former deprived him of his family and possessions, this threatens his life. Satan is permitted to touch his flesh and his bone; nothing is denied him but to take away his life; and the sufferer scrapes himself with a potsherd and sits down among the dust and ashes. In the spiritual sense of Scripture boils signify interior evils, the natural corruptions of the heart coming forth into outward manifestation. Of himself man has no soundness in him from the crown of the head to sole of the foot; but wounds and bruises, and putrifying sores. In the present case, and wherever the afflictions of the righteous are represented under this form, we are not to understand evil manifested in act, but evil manifested to the mind and conscience of the person tempted. The end or use of temptation is, to make us acquainted with, and conscious of, our inherent evils; and to bring us into a state of contrition and humiliation on account of them; and in this state of self-abhorrence and abasement the Divine power of the Lord's saving mercy can reach and deliver us. But this state must continue till the mind is completely cured of self-reliance, and brought into a state of entire dependence on the Lord. During the continuance of this state the mind is the scene and the subject of numerous conflicts; and some of these are described in the subsequent part of Job's history. In his suffering and deplorable condition Job's wife reproaches him for still retaining his integrity, and exhorts him to curse God and die. In the spiritual sense husband and wife signify the understanding and the will; and that which the wife suggests is that which the will prompts. In all cases of spiritual trial the will and understanding are, to some extent, at variance with each other. The inclinations of the will are opposed to the dictates of the understanding. It is this opposition which constitutes a principal part of the trial of temptation. For what is more distressing to the mind than to feel the heart rebelling against the convictions of the understanding, and prompting it to doubt or to deny the goodness of that God, from whom all our mercies are derived, and to whom our love and gratitude are due? The will exercises a powerful influence over the understanding in many states of the mind, and by its influence many of our judgments are shaped and determined. The share which it had in the fall, it still has in most, if not all, of man's subsequent declensions. That share is described allegorically by Eve being first deceived, and then persuading Adam; for the will is first seduced, and the understanding is won over by its influence. It is our duty to resist this influence and act according to the dictates of our better judgment. The natural will

must be resisted by, and subjected to, the understanding, that the will and understanding may be brought into a state of agreement with each other, and act in unity. While these two faculties are at variance the mind is divided against itself. Regeneration is not completed till the will and understanding are so united as to form one mind; and this is the case when the will loves what the understanding knows to be good and true. In answer to her reproach and advice, Job said to his wife, "Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What! shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil?" Thus should every one reprove and resist the suggestions of his depraved heart; thus should every one in the hour of trial and temptation maintain his integrity by recognising the hand and the goodness of God equally in prosperity and adversity, in occasions of sorrow and of joy. In all this we, like Job, would not sin with our lips nor charge God foolishly. Firm resistance to the evil suggestion will strengthen the mind, confirm its right principles, and prepare the way for further triumphs over self and sin. Every doubt that is silenced, every evil insinuation that is rejected, lessens the power of Satanic agency over us, and increases the power of God within us; and brings nearer, and makes more certain, our final deliverance from the influence of the powers of darkness and the principles of evil, and our establishment in the kingdom of God and His righteousness,

EDUCATION: ITS PURPOSE.

(To the Editor of the "Intellectual Repository.")

IF man has been created in order that he may live for ever after the death of his body as an inhabitant of an angelic world, it is of the greatest importance that he should clearly understand the necessity of an active preparation in this life for that world. But though a correct idea of education is so important, there are but few persons who regard it as having any relation to a life beyond the present. Its relation to this world has been perceived, but upon the whole, as we hope to show in the sequel, there has generally existed a great defect, owing, firstly, to the absence of a rational system of Christian psychology; and, secondly, perhaps chiefly, to a strong propensity to concentrate all the affections and thoughts upon what is merely worldly and sensual. Men have clearly seen, for instance, that if

they would be happy in this world, if they would secure for themselves the means of livelihood, if they would make the various forces of nature subservient to their will, they must subject themselves to a rigorous course of training, they must endeavour to acquire knowledges in order that they may be enabled to put into practice those truths which they have learnt, and thus obtain the gratification of their desires. For man has no innate knowledge of his own; he has to begin to learn from the very moment he comes into the world, and the facts with which he becomes cognizant are stored up in his memory, ready to be called forth at some future time. And every fresh fact acquired gives greater power to him who has acquired it, provided he act in accordance with it.

But it is highly important that men in desiring knowledge should be influenced by right motives, and that whilst they are young right ideas should be implanted in their minds. For as we know, both from the Word itself, and from our own experience, man is born into the world with tendencies to evil of all kinds; his human principles are inverted, and his affections are for the most part inclined towards himself and the objects of the senses. If these selfish tendencies remain unchecked, the man will become more and more confirmed in his evils, and there is then great fear of his desiring the acquisition of knowledge, merely in order that he may procure some advantage for himself, that he may gratify some selfish desire, not caring in the slightest degree what may happen to others so long as he can gain his own end. And how many there are whose only object in acquiring knowledge is a purely selfish one! Mammon is their god, and to Mammon alone they look: the sole end and aim of their lives is to lay up treasures for themselves in this world, not thinking about the next: thus they make use of legitimate means in order to procure illegitimate ends. May we not judge from effects of the true motives which impel most men to lay up a stock of information for themselves, or to excel in this or that particular branch of science or literature? Were our students 66 en masse filled with a desire to learn and get knowledge, because by means of such knowledge they would be enabled more effectually to benefit others, and to make men happier and better, would not their desires and motives manifest themselves outwardly in their lives? Assuredly they would, but, alas such is not the case. The students who throng to our great national educational institutions too often disgrace themselves by their notorious conduct and the loose way of living into which they sink;

our universities even are frequently pointed out as centres of riot and dissipation, and many a young man has been drawn into the vortex of sin and shame on account of his yielding to the temptations which there beset him in such a multiplicity of forms.

Now what is the cause of all this evil among our students? If they were all filled with a desire to be useful in the world, would not their work be more real than it often is at present? Would there be so much idleness and so much carelessness? Should we hear of so many tricks for passing examinations, of so much cheating, in fact, as we too frequently do now? The cause lies in the fact that our students have for the most part a very low idea of education. "They have to make their way in the world; competition is very great; all depends upon the success of this or that examination; hence these examinations must be passed." This is the way in which they talk, and beyond this point they do not venture. And hence it is that some will go so far as to resort to unfair means in order to pass their examinations, often depriving others in this way of places which they themselves do not equally deserve to fill. To what an extent the "cribbing" system is resorted to in some of the colleges at Cambridge we can in truth attest. We have seen it with our own eyes, and though the examiners are constantly on the alert, it seems impossible completely to do away with the system. Another practice also very common is what is called "cramming," and this is adopted by a large proportion of students, chiefly those who, during the greater part of the term, are taking their fill of pleasure, but who at last, alarmed by the near approach of their examinations, are compelled to adopt some system by means of which they may be enabled to pass. Thus, instead of working earnestly at those subjects which have been set, carefully digesting the various facts, and working out for themselves the various lines of thought suggested in the books they are required to read, they go just at the last moment to a "coach" or "cramming" 'tutor, who is well up in the questions most likely to be asked, and who frequently undertakes to "get them through" with a fortnight's reading, though he does not undertake that they shall remember what he has taught them for more than a few days after their examination is over. This class of students is, we are sorry to say, very large Those who form it are not educating themselves at all, they are doing the very reverse. They are trying to pull the world back instead of striving to help it on. They are living for themselves, and shutting the door of progress upon themselves. The end of all such must be

bitter. But we proceed to mention another class, consisting of those who, although they would scorn to resort to such unfair means as those mentioned above, work and toil merely for the sake of some future temporal reward, a fellowship it may be, perhaps a rich living, perhaps even fame, and the applause of men. Thus they "spend their money for that which is not bread, and their labour for that which satisfieth not." They are working for themselves, and not for others first. The barrier which exists between the natural and spiritual degrees of their minds is as yet not removed. They are trying to improve themselves, but their efforts are only partial, and must end eventually in disappointment.

But there are others, we are thankful to say, who have crept out of their selfishness, who have admitted into their hearts somewhat of the heat and light of the Divine Sun, whose thoughts, instead of being "centred all in self," go out towards their brethren, sympathize with them, understand their wants, and do their best to relieve them. These are the men to whom the world at large ought to be truly grateful, for could they always act in accordance with their desires, the greatest blessings would result from their labours. True it is that selfish men, men of the world, often confer great benefits upon mankind, but do they deserve the gratitude of their fellows in the same degree as those whose motives are uncontaminated with the love of self? Certainly not, for could all external restraints be removed, they would be the very persons who would convert the earth into a wilderness; they would "lay heavy burdens upon men's shoulders, and they themselves would not move them with one of their fingers." Could we imagine a world in which all men were filled with an ardent desire to promote the welfare of their neighbours from a feeling of pure affection towards them, we should be compelled to admit that results most beneficial to the inhabitants of such a world at large would certainly follow. And those who have felt the heat and light of the Divine Sun, whose hearts have been warmed by that heat, and whose minds have perceived that light-those have been the men who have ever striven to banish misery and sorrow from the earth, and to establish peace and universal friendship in their place. They have understood the meaning of the term "education," and they have defined it not merely as the culture of this or that particular faculty or faculties, but as the process by which the man himself may be brought into such a state that he may be enabled to perform to the best of his power those uses which His Creator designed him to per

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