formed?""I cannot help thinking that you are deceived with respect to that matter.". But while you never allow yourself bluntly or harshly to contradict others, in conversation; always make a point of bearing it patiently when you are contradicted yourself. Remember that it much oftener arises from coarseness of mind, and ignorance of propriety, than from any intention to wound feelings; and, therefore, ought, in common, to be pitied, rather than resented, or made matter of offence.

Let

31. Guard against THE INDULGENCE OF PERSONAL VANITY in conversation. This is a foible, or rather a sin, which so frequently lowers the dignity, and interferes with the usefulness of men, otherwise of great excellence, that you cannot be too careful to fly from its approaches. In any man it is revolting; but in a minister of the gospel, or in a candidate for the ministry, it is peculiarly offensive and degrading. not the excessive love of praise get the possession of your mind. Despise the petty and unworthy arts of those who are constantly seeking to draw it toward themselves. Beware of seeming to cour: observation or attention. Always remember that the larger your demands on others for their respect and admiration, the less they will be disposed to yield you. No man is so likely to be both honoured and loved as he who appears never to think of soliciting

or desiring either. Whereas he who insists on often dragging into view his own excellence, and who is continually blazoning his own talents, attainments and virtues, will generally be found to lose reputation just in proportion as he takes into his own hands the task of awarding it to himself.

32. Vanity, in general, is the parent of EGOTISM in conversation ;-another foible, against which I exhort you to guard. "Let not the idea of yourself appear to be always present to your imagination." Talk not of yourself, your plans, your doings, or your affairs, in company, if you can easily avoid it. Do not embrace every opportunity of relating something to your own advantage, or that of your family, or relatives. It can scarcely be done in any shape, however ingenious, without having an unpleasant appearance, and had, therefore, better be omitted altogether. Even speaking of your own defects and weaknesses, will be considered by many as an indirect compliment to yourself; because it conveys the idea that you feel so secure in the acknowledged possession of higher and nobler qualities, that you can afford to be thought defective in those of minor importance.

38. Do NOT AFFECT WIT in conversation. Wit, like poetry, to be tolerable must be very good. Now very few persons are possessed of this commodity in its genuine, attractive cha

racter.

The greater part of what is called wit, like most of the versifying in our world, is but an humble and vapid imitation of that which it wishes to be thought. Never attempt to force nature, then, in the one case, any more than you would in the other. Few things are more undignified and paltry, than to see a man impotently struggling with attempts at wit, when the only thing really ludicrous about the matter is, the utter failure of the effort. The probability is that you have not real wit. If you have, it will occasionally disclose itself in spite of your efforts to repress it. it. If you have not, affecting it, and trying to excite it, will only make you an object of ridicule. And, after all, it is not a very desirable accomplishment for a minister of the gospel It has been commonly found to be a snare rather than a treasure to those who really possessed it.

34. Do not indulge PEDANTRY in conversation. By this you will understand me to mean a formal and unseasonable ostentation of learning; a fault into which men of superficial knowledge, more particularly professional men, are extremely apt to fall, and with which some clergymen, and especially young clergymen, are frequently chargeable. If you have ever so much learning, there is littleness in making a parade of it; and if you have but a small portion, there is something bordering on dishones

T

ty in vaunting it as if you had much. The best rule in the world on this subject is, to get as much knowledge of every valuable kind as you can; and never to make any further display of it than the discharge of your duty necessarily demands. If you were to hear a physician or lawyer holding forth, in a mixed company, on the technicalities and the recondite lore of his profession, would you not be disposed to smile? And ought you not to guard against exciting a smile in others by similar conduct on your own part?

In

35. Both the SPIRIT AND THE LANGUAGE OF FLATTERY in conversation, are utterly unworthy of an ambassador of Christ. any man it is base; but in him who ought to be a pattern and a leader in all that is good, it is pre-eminently base. Yet there are clergymen who are by no means free from this charge. Their opinions of so many persons and things are either openly solicited, or indirectly required; and their temptations to gratify the feelings of so many different classes of people, are so powerful, that they are not always able to resist them. I will not suppose any one who bears the sacred office, to be so unprincipled as to indulge in the habit of indiscriminate flattery, which, as it must defeat its own purpose, is as foolish and contemptible, as it is wicked. But what I warn you against, is that delicate flattery, to

which many good men are prone; which frequently disguises itself under the name of benevolence; and of which, perhaps, the poison is the more deleterious, because it is so delicately and sparingly administered. Never flatter

any one. Never make your praise cheap. It is not sinful, indeed, to commend another, where commendation is really deserved; but let it be bestowed at a proper time and place; and be conscientious in falling short of what is due, rather than going beyond it. Remember

how inflammable a thing human vanity is; and guard against the risk of kindling it into a flame. He that flattereth his neighbour, says the wise man, spreadeth a net for his feet.

36.

And as I would warn you against flattering others ; so I would warn you, with no less solemnity, against INVITING COMM NDATION

AND FLATTERY FROM OTHERS TO YOURSELF.

Nothing is more common, than what is most expressively called, "fishing for praise." Sometimes it is almost extorted; and what is it then worth? Despise the littleness, as well as abhor the sin, of this miserable beggary. I have known ministers who were in the constant habit, immediately after descending from the pulpit, if they fell in with a brother clergyman, of asking him his opinion of the sermon which he had just heard. Where such inquiries are confined to very intimate friends, they are,

छ