Now it may not occur to everybody, that while Mr. Humblepie is equal to the other two gentlemen (as we have hinted) in essentials; in some circumstantials he is their superior. He reads the Litany better, and preaches better sermons, and might at any time do honour to any public institution, by preaching an anniversary sermon in St. Paul's Cathedral; but he has no money, and he is afraid to disoblige, and he therefore takes this extra appointment at Puddle-lane. Now if the rector had conversed with this man as a scholar and a man of taste, he might have derived hints for improvement, while he would have secured the respect and affection of Mr. Humblepie, instead of his inward and reluctant contempt. But all men are not like this rector. We have seen and known, to the honour of the clergy and prelacy too, colloquial propensities of the first quality; we have had intercourse with men of great learning and great wealth, who have been so far from conversing with brother ministers in the way of condescension that they have declared themselves honoured by their society. What has mere wealth to do with the social intercourse of intelligent Christians? The man who professes to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and yet takes no notice, or as little notice as possible of men who are inferior to him in nothing but money, is sadly misunderstanding himself. He is not, indeed, to make himself cheap anywhere. We wish him to preserve all the propriety and decorum so needful to proper distinctions in

society; but he ought not to set up caste in the parlour. Should he, however, from the force of habit as well as from choice, studiously avoid this man, and look disdainfully at another, he may depend upon it that many eyes will be peering at him, and with all his fancied importance, he will be regarded by some with pity or scorn. Let him converse freely, and he will secure himself friends that, for ought he can tell, he may need before he dies, though he can do without them at present. When rich men are conversable, affable and affectionate, they increase their reputation, and they do good. When they come right up to their neighbours of "limited income," whom they see in the distance, and give them the hand, and devote some time to them, the esteem resulting from such recognitions is much more cordial and permanent than that which we feel for men, who, though not without claim to notice, are so brief and abrupt in their recognitions as to convince us that by them we are contemplated best in the distance.

Doubtless there are some depressed men who sometimes fancy themselves slighted when they are not. It is one of the natural and perhaps unavoidable effects of official unkindness in the churches, that a man practically despised, as to his public life, will entertain uncomfortable thoughts of all whom he supposes to have had a hand in depressing him, and while his mind is sorrowful from repeated disappointments, he may think himself overlooked by the very

men who regard him with respect; but while we admit this, it must never be imagined that every disappointed man is in error and thinks too much of himself; and every disappointing man has truth and right on his side, and forms a correct estimate of his own judgment and proceedings. We cannot be talked over in this way. There is selfishness, there is injustice, there is jealous mindedness, there is envy, there is pride, in places from which these evils ought to be ever banished; and from these bad qualities Christian men have suffered; and these assertions can be supported by strong and powerful evidence, such as no man, nor any body of men, however distinguished for learning, can disprove. Therefore complaints are sometimes righteous, and although they may be useless as to the securing any redress, (and redress itself would come for ever too late to some men ;) yet, as monitions to contemporaries and posterity, they prove a lasting warning and real benefit.

CHAPTER XXVII.

MEDICINE.

"WHY don't you write religious books?" says Mr. Wondermuch. Answer: I have written many, and they are out of print. I have many others in manuscript, but when I find that some who are accustomed to read and write such books are so queer and eccentric in their doings as to need hints in a new fashion, I furnish them. The best religious book in the world is the Bible, that I can enjoy. I see in it righteous protestations against all transgressions of the laws of God, but no censoriousness, no formidable animadversions upon trifles, no gloomy lectures and denunciations against words or actions that have neither good nor evil in them, being things indifferent; no reproaches cast upon some men for infirmities, and passing by others who omit the weighty matters of the law.

Censorious religionists, whether in books or speeches, have kept many a good man in bondage; made him afraid to look or speak, in certain places or companies where, though he does no harm, the prying eye of the pragmatical censurer would soon bring him into trouble. Give me religious books on Bible principles, and I can appreciate and relish them. If I want other religious books, I can make

men who regard him with respect; but while we admit this, it must never be imagined that every disappointed man is in error and thinks too much of himself; and every disappointing man has truth and right on his side, and forms a correct estimate of his own judgment and proceedings. We cannot be talked over in this way. There is selfishness, there is injustice, there is jealous mindedness, there is envy, there is pride, in places from which these evils ought to be ever banished; and from these bad qualities Christian men have suffered; and these assertions can be supported by strong and powerful evidence, such as no man, nor any body of men, however distinguished for learning, can disprove. Therefore complaints are sometimes righteous, and although they may be useless as to the securing any redress, (and redress itself would come for ever too late to some men ;) yet, as monitions to contemporaries and posterity, they prove a lasting warning and real benefit.