ON THE CONDUCT OF THE OLD TOWARDS THE YOUNG.

THAT youth are often forward, and always inexperienced, are facts which must readily be admitted, and the indisputable truth of the latter, strongly shews the impropriety of the former. It is, however, to be lamented that Christian candour is not always shewn to their errors, and that by conduct the most repulsive, they are prevented from securing that benefit which the advice of advanced years could often communicate. Some persons seem to like to try the patience of youth, and make it a rule to abash the teens, nay, even the years which ages have admitted as fitting us for the management of our own affairs, and which allow us even to direct those of a family, or a nation, do not always exempt us from these rude attacks. The writer is now within a few years of fifty, and has for more than twenty years been a father, yet, he cannot recollect his younger days, without feeling a degree of contempt and indignation at reflections which he has often heard cast upon himself and his juvenile peers, and the almost insolent advice which has sometimes been obtruded by a pragmatic biped of then twice his age-whose only right so to do, he has known in maturer years, to have existed only in his age, and not in his wisdom. 'Sir, you are a young man-you have no right to give your opinion on such and such a subject,' is logic often used, which the customs of society may warrant, but not the authority of reason. Some of our greatest Divines, Scholars, Poets, Statesmen, and Generals, have been young men; and according to the constitution of his mind, his education and habits, a

young man may be much more capable of reasoning on a truth, than an old one. These considerations and the remembrance of former days, always induce the writer to take the part of the young, unless their deportment combine ignorance and impudence. A modest defence of their views he always encourages, and such means ofintercourse tends to expand their minds and increase their confidence in society. He has often recollected St. Paul's admonition to Timothy, Let no man despise thy youth,' which bears two ways; first, on the young man himself, whose pious conduct and cultivated sense are to raise him above contempt; and secondly, on those of maturer years, who might be disposed to imagine that precedence of years, always gives precedence of mind, and to treat with austere pride one who is deserving of esteem. Parents have, of all others, the most right to reprove the young, and it is their duty to watch over and correct their errors, but they themselves err when they make themselves distinct from their children. They should be their friends and confidants, and they will rarely find that gracious familiarity abused. By acting thus, the hearts of their children will be laid open to them, and they will the more easily know how to correct their faults, and they will combine the character of friend with that of parent,-two characters which are the most endearing in the world when blended, but which are too often kept distinct.

In making these remarks, the writer would by no means encourage a spirit of self-confidence or flippancy in the young, or pour contempt on years, especially on grey hairs, which when combined with wisdom, are worthy of the most profound respect, and when not so, are sheltered by the sanction of even some of the heathen nations,

as well as the word of God, from the rudeness, indifference, or contempt, to which they might otherwise be exposed. The object of this paper is to recommend to persons advancing or advanced in life, an amiable, winning, and Christian deportment towards the young, and to warn them from the writer's own experience, that the contrary conduct is never calculated to convince or convert, and will only expose them in after time, if the parties live to reach their present age, and they themselves still go on in life-to the pity and contempt of those on whom they once trampled.

What delightful impressions have some left upon the writer's mind, with whom he once took sweet counsel they had doubled or trebled his age, but he would fly on the wings of joy to meet them, and would have quitted any society of the young to spend an hour in theirs. He especially recollects two, and his memory fondly lingers over the grave of one, who though old enough to be his grandfather, he was always pleased with as a companion, and who, though he was always grave, was always attractive and kind. And often does his mind take flight over hills and dales, and scores of miles, to the dwelling of another, a venerable Octogenerian, who with all the wisdom of a man, combines the simplicity of the child, and from whom the writer has learnt many a lesson of modesty, not owing to coarse and unfeeling reproofs, but through observing the extent of his knowledge, and his diffidence in communicating it. Many hours has he spent in the society of the good old man, and he never remembers one that did not give him pleasure, and many does he remember which afforded him the most refined delight, always combined with improvement. Peace to his to his last moments! May the spirit of grace and of glory rest upon him!

C. J.

CRITICAL REMARKS ON SCRIPTURE.

No. IX.

ORIGINAL AND SELECT.

From the Interleaved Bible of a Deceased Clergyman.

GENESIS, CHAP. XLVII.

22. The Land of Priests bought he not. In this chapter we learn, the lands of Egypt were divided between the King, the Priests, and the People, whereas Diodorus tells us, they were divided between the King, the Priests, and the Soldiery. Moses and Diodorus are thus reconciled. The famine had brought the possessions of the people into the King's hands, which Joseph, however, farmed out to their late proprietors on very easy conditions, till another King arising, that knew not Joseph, that is, was averse to his scheme of policy, and affected a despotic government, established a standing militia to support it, and endowed them with the lands formerly the people's. WARBURTON's Divine Leg. Vol. 2. p. 65›

CHAP. XLVIII.

7. Bethlehem. This is spoken by a prolepsis, for that was not the name of the place till after Moses. Ezra, probably, after the captivity, (when he collected the several parts of the Bible and set them in order,) left out some of the antient names of places and inserted modern ones. EDWARDS on the style of Scripture. p. 105.

ANECDOTES OF SUPERSTITION.
From the Works of Celebrated Travellers.

PRECIOUS RELICS.

Ar the Cathedral of Amiens before the revolu

tion, they used to shew the undoubted head of John the Baptist, and the no less indubitable finger with which St. Thomas probed the side of Christ. -Holcroft.

At the Palace of Alhambra, Granada, is a picture, which we are informed by a long inscription in letters of gold, was the second likeness ever taken by St. Luke of the most Holy Virgin.— Semple.

In the Cathedral of Sevilla, is the Alfonsine Repository, a yard in height, formed of silver, gilt within, and plated with gold without, ornamented with figures carved, and containing relics of three hundred saints. Here also are to be seen a piece of the holy cross, a thorn of the crown of Christ, part of the dress of the most Holy Virgin, whole bodies of some Saints, and heads, arms, legs, bones, and fingers, of others.—Ibid.

At the University of Upsala, in Sweden, they still shew the slippers of the Virgin Mary, Judas's purse, &c. though the exhibiters are now ashamed of them.-Carr.

ORIGIN OF PAPAL SUPERSTITIONS.

In Cadiz as in all the great towns of Spain, sufficient proofs are to be seen that what is here called the pure, the Catholic religion, is, in fact, Christianity corrupted by superstitions, many of which existed long before the birth of our Saviour. To say nothing of the processions, the incense, and the pomp of the altars; who can behold the votive relics hung up in every church of Spain, without immediately recognizing the customs of the ancient Greeks and Romans? Sometimes a small leg, or an arm of wax is hung up by one who may have recovered from a complaint in