on a table, bewilders all but the discerning and systematic; hence, books of an argumentative and logical character, are purchased by such persons, if at all, for show and not for use, that wise men may suppose them wise, from viewing their library. For the last twenty years, more than before, the taste of a large portion of the reading community has been vitiated by the influx of highly-spiced books of fiction, feeding the imagination, without informing the judgment, exciting the sympathies, without mending the heart. So far has this taste affected community, that some have deemed it necessary, and have actually supplied sabbath schools with books of fiction. Let the responsibility be theirs, not mine. The judgment day will tell the result.

To read with profit, the books must be of a kind calculated to inform the mind, correct the head, and better the heart. These books should be read with attention, understood, remembered, and their precepts put in practice. It depends less on number, than quality. One good book, well understood and remembered, is of more use than to have a superficial knowledge of fifty, equally sound. Books of the right character produce reflection, and induce investigation. They are a mirror of mind, for mind to look in.

Of all the books ever written, no one contains so instructive, so sublime, and so great a variety, as the Bible. Read the essay under that head, and then resolve to read three chapters each day, for one year, and you will find realities there, more wonderful than any pictures of fiction, that have been drawn by the finest pencillings of the master hand of the most practised novel writer, who has shone in the dazzling galaxy of ancient or modern literature.

RELIGION.

Religion should extinguish strife,

And make a calm of human life.-Cowper.

No nation has yet been found, but had some kind of religion, and the more gross the idolatry, the more zealous are the worshippers. The Christian Religion has been laconically defined by the Apostle James. Pure religion and undefiled, before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. The direction to obtain this Religion is still more brief, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. In view of these two short passages of Holy Writ, and of many others, equally explicit, and corresponding with them; an unprejudiced, charitable Christian is pained, as he casts his eyes over the map of Sectarianism, with its dividing lines, and impassable walls of partition between Christians of various sects.

This map is made from a chamber survey of the devil, drawn on the delusive sheet of imagination, by the hand of jealousy, with the pen of envy, and the ink of prejudice. A bill should at once be filed in the chancery of charity against this illegal survey, and the old landmarks, made by Christ and the Apostles, again established, old cloven-foot expelled, and compelled to seek other pasture ground.

Could all the different sects of genuine Christians be congregated in one mass, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and give their views of the plan of salvation-all predicated upon the death of the immaculate

Redeemer, and faith in Him; their hearts, their feelings -their whole souls would mingle in one harmonious fountain of love to God, for each other, and for the human family.

Sectarianism has done more to retard the progress of pure and undefiled Religion, than the combined efforts of infidelity. It differs as much from the pure flame of holiness, as a fire made of brimstone, does from one made of sugar-maple charcoal. It suffocates pure godliness, and operates with a centrifugal force. It makes Bible metaphysicians, not Bible Christians. It is a nonintercourse Act, passed by the parliament of Pandemonium, at the suggestion of King Beelzebub, for the purpose of weakening the army of King Immanuel, by keeping it in separate divisions, with local prejudices against each other, created by minor differences in rules of order and discipline.

A kind of guerilla warfare is kept up between them, with reference to wild fruit, which formerly resulted in real bloodshed, and now often causes ill blood. So long as Satan can keep up this state of things, he is well pleased. Strip the Christian Religion of all sectarianism-let all its advocates unite on the principles of the Gospel in its native simplicity, and restore it to its native dignity; let the melting sunbeams of charity warm every heart; let the partition walls be levelled to the dust; then Satan's kingdom would tremble, totter, fall-and that speedily, with a crash that would make hell quake to its very centre. Then a blow would be struck for the KING of kings, that would resound through the wilderness of mind, and cause it to bud and blossom like the rose. Then the human family would be rapidly evangelized, and made free in the

Gospel of the WORD-a Gospel, untrammelled by the inventions and dogmas of men-a Gospel, crowned with all the glory of original simplicity and heavenly love.

REPROOF.

Do not, with too severe

A harshness, chide the error of his love,
Lest, like a crystal stream, which, unoppos'd,
Runs with a smooth brow gently in its course,
Being stopp'd of the sudden, his calm nature riot
Into a wild fury, and persist in his intended fancy.
Glopthorne.

To be able to administer reproof advantageously and successfully, is no ordinary gift, and one more to be desired by the active philanthropist, than the laurels of the hero, or the honors of civic fame. Men must be led-they have too much of the spirit that entered the swine, to be drove. Reprove with kindness and gentleness, is the injunction.

The first requisite for one who assumes the high prerogative of a Reprover, is a naturally kind heart, filled with the milk of human kindness, united with a clear head to discern, and sound discretion to direct in action at all times. The next is a thorough knowledge of human nature, and the manner it is moulded and affected by the multiform circumstances of life. To arrive at correct conclusions on this point, we must first become well acquainted with ourselves, and explore, impartially, the labyrinthian mazes of our own minds. Time, manner, and place; are the next considerations. To crown all these, our souls should be

imbued with the religion of the cross, and feel, deeply, the value of the immortal spirit of man.

With these qualifications, all shining harmoniously in one person, that person is prepared to eclipse all earthly fame, as a benefactor of mankind. To snatch one immortal, from the deadly coil of the serpent of sin, is an act that will resound and echo through heaven, where Greek and Roman fame will never be rehearsed. To save a soul from eternal death! how sublime the thought! how noble the object! how glorious the act!

From the government of children in the nursery, up to the man of low, medium, and high degree; let the above rules be observed, in giving reproof-incalculable good will result from their observance. Let the parent, the husband, the wife, the friend, the moral reformer, the layman, the minister-all, be kind, affectionate, prudent, discreet, and faithful; in giving Reproof, looking well to the time, place, and manner. These rules are as applicable to public, as private Reprovers.

Finally, ever bear in mind, that pure motives must impel to action, ardent prayer should warm the heart -and a firm reliance on God to bless our exertions, will give a zest to every effort, for He alone can crown the labor with success.