But if it appear that we have been deficient in our duties, it is incumbent on us to continue our serious meditations and repent, and consider by what additional exertions we may best supply our omissions and make amends for our transgressions. It is not enough for us to say, or to feel, that we are sorry for our errors, all are naturally so when the gratification of the indulgence in errors has passed away, and their bad consequences only remain. We must firmly resolve not to repeat them, and more than that, we must make actual amends for wrongs committed; and we should lose no time in making this reparation, for we know not how soon the amount of our good and bad deeds may be closed and balanced for final retribution. This leads me to my last question, Has our sense of the moral duties been raised and refined by the sense of RELIGION?

By this sense is meant an elevation of thought above the occurrences of life which immediately concern us, to the contemplation of so much of the general system of nature as comes within the reach of our understandings, and as a necessary consequence, to the adoration of its Almighty Creator and Preserver. This sense naturally follows the sense of our duties to each other, and ascends to a consideration of the duty we owe to God.

It shews to us that our Creator is bounteous to all His creatures in supplying them with means for the support and enjoyment of life, but that He has endowed us men with a superior mental power, by a diligent use of which we are enabled to sustain life with more certainty and enjoyment than other creatures.

It also informs us that the constant activity, change,

and progressive improvement which we observe in nature, proceed from the designs of the Creator, and the labours of his creatures; that the vigilant in good works carry forward His intentions, and therein offer to Him the best devotion in their power. This religious sense further reminds us that all our actions pass under the eye of an all-seeing, all-wise, and Almighty Judge, from whose unerring justice all may expect reward or punishment according to their deserts: and it composes our feelings under trouble and affliction with the cheering hope, that if we stedfastly persevere in the discharge of our duties, we shall not fail to receive an abundant recompence, either in this life, or in a future state,

THE LESSONS.

LESSON 1.-INDUSTRY.

As we examine and consider the workings of nature, we find that nothing on earth can live without the aid of labour. The Almighty has given his creatures the means of living, but they must themselves use those means or die. Even vegetables die, unless they draw sap for their support. We may reasonably imagine, that if a man had all the world to himself, and were placed in the most favored part of it, he must work or perish. The fruits of the earth would not drop into his mouth; nor the animals that browse on it, come to him to be killed and eaten, nor would they render up their furs and fleeces to clothe his naked body; he must search and labour to live.

But we must regard man, not as an isolated being, for in a state of separation from his fellows he can seldom

support existence for a month. He is eminently a social animal; we, therefore, view him as in society with his fellow-men. In that state, when taught to respect the rights of others, and proceeding in peace and industry, we see that crowds of human beings are enabled to find subsistence and enjoyment for the natural term of their lives, in places where even a few if unassociated, or in hostility with each other, would prematurely die from famine or violence. But the necessity of labour continues, and it increases with the new desires which then spring up in him. In society, as in solitude, the necessaries of life are only procurable through labour; and by the barter and exchange of each other's produce. Property is produce accumulated. If a man have no accumulation in store, no property to pay others to labour for him, he must himself labour daily to obtain his daily support; but if he do not labour to gain that support, as far as his natural rights are concerned, he must perish; subject only to the alternatives of obtaining support from the labour or property of others, by begging, fraud, or theft. Without industry, therefore, a poor man must perish, or be a burthen or a pest to society, and so we always find him. But as a man's thus extorting his support from the labour or property of others is unjust to them, and calculated to bring misery on himself, regular industry is evidently an imperative obligation on every man who is unpossessed of sufficient property to hire others to labour for him.

It is thoughtlessly said, why should the poor man be obliged to labour more than the rich? To answer this, it is only necessary that the essential distinction between poor and rich should be understood. Riches means the accumulated results of labour; every particle of the wealth we see has been drawn into existence by labour, either by the owner at some preceding time, or by his forefathers, or by some other persons, into the

fruit of whose labours he has had the good fortune to enter. This good fortune in some, and the want of it in others, springs out of many things inevitably connected with all social institutions: but in both cases labour is the condition of life. The only difference is that, in the case of the rich man the condition is already performed by him or for him, and he has its fruits accumulated for use; while in the case of the poor man, it has still to be performed by himself.

To that large and important portion of the community who, combining with the daily application of the working man, the cares and arrangements of men embarking property in a trade as master manufacturers or dealers, considerable industry, as well as prudence, is obviously necessary, lest their property be wasted, or their trade fail, and they sink from their station in the middle ranks to one of servitude and dependence.

But if a man's possession of property be so considerable as to enable him to purchase the labour of others to supply his wants and desires, without his having occasion to seek an increase of income by traffic, we find that diligence is still requisite to see that his wealth be not wasted, but be laid out usefully and honorably, according to his station. Then for the acquisition of those enlarged stores of knowledge which distinguish the gentleman of fortune from others, whose time and attention are engrossed by particular occupations for a subsistence, we observe that the gentleman has much occasion for industry. Habits of industry are further necessary to enable him to do various services of a public nature in his neighbourhood, which are best entrusted to gentlemen of education and independent fortune; and they are requisite, that he may perform his duties to others with wisdom and justice, as well as for his own personal credit and comfort. Experience further teaches

us that the fatigues of application are indispensable preparatives for the enjoyment of ease; that nothing is more irksome than undisturbed indolence; that a wearied labourer is not so spirit-worn as a gentleman who has nothing to do.

Generally we see that a well-directed industry is as necessary to enable a rich man to enjoy the advantages of wealth with satisfaction to his own feelings, and with honour in the world's eye, as it is to enable the poor man to provide for his simple wants, free from the sufferings of hunger, and the degradation of pauperism.

And universally how invaluable is that industry seen to be, which is employed in the acquisition of knowledge. Its advantages extend through every condition of life. Its rewards are never failing. Where the ignorant look and see nothing, the enlightened observer walks delighted, and gathers pleasure at every step. While the first is driven to sensual excitements to raise his gross animal spirits, the latter finds an intellectual feast at all times open to his enjoyment in the ever varying scenes and objects which surround him.

There are some who fear the levelling tendency of a general diffusion of knowledge among the working classes, but the levelling is upwards, and there is nothing fearful in that. The mental elevation of the poor takes nothing from that of the rich, but it adds to their comfort by surrounding them with intelligent beings, instead of those who are ignorant and gross in manners, and liable to be the dupes of any demagogue, or fanatic, who may play on their passions or prejudices. To all classes, then, the possession of knowledge is a treasure of great value. The industrious pursuit of it introduces the humblest to the best society. It brings them acquainted with the thoughts of the greatest men of all nations, and of all ages as expressed by themselves in their best manner,