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at one of the Italian Universities, when a young man, whom he had known as a boy, ran up to him with a face full of delight, and told him that what he had long been wishing for above all things in the world, was at length fulfilled, his parents having just given him leave to study the law; and that thereupon he had come to the law school in that University on account of its great fame, and meant to spare no pains or labour in getting through his studies as quickly and as well as possible. In this way he ran on a long time, and when at last he came to a stop, the holy man, who had been listening to him with great patience and kindness, said " Well! and when you have got through your course of studies, what do you mean to do then?

Then 1 shall take my doctor's degree, answered the young man.

And then? asked St. Filippo Neri, again.

And then, continued the youth, I shall have a number of difficult and knotty cases to manage, and shall catch people's notice by my eloquence, my zeal, my learning, and my acuteness, and gain a great reputation.

And then? repeated the holy man. And then replied the youth-why then, there cannot be a question, I shall be promoted to some high office or other, besides I shall make money and grow rich.

And then? repeated St. Filippo. And then pursued the young lawyer, I shall live comfortably and honourably, in health and dignity, and shall be able to look forward quietly to happy old age.

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And then? asked the holy man. And then, said the youth-and then -and then-I shall die. Here St. Filippo again lifted up his voice, and and again said—and then?

Whereupon the young man made no answer, but cast down his head and went away. This last-" And then"

had pierced like a flash of lightning into his soul, and he could not get quit of it. Soon after he forsook the study of the law, and gave himself up to the

ministry of Christ, and spent the remainder of his days in godly words and works.

My brethren, the question which St. Filippo Neri put to the young man I wou'd put to all of you, and urge you to put it frequently to yourselves. When you have done all you are doing, all that you dream of doing, even supposing that your dreams are accomplished, that every wish of your heart is fulfilled-still I would ask you

-What will you do, what will you be then? Whenever you cast your thoughts forward, never let them stop short on this side of the grave; let them not stop short at the grave itself; but when you have followed yourselves thither, and have seen yourselves laid therein, still ask yourselves the searching question-And then?

never

Live, then, while you live-a life, not a dream. Live in God and for God, and you will die. Death will be only a sleep, or a change of residence, and ALL, ALL, for which you may have lived on earth will follow you to a world of glory.

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There is another aspect of the words, "Live while you live," that claims attention, viz., LIVE NOW, IN THE PRESENT MOMENT. Seek life in the present, and not in the future. Enjoy to-day, and fix not your heart or hopes on the morrow. may seem strange advice; but it is correct and scriptural, notwithstanding. One needs not be improvident or reckless of consequences, in order to live in the present. The part of true wisdom is to enjoy to-day, and so to live that the end may be only the continuance of the present.

"HE

THAT LIVETH AND BELIEVETH SHALL NEVER DIE." present time at an end. The youth The apprenlongs to be a man. The tice longs to be in business. man in business longs to make his Thus each one fortune and retire.

Most men wish the

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loses the enjoyment of the present in the anticipation and desire of some future period, when he hopes to commence life. With many, death comes before the desired period, and they, therefore, do not enjoy life, or live, at all. It is infinitely better to live while you live to live to-day, and to-morrow, too, when it comes. He who does not live in the present, will in all probability, never live at all. way to live in the present is simply to take no thought for the morrow, but to glorify God and to enjoy God to-day. Live in God and for God; and then life, in its highest sense, will be realized now. Heaven will thus become a present possession instead of being only anticipated after death. Live, then, to-day; do to-day's work to-day; confess and obtain pardon of to-day's sins to-day; have to-day's joys to-day; and then each night one will lie

down peacefully to sleep; tomorrow only having in reserve its own cares and joys, whether in this world or in the world to come.

To sum up this Address to the young men among our readers, at the commencement of a new year, anxious for their highest happiness throughout its whole course, we say to them:

LIVE, every moment live. LIVE TO PURPOSE, doing what is worth doing.

LIVE NOW, enjoying the present, not waiting for to-morrow.

And then this will be emphatically a HAPPY YEAR.

"Live while you live, the epicure would And seize the pleasures of the present

say,

day;

Live while you live, the sacred preacher cries,

And give to God each moment as it flies.
Lord, in my view let both united be;
I live to pleasure when I live to Thee.'

SIR JOHN LAWRENCE AS GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA.

THE appointment of Sir John Lawrence to the Governor-Generalship of India, the most important office in the gift of the Crown, after that of the prime minister, has been received throughout the country with unqualified satisfaction. Lord Palmerston has acquired no small accession of respect and popularity by the wisdom of his choice, and not less by the courage he has displayed in breaking through a rule which has been held sacred for half-a-century, and acquired all the strength of prescription. The limitation of this office to the nobility of England has been

attributed exclusively to aristocratic tendencies; but this impression is only partially correct. It is rather to be traced to the declaration of Mr. Canning, when President of the Board of Control, that it was difficult to suppose the occurrence of any circumstances in which the minister would be justified in conferring this office on a servant of the Company, instead of bestowing it on a nobleman of high social and political standing in England. fore that period, Warren Hastings and Sir John Shore, both of the Company's service, had successfully administered the government of

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India, and Sir George Barlow, another Indian civilian, had been actually appointed to the office, though his commission was subsequently cancelled. But Mr. Canning's opinion has, since his time, regulated the principle of selection, and it has been followed with so much servility, that Mr. John Adam and Sir Charles Metcalfe, two of the ablest and most eminent men in the Indian service, who were officiating as Governors-General, were denied the permanent appointment to make room for two noblemen, of such inferior pretensions, as Lords Amherst and Auckland. This rule has now been ignored by the selection of a man from the ranks of the Indian service totally unconnected with the aristocracy, but possessed of the highest qualifications for the office.

The argument against such appointments was not, however, without weight. It was supposed that men who had been bred up in the service in India would be unable, on their promotion, to emancipate themselves from the influence of local associations, and that they would rather be the head of a clique, than the rulers of an empire. It was apprehended that their administration would be distracted and weakened by party-animosities, and that they would be unable to command from those with whom they had lived as equals, that ready submission and deference which was necessarily due to the head of the government. On the other hand, the complete independence which an English peer and statesman would enjoy, and the dignity he would bring to the office, were considered so valuable as to counterbalance the defects of his inexperi. ence. This objection to the appointment of a civilian Governor. General, moreover, derived no small

support from the relationship subsisting between the Court of Directors who governed India, and their nominees in the civil service who administered its affairs abroad, but this argument has been extinguished by throwing open the service to competition, and transferring the ferring the government to the Crown. The civilians in India have thus ceased to be linked by any community of interests or feelings with a powerful body in England, and there has ceased to be any reason, on this ground, to discourage the selection of a Governor-General from the ranks of the Indian civil service.

The first selection which has now been made from that service, is in every respect auspicious. Sir John Lawrence is already an Indian statesman of the first stamp. He proceeds to Calcutta with a complete knowledge of the country and the people, of the character of the native princes, and of the institutions and policy of the British government, and is qualified at once to enter on the duties of the administration. To those who have had an opportunity of observing the hesitation and diffidence with which a nobleman, fresh from England, is obliged to creep along for months after he has assumed the government, in which everything is strange, and bewildering, this will appear to be an advantage of no ordinary value. He finds that he has everything to learn; he has a longer or shorter noviciate to serve before he can venture to act with any degree of confidence in the management of the vast and complicated machine of government. During this period, he is obliged to lean upon the advice of men of local experience, who form the staff of office, and his administration for a long period bears rather

the stamp of their partialities and prejudices than of his own judgment. Even Lord Dalhousie, with his magnificent powers of administration, felt himself obliged to wait a twelvemonth before he could carry out his views with perfect confidence. From this inevitable evil Sir John Lawrence's administration will be entirely free. He has nothing to learn. He will not be for an hour in the hands of secretaries and officials. He will be able to discover with a glance the merits of every question which may arise, and from the hour when he takes the oaths and his seat in council, he can determine, without hesitation, the course of policy to be pursued. He lands in India the full and complete Governor-general. To this he adds a familiar acquaintance with the native language. He can address princes and nobles, and people in their own tongue, and the vast popularity which the administration of Warren Hastings derived from this source will be at once attached to his own. The want of this qualification has always been a serious drawback in the case even of the most eminent Governors-general, none of whom were able to address the natives, except through the medium of an interpreter. Even Lord William Bentinck was obliged to make signs with his fingers whenever he required water to wash his hands. It is an incalculable advantage for a ruler to be able to hold personal intercourse with those whom he has to govern, and there are few things which serve more effectually to establish mutual confidence.

To this qualification may be added Sir John Lawrence's intimate knowledge of the requirements of India, and his liberal policy, which was first developed in the government of the Punjab, and which he

will now have an opportunity of bringing to bear on the whole empire. The age of conquest in India has terminated, and the age of improvement has commenced. Not a shot is now fired from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin without our permission. The great obstacle to the prosperity of India has always arisen from the insatiable ambition, the incessant wars and encroachments of its numerous princes, great and small. These evils have been removed by the establishment of one universal and irresistible power, which protects the provinces under its own rule from desolation, and prevents the native princes from making war on each other; a blessing which India has never before enjoyed in such perfection. After centuries of anarchy it has at length become the abode of tranquility, and the opportunity is now afforded for the calm pursuits of industry, and the cultivation of its boundless resources. The responsibility of stimulating improvement rests upon our government, and Sir John Lawrence, who gave every encouragement to the spirit of enterprise in the Punjab, will be sure to extend the same advantage to every province of India. He is fully aware that the great wants of India are English capital, English skill, and English enterprise, and that with these auxiliaries, the commerce, which already exceeds a hundred millions a year, may in time reach even double that amount; and nothing which may fall within the province of government to courage the settlement of Europeans, and contribute to this consummation, will be wanting on his part.

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It was Sir John Lawrence who took the lead in the task of simplifying legislation. Fortunately for the

interests of the Punjab, it was not a regulation province," that is, a province to which the cumbrous and confused regulations of the older possesions extended, and he and his colleague, Sir Robert Montgomery, were, therefore, in a position to draw up a short and compendious code for its tribunals, soon after it came under our dominion. The code was adapted to the simple habits of the people, and though comprised in only sixteen sheets of foolscap, gave more justice and equity and satisfaction to the natives than the sixteen folio volumes to which the Cornwallis code had swelled. So far, therefore, as the happiness of any people is dependent on the. laws prescribed for them, it is sure to be promoted during his adminis. tration in India, by every possible attempt to improve their simplicity and efficiency, and to curtail the scope for that spirit of legal chicanery which is engrained in the people of India.

There is likewise this peculiar advantage connected with the present selection, that Sir John Lawrence has had an opportunity for several years of being associated with the home government of India. He has assisted in its deliberrations, and is fully cognizant of the various reasons which have regulated the decisions upon every question, social, material, and political. He is thoroughly acquainted with the views and policy of the India House, and there is less chance of a discordance of opinion than could be expected from the official intercourse of two authorities utter strangers to each other, and acting in different hemispheres. There is every reason to believe that some of the old cobwebs of prejudice of the old House in Leadenhall Street have been transferred to the new India Office in

Westminter; but there can no question that the general tone of the Council of India is in accordance with the liberal and enlightened principles of the age, and with Sir John Lawrence's own views, and in carrying out the policy of progress which is the path in which our duty lies, there is likely to be a harmonious concurrence between the two powers on both sides of the Cape.

We have reserved for our last notice the most important of the qualifications, which enable us, in common with every section of the religious public in England, to hail this appointment with delight-Sir John Lawrence's views regarding the intellectual, moral, and spiritual improvement of the country. He has always been the most strenuous promoter of the cause of education, more so indeed than some of his predecessors in the government of India; and we may, therefore, expect that his influence will give a stronger impulse to intellectual improvement, than it has yet received. While he fully appreciates the importance of giving the most complete education through the medium of English, to all who have leisure to receive it, he has alwas acted upon the principle that any attempt to elevate the great body of the people must be made through their own language. We may, therefore, feel satisfied that vernacular education, which, notwithstanding the injunctions of Sir Charles Wood's celebrated dispatch of 1853, has been lamentably neglected at the different Presidencies, will now be enforced throughout the country. Sir John Lawrence was the first to introduce the Bible into the public Schools in the Punjab, a measure which has not been found to impair the loyalty of the Sikhs; and he will not be slack in removing the obstacles to the progress of religious

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