due promptness, and of adhering firmly to your decisions when they have been made, it will be in vain to expect that you will act in life with any considerable success. "" Nothing will go right unless you dare to be singular. Every thing will be wrong when a man has not learnt-and the sooner you learn it the better for your lives here and yonder-the great art of saying No."" The examples of moral courage recorded in history may be studied with great advantage. The calmness with which Socrates drank the cup of poison has already been noticed. The grand words of Martin Luther are well known. When warned of the danger to bis life incurred by attending the Diet, he said, I am determined to enter the city though as many devils should oppose me as there are tiles upon all the houses at Worms." The most sublime illustration of moral courage is afforded by Jesus Christ. Fully aware of the mockery, sufferings, and cruel death that awaited Him, He "stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem." But it must be confessed that the foregoing means are in themselves insufficient. A good English writer has the following remarks :— How many times since you were a boy have you said, 'Now I am determined that I will never do that again. I have flung away opportunities. I have played the fool and erred exceedingly-but I now turn over a new leaf! Yes, and you have turned it and if I might go on with the metaphor, the first gust of passion or temptation has blown the leaf back again, and the old page has been spread before you once more just as it used to be. The history of individual souls and the tragedy of the world's history recurring in every age, in which the noblest beginnings lead to disastrous ends, and each new star of promise that rises on the horizon leads men unto quagmires and sets in blood, sufficiently show how futile the attempt in our own strength to overcome and expel the evils that are rooted in our nature. "Moralists may preach' Unless above himself he can erect himself, how mean a thing is man,' but all the preaching in the world is of no avail. The task is an impossibility. The stream cannot rise above its source, nor be purified in its flow if bitter waters come from the fountain. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is no power in human nature to cast off this clinging self. As in the awful vision of the poet, the serpent is grown into the man. The will is feeble for good, the conscience sits like a diserowned king issuing empty mandates, while all his realm is up in rebellion, and treats his proclamations as so much waste paper. How can a man remake himself? how cast off his own nature? The means at his disposal need themselves to be cleansed, for themselves are tainted. It is the old story-who will keep the keepers ?-who will heal the sick physicians? "With man this is impossible; but with God all things are possible." Complete victory over the old sinful self is to be found in Jesus Christ. " Union with Him gives us a real possession of a new principle of life, derived from Him, and like His own. That real, perfect, immortal life, which hath no kindred with evil, and flings off pollution and decay from its pure surface, will wrestle with and finally overcome the living death of obedience to the deceitful lusts. Our weakness will be made vigorous by this inbreathed power. Our gravitation to earth and sin will be overcome by the yearning of that life to its source. An all-constraining motive will be found in love to Him who has given Himself for us. We shall die with Him to sin, when, resting by faith on Him who has died for sin, we are made conformable to His death, that we may walk in newness of life. Faith in Jesus gives us a share in the working of that mighty power by which He makes all things new. The renovation blots out the past, and changes the direction of the future." Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart." XIV.-HOME DUTIES. An English poet says, "Sweet is the smile of home; the mutual look, Sweet all the joys that crowd the household nook, There is no spot on earth so dear as a well-regulated Home. Around it entwine the tenderest recollections. It recalls the sweet tones, the pleasant smile of a beloved mother; the counsels of a father; brothers and sisters, the companions of our childhood. Amid misfortune, when the world may frown upon us, home sympathy and love are our support. It has happened, not unfrequently, that men who by their talents have raised themselves to the highest offices of state, have, in their old age, forsaken the splendour of the capital, and gone to spend the last years of their life in their native village. It is true that the above remarks apply only to a family where love reigns. There are many homes with which no pleasing thoughts are associated. This arises from the misconduct of the members, for the family relationship is one of the greatest provisions made by God for man's temporal happiness. Let each person, in his place, endeavour, with divine help, so to discharge his duties, that Home may secure all the advantages for which it was designed. Duty to Parents. Our parents are our greatest earthly benefactors. Under God, they are the authors of our being, and the channel through which nearly all our blessings flow. Hence, our duty to our parents comes next to our duty to God. "Honour thy father and thy mother," is the first command, so far as our fellowbeings are concerned. Upon its observance or neglect, our temporal happiness or misery very largely depends. Duty to parents includes the following: 1. Obedience. This should be prompt. It is a disgrace to a child, that it should be necessary for a father or a mother to repeat a command. He should, if possible, anticipate a parent's wish, and not wait for it to be expressed in words. A tardy obedience loses all its glory. It should also be cheerful. A son leaving his father's presence, sullen and muttering, obeying only through fear of punishment, is a melancholy sight. Of what value is anything he does in such a temper as this? Obedience ought to be universal. Children should be ready to give up their own wills, and obey commands that are difficult as well as those that are easy. There is only one limit to obedience. A child ought not to do what is positively wrong. If a wicked parent should order his child to lie or to steal, it would be the child's duty to refuse, and meekly submit to the punishment which the parent might inflict. Obedience is generally rendered to a parent in his presence, but his commands are often set aside in his absence. Such hypocrisy is detestable. Act upon noble principles. God and conscience are always present. Some children obey a father from fear of punishment, but disregard the commands of a mother, Obedience is equally due to both. The Bible says, "Hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother." Hindus generally love their mothers; but in some cases they despise them, saying, "You are only a woman; what do you know!" Such conduct is strongly to be condemned. A widowed mother deserves peculiar respect and obedience. 2. Honour. The son who properly honours his parents will always be gentle and respectful. He will address them as a modest inferior. Should he differ in opinion, he will state his views, not flippantly, but in a spirit of modest inquiry. If a parent reprove him more sharply than is due, he will neither answer again nor show resentment. This duty does not depend upon the character or disposition of parents. The command is to honour them because they are parents, not on account of any moral quality they may possess. It sometimes happens that parents, who have had little learning themselves, have made very self-denying efforts to secure a good education for their children. Young men, under such circumstances, are very apt to look down upon their parents. But moral virtues are of far higher value than literary attainments. The father, in true worth, may be greatly superior to his son. Besides, the son owes all that he possesses to the affection of his father. Under such circumstances, the latter is only the more entitled to honour. Children should be careful about the manner in which they speak of their parents. They should not talk about their faults; they should not mention them lightly, but seek to render their parents respectable in the eyes of others, The spirit of arrogance is one of the greatest dangers of the present day. In the estimation of |