But no, the Lord your choice will be ;
Then cleave to Him alone,

Nor dare henceforth to bow the knee
To worthless blocks of stone."

What solemn words! can we refuse
The summons to obey,

Which calls us now, at once, to choose?
How dare we then delay!

Though the same things we need not fear
By which the Jews were tried,
Are there no objects even here
That lure our hearts aside?

Whatever rules the human mind

With a complete control,
Within the bosom dwells enshrined,

The idol of the soul.

Alas! what numbers freely bend
To pleasure's silken reign;
To mammon-worship some descend,
Bound by his golden chain.

And oh! how many spirits bow
Before an earthly shrin e-
Round objects fading even now
Their fondest hopes entwine.
However fair, however dear,

The object of our love,
Yet if supreme it governs here,
It must an idol prove.

Only the Lord should fill the throne,
And reign in every breast;
The temples formed for God alone,
Must be by Him possess'd.
May Jesus' love constrain us still,

Here we our vow record;

Let others worship whom they will,
But we will serve the Lord.

EMILIE.

THE PERFECT PEACE.

AMIDST the agitation and the strife

Of this unquiet world, where grief's deep swell
Commingles with the hurrying cares of life,
And all, however fair, is mutable,

Calm in his bearing, stedfast in God's grace,
The Christian meets the conflict, self-possess'd;
Like some broad mountain, at whose verdant base
The troubled waters roll and never rest;
They ebb and flow-it moves not from its place.

A feverish excitement marks the mien

Of worldly men—at mammon's shrine they bow;
But the believer stands erect, serene,

With "perfect peace" upon his open brow.
Whence gathers he the radiance of his look?
Nay; ask how shine the stars in darksome night,
Making the heavens one grand illumined book,
Where we may read, in glowing words of light,
His name, who hides Himself from mortal sight!

Reflective are the beams they shed, as through
Night's sable veil they peep with lustrous eyes;
You see not, then, the sun;-no, but they do,
And from his treasures gain their rich supplies.
And so the Christian, on his heavenward way,
Casts an effulgence o'er this dreary earth;
Because his glance has caught a living ray
From that great Orb who gives all gladness birth ;-
But other men are blind to love's display.

And thus, in heart-composure, he fulfils
A mission, noble and beneficent.
The dew falls tranquilly, but it distills

Joy to the flower; the early light, when sent
To scatter all the darkness from the sky,
Treads with a noiseless step; the bird set free,
With an unruffled pinion soars on high:
So mighty truth advances silently,

And still small voices" tell that God is nigh.

H. M. W..

EVENINGS WITH THE EDITOR.

EVENING THE THIRTY-SIXTH.

Ed. All quarrelsome people should take in the HERALD OF PEACE.

Emm. It is such a horrible magazine!

Mrs. M. Emmeline !

Emm. Yes, indeed, mamma; it picks out all the most dreadful incidents of the war, everything which can disgust and make one shudder. It is worse than peeping into that old bone-house where Augustus and I found ourselves the other day.

Ed. It does this to create a distaste for war. It is quite right that we should see both sides. While war has its glories painted by the pencil of the artist and the pen of the poet, it is quite proper that some sterner moralist should sometimes strip it of its tinsel, and show us what it really is, what it must be, as long as human passions are raging in the heart and firing the blood.

Emm. Is all war wrong?

Ed. Too large a subject for us to discuss now. If war in the abstract may be deemed just, that will not, necessarily, constitute the justification of any particular war. So that, besides the general question of war, you will have to decide upon the merits of each conflict.

Mrs. M. There are two things we may be thankful for; that we can as Christians anticipate the arrival of a period when wars shall cease, and that we ourselves are not compelled to take any personal share in the present war.

Aug. Except paying a double income-tax-that seems rather personal.

Emm. Yes; and do you remember that Mr. O'Halloran said he always belonged to the Peace Society twice a year? Ed. Twice a year?

Emm. Certainly, Sir. He always joined the Peace Society on the day the collector called for his double income-tax. He said he always felt his peace principles to be very strong then.

Aug. I should think so.

Emm. Our next book is à propos-WHO'LL SERVE THE QUEEN ?*

Mrs. M. By whom?

Emm. By our old friend "Orris."

* London: Christian Knowledge Society.

Aug. What is it about?

Emm. A young soldier, whose conversion, bravery, and death are simply and truthfully sketched. A very suitable book for a young soldier.

Aug. There is always something very real about the characters, which Miss

Emm. Hush! Augustus.

Aug. I beg her pardon.

Mrs. M. Another "fair incognita."

Aug. So it seems; although the authoress of "Allerton and Dreux" need not be afraid of venturing in propria persona before the public.

Aug. Here is a work of a very fanciful character, by Mrs. H. H. B. Paull-THE DOCTOR'S VISION.*

Ed. What is it?

Aug. An allegory, designed to set forth the wonderful construction of the human being, and the wise provisions made for its health and happiness.

Ed. Is this well done?

Aug. Yes, on the whole. Mrs. Paull borrows the language of phrenology to aid her descriptions, though without intending to defend the science; and the allegory is cleverly sustained.

Emm. Its meaning peeps out rather too prominently, I think. Ed. A most common fault of allegorizers.

Mrs. M. Is it not one very difficult to avoid?

Ed. I am sure it is.

Mrs. M. We shall never have another John Bunyan.

Ed. Nor need wish for another, as he has done the allegorizer's work so completely.

Aug. Here is a tit-bit of allegory, which I will extract for the good of our lady-friends :

Emm. How benevolent!

Aug. Don't interrupt:-"I now followed my fairy guide through the more closely-inhabited parts of this wonderful city noticing as I passed the remarkable resemblance the buildings bore to each other. In some few cases I observed a want of external perfections, but they were so rare as to form singular exceptions. There certainly existed degrees of difference in the beauty and outward polish of the exterior; but absolute and glaring deformity was very seldom seen, and when it occurs, is frequently the fault of the Governor. To confirm the truth of this statement my guide led me to a castle, the tower of which was very beautiful, but the centre

London: Bell and Daldy.

hall, generally so noble in its proportions, appeared to belong to another style of building. As I entered the tower, the appearance of Vanity perfectly amazed me. He was a giant in that tower, while Reason, Intellect, and Religion were as pigmies compared to him. This Vanity had persuaded the Governor of the tower to believe that he knew a much more elegant form for the centre tower than that usually produced by the workmen. He knew, however, that none but violent measures could prevent them from carrying out the intentions of their Great Master. A framework of dark, stiff material, and in the desired form, was therefore erected around the arched hall. The workmen, after struggling for years against such opposition, at length gave up the attempt, and allowed the building to take the peculiar shape it now exhibits. The consequences are fatal. The machines contained in the great hall have not room to work. The expansion of the ventilator is impeded; the filtering machine is unable to perform its office with regularity; and the labourers within and around the chemical chamber are sometimes obliged to suspend their operations from total inability to move in the narrow space allowed them. In all probability the castle will fall to decay before it has stood twenty or thirty years. At one period, so many cases of this premature decay occurred, as to create an alarm among the inhabitants since then, greater care has been taken to encourage and promote the growth of Reason and Intellect in towers governed by females, and to establish the sway of Firmness, or Self-Control, as she is sometimes called. When this is achieved, Vanity can never attain to such an enormous size and influence."

:

Emm. I can guess its meaning.

Ed. Well, young people, and how did you like Dr. Todd's Address to the Sunday School Teachers of London?

Aug. Exceedingly well.

Emm. So did I. But

Ed. But what?

Emm. Why, I don't wish to find any fault

Aug. I should think not.

Emm. But, he was so very American.

Aug. As if he could be otherwise!

Emm. I might have known he must have the peculiarities of America; but really, when reading his charming books, I had never thought about his not being an Englishman.

Ed. Unconsciously, you are giving him the greatest possible praise.

Emm. Am I? I am very glad. But I certainly sympa