may be made of the present mode of classical Present state of Its vast importance-Its legiti- AN APPEAL, &c. CHAPTER I. On the Importance of the Inquiry. DISTINGUISHED as the present age is by those noble and strenuous efforts which have for their immediate object, the honour of God in the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom; the universal diffusion of knowledge; the harmony and amelioration of the entire family of man: it adds not a little to its lustre, that public attention has, of late, in the midst of all, been called to the specific consideration B of the claims, which the middle branch of that family have upon it: a call that will doubtless be responded to, and which, without fearing to incur the charge of being too sanguine, the writer believes will form an epoch in the career of benevolence. There may, perhaps, exist a difference of opinion as to the best means, as there is upon most other topics, of securing the end, yet the claims of young men is a point where the Christian, the statesman, the parent, the master, and the lover of his species, with all their shades of difference, may, and happily do, meet. It has been the tacit, if not the avowed, object of all ages and nations, whether civilised or rude. To expect, indeed, those claims to be based upon the same principles, and to spring from the same motives, in pagan and christian, in civilised and unlettered nations, would be to expect similar effects from dissimilar causes; and would, moreover, be contrary to obvious matter of fact. The object proposed by a christian nation differs very materially from that which is proposed by a predatory and warlike tribe. Nevertheless each, though actuated by different motives, have clearly evinced that, in its estimation, young men demand special regard. Nebuchadnezzar ordered certain youths to be selected from among the captive Jews," whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans,' that at the end of three years, might stand before the king," they The Persians, properly so called, almost constantly employed their youth in hunting, or the exercise of war, in order to train them for the field; and enrolled them at the age of twenty, from which period till their fiftieth year, they could at any time call them out into active. service; while those, who were intended to succeed to the crown, were at seven years of age taught the bodily exercises; after which the chief eunuchs, or officers of the palace, instructed them in the first |