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proof, he assuredly will have accomplished the noblest end for which man may live and acquire learning-his own improvement, and the benefit of his kind.

When learning shall once have been consecrated by such high motives, it will soon be hallowed by purer feelings, and assume a calmer and more virtuous character than human knowledge can ever possess. An enthusiastic love of truth will be engendered in the soul, which will extinguish every meaner and more earthly feeling in its pursuit. We shall never look with a partisan's eye upon the cause, nor estimate it by personal motives; but, following the advice of the excellent Schlegel, we shall "eschew all sorts of useless contention and uncharitable hate, and strive to keep alive a spirit of love and unity."

But these motives will have a still stronger power; they will insure us success. For if once a pure love and unmixed admiration of Religion animate our efforts, we shall find ourselves inflamed with a chivalrous devotion to her service, which will make us indefatigable and unconquerable when armed in her defence. Our quest may be long and perilous; there may come in our way enchantments and sorceries, giants and monsters, allurements and resistance; but onward we shall advance, in the confidence of our cause's strength; we shall dispel every phantasm, and fairly meet every substantial fce, and the crown will infallibly be ours. In other words, we shall submit with patience to all the irksomeness which such detailed examination may cause: when any objection is brought, instead of contenting ourselves with vague replies, we shall at once examine the very department of learning, sacred or profane, whence it hath been drawn; we shall sit down calmly, and address ourselves meekly, to the toilsome work; we shall endeavour to unravel all its intricacies, and diligently to untie every knot; and, however hopeless your task may have appeared at first, the result of your exertions will be surely recorded in the short expressive legend, preserved on an ancient gem,-" RELIGION, THOU HAST CONQUERED!"

XXXI.—THE ADVANTAGES OF EDUCATION.-Dr. Doyle.

NEXT to the blessing of redemption, and the graces consequent upon it, there is no gift bestowed by God equal in value to a good education; other advantages are enjoyed by the body, this belongs entirely to the spirit: whatever is great, or good,

or glorious, in the works of men, is the fruit of educated minds. Wars, conquests, commerce, all the arts of industry and peace, all the refinements of life, all the social and domestic virtues, all the delicacies of mutual intercourse; in a word, whatever is estimable amongst men, owes its origin, increase, and perfection, to the exercise of those faculties, whose improvement is the object of education. Religion herself loses half her beauty and influence, when not attended or assisted by education; and her power, splendour, and majesty, are never so exalted, as when cultivated genius and refined taste become her heralds or her handmaids. Many have become fools for Christ, and, by their simplicity and piety, exalted the glory of the cross; but Paul, not John, was the apostle of the nations; and doctors, more even than prophets, have been sent to declare the truths of religion, before kings, and princes, and the nations of the earth.

Education draws forth the mind, improves its faculties, increases its resources, and, by exercise, strengthens and augments its powers. I consider it, therefore, of inestimable value; but, like gold, which is the instrument of human happiness, it is, and always must be, unequally distributed amongst men. Some will always be unable or unwilling to acquire it; others will expend it prodigally, or pervert it to the worst ends; whilst the mass of mankind will always be more or less excluded from its possession. Doomed as we are to earn our bread by the sweat of our brow, the great bulk of Adam's posterity will ever be engaged in procuring for themselves the necessaries, or in supplying to others the comforts or luxuries of life; this is the order which providence has established on the earth, while, in justice to men, it has taken care that happiness should not depend on station. From this disposition, however, it appears, that, as we cannot all be legislators, or astronomers, or merchants, or agriculturists, so we cannot all be well educated-not having the means, nor the talent, nor the time, necessary to acquire much knowledge.

It behoves, however, the government of every well regulated society, to provide, as far as may be in its power, for each class of its subjects, as much education, and of the best kind, as the latter are capable of receiving with advantage to themselves, and security to the public interests.

READINGS

IN

PULPIT ELOQUENCE.

1. THE PRACTICE OF PATIENCE.-Jeremy Taylor.

Ar the first address and presence of sickness, stand still and arrest thy spirit, that it may without amazement or affright consider, that this was that thou lookedst for, and wert always certain should happen; and that now thou art to enter into the actions of a new religion, the agony of a strange constitution. At no hand suffer thy spirits to be dispersed with fear or wildness of thought, but stay their looseness and dispersion by a serious consideration of the present and future employment. For so doth the Lybian lion, spying the fierce huntsman: he first beats himself with the strokes of his tail, and curls up his spirits, making them strong with union and recollection; till, being struck with a Mauritanian spear, he rushes forth into his defence and noblest contention; and either 'scapes into the secrets of his own dwelling, or else dies the bravest of the forest. Every man, when shot with an arrow from God's quiver, must then draw in all the auxiliaries of reason, and know that then is the time to try his strength, and to reduce the words of his religion into action; and consider that, if he behaves himself weakly and timorously, he suffers never the less of sickness; but, if he returns to health, he carries along with him the mask of a coward and a fool; and if he descends into his grave, he enters into the state of the faithless and unbelievers. Let him set his heart firm upon this resolution:-"I must bear it inevitably, and I will, by God's grace, do it nobly."

II. INEFFICIENCY OF HUMAN WORKS.-Melville.

SOME persons think, that, if they repent of their sins, they shall be pardoned. In other words, they suppose that there is a virtue in repentance, which causes it to procure forgiveThus, repentance is exhibited as meritorious; and how shall we simply prove that it is not meritorious? Why, allowing

ness.

that man can repent of himself,-which he cannot,—what is the repentance on which he presumes? What is there in it of his own? The tears? they are but the dew of an eye, which is God's. The resolutions? they are but the workings of faculties, which are God's. The amendment? it is but the better employment of a life, which is God's. Where, then, is the merit? Oh, find something which is, at the same time, human and excellent in the offering, and you may speak of desert; but, until then, away with the notion of there being merit in repentance!-seeing that the penitent man must say, "All things come of Thee, and of thine own, O God, do I give thee."

Again, some men will speak of being justified by faith, till they come to ascribe merit to faith. By faith, is interpreted, as though it meant on account of faith; and thus the great truth is lost sight of, that we are justified freely "through the redemption that is in Christ." But how can faith be a meritorious act? What is faith, but such an assent of the understanding to God's word, as binds the heart to God's service? And whose is the understanding, if it be not God's? Whose is the heart, if it be not God's? And if faith be nothing, but the rendering to God that intellect, and that energy, which we have received from God, how can faith deserve of God? Oh, as with repentance, so with faith: away with the notion of merit! He who believes, so that he can dare the grave, and grasp eternity, must pour forth the confession, "All things come of Thee, and of thine own, O God, do I give thee.”

If

And once more: what merit can there be in works? you give much alms, whose is the money? "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of Hosts." If you mortify the body, whose are the macerated limbs? If you put sackcloth on the soul, whose is the chastened spirit? If you be moral, and honest, and friendly, and generous, and patriotic, whose are the dispositions which you exercisewhose the powers, to which you give culture and scope? And if you use only God's gifts can that be meritorious? You may say, "Yes-it is meritorious to use them aright, whilst others abuse them." But, is it wickedness to abuse? Then, it can only be duty to use aright; and duty will be merit when debt is donation. You may bestow a fortune in charity, but the wealth is already the Lord's. You may cultivate the virtues which adorn and sweeten human life; but the employed powers are the Lord's. You may give time and strength to the enterprises of philanthropy; each moment is the Lord's,

each sinew is the Lord's. You may be upright in every dealing of trade, scrupulously honourable in all the intercourses of life; but, “a just weight and balance are the Lord's, all the weights of the bag are His work." And where, then, is the merit of works? Oh, throw into one heap each power of the mind, each energy of the body; use, in God's service, each grain of your substance, each second of your time; give, to the Almighty, every throb of the pulse, every drawing of the breath; labour, and strive, and be instant in season, and out of season; and let the steepness of the mountain daunt you not, and the swellings of the ocean deter you not, and the ruggedness of the desert appal you not; but, on! still on, in toiling for your Maker! and dream, and talk, and boast of merit, when you can find that particle in the heap, or that shred in the exploit, which you may exclude from the confession,-"All things come of Thee, and of thine own, O God, have I given thee."

III.-WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD.-Robert Hall.

THE exclusion of a Supreme Being, and of a superintending providence, tends directly to the destruction of moral taste. It robs the universe of all finished and consummate excellence, even in idea. The admiration of perfect wisdom and goodness for which we are formed, and which kindles such unspeakable rapture in the soul, finding in the regions of scepticism nothing to which it corresponds, droops and languishes. In a world, which presents a fair spectacle of order and beauty; of a vast family, nourished and supported by an Almighty Parent; in a world, which leads the devout mind, step by step, to the contemplation of the first fair, and the first good,-the sceptic is encompassed with nothing but obscurity, meanness, and disorder.

When we reflect on the manner in which the idea of Deity is formed, we must be convinced that such an idea, intimately present to the mind, must have a most powerful effect in refining the moral taste. Composed of the richest elements, it embraces, in the character of a beneficent Parent and Almighty Ruler, whatever is venerable in wisdom, whatever is awful in authority, whatever is touching in goodness.

Human excellence is blended with many imperfections, and seen under many limitations. It is beheld only in detached and separate portions, nor ever appears in any one character, whole and entire. So that, when, in imitation of the Stoics,

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