Our gains are His, and, laid before the Cross, These must of our oblations form a part, But oh! the choicest ores and gems are dross, If brought without that pearl of price--THE HEART. The poorest serf who fears a tyrant's nod, Whose inmost soul hard bondage racks and wrings-- That toil-worn slave may send unseen to God An offering far beyond the wealth of kings. Come thou with breast from pride and passion freed, Hands which no stain of guilt has ever soiled, Feet swift and strong for every gentle deed, Faith, hope, and truth, by sordid crowds unspoiled; Come with a spirit full of generous love For all beyond, and all below the skies:-- Make ready thou, for Him who reigns above, The Christian's gift--A LIVING SACRIFICE. 'MY TRAVELLING COMPANION.' An individual, signing himself 'A Protestant Dissenter,' has written to us, to remonstrate against one of the heroines of the tale in No. 424, with the above title, having been consigned by the author to the seclusion of a convent. As the same correspondent protests against the 'Visit to an English Monastery' in No. 413, as something calculated to introduce the wedge of Popery among our readers--the said article having given much offence to our Catholic readers, and terrified all our Protestant readers, but one, into thanking God for their own faith--perhaps it may be thought unnecessary for us to notice such a communication. But this is only one of the reproaches we receive almost daily, from all sides of the religious question. Our correspondents are not satisfied with the well-known fact, that while retaining our own opinions, we wilfully interfere with the opinions of no other man. Each secretly thinks we ought to side with _him_, and would have us sacrifice to this duty the usefulness of a journal which circulates freely among all denominations of religion, and inculcates the practical part of Christianity wherever it goes. We are tired of such correspondence--and there is the truth. Let it be understood once for all, that ours is no more a religious than it is a political mission. The supposed party tendency of expressions that occur here and there in our papers is the result of mere chance; it may be detected as often on one side as on another; and in no publication but our own does it rouse the acrimony of partisans. We give information connected with monasteries, churches, and conventicles, with equal impartiality; and if this is found otherwise than useful or amusing, it is the fault of those who convert facts into sentiments. * * * * *