“You must tell me first,” said he, “how you arrived at your present conclusions? _You_ were not in _need_ of Tremaine when you read that book.” “Tremaine,” answered I, “would have set me _thinking,_ but would not have convinced me upon _all_ the topics which he discusses, though _some_ of his reasoning is admirable. He meets many difficult questions very ably, but to read any author on these subjects with advantage, the mind, if inclined to infidelity, must undergo a process for restoring it to its neutral state; and a few arguments of the _negative_ kind are a very necessary preparation for those of a _positive_ character.” “What are these negative arguments?” replied my brother. The first I told him presented itself in the form of a question, as to the _spirit_ in which I had doubted; and a little serious self examination “landed” me in the mortifying, but salutary assurance, that in the _strength_ of reason I had taken so much for granted, and assumed so many arbitrary positions on which to ground my scepticism, that, when brought back to first principles, I was obliged to confess the folly of my own inconsistency, and admit that the dogmas which I laid down required proof quite as much as those which they attempted to controvert. Till then I had misunderstood the Scriptural admonition to come as a little child for instruction; and conceived that it amounted to no less than a prohibition against the exercise of those faculties given us for the very purpose of discriminating between truth and falsehood. I _now_ began to comprehend that the soundest philosophy called upon me for a total relinquishment of my own theories in learning _any_ science. The empiric who sets up for medical skill, untaught by the rules of art, is not in a fit state to practice physic, nor even to become a student, till he has got rid of preconceived notions which militate against the best authority. Neither is the man who thinks himself a better lawyer than can be found in the Courts, without having been himself educated to the bar, in any condition to decide upon an intricate case. To learn any human branch of knowledge, requires that the person desirous to learn should come in a teachable state to the task, and not inflated with the vain idea of being already capable of communicating instruction. What more is demanded of us in the commencement of our religious course, than we see to be but reasonable in undertaking any earthly enterprize? And with what additional force does the injunction to prepare by an humble spirit for the reception of divine knowledge apply to the understanding, when we reflect on our utter inability to search into the counsels of God with our finite powers of capacity! When I had reached this conclusion, I saw every thing in a new light, and began to rest satisfied with the measure of information which the Almighty has seen fit to impart; determining no longer to waste life in prying into the hidden things which are not more suited to the