his years, mixed with his lovely character; and so far as this is indicated, it weakens our sympathy. When he asks, if he might pray with his hands unjoined,' he is altogether the child. His piety, his reverence for God, his tenderness of conscience, his willingness to bear inconvenience or pain, where duty requires it, are thus incidentally evinced; while his scruple is so full of sincerity, that we sympathise, while we smile at his simplicity. But when he deals in abstract truths, and lays down theological propositions, such as that all God's children must suffer affliction;' and when he declaims against the vanities of the world, before he had seen any; he is no longer a child of five years old speaking from his own simple feelings; he is either repeating by rote, or he has gained an early maturity of thought and an abstraction which are not natural, and are not of necessity religious. In giving up his own little world for God; in bearing with meekness the afflicting hand of his heavenly Father; in expressing his reverence, by wishing to assume the accustomed attitude of infantile devotion; and above all, in his simple and affecting prayer, Sweet Jesus, save me deliver me-pardon my sins-let thine angels receive me;' he evidences an early growth of the spiritual affections: but in abstracting all this into theological propositions, he merely shows the prematurity of the mental powers, or more probably, what he had heard and remembered. My son, give me thy heart,' as distinct from the mere exercise of the understanding, is the command of our heavenly

Father; and in the case of little children, and often of older converts, the heart may be far in advance of the intellect."

132. Before concluding this letter, which has already extended far beyond my original design, I feel it necessary to add a few words, on the extent to which the principles laid down in it may be made applicable to Sunday-school instruction. At present (and I fear it will be the case for some years yet to come,) a large portion of the time and energy of Sunday-school teachers is expended in the impartation of the elements of reading. Whatever, therefore, is adapted to facilitate this part of their labour, (and paragraphs 66 to 87 come under this description,) cannot be either unacceptable or inappropriate.

133. But I would not willingly be persuaded that this is all the benefit that persons not professionally engaged in the work of tuition can reap from these hints on the "art of communicating knowledge." The enlarged and diligent study of the philosophy of teaching, by all classes of the community, would be a great public benefit. Whenever such a taste shall happily be excited, the Sunday-school will be the first place in which its advantageous effects will be manifested. Then will the most accomplished minds be found foremost in this labour of love; and never till then, will the yet unsuspected power of the Sunday-school, as an instrument of moral regeneration, be fully tested and developed.

LETTER VI. TO THE SAME.

REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS.

134. "Experience," says Fellenberg, "has taught me, that indolence in young persons is so directly opposite to their natural disposition to activity, that unless it is the consequence of bad education, it is almost invariably connected with some constitutional defect."* And yet, as every one knows, the professed object of more than one half the PUNISHMENT inflicted in schools is to compel application; while we are told on all hands, that without the constant stimulus of REWARD, it is impossible to secure any long-continued effort to excel.

135. If, however, Fellenberg is right, in supposing that a stimulant is only needed in morbid cases (and I see no reason to distrust his authority), how important is it, that the greatest care should be exercised in correcting indolence or inattention, lest, in attempting to remove the immediate evil, we should induce others of greater magnitude, and inflict permanent injury on

* Sketches of Hofwyl. Letter xiii.

the character! It is always dangerous to punish children for idleness; the pain inflicted, instead of being regarded as an inconvenience resulting from a fault, is almost sure to be associated in the child's mind with the industry and learning which it is intended to promote. It is obvious that no association can be more mischievous.*

136. Rewards, if judiciously bestowed, may, on the contrary, be productive of much good. In private families, and in very small schools, the influence which is founded on affection for the teacher, is doubtless better adapted than any other to stimulate attention and to awaken effort. His smile, when thus

* "Punishment may be inflicted to deter a child from doing evil, but it ought never to be used to induce it to do good. For instance, you see a child strike another,-punish the offender, and while he is suffering, he ascribes the pain to the blow which he had inflicted on his companion. You thus establish in his mind the association of necessary contiguity between the blow and the punishment; and this association will deter him from a repetition of the offence. But suppose it should be your desire that your child should do what is good, suppose you wish that he should read a chapter in the Bible, and he refuse, you punish him,-you then associate the punishment with the Bible, and this association is attended with injurious results. In a few morbid cases, where the child cannot be aroused to intellectual activity, it may be necessary to inflict punishment for idleness; but such cases are rare, and when they do occur, it will be found that neglect in early education is closely connected with their existence." —Dr. Bryce of Belfast.

valued, is by far the best reward. But, as I have said elsewhere, it is a fatal error to lay down plans for a day-school of two hundred children, which are in fact only adapted to a very limited number of pupils, living beneath the roof of the instructor, and altogether under his control. I again repeat, it is impossible for you to act the parent to two or three hundred children, whom you see only for a few hours in the day; or to employ, in these circumstances, to any great extent, that kind of power which springs only from constant and familiar intercourse. Hence arises the necessity, in large schools at least, for that kind of stimulant, which although in some respects objectionable, is supplied by EMULATION and by REWARD.

137. I know it is a question with many, whether emulation ought, under any circumstances, to be used as a motive to induce the young to apply themselves to the acquisition of knowledge. Essays and papers innumerable have been written, to show that this principle is ranked by the apostle Paul with the "works of the flesh," and should therefore find no place in schools where the spirit of Christianity is intended to be inculcated. These writers associate with the term, pride and vanity, hatred and envy, ambition and selfishness. Others, understanding by emulation, simply the desire of surpassing, and considering that in this primary sense it has no moral character whatever, but is good or bad, according to the objects and motives with which it is associated, maintain that emulation is one of the most important springs of action, and ought