duction of children into our company, we should accustom them to hear good sense, instead of being an echo to the jargon of the nursery, and helping to ground them in the most absurd superstition. Well might a certain Roman emperor return thanks that he had had an excellent tutor, and had found the like blessing for his children. When we consider the difficulty of the task, and the incompetency of most men to its proper execution, it may indeed be pronounced à capital blessing.

To his young Brother.

"W. T."

"Penketh, Nov. 15th, 1815.

Thine is a period of life when the mind, as yet unfurnished with ideas, is but too easily impressed with the tone of surrounding objects; whatever wears the charms of novelty and pleasure is eagerly pursued by the unsuspecting youth: the tempers, the habits, and the dispositions of those with whom he associates, are frequently copied, and the morning of his days, which he ought, like holy Samuel, to dedicate to his God, is often made the introduction to vice, and the commencement of irretrievable ruin.

"To prevent so awful a termination, it will be necessary for thee to begin life well. Endeavour with all thy might to practise every virtue. Shun the very appearance of vice. A two-fold curse attends the wicked; miserable in this world, they will also experience eternal misery in that which is to come. Neither illustrious rank, nor splendid abilities are sufficient to quiet the gnawings of a wounded conscience, nor lessen the horrors of a guilty soul. So heinous is sin in the sight of

K

a pure and all-seeing God, that the most terrible vengeance has been repeatedly denounced against it. If we were to offend a king or an emperor, we should expect some marks of displeasure to follow, how much less then can we hope to pass unpunished if we offend the Majesty of Heaven! Nay, we cannot escape, for a book of record is kept, and Christ himself has assured us we must stand before his throne to receive rewards or punishments according to the deeds done in the body.

"The Holy Scriptures contain the most ample proofs of the Almighty's hatred to sin. Adam and Eve for their disobedience were expelled the garden of Eden with a flaming sword: and no sooner were the inhabitants of the earth overrun with corruption and wickedness, than there was sent a great flood which swept them away.

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The coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was the most important event which ever happened since the creation of the world. To this sublime event all the typical rites and ceremonies of the Jews had a direct reference. To this they were constantly directed to look by their priests, prophets, and patriarchs, as to a time when the Messiah would set up his kingdom on earth, and establish universal concord amongst men. But, alas! they mistook the meaning of the prophecies. It was an outward kingdom which they looked for, and the glittering pomp of an earthly throne. Hence they were disappointed, and refused to believe in Christ, who declared: My kingdom is not of this world,' and who sought no throne but the hearts of his disciples.

"The ignorant Jews hoped to have been led by Him, to triumph over their enemies, and to

establish on the ruins of other nations a universal monarchy. But for no such purpose was he sent. He came to heal the broken-hearted; to reclaim the wandering penitent; to do good to the souls and bodies of men; and to purchase by his precious blood those mansions of glory which are prepared for such as do his will. For these divine, benevolent purposes did he quit his throne of inaccessible light, and clothe himself with hu manity. No worldly views, no aspiring after riches or aggrandizement marked his precepts; on the contrary, he embraced a voluntary poverty, and left costly apparel and soft raiment to the voluptuary. He sought no distinction but what resulted from his superior virtue, and cheerfully Ted the way for his humble followers from sorrow to rejoicing, and from a cruel martyrdom to a crown of immortal glory.

"What a felicity must it have been to have seen and conversed with our blessed Redeemer, to have gazed on his placid heavenly countenance, or sat, like one of old, at his feet, silently imbibing the dew of his heavenly instruction. We have not, it is true, this enviable privilege, but we have that precious book, the New Testament, in our possession-a book which contains more pure morality, and more sublime doctrines than any other extant-the only book which teaches us to love our enemies, to do good to them that hate us, and pray for those that despitefully use "W. T."

To R. O.

"Penketh.

"I hope we shall each of us be preserved in the principles and practice of virtue, that there may be an increasing bond of union between us.

Many other sources of friendship there are, but they are polluted and will gradually sink into oblivion. This is the only durable basis, and on it a superstructure may be raised, which will survive the wreck of time.

"I thank God that religious impressions were not only early but deeply laid in my mind. These feelings have of late been awakened with peculiar force: I have been led as in days past to consider the few moments of my existence as an almost undistinguishable point in the boundless void of eternity. What room then, I have cried, is there for wasting one of those precious moments in trifling pursuits. Shall we abridge that period which is already too short to allow us to fill up those innumerable duties, which, as reasonable creatures, devolve upon us? My determination at present is to engage in no studies which do not enlarge my sphere of usefulness, and to associate only with such men and books, as may tend to my improvement in true wisdom.

"W. T."

The school vacation at the end of the year 1815, was spent partly with his parents at Lowton, and partly on a visit to a friend at Liverpool. Whilst at the latter place his mind received some peculiarly forcible religious impressions, which appear to have produced in him an increased seHe alludes to this in some of the fol

riousness.

lowing letters.

Penketh, January 10th, 1816.

"In the fluctuating state of earthly friendships which have for their basis self love, and hypocrisy and deceit for a bond of union, there

is nothing to desire, nothing worth wishing for. But when friendship is founded upon the love of truth, when the bonds of a fraternal affection are sanctified by the true principles of christianity, when the good of our neighbour is preferred to our own, is there not reason to believe that Providence will preserve this friendship, that he will incline our hearts to serve Him with fidelity, and to love one another with more tenderness and affection?

"The English language, in my opinion, possesses that happy flexibility which qualifies it as a medium for the grave, or the gay; for the dry axioms of metaphysical research, or the most glowing and vivid colours of poetical imagination. Strength and copiousness are its characteristics, and if in some instances, it is thought inferior in elegance to the Greek and Roman tongues, the simplicity of its grammar, and the, energetic force of its idioms, together with the vast copia verborum it contains, may be deemed fully equivalent. If to admit varieties of style be an essential requisite, where shall we find a wider contrast, than the sententious brevity of Swift, and the diffu sive elegance of Shaftesbury? If a resemblance between the sound and the sense, contribute to the perfection of a language, numbers of English words will be found to possess this astonishing analogy.

"But whilst indulging this panegyric, I feel strongly reminded that all existing languages are but so many mementos of human folly and ambition; and that whether employed as vehicles for the dissemination of religious knowledge, or the advancement of natural science care should be taken, that sense is not sacrificed