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"tion; begging that good and amiable man to watch care"fully over his dispositions and conduct, in order to find out "what the state of his soul might prove, and to see how his thoughts ran, as he grew in years." "The experience of a year and a half, during which he resided under Mr. Small's roof, as a boarded pupil, and member of his family, drew from his tutor a satisfactory testimony to the reality of the work of grace in his heart, and a proposal accompanying this testimony, to recommend him to be taken on the fund, as one of the regular students of the Institution. This unexpected proposal, being regarded as an additional indication of the will of Providence, was assented to; and young M'All, who, it would appear, had come home at the summer holidays and been the bearer of his tutor's letter, returned to Axminster, and, on the recommendation of Mr. Small and another minister, was received on the fund, and continued to prosecute his studies on this new footing.

All was thus promising. He continued to give his tutor the greatest satisfaction, and recommended himself to his affectionate regard.—An unfortunate visit during the subsequent Christmas holidays, the invitation to which was prompted, on the part of him who gave it, by the kind consideration of the distance of his home and the absence of all the other students from the Academy,-proved the occasion of throwing a blight over these pleasant prospects. I know not the name of his host;-but it is generally understood— and indeed, at a late period of his life, under my own roof, I heard the incident from his own lips, related with all his characteristic naïveté and glee, unembittered with an atom of ill-humour-that grave offence was taken, and a strong prepossession formed against him, in consequence of some smart repartee to which, under the momentary impulse of provocation, he had given hasty utterance; his spirit, naturally quick, and in such a case irrepressibly sensitive, having been fired by a remark or question, in which, with or without reason, there had appeared an implied taunt of those who were dearer

⚫ Letter as before.

C

to him than himself. I have no wish to exculpate the young offender from the charge of unbecoming pertness. I may be allowed to say, however, that if we dislike being stung, we should deal gently with the stinging insect;-if we deprecate explosions, we should take care how we handle the steel and flint; if we are not partial to electrical sparks, we must not excite the plate, and hold our knuckle to the conductor. I may say further, that if it was wrong in our young friend to forget that he was a boy, neither was it very right in his host to forget it. It was the offence that should have been forgotten. If it could not with propriety be laughed at, nor its impudence excused, the provocation given should have gone far to cancel the one half of it, and its ready cleverness the other. -But we are all in danger of allowing such wounds to rankle, -and then of viewing every thing in those by whom they have been inflicted, under the unfavourable influence of the spirit of fretfulness which they engender. Whether at all, or to what degree, this was the case in the present instance, it belongs to a higher tribunal than mine to determine. Young M'All, however, was charged with lightness of spirit, and deficiency in the frequency and length of the exercises of personal devotion, both evincing the absence of sufficiently satisfactory evidence of his possessing that experimental piety which is requisite in a candidate for the Christian ministry. His continuance at the academy was opposed; and so strenuous was the opposition, that, although his tutor was in his favour, and the committee, with the one exception, of the same mind, it was ultimately thought best to advise his withdrawment. Let the father speak again; for he speaks calmly and reasonably, although with the natural pathos of a father's tenderness. The reader will not be displeased with me, when he has read the pleading, for giving it entire. After mentioning the pertinacious firmness of the party in question to his son's being retained, he proceeds :-" On this Mr. Small "wrote to me, just before the last midsummer vocation, to "beg that my son might not return back, as, in the opinion "of some, they had doubts of his knowing the work of con" version on his heart; but that, as to himself, he had nothing

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"to say against his conduct, but that he was very sorry to "communicate the matter to me, as he had a great partiality for "my son. The only matter that he had to observe of him was, "that he sometimes appeared to be light-spirited, and took "great pleasure in studying, at his leisure, works of art and sci"ence. Now, dear Sir, I leave it to you to judge, whether a "youth of his years might not, on a visit amongst friends, and during the time of relaxation from close studies, be in some "measure off his guard, and fall into a degree of cheerfulness "that might be quite contrary to his habitual seriousness, "when in his regular course of life. Alas! I have too often "witnessed, among ministers of years and great experience, “that when they have been in company and on visits with "their friends, they have indulged in a strain of humour and vivacity, that if a stranger to them were to judge of their “general character by those seasons, he would certainly form "an estimate of them that would be very far from truth.— "And as to my son's studying the arts and sciences, at the "times of recreation, it is to me rather a cause of commenda"tion than of censure. For it is confessed, that he never "neglected his regular studies for those things; but with his "proficiency in them his tutor expressed himself highly satis"fied. He only robbed himself of the time that he might "have devoted to walking, &c., to acquire an increase of use"ful knowledge. And I am quite satisfied that he read his "Bible with care, from what I see by marks in it: and be"sides this, he has read many of the most excellent spiritual "and practical writers on divinity. Hence, upon the whole, "I am fully satisfied, that he must have been a diligent stu"dent. Besides, dear Sir, the testimony of his tutor, who "told him, before he left him, that he had nothing against "him, he has received letters from three of his fellow"students, who are still at the academy, and which letters I "have seen. In all of them they write to him in terms of "the highest respect, and with confidence of his being a fel"low-partaker with them of the grace of life.-I have like"wise seen his private journal, which he never showed to any "creature before, nor did intend to show, even to his mother,

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or me, or any one; and which I should not have seen, had "it not been for the close manner in which I talked with "him, and my desire to know the state of his soul as in the "sight of God, when he was at Axminster. Upon this, with great reluctance, united with becoming modesty, he let “his mamma and myself see the manual I have alluded to: "—and I honestly tell you, that Mrs. M'. and myself were "melted down in tears of thankfulness and joy at the reading "thereof;-which discovered the secret dealings of his soul "with God, and the fervent desires of his heart after a full assurance of his personal interest in Christ,—his desire to "feel himself sanctified in all his powers to the Lord,—and "deep humiliation of soul before the Most High, for all his "infirmities and short-comings. Indeed his dear mamma,

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as well as myself, was so much convinced of the unfeigned "desire of his heart to be wholly consecrated to God for ever, "that we felt our minds satisfied that the Lord was with him." "Now, my dear Sir, I submit it to you or any other impar"tial person, whether Mr. Small, his tutor, with whom he "had been two years and a half, and his fellow-students "who were almost constantly with him, and one of whom slept with him, I say, I leave it to you or any one to judge, "whether they had not a better opportunity of judging of his "real disposition and character, both towards God and man, "than a person could possibly do, who only saw him for one "week, and that too when he was on a visit of friendship and "relaxation from his studies.-Such, my brother, is the "honest history of facts, which I can confirm by letters from "the different parties.'

My judgment approves the sentiments, and my heart responds to the feelings, thus expressed. There is no evidence that either the studies of our young friend were neglected, or his morning and evening devotions, and the reading of his Bible. And the reader must be left to form his own opinion of the harsh and hasty estimate of his character, which led to the cessation of his course at Axminster ;-how far that esti

Letter to Dr. Collyer-as before.

mate was formed under the influence of candour, and how far under that of temper ;-how far it was the real, and how far the ostensible, ground of the rigorous procedure against him. -A lad under fifteen years of age, naturally buoyant and ardent in temperament, released for the holidays from the regular severity of study, ought to have been encouraged to take his full amount of the intended recreation, and to enjoy himself, as far as was consistent with decorum, and with such an unbending of the mind as would not unfit it for a vigorous resumption of studious application. Had such a youth even shown a propensity to be a little unduly frolicsome, real kindness, in applying the check-rein, would have drawn it in with a good-humoured smile. I have known cases in which there has been such a measure of austerity, whether constitutional or cherished under the influence of mistaken conceptions of piety, as to render, to the morbid spirit, all cheerfulness levity, laughter profaneness,-conversation about any thing else than religion conformity to the world,—the gleam of joyous pleasure lighting up the eye of youth the sure and sad indication of a heart without grace, and any fondness for aught but divinity-the Bible and the Fathers-in one who anticipates the ministry, an augury, darkly ominous, of his being "spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit," and of his proving no better than a "well without water."Where "lightness of spirit," therefore, is complained of, one should be well aware of the character of the judge, ere the justice of the complaint is taken for granted. And if, in the present instance, there was no constitutional or acquired austerity to account for the charge, I confess myself unable, with the evidence before me, to trace it to a more creditable

source.

But let not the remarks just made be misunderstood and abused, as if I would treat with ridicule or scorn a good principle, even when carried too far. Let it not be supposed that in condemning one extreme I am insensible to the danger of its opposite; that in censuring austerity I am giving my sanction to levity. I have been speaking of a boy. There are not wanting those who may give the excuse pleaded for