by a selection of its interesting narratives; by rendering the relation of these a reward for good conduct; and by throwing that degree of interest upon its pages, which a constant appeal to its principles will ensure.

The Bible is not fitted for the learned and the wise only, since Almighty God delights to perfect his praises out of the mouths of babes and sucklings. The aspirations of the infant heart; the sacrifice of a lamb without blemish—that is, before it has been polluted by the commission of actual and wilful sin, is an acceptable offering to Him who died to save mankind from its penalty. The truths of the Bible are appropriate to the meanest capacity; and will convey to the mind even of a simple child distinct views of God and of Christ, of the soul, of its lost condition, of the mode of redemption, of pardon and acceptance, of justification and sanctification; for although it may not be able at once to comprehend the terms, and affix to these definite, and appropriate, and distinct significations, yet it is able to embrace a knowledge of the things thus signified. An unprejudiced heart, and an unperverted will, are the qualifications best suited for understanding and receiving the Scriptures.

These Scriptures, however, (in which are some things hard to be understood) are to be explained; their difficulties are to be removed, and reflection on their contents is to be developed, while their truths are to be simplified by a living commentary upon their practical influence in producing holi

ness of life. It is desirable that the Bible should be perused in childhood, in its simple form, in contradistinction to any commentary, however excellent from the pen of human learning; these are generally inefficient, and sometimes injurious. For not only is it injudicious to raise doubts in the youthful mind, for the purpose of removing them; to detail cavils, with the view of refuting them, and to explain the varying shades of opinion which good men have taken of the same subject, under different circumstances; not only is it desirable to produce implicit confidence in its obvious meaning; to appeal constantly to its decisions as final and satisfactory, and to inculcate its plain and heartfelt truths: but the simplicity and beauty of its language; the brevity and force, the purity and energy and eloquence with which its doctrines are exhibited, are admirably calculated to affect the heart, to fill and enlarge the mind, and to take a deeply rooted hold on the memory. Again, the very words of Scripture are the form chosen by the Holy Spirit for communion with men; words which human commentaries at best dilate, and so dilute the force of the original. The Bible is the best expositor of its own truths; and however commentaries may improve the understanding, and deepen the judgment, and enlarge the views in after life; however they may illustrate the force of particular passages by criticism, or by the detail of local customs, or by the events of history, and by the present and past situation of the kingdoms or

cities of the world; yet now they will only produce the effect of overloading the memory, distracting the attention, and preventing its clear perception of simple truth; which, however, it must never be forgotten, none but the Spirit of God can really enlighten the mind thoroughly to understand. And yet this exception against commentaries in general does not at all invalidate the usefulness of that oral explanation of its truths, that living exposition of its principles and practice, which has been before recommended.

66

Open thou mine eyes, that I may discern wondrous things out of thy law," should be the prayer of infancy; and the means appointed for the fulfilment of this petition will be found in that apostolical teaching, which consisted in the energetic detail of the simple elements of Christianity. By this mode of instruction the mind is led to form reflections upon what it has perused, partly from its own efforts, guided and assisted by maternal solicitude, so that it appears to think for itself, and to work out its own conclusions from the problem before it.

The constancy, the frequency, and the regularity with which religious instruction should be communicated, may be argued from the pen of inspiration: And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thy heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou sittest down, and when thou risest

up." No opportunity is to be lost; on the contrary, every event, every circumstance of life, every change of situation, every external accident is to be made subservient to this great design; the influence of which should be habitual and universal, pervading every part of the conduct. All possible means should be devised and employed for the advancement of this influence; and all the varied changes of this checquered scene should be made the means of supporting it. Nothing can be more full, more comprehensive, or more descriptive of this duty; nothing can lead to more correct views of the engagement; and to add, or rather to wish to add to its sublime force and energy, would be, in fact, to detract from its impressiveness.

576

CHAP. VI.

THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED PARTICULAR FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES TO BE INCULCATED.

I. IN engaging the attention of the child to religious truth, the importance of self-knowledge should not be overlooked.

True indeed it is that this knowledge is not to be attained, except as the mind is renewed, and enlarged, and strengthened by divine grace; for man prefers the exercise of his intellectual powers on any subject, rather than himself; he possesses a natural, an instinctive aversion from communing with his own heart; he shuns the estimate of his own powers and talents; he dreads an examination into the mode of their application; he shrinks from the scrutiny of his motives; he fears to try all his actions by the test of principle; he flies from a comparison between what he is, and what he ought to be; and endeavours to shield himself from the result under the prominence of some specious virtue, forgetting that even this is too generally cultivated as a cloak for some secret sin, to which he naturally clings the more closely, in proportion as the tempest of vice howls around, and as he really is more subjected to its storms: and yet the agency of this inquiry upon human