SERMON XIV.

2 TIM. III. 14, 15.

BUT CONTINUE THOU IN THE THINGS WHICH THOU HAST LEARNED, AND HAST BEEN ASSURED OF, KNOWING OF WHOM THOU HAST LEARNED THEM; AND THAT FROM A CHILD THOU HAST KNOWN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, WHICH ARE ABLE TO MAKE THEE WISE UNTO SALVATION THROUGH FAITH WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS.

ST. PAUL, knowing the influence of seducing teachers, and anxious to render Timothy a powerful instrument to counteract their designs, exhorts him to maintain that unfeigned faith, which dwelt first in his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice, and to continue in the things which he had learned and been assured of. At the same tine he informed him, that "all Scripture" was given by

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* 2 Tim. iii, 16, 17.

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inspiration of God, and" was " profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God" might "be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."

In this exhortation of the Apostle praise is bestowed upon Timothy for having known the Holy Scriptures from his earliest years. Hence we deduce the argument for the necessity and duty of affording religious instruction to the young, as soon as their minds are capable of receiving it. In another place, St. Paul enjoins parents to *" bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord;" which precept plainly inculcates the obligation of furnishing the mind, as soon as possible, with the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make it wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus."

The Jews, who received their laws from God himself, were accustomed to teach their children from five years old to read the Bible. Josephus says, that their

* Eph. vi. 4.

children learnt their laws from the first dawn of sense and reason in them.'

It is an opinion entertained by some, that the mind should be opened and informed by education, but that scriptural knowledge and religious faith should form no part of the earliest instruction. These they conceive should be left for riper years, when the understanding is competent to judge of the importance of the subjects proposed to it. But did not the wisdom of ages and the Word of God oppose this opinion, our own experience and acquaintance with human nature would sufficiently show us its error.

Teach a young person to read, unfold his intellectual faculties, instil into his mind the lessons and love of virtue, give him habits of order, of industry, of attention, of diligence, and by these means impart to him the facility of rising in the world; but leave religion out of your sys-tem of instruction, and what will be the consequence? You will find, that you have given his understanding an impulse, but no guide to direct it in the way of truth; that you have taught him to see

and acknowledge what is morally right and wrong, but have failed to instil into him those high and sacred principles, which alone can render that sense effectual to a good purpose; that you have impressed feelings on his heart, which are right as far as they go, but which, having no foundation in holy fear and religious truth, will not withstand the incitements of a sinful nature; and that, although you have afforded him some advantages, you have not supplied him with that knowledge of duty, and those apprehensions of responsibility, without which those advantages will be no strength to him against the temptations of the world.

Religion is the only foundation on which whatsoever is right and true, on which whatsoever is useful and expedient in itself, can stand with any security. Religion, therefore, especially when we consider for what purposes we were sent here, and for what we are intended when this life is at an end, should be taught as early as possible. The knowledge of God, the love and fear of his holy name, the history of his dealings