nicate that heavenly faith and trust; for we read that "their angels" (speaking of little children) "do always behold the face of our Father in heaven." Nay, more, that childish innocence is the very dwelling-place of the Most High Himself, for He dwells with the humble spirit, and innocence is essential humility, because it is free from all pride of intellect and heart. Thence it is, that the Lord Himself communicates to the childish mind a perception of His presence. It is not till after-years, when, as the intellectual faculties are developed, the pride of reason begins to rise in the heart, and, with consciousness of strength, a feeling of self-dependence begins to be formed, causing the youth to turn away from God to himself, and thus partially to shut the door of his mind against Him,—it is not till then, that even a doubt arises as to the existence and providence of the Divine Being. But this is only a temporary state. If the young man, like a Henry Kirke White, for instance, resisting temptations and seduotions to evil, turns into the path of virtue, purity, and duty, the door of his heart soon opens again, and good influences enter, with God's own presence from above, and, dispersing all the clouds of doubt, let into the mind the warmth and sun-light of a settled faith.
It is only a life of evil and sin, which shuts out from the mind a perception of, and belief in, a God. If a young man, leaving the path of innocence, plunges into a life of dissipation, and continues in it till he becomes sunk in sensuality and grossness; or, if he give himself up to utter worldliness and money-getting and avarice, till his heart becomes hardened to flint; or, yet again, if led by ambition and a selfish thirst for distinction and a name, proud of his own reasoning abilities, he
