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ON THE PRINCIPLE OF EMULATION.

(Continued from p. 87.) 11. THE circumstances under which the principle of emulation is carried into effect, are, as I have said before, the only source either of its goodness or its badness, And that we may bring it down closer to the field of common observation and experience, I shall crave your attention to three circumstances in particular, which seem to comprise all that is necessary to be attended to in its exercise. 1.The subject, or the pursuit in which excellence is desired. 2. The motine for which it is desired. 3. The temper in which that desire is prosecuted. To which might be added, also, the means of prosecuting it, but for the obviousness of the right or the wrong under that head..

Of course no emulation can be good, but that in which the prize is a lawful one, and the improvement sought after is a thing desirable in

itself. For instance, a desire to excel merely in the vain ornamental endowments of body or mind, in worldly grandeur and power, in the means of gratifying forbidden or delusive desires of any kind, is of itself, independent of all other considerations, wrong and mischievous, and indicative of our corrupt and depraved nature. The very object of pursuit proves a wrongness of motive; and when possessed, it can only administer to those baneful passions which led us to desire it. It can hardly be expected that the temper in which such a pursuit will be conducted, can be better than the object of it; and most frequently the meaus used for its attainment, will be those of which the lives of a Philip or a Bonaparte will furnish us with the best examples. A much more moderate emulation, concerned about objects which may only possibly tend to good purposes-such as wealth, or mere worldly pre-emi

nence of any kind-will justly be deemed, if admissible at all, yet highly dangerous; because, though the motive may be good and the means lawful in the pursuit, yet such objects are greatly apt to occupy the mind with inferior motives, and draw it to the use of baser means. It would, therefore, be far better to warn the pupil altogether of the danger of riches, and the temptations of place and power, than to excite his emulation towards them, by the prospect of contingent usefulness, and possibly of glorifying God. His emulation will naturally enough tend to such attainments in mature life, without being strongly reminded of them in youth. But is your correspondent prepared to hold the same language, in respect to the higher pursuits of knowledge and science, and the arts which adorn and civilize human life? Will he think the bias towards these attainments so natural, so enticing, so engrossing, and so entangled with wrong motives in the pursuit, illicit means, and an unsanctified temper, as to render them an unfit object for the aspiring emulation of his pupil? Or if he, with difficulty, allows that even such pursuits can be conducted properly, or ought to be presented to the emulation of mankind, I shall expect he will more readily allow that the still bigher attainments of wisdom, and a solid practical experience in the affairs of life, may be made a worthy subject of emulation. He will see that the worthiness of the object, in this case, almost wholly precludes the danger of abuse through a wrongness of motive, of means, or of temper, in the pursuit. However, let him proceed still a step higher in the scale. Suppose the subject of emulation to be that of an ability and a disposition to bless, to enlighten, to improve, to console, the human race. Suppose the object be to outstrip each other in acts of charity and benevolence; to snatch from each other the prize of having been the most useful in our day and generation; and to stand

foremost in the ranks of those who have deserved well of their fellowcountrymen and fellow-creatures; will your correspondent still say, This is a dangerous subject of emulation: even here the end does not sanctify the means; or rather, that he can conceive no motive for which even such a pre-eminence can be sought, no spirit in which it can be pursued, no means that can be used in the pursuit, which can possibly render an emulation, in benevolence itself, an innocent act? Let him proceed, then, one step further; let him advance to the actual attainments of a solid Christian piety, and conformity to the image, character, and conduct, of our Blessed Master. If an emulation, even on this head, does not quite satisfy your correspondent, or quiet his fears as to the motive, the temper, or the means, by which it may be carried on, I must propose to end the dispute with St. Paul himself. Nothing can be clearer than the reference made by that great Apostle to this very principle of emulation, as exercised towards the high and noble subjects of which he was ever in pursuit. Secared, it is true, in great measure, by the very nature of those subjects, from the abuses to which this principle is doubtless liable, he could take pleasure in referring those heights of labour and Christian patience which, through grace, he had attained, to the standard of other persons, joined with him in the same race.

Though unworthy motives and tempers could, even in this department, occasionally intrude themselves; though some could "preach Christ out of envy and strife," and -some could, in an evil spirit, "love to have the pre-eminence," and even aspire "to be full, to be rich, to reign as kings" over the infant church ;yet nothing hindered this great, this aspiring Apostle, conscious of the purity of his designs, from rejoicing in his own pre-eminence of a better kind; nor even from appealing to the same emulation in

others, as a means of provoking them to exertion. His was the glorious pre-eminence of martyrdom; a pre-eminence in humility, in suffering, in labour, and successful en terprise for the cause of Christ. Though his converts "had ten thousand instructors in Christ," yet his was the pre-eminent boast of having "begotten them in the Gospel." And when they were falling short of the pure, the lofty, standard which he had set up for their, and for his own exertions, he writes, and expresses himself with the utmost urgency, to the Church, lest his joy in them, and their progress, should be in any degree belied; and "lest he, not to say they, should be ashamed in this same confident boasting." These expressions, which, with a multitude of others, indicative of the same exalted and disinterested zeal, seem to carry our ideas of this great master of inspiration, up to the very highest rank of created intelligences, lead even your correspondent, sir, I am persuaded, to no unfavourable suspicions of the Apostle's purity of mind. There seemed to be a guard upon it, stronger than of triple steel, against all the approaches of an ungodly jealousy.' His high sense of the source of all his excellencies, the consideration by whose strength they were obtained, and to what end they were directed (a feeling which may be cherished in every other career of lawful "striving for mastery"); maintained in his mind a humility, a thankfulness, a charity, which kept pace with his utmost attainments and most heroic achievements of zeal. He had still a higher standard of excellence before him. He did not "count himself as yet to have apprehended, neither as being already perfect." Far less did he " dare to make himself of the number, or compare himself with those who commend themselves;" and who, merely "measuring themselves by themselves," or by each other, without reference to the highest standard of all, and the

grand ulterior subject of emulation, 66 were not wise.' He still knew that, considering all his advantages, he was below what he might have been. His very attainments beyond others humbled him, because they appeared so few. His gifts, "the abundance of his revelations," carried him in endeavour, even far beyond his success.. And whilst even he was in some danger from pride, in this high career; whilst even to him" the thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan," was necessary "to buffet him," "lest he should be exalted above measure;" yet his conduct proved how admirably the strength of his faith, and the sharp antidote against exaltation which he bore about him, secured him against the inroads of his subtle enemy; and he was enabled to realize, to embody, in his own experience, that most stupendous of all paradoxes, "I am not a whit behind the very chieftest apostles, though I be nothing."

Perhaps, sir, this might be the proper place for hinting very shortly, that we have, in these observations, some clue for unravelling the sense of those most difficult words, nos and its derivatives, so frequently in use amongst the sacred penmen, and so frequently in dispute amongst their readers. It may be sufficient, that I humbly offer my opinion of the radical meaning being nothing more or less than this very word, emulation;" a desire, a pursuit, of excellence according to some given and appropriate standard. The object, the motive, the temper of the pursuit, will exactly define its lawfulness or unlawfulness. And thus at one time we shall have the λos of an apostle, a martyr, and even of the Divine Master of both; at another time, the endless catalogue of 0, which are most properly ranked amongst the works of the flesh, and have their example, their origin, and their end, in the regions, and with the prince of darkness.

But it is still of moment that I

class-to have it to say, I have been first; in other words, the mere spirit of rivalry and contention, as a motive for surpassing others, deserves all that can be said against it.

perly be carried on. Methinks I hear your correspondent saying, This is the only point I contend for. I had confined emulation by iny very definition to the mere desire, the mere motive, of attaining superiority over others; and therefore emulation, call it what you will, which has not that for its moLive is a principle on which I have not spoken, and with which I have nothing to do." This, sir, might be a sufficient answer to the foregoing observations, so far forth as they imply an accusation of your correspondent, but for one circumstance. Had his been a mere speculation, a mere logical and precise statement of an abstract notion, that accusation would be most unjust 'which should alter the terms of the proposition, and theh attack it as if held by the opponent. This, however, is not so. Your correspondent 'affects no abstraction; he is speaking of a plain, general, and, as to logic, somewhat indefinite notion. But he points to an example of what he means. His main stress is on actual experience. And he adduces the modern systems of education, and those of Dr. Bell and Mr. Lancaster, especially by name, as containing and fostering the very principle against which he points his sentence of exclusion. To the practice, therefore, of those and such like systems, we must look for the object at once of attack and defence. These must be defended against the allegation of your correspondent. And it is in reference to these that I wish to shew, or rather to hint, what are, and what are not, suitable motives for the exercise of that spirit of emulation on which they unquestionably proceed.

Assuredly the mere love of superiority" for its own dear sake," the mere desire of being first in the

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'so congenial to our fallen nature, which is the commonest abuse of this most necessary principle of emulation. But then this motive for exertion exists, whether called forth or not, by the particufar act of educational emulation. It is a corrupt tendency peculiarly inberent in some natures, and more or less common to all, which, whether you present the legitimate object of emulation before them or not, will be sure to find vent; and most probably in a way infinitely less beneficial to themselves and society, than in the pursuits of a well ordered school. Every thing in nature will afford occasion for the ex'ercise of a naturally contentious and rivalrous disposition. In childhood, it will cry for the prettiest plaything, the largest plum, the newest feather, the first plate, and highest place. In manhood, it will secretly pine for the finest house, or tallest horse. or fattest child, or most splendid 'service. In private life will appear all the real littleness, and in public, all the pretended greatness of ambition.

breath,

And thou, great Cobham, to thy latest Shalt feel the ruling passion strong in death.

Be the object worthy or unworthy, or even none at all, if that can be imagined, the motive will still lurk behind in actual or salient operation. And when you have strippéd your nursery of every possible competitor, or dispatched your adult to La Grande Chartreuse, what will you have effected by this mechanical mode of eradicating pride? You will have just changed its complexion; and that wretched selfesteem which had been at the bottom of all, will now, cameleon-like, walk forth in all the self-sufficiency of solitary genius, or in the most