ness.

Gentle and genteel are, in origin, the same, and denote facts quite as much connected with each other as the words used to describe them. No single word could so well epitomize all that belongs to real exterior refinement. Gentleness contains among its elements self-possession, self-restraint, the power of thought, regard for others, ideas of taste and subjective art, and habits of high self-culture. Gentleness was one of the highest manifestations that Christ made of his divinity when on earth, or that God makes perpetually of himself in his universal providence. On gentleness as its stock, any and every grace, internal and external, may be easily grafted; while without it all other personal refinements, of whatever sort, would soon become but withered flowers upon a broken

stem.

II. What, now, we ask briefly, are the means of gaining these ends described?

1st. Conformity to the laws and conditions, appointed for the body as such.

Not more truly are the planetary worlds under the power of exact mathematical law, or the mechanical and chemical forces and elements of nature, in their action, than the muscular, nervous, circulatory, respiratory, and vital energies, both severally and in combination, of the animal organism. The higher, indeed, the sphere of its applications, the more certain and absolute is the reign of law throughout the works of God. The conditions of bodily welfare pertain variously to the subjects of light, air, heat, diet, clothing, exercise, climate, occupation, and all the mental and moral habitudes of the mind. Health is the nice and even balance of many delicate and subtle elements and agencies, at work in every part of the complicated framework of our entire being. Some, in seeking to regain their health, attach quite too much importance to mere muscular exercise, which alone, as many well know, will do but little towards the thorough renovation of the physical system. Here, as in other things, "bodily exercise profiteth little" little, if not mixed largely with other and better things. A wide circle of many influences must be concentrated, as in the balancings of the spheres, on the point desired;

and, above all, within the wheels of even animal life, must be for its living spirits, giving them all their motion, "faith, hope, and charity"-the only "abiding" elements of power and progress, of health and beauty in the human bosom. Alas! how little of religion is there, or even of science, in the mode in which most men treat their bodies! How are its strings, which are skillfully attuned to the wants of three score years and ten by its Maker, so broken over all the earth, that the average life of the race does not amount to even half that brief term of time! Those who grasp most eagerly after the mere pleasures of the body, most abuse it in the act of doing so, and take the most direct course possible to lose even the petty prize for which they seek. Whatever laws God hath seen fit to make for us, we must see fit to keep. Christianity alone dignifies the body as it makes this fleshly tabernacle the temple of the immortal soul; yea, rather of God its Maker. "Your bodies," saith Paul, “are the temples of the Holy Ghost ;" and "him that defileth the temple of God, shall God destroy."

2d. Thorough mental industry, especially about great commanding objects.

The body, like a flute or viol, is all the more improved perpetually, as the music of sweet and stirring thoughts is breathed through it. The greatest impressions made on the vital forces of the body, are made from within, and not from without. The currents of life in our veins are chiefly, for the fullness and strength of their tide, what the mind itself makes them. There is no one law more fully enthroned in all the inner chambers of the soul, in respect to its own conscious pleasure, or the greatness of the results of its action to others, than that of constant, earnest employment. Not more truly must one lay out all his powers to climb a lofty precipice, than we must toil with continual, though delighted energy, to make any just approaches to that sphere of neighborhood to God in our aims and efforts for which we were made. For such a life of ever renewed lofty labor our minds were constituted, as was the body to sustain and serve just such natures in their highest courses of action. Thorough, successful mental labor, and to be successful it must be thorough and unremitted, is one of the

greatest of all stimulants to health, and of all safeguards of it. The higher the object of pursuit, and the more perpetual the felt inspiration of its claims, the deeper and richer will be the satisfaction of strong and steady toil to obtain it. The face of a vigorously industrious man has a light in it that other faces have not. "A man's wisdom," saith Solomon, "maketh his face to shine; and the impudence of his countenance is taken away." His step has a force and quickness in it; his form an erectness, and his whole bearing an air that publishes to every one the arrival of a true man, wherever he goes.

3d. Habitual cheerfulness.

There is everything, in God and nature, and in the work of life and its results, to fill the heart with joy, in running its earthly career. We are capable, also, of possessing such a style and assemblage of Christian graces, and there are so many inducements, invitations, summons and helps to us to obtain and exercise them, that it is wholly our own fault if a single drop of bitterness remains in the cup of sweets which our Father in heaven presents to us here below. Whose heart was not made to be, and, therefore, cannot, and ought not, at all times to be, full of gratitude, love, faith, hope, zeal, and holy peace? Such exercises, ever spreading their light and heat over the soul, and, through the soul, over the various functions of the body, will stimulate all their energies into a full growth. Earnest self-improvement, constant happy service unto others and full devotion to God, what will not these do, when combined, to quicken and strengthen the innermost elements of life, in the organism of the body?

Careful, full conformity to the physical laws of our being, thorough mental industry and habitual cheerfulness, are not, surely, haphazard qualities, of which a youth can become possessed, he knows not how. His guides to manly greatness must zealously lead him to seek and to obtain these permanent resources of health, honor, and happiness.

Secondly. In reference to the intellect.

It is in this part of our nature that we differ most from the other orders of beings around us. Here is the throne of our

manhood. The very word man, coming from the same root as the Latin mens, mind, memini and reminiscor, to remember, moneo, to admonish, and Minerva, the goddess of wisdom; and as also the Greek μévos, courage, uvάouas, to remember, us, wisdom, and unvúsv, to reveal, as well as the German inann and mensch, a man, and meinen, to guess or intend, means a thinker: so that he belies his very designation as a man, who neglects to use and improve his mind, as the very crown and summit of his whole being.

What now is the complement of things to be gained, in this part of our nature, by a true, full education?

I. Intelligence.

Wonderful, indeed, are the mind's powers of receptivity; opening outwards to all parts of the universe, and capable of taking them all in and expanding also in its dimensions, at each new outlay of its strength. The uses and pleasures of knowledge, are the very highest of our being. The kinds of knowledge that must be gained, in a course entitled to be called that of the higher education, are various.

1st. Acquaintance with man.

Into what a proverb, of universally acknowledged authority, has that pithy saying of Pope's passed, "The proper study of mankind is man." It certainly is one of our proper studies. In ourselves, individually, as in a synopsis or diagram, we are to find all the elements of our science of man, since in each of us are the contents of our whole race. It is always he, who best paints, sings, or preaches his own thoughts and feelings as they are, that most evokes the sympathy and admiration of all around him. The chord of mutual fellowship is, at once, struck deeply in their hearts. The different kinds of acquaintance with man to be gained are such as,

(1.) The knowledge of human nature.

Our whole life is, from first to last, one of constant relations to others. The social harmonies of our being are the highest part of its frame-work. But how can we gain from others, or give to them what we should, without an adequate comprehension of their most facile points of connection with us. analysis of the elements of the highest influence over others,

An

whether insensible or direct, and whether in the mere forms of ordinary intercourse or in high governmental relations of any kind, will always detect these two as chief: rightness of principle, or thorough reason, system, and science, in the positions assumed, and kindness in one's feelings and manner in taking them. All who excel in generalship, statesmanship, education, or parental duty, do so, by holding these two elements in full combination in their work. Kindness means treating others as belonging to the same kind. This is the origin of the word; as of humane from human, and of generous from genus; all indicating a disposition, in full acquaintance and sympathy with the race at large. But what room is there, in employing the elements of power over others, already mentioned, for ever-varying additions of patience, tact, skill, plan, and prayer, in the mode of reaching the desired result, both by way of not evoking any passions, prejudices, or suspicions against us, and also by way of introducing the influence which we wish to exert, in the most insinuating and winning manner. The knowledge of human nature can be best communicated to another, by the constant exhibition of its practical use. Opportunities of incidental instruction, also, in its elements, occur perpetually, in teaching the philosophy of history, and in traversing the rich and ever-varying field of study in the classical authors. And if there is one spot of all the earth that furnishes, beyond any other, incessant occasions for discovering and watching the developments of human nature, it is the school room; and here, too, if anywhere, a skillful acquaintance with its principles is in ever new demand at all times.

(2.) The knowledge of human history.

By knowing what man has been, during the ages that have gone, under every variety of climate, education, religion, and social development, we are best prepared to learn what he is n himself, without reference to any outward conditions. It is man that gives to every mountain, river, sea, ocean, or continent, all its value, as these are but his surroundings, and contrived to be as they are, only to make his nature all the more super-eminent.

The study of history is one of the most liberalizing of all