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Fraternal Responsibility.

Nay, more; hadst thou not been told expressly, by thine and his heavenly Father-to say nothing of the directions and lessons thou hadst received from thine earthly parents- Unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him?'* Was not the same thing said by the same all wise Governor in regard to thy father's duty to thy mother? And did he not always henceforth regard her as under his care? Did he not listen to her inquiries? When she desired knowledge-and her desires were made known to him-did he turn away his ear? Was he not her constituted keeper? And by what rule wilt thou show that thou wast not equally the keeper of thy brother? Was not Abel the only playmate of thy youth, and hadst thou no attachment to him? Thine only brother, and hadst thou no affection for him? Thine only ward, and hadst thou no duty to perform towards him? Hadst thou no regard to his health? Hadst thou nothing to do for the improvement of his mind? Had he not an immortal soul, and hadst thou nothing to do to promote its eternal welfare? Did he not look up to thee, his elder brother, in childlike simplicity, as almost a parent to him? And did not this expectation and childlike confidence-did not this alone, lay thee under obligation to him? And art thou heard talking about not being his keeper?

Oh, Cain, Cain, where is Abel thy brother? In the absence of his parents, thou wast to be both a father and a mother to him. No other governor present, thou wast to 'rule over him.' His desires were to be made known to thee, and it was thy duty, and should have been thy pleasure to attend to them. Thou wast to guard, assiduously, his manners and habits. Thou wast to be his instructor and educator, both by precept and example. The lessons heard daily from thy father and mother, thou wast to talk over when alone with him, and it was a part of thy duty to confirm and strengthen in him every good resolution, and assist him in suppressing every vicious inclination. Thine it was to educate him, by thy example, to temperance, purity, chastity, self command, charity, obedience to parents, and love to God and man. Thou wast thy brother's keeper. Thou wast in no little degree, responsible for his health, his manners, his habits, his intelligence, his virtue, his piety. Thou wast responsible for all this to the tribunal of thine own conscience. Thou wast responsible, still more, if possible, to thy parents. Thou wast responsible, above all, to Him whose voice from the Heavens now calls thee to an account-Where is Abel, thy brother? Thou sayest I know not. Am I my brother's keeper?

Wretch that thou hast made thyself, lying is to thee a matter of no consequence! Neglectful of thy duty to him, and neglectful of thy first duties to thyself, thou hast suffered the blackest passions to gain an ascendancy over thee, and now the demons of envy and jealousy enjoy a triumph. Thou hast imbrued thy hand in thy brother's-thine only brother's blood. Thy maddened rage has effected the destruction of the only good man but one on earth. Thou hast slain him whom it was thy peculiar duty to preserve, and instruct, and nourish, and cherish.Thou hast destroyed him whom it was thy duty to save. And now darest thou lift thy murderous voice, and say thou knowest not where Abel is? Darest thou to tell his Father and thine, that thou wast not his keeper?

And yet every brother is the keeper of his younger brethren, just as Cain was. Not the sole keeper, perhaps, for there are usually others who have the same duty, in a greater or less degree, assigned to them. But this does not lessen your obligations. You are to do all you can, whether others do much or little. You are to use your utmost efforts to make your younger brother every thing which God and nature and your parents have a right to expect you to make him, both by your precepts and daily lessons, and by your example. You are his keeper; and sooner or later will a voice from heaven say to you, Where is thy brother?

You are to take care of his health, so far as you know how to do it. To be sure you are not to do what, for want of knowledge, you cannot do. You are not to instruct him on points on which you are yourself ignorant. Neither your earthly parents nor you heavenly parents are such hard taskmasters as to require of you according to what you have not, but only according to what you have.

You are surrounded on every side by the fruits of the season. Some of them are in a half ripe state, unfit as yet for the digestive powers, and their juices as yet unfit for the blood. Have you not been told so? Will you set your brother an example of self denial in this matter, or will you not only neglect to do this, but even by your example lead him into temptation? You see him inclined to be gluttonous. Will you assist your parents and him in overcoming the bad habit, by an example of self-denial and moderation? Or will you suffer your example to mislead him still farther? You see him inclined to other habits which you know are hurtful, as lying in bed late in the morning, neglecting proper ablutions, taking very hot or very cold or over exciting drinks, or using improper food. And will you do nothing towards reforming him?

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Their various Duties.

You are to take care in no small degree, of his mind. Your parents are indeed his principal teachers, but you are, or ought to be, a willing assistant; at least, a monitor. What they inculcate, you should repeat, converse upon, and explain, till it is properly impressed upon the mind. What they direct in regard to conduct, you should enforce, not only by word, but by example. Do you not know that an elder brother may thus greatly assist a parent in the discharge of his duties as an instructer and governor? Did you ever know the younger children of a family, or pupils of a school continue long to behave very ill, where the elder set them a perfect example?

You are to take care, also, to the utmost of your power, of the disposition and temper-of the affections of the heart. In this, above all else, you are your brother's keeper. As your temper is, to an extent of which you are probably not now aware, his will be. If you are peevish or fretful, it will be natural for him to become so. If you are excitable or amiable, what should hinder him from being so? If you are slanderous, or revengeful, or cruel, why should he not be? If this should not be the result, it is no fault of yours certainly; you have taken the proper course to produce it.

If you love and reverence and obey your parents, your brother will be likely to love, reverence and obey them also. If you speak well of them in their absence, and are pained when others speak ill of them, he will not be slow to catch the same spirit. Children are imitative beings, as you know. Their characters are formed, in no small degree, from the characters of those who are constantly about them. Do you not know this? But who are more constantly in each other's society, than brothers of the same family?

But again. If you love and reverence God; if you regard his laws, his ordinances, his perfections, his Son our Saviour, his promises and his threatenings; if you labor and pray and strive to obey the commands of God, in every thing-the smallest matters not excepted; if, in one word, you fear him and keep his commandments, will not a younger brother be likely to do so too? Nay, more; is it not inevitable that he will, unless your influence is counteracted by the bad example of other persons who are impious or vicious? Have you ever known an instance in which the fact was otherwise?

But lastly, what is true in relation to your duty to a younger brother, is true also in relation to your duty to all younger brothers; and to some extent, to elder brothers and sisters.— More than this even; the world around you, in a certain sense, and to a certain extent, are all your brethren. And in so far as they

Lesson on the Blood.

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are your brethren, you are responsible to God for their characters. Will your denial that it is so, in the great day of accounts, avail you any thing? Will you dare to say to the Judge of all, Am I my brother's keeper?

PRACTICAL LESSONS ON PHYSIOLOGY.

LESSON 11.-THE BLOOD.

IN a former lesson, I have told you something about the circulation of the blood. I have spoken of the manner in which it circulates, the rapidity of its circulation, the machinery concerned, and the quantity of this fluid which a healthy adult body usually contains.-I now propose to tell you what sort of a fluid the blood is.

I have told you that there is something like a pail full of blood in the healthy body of an adult, and that it is contained or held in vessels, which like little rivers have their numerous small ends, (like our springs and rivulets, in relation to the world we inhabit) in the limbs and remote parts of the system, inside and outside; and are connected by their larger ends with the heart in the centre. Now as the water is constantly running into the sea, and finding its way back again through the clouds and otherwise, to the fountains and springs, to run into the sea again, so the blood is constantly running into the heart, and yet as constantly finding its way back to the extremities, to run back again into the heart, and thus coursing its way through the system, every three or four minutes.

There is at least, one striking difference, however, between the rivers of water in the world we occupy, and the rivers of blood in that miniature world which the human soul lives in. Water cannot be said to have life, or to be subject to diseases. It may indeed become stagnant, or by the admixture of poisonous substances produce disease; but it is not true to speak of its being subject to disease in the same way with the blood. And as for being alive, it is no more alive than the earth-clay, marl, lime or gravel-on which it runs. But the blood, no less than the soil through which it runs, is truly and essentially alive, i. e., it has vitality or vital properties.

This doctrine that the blood has life or vitality is indeed an old doctrine; but not therefore the less true. It is as old at least as Noah; in whose days it was said; Flesh, which is the life thereof which is the blood thereof, ye shall not eat.' Moses too, who understood Physiology pretty well, says, both in Levit

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Character of the Blood.

icus and Deuteronomy, that the blood is the life,' or 'the life of the flesh.'

The whole of the blood when it has just been changed by air, in the lungs, and is about to be sent out into all parts of the body through the arteries, is of a rich scarlet or vermilion color. As it goes out into the smaller arteries, the color grows somewhat deeper, till it finds its way into the small veins, where it is purple. As it runs along back in the veins towards the heart, it becomes of a deep purple, and finally almost black. It is, in this dark state, carried again to the heart, and its color is changed.

The heat of the blood is about 98° of Fahrenheit. It is, however, a little warmer-a degree or two-in the heart and great arteries, just after it has come from the lungs, to be sent round the body, than it is after it has run its course, and got back again. Whether the weather is cold or hot, the heat of the blood, if we are in health, is about the same.

Blood, on being taken out of the living body and suffered to cool in a gradual and natural manner, separates into two parts. One of these is in the form of clots, and is called, in books, the crassamentum; the other is a yellowish watery liquid, called serum. If any of you have ever had a friend bled in the arm, and have seen the blood after it had been kept in the bowl a few hours, you have probably observed the change. The crassamentum consists of a stringy or fibrous substance, of a lightish color, and little round red particles, called globules, entangled, as it were, in it; just as small substances might become entangled in a skein of thread or yarn. The serum is chiefly water; nevertheless, it has in it, in a dissolved state, a small amount of many kinds of salts, and among the rest a little iron. Dr Good says the blood of about forty men contains iron enough to make a ploughshare.

I have said that there are little red globules, entangled in the fibrine, to form the crassamentum. While the blood is in the body and retains its vitality or life, these red globules swim in in it, and though extremely small, are yet so numerous and so deep colored as to give the blood its red appearance. Their color seems to reside in a small skin or pellicle which covers the globule. Here are the pictures of these globules. They are