the venom in his fiery veins. Restless and roaming, he wandered to and fro, and raged at everything; but the real quarrel was with his tainted self, and the change which would have relieved his misery would have been a migration from his own writhing nerves and stounding bones. And let a man of idle or immoral habits, or let an ill-assorted family try all the constitutions in the world, or let a new constitution come to their own country once a year, and they will soon discover that to a guilty conscience or a dissolute character, political day-springs bring no healing. Legislation contains no charm—no spell for converting personal or domestic wretchedness into virtue and tranquillity; and so long as a man is entangled in his own corruption-so long as he wears the poisoned vest of inherent depravity, "he may change the place, but he cannot cheat the pain."

Is there, then, you will ask, no hope for society? Is the present routine of selfishness, oppression, and suffering to go on for ever? Assuredly not. But it will come to an end in no other way except that which God has designed and foretold. It will end when He himself interposes. Till then, visionaries, amiable or atheistic, may each propound his panacea; but, alas ! the plague of society is too virulent for any medicine native to our earth. And, no doubt, elaborate attempts will be made, and associations will be formed, with a view to counteract the dispersive elements in human nature. Influential leaders, poetical statesmen, and discarded projectors will say, "Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven,

and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth;" but the feuds and the jargon which confounded the Plain of Shinar will prove fatal to Babel the Second. And it is not till the Prince of Peace shall commence his reign of righteousness, and, simultaneous with his enthronement, the Spirit of God shall mollify the minds of men, that "violence" shall vanish from our earth, and "wasting and destruction" from within its borders. And when that day comes-when by the direct interference of the Holy Spirit, Man's enmity to God is converted into allegiance and love, and man's selfishness is drowned in kindness and goodwill, many of the results for which men at present sigh will no longer need perilous experiments, but will develope of their own accord. When the years are all one Pentecost, and the world one Christian family, none will lack, and, if they please, people may then have "all things in common.' "For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations."

And, in the meanwhile, the reader may secure his own happiness without overturning an empire or newmoulding society. Like Caspar Rauchbilder, you run the risk of losing some solid and immediate advantages whilst musing on remote and wholesale reformations. The present state of society may be vicious; but in the most essential matters, your Creator has rendered

Acts ii. and iv.

you independent of society. By making you the custodier of your own soul, he has made you the keeper of your own comfort. And, if you be wise, you will go so far on the individual plan as to study the Gospel, and seek the one thing needful for yourself. So far as you are concerned, that Gospel is a personal message. To you and me, my brother, God offers a personal salvation. And if we believe that Gospel, and live godly, righteous, and sober in the world, whatever be the state of society, we shall secure our personal happiness here and hereafter. Perhaps, too, we shall then be able to do something in order to mitigate the misery and increase the happiness of those around us.