the purposes of our soul and spirit; neither running into wildness and riotousness of spirits, nor yet sinking into languor and nervous feebleness, such as often follows upon a neglect of our bodily health and strength, under the vain impression of mortifying the flesh in any other way than by raising and strengthening the spirit.

So again with the soul or mind; as I mentioned the mischief of making this the first thing to be considered, so there is a mischief, on the other hand, into which well-meaning people sometimes fall; that, namely, of being afraid of knowledge and the improvement of their understandings, as if they were inconsistent with Christian meekness and simplicity. But here, too, the Apostle's language is strongly against them: "Brethren," he says, "be not children in understanding; howbeit, in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men." If, indeed, the New Testament contained a string of rules fitted in so many words to guide us in every action of our lives, then it might be enough to open the volume, and there to find the direction how to act, without any exertion of our own. But as this is contrary to one of the main purposes for which the Gospel was given, that is, to bring us to the highest pitch of goodness of which we are capable, by leaving

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us to be guided by the spirit rather than by the letter as our business is to apply the principles of Christ and his Apostles to all the ever-varying cases of private and public life, under circumstances infinitely different from those in which the first Christians were placed; and as this requires very often great thought and attention, an extensive knowledge, and a sound judgment; so there is abundant cause for us to try to bring our minds to as high a pitch as possible, and to covet earnestly the precious gifts of the understanding, although well aware that there is still a more excellent way, for the better walking in which the gifts of the understanding are chiefly desirable.

There is, indeed, a more excellent way; so much more excellent than those other two which I have mentioned, that it, even if followed alone, will bring us safely to the kingdom of Christ; while they, without this, will be at the end of our life on earth, perfectly useless. And as it is the most excellent, so it is the only one which is within the reach of all who desire it. Care and temperance may, indeed, do much for the body; learning and diligence can do very much. for the soul; but there are many cases of weakness and disease, in which it were to mock the patient to tell him that he could make his body

actively useful; and there are many cases, too, either of natural dullness, or of ignorance arising from circumstances, in which it would be vain to tell a man that he could make his understanding vigorous and enlightened. But with the spirit it is otherwise: there are, indeed, many cases in which its recovery is hopeless, because we will not turn; but none in which we cannot turn if we do will it. Hence the numbers of those whose spirits have been fashioned after the image of Christ, are confined to no one rank of life, to no one state of bodily health and strength, to no one level of understanding, to no one set of tempers, and to no one condition of wealth or poverty, or business in life. The bedridden, and the hardiest, and strongest; the simplest, and the ablest, and most learned; the cheerful and the serious; the rich and the poor; the lawyer, soldier, and labourer; all have given proofs, ere now, that all differences are done away in Christ, and that, to all alike, the gates of the heavenly city for ever stand open wide. All, then, may cultivate their spirits with a certainty of success, if they have but the will to attempt it. Here it is that we may pray for God's blessing, with the full assurance that our prayer is according to his will, and that his Spirit will

intercede for and work together with our own. It now remains to be shown what is the way in which they can best be cultivated.

The most natural time for sowing the seed of eternal life, as well as of our reasonable life in this world, is in our early childhood. This can never be repeated too often; not, indeed, for our own sakes chiefly, who have long since past our childhood, and to whom, whether it has been improved or wasted, it can never be recalled; but for the sakes of those whose salvation (it is a very awful thought, but yet it is no more than the truth) may depend upon our care or neglect of them. And here it may be said, that it is not to cultivate the spirit to teach sacred things in the way of lessons, or even to make a child familiar with the history of the Bible. This may be done, and yet the mind or understanding may be alone the better for it. But in whatever degree we can make Christian feelings powerful within him, in proportion as we can make him obedient, humble, meek, and self-denying, in so far we are preparing his spirit for its eternal dwelling-place, and are training him up as an immortal creature. It were a great blessing, indeed, that he should add to all this the love and fear of God, and, above all, the love of God in Christ.

And it is certain that children can understand and feel something about these things much earlier than is often believed: but then these feelings are conveyed to them by talking at different times and often about God's goodness, and Christ's love for them, much more than by lessons, or learning the Catechism; and the earlier that we endeavour to awaken them in the mind of a child, it is so much the better. All children, however, will not receive them. equally; and pious parents may be sometimes shocked to see their children perfectly careless about all that is told them of God and Christ, while at the same time, in other respects, they may be good and obedient to their parents, and striving against falsehood and selfishness. Still their parents may think that the spiritual education can be making no progress, where spiritual things are listened to with no relish for them; nay some, it may be, would even look at the growth of their child's moral feelings with suspicion and alarm, whilst they were not sanctified by faith in Christ. But such But such persons should remember that they and their children stand in a different situation; even as God dealt very differently with our fathers in the first ages of the world, from the manner in which he deals with us now. To walk by faith