and
susceptible minds of his children towards this Word of Truth? Is it
to be done by exhibiting to them a life devoted to the study of that
word, as revealing the will of Him whom he loves, and Him of whom it
testifies, so that they may attach true ideas to true words,
following simply its precepts as judging them concerning all things,
to be right for himself, and promoting the extension of this
knowledge as equally essential to others;--by a dedication of time
and talents to this end;--by habits of continued self-denial, having
for their object the acquisition of greater means towards the
accomplishment of a work for which he would have them to believe that
Jesus their Lord left the bosom of his Father and descended to earth,
and for the furtherance of which Apostles and Martyrs regarded
all;--temporal advantages as loss, and were ready to suffer the
privation of them all? Or is it to be done by speaking, in very high
terms, of the excellence and importance of the work;--by accompanying
the words with a gift of one, five, fifty, or a hundred pounds a year
for the promotion of it, but, in other respects, providing for
temporal conveniences and enjoyments like the world? As long as the
human mind is capable of being influenced by example, the first of
these two exhibitions must exert the most powerful influence on the
youthful mind. It must have a direct and almost invincible tendency
to impress that mind with a conviction of the sincerity of our love
of the Truth, of the reality of our devotion towards its great
Author, of our deep feeling of its necessity as the only guide to
purity and happiness, and of our ardent desire that all men may know
and receive and embrace it. And although all this is infinitely
removed from a work of grace on the soul, the almighty work of the
Spirit of God; yet they may be, and continually are, the instruments
he uses for arresting the sinner, and turning his attention to Jesus,
and leading beyond the apprehension of the truth--in the
understanding, to the Author and Finisher of faith for the
realization of it in the heart. But, on the contrary, every
appropriation towards providing temporal comforts, and conveniences,
and pleasures, either for them or for ourselves, has a tendency
directly the reverse. It shows that there is, in this value for the
world, a rival interest in the heart; it weakens their conviction of
our sincerity; and lessens, in exact proportion to its amount, the
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