to establish it in the preeminence which, by the ordinance of the Creator, belongs to it; that it comprehends moral instruction, the teaching what the duties are, and moral training, or the formation of moral habits; and we have seen what knowledge of the human constitution is necessary to qualify us to understand and to perform this part of our duty.

What, then, are we to do to awaken the conscience, on the supposition that it has not already been done before the child is sent to school? I say awaken, because I believe that instruction can do nothing to create what does not already exist. The conscience is there, at the bottom of the heart; but it may be that it sleeps. From utter neglect it may have become torpid. The fire kindled by the hand of God still burns; it is not extinguished, though it may give no light; it may be dim from a parent's neglect; it may be smouldering under the ashes of early sin. What shall we do to rekindle it and raise it to a flame? What have the teachers of righteousness in all ages done? What the inspired lawgiver and prophets of the Jews? What did the Saviour do? He addressed himself directly to the conscience. "Swear not at all." "Resist not evil."

asketh thee." "Be ye perfect." kingdom of God."

"Give to him that

"Seek ye first the

So must we address ourselves directly to the conscience. But to be felt, the address must come from the conscience. Formal words have no effect. Dull dissertations, or sermons upon duty, serve only to create apathy. Words that burn, must come from a heart kindled as by a live coal from off the altar. A few such words, uttered from a deep and sincere conviction of duty, go to the

conscience, and will hardly fail to arouse it. If the children have been made familiar with the vital moral teachings of the New Testament, it will be sufficient to show, of any particular duty, that it flows naturally from that fountain; or that a particular vice is forbidden, directly or indirectly, there. If the child be not familiar with these truths, the teacher must hasten to make him so. And for this purpose the lessons of the Great Teacher must be daily read, and their application to the whole circle of human duties pointed out. Moral teaching in school must be essentially like moral instruction in the pulpit. Both must come from the same source. The long and profound discourses of the pulpit are but too seldom fitted to the comprehension or condition of a child; and there are but too many children to whom the voice of religious instruction will never come but in the school-house. But whoever believes that life and immortality are brought to light in the gospel, must look thither for aid in awakening the dormant energies of the immortal soul.

In thus speaking of the gospel as the great source of moral and religious light, I would not confine others to this alone. If any one finds that he can gain light from other sources, let him obtain it thence. I only say that, for myself, I must first go to Jesus Christ. In his Sermon on the Mount, and in his other discourses, I find instruction which the voice within me assents to and confirms, for which I look in vain to all other beings that have lived. In his parable of the talents, I find a command which comes with more authority, the more I dwell upon it, to cultivate to the utmost every faculty with which I have been endowed; and this

listen to every voice For our office is no

is the lesson which it may teach others. We must obtain assistance wherever we can find it. Beginning here, we must look through creation and time, interrogate history, and the course of things, and which promises to give us wisdom. less than to teach all the laws of nature and of Providence; those which govern the body and the intellect ; those which relate to our moral and religious nature. We must, therefore, understand and point out our relation to God, the Creator of the body as well as the soul, the Author of all laws,-the material and organic, as well as the mental and inoral. And it is only by insisting upon the duty of obedience to all of God's laws, that we can render the empire of conscience coëxtensive with our relations to all of his creatures.

We have next to inquire what tends directly to enlighten and cultivate this moral sense.

The same means by which we have sought to awaken it, direct addresses to it. In regard to every act, we are to ask, or lead the child to ask, “Is it right?" not, "Is it expedient ?" "Will it be well thought of? Will it advance me in other men's estimation?" but, “Is it right?" "Is it consistent with God's laws?" "Is it kind ?"

And here I would make a suggestion which is of importance. It should be our object not to impose the laws of our own conscience upon our pupils, but to excite theirs to action. The difference is infinite. In one case, we make blind followers; in the other, independent agents. In the one case, we make respect for our opinions, thoughts, or reason, their guide; in the other, their own perceptions of right and wrong. In the one case, we

give them a thread, by holding which they may be able to follow us as long as we are with them; in the other, we place within them a guide, ever watchful, and constantly more intelligent, to accompany them through life.

The conscience is to be enlightened by giving instruction in regard to the various duties. The child must be first made to understand his relation to the Creator, and a deep sense of His universal presence must be impressed upon him. His attributes must be dwelt upon; his infinite goodness, his all-comprehending wisdom, his boundless power, his holiness, his justice, and the thence resulting duties of habitual reverence and worship. The profanity of children is more frequently thoughtlessness than deliberate impiety, and a desire to offend God. And frequent addresses upon his character and presence, will be more effectual than any thing else to correct it.

Intelligible and striking illustrations of the goodness of God may be drawn from the external creation, the beauty of the fields, the waters, the sky, and the objects which live and move therein, the grateful variations of the seasons, the balmy air, the pleasant light, the happiness of existence. From the same source may be drawn illustrations of his wisdom, and especially from the wonderful structure of our own body. His power is shown in the vastness of the creation, in the sun and stars, and the motions and perfect regularity of all his great works. The sublime account of the creation, in Genesis, and many glorious passages in the Psalms and in the Prophets, may be read to children in school to impress these great truths upon them.

Some of you may ask why I insist upon these common-places of the pulpit. I answer, because I believe,

if such considerations were properly, naturally, and with the unaffected feelings which belong to them, presented to children, they might be made to grow up with an habitual sense of God's presence in his works,-so that all things seen should continually remind them of Him.

Every object in creation is different, and the minister of different feelings and thoughts, according to the view we have been accustomed to take of it. A tree, according as we look upon it, is either a mere tall, growing thing, to be cut into fuel, or sawn into plank, or it is one of the noblest and most beautiful of God's works, rising toward heaven, as should our prayers, bringing the influence of the clouds upon the earth, sheltering cattle beneath its shade, and birds in its branches, ministering, by its shape, its colors, and its motion, to man's sense of beauty, and exhibiting, in its admirable structure, such laws of arrangement, growth, strength, durability, as tax man's utmost wit to understand and admire. Should not children, if possible, be so instructed, as to see whatever of good and beauty there is to be seen, in every part of the creation, so that they may ever walk as in God's temple? Should they not be so educated that their daily and constant associations with the objects which present themselves to their senses, may be on the side of benevolence and happiness, of wisdom and truth? The exalted strains of Milton, Thomson, Cowper, Young, Coleridge, Bryant, and other poets, may be employed for the same purpose. Portions of them, after a full and feeling explanation from the teacher, may be committed to memory, so that, while the imagination is stored with images of beauty, the memory may furnish fit expression for the feelings they suggest. To a person