benevolence of Ilis heart. In the communion which the heart enjoys with the Father of all, it learns that His government is love, not hate; favour, not contempt; justice, not oppression. That He is Himself everlastingly exalted, and that His government is elevating, forevermore. From such communion, the heart returns to mingle with the scenes of life; inspired to toil, that it may win; to endure here, that it may be blest here, and hereafter, forever! Che Prodigal Son. IN THREE PARTS. PART FIRST, THE DEPARTURE. Youth is a season of comparative innocence and happiness. It is in a great measure free from any participation in the vices of the world, and is, consequently, to a proportionate extent, delivered from the sorrows which are inseparable from them. It is not charged with the business and common responsibilities of life, and is therefore free from the anxiety and care, often an intolerable burden, which evermore attend them. It settles upon no fixed thought for the future; it forms no schemes; it matures no plans; it does not develope its energies, nor calculate its resources, in view of any separate and absorbing object, the attainment of which is associated with a true ideal of usefulness and felicity, and which is to be its sole desire and pursuit through life. Notwithstanding this, youth has its sins and its sorrows; but the former are the results rather of its thoughtlessness than of its wickedness, of indiscretion rather than of malice or design. The latter, its sorrows, both in quantity and quality, are proportioned to the motive and character of its sins, and generally produced by the restraints of conscience. 216 Youth is the season of gaiety, of blandishments and of hope. Its gaiety is like the spring; its blandishments are symbolised in the many splendours of summer; and its hopes, like the exuberance of autumn, realise at once the harvest and plenteousness of delights; and all its perplexities and disappointments, find their type in the clouds and rains of spring and summer, which are immediately compensated for in the glowing sunshine, the beautifully tinted rainbow, and the painted and perfumed flowers, and the luxuriant verdure of the fields, and in the vigour and nourishment which is imparted to nature around. To rob youth of its pleasures, would be to efface the glory of early nature, by rifling it of those beauties which charm the eye, and hushing its melodies which charm the ear and cheer the heart of the listener and the beholder. And to banish its disappointments would be to withdraw the blessing of the bending cloud, and seal up the fountains of genial rains, which impart life, rejoicing, and promote constantly unfolding beauties. The pleasures and disappointments of youth are as nothing in the estimation of manhood; yet they are such as are incident to this season of life, and they are every thing to youth; and the student of human nature may profitably and extensively employ his mind in the contemplation of the pleasing and important associations which blend so harmoniously in the season of youth, and which link it so inseparably with the experience, the usefulness and the happiness of mankind. Youth is wayward; it forms no schemes, it arranges no |