51
well.
said he, " ten children,
" They have had,"
Whom they have carefully brought up in the fear of
and the youth,
God, and in the Christian religion ;
whose
lot
in
life
we
are
now convened
to
sider,
is
Benjamin,
their
Y 01111 gest
child.
It
is
known
that God
all
t0 YOIJ
is
pleased,
from
time
to
time,
to
bestow
UPOI]
SOl'I]8
men
extraordi-
nary gifts
of
mind,
and
Y0u
not be told
need
bY
how Wonderful an inspiration
their
SOI]
has
been
led to cultivate the art of painting.
It is true that
utility of that art to mankind.
deny the
our tenets
But God
has
a genius for
bestowed on the youth
the
art,
and
can
we
believe
that
Omniscience
bestows His gifts
but
for great purposes?
What
God
has
given,
who
shall
dare
t0
throw
away P
by our no-
us not estimate Almighty Wisdom
Let
tions; let us not presume to arraign Hisjudgment
by
but in the evident propensity of
our ignorance,
man, be assured that we sed an impulse
the young
of
Divine
the
hand operating towards
some high
and benelicent end."
The
effect
of
this
argument,
and the lofty
commanding
induced the
manner in which it was delivered,
assembly to agree that the Artist