painting the pleasure with which his holiness would be viewed in heaven, especially by Christ; and the pain which his sin has occasioned. In short, we talk with him mutatis mutandis, as with a friend, with whom we tenderly sympathize, while we feel we have a right to command. We temper the terrors of the Lord with representations of his love and mercy: and we persevere in the course till the child's mind appears humble and softened, and brought into a penitent frame. Such as God looks upon with favour. The whole ends often in a short affectionate prayer, of half-a-minute, for pardon and grace, dictated by ourselves, as far as the child's own thoughts will not of themselves supply it. This process is never hurried over, nor is it ever brought to a conclusion before the end seems to be attained; as nothing can be more important, so nothing is suffered to supersede or interrupt it. It is taken up very early, and is always accommodated, in its different parts, to the years and knowledge of the child. It appears formidable on paper, but it is surprising how short and even pleasant it is, in all common cases, through its being commenced so early and habitually practised. It has almost banished punishment from our house, and has brought with it various other good consequences. I need not say that a good deal of discrimination and discretion ought to be exercised by the parent. Religion must be made to wear an amiable and endearing, as well as awful countenance. The bruised reed must not be broken-the feelings must not be excited beyond what nature will bear; and if a storm of feeling arises, it must be allayed without any improper indulgence destructive of the effect which was aimed at. You will see that sagacity and self-command are wanted on the part of the parent, which cannot be hoped for if he do not maintain an unruffled mind. BABINGTON. COME, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Answer on them the end of all Our cares, and pains, and studies here, Error and ignorance remove, Their blindness, both of heart and mind, Give them the wisdom from above, Spotless, and peaceable, and kind; In knowledge pure, their minds renew, And store with thoughts divinely true. Learning's redundant part and vain, Unite the pair, so long disjoined, And truth and love let all men see, Father, accept them thro' thy Son, WESLEY. ON INTELLECTUAL INSTRUCTION. THE first object of education is to shape and discipline the man; the second, to teach him. You must build the house before you furnish it. The communication and developement of power is of infinitely greater importance than the communication and infusion of knowledge; even as it is the more wholesome and beneficial to give a person a good appetite and a good digestion, than to cram him with food, however choice and nutritive. This proposition is so evident, that I should not have repeated it here, unless the line of argument pursued in most of the recent discussions on education had seemed to imply, that it is forgotten. The problem considered in them has been, how to convey the greatest quantity of knowledge in the least time; and not, as it ought to have been, how are good and able men, or, to speak more precisely, good and able Englishmen to be trained with the greatest likelihood of success?-I say, good and able Englishmen, because every useful system of education must accord with the spirit of the nation to be educated. True, it should promote and help on that spirit; but the only method of doing so is, to go along with it; if you take another road, you will affect it very little, if you pull it the contrary way, you will hardly help it on.. Here, however, we find a verification of the truth, which Bacon after his custom has uttered in all its naked universality; for here, too, do knowledge and power coincide. It is by the judicious communication of knowledge, that the faculties of the mind are to be elicited and nourished; in the very act of tilling the ground, the seed is also sown. GUESSES AT TRUTH. If you understand how essential it is to let children form only perfectly just notions concerning the objects which strike their senses, you will have no difficulty in comprehending how necessary it is to them to learn to express themselves distinctly, and with precision, about these objects. You hasten to satisfy their curiosity by raising them in your arms to the tree, which they are anxious to observe. That is well; but do still more-teach them the name of the object which occupies their attention; make them remark its form, its properties; give them the idea of distance: teach them at once the simple and plain elements of those sciences which have for their object number and size. K |