But this reminds us that there is a Scylla as well as a Charybdis in the sea over which we are now endeavouring to steer the workman, and we must take care not to dash him against the rock of worldliness while trying to keep him clear of the gulf of waste and want. It is a difficult thing to use the world as not abusing it. Some friends of the working man, in trying to guide him to the improvement of his temporal condition, do so in a miserably worldly spirit. They speak to him as if rising in the world were the chief end of man; as if the highest possible object of life were to make a comfortable nest for one's-self and one's family,-to extract from this passing world all the good which it is capable of yielding. From the bottom of our heart, we deprecate this spirit. We know no character more contemptible than Mr. Worldly Wiseman, and no form of idolatry more withering, more fatal to everything pure and lovely and noble, than the worship of money. Where money is the chief good, all forms of miserable parsimony, all the low arts of paltry saving, will come like a cloud between the miser and his duty. Worthy parents will be left to drag out their old age in struggling penury, while their children are saving and rising in the world; brothers and neighbours waxen poor and fallen into decay, will be allowed to sigh in vain for the trifle

that would set them on their feet; and when the claims of some noble Christian enterprise are presented, ingenuity will be taxed to discover some plausible excuse for giving nothing in its support. Miserable, miserable! God forbid that anything now said should be perverted to an end so contemptible.

But difficult though it be to find the middle channel between Scylla and Charybdis, between waste and worldliness, it does exist, and may be found. On the one hand, money is not to be despised. Mr. Henry Taylor says with great truth, "The philosophy which affects to teach us a contempt of money does not run very deep; . . . there are few things in the world of greater importance. And so manifold are the bearings of money upon the lives and characters of mankind, that an insight which should search out the life of a man in his pecuniary relations, would penetrate into almost every cranny of his nature. He who knows, like St. Paul, both how to spare and how to abound, has a great knowledge; for if we take account of all the virtues with which money is bound up-honesty, justice, generosity, charity, frugality, forethought, self-sacrifice and of their co-relative vices, it is a knowledge which goes near to cover the length and breadth of humanity; and a right measure and manner in getting, saving, spending, taking, lending,

borrowing and bequeathing, would almost argue a perfect man."

On the other hand, infinite care needs to be taken to keep money in its proper place--as a means to good, but not the good--as a servant, not a master. Economy is a good thing, but like other good qualities, it is apt to degenerate. Forethought in providing against coming evil is a good thing; but unless it be guided by a Christian spirit, it degenerates into mere confidence in the creature and independence of the Creator. Let no care bestowed on worldly concerns lead any to forget that, apart from the favour and blessing of God, this world can profit nothing. Never did our blessed Saviour ask a more solemn question than this, What is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

CHAPTER V.

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MONEY.

"That nothing be lost."-JOHN vi. 12.

OUR last chapter has made it pretty plain (to ourselves at least) that there is no royal road by which the working people of this, or of any other country, can spring at a bound to a position of much greater social comfort. At the same time we have seen that, though there is no royal road, there is a path by which, if they choose, they may gradually rise to a higher level, and enjoy an enlarged amount of social prosperity. One side of this road, one part of this plan, we have already tried to describe; but the description is incomplete until we speak of another.

The leading principle that we would now lay down is, that the social elevation of workmen as a class does not depend merely on their earning higher wages, but also on their turning to the best account what they actually earn; in other words, if workmen would rise as a class, they should look, not only

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to their earnings, but also to their expenditure. If they do so, we believe they are likely to find, in the first place, that what they actually earn may, as a general rule, be spent more profitably; and, in the second place, that this wiser expenditure will react favourably upon their earnings, and make these considerably greater than they are.

In entering on this subject, we know that we are treading on delicate ground. We are liable to leave behind us a very erroneous impression of our meaning. We may be represented as bringing promiscuous charges against a whole class, while we have in view but a portion of that class. Our honest endeavour to offer useful suggestions may be interpreted as an impertinent attempt to dictate. Any expression of grief at the recklessness of some, may be resented as an insult to the character of all. Knowing these dangers, we crave indulgence; and we do so the more confidently, that we believe that our general tone must make it clear that nothing can be further from our purpose than to dictate or to misrepresent.

It is impossible to deny that a vast amount of workmen's earnings, squeezed from human thews and sinews, is put, as soon as earned, into a bag with holes. First and foremost among the causes of this gigantic mis-spending are the drinking habits