all that is worth remembering; while, on the other hand, every thought suggested by the contemplation of those objects may, in its turn, become the means of recalling the Saviour to his mind; and thus there will be an established connexion maintained in the mind between Christ and all that deserves to be associated with him. There will be a system of holy thoughts and recollections, of which Christ will be the centre and the soul: thoughts which at one time might have passed through the mind without being detained or cherished, will now find a welcome and a home; and will find it, simply because they bear a relation to him.

We listen with pleasure to the man who can give us the least information concerning a dear and distant friend; and every incident relative to Christ will be welcome to the heart which enshrines him. Could we look into the memory thus consecrated, and survey the interior imagery, we might trace with ease innumerable associations sacred to him, mingled, indeed, with some of an unhallowed kind; for even the temple itself was not unvisited by idols,

"Who durst fix their seats next the seat of God,
Their altar by his altar; yea, often placed
Within his sanctuary itself their shrines,
Abominations!"

But such sacrilegious thoughts will not find a welcome, or effect a lodgment, in a heart which is thus sacred to him. And this suggests the importance of vivid as well as frequent recollections of Christ. If they cease to be vivid, they cease to exert a practical influence. They mingle and pass through his mind with other thoughts; but, instead of controlling the man, they are controlled by him; instead of imparting a religious character to his mind, his mind imparts to them its own worldliness. This is the secret of the religious declension of many Christians from what the Scriptures designate their "first love." Instead of remembering him, they

come to be satisfied with merely remembering past recollections of him.

It is, no doubt, strange in the estimation of the world, to insist on the paramount importance of habitually remembering a Being so far removed beyond the range of our natural sympathies and associations. So, under the former economy, the heathens were at a loss to conceive what could be the object of the Jewish worship, since the temple contained no image of a god; and when at last, on the conquest of Jerusalem, they rushed into the "Holy of Holies," they exclaimed with amazement, that there was no God! We admit the difficulty of remembering an unseen Saviour, but affirm its practicability, and urge its inportance, and exult in the pleasure which its performance involves.

If we desire to cherish the recollection of a distant friend, in order to prevent the possibility of long forgetting him, how often do we carry about with us some memento to awaken recollections of him! Now, though the Christian does not stand in need of such assistance, yet whatever is calculated to bring the Saviour properly before us should not be despised. There should be such a sensitiveness of feeling cultivated towards him, that every thing we hear and see should have a tendency to remind us of him. Our sacred mental associations should be so multiplied, that nothing could claim our attention without directly or indirectly leading us to him; that no train of thought could be excited within us, without terminating in thoughts of him; that as the magnetic needle turns in the direction of the pole, so, whatever our situation, our hearts, being imbued with his love, might spontaneously and habitually turn to him.

Pointing to his sacramental ordinance, he enjoins, "Do this in remembrance of me." The Christian should do every thing in remembrance of Christ, and thus convert life into one sacra mental feast.

In their origin these two words are very closely related to each other. They are both formed from the Greek verb, which signifies "to see." There is, however, a distinction between them, to which it is of no small importance to attend ; and there is a latitude of meaning in the radical word "see," to which it is equally necessary to pay attention, if we wish to think and speak correctly upon some of those subjects which concern us the most.

"The idea" is not so much the thing seen, as the fact of seeing it. This seeing, must not, however, be confounded with the mere use of the eyes in beholding the visible objects. It has a far more extensive signification than this, and applies with equal propriety to every subject

which can engage the human thought, whether that subject be of such a nature as can be visible to the eyes or not. Thus, for instance, we have an idea of the sound of a trumpet, the scent of a rose, or the flavour of a peach; and yet it would be quite absurd to speak of seeing any one of these. So, also, we may have a perfect idea of that which is to be done, or should be done, not only before it is carried into execution, but even though the execution of it should never be undertaken: and, under proper circumstances, it is our power of forming such ideas which enables us to make advances in knowledge, in the arts, in the business of life, and, in short, in every thing in which an advance can be made.

Philosophers, especially those who have endea

voured to investigate the mental powers of man, and the means of their improvement, have often entangled themselves in a most complicated cobweb of words upon the subject of ideas; and they have done so, chiefly because they have confounded ideas with idols. Hence it is of the greatest importance to understand clearly the distinction of meaning between the two words. We have already said that the idea is not the thing perceived, but the fact of perceiving it; and that it applies to the perceptions of all the senses equally, and also to those mental perceptions, answering to which there are no objects of

sense.

The word idol has a very different meaning, even when it has no allusion to those spurious religions in which idols are substituted in place of the true God. As the word idea comes from the active form of the verb to see, or rather from that of the more general word to perceive or have knowledge; so the word idol comes from the passive form of the same verb, and means the subject of the perception; which, however, may be either real or imaginary. Thus, for example, if we have with attention viewed a scene, a person, or any thing whatsoever, when we advert to it afterwards, it rises before us with the same clearness and truth as if it stood before our eyes in its natural reality. In this case we have both the idea and the idol. The idea is the power which we possess in our minds of calling it up; and the idol is that which answers to our call. Both may be either true to nature, or they may not; but if the one of them is true to nature, the other must be equally so. It is the idea, however, which controls and fashions the idol; and the idol is perfect or imperfect, just according as the idea is so.

This is a very important consideration; because the forming of a correct idea is that which distinguishes a person of intelligence from one of the opposite character; and, therefore, those who have the training of the minds of youth, which is a duty that devolves upon every parent, and, indeed, upon every one having more experience than those who are about them, whether they discharge it in a faithful manner or not, ought to be especially attentive to the right formation of those ideas. At the outset, they are chiefly acquired by observation, or through the medium of language; and the portion so acquired is the real materials out of which further experience and mental exercise may enable the party to arrive at something original-something which shall add to the real stock of knowledge.

The means by which this is to be done are exceedingly simple, probably too simple for the

ordinary modes of teaching, in which nothing will go down unless there is an air of artificial wisdom about it. We have only to study one thing at a time, and to study it thoroughly. First, as it is in itself, as a whole, in all its particulars, and in all its qualities; and, secondly, as it stands in relation to other things. The consideration of this relation is double, applying both to contemporary existence and to succession in time. In the first of these, we have to consider the subject of which we are endeavouring to obtain a correct idea, as a part of some system or other. It may be the system of nature, the system of art, or the system of human conduct; but, whether it is one or another of these, or two, or all of them jointly, the knowledge of the individual thing, however minute, is really of little value, unless we see it in its proper connexion. The relation of succession is not less important; because it is here that our belief in the doctrine of cause and effect, when grounded upon true principles, is so very valuable to us. The grand use of this doctrine consists in its enabling us to connect the future with the present, from the experience which we have of the connexion of the present with the past; and as the plan which we form with regard to the future is only an idea, it is necessary that the ground of our judgment of it, which is drawn from the past, should be true to the events as they have really happened. No human caution, and no exercise of judgment, can reach perfection in those matters; but still a very close approximation may be made by those who carefully examine all the circumstances of every passing event, in the issue of which they are likely at any time to be concerned, and diligently treasure them up in their memory. It is this mental faculty of seeing the end and the purpose of every thing projected, which, constituting what is usually called common sense," "mother wit," is so far superior to mere acquired learning, that an ounce of it is said to be worth a pound of the latter.

or

66

The formation of correct ideas, that is, mental apprehensions which reach the whole of any case, embraces the entire field of mental culture; and it is one which very strongly claims the attention of every rational being. But, even after this is done, there still remains a danger of error; namely, the misapprehension of idol or mental subject of the idea. It is distinctly to be understood that this idol is merely that which the mind perceives, and not any thing material; but we must defer the consideration of it to a future paper.

[We have to apologize to our fair friends for introducing them to a bachelor's téte-à-téte, instead of to an orderly and mixed party. The latter we hope to do in a few weeks, having received an invitation for Thursday fortnight, and, contrary to our usual practice, accepted it, solely for the benefit of our readers. The gentleman who figures in the following article is, as will be seen, a mere bungier in the scienes of scandal, making mischief through a love of chattering, rather than from malicious intention. He hacks character as an Esquimaux would carve a turkey. In our future sketch we trust we shall be able to give a specimen of the more civilized mode of proceeding, and to exhibit the studied art and adroitness with which reputations are cut up in our tea-sipping circles, as skilfully as subjects at St. Thomas's Hospital.]

66

Gossip, will you take a cup of tea with me this evening? Perhaps you belong to a Temperance Society; if so, it shall be tea and turn out. I am a bachelor, you know, and will invite no one else, that we may have it snug and cozy by ourselves. Well, you'll come? Thank you. Eight o'clock precisely. Good morning."

"Well, Mr. Gossip, how do you do again? I am glad to see you. Sit down. Have the kindness to ring the bell near you, and Sally will bring up the tray. The muffins were toasted half an hour ago, just as the clock struck eight; I like punctuality, Gossip; I like punctuality. I dare say something interesting happened to detain you thus long; yes-never mind-these things will happen. Don't apologize, I beg. You take cream and sugar? I hope you'll tell me if I don't make it agreeable.

"Well, Gossip, although I take tea in moderation, I confess it is a dangerous thing. Ardent spirits are mischievous, very; but tea also has a multitude of sins to answer for. The authority of Scripture, and the not unimportant fact that the decoction of tea-leaves was unknown till long after, prevents my attributing the origin of evil in Paradise to tea; but I am inclined to charge this beverage with most of the evil deeds which have been done of late years. Who can calculate the number of characters destroyed, reputations tarnished, friendships exploded, evil passions fostered, and amiable tendencies eradicated, by a cup of tea? Bellingham killed Mr. Perceval after tea; it was after tea (gunpowder, of course,) that the Cato-street conspirators held their meetings; murders, burglaries, highway robberies, and most of the blacker enormities, are committed at night, or, in other words, after tea. Effect follows cause,-crime follows tea; I think, then, Mr. Gossip, we may very logically infer that tea is the cause of crime. And further "

infinity of interesting topics are associated with the word 'tea.' Think, Mr. Gossip, of that leviathan of nations, China, with its three or four hundred millions of inhabitants. Think of Confucius; think of all the great and learned men who flourished there before the time of Adam ; think of its monstrous wall, its floating towns, its petrifying springs, its enormous lakes, with their beds, yielding crops and fruits to the cultivating hand of man; think of its wax-trees, tallow-trees, hashed rats, and puppy-pies. Think, too, of its pagan myriads,-Godless, Sabbathless! And contemplate, if your mind can grasp aught so magnificent, the scene which that mighty empire will present when the dense fogs of ignorance, superstition, and intolerance shall be rolled off like the morning mist, and the human desert shall blossom like the rose, beneath the fertilizing sun of Christianity. Think of ”

“Pray, do you know Mr. Tompkins ?"

66

Then think, Gossip, of that beautiful and ingenious home manufacture which has furnished us with the cups from which we are drinking. Let us travel in imagination to the human hive in which they were formed. What pounding, and moulding, and baking, and painting, and gilding, and varnishing! Let us glance at the condition, moral and physical, of the seventy or eighty individuals through whose hands they passed before they were ready for our use. Let us follow their aching backs and limbs to their bare and smoky hovels, or to the dens of drunkenness in which the excitement of toil is succeeded by the destructive excitement of intemperance and profaneness; where the body is inoculated with disease and premature decrepitude, and the mind converted to the semblance of a fiend; where the "

"I heard the other day, Scribble, that Tomp

"How exquisite the art, too, my dear Gossip, displayed in the production of this tray! To what perfection they have brought the manufacture of papier maché! how durable! how ornamental! The manufacturer now produces of this material almost all articles for household use, from the dining-table to the snuff-box. You may have your house furnished with paper, Gossip, from bottom to top, only excepting grates, pokers, and tooth-picks. Admire the elegant form and delicate tints of that ".

66

Mr. Tompkins is said to have

"The sugar, if you please, Gossip. Thank Let us contemplate a while the present state of the West Indies, and compare it with the past. What an awful

"I was going to tell you about Mr. Tomp. kins."

"The cream, my dear Gossip. Thank you. How wonderful is the process by which this is