with which those passions and propensities were enveloped, is broken through; those hidden evils, coming forth, cast off their gilded covering, and, with it, also, the beauty and the joy which it communicated. And then the anxieties and pains which evil and sin always bring in their train, nay, which belong to their very nature and are inseparable from them, begin to be felt. The youth, tossed about not only by the storms of the world without, but still more by the tempest in his own bosom, is weary of his life, and is disposed to exclaim, with Burns, that "Man was made to mourn," or to say with Byron,
"Roll on, vain days! full reckless may ye flow,
Since Time hath *reft whate'er my soul enjoyed."
This, then, is the true reason why childhood has such joys,—because the hidden evils and diseases of the heart have not yet manifested themselves, but are in a great degree quiescent; and while in this state, mercifully provided by the good Creator, the child is still, as it were, within the keeping and under the blessing of his Heavenly Father: he has not yet, like the "Prodigal Son," demanded his own and left his Father's house. And had human nature never fallen, had mankind continued in the good estate in which they were originally created, had the child no such evil propensities wrapped up within him, to develop with his character,—were he still willing, as he grew to youth and manhood, to remain (so to speak) within the house of his Heavenly Father, he would continue to be blessed, and, as years increased, joy and happiness would increase also; and he would then have no need to look back with regret to the happy days of childhood, for his manhood would be still happier. This
