are many

bution of wisdom; and it assimilates men, not to the usual characters of human frailty, but to those dark and malignant spirits who fell from heaven, and who excel in knowledge only that they may employ it in malevolence. To the wise and virtuous man, on the contrary, to him whose moral attainments have kept pace with his intellectual, and who has employed the great talent with which he is entrusted to the glory of God and to the good of humanity, are presented the sublimest prospects that mortality can know. "In my father's house," says our Saviour, mansions;" mansions, we may dare to interpret, fitted to the different powers that life has acquired, and to the uses to which they have been applied. Of that great scene, indeed, which awaits all, whether ignorant or wise, it becomes us to think with reverential awe. Yet we know "that it will then be well with the good, though it will not be well with the wicked;" and we are led, by an instinctive anticipation, to suppose that they who here excelled in wisdom and benevolence will be rewarded with higher objects, upon which they may be employed, and admitted into nearer prospects of the government of Eternal Wisdom. "In his light they shall see light." "They shall see him, not as through a glass, darkly; but as he is. They shall know, even as they themselves are known,"

ALISON.

THE ADVANTAGE TO YOUTH FROM THE SOCIETY OF OLD AGE.

No society can be more beneficial to the young than occasional intercourse with those whom length of days hath taught wisdom, and whose comforts are derived chiefly from reason and reflection, instead of appetite and passion. Were there, indeed, no other motives to enforce it, the pleasure arising from variety would be sufficient. Unvaried gratification soon becomes tiresome and insipid; if, therefore, we wish to cultivate true happiness, we must diversify even the rational enjoyments of life. None but the morose would debar youth from pleasure, provided it be neither vicious nor degrading; but to retire from the scenes of festivity and joy, and anticipate the benefit of experience from the admonitions of the aged, is not only the way to enlarge the understanding and fortify the heart, but the best means of rendering the return of other pleasures innocent and delightful.

By thus furnishing the mind with various powers of enjoyment, it is prevented also from being lost in sensuality, or enslaved to the idle gratifications of vanity and pride. Taught to watch for ourselves, from the strange vicissitudes that have befallen others, we first submit to the duty, and then enjoy the benefit of thought and meditation. When the pleasures of the world are interrupted, or withdrawn, which must often be the case, we can retire without regret from what delighted the eye, or charmed the ear, and

derive comforts from a purer source; comforts that are independent of others, and that accompany us in solitude and silence, in the season of calamity, and at the hour of death. To acquire discipline over the mind, with which so many blessings are connected, nothing can be more effectual than frequent intercourse with the aged.

Many young persons, I know, are ready to allege their gravity and moroseness, their indifference to amusements, or their condemnation of pleasure, as bars to this desirable society. But consider; it is not an accession of spirits and vivacity that you want; your foolish confidence and blind credulity need not be increased; and surely the ardour of your passions and desires is already sufficiently dangerous. These require not to be inflamed, but controlled; and we wish you to frequent the company of the aged for what you chiefly want, and they are particularly qualified to bestow ;-habits of thought and reflection, sobriety of sentiment, the warnings of experience, and the great duty of guarding against the temptation of the world.

But you must not expect at once the beauties of the spring and the fruits of autumn; you must not be disappointed, if you do not find the wisdom of age enlivened by the gay hopes and boundless confidence of youth; nor must you regret that the exercise of the more amiable virtue is unattended with the raptures of passion, or the endearments of sensibility. That would be as preposterous as to look for roses in December, or to expect that the setting sun should shine with the fervid splendour of noon.

Besides the gradual abatement of appetite and passion, the apathy which satiety or frequent repetition produces, and not to mention the many infirmities of the aged, there are other causes to render them, what we might call, morose, suspicious, and severe. They have seen and are assured of the folly and the danger which attend the pleasures of the world; they have often grieved, and, perhaps, suffered for the baseness and depravity of men; they have often chased the phantoms of hope, till they have vanished into air, and when other illusions supplied their place, they have grasped at happiness, perhaps, but embraced misery. Can you wonder then that prudence should sometimes teach them to apprehend evil, where you see nothing but good? And that their expectations should be moderate, their wishes sober, and their passions subdued?

HEWLETT.

THE MERE PROFESSION OF CHRISTIANITY NOT SUFFICIENT.

THE mere profession of the Gospel, which consists in outward conformity, in the indefinite assent of the understanding, will but aggravate their guilt. Christianity is a practical principle displaying itself in love and obedience to God, in active exertion for the service of man, in constant efforts after inward piety, and personal and progressive holiness. Any thing short of this is not the religion which Christ came from heaven to teach, nor will it carry us safely thither.

Oh! let those to whom life is just opening, whose hearts are full of hope, and vigour, and gaiety, pause and consider their ways, and ponder the path of their feet. They are not yet in They know nothing

the trammels of the world. of the tyranny of custom, nothing of the slavery of habit. Their race is still to be run, and an immortal crown may be their portion.

Let them examine with earnestness the evidences of their religion, that they may be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in them; imploring with humble fervour assistance from the fountain of all truth, and light, and knowledge they will then receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save their souls ; they will hold fast the profession of their faith without wavering. But let it not be a simple adoption, a mere profession of Christianity, but an active principle, an animating spirit, diffusing itself through every thought, word, and action.

ANONYMOUS.

THE INVISIBILITY OF GOD NO ARGUMENT AGAINST HIS EXISTENCE.

Now one thing which diminishes greatly man's conviction of the being and power of God, especially with persons who do not bestow much thought upon the subject, is, that they do not see him: "No man hath seen God at any time;" and the want of this, of actually perceiving him with our senses, has a very considerable effect upon the persuasion of all who are not accus