is in the church, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, are not of the Father, but of the world."'

My friend did not say this with levity, but from a solemn feeling that these were necessary conclusions from the premises laid down. And I earnestly entreat the consideration of all those who are disposed to give a signification to the word church, which will include in it the great mass of the community, whether they must not encounter the same difficulties.

O let all who profess to have passed from death unto life, be diligent in prayer for the further teaching and illumination of the Holy Spirit; that He may take of the things of Christ, and show them unto us; that He may guide us unto all truth, so that we may neither fall into error ourselves, nor be the means of leading others into it.

MARTHA MARKWELL.

THE LAUGHING EYE.

'IT may be so she may be a child of God, and I sincerely hope that she is; but such a laughing eye does militate against the seriousness of expression which we are taught to look for among regenerate persons.' So said a lady of very sedate aspect, in reply to something that had been uttered by a friend, respecting a third, who had just passed them.

It is my custom, when I can, to get hold of an idea, and follow it up, until the investigation has led me to some profitable conclusion. I know the young lady with the laughing eye and to say truth, all the rest of her countenance was agreed in expressing the same joyousness as danced in that sparkling organ. I knew her also to be a very zealous and steady labourer in the Lord's service, untainted with worldliness, and by no means deficient in firmness, though often assailed by weapons that usually do some execution, when wielded against the consistency of the young and gentle. In fact, I looked upon her as one who bore the seal of adoption in a remarkably clear and deep impression; and on hearing her Christian character thus doubtingly spoken of, I walked away, provided with a subject for long and earnest investigation.

I had heard it asserted, that we were taught to look among the regenerate for a seriousness of expression with which a laughing eye was at variance;

and the first question that occurred to me was, Where are we so taught? Assuredly, one who is never serious affords us no reason to suppose that he has attained to that knowledge of indwelling sin, and felt the keen conflict of the flesh lusting against the Spirit, which extorted from the Apostle that burst of anguish “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death!" But, on the other hand, a countenance always drawn into lines of sadness, gives an impression that the individual has stopped at that lamentation, and cannot yet exclaim with Paul, in reply to his own query, "I thank God, through Jesus Christ my Lord." The soul that knows joy and peace in believing, will impart to the eye a character expressive of happy emotions and when the natural temper is buoyant, I can find no warrant for requiring that the face should cease to smile, because the day-beam from on high hath poured its flood of radiance upon the spirit. Levity of look and manner is offensive, even in the worldling, to every well-regulated mind; but that peculiar cheerfulness, which produces a laughing eye-Wherefore denounce it? Wherefore pass a severe judgment on the person who possesses it?

:

Some excellent people really expect too much, under the mistaken notion that when old things pass away, the joyousness of a happy temper is to go among them. They invest Christianity with names and titles not applied to it in the Scriptures; and then go nigh to exclude from its hallowed pale those on whom they cannot well fit these unauthorized labels.

Serious religion' is among the current phrases, and spiritual persons are thence called 'serious people,' by which I should understand being in earnest

about our souls' salvation, and in promoting the glory of God among men: but serious is frequently interpreted to mean grave, and gravity is stretched into sadness, until a man must submit to have his religious progress estimated by the length of his physiognomy; and while he may be constrained to burst out into expressions of the joy that fills his heart, he is necessitated to check the natural emanation of that joy from his countenance. I really have been present when the most triumphant hymns, set to music of a similar character, were struck up with looks so very unsuitable to both, that it has damped all my pleasure, and almost stifled the response in my own heart: nor was I singular in the feeling, for one of the most devoted of God's servants on earth used far stronger language to me on the subject than I can venture to repeat.

Is not cheerfulness, in its broadest acceptation, as illumining both spirit and countenance, one of the prominent features of religion, set forth throughout the whole bible? I think so.

Light is, of all created things, the most cheerful and exhilarating, and in what variety of sparkling illustrations does it meet us! The sun shining in his strength-the light of the sun increased sevenfold, while that of the moon becomes as the sunthe resplendent bow set in the cloud-the wheels like flaming fire—the blazing lustre of intermingled gems, than which nothing on earth is more vividly beautiful-all these, and many more, are used as typical and illustrative of that which we are told must always be enveloped in sad and rueful looks. This is especially hard as concerns those yet in the spring-time of life: a young and blooming face,

screwed into a solemnity that is not natural, and of which I greatly question whether it be rightly spiritual, pains me. It savours too strongly of Popery to suit my feelings. Milton's pensive nun,

'Sober, stedfast, and demure,'

accords very well with the unnatural gloom of a murky cloister: and none can wonder if the eye, barbarously shut out from beholding this bright creation, and reflecting the beams of kindred and social love, should,

'With a sad, leaden, downward cast'

seek the earth, within whose bosom the wasted, wearied, harassed form is first to find rest. But for a young person with the bright sun shining above, ten thousand gay flowers smiling around, -birds pouring forth from every spray their wild sweet notes of unrestrained enjoyment, the fond looks of endeared associates bent upon her now, and an inward realization of unalloyed, eternal happiness to come-with all these sources of gladness, above, around, and within her-oh it is too much to start a question concerning her spiritual state, because the laughing eye bears witness to the conscious enjoyment of God's mercies.

Much might be done, if pious people would learn to set their faces as a rock against sin and vanity and every appearance of evil, without following Hannibal's example of saturating the rock with vinegar. Such a process leads to a similar result; the barrier ceases to be an obstacle to those who contemplate it. Instead of standing in the way of their headlong career of mischief, it does but set