prevent the two hours of worship from interrupting the dominion of earth in the soul." "That's rather a long sermon, husband," said Jane. "And a pretty close one, too," added Smith, soberly. "But it is all true, every word of it. Yet I do not see how I can help it. What can I do? What shall I do?" "I can tell you what rules helped me," replied David, " and I dare say that by observing them you will find yourself essentially benefited. Will you try? "Let me hear them, and I will tell you." "They are three. First, listen to the preacher religiously; that is, in a devout frame of mind, as if you had just said your prayers, and were holding out your hand to receive the blessing you had asked. Secondly, apply it to yourself all along; say Amen to every truth, and say Yes, I will, to every good advice. This will excite a strong interest in the matter. Thirdly, think it over afterward. Don't go at once about other things, and forget it all, but retire by yourself, and recall what you heard and felt; consider what you ought to do in consequence; and lay out a distinct plan of doing accordingly during the week. Then, make it a regular part of every day's business to think over and act upon that particular lesson, and so mix it up with all your prayers and all your work. Follow these rules, and you never will say again that preaching does no good." "I believe so," said Smith; "and I will try them. But I am afraid I never shall have resolution enough to succeed." "Do it in faith, nothing doubting; or, if you doubt yourself, do not doubt God, but pray for his blessing till you receive it." They had for some time reached David's house, and were pausing at the gate to finish their discourse. As they now turned away to separate, Smith stopped, and cried out, "One word more, neighbor; pray tell me if you observe these rules yourself." David hesitated a moment, and then, with an expression of countenance that was half sadness and half a smile, he said, "The question is a very fair one, though I do not see that the answer can affect the goodness of the rules." "But then I shall have the more courage to undertake them, if I find that they are real things, and not mere words." 66 'Very well; I told you that they had helped me; and they have unspeakably; but I do not live up to them fully, I do not fully live up to any of my good purposes. But this I can tell you, solemnly, that it is only by living by them that I ever gained any thing, and I have always found myself a loser just in proportion as I have slighted them." THE POETRY OF MATHEMATICS. TO MANY minds, no two ideas could be presented having less affinity than those of Poetry and Mathematics. Yet it is certain that they have many mutual, necessary, indissoluble relations. In the universe which we inhabit, we see every where two elements, Order and Beauty; — Order securing utility, Beauty providing pleasure. Every thing is made for a use, and therefore subject to a rigid law of order. All things are arranged for happiness, and therefore are enveloped in beauty. Turn whithersoever we may, Order and Beauty are the joint presiding geniuses of the scene. Hence, in the use to which man, the observer, puts the world he lives in, there arise two processes of thought, according as he investigates the laws of this order, or contemplates, enjoys, and expresses this beauty. The first issues in science chiefly in the mathematics, the monarch of the sciences; the second gives birth to poetry. In studying the order of the universe, man is a mathematician; in studying the beauty of the universe, he is a poet. And hence, as order and beauty are every where coëxistent and inseparable, as each is to be found every where, in connection with every thing, therefore poetry and mathematics must every where and in all things coëxist, side by side, in some sort of partnership. |