which lie behind, in the numerous banking and moneychanging and bill-discounting establishments; in the vessels which ply on the river; in the forests of masts which have sprung up along its banks; in the wheels which rattle through our crowded thoroughfares; in the railroads which span the suburbs and empty into a common centre the produce of the country; in the clanking of machinery; in the very smoke which hangs over the city like a pall; in the splendid suburban residences which are rising so rapidly on every side;-in all these you see how enormously rich and extensive, beyond that of every other nation, is the commerce, and how busy and productive is the industry, of England.

Now, in all this there is ground for congratulation as well as for caution. It is not a little pleasing to think that England occupies such an eminent position among the nations of the earth, and exerts such an extensive and powerful influence; for, with all her faults, we think her the worthiest of the place which she fills. Nor is it a matter for condolence that competent men who have been born in obscurity, may, through the opportunities which trade and commerce afford for the acquisition of wealth, rise to a place in the Government and Legislature of the realm, which would else be monopolized by those whose principal qualifica tion is the inheritance of a noble name. I am demo cratic enough to rejoice, that our merchant princes and cotton lords may influence, by their practical sagacity, the deliberations of our hereditary aristocracy-that those who represent the nation's industry and constitute the sinews of its strength, as well as those who represent its chivalry and fight its battles, should sway our national councils and determine the conduct of our national affairs. Even the intense activity, which is the order and the necessity of such a state of society, is not altogether to be deplored.

And

Although their object may not be the highest, it is better that men be diligently employed than that they should spend their lives in inglorious idleness. Activity may, and does, in numerous instances, elicit many heroic qualities; while indolence only tends to enervate and unman. it is certainly no part of my purpose to utter lamentations over, or to excite sympathy for, young men whose only claim on our compassion is the fact that they must work, and work hard, if they would earn honestly their daily bread.

But still we must be blind to many of the commercial and industrial phenomena of our streets, if we do not perceive reason for caution, if not for serious apprehension. If care be not taken, danger will arise from a source little dreaded the exaggerated and unreasonable value which is attached to wealth. It is as true now as in the days of the wise man, that "money answereth all things." Not only does it command the comforts and luxuries of life; it purchases nearly every social distinction; it presides in public assemblies; it gains access to the most exclusive circles; it procures patents of nobility; it is honoured with public ovations; eloquence is hired to eulogize it; the pen of the ready writer runs freely in its praise; heads are uncovered as it rolls through the street; its appearance on the plat form elicits bursts of applause; and being so generaliy honoured it is scarcely to be wondered at if, in her present imperfect state, it attains to office in the church of Christ. It transforms the dunce into an oracle, the selfish man into a hero, the clown into a gentleman, and the scoundrel into a saint. There are many names which illustrate the old proverb, "Money makes the man."

It is natural that what is so immensely valued should be intently pursued; and the danger is that, in the eagerness

of the pursuit, something more valuable may be sacrificed for its sake. The fact is seldom recognised-but it is a fact notwithstanding-that, viewed as a moral and spiritual being, the mere worldling is as much lost as the liar or the thief. Although men say he is doing well, and see only cause for congratulation in his progress; and although there is nothing commercially or socially wrong in the means by which he acquires riches-though he neither lies nor swindleshe is nevertheless morally and spiritually ruined. He succeeds because he is an excellent man of business, attentive to his duties, indefatigable in his efforts, and faithful to his engagements; but he is nothing more; he might as well not have a soul in possession, or an eternity in prospect. They say, "He is doing well," "He is getting on prosperously," "He has been singularly fortunate, and he deserves to be." Ah! "doing well," is he? I think he is doing well for the devil! He is "getting on prosperously," -but it is toward perdition. He is doing a profitable trade-very he is bartering his soul for the world! He is "singularly fortunate," you say. I hear another saying, "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ?"

In connexion with the dishonesties of commerce, however, the streets indicate the existence of dangers more palpable. The lying advertisements which cover the blank walls, and are pasted over the inside of railway carriages, and hung up in the windows, and scattered plentifully as autumn leaves in front of the several houses, and paraded through the streets in flaming characters-the sales which are always taking place at an "immense sacrifice"-the tricks resorted to in the ticketing and exhibition of goods: these and many other things show, that while many-the great majority, we doubt not-of our commercial and business men are, without

question, men of the loftiest integrity, there are not a few who depend for success on pretensions which, in the very nature of things, they cannot fulfil, rather than on well-done work, or on mercantile transactions honestly conducted; and that a large portion of the public are silly enough, or unprincipled enough, to be influenced by such pretences. Then it is too well known to most of you that these lying advertisements are indications of the dishonesties which are practised within. You know how common it is to vary prices according to the appearance of the purchaser-to call things other than they are,-to say they cost so much when they are known to have cost less: how common it is, in fact, to practise a thousand petty dishonesties which, though they are deemed little in themselves, exert an important influence on our national character, and are the germs of, and prepare the way for, those gigantic frauds which are frequently perpetrated to the inconvenience of all, and the destruction of many, of the manufacturing and mercantile community! And knowing this, you will not be surprised if those who care for you tremble for your integrity, when tried by such an ordeal. It is no easy matter to preserve your fidelity amid such temptations-to be faithful to your convictions when, if you do not practise these dishonesties, you may incur your employers' displeasure, and be deprived of your daily bread. Though it cannot be excused, it is not greatly to be wondered at, that many fail -that the fear of pecuniary loss, and perhaps of starvation, induces them to conform to customs which, though wrong, are not singular, until they become involved in meshes of dishonesty, from which extrication is all but impossible; and go through life miserably, having lost their self-respect, degraded themselves into retailers of petty falsehoods, unprincipled though it may be, respectable swindlers; or end their days in some penal settlement, because of gigantic

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frauds which, though they startle society by their magnitude, are but the natural result of the dishonest principles in which they have been instructed, and the dishonest prac tices to which they have been trained.

It will not be deemed presumptuous if, while recognising your danger, I venture, though knowing little of business, to address to you a word of counsel. Remember that no considerations of expediency, no exigencies of business, can make wrong right. At all hazards, and at whatever cost, you must maintain your integrity. You must speak the truth and do the right, though the heavens fall. It may cause you to suffer loss; it may expose you to starvation; but there is no alternative. Better have your earthly life shortened than lose your soul. To die may be a fearful thing; but a craven life is hateful. And it is better to have the fearful with the glory which follows, than the hateful with the disgrace which always attends it. In fine, it is betterand you dare not deny it-better to live shortly for God, doing God's will, and enjoying God's approval, than to live long for the world and the devil, bearing all the while the burden of the Divine displeasure.

Although not exactly a lesson pertaining to business, this is, perhaps, the fittest time to refer to the class exclusiveness and alienation which the exaggerated estimate of wealth. tends to foster. As in Solomon's time, the rich and poor meet together, and while their proximity affords opportunity for mutual sympathy, in how many instances does it only serve to make more manifest the great social gulf which severs them from each other! The first thing that would strike one strolling through the streets, perhaps, is the immense difference in the appearance of the residences of different classes; not only in extreme localities such as London East and London West, or in the villas of the suburbs and the lanes and courts of the city, or the palaces