She who, having a hearty desire for improvement in self-knowledge, on
an extended scale, lets her years pass without looking into any of the
volumes or treatises to which I have referred, can hardly be said to
act up to the dignity of a Christian of the nineteenth century.

But it is not the physical department of her nature alone, that she who
has the desire for self-knowledge and self-progress, should study. Such
works as those of Mason on Self-Knowledge, Burgh on the Dignity of
Human Nature, Watts on the Mind, Opie on Detraction and Scandal,
Wayland on Moral Science, Skinner on the Religion of the Bible, &c.
&c., should not only be perused, but carefully studied. It is to little
purpose, that is, comparatively, that our physical nature is
attentively and assiduously studied and cultivated, if it lead not to
the more intimate and more earnest study of the immortal spirit.

In this better department--the spiritual--permit me, _once_ more,
to direct your attention to the Bible. It should be studied chiefly
without note or comment. Your own good sense, brought to bear upon its
simple, unstudied, unscholastic pages, accompanied by that light from
on high which is ever vouchsafed to the simple, humble inquirer and
learner, will be of more value to you than all the notes, and
commentaries, and dictionaries in the world, without it. It is a book
which is most admirably adapted to the progress of all grades of mind--
those which are but little developed, no less than those which are more
highly cultivated. Other books speak to the intellect--to the head;
this speaks to the heart. Other books often plead for human nature;
this presents it just as it is--its perversity and deformity on the one
side; its susceptibilities to improvement, its capability of
excellency, on the other. Though it reveals to us our humble origin--