There may be such a perfect equality between their being and circumstances, that one has no power either to help or injure another. They may derive their blessings direct from the Fountain, and not through the channel of mutual operation. If such creatures there be, we see not how they could influence each other. Such, however, is not man's case; he is ever giving to and receiving from his brother, he cannot live without it. Life in Light. WHAT was "of life the breath," From which Christ came to Life, death, salvation, all What mysteries combine! Man rises through his fall; By death gains life Divine! He's but of yesterday, And nothing, now, can know; He'll presently outgrow: Goes out with light and love! What I shall know and see. In death true life to win! Meirion, Abergele. SCIENTIFIC FACTS AS ILLUSTRATIONS OF ETERNAL TRUTHS. "Books of Illustration" designed to help preachers, are somewhat, we think, too abounding. They are often made up to a great extent of anecdotes from the sentimental side of life, and not always having a healthful influence or historic foundation. We find that preachers and hearers are getting tired of such. Albeit illustrations are needed by every speaker who would interest the people, and are sanctioned by the highest authority. Nature itself is a parable. Hence we have arranged with a naturalist who has been engaged in scientific investigation for many years, to supply the Homilist with such reliable and well-ascertained facts in nature as cultured and conscientious men may use with confidence, as mirrors of morals and diagrams of doctrines. The Monkey: Ludicrous Effects of Imitation. THE Indians, when they wish to destroy monkeys, come to their haunts with basins full of water or honey; they wash their faces in the sight of these animals, and then, substituting pots of thin glue instead of the water or honey, they retire out of sight. The monkeys, as soon as they are gone, come down and wash their faces likewise, and, sticking their eyes together, become blind, and are easily captured. In other places they bring boots into the wood, and putting them on and off, leave them well lined with glue or a sort of fluid lime; so that when the unhappy monkeys put them on, they stick fast, and hinder their escape. What ludicrous results may be observed where men imitate with servility the doings of others! The ambitious young preacher who is setting up as a genius, copies the peculiarities in attitude and manner of the popular preacher near him, and causes actual merriment in the very matters in which he thinks he is most effective. Tom Snob, the rich soap-boiler, and his corpulent spouse, affect the airs, elegancies, and foibles of the aristocracy; and either get themselves into serious difficulties by the attempt, or at best make a fortunate escape amidst the derision of all beholders. These men, in their antics, are very like the monkeys we have been speaking of. How many men have found it impossible to extricate themselves from difficulties into which they have been drawn through attempting to put on the boots of the aristocracy! The Appetite of some Animals: Consumption without Assimilation. CATERPILLARS daily eat double their weight in food; a cow eats forty-six lbs. daily; and a mouse eats eight times as much, in proportion to its own weight, as is eaten by a man. Often we see men consuming❘ substance which seems of no service to them, spending money which appears in no way to profit them, appropriat ing, without any advantage to themselves, that which would make many others happy. The Magnet: The Love for Extremes. THE force of attraction varies in different parts of the magnet; it is strongest at the two ends and is totally wanting in the middle. This may be seen very clearly when a magnetic bar is placed in iron filings; these become arranged round the ends of the bar in feathery tufts which decrease towards the middle of the bar, where there are none. That part of the surface of the bar where there is no visible magnetic force, is the neutral line; and the points near the ends of the bars, where the attraction is greatest, are the poles. It is undeniable that extremes have an attractive force for men. In all departments of thought and action you see the masses attracted to the extreme view; and though truth is usually between the extremes, Whigs and Tories, sectaries and infidels, speaking of them as classes, are not satisfied with anything but one extreme or the other. Like the iron filings on the magnet, so men, in matters of opinion, shun the neutral line and rush to one or other of the opposite poles of thought. The Crust of the Earth: The Common Bond of WHEN, after a lengthened voyage and far from home, we for the first time set foot in a tropical land, we are pleased to recognise in the rocks and mountain masses the same mineral species we have left behind,-clay, slate, basaltic, amygdaloid, and the like, the universal distribution of which seems to assure us that the old crust of the earth has been formed independently of the external influences of existing climes. But this wellknown crust is covered with forms of a foreign flora. Yet here, surrounded by unwonted vegetable forms, impressed with a sense of the overwhelming amount of the tropical organizing force, in presence of an exotic nature in all things, the native of the northern hemisphere has revealed to him the wonderful power of adaptation inherent in the human mind. We feel ourselves, in fact, akin to all that is organized; and though at first we may fancy that one of our native landscapes, with its appropriate features, like a native dialect, would present itself to us in more attractive colours and rejoice us more than the foreign scene with its profusion of vegetable life, we nevertheless soon begin to find that we are burghers, men under the shade of the palms of the torrid zone. In virtue of the mysterious connection of all organic forms, and unconsciously, the feeling of the necessity of this connection lies within us. These new exotic forms present themselves to our fancy as exalted and ennobled out of those which surrounded our childhood. Blind feeling, therefore, and the enchantment of the phenomena perceived by sense, in the same measure as reason and the combining faculty, lead us to the recognition which now penetrates every grade of humanity, that a common bond, according to determinate laws, and therefore eternal, embraces the whole of animated nature. en ward Moses himself. Then the ENEMIES OF DANIEL offer a like warning against the indulgence of this sinful passion. That able minister having been promoted to the highest dignity by King Darius "because an excellent spirit was in him," the presidents and princes deavoured to effect his ruin; but, by a just recoil, the same cruel death which in their malice and envy they had sought to bring on him befell them and their families. The history of SAUL affords ample proof that envy is far more easily roused by those below us in station and wealth, if they but throw a shadow over our path, than even by such as have attained the highest distinctions or greatest opulence. Early in David's history we are told that Saul greatly loved him. But when, at a later period, relationship and gratitude might well have promised an increase of kindly affection, envy stood in the way, the King viewing with jealous eye David's successes over the Philistines; and this criminal feeling gained additional intensity when the women were heard to sing, "Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands." What availed rank, or power, or wealth, while a lowly subject had eclipsed him in valour? Nothing could bring a balm to Saul's wounded spirit but the death of his servant; and it was this base and senseless passion which goaded him on to those unjustifiable acts whereby he incurred God's displeasure and finally brought about his own fatal end. we see that even the most exalted ranks are not free from this dire infirmity of mind; and this should lead us, whatsoever be our walk of life, to guard our hearts" with all diligence," and beware both of a covetous disposition and of a spirit of envy. T. L. M. Homiletical Breviaries. No. CCXLI. The Transcendent Name. Thus "A NAME WHICH IS ABOVE EVERY NAME."-Phil. ii. 9. PERHAPS all intelligent creatures through the universe have appellations by which they are distinguished from others and recognized. Angels have their names, Michael, Gabriel, etc., etc. Some names are greater than others. It often happens that the name of one man hovers in significance and grandeur above the names of a whole generation. Such names as Moses, Paul, Luther, Howard, Garibaldi. But the Apostle declares here that there is one name above every name, either on earth or in heaven. His name is "above every name," I. In its PERFECTION. (1) It F is idealistically perfect. The human mind has never formed a higher conception of moral excellence than is found embodied in the life of Christ. (2) It is independently perfect. The perfection of the most perfect men, such as it is, has always been derived. They were "made perfect" by the agency of others and the Spirit of God. But Christ was "harmless, undefiled." His name is "above every name," II. In its POWER. (1) It is a morally reformative name. That name is a moral talisman. It has wrought wonders in the souls of men, turned millions from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto the love of God. (2) It is a morally imperial name. It wins the mastery of the soul. "One is your master, even Christ." A master, not by force, but by love, not of mere bodily service, but of all the activities of the soul, nay the soul itself. His name is "above every name," III. In its DOMINION. The dominion of that name is (1) Thorough. How partial the dominion of the world's greatest emperors! It does not touch the central forces of the soul. Christ rules the soul and brings into captivity every thought into obedience to Himself. The dominion is (2) Universal. There are names that have a dominion in some departments of life, such as commerce, science, literature, that are not known in others. There are names that wield a power in some localities that the great world knows nothing of-mere local magnates. But the name of Jesus is universal. All heaven knows it and bows to it, the best men on earth know it and reverence it, and to it one day every knee shall bow. The dominion is (3) Perpetual. The greatest of human names, though emblazoned in history and cut in marble or brass, die out in time, sink into the eternal silence of oblivion. But this name will endure for ever and for ever. No. CCXLII. Exemplary Maternal Love. "AND BEHOLD A WOMAN OF CANAAN," etc.-Matt. xv. 22-28.* In this narrative we have exemplary maternal love, I. VICARIOUSLY SUFFERING. The actual sufferings of the daughter were perhaps great; but the sufferings which the mother endured by sympathy were greater still. Vicarious sufferings are always great in proportion to the amount of love that one has in his |