God is my strong salvation,
What foe have I to fear?
In darkness and temptation,
My light, my help is near.
Though hosts encamp around me,
Firm to the fight I stand;
What terror can confound me,
With God at my right hand?
Place on the Lord reliance,
My soul with courage wait;
His truth be thine affiance,
When faint and desolate;

His might thine arm shall strengthen,
His love thy joy increase;

Mercy thy days shall lengthen,
The Lord will give thee peace.

JAMES MONTGOMERY.

COURTESY AND KINDNESS.

COURTESY; civility; complaisance. JOHNSON. Derived from the French Courtoisie, from whom we have COURTEOUS; also COURTEOUSNESS.

KINDNESS; benevolence; beneficence; good-will; favour; love. JOHNSON.

KINDNESS is derived from the Saxon, Cynne, signifying relation; we say KIN.

Tumultuous wars shall kin with kin, and kind with kind confound. SHAKSPEARE.

We have also KIND; Kindred; Kindly, &c. "He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.” LUKE VI. 35.

AN ATHENIAN STORY.

In Athens, ere its sun of fame had set,

'Midst pomp and show the gazing crowds were met,
(Intent for ever upon something new,)

The mimic wonders of the stage to view.

Lo, where the wide extended circus spreads,
In galleried ranks, its sea of living heads,—
Ranged in close order, rising row on row;
The void arena claims the space below.

The seats were filled-but, ere the shows began
A stranger entered: 'twas an aged man,
And while he sought a place with aspect mild,
The polished young Athenians sat and smiled;
Eyed his confusion with a sidelong glance,
But kept their seats, nor rose on his advance.

Oh! for a burning blush of deeper hue,
To mark the shame of that self-glorious crew;
How poor the produce of fair Learning's tree,
That bears no fruits of sweet humility!
The growth of arts and sciences how vain,
In hearts that feel not for another's pain!
Not so the Spartan youth, whose simpler school
Instilled the plain but salutary rule

Of kindness; and whose honest souls preferred
Truth, to display-performance, to a word.

They in the Cirque had their appointed place,
Distinct from Attica's distinguished race,
And rose with one accord, intent to prove
To honoured age their duty and their love.
Nor did a Spartan youth his seat resume,
Till that old man found due and fitting room.
Then came the sentence of reproof and praise,
Stamped with the sternness of the ancient days.
For standing forth amidst the assembled crowd,
The venerable stranger cried aloud ;-

"The Athenians learn their duty well: but lo!
The Spartans practise what th' Athenians know!"
The words were good; and, in a virtuous cause,
They justly earned a nation's glad applause.
But we have surer words of precept given

In God's own book-the words that came from heaven :"Be kind,"*"Be courteous," "Be all honour shown,"+ "Seek others' welfare rather than thine own."§

M.-SATURDAY MAGAZINE.

THE COURTESY OF CHRISTIANITY.-Nothing gives so high a polish as truly religious feelings; they shrink into nothingness all those minor objects which create asperities between man and man; they give from the habit of self-examination, an insight into the heart, a quickness of perception that knows every tender point, and avoids touching it, except to heal, whether its delicacy springs from the virtues, the infirmities, or even

* And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

EPHESIANS IV. 32.

Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, 1 PETER III. 8.

love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous.

Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another.

Owe no man anything, but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. ROMANS XII. 10; XIII. 8.

§ Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.

1 CORINTHIANS X. 24.

the vices of our nature. The Christian cannot be proud, vain, or negligent, except in the inverse of his religion, as the Sun of righteousness shines out in his heart, these clouds melt away.

The courtesy of Christianity is equally visible in health and sickness, in retirement as in a crowd, in a cottage as in a palace. Those sudden gusts of adverse or prosperous fortune, so fatal to artificial pretensions, do not throw it off its guard. Like the finest porcelain of the East, when broken in a thousand pieces, every fracture displays new smoothness and polish; and in its shivered state, it best shows the superiority of its beautiful structure over those coarser kinds which are of the earth, earthy.

The courtesy of Christianity is equally solicitous to avoid offending the poor and low, as the rich and great; recollecting that, to the poor the gospel was first preached, and that the Saviour of the world ennobled their situation by choosing it for its own. MRS. FRENCH.

In order to render yourself amiable in society, correct every appearance of harshness in behaviour. Let that courtesy distinguish your demeanour, which springs not so much from studied politeness, as from a mild and gentle heart. BLAIR.

I see in this world two heaps of human happiness and misery; if I can take but the smallest bit from one heap, and add it to the other, I carry a point. If as I go home, a child dropped a halfpenny, and if by giving to it another, I can wipe away its tears, I feel that I have done something. I should be glad indeed to do greater things, but I will not neglect that. J. NEWTON.

The race of mankind would perish did they cease to aid each other. From the time that the mother binds the child's head, till the moment that some kind assistant wipes the death-damps from the brow of the dying, we cannot exist without mutual help. All therefore that need aid have a right to ask it of their fellow-mortals; no one who holds the power of granting can refuse it without guilt. Next to enjoying happiness ourselves, is the consciousness of having bestowed it on another. SIR WALTER SCOTT.

Since trifles make the sum of human things,
And half our misery from our foibles springs ;
Since life's best joys consist in peace and ease,
And few can love or serve, but all may please;

Oh, let the ungentle spirit learn from hence,
A small unkindness is a great offence:

Large bounties to bestow we wish in vain,
But all may shun the guilt of giving pain.

All worldly joys are less

MRS. HANNAH MORE.

Than the one joy of doing kindnesses.

GEORGE HERBERT.

COVETOUSNESS.

AVARICE; inordinate desire of money; eagerness of

gain.

JOHNSON.

This word is sometimes taken in a good sense, as in 1 Cor. xii. 31. "Covet earnestly the best gifts,"

that is spiritual graces. This COVETOUSNESS is good

and commendable. But most commonly it is used to imply an eager desire after earthly things, as in Proverbs xxi. 26. "The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour. He coveteth greedily all the day; but the righteous giveth and spareth not." COVETOUSNESS is called idolatry, see Col. iii. 5, because the covetous man places that love, confidence, and delight in riches, which are due to God alone. This sin is condemned in all sorts of persons, and is expressly forbidden by the tenth commandment. CRUDEN'S CONCORDANCE.

The French for COVETOUS is Convoiteux, from the verb Convoiter, to COVET, and to this language we are referred by JOHNSON; there however appears so much affinity between the Latin verb Cupio, to desire, and our word COVET, both in sense and sound, that, in the absence of any decisive evidence or authority, we incline to refer it to that root.

ST. PAUL says, I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. ACTS xx. 33. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 1 TIMOTHY VI. 10.

Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 1 COR. VI. 10.

But covetousness, let it not be once named among you. EPHESIANS V. 3.

But a greater authority than ST. PAUL, has exhorted us to beware of this besetting sin, in the following sublime language: And He said unto them take heed and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said this will I do : I will pull down my barns and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods, and I will say to my soul, Soul! thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool! this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall these things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God. Therefore I say unto you take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens : for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow; they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Sell that ye have, and give alms: provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. LUKE XII. 15-34.

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