The works of the Rev. William Thom, late minister ... - waughfamily.ca

. divertSERMONS.4ttheir notions by rebound from others. You do athing perilous and inconvenient jyou confound thediftin6tion which the Apoftle makes between milkand ftrong meat ;you counter- aft his precept, toavoid queftions and contentions, which he fays arevain and unprofitable, and do gender ftrifes ;you dothe people great harm ; you diftraft their minds, andtheir attention from things that are intelligible,neceflary, and ufeful to them :And if fome be fo difputatious,fo polemically difpofed, that one way orother they mull dip in ccntroverfy, it were furely moreproper for them to difpute in private with thole whoare capable to perceive and w^eigh the force of metaphyficalarguments, and who will either fubrnit totheir evidence, or elfe return anfwers to them.I pafs over other great advantages to be acquiredby unreferved and friendly converfation. It teachethus to be eafy, and to keep temper when we arecontradifted,—it leads us into tlie knowledge ofmen and manners,— it enables us to fpeak of humanduties with judgment and precifion,— it mitigates theills of life, and heightens its joys ;—in fome meafure,it fupplies the place of friendfhip, a thing fo rare, thatwe may pafs through the fdent, and the bufy fcenes oflife, without ever meeting with an undifputed inftanceof it.—The advantages already mentioned.—accuracyin thinking,— progrefs in the moll profitableknowledge,—mutual harmony and good agreement,growth in the fpiritual life,—confolation and inward^peace, are m.cmentous and defirable. The defire ofthem may wxU incline thofe v/ho fear God to " fpeakoften one to another ;" and if, with a (incere defireto grow in grace and knowledge, we converfe with oneanother •, if we drive for improvement, v/e ilrive notalone, nor in vain •, God hlmfelf v/iii aihft us by hisSpirit. "When the two aftonilhed and dejedled difciples,going to Emaus, comm.uned together by the v/ay,and reafoned concerning their Mailer, who three days^1