further and he fits complacently in the seat of the "fcornful." Now his doom is fealed!

Thus it was with Babylon's proud king; not content with having been an idolator all his life, against his better knowledge-for the judgment that befell his forefather, Nebuchadnezzar, must have inftructed him—he would ridicule the true religion, he would infult the Majesty of Heaven. He fends for the facred veffels of the Sanctuary, that he and his companions may magnify themfelves over the captive tribes of Ifrael. But behold! in the midst of his blafphemous revelry, the Hand-the terrible hand, appears, and the prefumptuous monarch, after having feen his doom recorded on the wall of his own palace, is fuddenly cut down, and his kingdom given to another.

"My heart is fixed."-Ps. cviii. 1.

"I prefs toward the mark for the prize."-PHIL. iii. 14.

DECISION AND PERSEVERANCE.
See where the Alps rear up their giant brow!
King of the mounts, with coronet of fnow;

Scorning all time and change, his stalwart form,
Endures the peltings of eternal storm;
In awful pride, enthroned above the skies,
Peaks upon peaks in matchless grandeur rife :
'Mid frowning glaciers, on whose icy crest
The favage vulture builds its craggy nest,
The fathomlefs abyfs extends beneath,

And leads the traveller to the realms of death:
Napoleon comes in queft of fame and power,
He fcans the mounts that high above him tower.
Though "barely poffible," he will "advance,"
And in Italia plant the flag of France;
In vain the mountain, like a dreadful ghost,
Rifes to frighten the advancing hoft.

O'er towering cliff and yawning gulf he speeds,
He means to pass, nor aught of danger heeds;
He scales the fummit with his conquering train,
And like the vulture fwoops upon the plain.

HERE the Alps lift up their fnow-capped heads in awful fublimity; their icy pinnacles tower above the clouds; their coloffal forms arise, mountain on mountain piled. To all fave the bounding chamois or his intrepid pursuer, they appear inacceffible; here vaft overhanging precipices threaten destruction, and there the treacherous abyss lies concealed, ready to engulf the unwary traveller; Winter reigns fupreme upon his throne of defolation; eternal tempefts increase the horror of the scene. In vain does the famished traveller fearch for fome ftunted lichen, or the smalleft animal, to fave him from approaching death; he fees nothing but boundless feas of ice-no figns of life are there-it seems the very tomb of nature; the folemn folitude is

broken only by the roar of the tempeft or the thunder of the avalanche.

Yet over all these obftacles Napoleon would advance; he inquires of the engineer Marefcot, who has juft explored the wild paffes of the St. Bernard, if it is poffible to pafs. "Barely pof fible," anfwers the officer. "Very well," fays Napoleon, "en avant," "advance," and at the head of his army of above 30,000 men, with their arms, horfes, and artillery, he commences the arduous paffage. The mountains seem to bid defiance to the utmoft efforts of the martial hoft; but dangers and difficulties deter him not; like the gale that wafts the vessel sooner into port, they only urge him on toward the object of his ambition; he conducts the army over flippery glaciers, wide yawning ravines, and eternal fnows; he braves the fury of the tempest, and the crash of the avalanche-and overcoming every obftacle, he fwoops upon Italy like the Alpine eagle upon his prey.

In the conduct of Napoleon in this inftance, we have a striking example of decifion and perseverance. If we can out of the eater bring forth meat," and "from the strong bring forth sweetness," it will be well.

The importance of poffeffing a decided character is best seen in its results, as the value of a tree is best known by its fruits; by its aid Napoleon accomplished the objects of his ambitionfame, and wealth, and glory, and power. With it, a man attains that which he fets his heart

upon; without it, he becomes easily discouraged and fails. With it, he controls his own movements, and influences alfo the conduct of others; without it, he loses his own individuality, and becomes a creature of circumstances. In fine, man without decision, is like a rudderlefs veffel, toffed upon an uncertain sea; while the decided character, like the genius of the ftorm, commands the winds and the waves, and they obey him.

The importance of decifion being fo apparent, it becomes an interefting inquiry, "How can it be obtained?" After a proper object of pursuit is felected, it seems effential that a fuller knowledge of the object fhould be fecured; no pains ought to be spared in order to obtain a perfect knowledge of the object or profeffion, in all its parts; this is necessary to the foundation of such a character. The traveller who knows his way walks with a firm step, while he that is in doubt about his path advances with hesitation.

Another thing deemed effential, is Confidence in the object of our choice, that it will yield us fatisfaction; poffeffing a knowledge of our route, and a belief that at the end of our journey we shall be at home, the things that discourage others have no influence at all upon us. So it is with the decided character, in the path he has chofen. Does oppofition prefent itself? he affumes the attitude of a gladiator, determined to conquer or die. Does danger appear, as it did to Shadrach and his companions, when the burning fiery furnace ftood in their path? he burns the more