from God, was held at his good pleasure, and as easily resumed, as it was freely and generously bestowed. It was needful even in Eden, that man should feel he had no inherent right; for a sense of God's goodness, and of the creature's absolute dependence, is as essential to preservation in a <ate of holiness, as in a state of restoration from

sin.

When God created man, he blessed him. But no gift can render any one blessed, unless in so far as God is seen to be the giver. The happiness of Eden lay not in the majestic rivers by which it was watered; in the pleasant and fruitful trees with which it was planted; in the salubrious sky that shone above the head; nor in the fertile soil that lay beneath the feet; it lay not in the loveliness of the flowers that bloomed in nature's earliest spring, nor in the sweet voice of the birds that sung amongst the branches. It lay not even in the communion of human spirits, though maintained and cemented by innocence. It lay in the fact, that every gift was traced immediely to God as its fountain, and thence deriving every power of contributing to the creature's enjoyment.

its

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of the eternal love thus lay in the mighty purpose and works of creation, and the beneficent design and accomplishment of redemption, man, to be an exact created image of the uncreated Godhead, must not only be invested with the attributes of thought, but with purposes and capacities of activity, by which he may exercise, not a creative, but a formative power-the image of creation; and by which he may calculate, and anticipate, and prepare for futurity-the image of providence; and from which, in subordination to the will of God, he may derive his chiefest joys,' and be conformed to the image of Him, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, and is now set down on the right hand of God.'

But it is moreover worthy of special remark, that when God placed man in Eden, in a state of holiness and happiness, he did not intend him to be idle. He put him into the garden, 'to dress it, and to keep it.' He gave him the whole earth, but with a commission to subdue it.' But this commission to 'subdue' did not imply any stubbornness or rebellion, but the suppression of that superabundant luxuriance with which the vegetable world was invested, and the converting to his purposes of the various powers with which nature, in all her kingdoms, was so bountifully endowed. This order was exactly suited to man's capacities and condition. Enabled to think, one part of his employment must consist in thinking; but enabled to act, another part must necessarily consist in acting; and in the connection of these two capacities, thinking and acting, must the third element of his nature be called forth-that is, his capacity of enjoyment. Without these capacities of thinking and acting, and of thence deriving his enjoyment, man would have been no image of his great Creator. The eternal mind, the Spirit of God, is not a quiescent entity, immovably absorbed in its own contemplations. He acts eternally in purpose, having his delights with the sons of men,' and endowing them with his choicest gifts in Christ Jesus, before In the beginning he puts forth the Almighty energies of creation, and in the progress of time is ever acting, not by mere im

the world was.'

Idleness, in a state of sin, affords not only an opportunity, but an incentive to more sin; and the sweat of the brow,' and the sorrow of the heart, in which man is doomed to eat bread, might be supposed a punishment inflicted upon a criminal, rather than a merciful regimen for the healing of a perishing invalid. Yet, while the infliction of labour as a curse, is neither to be forgotten, nor denied, it is an infliction of punishment only in so far as the bitterness of sin is infused into the original cup of enjoyment. Man's first enjoyment originally lay in perfect communion with God; his second in communion with whatever, as partaking of the same image, enjoyed the same communion; and his third in the active duties of that universal dominion with which God had invested him as his delegated representative. Idleness was therefore inconsistent with man's original nature and office, and must be as inconsistent still, though his nature has become infected, and the dignity of his office forfeited by sin.

When we return to contemplate the first man in the state of innocence, we cannot fail to acknowledge and admire the dignity of his birth. There is a dignity in birth. The son of parents, wise, good, and thus truly great, cannot be disrobed of a portion of the parent's praise. But how transcendant the dignity of Adam's ancestry! He traced his genealogy immediately to Almighty God! And he claims a derivative right to every region of the earth! Yet, thus dignified in descent, thus endowed with dominion, he is immediately appointed to work!

Are we, then, to be surprised, if that labour which was required as a duty, and which was necessary to enjoyment, in a state of holiness, should continue to be required as a duty, and be

H

ticipator of his cares, the soother of his griefs, the healer of his wounded spirit, and the commissioned trustee of a lost world's redemption. To replenish—that is not, as some imagine, to fill again, but to fill completely-the earth with inhabitants was one great part of the gradous purpose of the Creator; and to this end a portion of his original blessing was specially directed. And if this gracious purpose has never yet been fully realized, the fault lies not in any deficiency in the blessing, but in the folly and wickedness of men, by which the human race has been continually drained away in wars and fightings,' arising from the lusts that 'war in the members;' while the progress of population has been still farther impeded by the barbarism arising from the cruelties and devastations of war, and from the pestilences and famines that have invariably followed on its track.

But the mere multiplication of inhabitants was not God's full purpose. His purpose included the multiplication of men to know him as God, to remember him as Creator, to love him as Redeemer, to fear him as Judge, to be like him as Sanctifier, and to obey him as Lawgiver and Father. And here it is that the helpmeet's qualifications, and worth, and excellency, are to be chiefly discovered. In training up a vigorous youth to bodily activities or to mental acquirements, a father may effect much; but in training the child to teachableness, to self-denial, to gentleness, almost every thing depends upon a mother. A father may raise and finish a noble superstructure; a mother must previously have hid the unseen foundation. It is thus father and nother should combine and be mutually helpful beach other in training up their offspring in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. But not as if a father's work begins only where a mother's ends. To ensure the ends of a good education, they must be concurrent instructors, and proceed upon one uniform system, and with one great object-not the mere accomplishments, but the salvation of their children. What a beautiful, what a glorious sight! a pious family on earthredeemed family in heaven!

That the impediments to parental education are great and many, cannot be denied. Some are impeded by sickness, some chilled by poverty, others distracted by cares and troubles, some overwhelmed in business; but the great, and indeed the only insuperable impediment, is the neglect of salvation as the only worthy aim of in struction. When the value of a child is estimated by its soul-when the destiny of the child is felt to be heaven or hell—and when the parents feel

that they may be the guilty and unhappy agents 1 of eternal destruction to their own offspring, or the honoured and blessed instruments of their eternal salvation and glory-then every impediment will give way under the irresistible pressure of these sovereign motives, and the work of a godly education will advance, blessing the lowly cottages of the poor, and the lordly dwelling of the rich on earth, and swelling the train of those that follow the Lamb, and celebrate his praises in heaven.

Let it then be never forgotten, that, in every such union of earthly interests, eternal interests are inseparably involved. And let it be farther considered that these are the eternal interests not merely of the parties forming this union, but it may be the interests of many generations. How needful then to seek the divine guidance and blessing, remembering that, while house and riches are the inheritance of fathers, a prudent wife is from the Lord.' And that while favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain; a woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised.'

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TWENTY-FOURTH DAY.-MORNING.

•And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,' Gen. ii. 16, 17.

EVERY created thing must be subject to some law; and every law must prescribe or enforce some limit beyond which the subject may not pass. This fact is manifest in God's works of creation. The planets in their heavenly courses are subject to the laws of motion and attraction from which they never depart. The plants in their earthly beds are subject to the laws of heat and moisture, and to which they are ever obedient in bud, and flower, and fruit. The beasts of the field, the fishes of the water, the fowls of the air, all follow the instinct, that is, the law of their respective natures. Shall man be found an exception to this general rule of creation? Certainly not. He must be the subject of some law, because he is a creature; and he must be subject to a moral law, because he is intelligent and accountable.

We find, accordingly, that the law given to Adam is neither the mechanical law that governs the heavenly bodies, nor the vegetable law that produces the plants, nor the instinctive law that