much more quickly if you give to it your undivided attention for a limited portion of time, say one hour daily, and then lay it aside, and direct your mind to something else, than if you attempt to do several things together. Such an attempt will be sure to occasion confusion of mind; like a shopman attempting to serve two or three customers at once, he will very likely put an article into the wrong parcel, or altogether mislay it so where several mental pursuits are attempted at once, the knowledge acquired is soon lost and forgotten, or if retained, becomes useless for want of connexion. There is, perhaps, a confused recollection of the fact, or the sentiment, but it is forgotten to what it belonged or applied. A gentleman was very intent on reading, when his breakfast was brought in. Without entirely withdrawing his attention from the book, he proceeded to boil an egg, and took out his watch for the purpose of observing the time; when he supposed the allotted minutes to have expired, on looking towards his hand, he found the egg there, while the watch was in the boiling water in the saucepan. Perhaps if he had taxed himself to ascertain how much of his book he had understood and remembered in these few minutes, he would have found his ideas in as bad a condition as his time-piece. It would have been better that he should have employed another person to boil his egg without diverting his attention from the book; or if it were necessary to do it himself, that he should have laid aside his book while he gave the requisite attention to the egg, and then returned with undivided attention to his study. 3. Cultivate patience. In the pursuit of knowledge it is very desirable and encouraging to effect and to ascertain our progress; but it is necessary to guard against impatience, when our improvement is not so evident as we could wish. The feeble flame of a newly-lighted candle may sometimes be seen, as it were, struggling for life. If hastily moved, or impatiently poked about with the snuffers, it will very likely be put out: but wait a minute, allow time for its undisturbed efforts—a slight crackling will intimate that the flame has taken further hold on the wick, and it will soon burn up, and give a strong and clear light. So the learner must not be too impatient for a sight of her progress. It may be real, though not perceptible. The roots of a tree, and the foundation of a house, are out of sight. Without diligence and application there can be no real progress; but if these are employed, the want of evident results need not greatly discourage, they will be seen in due time. If you were ascending a steep hill, with a high hedge or wall on each side, you could not enjoy much of a prospect; but you are assured by those who have passed the road before you, that from the summit of the hill you will have an extensive and delightful view on the other side. Would it not be an act of foolish impatience, when you had toiled half way up the hill to be discouraged and say, "I will go no farther, for I see no more now than when I began to ascend the hill ?" True, but every advancing step certainly brings you nearer to the scene you wish to behold; whereas, if you give up, you will be as far from success as if you had never set out. So, having first ascertained that the object to which your attention is directed, is worthy your pursuit, be encouraged to patience and perseverance. It is only by "a patient continuance in well-doing," a setting one step after another till the whole path be traversed, that any valuable end can be attained. If you expect to jump at once from ignorance to knowledge, you are only deceiving yourself, and preparing the way for your own disappointment; but "be not weary in welldoing, and then in due season you will reap if you faint not." 4. It is very needful for the young person desirous of self-improvement, to gain the assistance of a judicious and faithful friend; one who will kindly direct her pursuits, and preserve her from bestowing her labour on an unattainable or unprofitable object, as well as from an unnecessary expense of labour for want of knowing the best way of setting about it. The advice of such a friend will be useful in correcting errors, and suggesting opportunities and means of improvement, which the young inquirer herself might overlook. The choice of books is a matter as to which the inexperienced are very apt to err; caught, perhaps, by a specious title or a puffing advertisement, they bestow, to use a Scripture phrase, "their money for that which is not bread, and their labour for that which satisfieth not." An experienced friend would have guarded them against being thus imposed upon, and directed them at once to the most suitable works on the subject concerning which they desired information; perhaps would have supplied them with such books as were required only for temporary use, and thus their own resources would have been left at liberty for the purchase of others of permanent interest. 5. If you seek improvement, be careful to cultivate self-acquaintance. This lies at the foundation of all knowledge that deserves the name. Selfknowledge will produce humility; and instead of boasting to others, and pleasing yourself with the idea, that you have learned this, and know that, and understand the other, you will become more and more conscious of your own ignorance; you will be teachable and respectful in the presence of those capable of instructing you; and you will diligently improve every opportunity that presents itself of gaining useful information. Pride and self-conceit are like a swelled face: they indeed attract the attention of a person to himself, but they obscure his view of every other object, and to others they present only a distorted and disproportioned view of his features. 6. Endeavour to turn to account, and reduce to method and order, knowledge already possessed, and make it subservient to the acquisition of more. When any thing new is learned, it is worth while to exercise a moment's reflection, to consider whether any thing similar to it, or bearing upon it, has been acquired before; if so, bring them together, compare them, observe whether they corroborate or contradict each other: if they differ, consider, inquire, and, if possible, ascertain which is agreeable to truth and reason, and endeavour to impress on your mind both the process and the result, that you may be confirmed in truth and guarded against error. Those whose early knowledge and observation have been of the practical kind, when they come to be instructed in science, will be led to recollect many examples and illustrations, and to account for the occurrence of facts, of the principles and causes of which they were before ignorant. Also those who have acquired more of speculative information, or rather of scientific knowledge, of which at the time they did not fully understand the use, will often be gratified by the adaptation of principles to the common affairs of life, and will thus find themselves in possession of means for attending to these things in a superior, more intelligent, and efficient manner. But those who have been accustomed merely to a superficial and mechanical exercise of the memory, though a large portion of information may have passed before their eyes, or between their lips, will find that for any purpose of practical utility, it has all passed away; or if retained, it is but as a confused mass of lumber, a store of which the possessor is unconscious, or knows not how to apply to any valuable uses. 7. Cultivate a spirit of dependence on the teaching and direction of God the Holy Spirit. This is, perhaps, too little regarded even by pious persons in reference to common things; they are apt, too exclusively, to confine their application to the "Father of lights" for "the wisdom that cometh from above," to the concerns of the soul and the more obviously important movements of life, forgetting that every good and perfect gift comes from the same source. The same gracious Being, who has said to man, “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil, that is understanding;" is he, |