are perversions of the feeling arising out of our social eccentricities, and only prove from its abuse, that the association was originally intended to pass sentence upon conduct, to warn of danger, and to punish the disobedient.

Lastly, the evil of ingratitude is shewn by the incapacity for enjoying the goods thus obtained by the kindness of others, by their unrequited confidence, by their cruelly abused benevolence. But so it is the stern eye of justice is fixed upon the ungrateful, and the curse of unhappiness rests upon them; their very blessings are embittered, and prove sources of misery; the idea of their ill-gotten comforts haunts them in the busiest, or the most dissipated scenes of life; they fly in vain from the inflictions of care; the illusion of peace vanishes from their bosom; and it does so, because the image of ingratitude is frequently presented, and casts its gloomy shadow over the recollection of the past, the enjoyment of the present, and the anticipations of futurity.

So perverted may be the heart, that on many occasions these consequences do not follow; but when they do not, it is because the effect has been dissociated from the primary cause, by some secondary and corrupting agency, powerful enough to arrest the original movements, and to develop others of a painful and injurious nature. Such then is ingratitude! a vice too prevalent in the world, and against which, the young cannot be too carefully guarded. Not only should they be

instructed, to avoid it in themselves, but also not to be surprised, when they meet with it in others. As gratitude from others is not to become a motive to action; so ingratitude is not to be employed as an excuse for inaction, for slumbering at our post, for ceasing those energetic exertions, which are a duty we owe to those around us. The young must not be taught to expect gratitude; but they must be cautioned not to be disappointed when they experience its opposite vice. This is important as a principle of action; for it happens too frequently, that where benevolent conduct has been founded principally on feeling and education, it will be blasted by the adverse gale of ingratitude, a gale which only shews the greater need of the exercise of charity for those around us, and which should induce us to cling more earnestly to the wreck of our hopes, and never to abandon it, while there remains a chance of doing good to ourselves or others; much less, while we can do our duty to God, though we cannot be useful to man.

Ingratitude is to be most sedulously corrected by education, and more especially by the removal of its exciting causes; by teaching the young, that the only worthy object of pursuit is superiority of goodness, and that principle, not feeling, is to be their guide through life; by shewing them, that he who forgets a kindness, is degraded below the irrational brute, who repays his benefactor with some shew of requital, while reasonable

man, too frequently seeks to do him harm; by teaching them, that the spirit of the world is at enmity with God, and that pure and undefiled religion consists in keeping themselves unspotted with its vices, in forgetting the selfishness of momentary gratification, and in the sincere desire of doing the whole will of God towards his creatures; by sapping the foundation of pride, and by shewing the necessity for humility; by exemplifying the truth, that the only real liberty consists in obedience to the commands of God, according to their spirit; by obviating the influence of avarice and ambition; by moderating the pretensions of envy; by calling into action, that delicate sensibility of feeling, which prompts its possessor to receive a benefit with modest pleasure, and to repay it with unmingled delight; and by enforcing the evil nature of this vice, and the miseries to which its indulgence inevitably leads.

SECTION VI.-On Patience-Impatience—Meek

ness.

a. Patience.

PATIENCE is a virtue, the exercise of which enables us to bear afflictions and calumnies, with constancy and calmness of mind, and with a ready submission to the will of God; it teaches

us to yield to the higher privations of life, without a murmur; gives cheerfulness and equanimity when the will is crossed, when our hopes are blasted, or intentions defeated, and our designs contravened; it fortifies us to support disappointment without vexation, and to bear the contumely of the world, the calumnies of acquaintance, and the unkindness of friends without an angry feeling; it preserves us from envying the lot of those who appear more fortunate in this world's goods; it enables us to exercise that charity which beareth all things; defends us from restlessness in sickness, from irritability in pain, from excessive anxiety in sorrow, from the torment of selfishness under narrow circumstances, from the blast of penury, the storms of adversity, and the winter of destitution; it supplants anger, places a tight rein upon ambition, reconciles conflicting passions, dissipates the vapours of ennui, and leaves no room for the exercise of the gloomier forms of disgust, hatred, resentment, and vengeance. Patience should be exercised on the lesser, as well as on the more important occasions of life; on those lighter instances of every day occurrence which provoke irritability and fretfulness, without being of sufficient importance to develop a more powerful passion. The employment of this virtue is essentially connected with peace of mind; for "tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope." Romans v. 3, 4.

Patience is universal in its application, and energetic in its influence; " be patient towards "be all men," (1 Thessalonians v. 14,) rendering to all their due, and taking care that it should have its perfect work. Patience moderates the desires, and leads us to look forward though they be not immediately gratified; and to pursue those which are lawful with unwearied energy, and undaunted perseverance; and still to hope for their accomplishment. Lo, the husbandman

"waiteth for the precious fruits of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain." James v. 7. In the night of distress, even in the deepest affliction; when the hand of Providence has removed our greatest comforts; when unexpected accident or disease has snatched from us our nearest relatives; when the hedge about ourselves, and our houses, and all that we have appears to have been broken down; when our oxen, and our asses, and our sheep, and our camels, and our servants have been destroyed, or we have been deprived in some way or other of all that we have; then it is that we should bless the name of the Lord; then it is that we should "take the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience;" then it is that we should "count them happy which endure;" then it is, that having heard" of the patience of Job,” and “ having seen the end of the Lord;" that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy," (James v. 10, 11,)