nature of an angel, yearning to be the messenger of peace and of joy to all around; and then, perhaps, in the brief space of a flying hour, the would-be angel comes tumbling down from his starry heights, stripped of his glory, shorn of his beams, deprived of his disinterestedness—a poor infirm, clod-like, worldly-minded, selfish, and spirit-depressed Old Humphrey. I have now given you something to muse on; and if you are in a mood to turn it to account, an hour devoted to reflection may promote your own good and God's glory.

OLD HUMPHREY IN HIS

ALTITUDES.

As my heart feels bigger than usual in my bosom, and as I am in one of those moods when, if there be aught that is high and holy within, it struggles to come forth, I have seated myself at my study-table, and taken up my pen, to see if, haply, I can fling on my paper any of those elastic and spirit-stirring thoughts which, at times, raise us above our common standard.

There are glorious moments that now and then shed their influence over me; moments when my spirit springs away, as if disembodied, on some undefined and imaginary enterprise ennobling to humanity, elevated and pure, philanthropic and disinterested. "Few and far between" are these golden glimpses and high-wrought aspirations, but yet they do come, filling with sunshine my whole heart and mind. In these seasons I am weary of being nobody and doing nothing; my heart yearns for higher and holier objects than those which have occupied me; the pigmy would be a giant, the sparrow on the house-top an eagle

soaring in the air, and the lowly worm of the earth an angel-ay, an archangel of the heavens !

But though there is much that is delightful to be found in this earth-spurning, sky-scraping attitude of mind, and though it is not the poor pitiful ambition of holding up my head or my actions higher than those of my neighbours that influences me, yet I am constrained to believe, after some reflection on the matter, that there is much of infirmity and pride mingled with these highwrought emotions. In such seasons, the real language of the heart is, perhaps, "If God would send me flying through the world like an angel, I would do every thing for him; but while he requires me to creep along a lowly pathway, or confines me to one little spot, that I may do one little thing, I can do nothing." There is a turning on the heel from the humble path of obedience, to the proud highway of hot-hearted zeal. "I do well to be angry." "Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?" Jonah iv. 9; 2 Kings v. 12; or, in other words, "Is not my way better than God's way?"

It may be that some of you are acquainted with this state of feeling, and if so, be on your guard against high-mindedness! To be satisfied to do that which the High and Holy One has appointed us to perform, is true wisdom. As all angels

cannot be archangels, so hewers of wood and drawers of water must not expect to be builders of the temple; footmen should not be riders on horses and drivers of chariots, neither can common-place Christians hope to be employed on uncommon enterprises. To know and to do the will of our heavenly Father, should be the highest pinnacle of Christian desire. When our ambitious yearnings go mounting in the air like sky-rockets, like skyrockets, alas! they soon come tumbling down again. We shall do well to remember, that diamonds are bedded in dross, and that in like manner our purest heavenly desires are imbedded in the dross of a sinful, earthly heart.

Pride, make of it what we will, is a sad enemy to our peace, and a proud man is a target at which a fool may fire without missing his mark. It may be said of spiritual pride as truly as of any other, that "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall," Prov. xvi. 18. Whenever, impatient of his common duties, a Christian man unreasonably desires to be promoted to higher occupations, taking the highest room before the Master says to him, "Friend, go up higher," depend upon it that spiritual pride is at work in his heart. You see what pains I take to prove myself guilty; but, disguise it as we may, truth is truth; and as I believe

that these high-minded emotions of mine spring more from pride than from any other principle, they deserve no quarter at my hands.

But now, having dealt honestly by myself, let me ask, How is it with you? If plain dealing be medicine to my mind, it may operate medicinally on yours; and, to confess the truth, I have no predilection to flog myself, and to let you go free. If you ever do get into one of these high-minded, discontented moods, watch over yourselves narrowly, lest it bring trouble and sorrow upon your hearts. It is unlovely, unreasonable, and unchristian-like to give ourselves airs, even in our desires, altering the wise arrangements of our heavenly Father, reversing the order of his glorious system, blotting out from existence what we like not, and retaining only what is suited to our views; taking the sweet, and refusing the bitter. "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" Job ii. 10. What right have we, instead of encouraging thankfulness for the changing seasons, to desire, because it may fall in with our present temper, an eternal spring, an unceasing summer, a perpetual autumn, or an everlasting winter? Oh for the hearty emanation from the heart as well as from the lip, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

Never, perhaps, was Peter prouder than when