Every man has it in his power. He has merely to use the language which he reads instead of the slang which he hears; to form his taste from the best speakers and writers of the country; to treasure up choice phrases in his memory, and habituate himself to their use. Let the young man write as well as speak, and with equal care. No matter how slow, only be correct, and practice will produce facility. Speed in composition is a questionable advantage. Poetic history records two names which may represent the rapid and the thoughtful pen-Lopez de Vega and Milton. We see one pouring out verses more rapidly than a secretary could write them; the other building up, in the watches of the dark, a few majestic lines. One leaving his treasures to be easily compressed into a single volume-the other to be spread abundantly over forty-six quartos; one gaining fifteen pounds -the other a hundred thousand ducats; one sitting at the door of his house, when the sun shone, in a coarse coat of gray cloth, and visited only by a few learned men from foreign countries-the other followed by crowds wherever he appeared, while even the children shouted after him with delight. It is only since the earth has fallen on both that the fame and the honour of the Spaniard and the Englishman have been changed. He who nearly finished a comedy before breakfast now lies motionless in his small niche of monumental biography; and he who, long choosing, began late, is walking up and down in his singing robes, and with laurel

round his head, in the cities of many lands; having his home and his welcome in every devout heart, and upon every learned tongue of the Christian world.

But what of languages? Not much for the mass of men in business; and till the English tongue be thoroughly mastered, nothing at all. Taking the very highest estimate that has been offered of their attainments, the list of those who have been reputed to have possessed more than ten languages is a very short one. Only four, Mithridates, Pico of Mirandola, Jonadab Alhanæ, and Sir William Jones, are said in the loosest sense to have passed the limit of twenty. To the first two fame ascribes twenty-two, and to the last two twenty-eight languages. Muller, Niebuhr, Fulgence, Fresnel, and perhaps Sir John Bowring, are usually set down as knowing twenty languages. For Elihu Burritt and Csoma de Koros, their admirers claim eighteen. Renaudot, the controversialist, is said to have known seventeen; Professor Lee, sixteen; and the attainments of the older linguists, as Arias Montamus, Martin del Rio, the converted Rabbi Libettas Cominetus, the admirable Crichton, are said to have ranged from this down to ten or twelvemost of them the ordinary languages of learned and of polite society. There are few things in which the folly of mankind is more manifest than in their idolatry of the man who is said to know a number of languages. As an end, such knowledge is absolutely worthless. It has no value but as a means. What better would any Englishman

be for knowing the Italian, the French, the German, the Swedish, and the Russian for every noun contained in his own vocabulary of daily life? He would thus know a multitude more words, but not an additional thing. But it is things, not words, that form the staple of

human knowledge. Among the greatest of linguists may be found the most ignorant of men. Much, moreover, that has been said on the subject is pure fiction. No man, uninspired, ever knew twenty or thirty languages.

A LINGUIST.

ment.

Much has been said of late respecting the reason why young men, in large numbers, do not offer themselves for the work of the ministry, and many are disposed to think that the causes of this state of things are to be found principally in the hardships incidental to ministerial life, and to insufficient support. In the various discussions upon this subject which have been going on in the public journals, these earthly motives, as it seems to us, have held too prominent a place, tending to make young men feel that they are justly excused for standing aloof, unless the way can be made very smooth and easy for them.

There is no little danger in allowing this class of motives to mingle largely in the appeal which is made to young men upon this subject. The minds that can be effectually

reached by another and a far higher class of motives, are the minds which we most desire to influence and direct toward the work of the ministry. The true standard of ministerial support is doubtless that which will conduce most directly to spiritual success; and we have no doubt that, in the great majority of cases in this country, this success would be better secured by somewhat larger salaries. At the same time, we would do nothing to excuse young men from the obligation that rests upon them to labour in this sacred profession. It is a work which God has appointed to be done upon the earth; and a young man of right character and of right views will feel the pressure of this great motive upon him, and will go forward, trusting in the Lord for the result.

The humblest young man, in the poorest section of the Church of God, has a far better prospect as to earthly good than any of the apostles had on going forth to execute the commission of their Divine Lord. The very first element of preparation for the work is a denial of self, and an assumption of the

cross! The patriot soldier never looks for the comforts of home on the battle-field! That is an after consideration, and the fruit of victory!

The reward of the preacher is peculiar. All his hopes lie in the world to come. "He that winneth souls is wise." "They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever." Compared with this, all the rewards on earth are as nothing! The emoluments of earth are but as the dust in the balance, and are wholly beneath the notice of the servants of the Most High God, who show unto men the way of salvation!

A VETERAN EVANGELIST.

WHO WILL BE A SOLDIER? NOT I Religious considerations apart, it is but "a dog's life,-sloth and hunger!" The humblest hodman possesses far more worldly comfort, to say nothing of the horrors of war, from which he is exempt, and his personal freedom, which every soldier consents to part with the moment he receives the bounty. A late Minister of War, at a meeting in the country, volunteered some information respecting the pay of our soldiers, with a view of promoting the recruiting service.

"In addition to his shilling, he is allowed one penny a-day beer money. For 44d. he receives one pound of bread, and three-quarters of a pound of meat, which cost the Government 64d. Here the soldier has an advantage of 1s. 2d. a-week. Again, his cooking is done, and he has extra bread, coffee, sugar, and

vegetables, at cost price. Compare that with the labourer, who has to pay a large profit to the shopkeeper. This advantage cannot be set down at less than 7d. a-week. Then he gets a coat, a pair of trowsers, and a pair of boots every year, a shako every two, and a great-coat every three years. Put this at ls. a-week, or 52s. a-year. Then he has lodging, bedding, fuel, light, and the use of a library, which would be said to be cheap at 2d. a-day. His medical attendance, at the lowest contract price, would be 24d. per week. There is a prospective pension of 10d. a-day after twenty-one years' service, which, according to the Northampton tables, could not be purchased at less than 2d. a-week. All this gives a total of 13s. 5дd.; but it does not include contingent advantages, such as good-conduct pay, extra rations in hot climates, and rations to soldiers' wives. With our short servitude of ten years, a young man can hardly do better than serve from eighteen to twentyeight. He would return home more capable of supporting himself than when he went out."

This was all that the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert had to say to the Young Men of England, to induce them to enter the army. Was a more pitiful tale ever told? Surely it can have weight with none but fools and vagabonds, who prefer even this to honest labour. Let all such remember, however, that they stand a good chance of something additional-the halberts! A case lately occurred in Newcastle, which merits their notice.

The poor victim, when ordered to

eyes toward the Saviour, and all his ambition was cured for ever. And

he felt the blood that cleanseth from all sin, to cleanse his sins away; and his heart was filled with a new love, and his soul was peaceful, and all his dreams, instead of time and earth, were of that better world, where he so soon expected to be. And when at length he died, there was joy in his heart, and holy triumph on his tongue, and his end was more blessed than if he had lived to do all he dreamed.

And now his father, and mother, and sisters look to heaven as a place of purer joy than they had ever hoped for before; and they thank the God that tried them, to make them meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, and they live to bless the world and to do good.

0.

THE TRUE CIVILIZER. CARDINAL WISEMAN has been telling the people of Ireland that Popery is the sole hope for liberty and progress to the human race. The reverse is the truth!

The Bible is the one source of these and all other blessings to mankind; but Popery withholds from them the Bible!

Modern civilization is but an expansion of Bible ideas. The germs of everything great and good in human society are found in the Word of God. Do you ask for proof? We will not attempt to produce it by tracing in detail each manifestation of intellectual activity and social melioration to a specific source in the inspired volume. We only ask you to look at three facts, and then doubt if you can:

1. Modern civilization began with the popular translation and diffusion of the Scriptures. Compare the fifteenth century with the nineteenth.

2. It has been developed precisely within those limits, and those only, where the Scriptures have been translated into the popular language, and widely diffused and read. Compare England and the United States of America with Spain, Austria, Italy, and Mexico.

3. The great lights of the last three centuries, that is to say, those whose light has been enduring, have been firm and devout believers, and profound students of the Bible. Milton in poetry, Bacon in philosophy, Newton in science, Chatham and Webster in polity and eloquence, owed the strength and vitality of their matchless intellects to the Word of God, and gratefully acknowledged the debt.

To this we might add that despots, the natural enemies of human progress, fear and proscribe the Bible. Their instinct is as sure a proof as could be desired that the Bible is on the side of the people, and that all its tendencies are to popular freedom and progress. M.

YOUTHFUL PIETY. MORE than twenty years ago I knew a little boy occasionally to wander away on a lone hill, and under a tree read the Bible, and then kneel down and remain a long time in prayer. Then I said, Some day that child will stand on the walls as Zion's watchman. He is now a successful missionary. S. M.