But by making the essence of human happiness to consist in a participation of the divine nature, and in the expectation of eternal felicity, obtained through faith in the atonement made by Jesus Christ, it does not preclude the attainments of literature from furnishing their respective quota of enjoyment. It allows the Historian, the Poet, the Linguist, the Philosopher, and the Man of taste, to feel that exquisite gratification which arises from their researches and reflections, whilst it reminds each individual that the pleasurable emotions which they may experience in their particular departments of knowledge, must be regarded as auxiliaries to human felicity, rather than as being essential thereto. And this is the light in which they are viewed by the Christian, for the "hour is coming" when neither the attainments of science, nor "charm of earliest birds" will possess the smallest degree of influence over him. At that eventful moment, when the votaries of a delusive scheme are left speechless and alone, on the verge of an unknown state of being, for which they have made no preparation, he will feel an ecstacy of delight in the immediate prospect of attaining the consummation of his desires, superior to the most refined enjoyments of a terrestrial nature.

But though the pleasures arising from literary pursuits and acquisitions are only auxiliaries to. human happiness, they are auxiliaries of no despicable order. Their influence extends to all the faculties of the mind. It expauds the intellect, refines the taste, and enriches the imagination. It exalts the character and has a natural, tendency to subdue the propensity to puerile in-, dulgencies.

To treat them with contempt, if they are placed within your reach, is to despise some of the most valuable blessings which mortals are permitted to enjoy, and to allow trifles to engross that portion of time which you call your leisure moments.

And will not the improvement of the understanding, qualify you to feel stronger sensations of admiration and joy, in your religious contem→ plations and exercises? This is a question of great importance. It must be admitted, that the degree of happiness which the Christian scheme produces, depends chiefly on the moral habitude of the mind; yet where there is an equal share of mental purity, associated with a powerful and cultivated intellect, the enjoyment aris, ing from an examination of its various parts must be more exquisite than in an ordinary mind.

LETTER VI.

IN the preceding Letters I have dwelt on the reasons which should induce you to seek your intellectual improvement, and I now design to lay before you a plan adapted thereto. Such is the natural volatility of some minds, that they cannot fix for any considerable time to one subject. Their reading is dictated by caprice, rather than discretion, and though they read much they retain but little. "They occasionally make sudden irruptions into the regions of knowledge, and see the obstacles give way before them but never stay long enough to complete a conquest, or bring away the spoils." Those books which are designed more for amusement than instruction, may be perused when inclination prompts, but those which possess a more intellectual character require a settled plan of attention. You cannot devise a more effectual method of impressing the contents of a work on your memory than by epitomizing it. By such a practice you will be able to ascertain whether

you understand the Author; whether the argu-. ments which he employs to establish his opinions or theory be forcible and conclusive; whether the facts which he relates are detailed in a natural and chronological order. After you have formed an abridgement of a few books, the exercise will become peculiarly interesting, and the progress which you will make in acquiring a habit of close and intense application will be. very rapid.

But what course of reading is best adapted for the improvement of the mind? This question is perhaps one of the most important which you can propose. The tree of knowledge bears two sorts of fruit, good and evil; and when you approach to gather, it requires the nicest discrimination to distinguish the one from the other.

Novels, with very few exceptions, should be avoided. The general character of their Authors is a sufficient reason why they should be denied an admission into your library. Alienated, in all their associations of thought and feeling, from: that system of religion which purifies and exalts the mind, they are abandoned to the evil pros pensities of their nature, and necessarily impart a portion of their own character to the productions of their pen. The design of their

writings is to amuse, and if they produced no other effect, we should not be disposed to condemn them in such unqualified terms. But while they amuse the fancy, they enervate the -intellect, by disqualifying it for all sober and refined speculations; they make the mind dissatisfied with all the incidents and facts of history, unless they border on the marvellous; and by giving false views of life, they compel a per-son to feel as a stranger in the very presence of her own family. "From this view of some of the best authors in the highest class of novel writing, it will be abundantly evident that the perusal of these works is more calculuated to be prejudicial than advantageous, unless the mind is previously fortified with sound principles, and the passions and feelings are completely under the mastery of the judgment. Even then their claim must rest rather on the interest which they excite than on the instruction which they afford. Whoever draws his opinions of the world, of the manners, characters and pursuits of mankind, from Novels, will enter on real life to great disadvantage; the personages of Novels, especially of those which teem from the modern press, either bear no resemblance to mankind, or that resemblance consists in such a narrow peculiarity