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their importance, in a worldly point of view, in the present condition of society. It would, then, be acknowledged, that the measure of talent, with which every individual is gifted, determines the measure of intellectual and moral exertion for which he is destined,—in the years of education, more exclusively for the development of his own mind, and in after life, likewise for the benefit, that is to say, the internal improvement, of his fellow creatures; and this measure of intellectual and moral exertion, would not be looked upon, as it now is too often, as a means of gratifying himself, and others, accordingly as he may, or may not, feel disposed; but it would be considered, in its true light, as a sacred obligation, for the neglect, or imperfect discharge of which, the individual himself, as well as every one that has contributed to divert or prevent him from it, is highly responsible. If this be true, with reference to common talents, and capacities, how much more eminently will it prove true, when applied to genius. This heavenly gift, this incorporation, as it were, of the divine idea in the faculties of man, how little has it been understood, how profanely abused, in most cases, both by those to whom the gift was imparted, and by the multitude, for whose benefit it was given. Genius, whatever be the direction in which it manifests itself, whether in the compositions of the pencil, or in the lofty regions of poetic thought, in the modulations of harmonious notes, or in the strains of sacred eloquence, is a manifestation of the divine mind; it is, as it were, the breath of God, going over the creature, and imparting life to its works. It is not a meteor, cast upon the earth, at random, for the vain glory of its own splendour, or for the amazement of the spectator; it is a light of God, imparted for a specific purpose, for the purpose of carrying on his work, in a peculiar manner, by peculiar means, according to the peculiar wants of the nation, and of the age in which the genius appears. The geniuses which have risen up, at different periods, in the history of mankind, fill the same place in the progress of

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human civilization, which is nothing else than the divine guidance of our species, veiled and hidden, as the prophets of old did in the history of the Jewish Church, which is the divine guidance of man, explained and revealed; both are, in their appointed spheres, the privileged diviners, whose sight is illumined; the chosen instruments, whose hand is armed with the strength of the Lord. Hence, as the prophets rose up in the critical days of the Jewish history, so have geniuses always risen up at those great epochs in human history, when, upon the dying stem of the past, a new life was ingraffed; in every such spiritual revelation, some eminent genius has been instrumental; nor was he suffered to stand solitary, but he was always supported by the simultaneous influence of kindred minds upon the mass, although, perhaps, the connexion between them might not be outwardly perceptible, nay, they might even stand in apparent opposition to each other. As a gift of God, destined for the accomplishment of his purposes, genius partakes of the nature of election, and is subject to its laws Thus, for instance, the popular feeling with regard to the strayings of men of genius, makes good, although in an abusive sense, the Apostle's word: "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?" And, on the other hand, the effect which a lawless course of life in men of genius, produces, renders the parallel not only more true, more close, but also, for those that are so gifted, more awful. Take the history of any man of genius, and you will find, that the office for which he was called, was fulfilled by him, whether obedient or disobedient to his calling. The ideas which he is destined to make manifest to the world, of the promulgation of which, he may, if he choose to acknowledge his election, and to fulfil its duties, make himself the successful and blessed instrument, will, if he choose to strive against them, be made manifest upon him, as an exemplification of their truth. As the Jews, the elect witnesses of God for the truth of his revelation, rejected their election, at the moment, when they were called upon to fulfil its highest

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and most blessed duty, and yet, are obliged, by the very consequences of their disobedience, to bear the witness which was required of them: so, likewise, must a genius, by the wildest aberrations of his mind, by the grossest profanation of his calling, necessarily become a beacon of those very ideas, which, by a life of faith and love, he might have illustrated in all the radiancy of heavenly light. The purpose of God is fixed, and unalterable; he, who is called to accomplish it, is free to turn it into a blessing, or into a curse, to himself; but still, he must fulfil the will of Him, who knoweth the balancings of the clouds. When brought to this test, how profane does the vulgar notion appear, that genius is a sort of natural eminence, which entitles the possessor to a more extensive enjoyment of life, to the highest admiration of his fellow-creatures, and even to a sort of exemption from the common laws of morality! What an awful light does this view throw upon the baneful consequences, which that vulgar notion, and its influence upon education, has entailed upon so many a man of genius, involving him in deep ruin, and making him a sign in his generation! And how is all this to be accounted for? Is it not, by that fatal, and still unexploded mistake, of asking, on every occasion-What rights does this insure to us?—instead of inquiring, what are our duties ?

Therefore, as has been done, with a view to ascertain the relative duties of the family and of society, to provide for the education of their children, so, likewise, with reference to the present question, a new principle must be laid down. It must be acknowledged, in the first instance, as regards the natural capacities of the child, that, whatever measure of them every individual is gifted with, it is the duty of those that educate him, to develop and cultivate them; and, farther, that the degree, to which this is to be done, is not to be limited in any wise, considering that the immortal part of man is neither finite in itself, nor destined for a finite existence.

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REGARD TO CIRCUMSTANCES IN EDUCATION.

It remains then, for us to inquire, in the second instance, how far external circumstances must be permitted to affect the child's education. On the same ground of duty the answer is very simple and very easy. The question is not. "This child is possessed of such and such means to buy enjoyment and gratification: what sort of enjoyment is then to be fixed upon, as the chief object to which his education shall be directed ?"-Or, in another case: "This child is not possessed of any, or only of very small means of buying enjoyment and gratification-what mode of acquiring those means is, then, to be selected for him, and made the object of his education?" But the question is: "This child will, in all human probability, be possessed of such or such an extent of means, under such and such circumstances,—what education, then, must be given to him, in order to lead, and to enable him, to employ all those means for good purposes? What must be done to preserve him from that great snare, into which the wealthy so often fall, to think too much of the outward means of doing good, and to depreciate, or, at least, not sufficiently to appreciate those more important means, which God has appointed to man in his mental faculties, and in spiritual gifts?" Or, if the individual be not possessed of outward means, "What education must he receive, in order to learn to dispense with the riches, or the power of this earth, and to pursue the labours of his calling, unimpeded by the shackles of an outwardly unfavourable position?" These are the questions, which we must ask, to ascertain how far the education of children is to be affected by external circumstances. Accordingly as, by the order of Providence, they do or do not possess outward means, they must be taught to turn them to account, for the fulfilment of their duty, or to dispense with them.

He alone, who is so educated, is well educated for his circumstances, if they remain unchanged, and likewise well educated for a change of his circumstances, if Providence should so decree it. If the affluent man was made to feel,

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that he has no right to his possessions, but in proportion as he employs them for good purposes, how free would he be from the wish of accumulating more and more, and how free from regret, if, in consequence of his exertions, or by some contingency, his means should be diminished. At the greatest losses he could no more feel hurt, than an agent in delivering up to his employer the sums which he administered for him, and which he never considered as his own !! And how powerfully would the general diffusion of such principles tend to restore that equilibrium in society, which is now entirely lost by the accumulation of immense means in the hands of a few, that know not how to use them, and the entire destitution of so many, who cannot find any way of acquiring even the little they want. If no man claimed, or endeavoured to acquire, one groat beyond what he stands immediately in need of, for the fulfilment, not of his imaginary, but of his real duties, how easy would it be for every man to acquire that much. If, by one magic stroke, this effect could be produced upon the minds of men, so that every one would give up, whatever he does not want for the accomplishment of some really good purpose, according to his peculiar calling, and according to the degree of his moral capacity to be an agent of good, what immense treasures would then, in one instant, become "res nullius." It would then become evident, that mankind, in general, have thrown their power far too much upon the acquisition or the preparation of objects of enjoyment; and the surplus, which would be found in the aggregate result of their labours for these purposes, would sufficiently account for the fearful neglect of their moral and religious cultivation. The measure, in which that disproportion exists, in every nation, would bring to light, what now is enveloped in comparative darkness, viz. how far it has walked in the path of the Lord, pursuing the true course of human culture, or how far it has departed from the right way, and, in bondage to the spirit of this world, has worked out a false and morally ruinous civilization. These