and Miss

Heaven. How much better would it be to join my heart and hand with one of moderate fortune, but possessed of the inestimable treasure of religious principles, with whom I could walk hand in hand through all the thorny paths of life, or the refreshing streams which water and make glad the city of God, invigorated by kindred sentiments and animated by her tenderest sympathies, and cheered by her daily orizons of prayer and praise. Let me never be induced by the prospect of worldly advantages to risk religious peace, nor prefer a heart which is not softened by the love of God. Miss have admirable accomplishments of person and mind, and ample fortunes, and it is possible that my assiduities might pave my way to the smile of Harriet; but alas! they are fond of the world-they know not the Lord as his people know himthey are strangers to the love of Christ and a life of piety. Upon the whole I think, at my present age, and with my 、 present studious pursuits, I had better resolve to guard my heart from the gentle intrusion of these soft passions-to banish, if possible, the dearest objects from my thoughts— to resolve not to risk the obstruction of my studies by the entanglement of any love affair; but to gird myself to duty and to business-to postpone the rapturous thoughts of marriage and settlement till I advance nearer the border of that terrestrial paradise. Ah! even thee, Eugenia, I will strive to forget, except as a christian friend, for the important objects which I have in view. I will endeavour to wait in the free and unclogged path of active duty till time and thy divine hand, O Guardian of my life! may lead me to one whose piety and virtues, whose accomplishments and endowments may engage all my heart and affections, and may form for me a terrestrial Eden. Let me follow most religiously the advice of my classic-the pagan Juvenalsupplicate the Deity in every thing, even in the choice of

a wife;' and let me not forget the declaration of the wisest of men, 'a prudent wife cometh of the Lord.'

Charles mounted on the top of the coach, was ruminating in his mind upon the few happy and profitable days he had spent in the society of the angelic Eugenia; and seemed to look back upon it as a second paradise. “Amiable tempers," he said, "may be soon shaken and ruffled by the storms of life; but where grace is a principle in the heart the smile lasts through life." Charles now, with exquisite delight, surveyed the lovely prospect of hill, and dale, and flood, and field, and village, and wood, which greeted his eyes as he swept along his course to the metropolis. At length he arrived, and from the bustle of coaches and carriages, pedestrians and waiters, makes his escape at length into the quiet abode of his friend Hadley.

"But," he added, "I have not opened the letter which Eugenia put into my hand at parting;" then, eagerly taking it out of his pocket, he read to himself the following lines:

"During our journey through this land of mortality to the heavenly country, whither we are bound, many an enchanting spot must we pass, and many a scene of vanity behold, which oftentimes present allurements so insinuating as to draw our feet aside from the celestial road, and prove that the world is indeed infectious-that we touch it not without a stain; that we have need of the whole armour of God to preserve us from the attacks of our active enemy within and without, and that it is absolutely necessary to fix our mental eye on that invisible state of realities which will speedily remove from us this passing scene of shadowy possession and fleeting enjoyments, The metropolis is a theatre, at once calculated to show us the power of temptation and the necessity of constant

vigilant watchfulness; there the senses are continually attracted by alluring objects, that have a direct tendency to act upon the soul, and draw it from its centre. They get between us and our God, and eclipse the irradiating beams of the Sun of Righteousness; so soon do some of us drink into the spirit of the word, and forget our high birth and glorious destination; so soon do we turn aside to pluck flowers on forbidden ground, and drink at the muddy fountain of earthly joys. But may you, my friend, my brother, escape all these pollutions, and retain, in the busy scenes you are going to witness, every divine impression and solemn contemplation that a happy retirement has fixed on your well-regulated mind. May you behold things as they are, and while surrounded by the careless and the gay-while traversing the busy haunts of men, regard them as our Lord and Master would-remember how soon the whole race you now behold will be laid silent in the grave, and consider the end of all their earnest pursuits, their riches and their honours-remember the still small voice of divine contemplation, disposed by the anxious voice of true friendship, that the fashion of these things passeth away-that the things which are seen are temporal-the things which are not seen are eternal. Fix your eye, then, on those glorious realities, and let your present station brighten your arms to fight your way to the land of promise, and the region of delights ;-there is your treasure, there let your heart, your soul, your. desires tend. Let the polluted and unsatisfying conversations of worldlings render communion with your Father, your Friend, your only Hope, your everlasting All, doubly delightful; and when you have the happiness of meeting with those dear companions and fellow travellers, whose habitation is fixed in Vanity Fair. May you indeed enjoy the fellowship of saints."

"How kind," said Charles, "was this of Eugenia ! What sincere friendship dictated these seasonable admonitions! She is six years older than myself; the experience, therefore, I prize. Her excellent advice I will cherish. I will think of her as a disinterested friend, though I feel a Christian love for her rising in my heart."

MR. HADLEY was a gentleman settled in domestic life, with half a dozen children; but the disproportion of their years was no bar to the warmest friendship which Charles had contracted for his friend Hadley. This gentleman had been the intimate friend of his grandfather, Honington, at whose house he had often met him in his annual journey from the metropolis, when he used to spend a few evenings there amid a circle of admiring friends who flocked around him to hear the city news. But what was the intelligence which he brought of so interesting a nature? It was of the freshest showers of divine love and mercy which had been poured out upon the church of God-it was of the latest discoveries of grace and the more abundant effusions of the Holy Spirit from the word preached or written; and he came always laden with some new book or treatise on christian truth or experience. So in love was Mr. Hadley with rural scenery, rural simplicity, and rural piety, that at length he retired from business, and purchased a house in a central village in the midst of his friends. It was Charles's native village. There Charles was Mr. Hadley's constant companion-in his shrubbery, his garden, his walks, and parties. These two, with the Rev. Mr. Ruby, the curate of a neighbouring parish,