The Social Life.

It is not good that man should be alone.-Genesis ii. 18.

That which is not good for the hive, is not good for the bees.-The Stoics.

The light for one man is a light for a hundred.The Pharisees.

I.

Seek peace, and pursue it.

And Abram said unto Lot: Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we be brethren.-Genesis xiii. 8.

The perfection of all the blessings of God is Peace. -The Pharisees.

H, my dear friends, you who are letting miserable misunderstandings run on from year to year, meaning to clear them up some day; you who are keeping wretched quarrels alive because you cannot quite make up your mind that now is the day to sacrifice your pride and kill them; you who are passing men sullenly upon the street, not speaking to them out of some silly spite, and yet knowing that it would fill you with shame and remorse if you heard that one of those men were dead to-morrow morning; you who are letting your neighbor starve, till you hear that he is dying of starvation; or letting your friend's heart ache for a word of appreciation or sympathy, which you mean to give him some day-if you could only know, and see, and feel, all of a sudden, that "the time is short," how it would break the spell! How you would go instantly and do the thing which you might never have another chance to do.

PHILLIPS BROOKS.

OVINGLY to each other sun and moon give place,

Else were the mighty heaven for them too narrow space.

II.

The Sin of Slander.

Guard thy tongue from speaking ill, and thy lips from speaking guile; depart from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it.-Psalm xxxiv. 13, 14.

REGARDING slander it is written, that there is

none, nay, not one, who is quite free from this sin; and, if there be found one who is not chargeable with slander direct, then surely with what the Talmud calls"Dust of Slander," that is: the speaking of things which cause slander. Even in praising men be moderate; for excess of praise provokes blame and the mention of faults. Yet do not withhold recognition from those to whom it is due. A wise man said that he found reason for honoring almost every one he knew. Of the famed he said to himself: they surely have done more good and borne more burdens than I; of the rich: they have given more in charity than I; of the young: there is more of the innocence of childhood in them than in me; of the learned: I must pay him the respect due to teacher from pupil. He was rewarded for his consideration with the love and confidence of his fellow-men; he was enabled to achieve much good in his lifetime, and he finally passed away at peace with all men.

FROM THE TESTAMENT OF JEHUDAH BEN Asher.

The slanderous tongue shoots its arrows at Jerusalem, and causes wounds at Rome.

THE PHARISEES.

For I will restore health unto thee and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an outcast, saying: This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after; behold! I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling-places.-Jeremiah xxx. 17, 18.

HERE ought to be no outcasts. To be an outcast at all is almost to turn a man or woman into a devil. To be an outcast, to know how one is looked down upon, shunned and loathed by the so-called good and respectable, is to kindle within a human soul the worst passions of the wild beast. You have never tried it, never known what it is to be shuddered at and shrunk from as a pestilent thing. You cannot have the faintest idea of its misery or of the depth of evil which such a feeling inspires-especially when it is felt to be partly deserved. No wonder it drives the tainted flock together in a new bond of infamy and hatred of all that is good. No wonder it leads to gross intemperance and other forms of vice, and to still grosser shamelessness and loss of every vestige of self-respect. And few there are who ever contemplate the awful danger to society thus brought on by society's dainty and cruel contempt. Very few are aware that the presence of such classes, bereft of all human care and sympathy, is a horrible volcano which one day will burst in fury over our boasted civilization. But unless the plague be stayed, the catastrophe will fall. CHARLES VOYSEY.