the name of the other was SURFACE, a man industrious and economical, who attended well to his worldly business but was never in the habit of thinking earnestly on any subject.

These two neighbors were accustomed to visit one another on winter evenings, as they lived not far apart; and on such occasions they talked on such subjects as any occasion brought naturally before them. Not long ago they spent an evening together in their accustomed way, when the following conversation was held between them.

SURFACE. You are much given to reading, neighbor Strictly; and I freely confess that you always seem to have a better insight into things than I have. I wish you would give me some light on a matter that has been on my mind all this week.

STRICTLY. Cheerfully, if it is in my power. Though I confess that on most of subjects I need instruction myself.

SURFACE. I know you can help me out in this case.

Last Sunday

our Pastor made use several times of the word " Sacrilege" in his ser mon. I know from the tenor of his remarks that it has reference somehow to money; but still the more I think about it the more I am in the dark.

STRICTLY. Have you no Dictionary, neighbor Surface?

SURFACE. There!-that is just like you. I have often wondered at you. You always know at once how to help yourself. I wish I had that talent. The Dictionary-of course that will tell us exactly what the word means. Here it is. Little did I think, when I bought it of a pedlar to get clear of him, that it would ever be of any use to me.

STRICTLY. Your horses would be of no use to you either if you did not hitch them up. Books are of use, when they are used. SURFACE. That's so! I'll try to keep it in mind. Perhaps that's the way you get to be so ready in helping yourself out in difficult

matters.

STRICTLY. Perhaps it is.

definition?

But here is the word; shall I read the

SURFACE. If you please. Let us hear.
STRICTLY.

Sacrilege. The using for other purposes that which has been consecrated to religious objects; or the withholding, what we have ourselves given and consecrated to religious purposes." You see neighbor Surface, if I owe you money and withhold it; or if I give you something, and then secretly take it back, that is theft; but if, instead of doing so to you, I do so to the Church, or to religion, it is sacrilege. It is cheating God instead of man-it is stealing from God instead of stealing from man.

SURFACE. I see.

The Pastor made it out a great sin; and so it must be if the Dictionary is right.

STRICTLY. A great sin! Certainly it is. As God is greater than man, and as the objects and interests of religion are greater than any private individual interests, so much greater is the sin of sacrilege than mere dishonesty or theft committed against a man.

SURFACE. I see. But neighbor Strictly, I see no use in preaching against such a Sin; for I never heard of any one who is guilty of it. Did you?

STRICTLY. I did. It is an old sin. Here is the Bible, let me read

you a few verses from Malachi. "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings." They kept back what it was their duty to give to God, and what by promise and vow, they had assumed to give. So Ananias and Sapphira, Acts v., promised to lay their possessions at the apostles' feet, and then "kept back part of the price." For this sin of Sacrilege those mentioned in Malachi were "cursed with the curse;" and these in Acts were struck down dead!

SURFACE. I have read both those passages before now; but no one pays tithes now-no one sells his possession to give all to religious objects; it is not our duty now.

STRICTLY. Perhaps not. But we still give of our substance for the support of religion. We are not compelled to do it; but we feel it our duty and privelege to do it.

Thus we subscribe money to build new churches, and to keep church and grave yard in repair and to pay the salary of the pastor, and to support the poor.

SURFACE. So we do; and we are bound to pay what we

At this word Mr. Surface suddenly broke off the sentence; a flush was on his cheek, and he grew silent and thoughtful!

STRICTLY. Of course we ought to pay what we subscribe; and not to do it is sacrilege.

SURFACE. I see. But I suppose the generality of persons do pay. Don't you think they do?

STRICTLY. I would be sorry to think that the generality of persons, as you say, did not; but if you will act as Deacon for a single year, you will find that there are a number of persons who do not. Have you never heard the common remark that one fourth of every subscription for building a church is lost--never can be collected! I can show you from the old subscription book, that this was our loss in the building of our own church two years ago. In regard to the Pastor's salary, it is the same. You know two years ago our former Pastor left us. There had been $400 promised him from our congregation; and that sum was subscribed. Now I have that list in my pocket; for I carry it along with me, hoping still to collect some of the old with the new. Here it is; count it, and you will find that there is $100 of it not paid! Indeed it was this dishonesty toward him, and this sacrilege toward God, that discouraged the heart of that good man, and compelled him to leave us. Here you can see the list for yourself.

Mr. Surface grew pale and red, in quick succession, as his neighbor Strictly, drew the old list from his pocket, and began to run his fingers over it mentioning the names and the sums unpaid. At length he got down among the S's; but he read on without flinching, for he knew what he was getting at―" Ichabod Surface-$10 !”

SURFACE. That's so, I don't deny it. But I can tell you how it happens to be so. You know it was not more than six months after he took charge, that I became displeased at one of his sermons; and I had reason to be. Then I determined not to support him-and I told the Elders I would not.

STRICTLY. But had you not subscribed the $10 for his support?
SURFACE. I had.

STRICTLY. Did you subscribe on condition that you should not pay in case you became displeased with the Pastor before the money would be called for?

SURFACE. O, no; certainly not.

STRICTLY. The fact is you did not subscribe the $10 to the Pastor at all. The congregation, of which you are a member voted and promised him $400; and you with others subscribed a certain sum to the congregation, that it might be able to pay what it had voted and promised him. The church owed him $400, and you owe the church $10. That is the plain English of the transaction. The Church did not displease you-and yet you have not paid the church what you promised to pay by subscribing to it.

SURFACE. I don't look at it in that light.

STRICTLY. Well, look at it in another light then. Suppose you promise to pay me $10. This you do over your name on the first of April On the first of October, you become offended at me--for a good reason, or without a good reason, for this makes no difference-does the fact that you have become displeased with me, release you from the debt? If so, I have discovered a new way of paying debts-when I wish to get clear of paying a debt, I need just get displeased with the person to whom I owe it! Do you see it in that light, neighbor Surface?

SURFACE. I see it in the right light now-and for the first time in my life. I am heartily ashamed of myself. I used to regard what I gave to the church as a kind of charity; and as I thought I gave it merely out of kindness to the Pastor, I thought I could withhold it when I pleased so to do. I did not regard it as a debt to be paid as other debts; but I see it is a debt.

STRICTLY. Yes, a debt to the church; and to withhold it is sacrilege. SURFACE. I see; I am ashamed-I am sorry! What shall I do to make it right.

STRICTLY. Do as one of old did, who was in the same case. He said "If I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold."

SURFACE. I will do it. Here are Forty dollars. Take it and pay it where it belongs; I would rather pay it now, than pay for it at the day of judgment! I do not wonder that our Pastor preached on the sin of Sacrilege; and little did I think that I was one of those sinners on whom he laid the truth in such earnest sentences.

STRICTLY. It is indeed a great and crying sin. In the Ancient Church it was punished with excommunication. St. Augustine says: "Whether one retracts what he himself has given to the church, or detains what has been given by others, or robs her of what she is actually possessed of, it is all the same species of sacriligous sin, and is punished by excommunication."

SURFACE. I see! And rest assured, neighbor Strictly, I shall not soon forget what the word sacrilege means.

STRICTLY. I hope you will not; and as Christ said to Peter, having been converted strengthen thy brethren-or rather enlighten them. there are many now-a-days, whose views of right and wrong in regard to this subject greatly need brushing up; and certainly no one need look for the blessing of God till he first becomes honest.

CALCULATION AND MEMORY.

WILLIAM LAWSTON, teacher of mathematics in Edinburg, who died in 1757, when employed about twenty years before his death as preceptor to the sons of a gentleman, was induced by his employer to undertake an extraordinary piece of mental calculation. Upon a wager laid by his patron, that the number from 1 to 40 inclusive could, by memory alone, be multiplied continually-that is, 1 multiplied by 2; the product then arising, 2, by 3; the next product, 6, by 4; the next 24, by 5; and so on, 40 being the last multiplier-Mr. Lawson was, with reluctance, prevailed upon to attempt the task. He began it next morning at seven o'clock, taught his pupils their Latin lessons in the forenoon as usual, had finished the operation by six in the evening, and then told the last product to the gentleman who had laid the wager; which they took down in writing, making a line of forty-eight figures, and found to be just. The shortness of the time rendered the work the more difficult, as each multiplication was in its turn so far to be forgotten as not to interfere with those that succeeded. When the operation was over, he could perceive his veins to start, like a man in a nervous fever; the three following nights he dreamed constantly of numbers; and he was often heard to say that no inducement would ever again engage him in a like attempt. A fair copy of the whole operation, attested by the subscriptions of three gentlemen, parties in the wager, was put into a frame with glass, and hung up in the patron's dining-room.

LINES FOR AN ALBUM.

An impromptu Acrostic, written just nine years ago, for a little girl, who has since gone to her long home.

Much as of joyous times we speak,
In sin such times we vainly seek;
Sin yields at best but terrene ease;
Seek not then here for solid peace.

Sad are the scenes, but seldom sweet,
Upon this earth we're called to meet-
Sad are its sorrows-sweet its joys—
And yet these last are empty toys.
Not on this earth, not in its scenes,
Are joys the truly wise esteems-
Earth only gives us pain!

Some seek, I know, their pleasures here.
Urged by their fancies-not by fear-
Lost to all virtue, who may tell
Their state, so sad-not bliss, a hell!
Zion-be thou the Christian's joy,
Bound up in thee, without alloy
Are pleasures found: Susana, this,
Chief joy, be also thine-tby bliss;
Here found, thy joys remain !

X. Y. Z.

GOLDEN PARABLES.

FROM THE GERMAN-BY THE EDITOR

LXI-THE SINGULAR WALL.

The people of a lonely farm house during a time of war were in great dread. Particularly on a certain night were they in painful fear. The enemy was coming into the neighborhood. The nightly heavens, now here and now there, grew live and lurid from conflagrations. Fearful firing was heard near at hand. Besides, it was winter, and the weather was cold and stormy. The good people were every moment in danger of being plundered, and now, at this inclement season of the year, being driven away from house and home.

Grand-parents, parents, and children, remained in one room together during the whole night in prayer. The aged grandmother read prayers from an old prayer book. In a "Prayer for the time of war," there were these words: "The Lord make a strong wall around this dwelling, to keep the enemy from us." The young father, who was listening devoutly, thought however that to make a wall around them was asking entirely too much of God.

Meanwhile the night passed away, without a single soldier entering the house. All in the house were surprised at this. When, in the morning, they ventured to the door, behold! on the side toward the enemy, the snow was drifted in high heaps like a wall, so that it was not possible to pass through it.

All praised God, and gave thanks. The grandmother said: "See, has not God made a wall to keep the enemy from our dwelling? I hold firmly to the truth that

He who trusts in God is sure

To be from all his foes secure.

LXII.-T HE FARM HOUSE.

The old man Wilibald, was very fond of strife, and was always at law with some one. At one time he saw that at a neighbor's house some persons were breaking a hole through the wall to put in a new window on the side toward his house. Wilibald did not like that, and threatened to complain of his neighbor before the magistrate.

The other neighbors came to Wilibald and said: "Do not in your old age, begin another law-suit; it is impossible that you should gain anything in this stupid proceeding."

But Wilibald grew angry, struck on the table with his fist, and exclaimed in fearful words: "I give you my word that I will gain it, and prevent my neighbor from looking over into my yard."

Wilibald began the law-suit-lost it, and was compelled to pay all the costs. But since, by his ceasless lawing, he had gotten into debt, he was not able to pay the costs, and consequently his house was sold.