SECTION III. ON THE MEANS MOST ADAPTED TO PROMOTE THE TRUE INTERESTS OF CHILDREN. "OUR education should be like our guardian angels, suggest nothing to our minds, but what is wise and holy; help us to discover and subdue every vain passion of our hearts, and every false judgment of our minds." LAW. ON THE MEANS MOST ADAPTED TO PROMOTE THE TRUE INTERESTS OF CHILDREN. ON RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDUCATION. EDUCATION Should be essentially religious. Its end and aim should be, to lead a creature born for immortality, to that conformity to the image of God, in which the glory and happiness of immortality consists. In pursuing this end, means strictly analogous to the divine dealing with man, in the scheme of redemption, are to be employed. The instructor must regard himself, as standing in God's stead to the child; and as by the revelation of God's love, is the spiritual transformation of man accomplished, so must the earthly teacher build all his moral agencies, on the manifestation of his own love towards the pupil. Then, as we love God, because he first loved us," so will the 66 affections of the pupil be awakened towards his instructor, when he feels himself the object of that instructor's regard. Again, as love to God generates conformity to his will, so will obedience to the instructor be the consequence of awakened affection. This is the basis of a right education, for as "love is the fulfilment of the law," so in love must be sought the elements, which in this fulfilment, have their ultimate result. Education should be essentially moral. The principles and standard of its morality should be derived from the precepts of the gospel, as illustrated by the example of the Redeemer. Moral instruction, to be availing, must be the purified and elevated expression of a moral life, actually pervading the scene of education. In carrying on the business of the school-room, or in watching over the diversions of the play-ground, the motives and restraints of the purest morality, and those only, must be employed. Moral diseases are not to be counteracted by moral poisons; nor is the intellectual attainment to be furthered, at the expence of moral good. Moral education does not consist in preventing immoral actions; but in cultivating dispositions, forming principles, and establishing habits. Nor does intellectual education attain its end, by the mere communication of intellectual truths, but rather in the developement of those faculties, by which truth is recognized and discovered. Activity is the great means of developement; for action is the parent of power. The sentiments of the heart, the faculties of the mind, the powers of the body, advance to their maturity through a succession of actings, in conformity to their nature. Opportunities for the exercise of moral virtues, should be carefully sought out, or at least diligently applied. To cultivate benevolent dispositions, the pupil should be invited to relieve the indigent ;--to overcome his selfishness, he should be induced to share, or to part with the objects of his own desire. In intellectual culture, every branch of instruction should be so presented to the pupil's mind, as to bring into the highest activity, the faculties most legitimately to be employed upon it. MAYO. WHEN a watch goes wrong, it is not enough to move the hands, you must set the regulator. When a man does ill, it is not enough to alter his handywork, you must regulate his heart. GUESSES AT TRUTH. She con EVERY hour that a Christian mother spends with her children, has balm on its wings. trives to make even their pastimes a moral lesson, |