[For the Unitarian Advocate.] EVENING HYMN. Father, thy mercies never fail; Again the evening shades prevail, Beneath thy sun's all-cheering ray And thrice my strength refresh'd has been Thy works, all-beautiful and good, All speak thy wisdom, love and might. When darkness veils the earth and skies, Kept by thy all-sustaining power, Wrapt in the soft embrace of sleep, While my tired frame in mimic death And without dying learn to die. J. F. S. VOL. I.-NO. III. 14 150 SUNDAY SCHOOLS. SUNDAY SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. In the instruction given in Sunday schools great care should be taken to avoid a narrow and mechanical routine of exercises, as injurious to the mind. Lessons should be drawn from as wide a range of subjects as the teacher finds conducive to mental activity and earnest attention, on the part of the scholars, as well as to the natural freedom and strength of their thoughts. Too great a variety of objects is, no doubt, unfavorable to steadiness of attention and closeness of thinking, and therefore to vigor of character; and this is a point which ought never to be forgotten in teaching. There is a salutary medium here as in other things. The common error, however, is evidently that of confining children's minds to a very limited number of subjects. To restrict the understanding in this way, not only enfeebles it, but interferes with its ability to derive religious light and happiness from a free and natural intercourse with the objects of daily observation or experience. The evil complained of is, that children are too commonly taught to look for religious instruction and improvement as proceeding solely and directly from the services of the sanctuary, or the exercises of the Sunday school-from thoughts of an invisible Being, the constant and perhaps jealous witness of our actions-from imaginations of heavenly happiness and glory-from reading or reciting texts of scripture or pieces of devotional poetry. In this way the practical and useful part of religion is too much neglected, while the speculative, and contemplative, and the ceremonial are made to absorb the attention. Religion should be presented to the young, especially, as a living and active principle, which they have or have not, just as they respect and practise all their duties. That child is truly religious who thinks and acts rightly towards his parents, and brothers, and sisters his teachers and his companions. Children cannot be too often reminded that religion does not consist in going regularly to church and to Sunday school, or even in being attentive when there-that it does not consist in getting or saying lessons well, or in possessing deep thoughts and intense feelings about God and heaven, or about death and eternity--but in observing truth, in being kind, patient, gentle, and forgiving; in being disinterested, and in being diligent and constant in duty of every kind. Happiness should not be held up as a prize for great efforts, or for a future state, so much as the natural consequence of doing right, of keeping the mind free from conscious blame-as a regular part of the arrangements of our Creator, if we do not deprive ourselves of it by neglect or by wilfulness. Religious improvement, in a word, should be spoken of as a thing natural to a thinking and reflecting mind, and should in this way become a part of the history of individual life. It is difficult to produce religious impressions, chiefly because we think it is so, and above all that we make it so by telling children that it is so, or by taking formal and unnatural measures to effect our object. Religious instruction has usually too much of mere arbitrary inculcation in it, Children are commanded to be good, obe dient, &c., and are catechised about articles of religious belief, till they are, as it were, drilled into religious character. "The wisdom which cometh from above," is, like all other wisdom, founded on knowledge. Habits of attention and reflection are essential to it. It is to be imparted through sound, enlightened, and liberal instruction in all things which are interesting and useful to human beings. It is acquired by looking with an intelligent mind on all the works of the Creator, as the appointed means of rising to higher and better thoughts of him-by regarding all human beings with a sacred affection as his children, and by acting on the feelings which these thoughts inspire-by being so alert in all duty that we avoid falling into sloth and sin-and by keeping our minds serene and cheerful from a sense of progress. Religious instruction, in short, is valuable, not in proportion as it developes feeling and imagination, but as it subjects these to the understanding, and incorporates them with it. In this era of excitement, the religious character, among the young, especially, seems to need intelligence, much more than ardor or spirituality. In stating these views, nothing new, probably, has been communicated. Yet we may safely appeal to observation, and inquire of those who visit Sunday schools, whether these things are not frequently forgotten; and whether the characteristics of instruction are not much more generally zeal and feeling, than judgment and skilful adaptation-whether teachers do not usually seem bent on making an impression at the time, rather than on aiding the natural rise of thought which shall influence the habits of the mind, Under this conviction, we have ventured on the preceding ideas, as introductory to the mention of several subjects which, among others, ought to be introduced in instruction given at Sunday schools; and the first of these which we would mention, is an attentive study of nature in its principal departments. To connect such subjects with religious references, is peculiarly the duty of the Sunday school teacher; as in most books on such topics the aim is rather to render the whole entertaining than useful, or to treat these things strictly as branches of science. A free use of the best illustrations, such as models and engravings, if not the objects themselves, should never be regarded as an employment unfit for that day when it is the common privilege of young and old to disengage themselves from ordinary pursuits, and give up the mind to thoughts of its great Author, and the things which he has made. As a branch of the works of Divine power and wisdom, the mind itself in its more obvious operations may very advantageously be made a part of religious instruction, as preparing the way for an intelligent and voluntary co-operation with conscience, the great power of the soul, and its best guide. Rational and spiritual conceptions of the Deity, will in this way be very naturally and powerfully assisted. A system of intellectual philosophy is a thing of course inapplicable to the minds of children, and would only bewilder and perplex them. But a simple observation of their own thoughts and feelings, as developed in their daily employments and in ordinary occurrences -all communicated in enlivening but plain conversation, children do enter into with understanding and |