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conspicuous in the primitive ages, and of which modern times have afforded some delightful instances, are too apt to be lost, or exchanged for the almost necessary distance and reserve of state. A bishop hardly ever communicates with the people but through the medium of his clergy; and sometimes the minister of humble station may fail of being received with that brotherly kindness and affability which are surely due even from a superior to an inferior, when both are servants of the same Master, and engaged in promoting a common cause of such grandeur and importance as the salvation of souls. The customary and most emphatic signature of "brother in Christ," may too often dwindle into a mere form, and its meaning vanish with the motion of the hand that has subscribed it. It cannot be supposed that these observations are intended as a reflection upon any particular individuals, whether dead or living. The evils specified arise partly from the large and most inconvenient extent of many of our modern dioceses; and it is only supposing bishops to be men of like passions and infirmities with others, when it is remarked that their secular dignity, unless its natural effects be counteracted by a very high degree of vigilance, humility, and prayer, may too often expose them to the danger of becoming lords over God's heritage, instead of being ensamples to the flock.

I have been naturally led to these remarks by the account left us of Bossuet's conduct in the discharge of his episcopal function. There is no other part of his character so well calculated to exalt him in the esteem of good men. He had long mingled with the great and the fashionable; he had the opportunity of as much intercourse with them as he pleased; he might have aspired to almost any preferment in church or state; he was a favourite of the most splendid monarch, and tutor to the heir of one of the first crowns in Europe. Even

after he had quitted his royal charge, he was studiously retained about the royal presence. Yet he not only preserved himself from the temptations incidental to such circumstances, but became a model of personal diligence and activity. He continually "stole away" from Versailles to Meaux, not so much to enjoy the repose of his diocese, as to perform its active duties. Whether his intercourse with the court of Lewis XIV. was as much distinguished by boldness in reproving vice, as it was by general prudence and devotional habits, may be a matter of more doubt. I should apprehend that he could not have composed such an epistle for Lewis, as our Burnet wrote to Charles II., without forfeiting the favour of the monarch, and being sent, like Fenelon, into exile from the court. Whether if, in addition to his learning, eloquence, and acuteness, he had manifested that constant and elevated spirituality of mind which so strongly characterized the Archbishop of Cambray, he could have retained the favour of such a sovereign as Lewis XIV. for so long a period, is again another question which I will not at present undertake to decide. I shall have to speak of his intimacy and breach with Fenelon hereafter. At present, comparisons are uncalled for. The greatest enemy of Bossuet, and the most strenuous opposer of the corrupt church of which he was a member and defender, must allow that there was much in his character and conduct to adorn the fearfully responsible office of a Christian prelate.

(To be continued.)

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.' Ir a child of seven years old were capable of arranging his ideas, and could find language to express them, he might be supposed to reason thus:

"What strange inconsistent cha

racters are my parents! What a mixture of fondness and unkindness, severity and affection, do they ex hibit in their behaviour towards me! At one moment they seem inclined to gratify all my wishes: they play with me, caress me, procure amusements and companions for me, and buy toys for my diver sion; at another time, all is denial and restraint. In the morning, I am compelled to sit still for hours, to improve myself in reading and writing, or to learn Latin or French, which I greatly dislike; or I am made to repeat prayers and hymns, which I do not half understand. At dinner, although I see my parents and others indulging their appetites with the most savoury dishes, I am told that they are unwholesome, and the plainest and most insipid food is allotted as my portion. Some times, my appetite is stimulated by indulgence; at others, I am denied what I long for, because it would disagree with me. If I lean on a chair, or roll on the floor, or make a noise, a nod, a frown, or a rebuke tells me to hold myself erect, and to be quiet and silent. When I want to go abroad, it is sometimes too hot or too cold; too dirty or too damp; my feet will be wetted or my clothes spoiled. At night, I am compelled to go to bed before I have any inclination to sleep, and to rise in the morning when I wish to lie in bed. In short, I am the mere puppet of my father and mother; and it is still worse with my sister, as she is under more restraints than even I am; yet I see other children allowed to do what they like, without being subject.. to have their inclinations perpetually thwarted."

To parents whose conduct is fairly open to the charge of inconsistency I say nothing, except that they would do well to reform it with all practicable speed. It is indeed to be feared, that even the best are too often uncertain and capricious, and that many of the faults and sufferings of childhood arise from

the uneven deportment of those to whom it falls to superintend and regulate its actions. Still, however, the parent whose conduct towards his children is governed by Christian principle, might, upon the whole, satisfactorily reply to the above expostulations. He might observe, that the welfare and happiness of his child were the object of all his restraints and instructions; that to yield to his own feelings, by gratifying the wayward wishes of his children, would be a cruel and criminal sacrifice of parental duty to selfishness; that he is sensible, that his restrictions and impositions have an appearance of severity; but that in truth they are dictated by the most sincere affection; that the passions of children are strong, their reason weak, and their judgment uninformed; that it is the first duty of a parent to teach them the necessity of controlling their passions, and acquiring habits of self-denial and discrimination; that no children are so unhappy as those who are allowed to indulge their ever-varying inclinations; and that children so indulged, when arrived at years of maturity, become the slaves of evil passions and habits, which it is then very difficult to controul, and too often purchase dearly-bought experience, when it is too late to reap the benefit of it; that our happiness both in this world and the next materially depends on the habits formed in infancy and youth, and that the seeds of moral and religious instruction, if not sown in early years, and carefully cultivated, are never likely, in the ordinary course of God's providence, to vegetate and produce wholesome fruit.

And now my readers may naturally suppose that I am about to pen a lecture on the Christian discipline of children; and certainly I ́am anxious that those whom it concerns should thus apply the subject, and seriously meditate upon its importance. But my chief object is to turn it to account for the spiritual discipline of parents themselves

For are not parents too apt to reason like children? Do they not too often forget that the performance of those duties which they require from their offspring is obligatory upon themselves? thus measuring their own conduct by one rule, and that of their dearest relatives by another, as if maturity of years relaxed the bonds of Christian obligation.

Such indeed is the condition of human nature, that, without the aid of Divine grace, we cannot even discern what is right, much less practise it; and others, as well as parents, who undertake the tuition of the young and uninstructed, stand in perpetual need of admonition and instruction themselves. the school of our nurseries, we may so disposed, more practical wisdom than ever was taught in the Lyceum, Portico, or Groves of Academus; and considering our children as mirrors in which our own characters are reflected, let us take care that our own portraits correspond with our instructions, and apply to ourselves the lessons which we impart to them. Let us examine ourselves attentively, whether our own conduct exhibits any of those faults and imperfections which we notice and reprove in our children. When they murmur at our commands or correction, mingled as they must be in the best of us with much that is imperfect and exceptionable, let us seriously inquire, if we have not ourselves merited the Divine displeasure, by disobeying the all-perfect commands of our Heavenly Father, or by arraigning the justice of his holy, wise, and merciful dispensations. When we find our children inattentive to our advice and instruction, let us ask if we have duly regarded the precepts and admonitions of our infinitely wise and gracious Parent who is in heaven. When we observe ingratitude in them for our favours and little acts of kindness, let us inquire if we ourselves are duly grateful for the inestimable benefits which we daily and hourly receive from CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 255.

the Author of every good and perfect gift. When we inculcate the duty of prayer to God, or reprove in our children the neglect or inattentive performance of it, let us reflect, whether we may not ourselves have omitted, or irreverently offered, our supplications and adoration at the same Divine throne; and let us humble ourselves under the convictions of an accusing conscience. Do we prescribe the constant perusal of the holy Scriptures to our children? let us not forget to study them ourselves. Do we enjoin the practise of self-government, temper ance, kindness, benevolence, good nature, mutual forbearance, patience under provocations, and the forgiveness of injuries and affronts? let us remember that it is our duty to exemplify by our own conduct the precepts which we inculcate ; and thus in every instance, not only practise what we recommend, but make our injunctions lessons of self-examination.

If the chastisement of children is sometimes an indispensible part of parental discipline, let a religious. parent on such occasions well consider the infinitely heavier punishment which he himself merits at the hand of God; that thus, while, in the spirit of love, he discharges the painful duty of reproof or correction, he may not be himself unthankful for the chastisement which he has received from the loving-kindness of his Almighty Father. He will thus learn devoutly to say with St. Paul, "We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live ?"

But so lamentably inconsistent is human nature, that we sometimes see parents, though professing the utmost anxiety for the moral and religious improvement of their children, yet exhibiting in their own. behaviour a total disregard to the principles which they labour to inculcate; doing outward homage to Christian virtue, whilst they live U

in the violation of its precepts, Thus, a man who is habitually giving way to impatience and passion, will reprove hastiness and anger in his child; another, who passes his days in frivolous amusements, or useless occupations, will upbraid his children for idleness or waste of time. The slothful will require his children to rise with the dawn; the sensualist, who gratifies his appetite without restraint, will prescribe temperance and moderation in diet; and a man who seldom enters a church, or visits it only as a mere form, or who desecrates his Sundays, regardless of the hallowed duties of the day, will still solemnly admonish his children to keep the Sabbath holy.

Such inconsistency is doubly criminal: it is not only sinful in itself, but is calculated to nullify the instructions imparted by those who are guilty of it. Children are watchful observers: they often reflect justly, and will naturally question the utility of precepts inculcated by those whose example shews their own habitual disregard to the subject of their admonitions; and may perhaps even suspect the inculcator of hypocrisy.

In conclusion, let those fathers and mothers who neglect the performance of the duties which they prescribe to their children, or who practise the vices and follies which they censure in them, seriously reflect on that awful day, when they must give an account of their conduct. The voice of conscience can then be no longer suppressed. Its language will be, "Out of thine own mouth shalt thou be judged;" while the sentence of the Eternal Judge will irrevocably confirm its verdict: for "if I be a father, where is mine honour? saith the Lord of hosts."

SENEX.

Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer,

THERE is no portion of the sacred Scriptures which has received more striking and frequent fulfilment than the words of the Psalmist; "Surely

the wrath of man shall praise Thee." To go no farther back than the beginning of the Christian era, the great persecution against the church at Jerusalem mentioned in Acts viii. was overruled by the providence of God for the promotion and extension of his spiritual kingdom; for by means of it many of the disciples were expelled from Jerusalem; their narrow Jewish prejudices were forcibly borne down; and, being scattered throughout Samaria and the neighbouring country, theypreached, wherever they went, Christ crucified. Persecution continued to be employed during the first ages, to extinguish the infant church. The disciples of Christ were pursued by sword and fire throughout the Roman empire at many different periods, and oftentimes under emperors otherwise benevolent and humane. But still their numbers increased. Being persecuted in one city, they obeyed the injunction of their Lord, and fled to another, carrying with them the glad tidings of salvation, and scattering the seeds of righteousness around them on every hand, And as the persecutions raised for the purpose of exterminating the Christian name had thus the contrary effect of diffusing it more widely over the world, so also they contributed powerfully to preserve the internal purity of the church; the early believers being in a great measure excluded from intimacy with the heathen, and thus kept unspotted from the world. Their common calamities united them in the bonds of mutual affection; and being exposed to every species of suffering and worldly loss by their attachment to the cross of their Saviour, they were led to seek for consolation in the religion they professed, and to look daily for a better, even a heayenly, country. So that in many ways God brought good out of evil, and turned the weapons of His enemies against themselves.-Proceeding down the stream of time, and passing over the period of the dark ages, the dawn of the glorious Reformation

presents us with a striking example of the truth under illustration. When Luther first appeared on the theatre of the world he was a devoted son of the Romish Church; and merely checked the venality and unblushing flagitiousness of one of her abandoned underlings. Such an offence, however, could not be brooked by the haughty pontiff and his advisers. War was proclaimed against the offending monk. Angry bulls were issued; and the whole artillery of antichrist was brought out and discharged upon the head of an obscure and unaided individual. And what was the result of all this wrath of man? Opposition led Luther to serious reflection, and to a close examination both of his own conduct and of the church by which he was so vehemently assailed. His eyes were gradually opened; the Day-spring from on high visited his hitherto benighted mind. His courage to oppose and his patience to suffer were increased, and his motives to both were purified by the unreasonable injuries of his blinded enemies. Their conduct precluded all compromise. The solitary monk was obliged to erect the spiritual standard of the Cross, and to oppose the united strength of the whole Roman Church. But God was on his side; and the evil designs of his enemies were made in a remarkable manner to work in favour of that very purpose which they were intended to thwart. The termination of this affair, which sprang from and was nourished by the wrath of man, was the overthrow of papal tyranny in a considerable part of Europe; the diffusion of evangelical light and liberty; and the consequent promotion of God's glory, and the best interests of a large portion of our race through many generations. From such small beginnings, and by such unlikely means, can the Almighty bring to a successful issue the great plans of his all-wise and gracious providence.

Since the days of Luther, the

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mode of attack upon the church of Christ has been often changed; but the result has ever been the same. In modern times, infidelity has been the most fierce assailant of true religion; and its partizans, by sophistry, ridicule, and false philosophy, have endeavoured to overthrow that sacred edifice which had resisted the rude assaults both of heathen persecution and unscriptural superstition in former ages. But vain have been their most violent efforts: instead of demolishing the bulwarks of our Zion, they have eventually fortified her more strongly than be fore. At whatever point infidels have made their assault, there has arisen a host of champions, who have not only repelled the present foe, but have reared such impregnable ramparts as must effectually resist every future assailant. In this manner have been brought forward arguments of the most powerful kind, which might otherwise have remained in obscurity. Learned men have extended their researches in every direction, and each succeeding discovery has strengthened the cause of religion.

I have been led into these remarks on two accounts; first, because few occupations can be more edifying and delightful to a pious mind than the contemplation of the infinite wisdom of God thus eminently displayed in the defence of His own word, not merely by raising up friends, but also by pressing his very enemies into his service; and, secondly, as an introduction to a few observations which I am about to offer upon a most striking example of the general truth which I have endeavoured to illustrate. I allude to the conduct of Judas Iscariot, which, closely considered, strongly tends to prove, that our Lord Jesus Christ was certainly no impostor; that he was the Messiah promised to the fathers; and that the religion he founded is consequently not a cunningly devised fable, but has for its author the God of truth. The materials of the argu

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