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RULES FOR CONJUGAL AND DOMESTIC HAPPINESS. 115

and though it may be safely withheld, yet the system can hardly recover its natural tone and elasticity. Children should live as much as possible according to nature. The simpler their diet and drinks, and the less artificial, the better. HARVEY NEWCOMB.

Respectfully, yours,

West Needham, Mass., April, 1843.

RULES FOR CONJUGAL AND DOMESTIC HAPPINESS.

1. Every day let your eye be fixed on God, through the Lord Jesus Christ, that, by the influence of his Holy Spirit, you may receive your mercies as coming from Him, and that you may use them to his glory.

2. Always remember, that, if you are happy in each other, it is the favor and blessing of God which make you so; if you are tired and disappointed, God does thereby invite you to seek your happiness in Him.

3. In every duty, act from a regard to God, because it is his will and your duty. "Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus," and look to Him to bless you and your partner, that you may abide in his love.

4. Never suffer your regard for each other's society to rob God of your heart, or of the time which you owe to Him, and to your own soul.

5. Recollect often that the state of marriage was designed to be an emblem of the love of Christ and his church; a state of mutual guardianship for God, and a nursery for the church and the skies.

6. Remember that your solemn covenant with each other, was made in the presence of the Most High, who was called upon as a witness.

7. Be careful that custom and habit do not lessen your attention to each other, or the pleasing satisfaction with which they were at first, both shown and received.

8. Whenever you perceive a languor in your affections, always make it a rule to suspect yourself. The object which once inspired regard may, perhaps, be still the same, and the blame only attaches to you.

9. Be sure to avoid unkind and irritating language. Always conciliate. It is your interest and your duty. Recollect, every day, what God has borne with you.

10. Study your partner's character and disposition. Many little nice adjustments are requisite for happiness. You must both accommodate, or you must both be unhappy.

11. Do not expect too much. You are not always the same; no more is your partner. Sensibility must be watched over, or it will soon become its

own tormentor.

you

12. When you discover failings which you did not suspect, and this may be assured will be the case, think on the opposite excellence, and make it your prayer that your regard may not be diminished. If you are heirs of the grace of life, your failings will shortly be over; you will hereafter be perfect in the divine image. Esteem and love each other now, as you certainly will then. Forbearance is the trial of this life only.

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PRAYER.

[Written for the Mother's Assistant.]

PRAYER.

BY REV. B. F. TEFFT.

How beautiful is prayer! It is the soul aspiring to its Author. It is the spirit looking upward to the place of its nativity, and desiring to return. It is the prisoner of time mourning his fetters, and imploring freedom. It is the warrior of of the world, too gallant to retreat, and too mighty to be conquered, enjoying, amid a protracted struggle, the foresight of victory. It is the undaunted mariner of a dangerous sea, tossed by tempests and worn with disasters, descrying from his reeling topmast the broad, quiet haven, into which his bark is about to be anchored. How peaceful are the faculties! How serene is the temper it breathes into the soul! The rage of intellectual activity, the noise of the passions, the cares and confusion of life, are subdued, hushed, banished. It is Science kneeling at the fountain of Intelligence; it is Philosophy bowing at the foot-stool of Reason; and the wing of Genius, oppressed by earthly soarings, and confined by the narrow boundaries of the temporal world, escapes by prayer to a wider, happier, purer region, and bathes its plumes in the bright, blue sky of the ethereal and eternal !

How elevating is prayer! There is no mental exercise which exerts so lofty an influence upon the soul. It brings us into immediate connection with the greatest intellect, the most perfect and magnificent moral powers, and the highest spiritual excellence. It is impossible to be mean and little in prayer. It enlarges our natural sympathies, and diminishes, and gradually annihilates the action of selfishness. It is the touch of Ithuriel's spear to a narrow mind. Neither constitution or habit is so rigid as to withstand its powers of expansion. No great mind ever neglected the exercise, at least, of occasional prayer. Prayer withdraws our eye from the present, and fixes the attention on the interests and realities of the future. It imparts the first lessons of spiritual prudence. It holds the scales in which two worlds, two lives, two destinies, are balanced. It is the message which a careful, immortal traveler sends before him to a land of unknown dangers. It is the courier of a royal mind. Its diguity is equalled only by its utility and necessity. We have no practical knowledge of the future without it. It is the revealer of rev

BEAUTIFUL THOUGHT.

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elation, the telescope of faith, the goal, the punctum-saliens of philosophy. In a word, it is useful, honorable, noble, and elevating. The very humility it demands is one of the highest qualities of the soul; and as we soar upon its pinions into that world of ineffable glory, which the petitioner expects to inherit, the earth seems so little, so trivial, so transitory, that we catch the inspiration which the sweet minstrel imbibed from the same scenes and prospects, and conclude with melody what perhaps began in tears :

"The things eternal I pursue,

A happiness beyond the view
Of those who basely pant

For things by nature felt and seen;

Their honors, wealth and pleasures, mean,

I neither have, or want."

How powerful is prayer! It is possible that prayer has no power in itself. It derives its energy from the promises of God. By faith in those promises it is omnipotent; for the declaration is complete and satisfactory-nothing shall be impossible! When prayer reaches the throne, though it ascend from the meanest cabin of the poor, it demands and receives unqualified attention. The highest emergencies of heaven must yield. The word of the Eternal has been pledged. The character of God is concerned. No considerations of the obscurity of its origin, the unworthiness of its author, or the possible perversion of the gifts and blessings which it supplicates, can be offered, or accepted in abatement of its claims, or in extenuation of the promises on which it rests its petition. It is sublime to contemplate the majesty of its power. Mountains must tremble to their bases; oceans must transgress primary decrees and overflow original landmarks; rocks and earthquakes must rend and thunder; nay, heaven and earth must pass, before one jot or tittle of the divine pledge can fail to be accomplished! Boston, April, 1843.

BEAUTIFUL THOUGHT.-Childhood is like a mirror, catching and reflecting images from all around it. Remember that an impious or profane thought, uttered by a parent's lip, may operate, upon the young heart, like a careless spray of water thrown upon polished steel, staining it with rust which no after scouring can efface.

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DR. CHALMER'S LECTURES ON ROMANS.-The publication of this work in numbers of 72 pages, and at 25 cents each, has been commenced in this country. Five numbers will complete the work, which in England costs ten dollars. Not having read the work, we are not prepared to give an opinion; but the author's name is a sufficient guaranty of the ability of the lectures, which are one hundred in number.

For sale by Tappan & Dennet.

LIFE OF WASHINGTON.---Tappan & Dennet, of this city, have issued Nos. 9 and 10 of this interesting work. These two numbers carry the history forward from March, 1781, to April, 1789. No. 9 has a map of Washington's Farms at Mt. Vernon; and No. 10, a map of the Battle of Brandywine.

THE MARRIAGE RING.---This is a selection from the writings of Rev. John A. James, and is "intended as a Manual for those just entering the marriage state." It may be read with profit by those also who are already married. We advise both classes to purchase and read.

Published and for sale by Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, Boston.

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THE YOUNG DISCIPLE; or, a Memoir of Anzonetta R. Peters. By Rev. John Clark. Published in New York city, by Robert Carter.

The first edition of this work was published in 1836. The present is the fourth. It is a beautiful volume of 328 pages, exhibiting the character of one, who, though not "remarkable in her intellectual powers, in her opportunities for mental cultivation, or her advantages for religious improvement, nevertheless, possessed piety of the brightest and holiest stamp; thus clearly showing, that brilliant intellectual powers are by no means essential to the attainment of exalted holiness."

THE BOYS' AND GIRLS' MAGAZINE.--This is a new and beautiful publication, commenced in this city in January last. Its title indicates for whom it is published, and its object, as avowed in the introduction, is to cultivate the taste and improve the judgment of the young; to awaken a desire for rational inquiry, and teach, confirm and strengthen the moral principles and best affections of their heart.

The work is embellished with beautiful engravings. The price is $1 25. Subscriptions received by Wm. C. Brown, No. 1 Cornhill.

MARCO PAUL'S TRAVELS.-By Jacob Abbott, author of the Rollo Books, &c.

This is the first of a series of small volumes, of 72 pages each, to be issued under the general title of "Marco Paul's Adventures in Pursuit of Knowledge." The object is to convey useful and moral instruction, through the medium of an entertaining narrative of juvenile adventures. Published by T. H. Carter & Co., Boston.

THE COUSIN LUCY BOOKS.-The Rollo Books, with which we hope those parents who read our work are well acquainted, were written for boys, while these are written for girls. There are six in the series, the titles of which are as follows: Cousin Lucy's Conversations, Cousin Lucy's Stories, Cousin Lucy at Play, Cousin Lucy at Study, Cousin Lucy Among the Mountains, and Cousin Lucy on the Sea-Shore. The author is Rev. Jacob Abbott, a gentleman happily qualified to interest, and, at the same time, convey instruction to children.

We most earnestly recommend parents, if they wish to save their children from the poisonous influence of the deleterious trash, which is so liberally issued from the press for them in these times, to provide beforehand for them, wholesome reading. This is the only way they can be saved, for children will read something. Provide for them, then, good books, and they will early imbibe a relish for them. Such are those now under consideration. Published and for sale by B. B. Mussey, No. 29 Cornhill, Boston.

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