their feet, and a light to their paths;" that they may judge of all things by the balance of the sanctuary," and thence form a just estimate of the value or emptiness of the several objects which men pursue. In every discovery In every discovery which her children make in Divine truth, the careful mother points against the peculiar faults of their characters; and thus attempts to form their judgments, direct their affections, and regulate their will, by the model of holy Scripture. Such is a faint outline of an education truly religious; such is the instruction, by which maternal piety has often aimed, and not seldom with success, at training the souls of children for eternity.

But it will be objected, that however excellent and desirable such an education would be, few parents are capable of thus instructing their own families, and still fewer teachers able to impart even a very small portion of it. I will not attempt to overturn the observation; for one principle which I would desire to impress is, that education, such as deserves the nane, is of all things the most difficult. Ask the parent, who is sensible of the importance of his sacred and interesting duties, and who endeavours to educate his children for happiness and heaven; ask his opinion, and he will tell you, that, sensible of the difficulties which meet him on every side, he rests on God's assistance, and on God's blessing alone, for counsel and for success. Weigh well the recorded experience of Mr. Cecil:-"Nothing is easier than to talk to children: but to talk to them as they ought to be talked to, is the very last effort of ability; it requires great genius to throw the mind into the habit of children's minds." We must not be deceived by the popular cry, that education is an easy or a trifling matter; that one master, perhaps a half-grown boy, is capable of educating a school of five hun

dred children: nay, more, that the school might almost do without a master, and the children instruct themselves! Is it not a manifest absurdity, that when an enlightened and affectionate parent finds difficulty in instructing his five or six little ones, that a raw uninformed youth, ignorant of his own character, and of the various movements and motives of the human heart, shall succeed in educating a large school, assisted only by a dozen children, yet more ignorant than himself? The fact appears to be, that the improved system does not, and cannot adopt a high standard of instruction, and provide means for its attainment. It considerably lowers and limits the bounds of education, and then adopts a course, certainly very ef fectual, for arriving at the end proposed. Its objects are chiefly the mechanical accomplishments of reading and writing; and, caught with the dazzling idea of wholesale instruction, its advocates are too apt to overlook the impression which is made on each individual child. And yet it is astonishing to any one who has not made the experiment, how well a child may write, spell, and read, and yet how little his mind may be exercised on the subject before him. These remarks apply more particularly to the schools in connection with Mr. Lancaster. The system of questioning adopted in Dr. Bell's schools, raises the tone of instruction there considerably. Still, however, these questions appear to me to fall far short of what may truly be termed religious instruction, however valuable they may be as an initiatory exercise. On this subject I cannot avoid referring you to "Hints to Conductors of Schools," written by Miss Hamilton; a work, which, I conceive, deserves to be deeply studied by all interested in Christian education, and by which much of the preceding letter has been suggested.

I shall, before I conclude, advert

to a few objections which may be made to the adoption of the more perfect system here recommended. First, It may be said, that its a doption will prevent the establishment of such numerous and crowded schools; secondly, That it would not answer in places where diver sity of religious opinions prevails; and, thirdly, That it would be difficult, nay quite impossible, from the want of proper teachers, to carry it into effect. With respect to the first objection, I shall merely reply, first, That my intention in these remarks, is not so much to discourage the present wholesale plan of instruction, as to endeavour to call the public attention to the fact, that there are objects to be attained by instruction, much higher, and more excellent, than can be expected from numerous and crowded schools. Let those, then, who are qualified, aim at these objects, and not be satisfied with any thing short of their full attainment. Let them not estimate the good done by the number of pupils instructed, rather than by the quality of the instruction imparted. It is surely better to do a little good, and do that little well, than to aim at extended benefits; which produce effects more specious than solid, more shewy than durable. Should the half-formed painter ridicule the finished artist, because, while he produced a picture every week, the latter did not finish one within the year, would not the more experienced master smile at his ig norance, as the indignant painter in history? "It is not the number, but the quality of your pictures, which will give you professional celebrity. Those which you paint, may, by their glitter, attract the eye; but, from their texture, and their colouring, cannot long endure. Mine is well worth all the labour which I bestow upon it: 1 paint for eternity."

With respect to those who differ widely from us in religious opinions, and who, therefore, cannot

be expected to participate in the more high and exalted parts of education, I would pursue the following course. I would not prevent them from attending the school; and I would adopt, during their stay there, such exercises as they will join in: under the conviction, that, to take them from the street, or the high road, to accustom them to sit quietly, to go through their exercises with regularity and order, and to submit contentedly to lawful authority, has a tendency to civilize their habits, and to correct and restrain many evils of their nature and it is better to have a civilized than an uncivilized population. I would teach them to read, and to write; -for the more we give man a taste for intellectual enjoyments, or at least give him the power of acquiring it, the less will he be disposed to sensuality and disorder; the more we furnish him with independant sources of pleasure, the less will he be tempted to join in the wild revelry of the alehouse. But shall we purchase these temporal and social blessings for the many, by also limiting the instruction of those over whom we may exercise unfettered influence, to that scanty portion which the others may be permitted to receive? Shall we deprive them of that instruction which may conduce to their eternal happiness, merely in order that we may communicate to the others that which may possibly tend to their worldly respectability and temporal welfare? Shall we deprive ourselves of the comfortable reflection, that we have done our utmost to train up the children under our care, "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," for the more shewy, but less solid pleasure of a reputation for liberality, and the appearance of a numerously attended school? Let us dismiss from our minds the love of display, and let us be satisfied with doing real good to those children whom we instruct, be their number great or small. And let

us be persuaded, that the criterion of good education consists, not in the quantity of knowledge which the child acquires, but in distinct ideas well understood, and welldigested truths received into the heart and actuating the conduct. This truly deserves the name of education; where the powers of the understanding and the heart are elicited together, and mutually strengthen and correct each other. One text of Scripture well marked, learned, and inwardly digested, is of more value than an entire Gospel merely committed to memory. One child maternally and piously educated, is worth one hundred half-instructed pupils of the school of five hundred children. Let us, then, not be satisfied that our children shall be taught to read and to write let us examine, narrowly, whether the powers of their minds are developed and exercised-whether they are thus rendered capable of considering and understanding what they read. Let us accurately ascertain the extent of our pupil's knowledge and ignorance, and let us feel that we have attained but little, unless he attaches distinct ideas to each word which he uses. Let us not stop even here; but let us endeavour to be fully acquainted with the disposition and character of each individual child; its peculiar faults, temptations, dangers, and advantages; that we may “rightly divide the word of truth," and be able to use the experience of the child, as an ally to produce good impressions on his mind. Thus shall we, as nearly as possible, follow the example of the pious and wise mother.

Shall we, then, suffer the difficulty to deter us from the attempt? True there is difficulty;-but what human path is not beset with difficulty? What human prize can be gained without a struggle? And shall the friends of the human race, shall those who have the eternal happiness of their fellow creatures at heart, aud who may

confidently expect a blessing from Heaven to further their success; shall they alone be disheartened at each obstacle; shall they start back at every shadow, and exclaim with the slothful man, "There is a lion in the path?" Let us rather be stedfast, immoveable, always abounding in this the work of the Lord, and we may be assured our labour will not be in vain. Let us not be weary in well doing, and in due time we shall abundantly reap if we faint not. J. D. L.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I AM glad to find that the latecontroversy respecting baptism has a little subsided, and hope that I shall not be considered as provoking it anew, if I throw together a few general ideas connected with the question.

In attempting to form an opinion on the subject, it seems to me requisite, in the first place, to affix precise, if not clear, ideas to the terms of the question. And as the external form scarcely admits of more ideas than one in a member of our church; and I feel myself quite satisfied, both as to the persons who administer it, and the time and manner of its administration; I pass on to the spiritual grace.

And here it occurs to me, that all spiritual improvement must consist, either in a change in the soul itself, by which it becomes capable of happiness, or of a higher degree of happiness; or in a change of its relations and circumstances, by which happiness, or a higher degree of it, is placed within its reach; or, lastly, in a combination of the two. Some, who have treated of spiritual regeneration, seem to have confined their idea of it to the first of these changes; while others have dwelt, almost exclu sively, on the second. But I cannot adopt the exclusive view of the former; because an actual change in the soul seems to me necessarily to imply a change of relation, as well

towards God as towards every good and every evil being; and this concomitant, or consequent, change of circumstances, seems also necessary to arise from the idea of a moral Governor of the world. Nor can I adopt the exclusive view of the latter; because the immutable nature of God leads me to conclude, that every change of relation between him and other beings must arise from a change in them; (whether wrought in them, or self-effected, is not the question;) and I know not how to connect the idea of his perfect justice with a change of circumstances affecting the final happiness and misery of moral agents, unless it arise from some change in the agents themselves. I find myself, therefore, obliged to consider spiritual regeneration both as an actual and relative change; or, in more specific terms, as the first motion of the soul towards sanctification, accompanied by justification in the sight of God, and its necessary consequence, eternal salvation*.

After this definition of the terms, I proceed to the question itself. But when I inquire," Is spiritual regeneration always co-existent with the external rite of baptism?" it immediately occurs to me, that a change in the nature, relations, and circumstances of the soul being, in itself, visible to God only, it is natural to apply to Divine Revelation, in the first place, for information concerning it, When, therefore, I turn to the Christian Scriptures, I find no room to doubt the necessity of the external rite of baptism, established, as it is, on the personal command of Christ, and handed down to perpetual obligation by the constant practice of the Apostles, after their reception of "the Spirit of Truth," who was

It is not, of course, intended to represent regeneration as the meritorious cause, or even the instrument, of justification; but simply to shew, that justification, which is a change of relation to God, cannot take place without re. generation.

to "guide them into all truth;”or the necessity of spiritual regeneration, as plainly and repeatedly asserted;—or a certain intimate connexion between them in the minds of the Apostles, when they used the phrases, "laver of regeneration," "washed, sanctified, justified," &c.;-or the appointment of baptism, under certain circumstances, as the medium of one kind of spiritual benefit, and the certain prelude to another kind; which is implied in the exhortation of St. Peter, "Repent, and be baptized, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Further information than this I have sought in vain from the Scriptures. Some have thought the necessary connexion of baptism and regeneration to be asserted in our Saviour's declaration to Nicodemus; but that declaration, were the literal interpretation of it absolutely certain, seems to prove nothing but the equal necessity of both. The baptism of Christ himself, considered as a type of the subsequent baptisms of his followers, although it most beautifully and significantly represents, by the descent of the Spirit, the communication of a higher degree of spiritual grace, than was before possessed; and, by the voice from heaven, the justifying declaration of God, to every one who duly receives the rite, as our Saviour did; yet is manifestly inadequate to the proof, that the due performance of the rite, on the part of those who administer it, is necessarily accompanied by any spiritual communication. The analogy between baptism and circumcision, if it be established by sufficient scriptural authority, cannot prove that spiritual benefit is conveyed by the one, unless it be certain, that temporal blessings, correspondent with the promises of the elder covenant, were, in all cases, necessarily conveyed by the other. And, on a comprehensive view of scriptural declarations and

intimations, I dare not conclude that they afford sufficient proof of the connexion of baptism and regeneration, while the cautionary remark of St. Peter, that the "bap tism," which "saveth us," is "not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God," seems, at least, as much to separate them, as they are united in other passages; and while the asserted withholding of all spiritual benefits from one individual, who came to baptism without a due disposition, seems as strongly to imply, that such benefits are not given, without that disposition; as the conferring of them upon others, who possessed it, that, with such a disposition, they are certainly conferred.

The Scriptures having thus left me, as I imagine, without a specific answer to the question, I am reduced to the necessity of appealing to reason, and the observation of effects. The propriety of an appeal to reason and experience, if it could need authority, seems amply sanctioned by our Saviour's express reference to both: Why, even of yourselves, judge ye not what is right? and "the tree is known by its fruits." Here it becomes necessary to consider the two cases of baptism, as administered to adults, and to infants. When, therefore, it is stated, that the baptism of an adult is strictly contemporary with his spiritual regeneration, a doubt immediately arises in my mind, whether this statement can possibly be correct. For it appears to fall into this dilemma: The person comes to his baptism, either with a due disposition, or without it:-the disposition, prerequisite for baptism, consists of repentance and faith; but these are evidences of no inconsiderable advancement of the soul towards sanctification, which could not have been made without a previous communication of the preventing grace of God:-and, if he come without this disposition,

it is certainly quite incredible, that God should accompany that form with any spiritual benefit, which, on the part of the person receiving baptism, can be only a solemn mockery, or a profane presumption. When, on the other hand, spiritual regeneration is ascribed to the baptism of an infant, no ob. jection, indeed, can be made to the absence of a prerequisite disposi tion, which, except on some peculiar scheme, can in no case be expected; but if a portion of spiritual grace, and a proportionate improvement of the soul, be communicated to an infant in baptism, is it not reasonable to expect, that this improvement should be, in some measure, discoverable in its effects? It was imparted, independently of the will and moral agency of the recipient; and, therefore, the want of these seems to present no obstacle to its operation in those faculties which are not wanting. Every child is capa ble of love and dislike, and of a fretful and cruel, or a sweet and gentle, temper. Is it not, therefore, reasonable to expect that its regeneration would discover itself, by giving an amiable turn to the dispositions and affections? Or if, although imparted independently of choice and action, it be yet incapable of independent operation, may we not then expect to discover some trace of its existence, in a gradual inclination to truth and rectitude, as the recipient advances towards maturity? But it appears to be generally acknowledged, that a comparison of baptized children with unbaptized, where they are not distinguished by other circumstances, will not justify the indulgence of any such expectation. There are, indeed, those who seem to confine the idea of infant regenetion to a change of relation and circumstances. But not to have recourse to any other argument, this idea, I conceive, can have no other foundation, than that, on which many ancient fathers of the