greater value than they all. When I called upon her a few weeks ago, I found her quite blind ; but she was not without her mitigations. She had learned to read her Bible in raised letters with her finger; she was looking forwards to a glorious abode, where the Lord would be her light, and her God her glory; and she sweetly observed to me, in a spirit of thankfulness, and not of repining, "At my time of life, you know, this affliction cannot be a long one." This is the way to meet our trials, to ameliorate our afflictions, to get all the comfort we can from our mitigations, and to make the best of our position.

Soon after this interview I visited the chamber of one whom for five and thirty years I had known as a trusty and faithful domestic. Heavily afflicted with cancer, she was, as she believed, on the very verge of an eternal world, but she was not without her mitigations. She had kind friends and necessary comforts; she was perfectly resigned to the righteous will of her heavenly Father, and looked alone, as a sinner, for salvation to the "Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." I left her, saying to myself, "When the waves of Jordan rise around me, may my feet also be found on the 'Rock of Ages,' and my heart be fixed where alone true joys are to be found."

It was but yesterday that an account was related to me, by an eye-witness, of an affecting interview between two females; the one being blind, and the other deaf and dumb. The latter was introduced to the former as one who had never heard a sound; neither music, nor the melody of birds, nor the voice of affection, nor the words of holy writ, had ever entered her ear. The blind listener to this account lifted up her hands in thankfulness and unfeigned sympathy, saying, "I have heard all these sounds," and then deeply bewailed the sorrows of her more afflicted sister. But now, she that was deaf and dumb, shaking with emotion-for her eyes had been fixed on the lips of the blind speaker reading the meaning of her words-in her turn declared with thankfulness, speaking with her fingers, that her affliction was not half so heavy as was supposed. "If," said she, "I have heard no sounds, I have been mercifully kept from the evil and impurity of a deceitful tongue." Thus did these afflicted ones diminish their trials by dwelling on their mitigations.

Being "born to trouble as the sparks fly upward," afflictions must and will come to us all ; it becomes us all then to look to our mitigations. I take it for granted, reader, that you have some open or secret cause of sorrow; some hope that

you cannot attain; some fear that you cannot avoid; or some care that it is difficult to endure. My advice is, whether your affliction be a light one or a heavy one; the head-ache or the heartache; a fractured limb or a wounded spirit; a suffering body or a desponding soul;-look to your mitigations. Be assured we are sadly overrating our burdens and underrating our benefits, if we cannot say,

Though round us a shower of afflictions may fall, Our manifold mercies outnumber them all.

The patriarch Job sets us an excellent example of falling back on our mitigations; for he seems to have kept a sort of debtor and creditor account, not only of the present, but of the past. He looks not at a part of God's dealings with him, but at the whole, and exclaims: "What! shall we receive good at the hands of God, and not receive evil?" Are we doing as Job did, thankfully remembering our past mercies, and setting them against our present trials? This, whether we adopt it or not, is a wise course, an upright course, and the only course we ought to pursue.

Neither past mercies, present mercies, nor future mercies, should be forgotten in the long list of our mitigations; nor should we think

lightly of newly discovered alleviations, professional skill, medicine suited to our case, kind ministerial aid, the visits of affection and friendship, the gentle voice that soothes our griefs, and the kind hand that smoothes our pillow. When our trials are sharp, it is a comfort to know that they will be short; and let the worst come to the worst, we can look beyond them.

But, after all, our best mitigators will ever be God's word, God's promises, and God's presence. Having these, in all our weakness we may wage war with every trouble; whether it be care, poverty, sickness, pain, or death.

Men, brethren, kindreds, people, tongues, and nations,

Count up your mercies and your mitigations.

DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH YOU ARE WORTH?

I ONCE heard of a man, nay, he was well known to me, of whom it was said, he was so rich that he knew not the amount of his wealth. Embarrassing as such a situation may be, it is the very position in which I now find myself. Yes, it is a truth, that, put down what I may, and calculate as I will, I do not know the full amount of my possessions.

Many men have larger estates than I have, and greater houses, and more money in the bank, and then they keep their carriages; but this does not signify. Large estates are not possessed without anxiety, I never buy them; great houses are seldom inhabited without great cares, I never live in one; I can take care of all my money without troubling the bank to do it for me; and I have good and sufficient reasons of my own for not keeping my carriage. If, reader, God has given you a grateful heart, and enabled you in any measure, having food and raiment to be therewith content, bear with me a little in