And here we must not confine ourselves to outward acts, but we must point out the interior results of good and evil affections. We shall not, indeed, tell children that the first are agreeable because they are in harmony with our nature, and that the others are bitter because they are in opposition to it; but we shall direct their attention to the facts, and make them observe and appreciate the difference. They will not have attained to their age without having experienced, or at least without having seen, that right affections impart serenity to the mind, to the whole intercourse of life, and even to the features of the face; while evil affections sadden the heart, and this sadness infects the countenance, the words, and the whole bearing of the guilty. Our course of language will dwell on such of these points as are suited to the capacity of the pupils, and the Bible History will furnish many useful examples. Then we shall afterwards come to the general maxims of the Gospel: such as,-"He that committeth sin is the servant of sin;" and, "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Thus from the early spring-tide of life, teachers ought to familiarize their pupils with these subjects, lest the habit of evil should render them blind and incorrigible.

Passing on from this life to that beyond the tomb, our course of language will seek to engrave on the hearts of its pupils this great Gospel truth, "As a man sows, so shall he also reap." Conscience, once awakened, will seize it; for it insists on justice being carried out more fully than it can be in this transitory life, which is the time of trial, not of retribution. It is easy to make children understand these things, because they are written in their consciences: and it is the duty of education to impress them, because these children will soon be sent forth into the world, to contend with temptations of various kinds, with evil example, and with those baneful doctrines which infidelity has propagated in the vain hope of escaping from the remorse and fear which must ever be he portion of guilt.

As to the nature of future rewards and punishments,

our course of language will not encroach upon regular religious instruction, but will pave the way for it by its elementary lessons. As it insists on the distinction between body and soul, it will make children understand, that on quitting this world, the good and the wicked will still be such as they were here below, they will retain the same disposition, the same virtues and vices, and they will remember what they have willed and done in this life. Thence our pupils will easily infer, that the fate of the two classes must be widely different, and that between the two an impassable gulf will be fixed, as is described in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. In that future state, the wants of our earthly tabernacle, its pleasures and its pains, will cease; and there also the good and the wicked will no longer be mingled together; but virtue will be its own full reward, and vice its own proper punishment. All this may be rendered intelligible by our course of language, which will pave the way for the more advanced instruction that will follow.

The want of Self-esteem.

Self-esteem is, as we have said, one of the elements of the personal tendency, and a powerful lever in human nature, though without any determinate object. It generally disinclines us to every thing that we think little or low, or mean, to every thing dishonourable or disgraceful; whilst it urges us on the contrary to what we deem grand, and sublime, and noble, to all that is honourable and glorious. Here every thing turns on the standard that we form of grandeur or littleness, of disgrace or honour, of glory or shame.

And here too we shall not only find a strange and infinite variety, but the utmost discrepancy of opinion. Therefore, education must hasten to give the right direction to this confused mass of ideas, by bringing it into harmony with the moral tendency, which can and ought to render important service to education.

In this our course of language will follow the example of our blessed Lord; for was it not in reference to this longing for self-esteem that He uttered the following words

to His countrymen, to whom the publicans and heathen were objects of sovereign contempt ?

"For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the Publicans the same?

"And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the Publicans so?

"Be ye

therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect *."

How sublime is the object which He thus places before the eyes of His disciples, in order to animate their hearts, and form them aright!

Our course of language will eagerly follow the direction given by our Lord; and in order to accomplish its task, will react on the various delusions which feed the vain glory of men; and will seek to turn the thoughts and affections of its pupils towards virtue, which can alone impart true dignity and merit. Thus it will enlist a powerful main-spring in human nature on the side of conscience and of the innate love of right.

The first part of its task is vast indeed, for the generality of men place honour anywhere but where it really is. In this respect they may be divided into two classes: those of the first think to find it in themselves, and in this are not far from the truth; but instead of regarding the qualities of the heart, they go no farther than those of the head, or worse still, stop short at those of the outward man, which indeed is theirs, but is not their own proper self. The second and most numerous class is composed of those who look to fortune, luxury, dignities, rank, reputation, &c., and imagine that they themselves acquire value when they obtain these objects of their ambition. Our educative course will combat all these illusions, in order to guard our pupils against the snares which will beset them.

By thus dispelling the illusions of vain glory, it will not indeed give to the instinct we are now considering its right bias, but it will dispose the heart to receive it. On other hand, in proportion as the mind is directed to

* Matt. v. 46-48.

true grandeur and true merit, it will escape from the extravagancies of self-conceit. God alone is great ; and it is the greatness of God which our Lord sets before us, when He exhorts us to raise our minds to it, in order to acquire that glory which never fails. It is not the omnipotence or the omniscience of God, which He proposes for our imitation, for how should the creature attain to them? But it is the goodness of the Heavenly Father, who makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, on the just and on the unjust it is this universal, this free, this unchangeable goodness, which we are to endeavour to transcribe in our feelings and conduct, that we may become perfect as our Father in heaven, that we may be His living images on earth.

Our pupils can never indeed come up to the measure of Divine goodness, which scatters its gifts throughout the Universe, but they may receive His goodness into their hearts and cherish it; and this seed once sown, will produce its fruit in the conduct, in measure as time and circumstance will permit. Our course of language will also take frequent occasion to point out this ineffable goodness as displayed in the arrangements of nature, and in the care of Providence; as well as to direct towards it that craving after greatness and glory which is innate in all our hearts, but which is so apt to go astray in our path through life. It will furthermore, in the fulfilment of its task, lead the pupils to appreciate the greatness of the well-beloved Son, who was nevertheless born of a woman, like ourselves, and who, when He took upon Him our nature, was in all things made like unto us, sin only excepted.

The Father undoubtedly is not far from every one of us, for in Him we live, and move, and have our being, as said the Apostle at Athens*. Nevertheless He is not so near to us as the Son of man, who has shared our wants, our infirmities, our sorrows, our temptations, our conflicts; and who loved to call Himself our brother, because He was such in heart, and as regarded His human

* Acts xvii. 28.

nature, although the Divine nature was combined with it, as it never can be in a mere creature. Our Saviour has exhibited to us in Himself a perfect model of Divine goodness: and He has shown to us in His life and in His death, how man may be here on earth, amidst all the dangers and infirmities of his mortal condition, a living image of that Divine goodness. Thus our Saviour is nearer to us than is His Father and our Father; and we can, if it may be allowed to us so to express ourselves, better sympathize with Him, because He is Divine goodness incarnate; and we have in Him a model as beautiful as it is perfect, of what that true human greatness is to which we should endeavour to aspire.

We have endeavoured throughout our book, to trace out this model, however imperfectly; and so will also our course of language, in its numerous series of examples; but it must be remembered, that in order to supply the deficiencies resulting from its peculiar frame and progress, a special history of the life of our Lord should be added to these exercises, in order to second and to insure their effect.

One advantage entails others. By turning the thoughts and hearts of our pupils towards true human greatness, we gratify the innate love of right which they bring with them to our lessons. But we do more: they also bring with them a propensity to imitation; which is as vague in its nature as the propensity of which we have now been speaking, and the same treatment will suit both. It is certain that the finest preaching will not produce as much effect on the heart as good example, particularly if it is an example that commands our love. And how, I ask, can any man who is worthy of the name of man, still less can any child who is yet unspoilt by vice, learn to know our Saviour, without feeling drawn towards Him, and wishing to walk in His steps?

There is in human nature another spring, which the example of our Saviour will set in action, and will enlist on the side of the love of what is right: viz., the innate ove of the beautiful. Our course of language will therere appeal to this spring also in the heart, whenever it