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cerning their disposition, character and habits. Strengthen their moral sense by the aid of reason, and convince them that to be good is to be happy. Or if reason cannot prevail, restrain them from moral obliquity by coercion and by calling in the aid of parental authority. Warn them of any dangerous propensities, privately and earnestly; and show them by some striking example the awful consequences. Reward their good conduct with explicit affection and approbation.

Endeavor to correct their estimate of different objects and pursuits, that they may appreciate these at the true value. Teach them not to sacrifice for momentary indulgences, a good conscience and peace of mind, the happiness of years to come. Teach them that in the performance of their daily labors, the discharge of their social relations, the government of their hearts and lives in all this, if done in the right spirit, they are proving themselves Christians, inasmuch as they follow the example of the Saviour. Finally, teach them resignation and reliance on divine support, through reading the scriptures and prayer - the channel through which flows every blessing from the fountain of all good.

These lessons will not interfere with the lessons of science which it is your province to teach; on the contrary each will assist the other. The study of nature is happily calculated to raise the mind in contemplation of its divine author; and the mind that can reverence the author will the more diligently study his works. Opportunities are not wanting in the school room, to him who seeks them, for enforcing moral principles. The reading lessons will continually suggest them, or may easily be selected for that purpose; besides the occasions so often presented in the maintenance of discipline. A well selected school library will be a powerful auxiliary to religious instruction; especially if the pupils' attention be often directed to those authors who have devoted themselves to the amelioration of our nature. Their voice, thus rescued from the tomb, may reach the heart that is cold to the exhortations of the living; and thus life immortal spring anew from the grave.

Let me add, all this you may accomplish without proscribing the tenets, or offending the prejudices, of any sect of professed Christians. There is common ground, on

which they all meet, enough for you to occupy, without disturbing the separate folds and enclosures which are their places of retirement. It will perhaps be a duty to point out the extremes of Christian doctrine; but still you may derive practical instruction from them all. Thus, whether all mankind shall be saved or not, it is equally certain that sin and irreligion will entail suffering and sorrow, sooner or later, for a long period or forever. Whether our Saviour be equal to the Father in dignity, or inferior, all must admit that he was the Son of God, and that his gospel has a divine, an eternal sanction. Whether the Holy Spirit were an emanation from the Deity, or only an immedia'e manifestation of his power and presence, he will equally reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come. Whether salvation be by faith or by works, it is equally through grace and the gift of God. Whether it be by predestination or by special merit, we cannot know beforehand; and are equally bound to strive for pardon of sin, and purity of life, awaiting the Lord's good pleasure. Whether baptized by sprinkling or by immersion may be equally in obedience to the divine ordinance, as consisting in the frame of mind, and not in the outward application. And, finally, whether the churches be united in their temporal government, or separate; whether their ministers be bishops, or priests, or elders, or deacons; they may equally fulfil their object here in promoting the happiness of believers till they shall visibly be "one in Christ their Head." On these and

other points Christians may differ in opinion; but all their creeds profess the same object, and should produce the same result. It should never be perceived by their conduct to what sect they belong, except in their attendance at their own place of worship. Not that it is a matter of indifference what doctrines we embrace; for some of them must be wrong, and thus much weaken the vital strength of religion. But what I deem of far greater importance, the ground on which all should meet, is Christian practice. This seems to me the best test of all doctrines; the one which our Saviour propounds when he says, "by their fruits ye shall know them." And on this ground would I base the religious instruction of youth. Their doctrinal views will ripen with time, and may undergo changes; their practical principles should be fixed at once, and remain ever after immutable as the laws of nature.

I cannot close this brief address without raising my voice in commendation of Sabbath schools. I believe them to be among the most efficient means which the age is employing for the diffusion of Christianity. In many cases they have strengthened previous impressions, and have nourished the seed sown in good soil till it brought forth a rich harvest of piety. They have reclaimed the abandoned, and restored the profligate youth to respectability and usefulness. Children taught in them have inverted the order of nature, and taught their parents to embrace the religion of the gospel. Parents visiting them have realized their value, and have thus been induced to instruct their children, or to send them to the Sabbath school. How much of vice, and crime, and misery, would be spared our country, were all its youth regularly engaged in giving or receiving instruction in the Sabbath school! - Teachers of common schools, has not the Sabbath also a claim on your services? Six days of the week you have employed in teaching the knowledge of this world; should not the seventh be devoted to the knowledge of the world which is to come? It is beautiful, by lessons of human science, to prepare the mind for usefulness on earth: it is sublime and godlike, by lessons of divine truth, to prepare the enfranchised soul for the enjoyment of eternal happiness in "the bosom of its Father and its God."

LECTURE VI.

ON THE

IMPORTANCE OF AN ACQUAINTANCE

WITH THE

PHILOSOPHY OF THE MIND TO AN INSTRUCTOR.

BY J. GREGG.

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