appreciate it, and not alluding to a second, until there has been time for the first to be really incorporated into the mind,-it is plain that each successive announcement will come with freshness and vividness, and will be much more likely to make a strong impression. To show how this effect will be produced, I give a dialogue which a father once had with a child nearly two years and a half old, announcing to him for the first time, the certainty of death.

It was just before he was going to bed. His little sister Lucy was lying asleep in the cradle, and his father had carried him to his room, intending to inform him, then, for the first time, that he must one day die. He had before spoken of death, described it in reference to animals, and had given him some accounts of children who had died. The child, however, had only conceived of it as a calamity which sometimes occurred. He was now, for the first time, to be informed that it was the common and inevitable lot of humanity.

The father took little George in his lap, and began rocking him in a rocking chair. He commenced the conversation as follows.

"God looks down into all the houses and sees all the little children. There are a great many little children in all the houses around here."

"Yes," said George, "one's name is George, and one's name is Lucy."

"God sees all the little boys; he sees all that are bad, and all that are good."

"Well, I am not going to be an obstinate, ungrateful boy." The meaning of these words, and their applicability to his own conduct, had been explained to him. It must be borne in mind that the child could scarcely talk, and his articulation of such words was of course very imperfect.

"Well, I hope you will not."

A pause. The father having given him a good subject for reflection, was willing that he should think of it as long as he pleased. At length the child broke the silence by saying: "God hears me when I tell a lie."

"Yes, and if you do not ask him to forgive you, he will punish you bye and bye."

"Heh?"

"God will punish all who tell lies, if they are not sorry for it, for they will all die. Bye and bye we shall all die, and go to God; we shall see him then."

George looked up into his father's face, with surprise and great anxiety in his countenance and said,

VOL. I.

6

"I don't want all the folks to die."

"Well, they will,-I shall die,-and mother will die,and George will die."

A pause followed, which the father would not interrupt; it was at last broken by George's saying, in a trembling, faltering voice,

"I don't want all the people to die."

"But, they will;-they must die." "No, they mus'n't."

"Yes, they must; God will make them all die." Another pause.

"When we die we shall all go to God and see him; and if we have been sorry when we have done wrong, and if he has forgiven us, we shall be happy. God will take us and make us very happy."

The father then waited some time, but the child did not speak he was evidently lost in thought,-musing on the new and striking truth which had been presented to him. His father asked him at last, whether he was asleep.

"No, Sir."

Soon after, the conversation was closed, and the child was laid down upon the bed, and left to be undressed, for the night. As his father was leaving the room, George called to him, "Father, are you going to die pretty soon?"

"No," said he, "it will probably be some time before I shall die; after a great many days, we shall die."

There is nothing in the above case that is peculiar. An equally distinct and striking impression may be made on any child by the announcement of this truth; and in order that it should be permanently and properly impressed upon the mind, the course recommended above, of bringing it forward again and again, in its various aspects and relations, and for several successive days, should be pursued. Other topics previously explained should be laid aside, and new ones not anticipated; in order that this may have time to be thoroughly conceived, and to make a deep and permanent impression.

There is one branch of religious truth, of most momentous importance, which it will be perceived, I have not inserted in my list of elementary principles. I mean the subject of salvation through Christ, considered as a sacrifice for sin. It is a

subject most admirably calculated to make a deep and strong impression upon a child, if he is prepared for it, but its whole force is lost if he is not prepared.. The Holy Spirit may, and very probably often does, renew the heart of a little child, before it is old enough to understand the nature of the redemption purchased by Christ. The necessity of some such provision has its foundation in the exigencies of a great moral government, which a little child can never but imperfectly understand, and, at a very early age, cannot understand at all. The redemption has however, been purchased; the provision has been made; and if, by means of any religious truth, the child can be led to penitence, and its affections can be turned towards God, its sins may doubtless, be forgiven through the influence of a sacrifice for sin, of which it is yet to be informed; though when it comes to be informed of it, we may expect deeper penitence, and far more ardent emotions of gratitude and love.

While these views should perhaps, prevent our being too eager to go deeply into the economy of redemption, in our instructions of very young children, we should, nevertheless, early and often bring to view the character and sufferings of the Saviour; the little pupil should also understand that these sufferings were borne for us. He can understand this, without knowing the precise way in which they can be of avail.

A most interesting way of carrying forward the religious instruction of a young child, after some of these simple elementary truths have heen fully presented, is by reading and explaining the Bible. Portions should of course be selected which the child can understand and appreciate, and which convey moral lessons adapted to his moral wants. Parents too

often choose the miraculous narratives; their principal effect is of course to excite wonder, and the exercise which merely awakens wonder can be no religious exercise; it cannot be religious instruction, even if it is an exercise from the Bible. In fact, a little boy or girl just beginning to talk, cannot at all appreciate the nature and design of a miracle, considered in its true light, as a mode of authenticating God's communications to men. A parent ought not however to reject a passage because it contains a miraculous account; nor should he choose it on this account. The selection should be made on a different principle altogether, viz. the production of a moral effect on the heart of a child; and every thing in the manner in which the story is read should conduce to this end.

The story of the good Samaritan, for example, is one designed to enforce a moral lesson which the youngest child can

appreciate. It may be read and explained in a manner somewhat like the following.

Mother. "Come Samuel, I am going to read a story from the Bible to you. I shall read it slowly, and stop now and then, that you may have time to think, and ask me questions. If there is any thing you do not understand, you must ask me." Child. "Well,-1 will."

Mother reads; "A certain man went down from Jerusa lem to Jericho."

Child. "What is Jericho?"

Mother. "It is the name of the town where the man was going. He came from Jerusalem, and he was going to Jericho." "And fell among thieves,'-Do you know what thieves are ?"

Child. "No, mother."

"If a man should come up to you when you had an apple, or something else which was yours, and should take it away from you, and run away with it, he would be a thief. It would be very wrong to do so. Suppose too somebody should come in the night, and take your clothes and carry them away, he would be a thief. Taking your things so would be stealing, and it would be wrong to steal. Once I knew a little boy who went into his mother's closet when she was away and he thought she would not know it, and stole some peaches which were there."

A pause.

Child, "What did he do with them ?"

Mother. "He ate them."

Another pause. One great art in giving instruction of this kind to a child, consists in watching for those points in the narrative or dialogue, when his mind will dwell for a moment, on some useful subject, if he is left uninterrupted, and in leaving him, at such moments, entirely to himself.

Mother. "He did very wrong. His mother did not see him, but God saw him. You understand what thieves are now ?"

The reading may be continued in the same manner,—with the most copious remarks and illustrations, and frequent pauses, -and the most ample opportunity offered to the child to ask questions. In many cases questions will be asked which the parent cannot answer; sometimes because she does not know, and in others because she cannot explain. For instance in this narrative, a child to whom it is read will very probably

ask, when he hears the phrase, "a certain priest," what certain means. Such a question would be very difficult to answer. In such cases it is always best to say, "I do not know," or "I cannot explain." These answers should always be at hand. The child must have the opportunity to ask any question he pleases, but the mother must not feel at all under obligation to attempt to answer every one. Many mothers err greatly, and make themselves much trouble, and plunge their children in much needless perplexity, for want of this obvious distinction.

Reading the lesson in this thorough manner may be enough for one exercise. The next day, or at a subsequent hour of the same day, the same portion of scripture may be brought up again, for the purpose of questioning the child upon it. Parents who have not tried the experiment, will be surprised to see how easily and correctly the youngest children will answer questions on a simple narrative which they have once really understood. The questions may relate not merely to the passage read, but to the various comments and illustrations which were presented in connexion with it. If the pupil was really interested, he will bear a good examination in all.

These questions having been proposed and answered, the parent may then read the whole narrative again, in the language of scripture without any additions or explanations, asking the child to listen, and see whether he can understand it. He will understand it, and will listen with interest. He may

then be asked to tell the story himself. At first he will probably hesitate, but a little ingenuity will draw from him a first attempt, which should be received just as it is rendered, without any correction, or criticism, or even any praise. In fact it should be heard without comment of any kind, but when completed the parent should make some remark with an air of indifference. This is the best way to overcome timidity. After some degree of confidence and readiness has been acquired, his performance may be remarked upon, and corrected.

After a few attempts have been made, a child will succeed much better than a parent would suppose, in thus repeating scripture narratives in his own language. His story may not indeed be very connected, or its parts very logically arranged, but the effort to repeat it, will fix the facts most firmly in his mind, and very much deepen the moral impression it is calculated to make.

The following may be taken as a specimen, (and it is a real one,) of what sort of narrative may be expected of a child in such a case. The reader will perceive it is the story above referred to, the good Samaritan.