hath no sphere of glorious achievement in the estimation of God, though the eye of public favor reach her not, in the recesses of domestic duty? How will the blood-stained Semiramis, the wanton Cleopatra, Russia's flagitious Catharine, or England's haughty Elizabeth compare with Eunice and Lois, the mother and grandmother of Timothy the apostle? Eternity will roll on, "pouring shame and everlasting contempt" upon those who sought the favor of men rather than that of God; but eternity, as it rolls, will develop fresh glory to Christ from the souls of the redeemed brought to the cross through their faithful instrumentality. G. W. B.

ter.

Original.

CHARACTER AND CRIME.

BY GEORGE B. CHEEVER, D.D.

THERE is a fearful want of care in the formation of characCharacter can be properly formed only under the influence of divine truth; and if one of its forming principles and influences be the denial and rejection, or perversion, of divine truth, who shall answer for the consequences, even in this world? Suppose a man brought up under a systematic reliance on his own strength, a systematic denial of human depravity, a systematic disbelief of the necessity of regeneration by divine grace, and a systematic rejection of the truth of eternal punishment for sin under God's government, what security is there for such a man against his own passions? what security for the community, under circumstances of temptation, promising concealment, and overmastering the ordinary safeguards in reference to human property or life?

A man whose very habits of opinion and belief, in disregard of the warnings in the Word of God, have educated him in a light and favorable estimate of human character-in an underestimate of sin, and a total denial of its eternal consequencesin an ignorance and disregard of his own danger, and an over

estimate of his own strength-is the very man who is likely to fall. That system of education is an education for crime, when the passions have been developed and temptation comes. There is nothing there, either from within or from above, to help or save the man. The things that, had they been provided within, might have held him, he has never laid up in store; and the things from above, he either does not dream of seeking, or absolutely denies their existence, so that they have no power over him. There is no cable to moor him, no anchor to hold him.

Character is long in forming, and its dangerous tendencies are long increasing, and long in coming out. It takes time and circumstance, first to form, and then to develop character; and according to its formation will be its development. Suppose that there be no preparation against critical conjunctures, no guards built up against foreseen dangers, no care of evil passion or opinion forming, and no provision against it, or check for it, when formed; or suppose that materials are put in, and habits indulged, which, when the crisis comes, will not only be insufficient to carry the man through it, but will precipitate him upon the rocks will draw down the inevitable catastrophe of ruin, then the ruin must come, and the evil is his own; and whatever be the circumstances, it is not to them that he owes his fall, but to himself and to those who have sent him. Sometimes it is the parents themselves that have thus equipped their child for destruction; it is they who, perceiving the early developments of passion, have not done what they could to check them the early influence of error, have not done what they could to correct it. It is they who have fostered, perhaps by their own example, a neglect of religious culture, a contempt of restraint, a habit of self-indulgence, a predominance and power of self-will, a habit of expensive living, and a supreme regard, not to what is right, but to what is glittering and fashionable. And if the child be the father of the man in such a case, both the child and the man are the work of the parents; and as he has been trained up in the way in which he should not go, so, when he is old, he will not depart from it, and they, as well as he, are responsible.

"Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” What an awfully solemn illustration of this danger in that

dread crime of murder, the trial for which has so recently been concluded in Massachusetts, and the result of which is so tremendous a development of character and consequences! The whole crime is to be traced to the radical want of principle in the murderer, the want of moral integrity and religious principle. There might have been every thing else of provocation, difficulty, entanglement, perplexity, debt, and temptation with which the great tempter, the god of this world, ever surrounds his victims-and all with which, in this case, the murderer had surrounded himself—and still, if there had been that one element of character and discipline, religious truth and principle, that murder would not have been committed. A conjuncture came upon the man, induced by previous habits of carelessness and self-indulgence, for which none of the elements of discipline or of character so far formed and predominant had prepared him; a conjuncture through which the least degree of religious principle would have carried him safe, but, without that, every thing else failed. The pursuits of science, a cultivated mind, a refined taste, a high position in society, the responsibilities of the happiness of an affectionate, dependent family, the guards and penalties of human law, all failed to keep him, for he had no religious principle; and every thing else, when it comes to the trial, may be worthless without that. He had never formed the habit of self-denial, or self-restraint, and he had been, through carelessness and self-indulgence, living beyond his income.

We deem it of great importance to call every man's attention, by the fearfulness of this murder, to these two great lessons: first, your entire insecurity, whatever may be the guards that seem strong around you, without religious principle; and, second, the misery, danger, and guilt of living beyond your income. You may be ready to say, with Hazael, "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this?" And yet, whatever your reasons for security may seem to be, however strong and various, let but Satan desire to have you that he may sift you as wheat-let him come upon you in a coil of temptation, as he has done upon every murderer, from Cain downward-or let him throw the lasso of a sudden temptation around you-and, unless you are fortified by religious principle, unless you have

the grace of God to keep you, you will fall; the tempter will have you under his feet. And even with religious principle, unless you watch and hold on to Christ, there is no telling what sudden advantage and mastery Apollyon may get over you. He may get you down in the struggle, you may feel his hot breath in your face, his very knee may seem to be upon your breast, and the last flaming dart about to descend for your perdition; and then, if Christ were not at hand, what would become of you? God of mercy! who dare boast in the midst of such danger? How many such passages may there have been in your life, O careless soul, unknown to you, when you have come off safe, only because an unseen Saviour shielded you, but if it had not been for him, you had gone down fatally and forever!

It was such a time with Peter, when the great adversary of God and man made that last flaming assault upon him, and he was warned of it, and yet fell. Our blessed Lord tells us why, and why only, he did not fall irrecoverably, never to rise again: simply, because Christ had prayed for him, and was with him. Do you think, when Peter heard of Judas betraying Christ and then hanging himself, that he thought only of Judas's guilt? Did he not cry out, from his inmost soul, O Lord, my gracious God and Saviour, except thou hadst been with me, I had been with Judas. My suffering Redeemer, thou didst pray for me, and now I look upon the murderer and say, But for the grace of Christ, there hangs Peter!

So in regard to every one of us, who hath made us to differ from the condemned in yonder prison? Are we any better by nature than he? There have been times in the life of every murderer, from Cain to this hour, in which, to the predictions of such a crime, there would have been the very answer of Hazael, from a bosom glowing with shame and indignation at the very supposition of such a crime. The approximation to such guilt has almost always been gradual; there has been a previous yielding to temptation-smaller departures from rectitudesmaller steps of guilt--and a hardening and preparation of conscience and the heart, sometimes quite imperceptible. A tree rots in the forest gradually, from the heart outward; still it looks strong and sound; by-and-by, some day, the woodman passes, and, at a single blow, all that sustains the tree is sev

ered, and it falls. Then men look on and say, What a rotten thing! Who would have thought it possible? There is no safety, but in religious principle; no security, but by the grace of Christ in the soul, and the prayer of Christ resounding for you before the throne of the Eternal. If Christ prays for you, you are safe, and not otherwise. If you go to Christ, and trust in Him, then He does pray for you, and will bring you off conqueror. And though you will have to say, when made to know your own heart-to see your own life in all its relations and influences, as God sees it-to every indictment brought against you, on the first count, and the second, and the third, Guilty, guilty, guilty! yet, in Christ's blood you shall be justified, and, by the power of Christ's grace, so renewed and sanctified, as to be presented faultless before the throne of God. But if you are out of Christ, the vilest murderer may be as good as you.

Original.

CONJUGAL AFFECTION A CONDITION OF THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF CHILDREN.

WITHOUT Strong conjugal affection on the part of parents, there can not be that cordial co-operation in the education of their offspring-one of the most important of the trusts and duties of wedded life, which is essential to success. This want of cordial co-operation may not be distinctly seen by the children; but, what is scarcely better, it will be felt by them, and will produce an unhappy effect upon their dispositions. If there is, as sometimes happens, undisguised dissonance, this will be both seen and felt; and all the charms of home, all its genial influences, will be wanting. For the children of such parents there is no true home, and there are no loving impulses pressing them toward the paths of virtue and of peace. And even when there is only a coldness and formality subsisting between the husband and the wife, this is sufficient to render the atmosphere of home too cold and frosty for the growth of childlike virtues.