comprehension of children, and will be appreciated by them. And we shall beware of neutralizing their efficacy, by speaking of the God of thunder, whose vessels of wrath will be poured out upon His rebellious enemies. These ideas are not taken from the Gospel, which commands us to be perfect, as our Father in heaven is perfect; for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, on the just and on the unjust.

Right Direction of Confidence.

Our confidence in the goodness of the Father may go astray in various ways, and education should guard us against these deviations. First, it may be limited to this transitory life, and only aim at that which the children of this world seek so ardently, and possess with so little real enjoyment. Our course of language, which from first to last aims at the moral cultivation of our pupils, and turns their thoughts to another and a better world, will give the Christian direction to their confidence. It will repeat these words of our blessed Lord: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." On the other hand, to prevent their confidence from turning to the frail possessions of this life, we shall not fear to bring the grave in sight of the cradle, and to remind them that naked came they out of their mother's womb, and naked shall they return thither again. If we succeed in raising their desires towards the things of eternity, they will ask of their Heavenly Father the needful assistance towards attaining them, and they will ask in full confidence of receiving.

Our sedulous endeavours to develope and strengthen their conscience, will not allow them to hope for the crown of righteousness unless they seek it in the only right way; nor to claim an inheritance among the children of God without having enlisted in their ranks, and adopted their principles and conduct. Thus their confidence in Divine goodness will neither be blind nor rash. We have already had frequent occasion to point out the inherent consequences of virtue and vice; and our pupils will understand that if the one is its own proper reward, so is the other its own just chastisement. Nor shall we fail to

observe, that if the wicked could be admitted into heaven, their passions could find no gratification there, and consequently they could only perceive the happiness of the righteous, without finding enjoyment themselves.

Our course of language will also prevent another deviation from right confidence in God; viz., the temerity of expecting everything from above, and supposing that we may sit, with our arms folded, as if man were not to earn his bread in the sweat of his brow-as if heavenly aid could dispense with the obligation of fighting against evil, or striving after holiness.

Here we conclude all that we wished to say on the subject of that piety towards God the Father, which our course of language will seek to inspire. It will be seen that we aim at forming, not Jews, but true Christians, after the model, and upon the lessons of the beloved Son. And these words of the Apostle have been our rule: "Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear, but the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father*."

Piety towards our Blessed Saviour.

"This is life eternal, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sentt."

Christian piety addresses itself first to the Heavenly Father, and then to Jesus Christ, His only Son, whom of His mercy He sent into the world to bring us out of the shadow of darkness, and to lead us to Himself. This Son was born of a woman like ourselves; he partook entirely of our human nature, its wants, its infirmities, and even its temptations; was in all points made like unto us, sin only excepted. He was indeed our brother, as He deigned to call Himself. On the other hand, by a wonderful union of the Divine with the human nature, He was the living Word of the Father on earth, His image, the fulness of His power, God and man in one person.

In pursuance of His work of love, He sacrificed His

* Rom. viii. 20.

+ John xvii. 3.

life upon the cross for us. Such was the price of our salvation. He was to seal His words with His blood; He was to teach us how to die, as well as how to live; He was to die, in order by His resurrection to lay the foundation of His church; and to prove in His own person that death has no power over the immortal spirit, which only yields to it its frail tenement of clay. Lastly, He was to die, innocent and holy as He was, in order to pay the debt due to Divine justice by our guilty race, and to purchase our pardon. He sacrificed Himself for us, and in return His Father and our Father has given Him all power both in heaven and earth; that at His name every knee should bow, and that whoever honoureth the Father should honour the Son likewise, whom He has appointed as mediator between God and man.

Of course we shall not attempt to enter into the depths of this subject. The detached nature of our lessons, the age of our pupils, and the position of the teachers alike require that these should be reserved for a higher teaching. We shall only touch on the subjects which can be adapted to early childhood, and which are at the same time calculated to strengthen its faith in the blessed Saviour, as well as the religious feelings connected with it. These feelings consist, also, of reverence, gratitude, and confidence.

To animate Faith in Jesus Christ.

To believe in Jesus Christ is to have an intimate conviction that He is what He declared Himself to be, sent by the Father to be His organ and representative on earth, His only Son, to whom are entrusted our destinies, in return for the sacrifice which He made of His life for us. In order to be convinced of His divine mission and authority, we have but to weigh with a candid mind and heart, the miracles which He wrought in proof of it; the excellence of His doctrine; His prophecies; the rays of Deity which shone through His veil of flesh; the supernatural work which He accomplished upon earth; the miraculous propagation of His church in spite of the combined opposition of Judaism and Paganism; the astonishing conver

sion of the Apostle of the Gentiles; and lastly, the accomplishment of prophecies which date as far back as sixteen centuries before His birth, and are still in course of fulfilment after a lapse of eighteen more. Here is a series of evidence which leaves nothing to be desired by those who do not wilfully turn away from the light. But most of these considerations require a maturity of mind and an extent of knowledge to which our pupils have not yet attained. They are children who must be fed with milk, and not with strong meat; or, to speak without metaphor, they require striking and palpable proofs of the divine mission of our Saviour. They ask for the marvellous, because they naturally love it, and feel its force. We shall then direct their attention to all the marvels which characterize the person and the works of our Saviour; and the inference to be drawn from them will naturally arise to their young minds, which have not yet been led astray by vice or by sophistry.

We have already recommended that in addition to our exercises on the Life of our Saviour, our pupils should read the Life of our Lord, and be required to give an account of what they read. Our object in this was the example of our blessed Lord, and its effect upon the heart; for our course of language can only give a few detached fragments here and there. We here enforce the same recommendation, because our propositions and phrases can touch but lightly on all the wonders which are the rational foundation of faith in Jesus Christ.

Miracles of our Blessed Lord.

A miracle is a work which exceeds the powers of man and of nature, and which is wrought by the hand of the great Lord and Creator. Men who lay claim to science have gravely affirmed that miracles are impossible; and why? because the laws of nature are inviolable. Undoubtedly they are so for creatures who have not made them, and who are in subjection to them; but not to their Author, who remains superior to them. But here the learned will tell us, that the Creator does not and will not change them, because in His infinite wisdom He has

established the order of nature such as it is. To this we reply, that Divine wisdom has adapted this order to our general exigencies, but, in the course of human affairs, circumstances occur which call for exceptions. If these learned men would but think that the Creator is continually breathing life into the organs which are formed in the womb, and Himself equalizing the sexes, they would not think it extraordinary that He should sometimes intervene in the course of nature, to supply the extraordinary exigencies of His family on earth. Moreover, it is not a question as to the possibility or propriety of miracles, but as to their existence, and particularly of those wrought by our Lord. That once proved, their possibility and propriety follow necessarily.

The miracles of our Saviour may be divided into three classes. By a word, or by a simple act of the will, He cured all kinds of sickness and disease; by a word He recalled the dead to life; by a word He commanded the elements, and multiplied a few loaves and fishes so that after they had fed thousands, more remained over and above than there had been at first.

At the mention of these facts, our children will feel the presence of the Deity. They have no learning, but they have what is far better-good sense. They know very well, without being taught, that the will of man can put his own organs in motion, but that it has no control over human infirmities, that it cannot raise the dead, nor change the order of nature. Whenever our course of language will allude to the cure of the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the paralytic, or to the resurrection of the son of the widow of Nain, they will feel led towards God, and will be ready to go to our Saviour, and say with Nicodemus, "Master, we know that Thou camest forth from God, for no man can do the miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him."

Prophecies of our Saviour.

There are miracles of divine omniscience as well as omnipotence; and of these many were wrought by our