"Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry."-ECCLESIASTES vii. 9. THERE is nothing more indispensably requisite in those to whom, whether as parents or instructors, the guardianship of youth is intrusted, than the possession of a virtue which is of no easy attainment—a rigid and habitual selfcontrol-the maintenance of an entire self-possession on every occasion. No provocation must tempt us to irritability of tone or manner-no case of youthful delinquency, however it may grieve our heart, must affect our temper, and cause us to use the language of irritation and anger. Do we say it is impossible thus to govern our feelings so as to be always temperate and calm? Then may we as well know at first, for we shall certainly discern at last, that we are totally unfit for the work of educating the young.

Those who rule others should, beyond all doubt, first learn to command themselves. "Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry," is a proverb which we may well insist upon as peculiarly and absolutely necessary to be regarded by those who have undertaken the solemn responsibilities-the momentous duties of an instructor of youth; for unless we gain such a mastery over our passions as shall produce a calm and collected manner, we shall never command the respect and obedience of the young.

We sometimes expect too much: we are not content to wait with gentleness the gradual development of the youthful intellect; we expect fruit, and when we find that which only we have a right to look for-blossoms

we become impatient, and discouraged, and weary of repeating the often-told lesson. And when evil passions and sinful tempers manifest themselves, we count it as a strange thing, and act as if we were utterly astonished to find that our children are in very truth what the word of God declares them to be-prone to evil, and disinclined to good. "Is it not a fundamental error," says Hannah More, "to consider children as innocent beings, whose weaknesses may, perhaps, want some correction, rather than as beings who bring into the world a corrupt nature and evil dispositions, which it should be the great end of education to rectify?" We do, indeed, too frequently forget the nature of the beings with whom, as educators, we have to do. We forget that the heart of a child is not a fountain untainted by evil; and when at last we become convinced of the fact, instead of seeking to cleanse the polluted waters by adopting our Divine Teacher's method of patient forbearance and forgiving love, we permit our temper to be provoked, the morose look to be seen, the harsh expression and the tone of irritation to be heard by the youthful being who is placed under our training, and who is to receive the impress of our character; and though in our calm, reflecting moments we feel assured that our hasty reproaches and impatient demands are not only in a high degree injurious, as an example, but little calculated to effect our purpose-the moment of trial no sooner returns than our impatience and ill humour return also-and instead of the mildness and love which should mark our tone in all our dealings with the young, we give way to a hastiness of speech and manner utterly inconsistent with our profession, as Christian parents and instructor-guardians of mind! Bear with us when we say, "These things ought not so to be." We may rest assured the young are not backward to perceive that we require of them what we do not practise ourselves. Little will it avail that we hold up for their imitation those features of meekness and gentleness which shone so brightly in the lovely character of our Lord, while we ourselves bear no closer resemblance to that pure and spotless pattern. The young are peculiarly quick in catching the spirit of those to whom they na

turally look up as their superiors in knowledge; and if they perceive-and we all know how acute is their perception-how eagle-eyed are they on this point-if they perceive that we ourselves are after all uninfluenced by the instructions we give to them, it is but too probable they will neglect the precept, and follow the example. Let us not, however, be mistaken here; let us not be understood as advocating a system of unlimited indulgence and misjudging fondness. Because we contend for a mild, forbearing, and gentle tone and manner, it does not therefore follow that we are insensible to the importance of maintaining a proper spirit of subordination. On the contrary, we would have, underneath the gentleness and love of which we speak, authority the most unlimited and firmness the most unwavering. We affect not to be wiser than the Bible. We desire not to set up the vain imaginations of man in opposition to the directions of the written word of God. Withhold not correction from the child," is one among other directions of Holy Scripture. We desire to obey that plain command of the inspired word of Divine truth, and consequently would restrain by every means placed at our disposal the perverse, the refractory, the insincere, and selfish disposition. We should not dare to allow these or any other poisonous weeds to grow unchecked.

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Parents, and those whom they deem worthy to be intrusted with a charge so precious as that of the educa tion of their children, are invested with an authority which they cannot neglect to use without incurring the guilt of disobedience to the commands of God. Let it not for one moment be imagined we have any desire to act the part of Eli. Why do ye this?" is very far from being the point at which we would stop. We disclaim any approach to feebleness and timidity in dealing with the bad habits and evil tempers of the young, and we should indeed esteem ourselves to be very guilty, not only before man, but in the sight of God himself, if we could content ourselves with weak and ineffectual expostulation, when restraint and punishment were evidently the measures to which we ought to have recourse. Let the sins and the faults of childhood be met with

measures the most firm and decisive; we have not the least idea that children, any more than men, are to be governed by half-measures: all that we plead for is, that it be a firmness regulated by gentleness, kindness, and tender forbearance. We rejoice in being able to condense our own remarks on this very important point, and give our own sentiments in the words of one better qualified than ourselves to offer counsel and advice. They are words which are worthy of a place in the recollection of every Christian parent and instructor; for did we but act in the spirit they inculcate, we should avoid all unnecessary harshness, as well as that injustice and capriciousness from which few, if any among us, are wholly exempt; producing, as they certainly do, such injurious impressions on the character and temper of the young. 'Let chastisement be given; it is often a species of moral cruelty to withhold it, but let Christian temper conduct that punishment which Christian principle may judge it necessary to inflict." MARY.

(To be continued.)

THE CONDEMNED SOLDIER.

I HAVE heard children declare over their lessons, when reproved for idleness, that they do not care about growing up dunces, and knowing nothing. No; they do not care then, if they can escape the discipline of acquiring knowledge; but the time will probably arrive when they will sadly rue their indolence, and sigh after those days in which they might have obtained that knowledge which would be to them a guide through life, and point out to them that wisdom by which they might have become "wise unto salvation." What can we expect from a corrupt and polluted creature shapen in iniquity, conceived in sin, and born dead in trespasses and sins! What can we expect from a child of the devil and an heir of hell! If every child born into this professedly Christian land were early taught about the God who made it, and the Redeemer who died to save

it; if death and judgment, heaven and hell, the broad and the narrow way, and all the solemn truths connected with the loss or salvation of the soul of man, were made the ground-work of the education of all the children in our land, then might we see our fellowcreatures walking worthy of the vocation by which they have been called, and honouring the great name of the God who has created them. But when we know that thousands upon thousands live and die in heathen ignorance; that multitudes in our large towns are ignorant of the very name of the Son of God, and are acquainted with no single fact connected with revealed truth, save the existence of a Being called God-the wonder is not that our jails are so crammed, and our assize calendars are so full, and our police forces so strong; but the wonder is that, in the midst of so much ignorance and infidelity, society is so little disturbed, and peace so prevalent in our land. And whence the cause? The Lord keepeth the wicked in a chain, and permits them to advance no farther than he wills. Otherwise what a hell upon earth would there be! But surely all those who have the good of souls, and the honour of God at heart, will use all the means that lie in their power to improve the lamentable state of the world, to save immortal souls, and promote the glory of God. And what more effectual means than instructing the young in the Word of God by the knowledge of which alone man can possibly be happy, and ignorant of which he must in reality be miserable!

It happened some little time since, that a soldier in a paroxysm of passion murdered one of his comrades. The unhappy man was thrown into prison, there to await his trial. How wretched he must have felt; how miserable his guilty conscience must have made him! How he must have mourned over his wicked and hasty conduct! Not at all. His conscience was at ease, for it had never been aroused. He was calm and composed, for his eyes were blinded to his sin. He was an ignorant, unlettered man; he could not read, and he knew no more of the Scriptures than some black Hottentot in central Africa. Real happiness, and real peace, of course,