rectitude.we are nothing sure, has in it a servility, -but this is honour, this is exaltation, to fulfil all our powers for the purposes for which they were given, and after the rules of him who gave them.

The question therefore of a religious or an irreligious life, when thus opened up, no longer shows itself to be a question of liberty or of compulsion, but of one kind of authority against another. There are two competitors for our service, God and the world; and the question is Which will we obey? Will we yield to the sove→ reignty of the various laws and customs which upon coming to man's estate we find established; time-serving what has in it no wit but the wisdom of man, and no stability but the power of man, and which we had no say whatever in constructing, and which accommodates itself but ill to our conditions? or will we yield to the sovereignty of those institutes which have in them no seed of change, softly framed to sway the heart and to insinuate into all its corners the harmony and peace of heaven, which supply the deficiencies of our wisdom and stay the swerving of our life, and conduct us at length to the unchangeable happiness and honour of the life to come?

And yet, though the question when thus accu rately stated stands beyond all reasonable doubt, and leaves us without excuse in preferring human authority to divine, such is the antipathy and resistance of human nature to God, that his statutės which rejoice the heart are obstinately withstood, while to the ordinances and customs of men we

willingly yield our necks. There be multitudes with whom the voice of the Lord of hosts hath no sway against the voice of fashion; and the saintly graces of the Spirit of God no chance against the graces of accomplished life. Multitudes, with whom the calls of low sensual instinct prevail against the calls of the Almighty to glory and honour-And multitudes to whom life's commonest drudgery is an enjoyment compared with the obedience of a godly custom or a Christian precept!

This reluctance to the divine, and compliance with the human institutions, might seem to bear against what we have advanced upon the superior wisdom and suitableness of the former, and to prove that God in devising for human improvement had missed of his aim. We think it good therefore to show how this reluctance comes about, and how we find ourselves at man's estate so enamoured of the world's bondage as to feel it like a second nature, which we cannot give up for the service of God without the most violent and painful effort. This inquiry, by revealing the sources of our enmity to the law of God, will show the time at which, and the means by which, it may be most successfully encountered.

At first our enmity was as strong to the world's institutions as it is now to the institutions of God. There is in every nature a preference of its own will, and a reluctance to surrender it to another. It is not till after many struggles that

a mother gains the mastery of her child, and not till after much discipline that a youth gives willingly in to the tasks of his teacher. And to the moral and decent customs of life we know that many youths can never bring themselves to conform at all, but set them at open defiance or hide in secrecy their violation of them. After twenty years of training to what is honourable and good, never omitted for a day, and hardly for a single hour, with the constant presence of examples and the constant terror of censures, such is the urgency of nature and her reluctance to control, that a youth shall no sooner remove from the neighbourhood of his early restraints, than he will cast them at his feet, and take the whole scope of this self-willedness. And thus many run to ruin when they leave the home of their father and the eye of their friends. Let us not be amazed, therefore, that the statutes of the Lord, to which there is no constant or sufficient training of parents and of masters, and which take under their control not only the form and fashion of life, but the whole thoughts and intentions of the heart, should fare the same, and have a fearful struggle with Nature's independence.

Now, by the same means of early discipline and example by which we were brought to acquiesce in the government of our parents, the mastery of our teachers, and the authority of life's many forms and customs, we shall most likely be brought to acquiesce in the statutes of the Lord. Just as no parent who wished his child to be a

well-doing member of society, would for the first years of his life turn him adrift from counsel and correction, but find for him masters to instruct; and patterns to copy after, adding to all the influence of his own parental authority and affection even so, if you would have your child to flourish in religious life, you must not sequester the subject of religion from your table or your household, nor keep him in the dark till he arrive at years of reflection; but from the first dawn of thought and effort of will, teach him with a winning voice, and with a gentle hand lead him into the ways of God. The raw opinion, that a certain maturity of judgment must be tarried for, before entering into religious conference with our children, comes of that notion which pervades the religious world, that religion rests upon the concoction of certain questions in theology, to which mature years are necessary; whereas it rests upon the authority of God, which a child can comprehend so soon as it can the authority of its father; the love of Christ, which a child can comprehend so soon as it can the love of its mother; the assistance of the Spirit, which it can comprehend so soon as it is alive to the need. of instruction or help from its parents; the difference between right and wrong, which it may be taught so soon as it can perform the one and avoid the other. There is a religion of childhood, and a religion of manhood; the former standing mostly in authority, the latter in authority and reason conjoined; the former referring chiefly to words and actions, the latter

embracing also principles and sentiments. But because you cannot instil into children the full maturity of religious truth, is no more argument for neglecting to travel with them on religion, than it would be to refuse teaching them obedience to yourself and respect of others till they could comprehend the principles on which parental obedience and friendly respect are grounded.

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Now, we must confess it hath seldom fallen to us to see religion taught in the family with that diligence with which good manners, parental respect, and deference to custom are taught. The right and wrong of things is not distinguished with reference to the divine command, but with reference to the opinion of others and the ways of the world. Excellence is not urged from the approbation of God, and the imitation of Christ, and the rewards of heaven, but out of emulation of rivals, and ambition of the world's places. Com panions are not sought according to their piety, their virtue, and their general worth, but accord+ ing to their rank and their prospects in life. To which neglect of means, parents do often add the practical contradiction of religion, swearing perhaps, perhaps quarrelsome at home, entertaining worldly views of most subjects, religious views of almost none; and for six days in the week, banishing the face and form of religion from the eyes of their household. What glorious opportunities these for the despight of Satan to revel in! The mind impressible as wax, wondering after novelty, and thirsting after knowledge of good and