CHARITY. THE sacred volume exhorts us to Charity. How carefully then should we cherish this kindly feeling, this spark from the fountain of life, that it may beam forth undimmed, and with its pure and friendly light, cast a ray over our many imperfections, in that day when all will stand in need of mercy and forbearance! It is not the bare distribution of alms to the needy and suffering beggar, it is not the pompous offerings of opulence to the shrinking child of poverty, which constitutes true charity;-no; it is to be understood in a far wider sense; it is forbearing to join with the multitude, when trampling upon a fallen fellow-creature. It is the voice of charity which pleads for the wretched and the penitent, which raises the prostrate, and whispers forgiveness for the past, and hope for the future. It is her hand which pours the balm of consolation into the lacerated bosom of the returning wanderer; who dares not look back upon the past, and whose heart shrinks as it meets the cold and averted glances of those, who in the hour of its pride had bowed before it. We are all liable to err. Let us make the situation of the suffering penitent our own. Where are the friends we had fondly fancied ours? fled, as from the breath of pestilence, and we are desolate; left with the arrow of adversity rankling in our bosoms, like the stricken deer by the selfish herd, to perish in solitude and wretchedness. There is no heart so hardened and depraved, that it will not, when the soft voice of charity whispers peace and forgiveness, yield like wax beneath the hand which stamps it. Then is the moment to impress upon it the sacred precepts of virtue, and to place the bright rewards of penitence before it. "Let us then do as we would that others should do unto us;" have mercy upon the fallen, and stretch forth the hand of charity to the suffering and the penitent. REMARKS ON THE IMMORALITY OF WHY is it that the ear of modesty must be shocked by the indelicacy and immorality which obstinately clings to the stage, that vehicle of good or evil, that splendid engine whose movements may shed a halo of brilliancy around it, or leave behind the blackened traces of its desolating progress? Can the eye of innocence gaze even upon the mimic characters of vice, or the ear of delicacy become familiarized to the rude and boisterous, or the more dangerously subtle insinuations of depravity, without quitting the fascinating scene less fastidious in its feelings, less sensible to the bold intrusions of barefaced wickedness? No: - though the change be slow and almost imperceptible, still it will not be the less certain, the fatal poison will creep to the very vitals of virtue, and stamp deep stains upon the spotless tablet of inno cence. Must then all that is bright and pure be shut out from those scenes of fascination, and delight? Must that very purity which should be cherished and guarded as a sacred deposit, be converted into a chain wherewith to shackle the amusements of its possessor? Would not the frequent indulgence of this amusement, be holding forth a strong temptation to those who are but partially fortified in the principles of rectitude to overleap the crumbling ill-formed barrier, and plunge at once into the boundless ocean of vice and immorality? Oh why will not authors, those helmsmen in the mighty vessel of improvement, dash the countless stains from the charts which they are holding to our eyes, and transform their blackened pages to pure, spotless records of truth and virtue? Then we should no longer mark the blush of offended modesty mantling the cheek of sensibility, or the frown of disapprobation clouding the pure brow of refinement and morality. The stage would then become the guardian and the friend, instead of the fell destroyer of all that is pure and virtuous in the human breast. CONTEMPLATION OF THE HEAVENS. To count the glittering millions of the sky, to marshal them in bright array before us, to mark the brilliant traces of a Creator's presence, the foot-prints of the Deity, is a hallowed and sublime employment of the soul; for being insensibly led onward from gazing upon the portals of heaven, the wonderful threshold of God's wide pavilion, it dares to lift itself in pure and unearthly communion, with the Holy Spirit that inhabits there, and to bow in adoration and praise before the great I AM. To a feeling mind, the heavens unroll a vast volume, filled with subjects of wonder, love, and praise. Wonder, at the inconceivable majesty and goodness of the great Creator of so vast, so splendid a system; love, for his condescension in deigning to bend his attention to so insignificant a creature as man, even in the meridian of his earthly glory; and praise, for his unchangeable benevolence, infinite wisdom, and perfection. What hand but that of a God could have formed the wide solar system above us? what voice but that of Him who created them, could bid the starry millions move on for thousands of ages in one unbroken and unceasing march? The lights of heaven are bright and beautiful, still they are but feeble beams from the everlasting fountain of splendour, or wandering sparks of Heaven's dazzling glory. Well indeed might Zoroaster, in the enthusiasm of his heart, worship the fires of Heaven as parts of that ineffable and never-dying spirit which animates and lives in all, through all eternity. In the dark ages of superstition and bigotry, was it strange that he should turn in disgust from the sacrifices of blood, from horrid images the disgraceful productions of weak bewildered minds, to a fount of pure, unchanging, living light, to the brilliant fires above him, holding their unbroken paths through Heaven, pointing to God's throne, and whispering to the heart of something still more bright, more beautiful and holy? 10 THE ORIGIN OF CHIVALRY. When society first began to form itself, rank and authority became necessary to subdue the wild and impetuous passions which raged unbridled in the savage bosom of man; oppression and vassalage first appeared in the form of feudal government, each family looked up to its head, as each kingdom does now, to his sovereign, his will was absolute, and his power unbounded in his castle and dominions. In this way the rights of man were partially secured, the vassal was bound to serve and succour his lord in the hour of danger, as it was that lord's auty to support and protect his serf; but in those ruae and barbarous ages, where was weak and helpless woman to find a shelter from the wild and lawless multitude? and what tribunal was there to which she could appeal if injured? when man was contending with man for superiority, or right, where could she fly for redress? could the feeble voice of woman be heard amid the uproar? no! - but it arose, though in murmurs, to the ear of ner Maker, and that very evil which menaced her destruction, proved her blessing. In the dark ages of the world, woman held not that rank in society which a more enlightened age has allotted her; she was deemed merely the slave of man's tyrannical will, the tool of his pleasure too weak to defend herself, and too insignificant to claim the protection of the lords of the creation.As the sun of Religion arose upon the world, the dark clouds of contention arose with its light,-arms were the arguments which were unanimously chosen to decide every controversy; the sword was the test of |