THE child is the man in miniature. The character formed in youth, is the character sustained in manhood down to old age. The ignorant and heedless school-boy, grows into the ignorant and heedless father or master; and the disobedient and vicious urchin of the domestic hearth, matures into the full-grown pest of society.

Such is the general truth. There are exceptions. The grace of God may interpose and convert a Saul of Tarsus into an apostle, and in like manner turn a wayward child into a John Newton or a Buchanan. And the providence of God may determine changes in the circumstances of childhood which shall powerfully affect the moral developments of riper years. Still the general fact is undeniable, that

"As the twig is bent, the tree's inclined;"

and as is the child, such is the man.

If to youth this fact is full of solemn admonition, to parents and all others entrusted with the care of the young it is replete with incitement to sow their seed in the morning, and in the evening not to withhold their hand. If the rising generation shall prove an honor to their parents, and a blessing to those who come after them-nay, if they shall be

prosperous and happy in life, and share the glories of heaven hereafter, they must be guided skilfully by the hand, instructed faithfully by the tongue, and commended earnestly to God in the prayers of those charged by heaven with their education.

Religion, pure and undefiled, is man's noblest ornament and most effective safeguard, at every period of his existence. If it be the support and consolation of ripened age, it is also the restraint and purification of youthful ardor, - the mighty principle, which sustains the soul triumphant amid the successive changes and abounding afflictions of life. Aside of it, no man has security against the dangers which crowd his path; and while possessing it, those most unhappy in the world's esteem, find all things working for their good. Even the youth, exposed to temptations the most insidious and violent, if he lay hold on the promises of God with one hand, may beat back each threatening influence with the other, and bring home to his bosom a tranquillity and joy which the world can neither give nor take away.

Illustrations of this fact abound, both in profane and inspired history. Instances are few indeed, on record, of distinguished piety and usefulness, in which the fear of God was not early implanted in the heart, and acknowledged as the controlling principle of the life. Passing by all others, however, as the lesser lights of the surrounding firmament, it will answer my purpose best to fix attention on one which stands out prominent to the eye, as the sun of the moral universe.

JESUS CHRIST grew in wisdom as he grew in stature. The love of God filled his heart in earliest childhood, as in mature years. And, if he was a fit pattern for imitation at thirty, he was equally so at twelve, when he seated himself in the temple, in the midst of the doctors of the law, that he might listen to their instructions, and propound to them questions leading to the elucidation of obscure points in their theology. As a child and a man, as an active laborer and a patient sufferer, as a lover of God and a student of truth, he

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is a bright example of what all his intelligent offspring ought to be, from the earliest dawning of the understanding, down to the last gasp of departing life.

The only ornaments of his piety that can be noticed in this connection, are, his modesty, simplicity, and energy. That he was no less able to teach than to learn, is evinced both by his questionings of the doctors and his answers to their inquiries. "All were astonished at his understanding and answers." Yet he assumed nothing-sat patiently at the feet of his teachers-heard them quietly, and responded to them meekly. He retailed not the objections and cavils. of others as his own, for the concealment of his ignorance, nor threw out arguments ill understood by himself, nor depreciated the knowledge of his superiors in years, nor showed himself "wiser than seven men that can render a reason," as is the fashion of many a youth, with whom modesty is but an off-cast garment of antique form and color; but he honored his teachers, and his teachers admired him.

And then his aim was simple; not to entangle the learned doctors in their talk, nor to set them at variance with themselves or with others, nor to confound them with questions beyond the reach of the human mind; but to learn from them what he could, on the most sublime subjects; to draw out the results of their careful study, and compare those results with "the law and the testimony." He aimed at the increase of his own knowledge, and at the correction of errors into which they might have fallen, through inadvertence, limited reach of understanding, or perverseness of heart. In a word, he aimed to do the work his Father had given him to do, and prepare for the public ministry before him. Thus every child is sent into life, that he may glorify God; and God is glorified by the acquisition and diffusion of useful and divine knowledge, by the purifying of the heart, by the supply of the various wants of those dependent on us, through the distribution of his bounties, and by the widest spread of the principles of revealed truth among the children of ignorance and folly. This is the imitation of JESUS.

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Moreover, he was full of well-directed energy. Though left by his natural guardians in the midst of a great city, an unknown and unprovided child, he engaged resolutely in his "Father's business," and planted himself at the post of duty, regardless of the busy multitudes absorbed in the pursuits of gain or pleasure. Duty formed his pole-star. Nor did it more direct his course, than inspire his fortitude and zeal. The energetic spirit manifested on this occasion, appeared yet more clearly in later periods of life, and prompted his faithful denunciations of the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees, his incessant labors during a public ministry of more than three years among the hills and valleys of Judea, and his unwavering devotion to the great object of his mission, down to the closing scenes of Gethsemane, the high priest's palace, and the hill of Calvary. Energy is not peculiar to the Christian, though it be an element of character indispensable to the accomplishment of high and noble ends, in every department of life; for the hesitating, halfresolved and imbecile mind, never conquers difficulties, and grasps objects of worth and grandeur. Under the direction of God's fear, however, it has a nobleness and a power of achievement which else attends it not. Joshua displays it when he says, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord;" and Paul when he declares, "I am bound in the spirit to go up to Jerusalem, though bonds and afflictions await me there." "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." When the hand is put to the plough, the eye may not look back. When temptation assails, the energetic spirit repels it with, "Get thee behind me, Satan." And when the young abandon the frivolous gayeties of life, to lay hold on the work God has given them to do, cherishing the spirit of devotion, and looking to the recompense of reward beyond the grave, they imitate JESUS.

The strongest desire of the wise and godly parent is, that his child be an imitator of Jesus, and a sharer in the blessings of his everlasting kingdom.