explain the nature of that " renewing of the mind," which, in the place of proud, selfish, and angry passions, begets meekness, docility, and submission, he "called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." On another occasion, when he would reprove the unreasonableness and ungrateful perverseness of the Jews in cavilling alike at the severer abstemiousness of John, and the more sociable habits of himself, he illustrates their spirit, and the attempts to do them good, by the opposite tempers of two companies of children; the one sullen and rejecting all the efforts of kindness; the other, with amiable perseverance, endeavouring, but in vain, to please them, Matt. xi. 16-19. This last instance is singularly remarkable, as proving that our Lord did not deem it unworthy of his dignity to notice, with benevolent condescension, even the very pastimes of the young in their hours of recreation.

The fondness of parental love, and the sorrows of parental anxiety, he remembered, and employed them to illustrate or enforce his

instructions, or to move the heart, by giving proof, how deep an interest he took in all that belonged to that race whose nature he had humbled himself to assume. And he alluded to these natural affections in such a way, as to shew that he accounted them to be good, and regarded them with complacency; and that he considered the objects towards whom they were exercised, the youthful part of mankind, to be of sufficient value and importance to justify that measure of fervour and solicitude which the parental heart commonly evinces on their behalf. Hence his appeal, when he would commend the goodness of the heavenly Father, and persuade men to seek with all earnestness the blessings which he is so ready to bestow: "What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish will he give him a serpent? If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" Hence, too, that pathetic, predictive exhortation,— "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children." He well knew and realized what they

and their offspring would endure. Their children's calamities, as well as theirs, touched his heart; and he was willing that they should cease to lament over him, and that they should lose the remembrance of his sufferings in a prayerful anticipation of their own.

But no additional proofs are necessary to shew the Saviour's regard towards the young. Those already adduced afford abundant evidence that they were ever present to his recollection, and most graciously comprehended in that scheme of mercy which brought him to our wretched world. Without seeking for more, then, it will be instructive, under the powerful impression which the united testimony of these cannot fail to produce, again to contemplate the one recorded incident of his own youth.

Doubtless there are derivable from it some general truths of common concern; such, for instance, as that Christ did truly and properly assume the human nature, of which proof is given by the fact, that, from infancy onward, he passed through the usual progress, both as it respected the growing stature of the body and the enlarging faculties of the mind.-But the most obvious lessons to be drawn from it,

are such as relate to the spirit and conduct and universal demeanour proper to young persons. To them especially it is adapted to be useful. But that it may be so, it is necessary that their attention to it should be excited, and that they should be led to regard it with lively interest. And what can be so calculated to produce this effect, as the thought that it was especially designed for them, written under the guidance of divine inspiration for their particular benefit? To an intelligent and devoutly disposed young person, what can be so heart-affecting as the consideration that the divine Saviour not only "humbled himself to death, even the death of the cross," for his redemption, but has caused to be recorded for his instruction and imitation, his own most wise and holy and amiable conduct, during the subject and dependent stages of early life? Is not such an evidence of the condescension and goodness of Christ towards the young, adapted to attract their grateful love, and to win them to become his humble disciples and devoted followers? Does he not by this assure them that he would" by all means" allure them to himself---not merely by declarations of the safety and happiness of becoming his servants---nor by gracious pro

mises of his favour and blessing---nor by argument and exhortation; nor by precept merely-but also by his own perfect and most lovely example? And we all know, as it is allowed by all, how much more powerful, as a means of inducement, example is than precept. Thus it is as though our Lord had spoken to the young, and said, "Behold now, what regard I have had to your salvation and your happiness. Of old I commanded my servants to present their offspring to me in the beginning of their infancy; I directed them what truths to teach them as they advanced in days, and with what patient perseverance and zealous love. In the holy book of Proverbs, by the pen of the wisest among men, I have warned you, I have expostulated with you, and tenderly invited you to the way of life, directing you by many precepts how to shun the snare and how to abide in the path of safety; and now, 'in these last days,' I left my glory and blessedness, that I might in the flesh suffer for your sins, teach you the gospel of my salvation, and exhibit to you a perfect example of those dispositions and of that conduct in the young, which they who possess shall grow in favour both with God and man.""