300 HENRY KIRKE WHITE's REMAINS. 



for if it did not involve something unpleasing to our- 

 selves, it would be a duty we should all of necessity per- 

 form. Well, then, if religion call for self-denial, there 

 must be some motive to induce men voluntarily to un- 

 dergo such privations as may be consequent on a religious 

 life, and those motives must be such as alFect either the 

 present state of existence, or some other future state of 

 existence. Certainly, then, those motives which arise 

 from the expectation of a future state of existence, must, 

 in reality, be infinitely more important than those which 

 are founded in temporal concerns, although, to mankind, 

 the immediate presence of temporal things may outweigh 

 the distant apprehension of the future. Granting, there- 

 fore, that the future world is the main object of our re- 

 ligious exercises, it will follow, that they are the most 

 important concerns of a man's life, and that every other 

 consideration is light and trifling in the comparison. 

 For the world to come is everlasting, while the present 

 world is but very short. Foolish, then, indeed, and 

 shortsighted must that creature be, which can prefer 

 the conveniences and accommodations of the present, to 

 the happiness of the eternal future. 



All Christians, therefore, who undertake to lay down 

 a chart for the young and inexperienced, by which they 

 may steer with security through the ocean of life, will 

 be expected to make religion a prominent feature on the 

 canvas ; and that too, not only by giving it a larger 

 space, but by enforcing the superiority of this considera- 

 tion to every other. Now this is what I humbly con- 

 ceive you have not altogether done ; and I think, in- 

 deed, if I be competent tb judge, you have failed in two 

 points ; — in making religion only a subordinate con- 

 sideration to a young man, and in not defining distinctly 

 the essentials of religion. 



I would ask you, then, in what way you so impress 

 religion on the mind of your son, as one would expect 

 that person would impress it, who was conscious that it was 

 of the first importance. Do you instruct him to turn oc- 

 casionally, when his leisure may permit, to pious and de- 

 vout meditation ? Do you direct him to make religion 



