brief comparison between the speech, the inclination, and the judgment, of the man and the child; and it will be found that some children are men, while a vast multitude of men will be discovered to be no more than children. Let us try:

SPEECH.

The apostle, by placing the characteristic of childhood in the speech, may possibly be understood to intimate that a child speaks before he thinks. Whether this be particularly intended or not, it is certainly a fault very observable in such children as are not restrained, but very unbecoming and inconvenient in men. We readily and fully excuse a child who speaks without care or thought: gaiety and inattention are natural to his age: and neither the subject, nor the matter of his prate, can be important; he talks of trifles only, and as they appear to his puerile conception: but when the mind is employed on many subjects, the speech will, of course, be deliberate; some degree of gravity will prevail in it; and to a greater degree, when the points under consideration are difficult

or interesting. A mature understanding has constant, gentle exercise in the government of the tongue; and, either remissness on the one hand, or eagerness on the other, will certainly betray itself in the discourse. Faults of these opposite kinds are to be found in young men of different dispositions; but both are to be referred to the same childish folly, of speaking before they think.

One of a lively imagination and cheerful temper, is apt to pour forth, without attention, a multitude of unmeaning words; but it can seldom happen, that, amidst much discourse, thus indiscreetly and wantonly uttered, nothing should escape detrimental or dangerous to the speaker; nothing offensive to modest or pious hearers; no groundless accusation or severe censure of others. Some or all of these transgressions may be observed in him who talks much, thinks little, and cares not at all. Some will often bring inconvenience on themselves in another way; I mean, by too much eagerness to speak of matters which they do not yet fully understand; exposing themselves to the contempt and ridicule of those who under

stand them better; but this is not the worst consequence of hasty speeches; for, when the subjects of conversation are controverted points of importance, such as those which relate to religion or government, he who leads the discourse can hardly avoid taking part with one side or the other, from which, though determined by accident rather than judgment, it may be to himself difficult, and may appear to others dishonourable, to recede; and thus a young man, by declaring opinions before he has well considered them, becomes afterwards ever unable to consider them without prejudice; and his thoughts, which should have governed his speech, are by it enslaved. Another part of the character of a child is, that he speaks all he thinks. Intending no ill, and suspecting none, he communicates all his sentiments and designs without reserve or caution: he believes every one with whom he converses to be his friend, and he is seldom mistaken-almost every one wishes him well; but the same unlimited openness is not suitable to the transactions among men. Their views are often inconsistent, their attempts un

friendly to each other. He cannot expect any success, nor indeed any reputation, among them, who has not some degree of discretion and reserve.

Nor is it only in the conduct of business, and to guard his own interests, that a prudent man will be often silent. He will not too freely discuss the character of other men, nor speak too much of himself, lest he incur the reproach, in one case of envy or ill nature; in the other of self-conceit or arrogance.

Nay, even in conversation on general topics, or matters of science, the same caution is useful; since it has been observed, that more persons gain the reputation of wisdom, by selecting prudently from their various thoughts, such as are proper to be declared, than can claim it by any real superiority of their inward conceptions:-and so much for the speech.

INCLINATIONS.

The next note by which the apostle distinguishes the characters of a man and a child, is taken from the difference of their inclinations.

Those of a child are always governed by trifles; the things which strike his fancy, which offer him immediate pleasure, how minute, how momentary soever, are the objects of his pursuit. Of the chief enjoyments which human life affords, he cannot form a notion; or, if he could, yet these enjoyments, being far out of his reach, would not excite his desires. A small number of slight amusements fill up his capacity for happiness: he has no wish, no taste, for any thing more important. But manly prudence includes in it, attention to the different kinds of good; the power of comparing them, with regard both to their intenseness and duration; and the habit of resisting the allurements of trifling, short-lived pleasures, and of being directed by views of greater and more lasting happiness. He who suffers his mind to be continually engaged by mere amusements, and drawn away by them from every serious employment worthy of a rational being; whether of furnishing himself with useful knowledge and virtuous habits at one period of life, or, at another, of providing for the interests of a family, a neigh