we are furveying, as peculiarly connected with the fpirit of his fyftem, and as pro ductive of its faireft fruits, he is not willing to difappoint or damp the original afpirations of the foul. He knew that the contains in herself an aftonifhing mixture of littleness and greatnefs; that the is in a ftate of much diforder and diftrefs, though endowed with immortal capacities for virtue and happinefs; that after these laft, fhe is ftill fighing; that they are not to be attained by vain pretenfions, or overweening conceits; that fuch things are offenfive, foolish, and hurtful; and that by Humility, as before delineated, she must gradually rife, through the scale of duty, to perfection and preferment in the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus the wifeft provifion is made for humbling without depreffing, and for advancing without elating, her. From the condition of her being, the is taught meeknefs and lowlinefs; and this difcipline becomes the ground-work of her highest improvement and elevation.

That which Demofthenes faid of Action in an Orator, Auguftine has applied to Humility in a Christian. Being asked, What was the first thing in religion, he answered, Humility; what was the fecond, he again answered, Humility; and what was the third, he ftill replied, Humility. In a word, he looked on this evangelical grace as the bafis of all the reft. We may fubjoin, that, as the nobleft fabrics have the deepest foundations, fo the greatest men, in the best acceptation of the phrase, are the humbleft; and they who build the ftructure of their conduct on a low eftimation of themselves, proceeding chiefly from exalted conceptions of their duty, will naturally carry their endeavours to the fublimeft heights of goodnefs and devotion, and most effectually fecure, without confidently claiming it, the favour of God and man.

The Beauty of Humility will be yet. farther apparent, if we now contemplate

a little more particularly her admirable tendency to enlighten and ennoble the mind, contrafting her in this respect with her prefumptuous but impotent antago

nift.

If any of you wanted to infpire a young perfon yet uneducated, with the justest fentiments and the worthieft, affections, would you not wish to find him by Nature teachable, complying, and full of fimplicity, like a little child of the best temper? You perceive immediately the importance of this reflection, and are convinced on the other fide, that nothing can be more unfavourable for the cultivation either of the understanding, or of the heart, than an original turn to vanity, petulance, and obftinacy. The two former indeed may be conquered, though with fomet difficulty; and I trust they often are: but the laft, I fear, feldom is. Obftinacy seems to be the first-born of Pride, and both the biggeft and worst of all her

progeny. What, alas! is to be expected of those who are habitually wedded to their own ways, and their own fancies, from a perfuafion that they cannot be mistaken, and that thofe who would pretend to reftrain or admonish, to direct or advise them, are ufurpers on the rights of their fuperior judgement? In this, a haughty man resembles the fluggard, of whom SoJomon obferves, that "he is wifer in his 66 own conceit, than feven men who can "render a reason." Mark him well, and you fhall find him ready at every turn to condemn, or ridicule, the conduct and notions of others; to fet up his character, and his opinions, as the very teft of truth and propriety; to affume the airs of a dictator in almost every company, and affect to be ftill the principal, if not the fole object of admiration, as well as to appreciate the fenfe and breeding of the few among his acquaintance, whom he vouchfafes to think well of, by the degree of applause they beftow upon. Him. What is the confequence?

That he can never learn any thing to purpose, and that he is never familiarized to the amiable equality of focial life, or those free communications, and manly difcuffions, which tend fo happily to open the mind and polifh the manners, and which may be reckoned among the chief advantages of what is termed, in common Language, a Club; I mean, where fuch as form it meet on a footing of reciprocal civility and friendly ease, and agree to regulate their behaviour by the laws of decency and temperance.

I am indeed apt to believe, that, next to the correction of adversity, and the illumination of religion, nothing tends more to make a youth of any ingenuity modest and wife, than finding his intellects tried, his principles fifted, his ideas frequently queftioned and debated, and even his deportment and character fometimes turned into a fubject of criticifm, in the company of lively and fenfible affociates, who, with