The truly spiritual man finds in the unseen region of a heavenly existence a source of motive-power, a vast auxiliary, an inexhaustible reserve of strength, coming in aid of natural conscience, which alone is insufficient to direct or reclaim us; but which, reinforced from these divine ranks, irresistibly triumphs with ever-fresh moral victory. Or is this dependence, which we would fain seek, inconsistently forgotten, as, fool-hardy and single-handed venturing into the fight with temptation, we fall under the power of sin? The stinging, degrading sentence of reproach from the spiritual world, with which we are in connection, seconds the upbraidings of our own heart, and recalls us by all the claim and value of that holy approbation we have forfeited, but cannot relinquish while repentance and will are left. Then comes back the Holy Spirit of God, with the escort of his pure and faithful ones, to blow the old peal of duty again into the listening soul; and we spring forth, burning to retrieve our reputation of a celestial favor.

Mortal creature, spirit of Almighty inspiration, clothed in flesh! dost thou see the holy company, "part" of the army that "have crossed the flood," and hear the monitory strain? Living soul, ghost in clay, apparition in time! believest thou only in what comes to thee through these five windows of the senses, so advantageously placed to let in the notices. of material things; or wilt thou credit that thy Maker also fashioned thy heart to yield for the entrance of himself, and retinue of attending spirits? Breather of earthly air, yet partaker of a heavenly privilege; birth of yesterday, yet heir of immortality; mystery to

thyself, definite figure, illimitable being! thy feet do not more surely gravitate to the earth than thy inward nature holds of a loftier sphere. Awake to thy spiritual relations; live up to their solemn dignity. Bind their sanctifying bonds around all the details of earthly pursuit. Insert them, fast and clinging, into every thought and purpose, that, when lower ties part, they may majestically lift thee up.

Prov. xxii. 6.

TRAIN UP A CHILD IN THE WAY HE SHOULD GO; AND, WHEN HE IS OLD, HE WILL NOT DEPART FROM IT.

My purpose is not to give here a general discourse on the common subject of religious instruction, but rather to unfold the principle or method of education, which is stated, though perhaps ordinarily overlooked, in these so familiar and often-quoted words, "Train up a child in the way he should go." I would speak of the nature of training, or the difference between teaching and training, and the necessity of training as well as teaching.

A child may be said to be taught, when in words we clearly convey to his mind any truth, or enjoin upon his conscience any precept. He is trained, when we ourselves so pass before him, in practical illustration of the truth and precept, that he is drawn along after us in the same way. This principle applies peculiarly to moral and religious instruction. All that is wanted to perfect a child in many intellectual branches is to communicate to him in language clear ideas; the end in view being either literal information of certain facts, or the perception of

some scientific doctrine. But, in morals and religion, it is never information or intellectual perception that is the end; they are but means; action, character, is the end; and to give the child the mere means without the end is to mock him with a half-way and barren education, to show him that the holiest words are empty, and the very seed we are sowing in his heart fruitless. Teach morals and religion by all means; but, beyond this, fail not to train also.

Suppose you wish to instruct a child in benevolence or charity. You use the customary language on the subject to describe this crowning virtue. You tell him what it inclines one to do for the needy and suffering; you go on to dilate upon the beautiful sentiments which the exercise of it excites in one's own breast; you refer to distinguished examples of it that have blessed the world; you go up to the highest example, point to the loving Saviour, and read passages from his life in illustration. All this is teaching, and very good teaching. But now, again, you takẹ your child by the hand, and lead him with you into some abode of poverty and want; you let him see with you the necessitous situation of the inmates of that cold and ill-provided dwelling; he marks the yearning of your heart towards them, and his heart swells in sympathy; he hears your friendly and sympathizing words, as, in the equality wherewith Christ hath made us free, you converse with your poor brother or sister; the tear that rises to your eye moistens his also; the satisfaction that exhilarates your soul he shares, as you freely give the needed aid; he witnesses the whole reciprocal action of a living bounty

on your part, and a returning gratitude on the spot. And this is training. Is it not an addition indeed to mere teaching, proceeding from words to things,— an addition as great as when one, from nicely tracing the boundaries of the earth accurately drawn on a little paper-map, should go to traversing the seas and continents of the world; or as when he should look, from the minute starry tracery of a small globe, into the real glory and vastness and endless splendor of the heavens? One such scene will avail more than many lectures to make your child charitable.

Or suppose, again, you would instruct your child in devotion, prayer to God. You speak of the nature of prayer; you speak of that relation to our Maker which makes it reasonable and due; you speak of the happy effects it produces on our own minds, or of the futility of any objections to it; and you earnestly exhort the child to say its prayers morning and night to the great Father and Protector. But to what purpose, if the child is not moreover trained to pray? to what purpose, if the very house he lives in is a prayerless house, a house without an altar of praise and supplication; among all the sounds there that he hears pass and repass between mortal ears, none heard going up to heaven; among all the references made there to human doings, none to an Almighty Will? So far as mere teaching goes, the child must think life ought to turn on the principle of acknowledging and bowing to the Infinite Power and Providence. Yet, in reality, prayer turns out to be a mere topic of discourse. But bridge over this chasm between the lesson and the fact; bend yourself before