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men's mutual improvement classes; it is so in Christian Churches under the ministry of the Word. People want thinking made easy, or they want it done for them. They cannot endure thoughtful sermons, or thoughtful books, or thoughtful speeches, or thoughtful articles in newspapers or magazines. One thing is very certain, that mental excellence will never be the possession of such people. They are doomed by their idleness to a low type of intellect on earth and in heaven. They shut themselves out from the loftier mental pleasures as the sluggard cuts himself off from commercial prosperity and comfort. Make up your minds for a hard struggle, or be content with a low place in the world of mind. Agriculture is hard, and the farmer does not win fruit from the soil without earnest and protracted labour. Horticulture is hard, and the gardener does not obtain beautiful flowers and delicious fruit without great pains and patient toil. All kinds of culture call for patient, continued, and persevering effort on the part of man. The hand of the diligent maketh rich' in mental as well as in material things. Those who use the gifts already given get more, an increase in proportion to personal fidelity. Why should not a young man gladly conform to the universal law of God, and work with all his power to attain as high a place as possible in the intellectual world? If great effort be the one absolute and immutable condition of mental excellence, let a youth say in a manly way,-I consent to pay the full price for the glorious article.

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Spiritual excellence is higher than mental excellence. Goodness of heart and life must ever be regarded as greater and grander than talent or genius or scholarship

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or general intelligence. This view must always be kept in mind and tenaciously maintained. People do not always remember it and act upon it as they should. Yet it is of the utmost importance that they should do so. A good man is not so generally admired as a clever man. The clever man is rather admired than the good man. I venture to think this is reversing the Divine order. A man might be almost as clever as Satan and almost as evil.

Byron and Burns were clever men; but while we may admire them as poets we cannot as men. Many poor, plain men, unknown to fame, stand immensely higher in God's estimation. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness; His countenance doth behold the upright.' It is not said that God loves cleverness, but goodness; not talent or genius or scholarship, but spiritual excellence. So it should be with reference to ourselves. Goodness, Christian goodness, should stand first in our estimation, and all else should be held secondary and subordinate. It will no doubt be so at the judgment and through eternity, and it ought to be so in the present life. To do this is to approve and sanction Christian faith and hope and love, in fact, all the virtues of the Gospel. It is to believe in the beauty of holiness' as the highest possible beauty and the highest possible blessedness of being, both for this life and that which is to come.

But this spiritual excellence, like mental excellence, is won and retained by hard effort. You have a great struggle before you if you attain this lofty elevation, and maintain your standing. There must be much careful and prayerful reading of Holy Scripture, much searching and impartial self-examination, much patient toil and trust, and

great diligence in the use of all the appointed means of grace. And goodness reached and held after a hard battle must be precious in the sight of God, and ought to be so in the sight of men. Having become intelligent and truly good yourselves, let the work of your life be to make others intelligent and good also.

CHAPTER VI.

THE END AND AIM OF CULTURE.

HIS is the elevation of man, here and hereafter.

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Not the narrow, selfish, carnal elevation of man. Not mere worldly promotion and social self-interest. Not merely 'getting on in life,' as some people call it. Not becoming merely great mentally, though the intellect must grow and enlarge, according to Divine ordination. Not becoming famous or popular, for that may be degradation, and not elevation, according to the price people pay for it. Not the mere elevation of circumstances and surroundings, for these are not you, nor any part of you, but the accidents of your existence; not to be undervalued, disregarded, and despised, but not an essential part of human nature. True elevation is something higher and nobler than man's outward condition in life, it is the elevation of the man himself, the enlightenment, refinement, purification, and exaltation of our whole being, the perfection of man, fitting him most truly for life on earth and life in heaven.

Self-improvement must be very largely sought for its own sake, sought from the love of it, and not merely for the sake of the luxuries it may enable us to obtain. There are doubtless many who desire improvement from unworthy motives and unworthy ends; not because it will make them nobler and grander creatures, but because it will help them to become richer or give them the power of getting on in

life. The right idea is to improve ourselves because of what we are and shall be for ever. It is perfectly just to endeavour to better our worldly condition; but it is infinitely more important to improve our heads and hearts, than simply to improve our outward circumstances. A comfortable outward condition is not to be despised; it may greatly contribute to our mental and moral advancement. But man himself is of greater consequence than his temporal lot. As the life is more than meat, and the body than raiment, so the culture of man's higher nature is of greater moment than the mere improvement of his temporal circumstances. Self-culture ought to be very largely its own end, attended to for its own sake, or else it only becomes another and keener form of selfishness. One of the main reasons in favour of self-culture is the greatness and importance of man; not because he is rich or poor, but because he is a man. He has soul and intellect and conscience; his nature is a grand and noble one. He may be poor, ignorant, and obscure; but he is a man for all that, and should be cultured and elevated here that he may go on rising and improving for ever. Not that he should be greedily bent on wealth and honour in a worldly sense here, but seek the wealth of grace now that he may possess the wealth of glory for ever.

In looking a little more particularly at man's worldly condition, it is necessary to remember that mental culture is likely to act beneficially on his temporal circumstances. Culture puts the mind in a state to take advantage of the opportunities and openings which might lead to self-elevation, and which uncultured minds seem never to see, however many such chances of rising may offer themselves for ac

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