and religion, or by mere appetites, passions and interests, whether he walks after the flesh, and shall die; or after the spirit, and shall live.S. CLARKE, D.D., Sermons; Difference betwixt living after the Flesh and after the Spirit.

The fact is, and it is a wonderful fact, but too true, that many men pass their lives in a dream. They do not give due consideration to what it most concerns them to consider. They do not discern the signs of the times." They do not reflect upon them. They are engrossed with the affairs of this world; absorbed with its cares, and allured by its pleasures: and so their life passes away. They live on and die; and do not apply themselves with an attentive mind, and a teachable spirit, to examine the evidence of the case.C. WORDSWORTH, D.D. (Bishop of Lincoln), New Test., with Notes &c., 1860, Introd. to Revelation.

It is peculiar to the systems of morality in the Old and New Testament, that they inculcate every virtue which has a tendency to advance the happiness of man, and no other; and that they prohibit whatever has a contrary tendency. This is considered as affording strong internal evidence to confirm our belief that they had their origin from God. Let any one review his past conduct, and compare it with the rules of conduct prescribed in the Bible, and then fairly ask himself whether much of the uneasiness, &c. he has suffered, is not referable to a deviation from these rules? - MR. JUSTICE BAYLEY, Book of Common Prayer, with Notes, 1813, p. 55.

Let us only fairly trace the ills of our life to their source; and we shall find most of them have their origin in ourselves. Misfortune has brought disgrace; a wrong judgement has frustrated a prosperous plan; want of self-control has hurried us to turn friends into foes, and blindly driven us into any path but the path of peace. Or if unavoidable misfortunes harass us; it is still our own fault, if evil be the issue.-J. JAMES, D.D., Comment upon the Collects, &c., Fifth Sunday after Easter.

He lamented that all serious and religious conversation was banished from the society of men, and yet great advantages might be derived from it. All acknowleged, he said, what hardly any body practised, the obligations we were under of making the concerns of eternity the governing principles of our lives. Every man, he observed, at last wishes for retreat: he sees his expectations frustrated in the world, and begins to wean himself from it, and to prepare for everlasting separation.— JOHNSON, Boswell's Life, 1770.

If thy neighbor should sin, old Christoval said, oh, never unmerciful be;

but remember it is through the mercy of God that thou art not as sinful as he.

At sixty and seven the hope of Heaven

is my comfort through God's grace; my summons, in truth, had I perished in youth, must have been to a different place.—

SOUTHEY.

For though, seduc'd and led astray,
thou 'st travel'd far and wander'd long:
thy God hath seen thee all the way,
and all the turns that led thee wrong.:

CRABBE, Hall of Justice.

Somehow the sermons we preach to ourselves, in which by the way we can be sure of taking the most apt illustrations from the store of our own follies, are always interesting.-SIR A. HELPS, Friends in Council, chap. vii.

We are far more proud of confessing our secret sins, than of recalling the recollection of our open follies. Quarterly Review, vol. lxxiii, p. 551.

Sorrow occupies a larger space in our minds than it does in our existence.- Quarterly Review, vol. lxxxv.

The truth is that enjoyment forms an exceedingly small element in the life of most men. Saturday Review, 24 Dec. 1859.

A man is too apt to forget, that in this world he can not have everything. A choice is all that is left him.— MATTHEWS, Diary of an Invalid, ch. i.

Prosperous old age often pleases itself with exaggerating the difficulties of youth.- Quarterly Review, vol. lxxiv, p. 79.

'We should like to see the best places of the world, as they were when we left them,'- said W......L...

When the evening calls us to rest, the dangers which we have escaped, the business which we have finished, the experience which we have acquired, the improvement which we have made, require a return of acknowlegement and praise.— ARCHDEACON JORTIN, Sermons, vol. i, serm. xviii.

'What is there you do not find you can do better as you grow older,' said Mr. W * * * *

It is, however, to be lamented that those who are most capable of improving mankind, very frequently neglect to communicate their knowlege; either because it is more pleasing to gather ideas than to impart them, or because to minds naturally great, few things appear of so much importance as to deserve the notice of the public.-JOHNSON, Life of Sir T. Browne.

I see by every fresh trial, that the time of sickness is seldom the season for religious improvement. This great work should be done in health, or it will seldom be done well.HANNAH MORE, quoted, Combe, Constitution of Man, &c., chap. v, sect. 2.

It is with our duties in religion, as with our duties in the world. The work to which we are indifferent, or from which we are averse, may be toiled through: yet it will not only want the grace which adorns our performance of an action in which our heart is engaged, but its end must be incomplete and unsatisfactory. So if we be in

different to the work of our salvation,- lukewarm in our religious duties, we shall find in the awful day of final reckoning, that our labor, though concluded, will not only fail of approbation, but end in misery.-J. JAMES, D.D., Comment upon the Collects, &c., St. Bartholomew.

A deathbed repentance seldom extends to restitution. JUNIUS, Letters.

The maxim that nothing but good should be spoken of the dead, does them little honor; for it implies that their reputation could not survive the truth.- The Times newspaper, 3 April 1865.

But, in fact, it is a very great effort both to heart and reason to take up new ideas at this period. Earth may be slipping away from the dying man, but yet it may be the solidest footing he has. He is seeing the last of his fellow-men; but it may be the most earnest wish he is capable of, to stand well with them. In fact, habit holds its sway here, as elsewhere. - Saturday Review, 12 March 1864.

'The habit of the man shows itself in everything,' said W...... L...

The chamber where the Good Man meets his fate is privileg'd beyond the common walk

of virtuous Life, quite in the verge of Heaven.

For, here, resistless Demonstration dwells;

a deathbed's a detector of the heart.

YOUNG, Night Thoughts, Night 2.