and gross darkness the people;' and still they wandered on in their own way, and 'stumbled on the dark mountains,' and sunk into the yawning abyss of an unknown eternity. Four thousand years had been allowed for the experiments of human wisdom and human virtue; but the world by wisdom knew not God,' and all its boasted virtue fell short of the way of righteousness, and man remained in the thraldom of guilt and sin. A little district of the earth-the land of Judea, presented indeed a brighter spot. There, where the chosen people of God were planted, the moon-light of the Mosaic revelation had shed its influence, and directed many a pilgrim from the earthly to the heavenly Canaan. But all around was darkness still: and even that favored people had gradually gathered around them the clouds of human tradition, and had almost blotted out from their own view the light of God's revelation. Such was the state of the world:-the heathen nations wrapt in thick darkness, with here and there a jack-o'-lantern philosophy, flickering and dancing in the gloom;-the Jews beclouded with their own vain traditions, till scarcely a glimmering of moon and stars appeared; such was the state of the world with respect to the way of life, when "the fulness of time was come-the time when the life-directing word was published from heaven-when the way which leads to immortality was opened up to view. And what is that way?-Turn to the gospel and see it. Learn of the great Teacher who declares, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life.' Would you know how your load of guilt may be discharged, and your persons may find acceptance? His atoning sacrifice has made the way whereby God can consistently pardon the guilty; the way in which the righteous God may be just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus.' O take hold of him by faith, and plead his prevailing merits and his peace-speaking blood! Would you know the way whereby your sin-polluted soul may be prepared for the enjoyment of heavenly blessedness? His Spirit's influence is the source of holiness; and his word is pledged that the Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him. In a word, would you know the way which will lead you safely to eternal felicity? Take Him for your Prophet, Priest, and Kihg; and take his word as your guide-book through the journey of life. Surely, brethren and friends. the gospel is life-directing. May this blest volume ever lie May 1 not add 3 That the gospel is life-conveying. I will not here enter into the metaphysical question-whether, in regeneration, the Holy Spirit, by a naked, abstract influence, going beforehand, prepares the soul for the reception of the word; it is sufficient to my purpose to say, that the gospel is the great instrument of conversion and sanctification.Born again, (saith the Apostle Peter,) of incorruptible seed, by the word of God, whcih liveth and abideth forever.' 'Sanctify them through thy truth, (saith our Lord;) thy word is truth.' THE GOSPEL IS GOD'S GREAT INSTRUMENT EOR EFFECTING THE ACTUAL SALVATION OF MANKIND; NOR HAVE WE ANY GROUNDS FOR A THEORY WHICH SEPARATES THE SAVING INFLUENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT FROM THE REVEALED WILL OR Word of God, anD FORMS A SCHEME OF SALVATION FOR PAGANS AND MAHOMETANS, WHO ARE WALKING IN THE IMAGINATION OF THEIR OWN HEARTS.' The gospel is Heaven's plan. It is the grand aqueduct for conveying to our thirsty earth the water of life. All human systems and contrivances are empty and vain. They are pipes which do not reach the fountain, and therefore fail to refresh the soul with the living water which springs from the throne of God. I am loath to leave this part of my subject, without just hinting4. That the gospel is life-sustaining. How many, in seasons of trial and affliction, bave witnessed the efficacy of its heavenly influence! In the conflict of temptation they have been strengthened unto victory. Under the pressure of life's ills-the loss of property, of friends, of health, they have been borne up with resignation. And in the final struggle-in the last lingerings of life, they have been sustained and cheered-aye, and enabled, sometimes, to rejoice and to triumph in the arms of death. These things, dear friends, are not fictions. Well, we have taken a scanty and an imperfect view of the character of the gospel, as the word of life.' It is life-revealing-life-directing-life-conveying-life-sustaining." From an exchange paper. THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION. "The schools became a scene of solemn farce," &c. FEELING and emotion is the characteristic of early life. Then, if ever, the mind yields to impressions and is susceptible of moral culture. And it is seldom possible to make amends for the omission of this important duty. Those lineaments of the character which are formed in the season of childhood, however restrained in after life, remain either as latent or active qualities to mark its identity. Many proofs might be adduced to evince the almost utter hopelessness of any future attempts to subdue the waywardness and ungovernableness of youth, which have been permitted to grow with the growth until it has become matured into habit. But we forbear, and hasten to our design, which is to notice some of the errors connceted with the usual mode of education in relation to intellectual discipline. This is a duty, as already intimated, which is made to devolve on a particular class of individuals, with but very little inducement to secure its faithful performance. Unlimited confidence is a dangerous test of the tutor's fidelity. If he finds the work of education in his own hands, with permission to do as he pleases, he will no doubt consult his own convenience, and become anxious only to save appear ances. Hence the reason why our learning has grown so superficial. In the acquirements at school the object seems to be to hurry the pupil's attention in the least possible space of time over a multiplicity of pursuits, with about as much benefit to the mind as is afforded by the tuition of the alphabet. To recite with fluency, and perhaps a total want of reflection, usually constitutes the perfection of scholarship. "Tis thus our youth, docti vel indocti, are advanced with wonderful facility through their elementary course of grammar, logic, astronomy and all kinds of philosophy, in less time than used to be required on the orthography of their language. Facilities and improvements in the art of teaching are abundantly supplied to promote this ruinous innovation. The higher branches of philosophy which constitute so essential a part of infant school instruction, affords sufficient indication that education is thought to admit of an early completion. Though the outer man proves refractory, and is unwilling to depart from the rules of dame Nature, yet it seems to be the determination to force the inner man to yield to the influence of a wiser plan. It is, however, an unfortunate circumstance for these theorists that Nature has likewise subjected the mental powers to quite as slow a process of development. Pains and labor is still the fixed price of all valuable attainments. It is by laborious effort, as well as by slow and almost imperceptible advances, that those powers at first so feeble as to be hardly able to associate the letters of the alphabet, have at length acquired a masterly strength and skill, so as to combine and arrange agreeable to certain rules and principles, not only the letters, but the various syllables, words and thoughts which constitute a 'complete oration.However extraordinary the endowments which Nature may have be stowed upon some, it is evident she does not sanction those royal methods which set at naught her intentions. The proper effect of education is the formation of useful habits, and these habits are the result of long-repeated efforts. For instance, the power of attention, one of the most important of our mental faculties, depends for its improvement upon a judicious cultivation. But how utterly at variance with such a cultivation is that complexity of engage ments which constitute the daily round of duty in the ordinary mode of instruction. One might suppose that this practice was intended in the most direct manner possible to thwart the laws of our nature. The mind being kept in a state of perpetual vascillation, can make no attainment in its stock of knowledge, nor acquire any habits but such as will inevitably preclude its future improvement. By this scheme of discipline the whole circle of the sciences, which, in rapid succession, are forced upon the attention of the young observer, proves only a chaos for wonder-"a mighty maze, and all without a plan." Having been thus led through the rough and rugged path of duty, his learning will amount only to a knowledge of its difficulties, and end in disgust and disappointment. Can it be presumed that those who have passed through such a noviciate will become the Bacons and Lockes of their age? Alas! we already find them crowding upon the heels of their predecessors, and filling up the ranks of society a pigmy race distinguished for nothing but a morbid sensibility which finds its full gratification in the trifles and follies of the times. H. FROM A STUDENT'S SCRAP-BOOK. CONSCIENCE.There are three things remarkable about it. First, it is variable; active at one time and insensible at another. For this we cannot account. Secondly, it sometimes wakes up suddenly, as arter a long sleep, and contends for its lost authority. Instance, any sudden reformation. This is not after the analogy of other things, and is unaccountable upon natural principles. Finally, it is clothed with a mysterious and dreadful authority. Though oftentimes it yields to our prejudices and passions, yet frequently it drives us to our duty with a despotic power, or scourges us for our neglect of it, as with scorpion stings. And in the future world, methinks, the sinner will need no sulphurious burnings to constitute a hell. Conscience once let loose upon him, will riot on more than fiery fangs. Shenstone very justly observes, that genteel abruption in composition sometimes has a prodigious effect upon a reader. Example, "Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber." Dugald Stuart observes, Some writers who almost disgrace themselves when following their own taste and genius, gain great applause by a successful imitation of the style and sentiments of others. But this is a dangerous idea for this generation of plagiarizing authors. Sectarianism is nothing more than self-love. "He who resolves to amend hath God on his side." "Of all compliments, deference is the most elegant and effective." "Nothing so begets love as giving." From the moment we give to any person or object, we feel as if we had some personal interest in them. "Satan hath desired to have thee." Perhaps the devil often fixes a longing eye upon an individual without any particular reason; and lays plans for his undermining, which require years for their unfolding. It takes all my learning, observed a Scotch Divine, to make my sermons plain. LOGICAL.-Crambe supposes that a man's brain is like a forest where his ideas range like animals. The major and minor propositions of a syllogism are males and females, which unite and produce the conclusion. When those of different species unite, the result is a moral monster-i. e. an absurdity! Language should be like a mirror-unseen itself, but clearly reflecting our ideas. Happiness depends much less on our possessions than on our prospects. "Providence has set up racks and gibbets in the bosom of every transgressor." "I have often reflected that it is a pity there is not something that would exhibit to our view the moral character as faithfully as the mir ror reflects our personal appearance."-Does not the Bible do this? If there are any subjects in the Bible that ought to be spoken of with more simplicity of style and manner, than others, these are the judgment day and the crucifixion scene. They are in themselves so august and so interesting that every attempt at hyperbole reminds one of the shining spray that is thrown over the solid rock of the ocean. Colloquial language spurns the rules of grammatical construction. Men have right, in one sense, to talk as they please. "Society teaches us what we are; solitude teaches us what we ought to be." Cecil says a minister and a worldling should meet "like two men in a rain." Pectus facit theologus. It is the heart that makes the theologian. When Julian took from the early Christians their earthly possessions, he told them scoffingly a great truth, that these privations would make them more fit for heaven. G. FAMILY CULTURE. CONVERSATIONS AT THE CARLTON HOUSE. No. XIII. He Olympas. My dear children, hitherto has the Lord helped us. has brought us to see the early dawn of a new year. Its first sun already gilds the gates of day and spreads its golden radiance over the joyful chambers of the morning. We welcome its rising glory and praise the name of the Lord whose mercy endureth forever. To Him we owe life, and health, and all that we have that is worth possessing, with all that we hope that is worth enjoying. Praised be his name! We live and we enjoy life, while many as young, as cheerful, and as fond of life as you, whose eyes on last new year's morning sparkled with life, and whose rosey cheeks bloomed with health and beauty, have "left the warm precincts of the cheerful day," and gone down into the cold, dark, and dreary mansions of the dead. Let us sing a song of thanksgiving, and consecrate this first fruits of the new year to the Father of our mercies, whose days are the days of eternity, and whose years know neither beginning nor end. Song 99, p. 175. race. "I'll praise my Maker while I've breath, And when my voice is lost in death Praise shall employ my nobler powers; And immortality endures," &c. &c &c. We read this morning the 11th chapter of Genesis, which is itself the commencement of a memorable epoch in the history of the human You will read audibly and slowly five verses each in rotation. "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And |