tempted by shewing the child how much it is ignorant of, that others are acquainted with; by detailing how comparatively small a quantity of knowledge is or can be acquired even by those more highly gifted individuals, the bounds of whose ignorance are so much more circumscribed than its own; by proving the littleness of the human intellect from its incapacity to comprehend even natural events, the common phenomena of every day and every hour; and the positive feebleness of its highest aspirations, in consequence of finding every where a barrier placed to its researches. It is to be attempted farther by shewing, that this incapacity is the consequence of sin, and of that perverting change which has passed upon all men since the fall, by which man has lost the image of his high original, and the powers of his mind have been stunted and misapplied by their alliance with gross, feeble, expiring materiality. It is again to be attempted, by shewing the superiority of christian knowledge to that which is merely intellectual, the infinite value of the humility of the gospel, and the real worthlessness of the pride of learning,-a possession which the slightest cold will deprive of its power to please, which the fever of a day may obscure perhaps for months, and which a more powerful bodily impression may eclipse for ever: for it should always be kept in view, that genius and insanity are most nearly allied, and that there is but a step, a single step between the highest ercitation of intellectual health, and the first irrita

tion of disease-a disease too, before which the accumulations of studious years, of midnight studies, of late and feverish rest, will all crumble into the disjointed hallucinations of the maniac! A similar result is moreover to be attempted, by shewing that the power of obtaining knowledge of every kind, is the gift of God; he confers the talent, and man is bound to use it to his glory; and surely there is nothing to be proud of in a boon, however splendid, which we receive as needy suppliants and dependants! And lastly, this is to be attempted by inculcating the superiority of religious knowledge, and by proving that every pursuit should be subordinated, to this first and most sublime object of interest; so that a just estimate of the value of human knowledge, circumscribed, poor, and perishing as it is, may be formed, and may preclude the indulgence of a principle of pride, where in fact there is no plausible room for its exercise!

How careful then should parents be that they do not encourage this principle in their children, by exhibiting their attainments, and by teaching them to think too highly of their powers and progress. Pride, when uncontrouled, is active and imperious in its agency; it grows with our growth; it is fostered by every day's acquisition; it is nourished by the breath of praise; its influence is extended by the incense of adulation from inferiors and dependants; it is supported by the indolence or the ignorance of less highly-gifted individuals; it is strengthened by the recollections of

the former want of knowledge; it is stimulated by the hope and anticipation of fresh acquisition; and it requires every day a larger sacrifice of principle for its support! But pride goeth before a fall, and a haughty spirit before destruction; while humility and sincerity will triumph over every opposition. The means of checking this disposition must be greatly varied, according to the nature of the exciting cause which may have called it into action; but in every case, one prominent feature of instruction will always be, to inform the heart, and to teach the child a knowledge of its sinfulness and deceitfulness; and that this is the offspring of a depraved will, alienated from the living God, and which can only be restored by an interest in Christ, who is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

But we have often heard of a just and proper pride; a respect for ourselves; an equitable estimate of character; a stimulus to good action, and great and noble daring; a principle of fortitude; a sentiment of honour; a seeking after the highest degree of attainable perfection; a preservation from low and grovelling vice; the support of consistent good; a motive to dignity and purity of conduct and inclination; the emulation of all that is valuable; the fear of all that is evil, and of other good qualities, as referred for their origin to a principle of pride. It surely cannot be that the disposition we have been contemplating can be ever in itself good; and it surely cannot be that

the accumulated observation of ages can be entirely false! What then is the principle to which these manifestations ought to be referred? what is the nature of that principle which sin has constituted pride, but which, anterior to its polluting influence, existed as a principle of good, implanted by the omniscient power of Him who created man in his own image, and who pronounced upon him that he was very good?

That we may arrive at a satisfactory solution of this problem, we must consider a little more in detail the bearing of those circumstances to which we have alluded. Man was created after the image and likeness of God; not surely as regards his corporeal substance, which was formed from the dust of the earth, but with respect to his "incomprehensible and eternal soul;" that spiritual principle, which was infused into his body, and whose powers and capacities were capable of assimilation, though at an infinite distance, with the attributes of divinity. These powers, though limited, even in a state of innocence by the material organ through which their manifestations were to be conducted, were originally much greater and more perfect than they now are. This we infer from the record which has been left us of the knowledge of the first man Adam, unto whom God brought every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, to see what he would call them: "And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowls of the air, and to every beast of the field; and whatsoever Adam called every living

creature, that was the name thereof." We have abundant reason to believe that these names were not an arbitrary collocation of sounds; but that they were signs of ideas, and designative of the nature or habits of particular animals: and as the minute acquaintance with nature's laws, and operations, and instincts implied by the supposition, could not have been the result of experience, it follows that the knowledge of the first man must have been of a much higher order than that of any one of his most highly-gifted posterity. And even supposing that this knowledge could have arisen from extended experience, we shall still arrive at the same result, and shall be forced to adopt an identical conclusion, since where now, or at any antecedent period of this world's polluted history, could be found the gigantic mind which would embrace such diversified objects of inquiry, such repeated and extensive experience? If such be the case with the knowledge of the first man, so also with regard to those attributes of mind upon which this acquisition would be founded, as the faculties of attention, perception, reason, imagination, judgment, will, &c.: so also with those which would be influenced and acted upon by the possession of superior acquirements, as the faculties of reflection and imitation, memory, conscience, habits, affections, passions, &c.

From this state of riches man fell by transgression, lost the image of God, and the love of holiness; his knowledge was contracted and debased; the powers of his soul were perverted;