"10. The university, which brings together so great a variety of persons, is a good school for the study of character; avail yourself of it; by the defects of others learn to correct your own, and by their virtues improve yourself. You will seldom find a person who does not excel you in something: leave him to talk on his favourite subject, that you may profit by his superiority.

11. With respect to your vacations, I shall only now throw out one hint; which is, that these must be equally busy periods, if you aspire to academical honours. You will, indeed, be expected to relax occasionally in family parties; still you must unceasingly pursue your object, and attend to little else. Get up your college subjects for the next term; you cannot otherwise keep pace with the lectures.

"12. Whatever you read, always keep in mind the great truths of the Bible; fact and observation will strengthen and confirm them.

"13. Never converse about religion, but in the spirit of religion ;-be earnest, spiritual, and serious; jokes and tales, and absurd associations, produce levity of mind, and even hypocrisy; be cheerful, but not light.

"14. You may start at the amount of what I have stated, but I know from experience that 1 have proposed nothing which may not be achieved by steady perseverance. Throw your whole soul, my dear into a preparation for a useful, honorable, and serviceable life, in the most glorious of all employments, the office and work of the ministry. That God may give you grace, and health, and strength, to become a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, is the earnest prayer of

Your affectionate and faithful friend."

MR. RICHMOND'S PLAN OF EDUCATION.

97

I must apologize to the reader for detaining him so 'long from the more immediate subject of the Family Portraiture. My excuse must be the hope that this letter of my own may fall into the hands of some student of the University, and furnish him with useful hints to regulate his conduct and studies. I am satisfied that my sentiments would be found in unison with my friend's, had he lived to complete his own valuable directions in his son Henry.

In surveying the variety of circumstances and details connected with Mr. R.'s plan of education, it seems to me that two points may be added with advantage.

It has often been lamented that children and young people receive so little benefit from public instruction. Mr. Richmond did indeed teach his children to pray and read the scriptures; he wrote a form of prayer for the use of each of them, until they were able to approach a mercy-seat with the expression of their own thoughts and desires. They had the benefit of his family exercises and conversations, and he kept his eye on their behaviour at church: but this is not all that is needful; they should frequently be examined as to what they hear, and be required to give an account of every sermon; receiving reproof or condemnation as they appear to have been negligent or attentive.

"It is important also to accustom children to separate a part of their pocket money for charitable purposes, and to act, in their sympathy with the necessitous, on plan and system. Mr. R. was himself hospitable and benevolent; he contributed largely from his slender means, to the wants of his poor parishioners, and he inculcated on his family the duty of unremitting attention to distress of every kind. But children should be trained to seek out proper objects, and learn to relieve them from their own means, and by the sacrifice of their

own gratifications. What portion of our goods ought to be separated for the poor is not determined in the scriptures; the only definite rule there laid down, is, "According as God has prospered him, so let every man give as he is disposed in his heart." Children, as well as grown people, should be allowed opportunity to exercise discretion, and evidence the sincerity of principle: we cannot prescribe any fixed amount, which must vary according to the circumstances of different persons; still, however, this labour of love ought to be regulated by some definite principle.

From the foregoing detail of Mr. R.'s laborious and conscientious care of his family, it is natural to ask what was the result. Delicacy and propriety forbid me to speak of the living, though I might there appeal to facts which confirm the truth of that gracious promise, " Train up a child in the way in which he should go, and when he is old he shall not depart from it."

I shall, however, now endeavour to fulfil Mr. R.'s own intentions, by recording the deaths of his children who died in the faith, and are gone to their rest and peace in Christ Jesus.

CHAPTER V.

The storm that wrecks the wintry sky
No more disturbs their deep repose,
Than summer's evening latest sigh
That shuts the rose.

Montgomery.

SAMUEL NUGENT LEGH, the eldest son of Mr. Richmond, was born at Brading in the Isle of Wight, June 18, 1798.

From his birth to the hour of his death he was the child of many prayers to God, for life and salvation through a crucified Redeemer.

"My responsibilities," said Mr. R. " are greatly increased by the birth of a son, and I have need of wisdom to preserve this loan of the Lord, and train up an immortal soul for heaven."

The views of a Christian parent concerning his offspring are not bounded by time, nor his hopes and wishes limited to a present provision. Our heavenly Father knoweth our wants. We must seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things will be supplied as far as is needful to our welfare.

The first paper found amongst Mr. R.'s memoranda relating to his son Nugent, is a letter. addressed to the sponsors on the occasion of his infant's reception into the company of believers by the sacrament of baptism. The selection of these parties is often a delicate and a difficult duty to religious parents. The usages of society direct our

view towards kinsfolk and intimate friends, and the practice is natural and proper when such can be found possessing a deep sense of the responsibilities of their engagement. But to be swayed principally by relationship or interest in this appointment, is inconsistent with Christian integrity, and is, in fact "honouring man more than God." The church supposes sponsors to be persons of real piety, a company of the faithful who agree "as touching what they shall ask of God in Christ's name" on behalf of the infant. They are provided as spiritual trustees to take care that the child be virtuously brought up, and they engage for the fulfilment of conditions, without which, baptism, like the Lord's Supper, is not available for any benefit. The grace of baptism is not promised to unbelievers, and there are many who are such as to this act, though the term may not in general be applicable to them. The rite is regarded by some merely as a compliance with the forms of religion, and by others as conferring a title to covenant privileges, rather than as communicating any actual benefit. But the church of England, and I may add, all the reformed churches, define this sacrament to be an "outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace; ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof."

To maintain that the right administration, independent of the right reception, of an ordinance, is effectual, would be to sanction the errors of Popery; and it would be extravagant to assert that all baptized persons are regenerate, since the fact is palpably against such an assumption. Whether we say with Arminius, that the grace of baptism has been lost, or with John Calvin, nullified, by the non-fulfilments of engagements;-whether by the terms regeneration, renovation, or conversion be meant, the return, the confirmation, or the original