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they will not listen: yet a crisis may come:→ they will stop, and bethink themselves.

CECIL.

GOD, only wise, almighty, good,
Send forth thy truth and light,
To point us out the narrow road,
And guide our steps aright.

To steer the dangerous course, between
The rocks on either hand,
And fix us in the golden mean,
And bring our charge to land.

Made apt by thy sufficient grace
To teach, as taught by Thee,
We come to train in all thy ways
Our rising progeny.

Their selfish will in time subdue,

And mortify their pride,

And lend their youth a sacred clue
To find the Crucified!

We would in every step look up,
By thine example taught;

T'alarm their fear, excite their hope,
And rectify their thought.

We would persuade their hearts t' obey,
With mildest zeal proceed;

And never take the harsher way,
When love will do the deed.

For this we ask in faith sincere,
The wisdom from above;

To touch their hearts with filial fear,
And pure, ingenuous love.

To watch their will, to sense inclined,
Withhold the hurtful food;

And gently lead their tender mind,
And draw their souls to God.

WESLEY.

INNURE your children to good; instruct, admonish, educate them, in the knowledge and fear of God, and season their minds as early as possible, with the fundamental truths of religion; and in such a manner, as is best suited to their capacity, and to train them up in all holiness. Every instruction should be seconded by example. Let them continually see, as well as hear, how they ought to walk acceptably, and to please God.

Be particularly careful to set before your chil

dren, the copies and patterns of the virtues which you teach; and let them neither see nor hear any thing from you which you would not desire to have copied by them. Even a heathen, and none of the most virtuous, could say, Maxima debetur pueris reverentia. We ought to reverence and stand in awe of children, that nothing may be spoken or done in their sight which may taint their tender minds. They are prone to imitate any, but more especially those that are nearly related to them, which undoubtedly they will be most ready to do, when example strikes in with their natural propensity to evil. WESLEY.

Now it may well be said, that if we believe not, revere not, and obey not, our parents which are on earth, how shall we believe, revere, or obey our Father which is in heaven? Wherefore, brethren, I do exhort you the more diligently to give heed unto your children, especially in these times which are unbelieving to the very core, and irreverent to the last degree; that you may lay in them, from their infancy, the rudiments of these three excellent endowments. And to that effect, never deal falsely with your children, on any pretence; joke not with them; give into no extravagance with them; but keep to the bare and

naked truth, until your word, your look, your simplest sign, becomes an equivalent to truth; and let truth be ever in their ears, and let truth be ever in their eyes. IRVING.

I TOO frequently see parents make the reformation of their children's faults, a matter in which religion is scarcely, if at all, referred to; and little or no appeal is directed to the heart and conscience. Thus morality comes to be considered, as consisting entirely (or nearly so) in mere outward observances.

God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, are little brought into view in the course of the child's daily conduct; and he gets into the habit of being satisfied with himself, if he does nothing contrary to rule, though his motive may not have been holy, and his heart may have been in a very indifferent state.

You can describe to me, better than I to you, the evils of such a state, and the hardness of conscience, and other future evils threatened by it. The system here has been carefully to counteract these evils, both present and future, by doing our best to lead our children to have God in all their thoughts, and to habitual daily repentance, and tenderness of conscience before him; in short, to that frame of mind, making proper allowance for

their age, which is required in all of us, by our heavenly Father. To this end, we always endeavour, in correcting a fault in a child, to have a right religious view of it; and to give the child, partly by precept and illustration, and partly by sympathy, (for si vis me flere, dolendum est primum ipsi tibi, is eminently applicable in this case,) a right feeling respecting it, as an offence against his Maker, Redeemer, and Sanctifier.

It is too common, as you know, to cut short the notice of a fault. It is strongly blamed, the child undergoes some punishment perhaps, perhaps he is threatened with severe punishment if he repeats the fault, or perhaps he is required to say that he is sorry, and will not repeat it. The parent is peremptory, the child is frightened, and all is over in a very short time, without any useful impression on the child, except that he is less disposed to commit the outward act, which has drawn upon him these animadversions.

Mrs. B. and I, on the contrary, endeavour to make every fault of our children to be felt by them, as an offence against God, and a sin to be repented of, and thereupon to be pardoned by our Saviour. We, therefore, carefully guard against the child's thinking his fault is reproved as a personal offence against ourselves. We talk to him solemnly, but tenderly, feeling and expressing much concern that he has offended God; contrasting his conduct with the love of God,

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