THE HAPPY HOME.

III.

A BUNCH IN THE HAND, AND MORE ON THE BUSH.

Nor far from this London there dwelt an old couple. In early life they had been poor; but the husband became a Christian, and God blessed their industry, and they were living in a comfortable retirement, when one day a stranger called on them to ask their subscription to a charity. The old lady had not so much grace as her husband, and still hankered after some of the Sabbath earnings and easy shillings which Thomas had forfeited from regard to the law of God. And so when the visitor asked their contribution, she interposed and said, "Why, sir, we have lost a deal by religion since we first began: my husband knows that very well. Have we not, Thomas ?" And after a solemn pause Thomas answered, "Yes, Mary, we have. I have lost a deal by my religion. Before I had got religion, Mary, I had got a water-pail, in which I used to carry water, and that, you know, I have lost

many years ago; and then I had an old slouched hat, a tattered coat, and mended shoes and stockings; but I have lost them also long ago. And, Mary, you know, that poor as I was, I had a habit of getting drunk and quarrelling with you; and that, you know, I have lost. And then I had a burdened conscience and a wicked heart, and ten thousand guilty fears; but all are lost, completely lost, and, like a mill-stone, cast into the deepest sea. And, Mary, you have been a loser too, though not so great a loser as myself. Before we got religion, Mary, you had got a washingtray, in which you washed for hire; but since we got religion, you have lost your washing-tray. And you had a gown and a bonnet much the worse for wear, though they were all you had to wear; but you have lost them long ago. And you had many an aching heart concerning me at times; but these you happily have lost. And I could even wish that you had lost as much as I have lost; for what we lose by our religion will be our everlasting gain."

There are instances where religion has required a sacrifice; but so far as our own observation goes, it has blessed its possessors, not only by what it imparted, but also by what it took away. Their chief losses may be comprised in the following items: A bad character;

A guilty conscience;

A troublesome temper;

Sundry evil habits,

And all their wicked companions..

And then, on the other side, over and above all the

higher benefits which the Gospel bestows, and which, in our last paper, we tried to enumerate, its advent into the poor man's home is usually signalized by some immediate and obvious blessings. We allow that they are secondary, but they are not insignificant. Let us glance at some of them. Like the bunch which the spies fetched from Eshcol, they may give some notion of the goodly land; but they are only a sample, and the true wisdom is to go up and possess the region itself, and then you will gather the grapes where they grow, and when one cluster is finished, you will find still better on the tree.

1. Religion is FORETHOUGHT and FRUGALITY. The disciple of Jesus is well-off-his fortune is made, and he does not need to set his heart on filthy lucre. But then he is high-hearted-he is of his Master's mind, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." He would rather be an almoner than a pensioner; and he is anxious to lay a good foundation for age as well as for infirmity. And he "provides for his own house." He would fain contribute to the commonwealth one independent and self-sustaining family. And the foresight and self-denial which he has learned at the feet of Jesus, put these achievements in his power. You may see the thing in living specimens. Take, for instance, these shopmates, Dick Raspiron and Tom Tinkletin. Perhaps you know them; at all events, in their employment as white-smiths they have made some noise in the world. Tom once of a sudden took it into his head to marry and as he had a few shillings to pay the fees, he made it out; but

before the honeymoon was ended, the bride had to pawn her wedding-gown to buy next Sunday's dinner. And Dick also fell in love; but his sweetheart and himself agreed that they would wait till they had made up twenty pounds betwixt them. Last Saturday Tom did not take home his wages till after midnight, and then he did not take the whole; and next morning his wife went out and bought some flabby meat and withered greens, and paid the Sunday trader ten per cent. additional; but that was better management than the time before, for then he brought nothing home at all; and in order to procure a steak, they had first to sell their frying-pan. But now that at last he has married his notable little wife, Dick hies home as fast as he can on Saturday evening, sure that the earnings of last week have made the marketings of this one, and that he will find the room so tidy and the tea-things set out, and that afterwards they will have a turn in the park, or, should it chance to rain, an hour for reading some useful book. At an immemorial period his shop-mate "fell behind;" that is, in a certain race, the consumer of pies and porter outran the producer of water-pails and metallic chimney pots; and the shillings which he got from his employer could not keep up with the halfcrowns which he spent on himself. And ever since the luckless day when the Spender distanced the Winner, it has been a perpetual scramble. For want of ready cash-and credit they never had-his hungry household subsists on accidental and precarious meals; and bought in paltry shops, and in the smallest quanti