for which we have reason to prepare, so ordering our life and conversation, that, at the end of our natural existence, our life may be crowned with goodness; and on entering the eternal world we may say, "Surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life, and now I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever!"
December Thirty-first.
THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR.
"But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."—Heb. xiii. 16.
THE luxury of doing good is certainly one of the greatest of human luxuries. Kindness and benevolence, like mercy, are twice blessed; they bless both giver and receiver; and while they bring forth an abundant fruit of happiness in the bosom from which they spring, they also generally grow up into kindness and benevolence in the minds of others. It is true that kind actions are sometimes not appreciated as they ought to be; not unfrequently they meet with an ungrateful return; but this can never deprive the individual from whom they emanate of the reward of the Divine approval; nor ought it ever to turn him aside from perseverance in well-doing. It is the duty of every individual to promote the happiness of his fellow-creatures, even of the worst and most ungrateful; and it should be remembered that the happiness of the worst man is as much an integral part of the whole of human happiness, as is that of the best man of the whole species—such at least is the teach-
