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A moment's reflection will show you, that the attainment of pious affections in old age, after a long pursuit of folly, must require nothing less than an entire change of dispositions and of conduct, a complete regeneration of the mind and character. Old things must pass away, and all things become new. From reflecting, turn yourselves to the experience of mankind, and observe how few are capable of the exertion so necessary in this momentous concern.

"Remember, then, your Creator, in the days of your youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, in which," disturbed by reflections upon the past, oppressed by the consciousness of your inability to relinquish what you disapprove, and alarmed at the prospect of futurity, "ye shall say, We have no pleasure in them."

It is an error, too commonly prevalent, that the duties of piety are inconsistent with the enjoyment of youth, and that they tend to damp, if not extinguish, the vivacity which adorns that season of life. You will perhaps be told, that devotion is not required in you; that it will serve only to render you gloomy, disqualify you for the society of those who are young like yourselves, and render you a fit companion for those only, who have forgotten the days of former years, and have arrived at the verge of the grave.

Be not influenced by such assertions; make the experiment for yourselves; and, if you do not find that the ways of piety are the only ways of pleasantness, and her paths the only paths of peace, I ask you not to walk in them: if the service of God do not yield you the only rational and pure pleasure, I will cease from advising you to avoid the debasing slavery of sin.

That devotion will interfere with the pursuits which young persons sometimes follow, and prohibit the pleasures in which they are too frequently seen to indulge, I will not deny. Yes, my young friends, if you will be virtuous and devout, you must refrain from all those pleasures which end in pain; you must abandon all those pursuits which lead to disgrace and ruin; you must apply to other sources of gratification than those, which, however sweet to the taste, contain a deadly poison; you must fly the society of those "whose feet go down to death, whose steps take hold on hell;" and often send your thoughts to that land of promise, where all the wise and virtuous shall enjoy inconceivable and uninterrupted happiness.

Are these requisitions unreasonable? are thèse injunc

tions oppressive? will these destroy your innocent gayety, or render you gloomy and austere? The most thoughtless and inexperienced will acknowledge, that no joys but such as are innocent can be pure and lasting; and piety requires of you no more, than that you indulge not in those that are impure and deceitful.

The peculiar enjoyment of youth arises from innocence, inexperience in the vicissitudes and trials of life, and ardent hope. Devotion, therefore, will increase your enjoyment, instead of lessening it, by rendering you secure against temptations, assuring you of the favour and friendship of God, encouraging you to contemplate, with satisfaction and with pleasure, whatever his providence shall reserve for you in future; and, above all, by giving a wider scope for your expectations to range in,-by opening before you the eternal abodes of the wise and the good.

LESSON LXXXVII.

Religion the best Preparation for the Duties of Life.-NORTON.

THE interest which we feel in the young should direct our attention to all those means, by which their virtue and happiness may be secured, and by which they may be saved, as far as possible, from the evils that are in the world. The worst sufferings, to which they are exposed, are those which may be avoided; for they are those which we bring upon

ourselves.

The best preparation, which we can give them, for meeting the trials, and performing the duties, of life, is religious principle. Through the influence of this only can a character be formed, which will lead one to act, and suffer, and resist, wisely and honourably, in every situation. This only can deliver man from the power of the world, and secure him from becoming the slave of circumstances and accidents.

The essential truths of religion are those truths, which we know concerning God; and concerning ourselves, considered as immortal beings. It is religion which teaches us what we are, and on whom we depend; and which, widening immeasurably our sphere of view, discovers to us by far the most important of our relations,-those which connect us with God, and with eternity. It is little to say

that it is the most sublime, it is the most practical, of all sciences. * * * *

The foundation of all true religion is a belief of the existence and perfections of God. We must conceive of him, and represent him to the young, as the Maker and Preserver of all things; as a being on whom the whole creation is entirely and continually dependent; who is every where invisibly present, and knows all our thoughts and actions; from whom we receive all that we enjoy; to whom we must look for all that we hope; who is our constant Benefactor, our Father in Heaven.

The feelings toward him, which should be first formed and cultivated in the minds of the young, are those of gratitude, love, and reverence. In endeavouring to impress them with these sentiments toward God, we ought to take advantage of those occasions when they are most cheerful and satisfied with themselves. It is then that his idea is to be presented to their minds. Should they be touched by the beauty or sublimity of nature, we may then endeavour to give them some just conceptions of that infinite Spirit, whose agency is displaying itself on every side, and of whose presence all visible forms are the marks and symbols.

When we teach them something respecting the immensity of the universe; that the portion of this earth with which they are acquainted, is only a very small part of an immense globe, forever wheeling through void space; that this globe is but an inconsiderable thing, compared with others that are known to us; that the stars of heaven are a multitude of suns, which cannot be numbered, placed at distances from each other, which cannot be measured; we may then direct their thoughts to that Power, by whom this illimitable universe was created, and is kept in motion, and who superintends all the concerns of every individual in every one of these myriads of worlds.

When we point out to them any of the admirable contrivances of nature, which appear around us in such inexhaustible profusion and variety, so that we tread them without thought under our feet; when we explain to them, that each of the countless insects of a summer's day is a miracle of curious mechanism; we can hardly avoid telling them by whose wisdom these contrivances were formed, and by whose goodness their benevolent purposes were designed. When their hearts are opened by gladness, and their feelings spread themselves out to find objects to which to cling;

you may then, by a word or two, direct their thoughts to God as their Benefactor. When the occasion is of importance enough to give propriety to the introduction of religious ideas, you may lead them in their sorrows to the consolation and hope which a belief in him affords.

You may thus do what is in your power to enthrone the idea of God in their minds, so that all the thoughts and affections shall pay homage to it. You may thus do what is in your power toward forming that temper of habitual devotion, to which God is continually revealing himself in his works, and in his providence. You may thus give the first impulse to those feelings of love, reverence, and trust, which connect a good man so strongly with God, that, if it were possible for him to be deprived of the belief of his existence, it would be with the same feeling of horror, with which he would see the sun darkening and disappearing from the heavens,

LESSON LXXXVIII.

The Young, of every Rank, entitled to Education.-
GREENWOOD.

THE benefits of education should be extended to all children, without cxception They never have been denied to those who are born to rank and wealth, or even to a competency and mediocrity of estate, except till very lately, and, in some respects, in the case of the female sex. But, even at this enlightened day, it is not entirely a superfluous task to vindicate the claims of the offspring of the poor, of the poorest, of the vilest, to that mental cultivation, which it is in the power of every community to bestow.

That old notion is not yet stowed away among the forgotten rubbish of old times, that those, who were born to labour and servitude, were born for nothing but labour and servitude, and that, the less they knew, the better they would obey, and that the only instruction, which was necessary or safe for them, was that which would teach them to move, like automatons, precisely as those above them pulled the strings. I say, we still hear this principle asserted, though perhaps in more guarded and indefinite language; and a more selfish, pernicious, disgraceful principle, in whatever terms it may be muffled up, never insulted human nature, nor degraded

human society. It is the leading principle of despotism, the worst feature of aristocracy, and a profane contradiction of that indubitable Word, which has pronounced all men to be brethren, and, in every thing which relates to their common nature, equal.

In short, it is only to the domestic animals, to the brutes that God has given for our use, that this principle can with justice be applied. Their education is not to be carried beyond obedience, because their faculties will not authorize a more liberal discipline. We are to feed them well, and use them gently, and our duty toward them is performed. But, to say that this is the extent of our obligations toward any class or description of our fellow beings, is to advance the monstrous proposition, that their capacity is as low as their circumstantial situation, and their degree among those who bear the yoke, and eat the grass of the field.

But the truth is, that the minds of any one class are as improvable as the minds of any other class of men, and may therefore be improved in the same way, by the same means, and to as good purposes. Once grant that all human beings have the same human faculties, and you grant, to all, the complete right of the unlimited cultivation of those faculties. Nor is it at all more rational to suppose, that a judicious education of the poor, conducted to any attainable extent, will be liable to abuse in their hands, and lead them to forget their station and their duty, than that it will have similar effects on those who are nourished on the lap of affluence. The experience, that has been collected on this point, only strengthens the deductions of analogy, and confirms the important position, which has hitherto gained too little practical faith in the world, that, the more a people know, the less exposed they are to every description of extravagance.

* * * *

Wherever there is an unimproved mind, there is an unknown amount of lost usefulness and dormant energy. If this is so through the negligence or perversity of the individual, with him is the guilt, and with him be the punishment; but if it is so through the influence of sentiments which are current in society, the fearful responsibility rests with those who avow and maintain them. I see not why the man who would repress, and who does repress, as far as in him lies, the moral and intellectual capabilities of a fellow creature, is not as culpable as if he abused and destroyed his own.

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