punctual man's word is worth the mortgage on an unpunctual man's house. The conscientious scruples of an unpunctual man can be easily pinched into convenient shapes; but you rarely find him who has a character for punctuality to maintain doing that which is inconsistent with strict honesty.

THE FIRST OBJECT OF FAITH.

The first object of faith is one'sself, and the very last thing an infidel gives up is his belief in himself. We are daily finding out that others are not to be trusted, but what a long time we are in discovering the matters in which we cannot trust ourselves! We make resolutions and we break them, and yet we make them again, and again. One of the hardest things in the world is to convince a man that he isn't worthy of confidence. Tell a deceiver that you can place no reliance upon him, and, though it be perfectly true, such is the force of a native conceit that ten to one he will believe that you don't really think so, but only say it to insult him. The tenacity of this faith in one'sself, though sometimes the

cause of absurdities, is a great moral advantage. If a man were to grow so wise and so sad as to form no more resolutions, because he knew he could not keep them, he would cease to be a responsible being: it would be decent, and his last duty, to deliver himself over to his friends as a moral wreck, a real infidel.

WORK.

The instances are very rare of a man's seriously injuring himself by voluntarily undertaken hard work, when there is nothing in the work itself contrary to the laws of health. Anxiety wears one out infinitely faster than mere hard work. It is astonishing what amount of labour, mental as well as physical, a person can get through without harm when he sets about it with the consciousness that he has a worthy end to accomplish, and in the confidence that he shall accomplish it. Harrassment, doubt, the uncertainty of speculation, the apprehension of evil-these are things that injure the constitution vastly more than any amount of labour which most men could be induced to undergo for the sake of a pecu

niary benefit. If you feel that you have a good object in view, and can secure it by working hard enough for it, pay no attention to the foolish and sometimes mischievous caution of friends against working too hard, but throw all your energies continuously into what you are about.

MENTAL CLOCKWORK.

The recurrence to the mind, at regular intervals, of particular ideas is a remarkable circumstance in relation to the mechanics of thought. Sometimes we fancy we can explain the thing by what we call the natural laws of association; but at other times no theory of association is of any use the subject of thought seems altogether disconnected from any contemporary idea. We can only account for the phenomenon, and that in a vague way, when we remember that precisely at this hour yesterday, and at this hour the day before, we were thinking this thought, or reflecting upon this identical subject. Our thoughts seem, as it were, to be set revolving upon the wheels of a system of mental clockwork, and if we

notice an idea on several successive occasions when the revolution of the wheel has brought it uppermost, the idea establishes a claim upon our attention. It is surprising to what extent a strong will can, by study, obtain control over the mere machinery of the mind.

THE COMFORT OF CONCEIT.

Conceited persons have a source of happiness in themselves that all the rest of the world lack. They live in the perpetual consciousness that they deserve well of their kind, and that every man they meet must admire them in his heart though he may not be honest enough to admit it. That is a comfortable state of mind. Though apathy and ignorance often save folks from trouble, the serenity of a good conscience is the most luxurious ease a human being can enjoy now conceit supplies an imitation good conscience, but don't trust far the conceited person's moral judgment, for conceit is the soothing syrup for the infant vice.

A conceited person has a wonderful power of enduring censure. Reproach and deprecia

tion which would sting common people to the quick have no effect upon the conceited man. He rises after disgrace with an elasticity that confounds his critics. The secret of his advantage in this respect is that he is always upon good terms with himself; (for those rebukes only are of lasting poignancy that are felt to be just.) He labours under a natural incapacity of perceiving his faults. He really cannot understand his demerit. Confirmed

conceit, then, is a species of monomania. The conceited monomaniac is not dangerous, but few mental disorders are more difficult to treat than his.

ness.

SELFISHNESS.

Appeals from the pulpit to the pocket prove to us every Sunday that men may be incited to the most useful charity by heartfelt selfishThe fact is established by many a curt argumentative homily that passes for the essence of Christian liberality. There is a natural feeling of benevolence which we may exercise to great advantage simply for the sake of gratifying ourselves. This fact