holy; to " give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God;" to abstain from every thing whereby a brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak; to take heed that they offend not one of these little ones; to "follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another;" and to have their conversation in the world, honest and exemplary; that whereas the men of the world speak against them as evil-doers, they may be constrained, by their good works which they behold, to glorify God in the day of visitation. Those professors of religion who cause divisions in the church -of whom their ministers must, with a sigh, warn the young disciple to avoid their society, and not to imitate their example, and of whom the world may tauntingly inquire, What do ye more than others?-manifest, too plainly, that they have no claims to the character of inoffensiveness. Perhaps they may be inclined to despise and think meanly of it, and to overlook or evade the application of that awful sentence, which appears evidently pointed at them, "It must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!" Matt. xviii. 7.

My uncle concluded the conversation by reading a few lines from the book he had already referred to, Jay's Life of Winter.

"It has been justly observed, 'The craftiest villain is the greatest fool, and the harmless Christian is the wisest man.' It is true that inoffensiveness and talents do not always go together, neither do wickedness and wit; a man of inferior endowments, with an honest and good heart, is a far more valuable character than one of greater capa

cities, who, while he has the wisdom of the serpent, has the poison too. Call this quality, if you please, even an infantile property, provided you remember a piece of history. At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' Matt. xviii. 1-3. So much more valuable in his followers, and in his judgment, are the simplicity and innocency of a child, than the corruscations of intellect, the speculations of philosophy, the intrigues of politicians, and the exploits of heroes!"

I am happy to close by saying, after twenty-five years of intimate acquaintance with my cousin Mortimer, that while I never saw any reason to impeach his understanding, taste, education, or manly spirit; his lively deportment, the happiness of his family circle, his usefulness in the church, the happy influence of his example, and the universal respect and love which he has attracted wherever he is known, fully prove, that he has not forfeited, nor has he reason to be ashamed of, the character of AN INOFFENSIVE MAN.

"IF I WERE YOU."

"IF I were you, Frank," said Arthur Longley, "I would certainly crop the ears and tail of that Shetland pony; he looks as uncouth as a hermit."

Perhaps if I were you," replied Frank, with a smile, "I should do so; but being myself, I think and feel differently, and therefore I act differently. To me, the beauty of an animal is his being just what his Creator designed him; all the torturings of art I consider to result in positive deformity."

Arthur pursued his argument, and endeavoured to persuade Frank to adopt his views, or at least to follow his suggestions; but Frank was not so easily moved, and the pony passed through life in full possession of all his appurtenances.

"If I were you, Emily,' said a gaily dressed young lady to a friend of mine, whom she met at a tea party, "I should be perfectly ashamed to be seen in that old velvet pelisse of yours."

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Why?" inquired Emily: "it is a very good pelisse, and I am not conscious of any disgrace connected with it; I came by it very honestly."

"Ridiculous! who ever dreamed any thing to the contrary? But you have worn it, to my certain knowledge, the last three winters."

"Well, that is more to the manufacturer's

honour than to my disgrace. If it serves me three winters more, so much the better."

"Now really, Emily, if I were you, I should be ashamed to make such a niggardly speech, when every body knows you could afford to have a new one every winter if you chose it."

"Every body is very knowing; but while others have new dresses as often as they please without my interference, I think they have no right to be scandalized at my wearing mine as long as I think proper."

Oh, certainly not! You have an undoubted right to do as you please; I only say that I should do very differently, if I were in your place. As it is, though I could not well afford it, I have bought an India shawl and a silk pelisse this winter; and they really begin to look shabby already. However, it is almost time to be thinking about something for spring variety. I only wish I had your purse; instead of being known year after year by one old pelisse, I would have something fresh every season, if not every month. You know we ought to do so to make good for trade."

"I am not sure that we are under any obligation, for the good of trade, to lay out so much money upon personal apparel as to circumscribe our resources for other purposes; then, too, our requirements in the articles of dress are very much affected by our habits in other respects. You say, if you were me, you should dress very differently from what I do. But I think it very likely that if I were you, or went into company as much as you do, and saw those around me following every new variety of fashion, I should soon fancy

that I must do the same. But my habits are very retired, I seldom mix in gay society; and if my apparel is all that is required for comfort and respectability, there are so few persons likely to take the trouble of noticing it, that I have no temptation to bestow upon it more time and money than are necessary."

Now Emily was always neat and well-dressed. To say the truth, I had already been much struck with her appearance, which was as remote from carelessness and shabbiness as it was from fantastic fashion and superfluous display; and the good sense and candour which she discovered in her defence of herself and her velvet pelisse, confirmed my previous good opinion of her, which an increasingly intimate acquaintance of many years' standing has in no respect weakened. Her very countenance and expression convinced me that niggardliness formed no part of her character. I could not feel so sure that the lavish profusion of her young antagonist was altogether free from mean selfishness. However, with that I will not interfere; but I may question whether she who said, "If I were you, Emily, I would spend much more on personal decorations," if she had been Emily, would always have economized her personal expenses to preserve the nurse of her childhood from parish dependence, and to bestow education on the destitute orphan of the friend of her youth.

"If I were you, Mortimer," said Captain Tankerville, when my cousin Ellen was detained from a dinner party by attention to a little one who had the measles, "if I were you, I would not suffer my wife to immure herself in the nur