holy converses with your children, you rise to more endearing communion with your heavenly Father: God by his Spirit visiting your souls in the midst of those pious cares, and giving you immediate comfort and strength, as a token of his gracious acceptance, and perhaps as a pledge of future success. This leads me to urge the religious education of children, II. By the probability there is, that it will be attended with such success, as to be the means of making them wise and good. This is the arrangement urged by Solomon' in the text, train up a child in the way in which he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Being early initiated into the right way, he will pursue it with increasing pleasure; so that with regard to the prosperity of the soul, as well as of the body, his path will be like the morning light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day*. It is true, this assertion is to be understood with some limitation, as expressing the probability, rather than the certainty of the success; otherwise experience would contradict it in some melancholy instances. Would to God there were none untractable under the most pious and prudent methods of education; none, who Like deaf adders stop their ears against the voice of the most skilful charmers+, and have been accustomed to do it from their infancy! Would to God there were none of those, who appeared to set out well, and seemed eager in enquiring the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, who have forgotten The guides of their youth, and the covenant of their Gods, and are to this day wandering in the paths of the destroyer, if they are not already fallen in them! But do you throw by every medicine, which some have used without being recovered by it; or decline every profession, of which there are some who do not thrive? What remedy must you then take? What calling must you then pursue? The application is obvious. It would be folly to pretend to maintain, that religious education will certainly obtain its end; but let me intreat you to consider, that it is in its own nature a very rational method, that it is a method which God has appointed, and a method which in many instances has been found successful. Attend seriously to these remarks, and then judge whether prudence and conscience will not oblige you to pursue it. *Prov. iv. 18. VOL. II. Psal. lviii. 4, 5. Jer. 1. 5. § Prov. ii. 17. D The great apostle tells us, that Love is the fulfilling of the law, and that all those branches of it, which relate to our neighbour, are comprehended in that one word, lovet. This love therefore we should endeavour to teach them; and we shall find, that in many instances it will be a law to itself, and guide them right in many particular actions, the obligations to which may depend on principles of equity, which lie far beyond the reach of their feeble understandings. There is hardly an instruction relating to our duty more happily adapted to the capacity of children, than that golden law, (so important to all of the maturest age) Whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you, do ye so unto them. This rule we should teach them, and by this should examine their actions. From their cradles we should often inculcate it upon them, that a great deal of religion consists in doing good; that The wisdom from above is full of mercy and good fruits§; and that every christian should do good unto all as he has opportunity||. That such instructions may be welcome to them we should endeavour, by all prudent methods, to soften their hearts to sentiments of humanity and tenderness, and guard against every thing that would have a contrary tendency. We should remove from them, as much as possible, all kinds of cruel and bloody spectacles, and should carefully discourage any thing barbarous in their treatment of brute creatures; by no means allowing them to sport themselves in the death or pain of domestic animals, but rather teaching them to treat the poor creatures kindly, and take care of them; the contrary to which is a most detestable sign of a savage and malignant disposition. The merciful man regardeth the life of his beast¶. We should likewise take care to teach them the odiousness and folly of a selfish,temper, and encourage them in a willingness to impart to others, what is agreeable and entertaining to themselves; especially we should endeavour to form them to sentiments of compassion for the poor. We should shew them where God has said, Blessed is the man that considereth the poor, the Lord will remember him in the day of trouble. He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth to the Lord, and that which he hath given, will he pay him again††. And we should shew them, by our own practice, that we verily believe. these promises to be true, and important. It might not be improper sometimes to make our children the messengers, by Rom. xiii. 19. + Gal. v. 14. + Mat. vii. 12. § James iii. 17. tt Prov. xix. 17. which we send some small supply to the indigent and distressed; and if they discover a disposition to give something out of the little stock we allow them to call their own, we should joyfully encourage it, and should take care that they never lose by their charity, but that in a prudent manner we abundantly repay it. It is hardly to be imagined, that children thus brought up should, in the advance of life, prove injurious and oppressive; they will rather be the ornaments of religion, and blessings to the world, and probably will be in the number of the last whom providence will suffer to want. 5. Children should be trained up in the way of diligence. This should undoubtedly be our care, if we have any regard to the welfare, either of their bodies, or their souls. In whatever station of life they may at length be fixed, it is certain there is little prospect of their acquitting themselves with usefulness, honour and advantage, without a close and resolute application; whereas the wisest of princes and of men has said, Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men*. And it is evident, that a diligent prosecution of business keeps one out of the way of a thousand temptations, which idleness seems to invite, leading a man into numberless instances of vice and folly, because he has nothing else to do†. A prudent and religious parent will therefore be concerned, that his children may not early contract so pernicious a habit, nor enter upon life, like persons that have no business in it, but to croud the stage, and stand in the way of those who are better employed. Instead of suffering them to saunter about from place to place, (as abundance of young people do, to no imaginable purpose of usefulness, or even of entertainment) he will quickly assign them some employment for their time: An employment so moderated, and so diversified, as not to overwhelm and fatigue their tender spirits‡; yet sufficient to keep them wakeful and active. Nor is this so difficult as some may imagine; for children are a busy kind of creatures, naturally fond of learning new things, and trying and shewing what they can do. So that, I am persuaded, were perfect inactivity * Prov. xxii. 29. + Thus it is said of Ægisthus, Ne nil ageretur, amavit.-OVID. Nec sum adeo Etatum imprudens, ut instandum teneris protinus acerbe putem, exigendamque plenam operam.-Lusus hic sit, &c.- -QUINTIL. Orat. Lib.i. Cap. 1. They should be taught to treat their superiors with peculiar respect, and should at proper seasons be accustomed to silence and reserve before them. Hence they will learn in some degree the government of the tongue; a branch of wisdom, which, in the advance of life, will be of great importance to the quiet of others, and to their own comfort and reputation. Nor should they be allowed to assume airs of insolence towards their equals; but rather be taught to yield, to oblige, and to give up their right for the sake of peace. To this purpose I cannot but think it desirable, that they should be generally accustomed to treat each other with those forms of civility and complaisance, which are usual among well-bred people in their rank of life. I know these things are mere trifles in themselves, yet they are the out-guards of humanity and friendship, and effectually prevent many a rude attack, which taking its rise from some little circumstance, may nevertheless be attended with fatal consequences. I thought it proper to mention this here, because, as Scougal very justly and elegantly expresses it, "These modes are the shadows of humility, and scem intended to shew our regard for others, and the low thoughts we have of ourselves." I shall only add farther, that it is great imprudence and unkindness to children, to indulge them in a haughty and imperious behaviour towards those who are rost their inferiors. They should be made to understand, that the servants of the family are not their servants, nor to be under their government and controul. I the rather insist upon this, because I have generally observed, that where young people have been permitted to tyrannize over persons in the lowest circumstances of life, the humour has shamefully grown upon them, till it has diffused insolence and arrogance through their behaviour to all about them. Lastly, Children should be trained up in the way of self-denial. As without something of this temper we can never follow Christ, or expect to be owned by him as his disciples; so neither indeed can we pass comfortably through the world. For, whatever unexperienced youth may dream, a great many distasteful and mortifying circumstances will occur in life, which will unhinge our minds almost every hour, if we cannot manage, and in many instances deny our appetites, our passions, and our humours. We should therefore endeavour to teach our children Scougal's Life of God, page 45. this important lesson betimes; and if we succeed in our care, we shall leave them abundantly richer and happier, in this rule and possession of their own spirits, than the most plentiful estates, or the most unlimited power over others, could make them. When a rational creature becomes the slave of appetite, he sinks beneath the dignity of the human nature, as well as the sanctity of the christian profession. It is therefore observable, that when the apostle mentions the three grand branches of practical religion, he puts sobriety in the front; perhaps to intimate, that where that is neglected, the other cannot be suitably regarded. The grace of God, (i. e. the gospel,) teaches us, to live soberly, righteously, and godly." Children therefore, as well as young men, should be exhorted to be soberminded+: And they should be taught it, by early self-denial. It is certain, that if their own appetite and taste, were to determine the kind and quantity of their food, many of them would quickly destroy their constitution, and perhaps their lives; since they have often the greatest desire for those things, which are the most improper. And it seems justly observed by a very wise man, who was himself a melancholy instance of it, "That the fondness of mothers for their children, in letting them eat and drink what they will, lays a foundation for most of those calamities in human life, which proceed from bodily indisposition." Nay, I will add that it is the part of wisdom and love, not only to deny what would be unwholesome, but to guard against indulging them in too great a nicety, either of food or dress. People of sense cannot but see, if they would please to consider it, that to know how to fare plainly, and sometimes a little hardly, carries a man with ease and pleasure through many circumstances of life, which to luxury and delicacy would be almost intolerable. The government of the passions is another branch of selfdenial, to which children should early be habituated; and so much the rather, because, in an age when reason is so weak, the passions are apt to appear with peculiar force and violence. A prudent care should therefore be taken to repress the exhorbitancies of them. For which purpose it is of great importance, that they never be suffered to carry any point, by obstinacy, noise, and clamour, which is indeed to bestow a reward on a fault that deserves a severe reprimand. Nay, I will venture to add, that though it be very inhuman to take pleasure in |