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the limits of childhood is, however, diminished by the idea that I have completed what is, in all probability, the most useful part of my plan. The period of which I have treated is almost the only one in which a really efficacious influence can be exerted, or a beneficial impulse certainly communicated, to the moral being. And as the influence of religion, such as I have represented it, has a constant tendency to reanimate the powers of the soul; — as it excites tender and generous feelings, enlightens the intellect, and developes even those faculties which depend on the imagination, — the impulse which it has been my object to favour must extend itself beyond the season of childhood. The spirit of Christianity is a spirit tending constantly towards perfection. Christian education is a constantly progressive education.

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INTRODUCTION.

WISHING to describe the progress of life, the feelings by which we are animated at different periods, and the changes effected on the character by the course of time, —I have yet a further object in view. Convinced that our noblest object in studying the human heart should be its amelioration, I am earnestly desirous of ascertaining what means are best calculated for elevating and sanctifying the disposition, and rendering it more favourable both to the tranquillity of the soul, and to the developement of its activity.

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It is, indeed, to the history of the soul that I would more especially direct my attention; —a history of all others the most important to individuals; for the changes which take place in the "inward man are the real events of life. the state of the heart depend not only contentment of mind, but that series of incidents which is superinduced by the need we feel of satisfying our desires. Even the most unforeseen events cannot with any truth be referred to chance;

they are the consequences of former propensities. Hence it is, that in yielding to particular trains of thought, we are, without being aware of it, laying the foundation of our future life. The succession of our feelings forms an indistinct sketch of that drama, the representation of which is afterwards afforded by our conduct.

Education, therefore, continues through the whole course of human life. Every year of our existence is the consequence of those which have preceded it, and the preparation for those which are to follow: every age has a double task to fulfil as regards itself, and as regards the age by which it is to be succeeded. And though, as we advance in life, the vista is shortened, and it might seem as if less preparation were necessary for a continually decreasing journey, there is another totally opposite point of view; — there is an interest which increases with our growing years. The shorter the time we have to live, the more value does each moment acquire in the eyes of a religious man. He who is anxious to obtain the prize in the race feels his courage and his hope redouble as he approaches the appointed goal.

During the weakness and inexperience of infancy, the child is not responsible for his own education; the care of it is not entrusted to him; but if it be true that the proper task of education is the developement of all the faculties, no fixed

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limits can be assigned to it. The mind may always be enlarged, -the heart always improved; and even the most elevated of all actuating principles-devotional feeling - has a natural tendency to increase in energy. All the springs by which children are moved, outward circumstances and events,―inward feelings and dispositions, continually exercise a like influence on our own souls. How then can we set any bounds to the period of education? Continual modifications are taking place in the character and in the mind, and hence education is rendered always possible; nor is it only possible, it actually exists; in some form or other, it is always going on; the only doubt is, how far we are able to direct it.

In truth, the developement of the character does not depend entirely, either on the will of instructors during childhood, or on that of the pupil himself at a more advanced age. But it does not hence follow that the will has no power in either case. Because we cannot do every thing, we must not conclude that we can do nothing. Unknown to us, nay, even in spite of us, many causes are constantly at work; but there are also many regular and kindly influences, the employment of which is in our own power. It is precisely because incidental education is constantly going on that we seek to

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