MATT. iii. 7-12; iv. 4, 7, 10, 11; v. 2—12, 21-24, 38-48 ; Mark, ii. 21, 22; vi. 45-52; vii. 20-23; viii. 33–38; ix. 43 Luke, i. 32, 33, 68-87; ii. 10-14; 29-35; iii. 10-14; iv. John, i. 1-14, 47; iii. 1-3, 5, 6, 14–21; iv. 10, 13, 14, 23, Acts, i. 11, from "ye;" ii. 41-47; iv. 19, 20; vii. 54-60; Rom. i. 16; ii. 28, 29; vi. 1—14; xi. 33-36; xii; xv. 1 1 Cor. i. 17-31; ii. 2-5, 12-14; iii. 18-20; x. 12, 13, 31 2 Cor. iv. 16-18; v ; x. 4, 5; xii. 7—10. Gal. v. 19-26; vi. 1-5, 7-9, 14–16. Eph. i. 15-23; ii. 1-10; iii. 14-21; iv. 1-6, 17–32; v. Phil. i. 9-11; ii. 1—18; iii. 7—16; iv. 4—9, 11—13. Colos. i. 9-23; iii. 1-17. 1 Thess. ii. 1-12; iii. 7—13; iv. 1. to “sanctification" in 3 1 Tim. vi. 6-16. 2 Tim. i. 7—12; ii. 11–13; iii. 14-17; iv. 6-8. Tit. ii. 3-5, 11-15; iii 1-8. Heb. i.; ii.; iv. 12-16; xii, 1-14; xiii. 20, 21. Jam. i. 2-8, 13, 14, 26, 27; iii. 17, iv. 1-4, 6-8, 13—16.; 1 Pet. i.; ii. 1-3, 18-25; iii, 1—4, 7—16; v. 5—11. 2 Pet. i. 5-8. 1 John, i. 3-10; ii. 1-6, 9-11, 15-17; iii. 1-3, 14-18, Jude, 20, 21, 24, 25. Rev. i. 4-8; ii. 2-" churches" in 11; iii. 1-11, 14, 22; v. 9, from "for" 14; vi. 12-17; vii. 9-17; xi. 15–18; xv. 1-4; xix. 5—16; xx. 11—15; xxi. 3—8, 27; xxii. 12-17. Extract of an original letter written by a Lady of Boston to her friend. "When I returned from your house last week, I felt disposed to call myself to account for the freedom with which I had spoken on the necessity of restraining those infant passions which were then disturbing your peace, and to fear that I had offended you, or at least made you think me very opinionated and presuming. I have seen you since, and the kindness of your manner banished the fear of your anger, and has even encouraged me to put your candour and patience to a still severer trial. It is vain to apologize; believe (if you can) that no confidence in my own wisdom, no love of dictating to others, influences me to write. Mingled with esteem, my heart is full of gratitude and love toward you; most willingly would I show it, by striving according to my humble abili ty to promote your true happiness. I have often observed, with a feeling of acute pain, that the fondness of your maternal affection is leading you into errours, which I fear you are not sufficiently aware of. Your lovely and promising child is an object of delight to all who know her; but, my dear friend, you already find that with the gold is mingled a base alloy. Let not the word offend you the knowledge of the disease is more than half the remedy. Sentimentalists may talk of the charms of infant innocence, and philosophers rave of the dignity of human nature; but you and I are christians, and are not bound to form our opinions and regulate our practice by any other standard. The infallible word of God teaches us, that the human heart is corrupt, and rebellious, and prone to evil, as the sparks fly upward. These truths we readily believe, and I hope deeply feel; but, with regard to our children, do we not act as if we doubted their reality shut our eyes to the inference, hoping of that the violence is transient, or the selfishness accidental; or that reason, as it acquires strength, will correct all that is amiss? But we forget that the taint is not acquired, but inherent, that it operates to pervert the understanding, as well as to corrupt the heart, and that reason, when it arrives at the maturity of its strength, and is cultivated to its utmost perfection, is (unaided by divine grace) but a slave in bondage to the passions. Though you may not perhaps have viewed the subject in so strong a light, I believe you will acquiesce in the truth of these things; and it is not so much in the error of judgment, that your danger lies, as in want of resolution to subdue the pleadings of maternal fondness, and look with a steady eye to the real good and welfare, the final happiness your child. In this, as in every other part of our christian warfare, we should apply to Him, whose grace is sufficient for us, and who will undoubtedly bless our humble and zealous endeavours to bring our children up for him. Self-will is the Hydra you have to combat; it must be watched in all its doublings and pursued to all its winding places; it will show itself in as many forms as the fabled Proteus-but maternal vigilance will detect it in all, and if you suffer yourself to be baffled in one instance, you only prepare for yourself new conflicts. Let not this discourage you; make the experiment, and you will find how soon the violence that is met by firmness will subside. If you are really determined, severity will soon become unnecessary, for I never yet saw the child who could not read a mother's resolution in her eye. Will you trust my experience for the fact, that until you have attained a complete ascendency over your child's spirit, it is in vain to expect improvement even in knowledge. No solid acquirements can be made without steady attention and laborious efforts, and no child is capable of such attention or such efforts, who has not been inured to habits of self-control by early submission to legitimate authority. The bright intelligence of your dear little girl is all in your favour; she will soon see the motive of your conduct, and repay with tenfold affection every effort you make for her good; she will feel, that by subduing her temper you increase her happiness. I have just read in Scott's Essays' the following sentence, to which I give my hearty assent. The more any one studies human nature and repeats the actual experiment, the fuller will be his conviction, that all attempts to educate children without correction, and to treat them as rational and independent agents, before they are able to use their reason or liberty, arise from forgetfulness of their innate depravity, and will ultimately fail." The great Dr. Johnson has left it as his opinion, that 'personal chastisement, by the hand of a judicious parent, is preferable to any other mode of punishment-produces the desired end with less suffering to the child, and enables the parent better to decide the exact moment when passion has exploded and penitence begins." And af ter all, what is it that your sensitive heart shrinks from ? surely the blows that your hand inflicts will never injure your child in life or limbs, and believe me, a sound whipping, judiciously administered, will often save her hours of fretting and floods of tears. Besides, whenever you suffer disobedience or perverseness to go unpunished, you counteract the effects of your own instruction; you teach your child that the all-seeing eye is ever upon her, that all her childish faults are known to him, and that he is angry with the wicked every day. Now the only species of wickedness, with which she is acquainted, is disobedience; she has frequently made the experiment, and escaped with impunity; and depend upon it, she will draw the inference, if not in words, yet practically, that either he does not see, or will not punish. And the effect of this, in searing the conscience; must be obvious to you, as well as to me. "I shall be grieved but not surprised, if you are a little offended at my presumption; yet I am bound by every tie of friendship to risk something, when the object is your happiness. PRICE 75 cts. single-$7.50 per doz. |