the whole of Monday, than that the Sabbath should be violated in it!" The man said, "You are different from all other masters." I said, "My Bible, not the conduct of others, is my rule; and you must do it without working on Sunday, or I will try to get somebody else." This had the desired effect: they set to work, and worked till twelve o'clock on the Saturday night, and began again at an early hour on Monday morning. The repairs were finished, and the mill was in full work at the usual hour on Monday.

It would be running into a hasty extreme to say, that no man ever sustained any pecuniary loss by obedience to the divine commandments. On the contrary, whosoever would be the disciple of Christ must learn to take up his cross and follow him. But certainly no man ever really lost by such willing obedience. That would indeed be a strange success in life to aim at, which only secured the comforts of a few fleeting years by the sacrifice of all that are to follow. The merchant is well content to submit to many hours of anxiety, and to not a few present risks and sacrifices with a view to the future, and shall not he show the like wisdom when far more momentous concerns are involved in his decision? Yet while we dare not hold out as an inducement to the strict obedience to known duty, that it must invariably bring as its reward present success as well as future gain; yet thousands of instances prove the truth of the divine declaration that "godliness has the promise of this life as well as of that which is to come." A chemist and druggist once remarked to an American author, "There was a time when I used to court business on the Lord's day; and, sheltering myself under the alleged necessity of being at hand to supply medicine in case of

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illness, I employed myself in preparing a quantity of tinctures, weighing packets of soda-water powders, and many such like things, not because they were needed, but really for the sake of saving time on other days. At that time I did take more money on the Sabbath than on any other day, not a penny in a shilling of which was for matters of real necessity. When I began to see it my duty to act differently, and refused to sell on the Sabbath, perfumery, cigars, and other matters of mere luxury and fancy, I offended a few of my customers, and expected to find that I had seriously injured my business; but in a little time people fell into my arrangements, and left off coming for such things. I now enjoy my Sabbaths undisturbed, except in cases of real need, to which, of course, I readily attend. Every customer whom I would wish to return has come back to me; and, taking into account the saving of Sunday expenses, which almost invariably countervail Sunday gains, I can say, with humble thankfulness, that my prosperity is now greater than ever." To this we may add the following example of practical experience. A distinguished practitioner was harassed with calls on the Sabbath-his Sabbaths were broken-he was detained from public worship; it was a trial to him to be obliged to serve his patrons so often and so constantly on the Sabbath. At length he adopted this expedient: he let it be known that he viewed the Sabbath as the Lord's day-sacred to his worship, and that he must regard his calls upon the sick on that day as works of necessity and mercy, and that he should make no charge for his services on that day. He supposed that people would not call on him in these circumstances, that they would have too much goodness to ask his services gratuitously,

and that he should have few calls and be free to attend public worship. But to his surprise it increased the evil;if his services were to be given on the Sabbath, every body wanted him on the Sabbath; and he was sent for here and there and all about. There was no keeping the Sabbath so. He accordingly changed the tables, and gave out that he should make a double charge for travels and visits on the Sabbath, and of course it would cost as much again to be sick on the Sabbath as any other day of the week. This expedient had the desired effect; he could finish his business by Saturday night, and with the exception of a few extreme cases, he could have for his own use that blessed day of rest, which is one of the most remarkable evidences God has given to man of his benevolent care over all his works.

Here, therefore, is a wise economy which he who aims at success in life, must not fail to practise. That God has said of his Sabbath, "on it thou shalt do no work," should be sufficient reason for this. But even the experience of the world teaches us that the day of rest is as indispensable as the nightly repose by which tired nature recruits her exhausted strength.

One advice more remains to be added as a guide to that judicious economy on which success in life depends. Every man knows, or ought to know, what his income is. If he be above the rank of a pauper, it is sufficient for his subsistence, however limited it be. Let him remember therefore that one of the most indispensable of all means to success, peace of mind, worldly comfort, honest dealing, and ultimate prosperity, is to live within his income. The first step towards this must necessarily be to ascertain what that

income is. The next is to suit his mode of life to his circumstances. But if, with the knowledge of having only a very limited income, he choose to vie with those who possess the means of sustaining a higher position in society, flattering himself with vague hopes, meanwhile, that all will turn out well; that his prospects are such as promise a future increase; and that he intends at some undefined future to retrench, and save; then all chance of success in life may be pronounced to be over. It is easy to step upward, but it is a most difficult and painful thing to come down in life, and they who adopt the foolish mode of temporary gratification here referred to, purchase for themselves a thousand mortifications, for which they will neither receive, nor deserve the sympathy of others. The man with only £100 a-year knows that thousands are liv ing and rearing families in habits of honest industry on the half of it. It is manifest folly, therefore, for him to tell himself or attempt to persuade others that it cannot suffice. The same argument must still more strongly apply to the man of two, three, or four hundred pounds a-year, of income. Yet, in every rank of life we see men, heedless of this great duty of a wise economy, struggling on amid daily miseries of their own creating, and purchasing future suffering for themselves and all who depend on them. It would be easy to multiply examples of the practical fruits of economy. The life of Franklin is a wonderful instance of what may be accomplished by economy of time, of means, of labour, and indeed of all the faculties and gifts which Providence places within our reach. A wise economy may be said to have been the key note to all his wonderful success in life. Among those who, like him, have risen to distinction in

literary or scientific life, from humble beginnings, and without the usual aids of education, and position in early life, economy both of means and of time have been preeminently applicable for the accomplishment of their success. We might refer to Dr. Adam, the son of a small Scottish crofter. During his student life at Edinburgh, his humble suburban lodging cost him fourpence a week, his usual dinner was a penny roll and a glass of water. His means of subsistence was secured by devoting a considerable portion of his time to private tuition; yet so well was the remainder turned to account, that, at the age of twenty, he secured the head mastership of one of the chief scholastic institutions in Edinburgh without patronage or external aid, but simply by force of merit. Many similar instances could be quoted, but enough has been advanced to prove the indispensable necessity of economy in every department of life for securing success, while it is no less apparent that by this wise virtue almost any obstacle may be surmounted, and every difficulty converted into a means of triumph.