ment and dissimulation, every strong statement, every broken promise, only hardens the heart, sears the conscience, and opens another avenue to the seductions of the adversary; while on the other hand, truth, pure truth, with all its simplicity and loveliness, forms the foundation of every moral virtue.

The habit of industry is also one which deserves early and particular consideration. Industrious habits exert a happy influence on the intellectual and moral character. Many a youth has been rescued from disgrace and ruin, because he had no time for amusements and dissipation; and many a one has been lost to himself, to his family, to the world, and to God, because he had nothing else to do, but yield himself a prey to self-indulgence. If we would guide our children in the paths of piety and peace; if we have our eye on their best interests, for this world and that which is to come; we shall educate them in some useful employment. Even in man's primeval integrity and innocence, he was not exempt from toil; and who, since the apostacy, can escape with impunity, the force of that universal sentence, "In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat thy bread, until thou return to the ground?" There is no small difficulty, especially in large cities, in educating children in the habits of industry. It is indeed one of the most serious difficulties with which families who reside in large cities are.

called to contend. The great reason why vice so successfully allures the youth of large cities, is, that during their early education, and in seasons of relaxation from study, there is nothing to occupy their time. And hence the remark, that the great mass of men of character and standing in our large cities, are not native citizens. It deserves to be seriously considered, whether the wide difference existing between families brought up under the same religious instruction, may not be ascribed to the fact, that some are educated in habits of industry, and some in habits of idleness. It is a sad mistake in parents to educate their children, merely for spheres of splendid accomplishment. I am no enemy to refinement; nor am I insensible of the happy influence which courtesy and elegance exert on the intellectual and moral character. But I have yet to learn, that these may not be combined with habits of industry and enterprise. Dissipation or despondency uniformly take the place of active employment in the youthful mind.

Rigid temperance is inseparable from a good education. If a youth cannot be induced to abstain utterly from the use of ardent spirits, there is little hope that he will become a pious or respectable man. This is an indulgence which will eventually involve him in distress and ruin. The course of transgression may, for a time, be easy and pleasant enough, but the end must be disaster. The infatuated man who is gliding

down the stream that conducts him to a precipice, is not in a situation more dangerous, than the youth who ventures upon this allowed course. He may regale his eye with the beauty of the landscape; and his ear may be charmed with the melody of song; his little bark may glide Over the bosom of the unruffled stream, and the soft gale of pleasure may gently fill his sail: but the roar of the cataract will soon fall upon his ear, and the yawning abyss will ingulph him. Health, intellect, character, usefulness, comfort, property, conscience, and the soul, are all sacrificed at the shrine of this worse than pagan deity. No one sin of which a youth can be guilty, puts him at such an awful remove from the influence of motives; no one so completely obliterates the moral sense; no one renders its victim so unmindful of the sanctions and obligations of eternity as this. The mind is the medium of access to the heart. Our children must think, and feel, and consider, before they will repent, and pray, and love. But where is the individual who is so unpromising a subject for these reflections, as the youth, who "tarries long at the wine, and goes to seek mixed wine?" If the God of all the earth has constituted parents the immediate guardians of their children's happiness and virtue, and hopes, let them beware how they sow the seeds of intemperance in infancy, and nurture them in childhood; for they are fruitful seeds, and prolific in death.

Another topic worthy of the serious consideration of parents in the moral training of their offspring, is the selection of their associates. This I know, cannot always be under parental control. In the earlier ages even of youth, it would be wise, if they were satisfied with few associates beyond the domestic circle. Their employment, if possible, should be at home; their relaxation should be at home; and their amusements ought never to be of that dissipated character, that would bring reproach upon a wellgoverned and religious family. Parents may be under the necessity of submitting to self-denial and expense, in order that the amusements of their children should be found at their own firesides; but if by a few sacrifices they can purchase the habit of domestic retirement, scarcely any price is too dear, that does not convert the domestic circle into scenes of extravagance and dissipation. Every family ought to be a little world within itself. Absolute exclusion from the world is undesirable; but if I mistake not, those families are best educated, and exhibit most of moral feeling, that are most tenderly attached to home. The most critical period of human life is between fifteen and twenty years of age. And it is at this period especially, when young persons begin to extend their acquaintance with the world, that parents will find it inexpressibly advantageous to have preserved the cords of domestic endearment so bright and strong, that

they can easily draw an affectionate child away from snares, and bind him to his natal bower. Many a youth has been saved from ruin in this world, and perdition in the next, by a fond attachment to the scenes and associations of early life. No matter how far a child may be removed from the immediate influence of parental control; so long as this amiable sentiment swells his bosom, and fills his eye, and glows in his correspondence, these cords of love will keep him from falling. Companions that are idle and vicious, that are ignorant and sceptical, will be sure to poison the unsuspecting mind of youth. It is in the circle of such associates, that the hopes of many a parent have found a grave. It is there, that example persuades; argument encourages; exhortation stimulates; flattery deceives; ridicule mocks; and all that is social and sympathetic in man is pressed into the service of sin. Parents may never forget that "he that walketh with wise men shall be wise," but that the "companion of fools shall be destroyed."

Another particular of high importance in the education of children, is the regard due to the Sabbath. I have never known a man of sterling virtue who disregarded the claims of this sacred day. Let a child be allowed to make light of the obligations of this holy season, and regularly as it returns to bless the world, put himself beyond the reach of its smiles; and there is little reason to hope he will become the heir