EXTRAVAGANCE.

A Tragedy.

Act the first of the tragedy: A plain but beautiful home. Enter the newly-married pair. Enter simplicity of manner and behavior. Enter as much happiness as is ever found in one home.

Act the second: Discontent with the humble home. Enter envy. Enter jealousy. Enter desire for display. Act the third: Enlargement of expenses. Enter all the queenly dressmakers. Enter the French milliners.

Act the fourth: The tip-top of society. Enter princes and princesses of New York life. Enter magnificent plate and equipage. Enter everything splendid.

Act the fifth and last, winding up the scene: Enter the assignee. Enter the sheriff. Enter the creditors. Enter humiliation. Enter the wrath of God. Enter the contempt of society. Enter death. Now, let the silk curtain drop on the stage.

lights are out.

The farce is ended and the

Will you forgive me if I say, in tersest shape possible, that some of the men in this country have to forge, perjure and swindle to pay for their wives' dresses? I will say it, whether you forgive me or not.-TALMAGE.

Fashion.

The first peal of thunder that shook Sinai declared: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me." So you will have to choose between the goddess of fashion and the Christian God. There are a great many seats in

Heaven, and they are all easy seats; but there is not one seat for the devotee of costume. Heaven is for meek and quiet spirits. Heaven is for those who think more of their souls than of their bodies.-TALmage.

Wastefulness.

The only excuse we can think of for some dressy women is that they think themselves very ugly. What deformity must exist if it needs ten thousand a year to cover it! If these persons accurately gauge their lack of personal charms, they must be suffering under a fearful measure of uncomeliness. Why, ten or twenty families could be reared in comparative comfort upon the amount thus expended in wastefulness; and as matters go with the agricultural laborers in many of the shires, forty of the families owned by Hodge and his companions, including all the father Hodges and their wives, could be decently provided for upon ten thousand a year. It will not bear thinking of. Yet many women professing godliness are shockingly extravagant, and can never be happy till their heads are tricked out with strange gear and their bodies with fashionable millinery. They little think how much they degrade themselves and grieve the Spirit of God.-SPURGEON.

FAITH.

Faith and Salvation.

Be satisfied to have a faith that can hold in its hand this one truth: "While we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." He laid down His life for men while as yet they were not believing in Him, nor were able to believe in Him. He died for men -not as believers, but as sinners. He came to make these sinners into believers and saints; but when He died for them He viewed them as utterly without strength. If you hold to the truth that Christ died for the ungodly, and believe it, your faith will save you, and you may go in peace. If you will trust your soul with Jesus, who died for the ungodly, even though you can not believe all things, nor move mountains, nor do any other wonderful works, yet you are saved. It is not great faith, but true faith, that saves; and the salvation lies, not in the faith, but in the Christ in whom faith trusts. Faith as a grain

of mustard seed will bring salvation. It is not the measure of faith, but the sincerity of faith, which is the point to be considered. Surely a man can believe what he knows to be true; and as you know Jesus to be true, you, my friend, can believe in Him.-SPURGEON.

The Faith of a Mariner.

Look at the faith of the master mariner! I have often wondered at it. He looses his cable-he steams away from the land. For days, weeks, or even months, he sees neither sail nor shore; yet on he goes day and night