had little objection to those sins, which only offended God, and did not much affect their own interest or property. And except that William was obliged to work rather more than he liked, he found little, while he was young and healthy, that was very disagreeable in this service. So he went on, still thinking, however, when things went a little cross, what a fine thing it was to be a soldier! At last, one day as he was waiting at dinner, he had the misfortune to let fall a china dish, and broke it all to pieces. It was a curious dish, much valued by the family, as they pretended this family were indeed apt to set a false fantastic value on things, and not to estimate them by their real worth. The heads of the family, who had generally been rather patient and good humoured with William, as I said before,

:

for those vices which, though offensive to God, did not touch their own pocket, now flew out into a violent passion with him, called him a thousand hard names, and even threatened to horsewhip him for his shameful negligence.

William, in a great fright, for he was a sad coward at bottom, ran directly out of the house to avoid the threatened punishment; and happening just at that very time to pass by the parade where the soldiers chanced to be then exercising, his resolution was taken in a moment. He instantly determined to be no more a slave, as he called it; he would return no more to be subject to the humours of a tyrannical family; no, he was resolved to be free, or at least, if he must serve, he would serve no master but the King.

William, who had now and then happened to hear from the accidental talk of the soldiers, that those who served the great family he had lived with were slaves to their tyranny and vices, had also heard in the same casual manner, that the service of the King was perfect freedom. Now he had taken it into his head to hope that this might be a freedom to do evil, or at least to do nothing, so he thought it was the only place in the world to suit him.

A fine likely young man as William was had no great difficulty to get enlisted. The few forms were soon settled: he received the bounty money as eagerly as it was offered, took the oaths of allegiance, was joined to the regiment, and heartily welcomed by his new comrades. He was the