*31 There is no true wisdom but in the way of religion, and no true life, but in the end of that way. The May-day of pleasure will quickly depart, Wakefield. R. C. A PEACEABLE TEMPER. Bless'd are the men of peaceful life Who quench the coals of growing strife. And Abram said unto Lot, let there be no strife I pray thee between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me if thou wilt take the left hand then I will go to the right, or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. Gen. xiii. 8.9. ABRAM and Lot had travelled together from Ur of the Chaldees into Canaan, where they so increased in flocks and herds, that eventually "the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together; for their substance was great.” Even their prosperity becomes an incumbrance, and brings with it a weight of care and anxiety. A dispute arises between their servants, and only terminates by the separation of the nephew from the uncle. There are many circumstances which originate strifes and contentions, and it is necessary to manifest a pacific temper if we would live happily. In many cases we shall have to engage with bold, resolute, unbending spirits, who, mistaking obstinacy for firmness, resolve to carry their point let the issue be what it may. No arguments can persuade, no entreaties soften. Such was not Abraham. In all that God commanded he was rigidly exact: in his endeavours to maintain peace, he was flexible and yielding, not only seeking peace but pursuing it. The peaceable temper of Abraham is strikingly exhibited in the case before us, As the uncle of Lot, he had a right to expect some proposal from him, and that he would make some efforts to settle the dispute between their respective herdsmen. He had a right to expect it as his relative, his guardian, his benefactor; yet he is the first to propose an accommodation : he loses no time, but in a manner as gentle as it was disinterested, he says, "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, for we be brethren." Quarrels among relatives should especially be avoided; in the dearth of true friends, relatives should determine to maintain a mutual good understanding, and in all seasons to support each other. Animosity amongst brethren is altogether unnatural, and children of the same family should determine to bear with each other's failings, and to avoid all provocations. This remark applies to the folly and disgrace attached to relatives who maintain chancery suits and actions at law, merely for the sake of some trifling amount, A man of a peaceable temper will frequently be considered as pusillanimous and irresolute. So Abraham might have been censured for saying, "If thou wilt take the left hand then I will go to the right, or if thou wilt take the right hand then I will go to the left;" but this will be disregarded. Conscious of rectitude, and convinced of his integrity, he will persevere, and should he fail of ultimate success, he will still have the satisfaction of knowing that he has endeavoured to maintain peace, and to restore it when it has been suspended. Numerous are the admonitions in the word of God, enforcing the cultivation and exercise of a peaceable temper, "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." In many cases this will be attended with considerable difficulty, in some it will be impracticable, and in all cases it will require no small portion of patience and submission. "There are" says an excellent writer," those who catch at the most innocent occasions to work up their minds to resentment; and so inveterate, that they will not give up a prejudice once entertained, upon the best reasons offered, or the most condescending steps taken to satisfy them. They are not to be gained by kindness, but it rather makes them more insolent: the more they discern that you seek peace, they will be at the greater distance from it; every concession emboldens their animosity; and there is no peace to be had, but by ceasing to have any thing to do with them, or by just punishment." Some minds, like some regions in the world, are always the theatre of war. They would keep the temple of Janus always open, and prolong the disgusting cry, Bella, horrida bella.' Others may be for peace, but they, like the Psalmist's adversaries, are for war. The advantages of a peaceable temper are numerous and great. How lovely it appears in a family! How prosperous it renders a Christian Society! How pleasant it makes the surrounding neighbourhood! It is like the dew of Hermon that descended upon the mountains of Zion, where the Lord commanded his blessing. It is said that Henry VII. of England commenced his treaties with foreign powers with this striking sentence,- "When Christ came into the world peace was sung, and when He went out of it peace was bequeathed.” Let this lovely temper be cultivated by the young and continually exercised; let them avoid a captious, quarrelsome disposi tion; let them not take offence at a word or a glance, but put the most favourable construction on the conduct of others ; especially let them avoid strife and contentions at home, and by rendering themselves pleasant and agreeable they will be ever blessing, ever blest. Wakefield. R. C. ACCOUNT OF A BLIND BOY IN THE EDINBURGH SESSIONAL SCHOOL. ALEXANDER LAURIE had the misfortune to lose his sight a few days after his birth. He could still distinguish light from darkness, used to tell us with much glee that the gas in the school-room was kindled or extinguished, and was able, he said, to discern the colour of scarlet, which he described "as a burning colour;" but beyond this, he had no benefit from vision. His other external senses indeed, as is usual in such cases, were by exercise rendered proportionably acute, insomuch that he could distinguish many of the boys in the school by some peculiarity, which the sense of touch suggested to him in their dress or other circumstances of a similar kind. But with the exception of such comparatively scanty knowledge as these senses could afford, and the active workings of his own mind, he was, of course, dependent for information entirely upon others, and upon the circumstances of his early education. One parent has been to him for many years as if he were not, but nothing can exceed the kindness and unremitting attention of his mother. From his earliest infancy, she has been at all pains, from such scanty stores as she herself possessed, to communicate to him what knowledge she could. This, however, was quite inadequate to his far more comprehensive grasp. At any school where nothing is taught save the mechanical processes of reading, spelling, writing, &c. he could have derived little or no advantage; and nothing can mark more strongly how exclusively these arts are associated with the ordinary notions of a school, than the question, which is almost invariably put to us by every stranger on first discovering this boy in our seminary, "What benefit can he get here?" Happily, however, our benevolent and discerning secretary, who was acquainted with the circumstances of this family, saw at once the nature, if not the full extent of the advantage (for this we believe no human being could anticipate) which the mode of instruction in practice in our school promised in a case like the present. With this view, upon his suggestion, Laurie's mother received the charge of the school room, and was put in possession of the house attached to it, at the term of Whit-Sunday, 1825. At the same time, the boy himself, then six years of age, was admitted into the school. For some time after his admission he was amazed, bewildered, and mortified on finding the extent of information displayed by the other children, and his own inability to take any part in their exercises. Conscious that he was not like them possessed of any previous stock of information, on which he might draw, he confined his first answers to matters of inference from those facts which were communicated to him by the others, and in this way the high excellence of his internal powers soon manifested itself. In matters of judgment and reasoning he, within a short time, showed himself not only far superior to all the children in the school of his own age, but even to a great majority of those who were more advanced in years. All that he wanted was sufficient data for the exercise of his reasoning faculties, and this the Sessional School was well calculated to supply. Undistracted by objects of sight, his attention was ever alive to every species of instruction which was communicated, and it soon appeared that his memory was not less remarkable than his judgment. No information ever was communicated to him, whether in the department of nature, of elementary science, or of art, which was not carefully treasured up and preserved. Scarcely an observation of any importance was made in his presence whether by those connected with the school, or by strangers, which was not immediately added to his own store, from which it was afterwards brought out frequently to our great astonishment, on some future convenient emergency. The books of the school library, which are read to him at home by his mother, have been to him a source at once of the greatest interest and information. His extensive and correct knowledge of language would put many to the blush who are much older than himself, and have enjoyed the superior advantages of sight and acquaintance with other tongues. He can point out with remarkable accuracy the difference between literal and figurative expressions, and expose any irregularity in the use of the latter. His acquaintance even with the nicest subtleties of grammar has frequently attracted the particular notice of strangers. Scarcely a sentence, however new to him, and involved, can be read once over, in which he will not at once point out the principles of its construction and detect any grammatical errors. Not unfrequently, indeed, has this little fellow put both the visitors of the school and ourselves right, where we had precipitately formed erroneous conclusions as to the construction of a particular sentence. This indeed happened to us on one of the last public days. In geography also his progress has been very remarkable, in which department he has been taught the relative positions of the places by handling a board. But in no department has he more distinguished himself than in his knowledge and application of Scripture, of which the large proportion regularly read and explained in our school, in addition to all which he may hear from his mother at home, affords him an abundant store. Of his proficiency in this respect, no stronger illustration can be given, than a conversation which occurred in the school. A stranger, (who seemed strongly impressed with the opinion that in order to exalt Revelation, it is necessary to maintain that there is no such thing at all as |
