298 The Path of the 7ujt, S E x nm. cefFarily fhines more and more to the per - XII. fed day. The path of the jufi, tho' naturally capable of growth, and made for it, does not actually grow without the voluntary and vigorous exertion of its inward active powers ; every good man knows, for he is confcious of it, the progrefs of virtue in himfelf, the dexterity, the eafe and pleafure, which at- tend the practice of it in proportion as he makes it his earnef} ftudy, and the object of his confiant and careful application ; as on the contrary, by indolence and (loth, dark-. nefs . grows upon us, and indifpofition of mind ; our inward fatisfadion decays, and ufefulnefs iri the world to the glory of our heavenly father, and the good of mankind, by promoting the caufe of truth and virtue, 'Tis thus that the fcripture reprefents the religious Bate, as by the divine ordination concerning it, and the law of its nature, progreffive. It is compared to the vegetable, and to the animal life, which from a very weak and low beginning, grows up to its appointed perfection, to its beauty and fruit - fulnefs ; and the fenfitive kind to the full ufe of its powers and its enjoyment. The fimilitude of a man, growing up from in- fancy to mature age, is a very familiar one, in defcribing
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