238

EDUCATION.

strength and fortitude, aiid, as soon as he is capable of unlovinglife, the principles of life become le-s precarious. Experienceshews, that children delicately educated die in a greater proportionthan others. Provided they are not allowed to exert themselvesbeyond their powers, less risque is run by exercising, than indulg-ing them in ease. Inure them therefore by degrees to those in-convemcncies they must one day sutler. Harden their bodies ‘othe intemperance of the seasons, climates, and elements ; tohunger, thirst, and fatigue ; in a word, dip them in the Stygianflood. Before the body has acquired a settled habit, wo mav _'iv’it any we please without danger; but when it is once arrived toits full growth and consistence, every alteration is hazardous. Achild will bear those vicissitudes which to a man would lie insup-portable. The soft and pliant fibres ot the former readily rich' toimpression ; those of the latter are more r.gid, and are reducedonly by violence to recede from liie forms they have assumed. Viemust therefore bring up a child robust and hearty, without en-dangering either its life or health; and though even some riskwere run in this respect, it would not afford mfuaent came ofhesitation. As soon as a child begins to distinguish obit cts, a pr >-per choice should be made in those which are presented to it.Every new object is n. ins .ily interesting to a child, it finds it-self so weak and feeble, tit .. it is tearful of every thing it is not ac-quainted with. Bn. familiarity, which renders objectsunaff'ecting,destroys thi; timidity. CniUli'en, educ ated in elegant houses,where cobwebs are carefully swept away, are always afraid ofspiders, and retain the same disgust for them as they grow up."What peasant, either man or woman, was ever afraid of a spider?In this view, the educathm of a child evidi nliy begins before itcan speak or understand, since even the cho'ce of objects, pre-sented to its view, is sufficient to render it either timid or coura-geous. They should be habituated then to new objects, to ugly,disgustful, and uncommon animals; beginning with them, how-ever, at a distance, and letting them approach by degrees ; or till,being used to see others handle them themselves. If a child, dur-ing h.s infancy, has been used to regard toads, serpents, or cray-fish, with indifference, he w ill look w ithout horror, as he grows up,on any animal whatever. When a child begins to talk, it weepsless. I'liis progression is natural; one language being only substi-tuted for another. As soon as he can complain in express terms,w hy should he do it by tears > If a child be of a delicate consti-tution, extremely susceptible, and naturally apt to cry for no-thing, we should dry up the source of his tears, by rendering themfruitless. So long as lie continues crying, no one ought to gonear him; but run to him immediately on his becoming silent.His manner of calling us to his assistance would be then bv his si-lence, or, at mo-t, by giving only one cry. It is from the per-ceptible effect of signs, that children judge of their meaning; theysee no other relation between them. Nt hatever mischief a childmay have done to itself, it is very rare for it to cry, when alone,at least if it lias no hopes of Being heard. If a child get a fall, abumu or. bis forehead, make his nose bleed, or cut his lingers ; in-stead of running to him with an air of apprehension, we should re-mem cpiite still, at least for some lime. The mischief is done, andliK-re isn necessity for Ills bearing the pain of it; our over-sulici-tude would only serve to frighten him the more, and increasehis sensibility. ’ In fact, it is less the pain than the fright, whichaffects children on these occasions. We should spare him, at least,t tie : uxietv of the latter; for he will certainly judge of his misfor-tune in a great degree as w e do. If he sees us alarmed, run ea-gerly to his relief, console and pity him, he will think himself un-done: but if he see us apparently indifferent, and make light ofit, he will soon make as light of it himself, and think himself curedas soon as the smart is over. It is at thisage children acquire theirfirst piinciples of courage; and by being inured to slight incon-veniencies, learn by degrees to support greater. Indeed, so farfrom beinix anxious to prevent a child from cutting or hurting him--elf, it is belli r that this should sometimes happen; and that heshould not grow up without feeling pain. '1 he first thing weought to learn, and that which is of the greatest consequence forus to know, is to suffer. It seems as if children were formed littleand feeble only to learn this important lesson without danger. Ifthey fall down, or run against any thing, they neither break a legcor an arm: if they wound themselves with any sharp instrument,i.*je wound is hardly ever fatal, or very dee]). We know, in

short, scarcely any instance of a child, when left at libeitv, hav-ing killed, maimed, or done itself any considerable damage ; un-less, indeed, where it has been imprudently exposed to tumbledown from some high place, to fall into the ffre, or water, or withinthe. reach of some deadly weapon. Instead, therefore, of keeping. in. in the close air 01 his nursery , he should lie taken out every dayinto the open fields. There he might run and play about; and ithe tumbles a hundred times a day, so much the better ; he willInc sooner learn, when down, to get up again. The pleasureof being at liberty will be a sufficient recompence for his falls.As the child advances in years and understanding, it is’of the ut-most consequence to inculcate such principles ot religion, and con--cquently ot morality as are suited to his years and capacity. “ Thefirst and mo-t obvious lesson of morality,” says i >r. Chapman,is, ‘ Not to do til; not to give pain to auotlier.’ This is a lessonw hich cannot be two frequently inculcated upon children. Thisis the safest rule for their conduct, and the surest test of their vir-tue. To this the precept of doing good is but subordinate. Theaversion from doing ill, when once rooted in the mind, will ac-custom children to exercise the understanding m distingu.suingbetween right and wrong; it will check H e violent o of their pas-sions ; it will teach them, if not the most shining, yet the mostuseful virtues in life ; good nature, justice, ami prudence.” Inorder that a child may learn this lesson effectually and to goodpurpose, it is necessary to explain to him in a familiar manner andby some easy comparison, or simile within the compass of bis com-prehension,- that God is his luavenlv father , that by him he is pre-served in the use and exercise of Ins powers of body and mind,that it is God his heavenly father who supplies his earthly parentswith ford, raiment, &c. for his support and convenience. Heshould then he taught that the highest reverence is due to iiisheavenly father, as is also his utmost love. lie should limn be in-formed that as long as he is obedient to Ins heavenly father he w illfind delight and pleasure, but on the contrary when he offends God he will be sure to suffer for it. The child being thus instructed, a foun-dation will be laid, for inculcating not only the above moral lesson,but many others of a similar nature w ilh their opposites. It may nowbe observed to him iiow exc eedingly displeasing it is to God for anyof his creatines lo do ill, or to give pain to another, and by thismeans an abhorrence ot this immorality will be fixed in his breast.Children are so susceptible of instructions, that there is no doubtbut their elicits lo put in practice what lias been communicatedwill soon he perceived, and perhaps they may sometimes lie ob-served to fail in the performance of their duty ; here the parent orinstructor has an opportunity to give them another most useful les-son. Here lie may unfold to his opening reason the natural de-pravity mid wickedness of the human mind, and letting alone allabstruse reasonings on the subject the proof of it is to be given onthe authority of the sacred scriptures, and the observations and ex-perience .ofgood men. He is further to be shewn that he originallybrought himself into this slate by wilfully doing what was wrong,or forbidden by the Creator, and lhat in consequence of his crimeman was become incapable of doing any tiling that is good, andthat had it not been for the love and mercy of God in giv ing aSaviour to redeem man, he must have been miserable and wretchedfor ever. He may now easily be made sensible that the powerof keeping from the commission of evil, and of performing what isright comes from God, and also that God will give, and delightsto give this power to all who ask it in (he name of Jesus Christ ,and that therefore it is necessary thus to ask iiis grace and to use it,in order that we may !>• the partakers of real happiness. Ee.-t anyshould say that these, instructions are too difficult for children ornot sufficiently important, we shall observe lhat they are not sodifficult as some may imagine. 'I lie beauty of onr religion is,that it is plain and easy to be understood, especially by those whoseminds are not prejudic ed by a train of vices, or evil reasonings, andtherefore these obvious, essential, and simple, principles ot Christi-anity arc fit to be presented to the minds of children. It is alsonecessary, whenever reason begins to dawn, that these divine pre-cepts be taught on account of their importance*. This will he evidentto everv one who w ill suffer reason to speak : reason in conjunctionwith tlie sacred oracles informs us that lo do the will of God , tohave a dependence upon him, and to proceed according to his di-rections, must be the same as to do that which will please him, andthat because our happiness or misery entirely depends on his being9 pleased,