more matured and exalted mind looks up to, and ſhapes for itſelf, would elude their ſight. He who loves not his brother whom he hath ſeen, how can he love God? aſked the wiſeſt of men.
It is natural for youth to adorn the firſt object of its affection with every good quality, and the emulation produced by ignorance, or, to ſpeak with more propriety, by inexperience, brings forward the mind capable of forming ſuch an affection, and when, in the lapſe of time, perfection is found not to be within the reach of mortals, virtue, abſtractedly, is thought beautiful, and wiſdom ſublime. Admiration then gives place to friendſhip, properly ſo called, becauſe it is cemented by eſteem; and the being walks alone only dependent on heaven for that emulous panting after perfection which ever glows in a noble mind. But this knowledge a man muſt gain by the exertion of his own faculties; and this is ſurely the bleſſed fruit of diſappointed hope! for He who delighteth to diffuſe happineſs and ſhew mercy to the weak creatures, who are learning to know him, never implanted a good propenſity to be a tormenting ignis fatuus.
Our trees are now allowed to ſpread with wild luxuriance, nor do we expect by force to combine the majeſtic marks of time with uſeful graces; but wait patiently till they have ſtruck deep their root, and braved many a ſtorm.—Is the mind then, which, in proportion to its dignity, advances more ſlowly towards perfection, to be treated with leſs reſpect? To argue from analogy, every thing around us is in a progreſſive ſtate; and when an unwelcome knowledge of life pro-
duces
