ON READING.

THE other day it happened that, while I was sitting in the midst of a family, with several young people around me, the doctor called, one of the party being a little ailing. Now, the doctor is a friendly man, of good parts, and of a kind-hearted disposition; but very unsound in his religious views, inasmuch as he is guided by his own opinions, instead of the records of eternal truth.

It has often puzzled me how it is that some medical men, who so ardently seek to know, and who understand so much better than others, every thing in reference to the wonderful frame-work of the body, should manifest so much apathy and ignorance respecting the soul. I always liked the society of medical men, but for all that, Old Humphrey is not one that will tickle their ears with pleasant words, when he sees an opportunity of touching their hearts with a salutary truth. There are many doctors who are well versed in,

and influenced by the Holy Scriptures, to their own advantage, and to that of their patients; but there are others who think neither of the souls of their patients, nor of their own.

We were speaking of books, and of the great influence they had over the minds of their readers, when the doctor unhesitatingly gave it as his opinion, that young people should be permitted to read what books they pleased, good and bad, without restriction, to enable them to form a correct judgment respecting them.

"Young persons," said he, "who are not allowed to do this, are sure to form very cramped and precise notions."

"Well," thinks I, "the doctor gives his physic to those who want it, and why should not Old Humphrey? A little dose on this occasion cannot hurt the doctor, and if it should do him no good, perhaps it may do some to the young people around me," for they very naturally thought a good deal of what fell from the lips of their medical friend.

"Let us see," said I, "how this principle would work in common life; for my notions, I must confess, are so 'cramped and precise,' that I prefer, as a guide in such matters, the experience of a thoughtful parent, to the inexperience of a thoughtless child. What say you to allow

your own children to roam about your own surgery, and to let them taste, without restraint, your powders and potions, to enable them to form a correct judgment of their influence? The first packet might be magnesia, which could not do them much harm; but if the second happened to be arsenic, which is not very unlike it, they would most probably be poisoned. If, instead of going to the substances, they went to the liquids, the first phial might have in it tincture of rhubarb, an excellent stomachic, but the second might contain prussic acid, which, if highly concentrated, would cause immediate death.

"There is certainly a difference between books and the contents of the surgery, and it is this— that the one is medicine for the body, and the other for the soul. Books and medicines are both influential, and the prussic acid, which destroys the life of the body, is not more deadly than the bad books that poison the principles of the soul."

I tried to say this kindly, but am rather fearful that my natural quickness of temper, in some degree, got the better of my prudence; for the doctor made me no reply, and the young people seemed more disposed to talk with their medical friend than to listen to my observations.

It is something, however, to sow good seed,

it may not all fall in stony places, but spring up when least expected, and bring forth fifty and a hundred-fold. "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good," Eccles. xi. 6.

ON THE COURSE OF

A ZION-BOUND PILGRIM.

I HAVE had a communication from my kind Christian friend Simeon, in which he has set forth the different stages through which a pilgrim has to pass before he shakes off the dust of earth from his feet, and wears a crown of glory on his brow. I have read it over with some interest, and copy down a part of it, thinking that you may get some good from its perusal, and perhaps be able to ascertain by it, at what stage you have arrived. The following are his observations :

"I do think there are many who, in their ignorance, verily and truly believe that by their deeds they shall be saved. In the ears of such it must sound like hard language to say, that a man may fast and pray, and, like David, offer up praise seven times a day, reading God's word, and attending his holy ordinances, and yet labour in vain. Such can hardly believe that a man may

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