pensity to steal is such, that no fear of punishment whatever will operate as a restraint. They steal on till they are hung or drowned, to pay them for their manifold transgressions. There are some dogs so given to sheep-stealing, that nothing will break them of it but death; some horses so vicious, that they will rear, bite and kick, till they are absolutely killed by punishment. Thus then we see the analogy holds good throughout, and thus, we have seen that man exercises successfully a degree of moral authority over the brute creation, which may well lead him to give credence to the existence of a similar system, guided by some superior power, and of which he in his turn is subject, and of which he is at some future time to witness the results. A.

ON MEEKNESS.

THE name Meekness is given to those dispositions, natural or acquired, which are opposed to violence, wrath, and revenge. It implies whatever is serene, quiet, and peaceful-in opposition to what is irritable, turbulent, and vindictive. Its appropriate signs are endurance, forbearance, gentleness in the midst of provocations, calmness of words and action where all around is contention and anger; acquiescence in unmerited injuries without insisting on satisfaction, and a preference of the least offensive methods of gaining redress where to seek it is felt to be a duty. A disinclination to the indulgence of any feelings but those of tenderness, good will, and kindness; a uniform evenness and stillness of 17*

VOL. II.-NO. IV.

enjoy; but in another, you are blind to them: never having known their loss, you esteem them matters of course, and they do not produce excitement. On the other hand, you have some drawbacks; a few annoyances; and to these you are not so torpid as you are to the blessings; these excite positive irritation and weariness, and by proving to you that life does not lie in a fairy land, make you sometimes wish there was no life at all. Day after day creeps on, divided between irksome submission to ordinary and therefore disagreeable duties, vain dreams of a fancied existence fraught with interest and free from alloy, whilst those pleasures really in accordance with your own taste fail to satisfy, because you expect too much from them. In the evils of your own making, you cease to be 'emparadised.' Ah! my love,

whence is all this? One short and simple answer will suffice, even that which accounts for all human error and human unhappiness-you have forgotten the true end of life; silently, and unconsciously, you have disconnected it from eternity; and therefore its beauty has no bloom, its disquietudes no balm. . . . .

"Sooner or later, you will be obliged to take refuge in content; and lightly as you may now esteem it, to be thankful for content. I willingly admit, that I think a good deal of what you now experience, is occasioned by a somewhat sudden expansion of mind; by thoughts which lack expression, fancies which as yet can find no occupation, feelings which you do not yourself understand, and which you fear to have misunderstood by others. You cannot at present come in contact with intellect and sensibility, whether in books or persons, without feverish excitement: poetry, fiction, narrative, tragedy, whatsoever you read, has a more than written exist

ence, it has an influence, and a presence, tangible and abiding. Imaginary characters do not come like shadows, so depart;' you live with, and love them, far more than real ones; and the secret sigh of your heart is, O for a world of such beings, to admire, to imitate, and discourse with!' Now, it may startle you to be told, that this is a very inferior enjoyment of intellect; that a much higher delight will be yours, when you shall have learned to value books in precise proportion as they elucidate correctly the heart and mind of your species; in other words, when you shall read and think, less to escape from mankind, than to be brought into closer contact with them, into more enlarged and kindly communion. Very few of the great imaginative writers are morbidly disposed; they may overtop their brethren in mind, but in heart they maintain a friendly fellowship. It is no mark of superiority, to lack interest in our fellowcreatures; and the mind which cannot cheerfully, and with full purpose, go from the world of thought and fancy, to that of life and action, has yet to learn its fitting use, its true distinction. At your age, I did not credit the possibility of such transfer; but I have since seen too many illustrious instances, to doubt, that the utmost refinement of taste, and the most enthusiastic love of literature, may subsist with a graceful and good-humored attention to inferior, homely duties, employments, and ordinary associations. The ardent love of literature, though a healthy taste in itself, is not healthily exercised, when it does not refresh our spirits, stimulate us to action, and, by invigorating our minds, reconcile us to whatsoever may be painful in our lot. A cultivated mind, accompanied by a healthy sensibility, conscious

tive of unrivalled and unparticipated dominion. Can we rationally admit, that he, who thus adores another being, was himself all which the object he worships was? Jesus in solemn worship calls on the Father as the Lord of heaven and earth, and was he himself also the Lord of heaven and earth? Not surely, if there be but one such Lord, as the very expression denotes. Besides, Jesus here speaks in his highest character, that in which all things are delivered unto him of the Father which he possessed or manifested to mankind, he speaks as the great revealer, he who alone knoweth the Father, or can make him known by others. But even in this elevation, he forgets not that there is a higher than he, and in devout acknowledgment he worships and gives thanks to Him.

By the words, "all things are delivered unto me of my Father," we are to understand, all those things which are included in his great official work; all information, all the divine purposes to be accomplished in the Christian dispensation, all knowledge of God and of man necessary to their fulfilment, and all power and wisdom to qualify him to teach, to heal, and to save. He was in the bosom of the Father, that is, had been admitted in a most intimate manner to the Father; had, by a way which no mind but his has passed, ascended to the height, and fathomed the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God; had without searching found, and without study learned, all that can be attained, or can be comprehended, of the Eternal Spirit. We are restricted by no bounds, but those which Jesus has himself set up, in our estimate of our Saviour's knowledge of the Father. He was enriched with all the treasures of wisdom; but these were a

nevolence which bears to see, nay, which desires to see, the misery which has no recommendation beyond its reality? If, in occasional intercourse with those who are ungraced with the charms of mind and manner, you manifest cold, impatient civility, and all but cherish dislike and disdain, where is the charity which seeketh not her own, and endureth all things?' If, avowedly, and on system, you esteem none but the gifted, the distinguished, and the amusing, where is the spirit of Him whose gentlest words were ever to the weakest-who gave an everlasting memorial to one who had done' what she could?' If, just entered on life and your Christian career together, you already long for some bower of ease, and sigh for two heavens instead of one, where is the faith which professes to have here no continuing city -which proclaims that it is enough for the servant to be as his master, and the disciple as his lord? Ah, my love! we all get wrong the moment we forget that this is not our rest. Midnight is not a more effectual shrowd for the landscape, than unbelief for divine things, when it interposes between them and our souls. Why else are we more anxious for seasons of enjoyment, than for opportunities of usefulness? Why else do we call God our satisfying portion, yet grieve and murmur unless he satisfy us with a portion beside ? Why else do we pronounce His favor to be life, and prove, too often, in action, that we value everything in life more than His favor?"