To explain my idea at large; the first thing in which all children should be thoroughly instructed is, that God is good and gracious, and the earth full of his goodness. To imprint deeply this delightful truth, point out to them, in the spring, the whole country arrayed in beauty, and covered with the bounty of God: tell them. they are his clouds which drop fatness; that it is his sun which imparts genial warmth to make the ground produce its fruits; that he causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man, and giveth bread to strengthen man's heart, and oil and wine to make him of a cheerful countenance: tell them, that could they see the vast extent of divine goodness, they would see innumerable myriads in heaven above, in the earth beneath, in the waters under the earth, all sustained by him alone. In autumn, when the fields are filled with standing sheaves of corn, and trees bend under their load of fruit, draw aside the veil of ignor ance, and fix their attention upon God, the invisible, yet sole Author of all the plenty around them.

In winter, frequent opportunities occur of bringing the elements to bear witness to their Maker's glory. When frost hardens the earth as iron, and congeals the flowing stream into solid ice, shew your children how passive the whole creation lies in the hand of its Maker. When the intense cold is distressing, and icy particles, like darts, pain our frail body, that we are scarcely able to stand before them, point out the sudden change of the scene; in an instant "he bloweth with his wind, and the waters flow again." And when his snow covers the face of the earth, and seals men up in their dwelling; lead them to observe how suddenly at his word it dissolves, having answered the benevolent purpose for which it was sent. Pursuing the same method, when you have told your children of the exceeding

great power of God, and what a dreadful thing it is to fall into his hands, repeat the salutary instruction when his thunder has shaken your dwelling, and the arrows of his lightning have passed before their eyes, or when his tempestuous wind has left in the neighbourhood some traces of its rage. Then is the time, with a pleasing, yet solemn air, to assure them that fire and vapour, snow and hail, storm and tempest, wild as they seem to us, move only as God appoints their course, with more exactness than the best trained troops obey the signal of their commander; that though the earth should be moved, and the hills be carried into the midst of the sea, the Lord of Hosts is with his obedient people, the God of Jacob is their refuge.

Thus, by pointing out to your children the invisible God, working in all these most sensible changes, and furnishing their minds with sublime scriptures, in which he asserts his own immediate absolute dominion over fire and water, earth and air, men and angels, you will make his creation the great book of instruction. By this method of teaching, the truth has a body and a substance. And though they would feel it an irksome task to get a catechism by heart, and would yawn over a mere lesson in divinity, they will clearly apprehend, and hear with entertainment, a description of the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, exemplified before their eyes. Lectures of this kind, repeated not too frequently, (lest they should surfeit children, a thing greatly to be guarded against), but at such intervals as these various appearances occur, will early form your children to adore their great Creator, and impress them with a sense of his presence and agency in every place. Thus, in the most rational manner, and in obedience to your Maker's command, you will talk of him, and his works, and truth, "when

you go out, and when you come in, when you sit down, and when rise up."

you

Another truth, early and often to be inculcated, which young children are able to understand, and will feel, is, that sleep, health, and strength, are the gifts of God. And this you will make indisputable, by taking an opportunity of carrying them to the bedside of a brother, sister, or playmate, when sick and in pain. Immediately after the visit, tell them you waited for this opportunity to convince them of the truth they have been taught, that it is God who maketh sick and maketh well. This instruction will have more weight, upon their own recovery from languishing disease and pain, to the enjoyment of health and strength.

It is no less useful to teach children that life and death are, like sickness and pain, the appointment of God. The time to realize this truth is, when the awful report is just brought to their ears, that a servant, friend, or neighbour, well known to your children, is dead. Then the circumstances of the deceased immediately before death, the advice of physicians without any benefit, the grief of friends and relations, are all to be urged as sensible proofs that God taketh away our breath in infancy, youth, or riper years, just as he sees fit, and that none can deliver out of his hands.

At the same time, you should be mindful to tell your children what the news they have heard, Such a one is dead, means. Then assure them, that to die is to pass out of a changing world into one unchangeable, to be happy or miserable in a degree inconceivable, according to what the deceased has been and done; that to the unbelieving, proud, and wicked, whether rich or poor, kings or beggars, death is the beginning of sorrows; but to every one who has lived and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ,

it is the translation of the soul to the perfection of holiness and joy for ever more.

Should it please God to bring your own children into apparent danger of death, yet spare them, you must not omit telling them how you felt their pain, and hung over their bed with tears, but could give them no relief; how you made your prayer to God, by whose power alone they were healed: Or should either of you, their parents, be brought back from the borders of the grave to embrace your offspring, then is the season to impress their minds with a conviction, that the Lord of life and death hath recovered you in tender mercy, to be still the guide of their youth, their affectionate counsellor, and best earthly friends. This has a powerful tendency to work upon their gratitude, and lead them to love the name of the Lord, who is kind to them in a matter so greatly affecting their welfare.

SUNDAY XXXVIII.

CHAP. XXXVIII.

On the Education of Children.

THE methods of instruction pointed out above should be used, and the several grand truths above mentioned should be inculcated by the time they have reached to the age of fourteen. After this period, they are generally capable of perceiving the force of the capital arguments upon which a Christian life is to be supported against all opposition from without or within. Now, their faculties are able also to receive those important doctrines, which

few can understand before. It follows, therefore, that if parents are spared till they see their offspring so far advanced, duty now requires of them, and they will be exceedingly criminal, should they neglect to inculcate the absolute obligation lying upon us to love God, to delight in his word and service; the folly, weakness, misery, and sin of peevishness, discontent, passion, pride, envy, revenge, lewdness, or a worldly, selfish, covetous spirit.

By this time, also, your children will have committed so many faults, have been so often corrected, or sharply rebuked for them, and only restrained, contrary to natural inclination, from committing more and greater, that you will have various and strong proofs to convince them they are totally corrupt in their nature, disaffected to the government and will of God, and full of vile propensities. Now produce the scripture character of fallen man: "The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live. We all like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way."

To prove how truly they and their manners are thus described, tell them what vigilance, and care, and correction, and restraint have been used with them from their infancy, to conquer their innate evil, and incline them to love God and man. Then appeal to their consciences, whether after all they do not find vile tempers ready to get the mastery, though they dare not suffer them to break out, for fear of your displeasure. Whilst you are thus unanswerably proving their base spirit, you must do it with tender love, lest, by seeming to upbraid, their pride should be inflamed, and their prejudice increased against the truth. And the use you are immediately to make of this discovery, is to prove to them the great need of a Redeemer. For after having made