Lord's sake." The king, well pleased with the answer, said, "Bravely spoken, old man. Now I will give you something to guess. Have you ever seen me before?" "Never,' " said the farmer. "In less than five minutes, you shall see me fifty times, and carry in your pocket fifty of my likenesses." "This is a riddle. which I cannot unravel," said the farmer. "Then I will do it for you," said the king. Thrusting his hand into his pocket, and counting him fifty new gold pieces into his hand, stamped with his royal likeness, he said to the astonished farmer, who knew not what was coming, "The coin is genuine, for it also comes from our Lord God, and I am His paymaster. -I bid you adieu."

A thankful and contented spirit does more to recommend religion than anything else. It drives away the dark shadows of impatience. It gives the heart a quiet confidence in the future, and sings with David, “Our tongue

D

shall speak of Thy righteousness, and of Thy praise, all the day long. Yea, the Lord is good, and worthy to be praised."

Is this your experience, reader? or are you discontented, gloomy, and unthankful? Such a spirit dishonours God, and distrusts His providence. Look away, then, from your apparent gloom, to the real joys of life. Count up your mercies, and be thankful.

"A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world; and if, in the present life, his happiness arises from the subduing of his desires, it will arise in the next from the gratification of them." ADDISON.

It is a melancholy consideration, that our chief comforts often produce our greatest anxieties; and that an increase of our possessions is but an inlet to new disquietude.

A FABLE.

A Canary and a Goldfinch had their lot thrown together in the same room. One hot day the master of the house heard the fish complaining of his dumb condition, and envying the sweet song of his companion overhead. "Oh, I wish I could sing as sweetly as my friend up there!" whilst the Canary was eyeing the inhabitant of the globe, "How cool it looks! I wish my lot were there." "So then it shall be," said the master, and forthwith placed the fish in the air, and the bird in the water; whereupon they saw their folly, and repented of their discontentment.-Let every man be content in the state in which Providence has placed him, and believe that it is what is best fitted for him.

THE WIDOW'S REPLY;

OR, CHRIST AND A CRUST.

"I have never forgotten

The widow's reply,

When her home was o'ershadow'd, And Pity stood by.

But still she was happy,

For the Lord was her trust;

And smiling she said,

'I have Christ and a crust.'

O then, in the season

When trouble is nigh, Let us ever remember The widow's reply; And, though desolation

Lay us low in the dust,

We'll try to be cheerful,

Having 'Christ and a crust.""

NO. V.

The Power of Habit.

HABIT is the power and ability of doing anything, acquired by frequent repetition of the same action. It is different from custom, -custom respects the action,-habit, the actor. By Custom, we mean a frequent recurrence of the same act; and by Habit, the effect that custom has on the mind or body.

"As the snow gathers together, so are our habits formed. No single flake that is added to the pile produces a sensible change. No single action creates, however it may exhibit, a man's character; but as the tempest hurls the avalanche down the mountain, and overwhelms the inhabitant and his habitation, so passion, acting upon the elements of mischief