There should be a standard both as to the value and time of traffic, and then the trade of the master to be shared among his servants who deserve it. This were both to help the young to get their livelihood and to give the old time to think of leaving this world well, in which they have been so busy, that they might obtain a share in the other, of which they have been so careless.

Man was made a noble, rational, grave creature. His pleasure stood in his duty, and his duty in obeying God, which was to love, fear, adore, and serve Him, and in using the creation with true temperance and godly moderation, as knowing well that the Lord his judge was at hand, the inspector and rewarder of his works. In short, his happiness was in his communion with God; his error was to leave that conversation and let his eyes wander abroad to gaze on transitory things. The best recreation is to do good; and all Christian customs tend to temperance and some good and beneficial end, which more or less may be in every action.

Redeem then the time, for the days are evil and yours but very few. Therefore gird up the loins of your minds, be sober, fear, watch, pray, and endure to the end, calling to mind, for your encouragement and consolation, that all such as through patience and well-doing wait for immortality shall reap glory, honor, and eternal life in the kingdom of the Father, whose is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

The discourse is illustrated with many interesting recitals of the example and sayings of self-denying men and women of all ages of the world

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IV.

T the time when William Penn was discharged from his confinement in the Tower, his father's asperity towards him was considerably softened. The mortification which he felt on discovering that his son was firmly united to the Society of Friends, then almost universally vilified and despised, must have rendered him averse to an open reconciliation. Yet the severity with which he saw him treated, the malicious efforts which were used to destroy his reputation, and the tedious imprisonment to which he had been subjected, could hardly fail to excite his sympathy; while the patience with which he sustained his complicated trials, the firmness with which he maintained. his principles, and the innocent boldness with which he vindicated his character, excited his respect, and tended to satisfy his father both of the sincerity of his intentions and the soundness of his religious principles. He allowed him to reside at his own house, though he did not see him, and caused it to be signified to him, through his mother, that he might return to Ireland to execute a commission for him. He accordingly left London, and arrived at Cork in the Eighth month of 1669.

In the fragment of autobiography before alluded to, he says: "Within six weeks after my enlargement (from the Tower) I was sent by my father to settle his estate in Ireland, when I found those of that kingdom under too

general persecution, and those of the city of Cork almost. all in prison; and the jail by that means became a meetinghouse and a workhouse, for they would not be idle anywhere. I was sorry to see so much sharpness from English to English, as well as Protestants to Protestants, when their interests were civilly and nationally the same, and their profession of religion fundamentally so too. Having informed myself of their case, and the grounds of this severity, as near as they could inform me, (which, without doubt, was at least as much from envy about trade as zeal for religion,) I adjourned all private affairs to my return from Dublin, whither, in a few days, I went post, and after conferring with my friends at that city, and digesting the whole into a general state of our case, I went with two or three of them to the castle." Here his narrative ends; but it is known that he went to Dublin, and attended the National Meeting of Friends, which was held at his lodgings. At that meeting an account of the sufferings of Friends was prepared, which, a few days afterwards, he presented to the lord-lieutenant.

During his continuance in Ireland, he usually resided either at Dublin or Cork. His sympathy with those who were suffering on account of their religion led him often to visit those who were in prison, and to hold meetings among them. He also wrote several tracts to promote the cause of religion, one of which was 'A Letter to the Young Convinced." Some idea of the spirit of this production may be formed from the following extracts:

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"In the tender love of Jesus Christ, I earnestly entreat you, let us no more look back upon our ancient pastimes

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and delights, but with holy resolution press on, press on; for they will steal away our precious souls, beget new desires, raise the old life, and finally ensnare and pollute our minds again; and what will be the end of such rebellion but woes and tribulations from the hand of the just God, world without end. Neither let us enter into many reasonings with opposers, for that is the life which God's power is revealed to slay; it is the still, the quiet, and the righteous life which must be exalted over all. And this I say in a sound understanding, through the mercies of the Lord, that deadness, darkness, and anguish of spirit will be the end of such disputing, pragmatical Christians whose religion consists much more in words than works, confessing than forsaking, and in their own will-performances and external observations, than in the reformation and conversion of their souls to God. And we who have known something more of the Lord may also reduce our good conditions to an utter loss by seeking to comprehend dubious matters in our understandings, and disputing about them with every opposer whom the devil, in a way of temptation, shall present to us; which does no way advance our growth and increase in the noble principle of Truth.

"And I beseech you, my dear friends, let not the fear of any external thing overcome the holy resolution we have made to follow the Lamb, Christ Jesus, through all the tribulations, trials, and temptations He and his followers meet with. Oh, let us be valiant in God's cause on earth, who have but a few days to live. Let the constancy of the world to the momentary fashions, pleasures, and pollutions of it, the more ardently stir us up to express

ours for the honor of our God against them all, who will reward us for whatsoever we bear, suffer, or part with on his account. Let neither father nor mother, sister nor brother, wife nor child, house nor land, liberties nor life itself, deter us from our holy constancy. Let us, however, be careful to show all due respect to our relations, not to be exalted or any way unruly, lest there be just cause taken against us, and the blessed Truth should suffer; but, in the still, retired, holy, and patient life, which this pure Spirit of light and truth certainly brings into, let us all dwell and abide.

"And, as one who is a traveller in his way, I beseech you all, in the holy awe of God, that you never forbear meeting and assembling yourselves with the holy remnant amongst whom we first received our blessed convincement. Let us be grave, weighty, and temperate, keeping low in body as well as mind, that in all things we may be examples, and a sweet savor for God, who hath loved and called us. And, my dear friends, keep in the simplicity of the cross of Jesus, even in plainness of speech, and out of the world's flattering and deceitful respects; for we are as well to be a cross in our garb, gaits, dealings, and salutations, as religion and worship, to this vain, adulterated, and apostatized generation. In the pure measure of Truth that has been manifested to every particular, and has convinced us of the unrighteousness of the world, and the vanity and emptiness of all its professions of God, Christ, and religion, let us stand and abide, that we may feel it to be our refuge and strong tower when the enemy shall approach, either by inward exercises or outward bonds and suffering, which may overtake us for the trial of our