this kind of mental trouble,

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never despair." I do feel doubt, I do feel uncertainty, I do feel as though I might be mocking a poor troubled soul when, with reference to difficulty, and poverty, and failure in the world, I bid a man take heart and say never despair;" but, with all confidence, I can say this when the heart's trouble is concerning the guilt and the burden of sin.

In this address it has been my desire to speak with tenderness, and kindness, and sympathy of all who, whether by their own fault or the fault of others, have fallen into the misfortunes, the troubles, the sorrows, and the sins that fill so many hearts with feelings of despair. I hope that I have said nothing hard, nothing unjust, nothing that would betoken an unfeeling disposition on my part. And if anything that I have said should give but one ray of light to some poor soul that is in darkness, any degree of comfort to a heart that has been crushed beneath the burden of its cares, any spark of courage to a spirit that has sunk into despondency, I shall be thankful. And, as a general rule, which it will be well for us all ever to observe, I would say—let us be diligent in the use of all the faculties with which we are endowed, let us faithfully pursue the path of duty, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left, and let us trust in the wisdom, the righteousness, and the love of God, and then we shall “ never despair."

GEORGE PHILIP AND SON, PRINTERS, LIVERPOOL.

THE BUSYBODY."

I suppose there are not many assemblies of people, though not half as numerous as this, in which one might not with perfect truth use the words of St. Paul, and say-"Some . . . among you . are busy bodies." The busybody is rather a common character, to be met with amongst men and amongst women, amongst the rich and amongst the poor, amongst the young and amongst the old, in great towns and in little villages,- almost everywhere you may find the busybody. If, however, you think that I am going to utter a wholesale condemnation of busybodies, you are much mistaken, for I mean to do no such thing. All busybodies are not alike. There are some who are worthy of praise, of admiration, and of imitation; while there are others whose character and conduct make them disagreeable, and even odious. Just look at the word; you will see in it nothing bad, but much that is good. Take its opposite, an idlebody; this will show you, by contrast, that the word busybody has, or may have, and ought to have a very excellent meaning. How comes it to pass, then, that while the word itself is so very innocent and so capable of a good construction, it is almost always suggestive of a character anything but creditable? Why should you or I object to be considered busy bodies? Why should we not rather be proud of such a title as busybodies' that is to say-not idlebodies? Our speech bewrayeth us. "By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou

shalt be condemned;" and this word, it is to be feared, condemns us; the meaning most commonly attached to it is an evidence that most people-that, at all events, very many people

-take more pleasure in evil than in good, and that there is more of malice than of kindness in their hearts. But let us not give the word over to unqualified condemnation; let us give it its full breadth of meaning; let us see how good as well as how bad a character it may denote. Perhaps we shall find that it is a desirable thing to be a busybody; that it is every man's duty to be a busybody; that the best men in the world are amongst the busiest of busybodies; and that those, whether men or women, who are not busybodies ought to be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. There are at least four sorts or classes of persons to whom this name is applicable, and of whom I intend to speak, the thrifty busybody, the useful busybody, the foolish busybody, and the mischievous busybody. The first of these is to be commended, the second is to be admired, the third is to be despised, and the fourth, I think, ought by all just and lawful means to be put down, and if possible banished from society as an intolerable nuisance.

And, first, of the thrifty busybody. The thrifty busybody, if a man, is one who is diligent in his calling. We will hope that when a boy at school he was busy in learning whatever was taught him; that when an apprentice lad he was busy in trying to master his trade, and becoming a thoroughly good workman; at all events, now that he is a man, he is busy in his work when he has work, and busy in looking for work when he has it not,-when work is scarce, which unhappily is very often the case. If his employment be one that goes very much by fits and starts,—that, though active at one season of the year, at another offers him nothing to do,—he is all the more busy to "make hay while the sun shines," and so to "prepare for a rainy

day." Whatever his employment is, he is very wary about wasting time. He loses no morning quarters; he never goes on the spree; he was never discharged, he never was found fault with for being off his work; he is no worshipper of Saint Monday; he never puts himself into such a condition on the Saturday night and the Sunday as to make the worship of Saint Monday either a pleasure or a necessity; and so he is never seen idly lounging about in the streets, or standing at the door of the gin-shop. He is a man who expects, and who if he can will have, a fair day's wages; but, believing that he ought to do as he would be done by, he will give a fair day's work, a downright honest day's work, such as no reasonable man could complain of, such indeed as every good judge of work would consider thoroughly up to the mark in quantity and quality. He is not a man who whines about hard work, nor one who envies the people that have nothing to do, that can afford to live in idleness. He would a great, deal rather work than not. He believes that he was born to work, and that nobody has a right to live in the world who does nothing in it. As the saying is, "there's not an idle bone in his body." He turns his leisure hours to some good account also; not altogether abstaining from harmless and healthy amusement, yet not indulging in it much, and taking care. never to spend either time or money in amusements, so called, that will injure him either in mind, body, or estate; but his spare time he occupies mainly in making up for the shortcomings of his early schooling; or whatever his early schooling might be, he still considers himself very imperfectly educated, feels his ignorance to be a great disadvantage, and therefore goes on adding to his stock of knowledge,-trying to make himself a well-informed man,--busy with his brain as, through the working hours, he has been busy with his hands. The

thrifty busybody, if a woman and a wife, thinks a great deal more of woman's duties than of woman's rights; believes that, whatever her rights may be, the best way to secure them is to set herself in good earnest to her duties. She finds plenty of work in her house, and not only finds it but does it, and is always beforehand with it. Washing, mending, cooking, cleaning, seeing well to the comfort of her home, of her husband, of her children. She gives him no excuse for going to the public-house, making his own home far sweeter and more cheery than any public-house. Dirt is the great enemy that she hates and fears and fights against, and she finds herself more than a match for it. She is up betimes in the morning, gets her husband's breakfast ready for him, does not keep him waiting for his dinner, does not set him down to a dinner hardly fit to eat, and yet studies to be economical,-knowing that "wilful waste makes woeful want," and feeling that money earned in the sweat of her husband's face ought to be very carefully spent. She does all she can to make her children clean and tidy; she sees that they go to school; she trains them up in good habits. She is no gossip or gadabout; she feels that home is her place, and that to make home clean, cheerful, and happy, is her mission and her work.

There are

Such are the thrifty busy bodies, men and women. not too many busy bodies of this sort,--there can't be too many. What a grand thing it would be if all working men and their wives were such busy bodies. How seldom they would come to grief; how few of them would end their days in the poorhouse, how little would they need to be dependent upon charity in any shape, how able they would be to stand the storm of hard times. Such busybodies seldom know what it is to be in want; they generally have enough, if they have nothing to spare; they never have to go to the pawnshop; they are not likely to quarrel