I command thee, shall be in thine 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 liest down, and when thou risest up." At a very early age, let children be taught the being, perfections, and government of God; the entire apostacy and alienation of the human heart from holiness; the method of redemption by Jesus Christ; the necessity of the regenerating and sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit; the loveliness and beauty of religion; the joy and honors of an unreserved devotement to Jesus Christ; the precious promises which comfort, and sustain

the godly, and the awful terrors which await the ungodly, in the world of everlasting retribution. The instruction given to them should be systematic and periodical; and it should be incidental and frequent. Let them early be made familiar with the Scriptures. Let their memories be stored with its history, its biography, its truths. Let them also be stored with easy and familiar catechisms, prayers, and sacred hymns. It cannot be too deeply regretted, that this ancient usage has fallen so much into disuetude. Let unwearied pains be taken to divert the attention of children from light and pernicious reading, to that which is profitable. I am thoroughly, and more and more persuaded,

that the great mass of novels and plays exert a pernicious influence, both on the intellectual and moral character. Let children be committed to teachers that will exert no unhallowed influence on their youthful minds, but the rather, an influence that shall charm and win them to the love of virtue and godliness. And thus let their minds be so pre-occupied with the best furniture, that they shall have little room for noxious and polluting guests. There is a backwardness in many parents to converse with their children on religious subjects, which is altogether inexcusable. They ought not indeed to surfeit their children with religious conversation. Every opportunity of instruction, of expostula

tion should be well timed, and never made tedious. In conversing with them on the great subject of their soul's salvation, they should address them with all affection and tenderness, and urge and entreat them to flee from the wrath to come. Their children should see that this is a subject in which the hearts of their parents feel the deepest and most tender concern; a subject which draws tears from their eyes, and persuasion from their tongue; a subject on which all the ardor and strength of their affection flow forth in "thoughts that glow, and words that burn." To exert the happiest influence, in these respects, it were wise to select the seasons best adapted both to the state of

our children's minds, and our own. There are seasons of embarrassment and tenderness, and there are seasons of exposure, in the history of children, of which a wise parent will avail himself to address to them the most powerful and affecting expostulations. And there are seasons, when parents themselves think much, feel deeply, and pray earnestly, for the salvation of their children; and from such seasons, such feelings, and such prayers, they may repair with a delightful fullness of soul, to solemn and affecting interviews with their children, and with more than usual hopes of success. And these are services which parents themselves should perform. Of all the instruction best