33 CHAPTER III. REMARKS ON THE EVILS WHICH EXIST IN SO CIETY, AND THE MEANS ADAPTED FOR THEIR REMOVAL. THE title of this chapter is so comprehensive, as almost to involve the charge of presumption against the author; but we must not indolently shrink from the contemplation of a subject, because we find it beyond our powers to embrace the whole of it at once. It is by the careful induction of particulars that knowledge must be gradually acquired; and it is by the diligent exertions of the friends of virtue that the cause of humanity must be advanced. Ignorance and idleness, with the vice and poverty to which they lead, may be considered as the grand evils of society, and education and employment must be the remedy. Let us not look upon any artificial evil as irremediable. D The Creator has not abandoned his creatures to the mazes of error, but has provided for them a guide, which, if they faithfully follow, will assuredly lead them to happiness; and it is from our neglect of those governing principles which revelation has opened to us that evil has so extensively prevailed. That to prevent is easier than to cure is an axiom so common, that it almost ceases to impress us with its wisdom; but while we acknowledge its truth, we neglect to act on its dictates. Foresight is an attribute of Deity, which man, when formed in His image, was in a certain measure endowed with. The animal enjoys or suffers the present; but the human lord of creation is encouraged to look forward to the future. He is not, he cannot be insensible to the fact, that the acts of to-day may have an influence on every morrow of his existence; and if he neglect to profit by the passing moment, he may have cause during his future years to lament his negligence. The sentiment of Shakspeare is true philosophy as well as elegant poetry, "There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Such a golden opportunity for renovating by sure, but certain means, the constitution of society, is, by the wisdom of the Almighty, put into the hands of man, by the ordinance that every creature begins life as an infant; and the strongest feelings of nature are all directed on the part of the parent to watchfulness, and on the part of the child to trust and imitation. The youthful mind is like the plastic clay, which yields to impression, and takes the form stamped upon it. The mind of man is like the clay hardened in the fire, which is indeed capable of being worked painfully by sharp instruments, or of being broken in pieces by violence; but the time is for ever gone when its essential character can be altered. It is plain, then, that if we would impress with the stamp of virtue the mind of man, we must begin in childhood. Education must be the grand engine of national advancement, and religion the presiding hand which must direct it. It has been too much the custom of philosophers, falsely so called, to bestow science without Christianity,— unmindful of the danger of giving force without direction. But the imparting of knowledge is not the whole, or even the chief part of education. The inculcation of principles, the formation of habits, the control of passion, form the basis of a moral teaching, which is far more important to the child, and far more imperative on the guardians of youth, than to impart the results of human learning. We must cultivate the understanding, and give to our pupil, by the energetic exercise of all his faculties, the power of acquiring knowledge for himself. We must not only fill his mind with the thoughts of others, but teach him to think for himself. It will be of little use to read to the young a lecture against the indulgence of passion, unless we establish a balance of power between the propensities and the moral sentiments, and by the cultivation of the intellectual powers give to reason her rightful supremacy. But we are painfully reminded alike by the records of the past, as by the experience of the present time, that mere human efforts are inefficient to accomplish that renovation of society which the philosopher has desired, and the poet dreamt of, as the golden age of the world. The experiment of making man wise by earthly wisdom has been laboriously tried, and has too often failed, to hold out much hope for the future. The infusion of a new principle is necessary; the impulse of a superior power is essential to control the evil nature of the human heart. The universal diffusion of Christianity among every class of the community is the only sure method of reform; and, to bring this restorative principle into effectual action, the young must be made Christians in heart and practice, as well as in name. A solemn responsibility rests on the teachers of youth. They must be pious characters themselves, or we cannot hope (humanly speaking) that their pupils will become such. They must be men of prayer; for without the Divine blessing, we cannot hope that their work will prosper. But ignorance and idleness, though the most prolific sources of the mischiefs which exist in society, are not its only sources.-Luxury surely leads to deterioration in the manners of a people. To trade, England owes her riches; but to trade, she also owes her luxury; and history bears witness to the solemn fact, that luxury is the parent of sin and the precursor of judgment: "pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idle |