tion, as being hard to believe what he likes not; | per as this to be the inmate of a Christian's bosom: and hopes yet, if that be averred again to his grief, it is like a fiend inhabiting the temple of the Lord. that there is somewhat concealed in the relation, We must next form a deliberate resolution for its which, if it were known, would argue the com- mortification: we must stand prepared to take the mended party miserable, and blemish him with se- greatest pains, to maintain the most determined efcret shame. He is ready to quarrel with God, be- forts, for the riddance of our hearts from so hateful cause the next field is fairer grown; and angrily a disposition. Let us next consider, that the circalculates his cost, and time, and tillage. Whom cumstances which excite our envy are among the he dares not openly backbite, nor wound with a arrangements of a wise Providence; and that to disdirect censure, he strikes smoothly with an over like another on account of his excellence, or happicold praise; and when he sees that he must either ness, is a crime of no less magnitude than a wish to maliciously oppugn the just praise of another, oppose and subvert the dispensations of heaven.(which were unsafe,) or approve it by assent, he Let us remember, that if others have more than ouryieldeth; but shows, withal, that his means were selves, we have infinitely more than we deserve; a such, both by nature and education, that he could deliberate and frequent consideration of our numernot, without much neglect, be less commendable: ous and aggravated sins, with our deliverance from so his happiness shall be made the color of detrac- their consequences, together with a survey of our tion. When a wholesome law is propounded, he mercies, and hopes, as Christians, would very powcrosseth it either by open or close opposition-not erfully help us in the great business of mortifying for any incommodity or inexpedience, but because envy; for the chief difference between man and it proceedeth from any mouth but his own; and it man, as to real happiness, lies in spiritual distincmust be a case rarely plausible that will not admit tions; and if we have these, the absence of any some probable contradiction. When his equal thing else is matter of little consequence. It may should rise to honor, he striveth against it unseen, not be amiss, also, to consider, how comparatively and rather with much cost suborneth great adver- small is the amount of happiness derived by the obsaries; and when he sees his resistance vain, he ject of our envy, from those possessions on the can give a hollow gratulation in pretence; but in ground of which we dislike him; and how soon, secret disparageth that advancement: either the could we transfer them to ourselves, they would man is unfit for the place, or the place for the man; cease to impart any strong gratification to us. We or, if fit, yet less gainful, or more common than always act under a delusion, when we indulge this opinion: whereto he adds, that himself might have hateful passion: its objects are seen through a maghad the same dignity upon better terms, and refused nifying medium of very high power. The circumit. He is witty in devising suggestions to bring his stances which excite our envy, have their attendant rival out of love into suspicion; if he be courteous, evils; evils which, though concealed from general he is seditiously popular; if bountiful, he binds observation, are well known to the possessor of over his clients to faction; if successful in war, he them. We should labor to be content with such is dangerous in peace; if wealthy, he lays up for a things as we have: contentment is the secret of day; if powerful, nothing wants but opportunity happiness, whether we have much or little. The for rebellion; his submission is ambitious hypo- man who makes up his mind to enjoy what he crisy; his religion, politic insinuation;-no action has, is quite as happy as he who possesses twice as is safe from an envious construction. When he re- much. ceives a good report of him whom he emulates, he saith, Fame is partial, and covers mischiefs; and pleaseth himself with hope to find it false: and if ill will hath dispersed a more spiteful narration, he lays hold on that against all witnesses, and broacheth that rumor for truth, because worst; and when he sees him perfectly miserable, he can at once pity him and rejoice. What himself cannot do, others shall not: he hath gained well, if he have hindered the success of what he would have done and could not. He conceals his best skill, not so as it may not be known that he knows it, but so as it may not be learned, because he would have the world miss him. He attained to a sovereign medicine by the secret legacy of a dying empiric, whereof he will leave no heir, lest the praise should be divided. Finally, he is an enemy to God's favors, if they fall beside himself; the best nurse of ill fame; a man of the worst diet, for he consumes himself, and delights in pining; a thornhedge covered with nettles; a peevish interpreter of good things; and no other than a lean and pale carcass quickened with a fiend." How hateful, then, is this crime; and although we may not be in danger of carrying it to the excess here stated, yet we should ever strive against its least and lowest degrees. The means of opposing and mortifying it are many. Let us very seriously meditate on its evil nature. A steady contemplation of its deformity and demonlike countenance, is calculated to excite disgust, and to produce abhorrence. Many evils, and this among the number, are too much indulged, because they are too little contemplated. The more we meditate upon the heinousness of envy, the more we shall be convinced of the utter unsuitableness of such a tem But still the great thing is, to endeavor, by God's gracious help, to increase in LOVE. Our envy will then as certainly diminish, as darkness retires before the entrance of light, or cold before the power of heat. Love and envy are the very antipodes of each other; the former delights in the happiness of others, the latter is made miserable by it. Let us endeavor to cultivate this disposition, and to delight in witnessing and diffusing blessedness. This is what the apostle meant, when he said, "Rejoice with those that do rejoice." What a beautifying, and even sublime, temper is that, which leads its possessor to find consolation, amidst its own straits, privations, and difficulties, in contemplating the possessions and the comforts of those around him! What relief would such elevated virtue bring to the mourner, when he could turn his own darkened orb toward the illumination of his neighbor's prosperity! Happy the man who can thus borrow the joys of others when he has none, or few, of his own; and from the wilderness of his own situation, enjoy the beautiful prospect of his friend's domain. Difficult and rare as such a temper is, it is that which is the subject of the apostle's description, in the chapter we are considering, and which it is the duty of every Christian to cultivate. Hard, indeed, is the saying, and few there are who can bear it, but it is assuredly the lesson which Christ teaches his disciples, and which those disciples must all endeavor to learn. Much may be done by effort. Let us determine, by God's help, to acquire it; let us make the attempt, and let us only persevere, notwithstanding many defeats and many discouragements, and it is astonishing what may be done. But this goeth not forth but by fasting and prayer. Love cannot be cultivated, nor envy destroyed, in our hearts, but by 26 the power of the Holy Spirit. We may as well try to pull up by the roots the oak of a century's growth, or overturn a mountain, by our own strength, as to eradicate the vice of envy from our hearts, without the aid of God's own Spirit; that aid is promised to fervent and persevering prayer, and if we have it not, the fault is our own. CHAPTER IX. THE HUMILITY OF LOVE. of ourselves in matters of religion, and to despise others, whether it be the distinctions of earthly greatness, and practice of religious duties, or the independence of our mode of thinking, is opposed to the spirit of Christian charity. Superior light on the subject of revealed truth is no unusual occasion of pride. The Arminian Pharisee dwells with fondness on the goodness of his heart; the Antinomian, with equal haughtiness, values himself on the clearness of his head; and the Socinian, as far from humility as either of them, is inflated with a conceit of the strength of his reason, and its elevation above vulgar prejudices: while not a few moderate Calvinists regard with complacency "Charity is not puffed up-vaunteth not itself.” their sagacity in discovering the happy medium.— THE apostle's meaning, in this part of his descrip- As men are more proud of their understanding than tion, evidently is, that love has not a high and over- of their disposition, it is very probable that religious weening conceit of its own possessions and acquire-opinions are more frequently the cause of conceit ments, and does not ostentatiously boast of what and self-importance, than any thing else which it is, has done, can do, or intends to do. It is op- could be mentioned. "It is knowledge," says the posed to pride and vanity, and is connected with apostle, "that puffeth up." We are the men, and wisdom will die with us, is the temper of multitrue humility. tudes. Pride signifies such an exalted idea of ourselves, as leads to self-esteem, and to contempt of others. It is self-admiration-self-doating. It differs from vanity thus: pride causes us to value ourselves; vanity makes us anxious for applause. Pride renders a man odious; vanity makes him ridiculous. Love is equally opposed to both. Pride is the sin which laid the moral universe in ruins. It was this that impelled Satan and his confederates to a mad "defiance of the Omnipotent to arms," for which they were driven from heaven, and taught, by their better experience, that "God resisteth the proud." Banished from the world of celestials, pride alighted on our globe, in its way to hell, and brought destruction in its train. Propagated from our common and fallen parent with our species, it is the original sin-the inherent corruption of our nature. It spreads over humanity, with the contagious violence, the loathsome appearance of a moral leprosy, raging alike through the palace and the cottage, and infecting equally the prince and the peasant. The grounds of pride are various: whatever constitutes a distinction between man and man, is the occasion of this hateful disposition. It is a vice that does not dwell exclusively in kings' houses, wear only soft raiment, and feed every day upon titles, fame, or affluence: it accommodates itself to our circumstances, and adapts itself to our distinctions, of whatever kind they be. The usual grounds of pride are the following: Religious gifts are sometimes the ground of selfadmiration. Fluency and fervor in extempore prayer, ability to converse on doctrinal subjects, especially if accompanied by a ready utterance in public, have all, through the influence of Satan and the depravity of our nature, led to the disposition we are now condemning. None are in more danger of this than the ministers of religion: it is the besetting sin of their office. There is no one gift which offers so strong a temptation both to vanity and to pride, as that of public speaking. If the orator really excel and is successful, he is the immediate spectator of his success, and has not even to wait till he has finished his discourse; for although the decorum of public worship will not allow of audible tokens of applause, it does of visible ones: the look of interest, the tear of penitence, or of sympathy, the smile of joy, the deep impression on the mind, the death-like stillness, cannot be concealed: all seems like a tribute of admiration to the presiding spirit of the scene; and then the applause which is conveyed to his ear, after all the silent plaudits which have reached his eye, is equally calculated to puff him up with pride. No men are more in danger of this sin, than the ministers of the gospel: none should watch more sleeplessly against it. Deep religious experience has often been followed by the same effect, in those cases where it has been remarkably enjoyed. The methods of divine grace, though marked by a uniformity sufficient to preWealth. Some value themselves on account of serve that likeness of character, which is essential their fortune, look down with contempt on those be- to the unity of the spirit and the sympathies of the low them, and exact obsequiousness towards them-church, are still distinguished by a vast variety of selves, and deference for their opinions, according minor peculiarities. to the thousands of money or of acres which they possess. Others are proud of their talents, either natural or acquired. The brilliancy of their genius, the extent of their learning, the splendor of their imagination, the acuteness of their understanding, their power to argue, or declaim, form the object of self-esteem, and the reasons of that disdain which they pour upon all who are inferior to them in mental endowments. But these things are not so common in the church of God, as those which we now mention. Ecclesiastical connections form, in many cases, the occasion of pride. This was exemplified in the Jews, who boasted that they were the children of Abraham, and worshipped in the temple of the Lord. Their self-admiration, as the members of the only true church, and as the covenant people of God, was insufferably disgusting. In this feature of their character, they are too often imitated in modern times. Whatever leads us to think highly The convictions of sin in some minds are deeper, the apprehensions of Divine wrath are more appalling, the transition from the poignant compunction of repentance bordering on despair, to joy and peace in believing, more slow and more awful, the subsequent repose more settled, and the joy more unmingled with the gloom of distressing fears, than is experienced by the generality of their brethren. Such persons are looked up to as professors of religion, whose religious history has been remarkable, as vessels of mercy on which the hand of the Lord has bestowed peculiar pains, and which are eminently fitted for the master's use. They are regarded as having a peculiar sanctity about them; and hence they are in danger of falling under the temptation to which they are exposed, and of being proud of their experience. They look down from what they suppose to be their lofty elevation, if not with disdain yet with suspicion, or with pity upon those whose way has not been in their track. Their seasons of elevated communion CHRISTIAN CHARITY. with God, of holy enlargement of soul, are sometimes followed with this tendency. Paul was never more in danger of losing his humility, than when he was just returned from gazing upon the celestial throne. And what a propensity is there in the present age, to display, and parade, and boasting, in reference to religious zeal! This is one of the temptawith the temptation one of its vices. We have at tions of the day in which we live, and a compliance Zeal, whether it be felt in the cause of humanity length arrived at an era of the Christian church, or of piety, has frequently produced pride. This when all the denominations into which it is divided, was strikingly illustrated in the case of the Phari- and all the congregations into which it is subsee: "God, I thank thee," said this inflated devotee, divided, have their public religious institutions for "that I am not as other men are, extortioners, un- the diffusion of divine truth. These institutions just, adulterers, or even as this publican: I fast cannot be supported without property; and the protwice in the week-I give tithes of all that I pos- perty that is contributed for their support, must be sess!" Where a natural liberality of mind, or re- matter of general notoriety. Like the tributary ligious principle, has led men to lavish their pro- streams flowing into a great river, or like great perty, or their influence, or their time, upon bene- rivers flowing into the sea, the contributions of asvolent institutions, they have too often returned sociated congregations or communities, make up from the scene of public activity, to indulge in pri- the general fund: but, unlike the tributary streams vate and personal admiration. They have read which flow silently to form the mighty mass of wawith peculiar delight the reports in which their ters, without requiring the ocean to publish to the munificence is recorded, and have assigned to them- universe the amount of each separate quota, the selves a high place in the roll of public benefactors. offerings of the different religious bodies, must be world. This perhaps, is necessary, that the conOn all these grounds does pride exalt itself; but announced, to the uttermost farthing, before the love is no less opposed to vanity than it is to pride-tributors may know that their bounty has not been "it vaunteth not itself." It does not boast of, or ostentatiously display, its possessions, acquirements, or operations. A disposition to boast, and to attract attention, is a common foible. We see this among the people of the world, in reference to their property, their learning, their connections, their influence. They are afraid the public should underrate them; forgetting that they pay a poor compliment to their importance, when they thus think it necessary to proclaim it in order to its being known. If indeed they are what they wish to make us believe they are, the fact would be obvious without this method of publishing it in every company. Puff ing is always suspicious, or superfluous; for real greatness no more needs a crier than the sun. stopped and swallowed up in its course, but has reached its destined receptacle: and such is the weakness of our principles, and the strength of our imperfections, that this publicity to a certain extent, seems necessary to stimulate our languid zeal. But it has given opportunity, and that opportunity has been eagerly embraced, to establish a system of unhallowed vanity between the different denominations and the various congregations into which the Christian church is divided. Who can have heard the speeches, read the reports, and witnessed the proceedings of many of our public meetings, conout being grieved at the strange fire, and diseased offerings, which have been brought to the altar of vened for the support of missionary societies, withBut it is more particularly in reference to reli- the Lord? The object of the meeting was good, gious matters that this observation of the apostle for it was the destruction of an idolatry as insultapplies. We should not appear eager to displaying to Jehovah as that which Jehu destroyed; but our gifts, nor should we vaunt of our religious ex- like the king of Israel, hundreds of voices exclaimperience. The manner in which some good but ed in concert, "Come, see our zeal for the Lord!" weak people talk of their pious conflicts, is indeed The image of jealousy was lifted up in the temple intolerably offensive. No matter who is present, of Jehovah; adulatory speakers chaunted its praises, pious or profane, scorner or believer, they parade in compliments upon the liberality of the worshipto the tribute paid to their zeal; the praise of God all their seasons of despondency or of rapture; pers; the multitude responded in shouts of applause they tell you how they struggled with the great enemy of souls, and overcome him; how they wrestled was drowned amidst the praise of men; and the with God, and had power to prevail; and that you crowd dispersed, in love with the cause, it is true, may have as exalted an opinion of their humility, but more for their own sakes, than for the sake of Difficult indeed it is, with such hearts as ours, to as of their enjoyment, they tell you in the utter vio-God, or of the heathen world. lation of all propriety, and almost of decency, what temptations they have encountered-what hair- do any thing entirely pure from all admixture of a breadth escapes they have had from the commission of sin. Their motive is obvious; all this vaunting is to impress you with the idea that they are no ordinary Christians. Who can wonder that all religious conversation should have been branded with the epithets of whining cant and disgusting hypocrisy, when the injudicious and nauseating effusions of such talkers are regarded as a fair sample of it? Too common is it to make the externals of religion the subject of vain-glorious boasting. How long can you be in the company of some Christians without hearing of their splendid place of worship, and its vast superiority over all the rest in the town? They establish the most insulting and degrading comparisons between their minister and his brethren in the neighborhood: none so eloquent, none so Notwithstanding able, none so successful, as he. your attachment to the pastor under whose ministry you sit with pleasure and profit, you are conaemned to hear him dishonored and degraded by one of these gasconading professors, who is as destitute of good manners as he is of good feeling. sinful nature; but when we take pains to make our want of that Christian love which "vaunteth not | for its cultivation this in an eminent degree does itself, and is not puffed up." True zeal is modest and retiring; it is not like the scentless sunflower, which spreads its gaudy petals to the light of heaven, and turns its face to the orb of day through his course, as if determined to be seen; but like the modest violet, it hides itself in the bank, and sends forth its fragrance from its deep retirement. It employs no trumpeter, it unfurls no banner, like the hypocrite; but while conferring the most substantial benefits, it would, if it were possible, be like the angels who, while ministering to the heirs of salvation, are unseen and unknown, by the objects of their benevolent attention. Observe the manner in which love operates to the destruction of this evil. Love, as we have already had frequent occasion to remark, is a desire to promote the happiness of those around us; but proud and vain persons tend materially to impair this happiness. They generally excite disgust, frequently offer insult, and sometimes inflict pain. Their object is to impress you with a degrading sense of inferiority, and thus to wound and mortify your feelings. Caring little for your peace, they pursue a career of contumely and scorn, dreaded by the weak and despised by the wise. It is impossible to be happy in their society; for if you oppose them, you are insulted-if you submit to them, you are degraded. both. It assigns to it the highest place, and a sort of pre-eminence among the graces of piety; bestows upon it the greatest commendations, enforces it by the most powerful motives, encourages it by the richest promises, draws it into exercise by the most splendid examples, and represents it as the brightest jewel in the Christian's crown. Every thing in the word of God is calculated to humble us; the description which it contains of the divine character, combining an infinitude of greatness, goodness, and glory, compared with which the loftiest being is an insignificant atom, and the purest heart as depravity itself; the view it gives us of innumerable orders of created intelligences, all above man, in the date of their existence, the capacity of their minds, and the elevation of their virtue; the account it preserves of the intellectual and moral perfection of man in his pristine innocence, and the discovery which it thus furnishes of the height from which he has fallen, and the contrast it thus draws between his present and his former nature; the declaration it makes of the purity of the eternal law, and the immeasurable depth at which we are thus seen to lie beneath our obligations; the history it exhibits of the circumstances of man's fall, of the progress of his sin, and of the numberless and awful obliquities of his corruptions; the characteristics it affixes to his situation as a sinner, a rebel, an enemy of God, a child of wrath, an heir of perdition; the method it presents, by which he is redeemed from sin and hell,—a scheme which he neither invented, nor thought of, nor aided, but which is a plan of grace, from first to last, even the grace of God, manifested in and through the propitiation of Christ-a plan, which, in all its parts, and in all its bearings, seems expressly devised to exclude boasting; the means by which it asserts that the renovation and sanctification of the human heart are carried on, and its security to eternal life, established even by the effectual operation of a divine agency; the sovereignty which it proclaims as reample which it holds forth of the astonishing lowliness and self-abasement of others, so far superior to man in their mental and moral natures, such as the profound abasement of the angelic race, but especially the unparalleled humiliation of him, who, though he was in the form of God, was found in the form of a servant;-these considerations, which are all drawn from the Scriptures, supply incentives to humility, which demonstrate, upon Christian principles, that pride is the most unreasonable, as well as the most unrighteous thing in the universe. Pride is opposed, and humility is supported, by every possible view that we can take of divine revelation.An acquaintance with these great principles of inspired truth, at least an experimental knowledge of them, will bring down the loftiness of men's looks, and silence the tongue of arrogant boasting. Surely, surely, he that is conversant with these things, will see little cause for self-valuation, as Mr. Hume calls pride, or for that self-publication, which is the essence of vanity. Love is essentially and unalterably attended with HUMILITY; humility is the garment with which it is clothed, its inseparable and invariable costume. By humility, we do not intend the servility which crouches, or the meanness that creeps, or the sycophancy which fawns; but a disposition to think lowly of our attainments, a tendency to dwell upon our defects, rather than our excellences, an apprehension of our inferiority compared with those around us, with what we ought to be, and what we might be. It is always attended with that modest deportment, which neither boasts of itself, nor seeks to depreciate any one; humility is the inward feeling of lowliness—modesty is the outward expres-gulating the dispensation of celestial mercy; the exsion of it; humility leads a man to feel that he deserves little-modesty leads him to demand little. "The ancient sages, amidst all their panegyrics upon virtue, and inquiries into the elements of moral excellence, not only valued humility at an exceedingly low estimate, but reckoned it a quality so contemptible, as to neutralize the other properties which went, in their estimation, to the composition of a truly noble and exalted character. These sentiments have been adopted, in modern times, by the great majority both of the vulgar and of the philosophers, differing from their predecessors chiefly in this circumstance,-the more complete absence of that humility and modesty which would have adorned them, and in their determined and obstinate rejection of that true standard of character, after which the ancients so eagerly sought. By the touchstone which Christianity applies to the human character, it is found that pride and independence, which the world falsely dignifies with the epithet honorable, are really base alloy; and that of every character formed upon proper principles, and possessed of genuine worth, humility is at once a distinguishing feature and the richest ornament. And on this subject, as on every other, Christianity accords with the sentiments of right reason-that it is unquestionably the duty of every intelligent (especially every imperfect) creature to be humble; for they have nothing which they have not received, and are indebted, in every movement they make, to an agency infinitely superior to their own." Now, as divine revelation is the only system which, either in ancient or in modern times, assigns o humility the rank of a virtue, or makes provision That While every true-hearted Christian is thankful that the Son of God stooped so low for his salvation, he will rejoice that his state of humiliation is past. "If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father." The eclipse is over, the sun has resumed its original brightness, and the heavenly world is illuminated with his rays. man, in whom was no form nor comeliness for which he should be desired, sits upon the throne of the universe, wearing a crown of immortal glory, and is adored by angels and by men. His humility has conducted to honor; his sorrow has terminated in unspeakable joy. "His glory is great in thy sal vation; honor and majesty hast thou laid upon him; for thou hast made him most blessed for ever; thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance." Similar shall be the result in the case of those who follow his steps, and tread the lowly path in which he has commanded them to walk. The crown of glory is reserved for the humble, but shame shall be the reward of the proud. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." There is no operation of Christian love more beautiful, none more scarce, than this; let professing Christians set themselves to work with their own proud hearts, and their own boasting tongues, remembering that they who sink the lowest in humility in this world, shall assuredly rise the highest in honor in the world to come. CHAPTER X. THE DECORUM OF LOVE. racter-its very becomingness. And women if married, should be stayers at home, and not gossips abroad; should look well to the ways of their household, and preside over its affairs in the meekness of wisdom; for domestic indolence and neglect is, in a wife and mother, most unseemly: nor is it less offensive to see the female head of a family usurping the seat of government, and reducing her husband to the rank of mere prime minister to the queen.— Women never act more unseemly than when they become busy meddling partizans, either in politics or church affairs. Nothing can be more offensive than to see a female busy-body running from house to house to raise a party, and to influence an ecclesiastical decision; forgetting that her place is home, and her duty to learn in silence of her husband.Whatever admiration has been bestowed on the heroic females of Sparta, who fought by the side of their husbands, no such eulogy can be offered to ecclesiastical heroines, whose martial ardor leads them into the arena of church contentions. Christian charity would repress all this unmeet, indecorous zeal. "Charity doth not behave itself unseemly.” Parents and guardians will be guarded by love, A STATION for every person, and every person in his if they yield to its influence, from all unbecoming station; a time for every thing, and every thing in conduct. Fathers will neither be tyrannical nor too its time; a manner for every thing, and every thing indulgent; will neither govern their children as in its manner;-is a compendious and admirable slaves, with a rod of iron, nor, relaxing all discipline, rule for human conduct, and seems to approach throw the reins into their hands: for how incongruvery nearly to the property of charity, which we ous is tyranny with a relation that implies the tenare now to consider. There is some difficulty in derest affection; and how unseemly is a cessation ascertaining the precise idea which the apostle in- of rule in one who is invested by heaven with a satended by the original term. Perhaps the most cor- cred authority. Becomingness on the part of chilrect rendering is indecorously," "unbecomingly," dren, requires the most prompt and willing obedii. e. unsuitably to our sex, rank, age, or circumstan- ence, the most genuine and manifest affection, the ces. Love leads a man to know his place and to most respectful and humble demeanor, towards pakeep it; and prevents all those deviations which by rents, with the most anxious, and ingenuous endeadisarranging the order, disturb the comfort, of soci- vors to promote their happiness. Every thing apety. This is so general and comprehensive a rule, proaching to improper familiarity, much more to that it would admit of application to all the various pertness, most of all to refractoriness of manner, in distinctions which exist in life. It is absolutely a child towards a parent, is unbecoming in the last universal, and binds with equal force the monarch degree. In those cases where the high moral and and the peasant, and all the numerous intermediate intellectual qualities of parents are such as almost ranks. It imposes a consistency between a man's to command the exercise of filial piety from chilstation and his conduct viewed in the light of Chris- dren, there is no difficulty in rendering it; but where tianity. It says to every man, "Consider your cir- these qualities are not possessed, there is greater cumstances, and fulfil every just expectation to danger of young persons forgetting what is due to which they give rise." By the common consent of the parental relation, and acting very improperly tomankind, there is a certain line of conduct which wards those who, whatever may be their faults are belongs to every relation in life, and which cannot still their parents. It is excessively unbecoming to perhaps, be better expressed than by the word “be- hear children of any age, however matured or adcomingness;" and which may be called the sym-vanced, exposing, perhaps ridiculing, their parents' metry of the body politic. We may select a few of the more prominent distinctions of society, and see how love preserves them without giving offence. The distinction of male and female is to be supported by all propriety of conduct. On the part of the man, if he be single, all trifling with the affections, all familiarity with the person, all taking advantage of the weakness of the other sex, is explicitly forbidden; as is all neglect, oppression, and unkindness towards his wife, if he be married.What a horrid unseemliness is it on the part of a husband, to become either the slave or the tyrant of his wife; either in pitiful weakness to abdicate the throne of domestic government, or to make her a crouching vassal, trembling in its shadow; and how disgusting a spectacle is it to see a husband abandoning the society of his wife for the company of other females, and flirting, though, perhaps, with no criminal intention, with either single or married women. On the other hand, how unseemly in married women, is a bold obtrusiveness of manner, an impudent forwardness of address, a clamorous and monopolizing train of conversation, an evident attempt to attract the attention of the other sex. Modesty is the brightest ornament of the female cha infirmities, treating their opinions with scorn, and "A mother is a mother still, In the distinction of superiors and inferiors, it is very easy to see what kind of conduct is seemly, and what is unsuitable. To the former it will prohibit all improper familiarity; for this generates contempt, and at the same time, all pride and hauteur, together with all insulting condescension. Inferiors are most tenderly alive, most keenly susceptible, to all real or supposed slights from those above them; and the feelings excited by such treatment are of the most painful kind. Pride is the most cruel of the passions, being utterly reckless of the wounds which it inflicts, the groans which it extorts, or the tears which it causes to flow. Even in its mildest exercise, by a look of scorn, by a word of insult, it often transfixes a barbed arrow in the breast of an inferior; while, by its deliberate and persevering scheme of mortification, it remorselessly crucifies |