is made up of their remembered failures in dealing with others in the affairs of life. Such failures, in sensible men, incite to better self-management, and greater tact and self-control, as a means of avoiding them in future."

False estimates of success in life are very common. It is usually considered to apply only to men who attain riches or high position. But he who barters self-respect and conscience for either, miserably fails. Solomon says, "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches." Were a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul, what would it profit?

"True success in life is success in building up a pure, honest, energetic character; in so shaping our habits, our thoughts, and our aspirations, as to best qualify us for that higher life on which we shall enter after the death of the visible body. Wordsworth well describes the happy warrior' as one who 'makes his moral being his prime caro' :

"6 'Tis he whose law is reason; who depends
Upon that law, as on the best of friends;
Who fixes good on good alone, and owes
To Virtue every triumph that he knows;
Who, if he rise to station of command,
Rises by open means, and there will stand
On honourable terms, or else retire,
And in himself possess his own desire !"

XXXVI.-THE OBJECT OF LIFE.

MOST people spend life without any definite purpose. They may be compared to a ship which is allowed to be driven hither and thither on the ocean by the variable winds and currents. A man with some fixed object is like a vessel bound to a certain port, which is steadily kept in view whatever storms or calms may be encountered. To work upon a plan, makes a vast difference in what we can accomplish.

It is not sufficient, however, to have merely some aim in life. Its nature is of vital importance. There are many persons who have an object before them, to which every thing is made subservient, whose lives must yet be pronounced a failure.

It

Enjoyment is the great end of most men. assumes various forms. One of the most common and harmless is to seek to live comfortably. Others look for it in idleness; some in amusements, in gratifying the appetites.

Wealth is regarded by many as "the one thing needful." They rise early, sit up late, and eat the bread of carefulness, that they may increase their gains. Beyond this, they have neither thought nor desire.

Honour is with a smaller number the chief object of ambition. It is sought in different ways. Fools seek it by squandering their money at marriages; some men strive to obtain it through office; a few by means of literature or science.

Mournful experience has shown that all these objects combined and attained cannot give true happiness.

Chesterfield says, "I have run the silly rounds of business and pleasure, and have done with them all. I have enjoyed all the pleasures of the world, and consequently know their futility, and do not regret their loss. I appraise them at their real value, which is, in truth, very low; whereas, those that have not experienced, always overrate them." Lord Byron had wealth, rank, genius, and reputation. He is truthfully described as the man who

"Drank every cup of joy, heard every trump

Of fame; drank early, deeply drank, drank draughts
That common millions might have quenched; then died
Of thirst, because there was no more to drink.”

Tennyson shows "how the self-seeking Intellect is punished"*

"And death and life she hated equally,

And nothing saw, for her despair,

But dreadful Time, dreadful Eternity,
No comfort anywhere."

Even could earthly things satisfy the soul, there is one thought which must always mar their joy:

66

.........that disheartening fear,

Which all who love beneath the sky
Feel when they gaze on what is dear,

The dreadful thought, that it must die:
That desolating thought, which comes
Into men's happiest hours and homes."
God intended that it should be so.

Augustine says, " O Lord, Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless till it find rest in Thee." Cowper expresses similar sentiments:

"But, O Thou bounteous Giver of all good,

Thou art of all Thy gifts Thyself the crown ;

Give what Thou canst, without Thee we are poor,
And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away."

Ponder deeply the importance of life. "Think of living!" says Carlyle. "Thy life, wert thou the pitifullest of all the sons of the earth, is no idle dream, but a solemn reality. It is thine own; it is all thou hast to confront eternity with. Work, then, like a star, unhastening, yet unending."

It is true that there are several objects to be kept in view in life. We must provide for our support; we should store our minds with useful knowledge; and there are many other things which may be lawfully pursued. What we are now considering is the chief end of man, the one great design to which every thing else should be made subordinate.

To do God's will, or to be good and to do good, include the purpose of being. The two great comKay's "Promises of Christianity," p. 62.

*

mandments in which Jesus Christ summed up the whole law have already been mentioned.

The Bible says of God, "Thou art good, and doest good." This is the character at which we should aim. We fulfil the object of our existence only when we copy this pattern.

To be good is the first step. Without this we cannot expect to do any real, lasting good to others, and even although we could, to be a "castaway' ourselves, would be a deplorable end. To be as good as we can is the best means of being as useful as

we can.

Confessing our sinfulness, we should accept God's gracious offers of pardon through Jesus Christ, aud trust in Him alone for salvation. We should earnestly strive, through the help of the Holy Spirit, to conquer every sin, and to bring every thought to the obedience of Christ. The Apostle Paul says, "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' We should seek that Christ's will may be ours.

One of the petitions of the Lord's prayer is, "Thy kingdom come." This world is a revolted province of God's dominions. Men have risen in rebellion against their great Creator and said, "We will not have Him to reign over us." They have turned from God, the "perfection of beauty," to hideous idols; they have worshipped brute beasts, and even devils. By far the greatest good we can do to our fellow men is to lead them to return to their rightful Lord. It is of little avail whatever else is done, if this is not gained. So long as men are rebels against God, they can have no true joy, while every other blessing will follow reconciliation. If God's will were done on earth as it is in heaven, earth would resemble heaven in happiness.

India is one of the strongholds of idolatry. She

has thus been addressed: "Oh India! in thee are found the types of all that is beautiful and magnificent. In thy land are the Creator's glories peculiarly manifest, and providential gifts bestowed in richest profusion; yet thou art without thy God. Thou art rich in all grains, and dyes, and minerals, in spices and perfumes; but thou art not rich unto God. Thou displayest on thy unbounded surface all physical beauty and grace; but thou art unto God a dreary wilderness. Thy sun scatters its vivid beams and makes thy day one of surpassing glory; but thou art covered with the shroud of spiritual night. Thy people possess intellect and imagination; but in the things of God thy wise men are fools, thy learned are dotards-thine aged men grope as the blind."

What more glorious enterprise could there be than to seek to turn India from dumb idols to the living God! It is one which has special claims upon you. The land to be benefited is that of your birth. Its people are bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh. You have also peculiar advantages for the work. Foreigners must often speak with a "stammering tongue;" they are unacquainted with the thoughts and feelings of those they address; the doctrines they teach are looked upon as alien. You can use accents which fall with sweetness upon your fellowcountrymen; you know the misapprehensions which have to be guarded against, the best means of presenting truth; you can testify from your own experience. The history of India shows what changes may be effected even through the labours of one man. Gautama Buddha taught a system which eventually spread from Peshawar to Cape Comorin. Largely through the efforts of Sankara Acharya, Brahmanism regained its ascendancy. Men equally zealous, with God's help, might speedily turn the whole of