more deeply, as well as be more extensively applicable, than any form of question and answer, however simple; although these indeed may present a good ground work for the simplifying exertions of the parent. The mode of instruction here recommended, will not supersede catechisms in general; but it will banish a spirit of indolent contentment, with a merely parrot-like acquaintance with the truths they are intended to convey. Catechisms should be rendered more truly simple and catechetical by the process just now recommended. It is difficult, in the short space allotted to these formulæ, to give such a view of christian doctrine, as to be intelligible to the young; and perhaps the great defect of the beautiful summary provided by our church, is its want of simplicity, which constitutes its acquisition rather a mechanical effort of memory, than a process, by which christian principle may be instilled into the heart, and the understanding be informed, and the judgment convinced, and the attention fixed on its truths, and the perception awakened to their force, and reason and reflection marshal their powers to give full effect to these principles, and the conscience be enlightened, and the will subdued, and the faculty of imitation roused to that energy of desire, which seeks to appropriate these precepts, and amalgamate them with the character. Another fault of catechisms, is that from their constant aim at brevity and conciseness, they become obscure, and their application is necessarily limited

to the principal feature or outline of a subject; while on the contrary, the mode of parental instruction suggested above, may be addressed to the heart, and affections, and may be extended to every conceivable part of the subject. It is required of a catechism that it be simple, easily to be comprehended, not difficult of retention, not loaded with long and complicated answers; not clouded by obscure views of abstruse points, but suited to the simple wants of fallen and helpless man, and as far as possible, in the very language, and general spirit of the Bible. But after all, the simplest will lack simplicity, and will require the parental process of child-like thought, by which alone ideas will be conveyed, or permanent principles be imbibed. And when it is considered, how great is the importance in all instruction to engage the heart in the pursuit, more particularly in that of religious knowledge, since there must be the chief seat of its influence; it will at once be seen, how imperative is this branch of duty, how indispensable to success. The collateral benefits, arising from developing the intellectual faculties, and enlarging the boundaries of information, and communicating a habit of distinguishing truth from error, are highly valuable, (though we cannot minutely enter upon them,) and should prove a sufficient stimulus to parents, to direct their whole energies to this most important theme.

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CHAP. VIII.

THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED-ON THE DUTY OF KEEPING HOLY THE SABBATH DAY-ON RELIGIOUS WORSHIP-ON PRAYER.

THE subject of religious instruction would be incomplete, unless a distinct chapter were allotted to the duty of prayer, and other religious ob

servances.

It is of the very first importance, that children should be taught to keep holy the sabbath day. The testimony of all ages abundantly shews, that the greatest crimes have originated in a breach of the observances of public worship, and a disregard for the Sunday. This more frequently than any other has been the first step in the progress of vice, the first deviation from the path of rectitude, which has terminated only in the deepest criminality, and in the abandonment of every good principle, of every virtuous hope, of every moral aspiration. Where such fearful conse quences do constantly ensue from the neglect of this sacred day, can parents be too cautious in enforcing its observance from earliest infancy. Even long before children can appreciate the reason for such a difference, they may be taught to make a

distinction between this day and other days; and the sound of the church-going bell should be connected with their earliest associations, and should dissociate them from their usual amusements and playthings. They should be accustomed to pause on the Sunday morning, and to notice by the removal of their toys, that a peculiar something attaches to this frequently recurring day, a peculiarity with which they will soon be enabled to connect the ideas of sacredness and reverence. The absence of their daily lessons will also teach them, that even useful and proper objects of valuable pursuit and research, are to be intermitted during this day, in order to make way for its peculiar duties, the worship of God, and the knowledge of his ways. How different is the general observance of the Sunday in the nursery; a day which is principally marked by decking out its little inhabitants in their best clothes, by the happy freedom from all kind of instruction, and by permission to enjoy a greater license of amusement than on any other day of the week; thus associating with the recurrence of the Christian sabbath, a love of dress, indifference to the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge, and unbounded amusement; thus making it a day peculiarly their own, instead of being, as it is, specifically the Lord's day. Of what avail will it be to teach the young, that they should remember the sabbath day to keep it holy; that on the six preceding days they should do all their work, but that the seventh should be peculiarly devoted to the ser

vice of God, set apart from the common business of life, and consecrated particularly to his worship, and to works of necessity and mercy; if they be also taught to desecrate its hallowed hours by total carelessness of its duties; and if their associations of awe, and stillness, and reverence, and calm, and piety, be exchanged for the infinitely more common ideas of a day of joyous festivity and idleness, maintained unhappily by the unwillingness of parents to give up the luxury of a hot dinner on this day, and the selfish pleasure of treating their offspring after it with fruit and wine, while they amuse themselves with their society. Not that this holy day should be one of gloomy abstraction; it should be filled up with pursuits of interest and delight, but they should be such as may be calculated to awaken devotional feeling, and communicate religious instruction, rather than to sow the seeds of evil, and develop erroneous principles, and foster the prejudices of vice, and cloud and contract the mind by false impressions of its sacred character. Not that we would make the worship of God to consist apparently in a season of privation, or that we would connect the idea of approaching God, and of forsaking not his ordinances, with a sacrifice of solid pleasure; not that we would make it "a day for a man to afflict his soul, to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him, and call this an acceptable day to the Lord;" but on the contrary, one on which, in imitation of our Saviour, we