ful efforts, intermingled with cries and tears, while the detested lash is hanging over their heads, they are enabled to repeat, like a number of puppets, their medley of grammar rules, their psalms, their hymns, their catechisms, and their speeches from the English and Roman classics, pouring out their words with a velocity like water bursting from a spout, without a single correct idea connected with their exercises, "understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.”—Hence it has too frequently happened, that the school-room has been viewed as a prison, their teachers as a species of tyrants, and the scholastic exercises in which they are engaged, as repugnant to their natural vivacity, and subversive of their youthful pleasures. Hence they have frequently been driven to the village school, like sheep to the slaughter, and like criminals to a jail, or carried on the shoulders of their companions, amidst cries, and lamentations, and forebodings of punishment.

In seminaries of a higher order than those to which I now allude, five or six years are generally spent in learning the declension of nouns, the conjugation of verbs, and the rules of syntax, and in acquiring a smattering of the Roman classics; while, at the close of this tedious, and to the pupil, revolting process, he retires from the seminary to the shop, the counting-house, or the university, nearly as ignorant of the common phenomena of nature, of the sublime discoveries of modern times, of the principles of the arts and sciences, and the laws of moral action, as if he had been born in Patagonia, or in the centre of New Holland. If he has acquired any thing at all, which may be denominated knowledge, it consists chiefly in a jumble of notions about the squabbles of heathen gods and goddesses, detached fragments of Roman history, the Metamorphoses of Ovid, the fictions of Pagan mythology, and the revengeful encounters of destroying armies and ambitious despots. While his mind is familiar with the absurdities and impieties of ancient superstition and idolatry, he not unfrequently quits the scene of instruction as ignorant of the character and attributes of the true God, of the doctrines of the Christian religion, and of the tempers which it inculcates, as if he had been tutored in a Pagan land.

Even in those seminaries which are devoted to the religious instruction of the young, the same absurd and inefficient system to which I have alluded is too frequently acted upon. Instead of exhibiting to the understandings of the young the character and perfections of the Deity, and the truths of Christianity, by familiar and popular illustrations deduced from the economy of nature and the facts of revelation, a great proportion of their Sabbath

school exercises consists in repeating, with a disgusting ffippancy and vociferation, their catechisms, psalms, paraphrases, hymns, and Scripture passages, assigned them as tasks, and in listening to the crude expositions of certain abstract theological dogmas, to which they can attach no precise or well-defined notions, and which do not enter into the essence of the Christian system. In certain schools of this description, I have witnessed the attention of the children almost exclusively directed to the mere repetition of the Shorter Catechism, and other compends of divinity, and that, too, in a most inaccurate, irreverent, and vociferous manner, without a single attempt being made to convey any idea to the understanding of the nature of the truths repeated-while the catechumens seemned to be much gratified and relieved in having got their memories disburdened of the ungracious tasks imposed upon them. In other schools, where the teachers had acquired a smattering of systematic theology-after the memorial tasks were dispatched—I have listened to a series of crude dissertations addressed to the young respecting the covenant of works and of grace, predestination, absolute and conditional decrees, faith, the Trinity, and similar topics, together with long-winded exhortations, occasionally intermingled with boisterous and unhallowed threats and denunciations, because the young did not yield a profound attention to such abstract speculations. Yet all this goes by the name of religious instruction; and, when it is found to produce little influence on the moral conduct of the young, the effect is attributed solely to the corruption of human nature, and to the withholding of the influences of Divine grace,—a sentiment which goes far to attribute to the "Only Wise God" those effects which are produced by the folly and the injudicious schemes of men. As it is painful to exercise the memory to any extent on words unconnected with ideas, so it frequently happens, that a disrelish for religion and its services is induced, in consequence of the labour and drudgery with which they are thus associated. In these seminaries, too, the duties of Christian morality are too frequently thrown into the shade. Christianity is not a mere theory, but a practical system; for all its historical details, its doctrines and precepts, its promises and threatenings, have an ultimate reference to the regulation of the temper and affections, the direction of the conduct, and to the general renovation of the moral powers of man, in order to his preparation for a higher state of moral and intellectual excellence. And, therefore, it ought to be one of the grand objects of religious instruction to cultivate the moral powers, to direct the temper and affections, and to show, by familiar illustrations taken from the scenes of

active life, how the principles of Christianity ought to operate in all the diversified circumstances and relations of society. But, leaving this topic, in the mean time, let us attend a little more particularly to the range of instruction in our common initiatory schools.

After a knowledge of the characters of the alphabet and of the principal elementary sounds is acquired, the scholar is led through a series of dry and uninteresting lessons and spelling exercises in which his memory and his faculty of pronunciation are solely exercised. The New Testament is next put into his hand, and, after reading a portion of it with great difficulty and awkwardness, and before he is capable of reading one sentence with ease and accuracy, he is introduced to such books as "Barrie's Collection," and "Tyro's Guide," and "Scott's Beauties of Eminent Writers," in which there is scarcely one selection interesting to a youthful mind, or level to its comprehension. But this circumstance seems to be considered by many as a matter of no importance; for it is seldom or never that an attempt is made to convey to the minds of youth the ideas contained in the lessons they read and commit to memory. During these reading exercises, the Shorter Catechism is put into their hands, in order that its vocables may be committed to memory; and that, too, at so early a period, that they find the greatest difficulty in mastering the pronunciation of the long and technical terms with which it abounds. Through this ungracious task they struggle, with the greatest reluctance, and generally, too, without annexing a single idea to any of the answers they repeat. They are soon after, perhaps before they are seven years of age, introduced to the study of English grammar; and, after feeling much apathy and not a little disgust at this abstract science, and experiencing many days and hours of ungrateful labour, they are able to repeat a few of its rules, definitions, and declensions. Like so many parrots, they can tell us by rote, what is a verb, an adverb, or a preposition, or that " conjunctions which imply contingency require the subjunctive mood," without understanding what they say, or annexing a clear idea to any of the rules or definitions they repeat. By turning over Scott's or Fulton's Dictionary, they learn that virtue is a noun, because n is annexed to it-that, to write is a verb, because v is annexed to it-and that from is a preposition, because pre is annexed to it; but, beyond such reasons they seldom attempt to aspire; and after two or three years' training in such exercises, they know little more of the subject, or of the application of its rules to composition, than when they first commenced. The principal acquisition made, is a facility in finding out words in a

dictionary, without any attention being paid to their meaningan object which may easily be accomplished in a few days.The useful art of writing is next attempted to be taught; and, in most instances, a far greater degree of importance is attached to the acquirement of an "elegant text," or a "fine running hand," than to the cultivation of the moral and intellectual powers, and the acquisition of substantial knowledge.-Arithmetic follows in the rear, and the scholar, after hurrying through its four funda. mental rules, without any sensible illustrations of the different operations, is exercised in calculations respecting Tare and Tret, Interest and Annuities, the Square and Cube Root, Exchange, Discount and Equation of Payments, before he has the least knowledge of the nature of these transactions; and, consequently, like one walking in the dark, is unable to perceive the drift and tendency of most of his operations, or the foundation of the rules by which he calculates; and hence it happens that, when he actually engages in the business of real life, he has almost the whole of his arithmetical processes to study over again, and to re-investigate the foundations, objects, and principles, of his ope rations, in their applications to the transactions in which he is engaged.

In fine, during the whole of the process now described, the moral powers of the young are in a great measure overlooked, and the business of moral tuition shamefully neglected. To improve their tempers and affections, and to bend them into that direction which will tend to promote their own happiness and that of others, is considered as a matter of inferior moment, in which teachers are very little, if at all, interested. It forms, at least, no prominent object, in our schools, to meliorate the tempers of the young, to counteract the principles of malice, envy, and revenge -to inspire them with kindness and benevolence—and to train them to moral excellence. On the contrary, the mode in which they are treated has frequently a tendency to produce obstinacy, dissimulation, superstition, pride, hatred, and disaffection. The spirit of unchristian emulation, contention, and revenge, is indirectly fostered by the books they read, the discipline by which they are trained, the amusements in which they indulge, the false maxims and Pagan sentiments which are interwoven through the whole course of their education, and by the admiration which is attempted to be excited in their breasts for barbarous heroes and the butchers of mankind. The active powers of the young being thus allowed to take the natural bent of their depraved inclinations, selfishness, pride, malice, and other malignant passions, are allowed to spring up and flourish, without feeling the force of those

salutary checks which might impede their progress, or destroy them in the bud; and thus perverse habits and dispositions are induced, which "grow with their growth, and strengthen with their strength," till at length they display themselves with diabolical energy in the scenes of domestic life, and on the theatre of the political world, amidst the contentions of communities and “the tumults of the people."

Such is the amount of the education which the great mass of our population receive prior to their entrance on the scene of active life. To affirm that it is attended by no beneficial effects, would be to fly in the face of all observation and experience. It prepares the mind, in some measure, for certain avocations in civil society, and for the reception of knowledge in after life, should it ever be exhibited in a more judicious and intelligent manner; and, in some instances, when combined with judicious domestic instruction, it will assist and direct the pupil, in the pursuit of knowledge and of mental enjoyments. But, considered by itself, as a system of culture for rational and immortal beings, in order to the development of their moral and intellectual powers, and as a preparation for a higher state of existence, it is miserably deficient, both in the means which are employed, in the range of instruction, and in the objects which it is calculated to accomplish.-To illustrate this position is the object of the following remarks.

I. In the first place, one glaring defect which runs through the whole system of initiatory instruction (except in very rare instances) is that no attempt is made to convey ideas to the youthful mind, along with the elementary sounds of language and the art of pronunciation. Provided children can mouth the words, and vociferate with alacrity the different sentences contained in their lessons, it appears to be a matter of little importance in the eyes either of teachers or of parents, whether or not they appreciate the meaning of any one portion of the sentiments they read. Although the great object of education is "to teach the young idea how to shoot," it is almost the only object which is thrown into the shade; and those scholastic exercises which are only the means of education, are almost exclusively attended to as if they were the end. The young are thus treated as if they were only so many puppets, placed on a stage to exhibit a series of mechanical movements, and as if they were not possessed of the smallest portion of intellect, and were entirely destitute of affections and passions. Yet, it is undeniable, from fact, that children, at a very early age, are capable of receiving a variety of ideas into their minds, and of exercising their reasoning powers respecting them. Present an engraved landscape to a boy of four or five years