wish him to do to us, and thus to cultivate that spirit of true charity, kindness, and mutual love, which is the ground-work and beginning of heaven in the soul. We are also taught the duty and benefit of Divine worship, and the importance and necessity of bringing the mind into a state of conjunction with the Lord, our Creator and Saviour, by the habit of daily prayer.
Thus instructed, in what condition do we find ourselves when we arrive at the age of maturity? Why, just in that divided state of mind, before described, in which the understanding is enlightened while the will is depraved; a state of opposition between the mind and the heart, between our convictions and our inclinations. This we all feel to be, in a greater or less degree, the case. For instance, the young man finds himself strongly drawn by various propensities and passions, which, yet, his understanding, enlightened by religious instruction, teaches him to be wrong and sinful. His mind, consequently, is not in a state of peace, but rather of combat. He is a divided man, and consequently a defective man. He cannot be said to be a true man, or in the "image and likeness" of his Maker, for God is both Love and Wisdom perfectly united and at one: whereas in this condition, man is indeed wisdom, but not love; he has a considerable knowledge of truth, but he does not love the course that truth dictates, but rather an opposite one. He has acknowledgment, but not yet Obedience. He acknowledges God and His Word; he has no doubt either of the existence and goodness of the One, or of the truth of the other. In this, he finds no difficulty. He has always been so taught, and it is easy to believe. He has from his childhood been accustomed to attend the
