lessness confessed, its aversion to God proved, and the only way of salvation exhibited. And when once awakened from the slumber of indifference; when aroused from the uneasy dream of carelessness, and self-dependence: when energized to preserve the way of truth, it will be then the parent's duty to caution the young against resting securely in any measure of religious attainment; to instruct the ignorant; advise the uninformed; guide the feeble and the helpless; preserve them from the contact of evil, and obviate the difficulties which may be thrown in their way by the love of the world, the attractions of pleasure, the invitations of science, the sweets of intellectual pursuit, and the inconsistencies of professing Christians.

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CHAP. XII.

ON DISCIPLINE.

On the basis of filial obedience rests the power which is possessed by the mother of moulding the minds of her offspring; for if this be wanting, in vain will she inculcate knowledge; in vain will she strive to correct the temper, or ameliorate the disposition, or give a proper bias to the affections. This obedience however, in order to become thus influential on the character, must be founded, not on terror resulting from a fear of punishment, the consequence of parental displeasure but upon affection,-on a fear of offending and grieving the parent, as well as of infringing the laws of God. This then is the great object of discipline.

The absence of this principle, is one of the first active symptoms of that depravity of nature, which is inherited by all; and it is complicated and odious in its tendency, which involves in it, ingratitude to man, and contempt of the divine command. It hardens the heart, and paves the way for the commission of other sins, since obedience is a barrier placed by a gracious God, in order to oppose the tide of youthful iniquities; and when it is once overstepped, sin obtains such

an advantage over the mind, that it is easily enslaved, and led to the perpetration even of great crimes.

If we suppose for a moment, that the human mind is so constituted, that the powers of good and evil over its inclinations are nicely balanced; that its fondness for virtue is accurately adjusted to the allurements of vice; that the voice of judgment is always heard, and always listened to, even in the tempest of passion, and that it rides triumphantly over the wild howlings of unhallowed desire; if we suppose that the sentiment of religion and the power of conscience are fully equal to the influence of temptation, and the disposition to imitation; if we suppose that the human mind delights equally to lend its attention to the fruits of holiness, as to the frivolities of fashion; and that it perceives as quickly, and retains as forcibly, and recalls as vividly, and reasons as disinterestedly and as justly, and reflects as willingly on that wisdom of which "the merchandise is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold," which is more precious than rubies, and "all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her;" (Prov. iii. 14, 15.) as it doth on mirth, and pleasure, and laughter, and wine, and folly, and great possessions, and silver, and gold, and learning, and honour, and reputation, and connexions, and increasing prosperity,—all of which have been declared to lead to vexation of

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spirit (Eccles. passim); if we suppose the imagination as easily excited, and as readily engaged, and as completely satisfied, with the sacred mysteries of our holy religion, as it is by the anticipation of some fancied good, or even by a glowing portraiture of fictitious circumstances: and if we allow the will to be entirely under our controul, and as easily directed in the pursuit of good; as firm to holy purpose; as unyielding to the influence of passion or prejudice, the attractions of vice, and the privations of that religion whose divine Author had neither form nor comeliness, that we should desire him: if we suppose that it is opposed to the agency of temptation, and constantly employed in counteracting the disposition to forget God: if we suppose all these things, and believe therefore that the young naturally possess an equal share of desire, and power to love God, and to do his will; as to be influenced by evil; even then we shall find, that in passing through life, so much more frequently will the evil dispositions be lighted up than the good; so much more constant will be the present attractions of vice than the future rewards of virtue; so much more frequently will the tendency to ill be incorporated into action, and associated with every feeling, and confirmed by repetition, and ripened into habit, and deepened into principle, and augmented by age, and reconciled by time, and extended by custom, and fortified by society, and backed by opportunity, and multi

plied by occasion, and invigorated by all the circumstances of a world that lieth in wickedness, that even under this most favourable supposition, we shall find the equilibrium of health destroyed, and disorder and confusion will ensue. And when once the balance has been lost, when once evil predominates over good, every fresh indulgence of passion not only adds to the weight in the scale of the former, but also takes away from the power of resisting evil, the antagonist and countervailing good principle; so that the weight of evil not only sinks the mind constantly lower in sin and misery, but also detracts from its power of regaining the supposed equilibrium from which it has fallen. And this process is continued with a fearful increase of accumulated evil, and a diminished weight of solid worth, until one scale kicks the beam, and until the other has been so completely borne down with its progressive load of iniquity, from the first youthful delinquency, to the aggravated period, when the greatest crimes may be added to the heap, without producing any sensible effect upon the moral balance, and until the character stands confessed as openly profligate

and abandoned.

Such is the progress of vice, even under the supposition of an original balance of power in choosing good, and refusing evil: but if to this view of the subject be added the truth, that the power to love and serve God has been already lost-that man is born in sin, prepense to evil, averse from good, easily assailable by tempta