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prescribed hours of the day, which will give what is called religious knowledge; and what is religious knowledge apart from religious emotions-apart from pious awe, dread of offending, hope, love, joy, peace apart from all the train of heart-stirring, soul-ennobling feelings which the gospel will awaken, if the right moment is seized, if the right method is used of presenting the great truths it reveals, of associating them incidentally with all that naturally affects and interests the youthful mind." Religion must be taught in the spirit of religion. There can hardly be a greater contrast than between the spirit engendered by, and accompanying the cold, dry, mechanical repetition of the Church Catechism; or the equally cold, dry, and unintelligent reading of Holy Scripture; and the deep, simple, unaffected reverence and awe which inspired Hooker, when he said, Dangerous it were for the feeble brain of man to wade far into the doings of the MOST HIGH; whom, although to know be life, and joy to make mention of His name, yet our soundest knowledge is, to know that we know Him not as indeed He is, neither can know Him: and our safest eloquence concerning Him is our silence, when we confess, without confession, that His glory is inexplicable, His greatness above our capacity and reach. He is above, and we are upon earth; therefore it behoveth our words to be wary and few." Passionate emotion is, indeed, greatly to be dreaded, carefully to be avoided but seriousness and reverence ought to affect even the youngest minds, when in the presence of awful mysteries. "The manner in which all that is mysterious affects our imagination, and rivets our attention," says the educational writer quoted above, is a providential constitution of our minds. A religion, divested of mysterious inscrutable doctrines, would, by the very nature and construction of our minds, soon reduce us to infidelity. How manifold are the links in that mysterious chain which unites our soul with an unseen world-a world which 'eye cannot see, nor ear hear, neither can it enter into the mind of man to conceive!' Were it possible that religion should be otherwise than full of mystery, such a religion would cease to interest us, antl soon cease to be believed. All that concerns our existence, whether temporal or eternal, must to us be full of mystery." Let us ever be careful, then, to present religion to the minds of children reverently veiled by its own inscrutable mystery; remembering that the holy angels hid their faces with their wings, and sank into an attitude of calm they approached the mercy-seat. To spread the leaven of piety through secular things is difficult; but, alas! to secularise religion, and religious teaching, is all too easy.

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"Nor does the evil end with the present profanation of the Sacred Volume:-it is calculated to lead to a neglect of it hereafter. The writer, not long since, interrogated an experienced master of a national school, where the Bible was the only reading-book used, whether he considered the effect beneficial or otherwise? Nothing can be worse,' was his reply: 'I have known many of my best scholars fall into a state of heathen careless

ness after they have left me; and the reason they have given to persons who have remonstrated with them on their neglect of public worship, is, that they knew the Bible just as well as the parson did, and so it was no use for them to go to church.' We may allow that such a case can only occur where children are kept later at school than happens in our country schools; and the cases, we would fain hope, are extreme ones. But how fearful is the approach to such a state of feeling! How anxiously should we guard against one of Christ's little ones receiving such a venomous serpent, when he is looking to us for good, wholesome food! How shall we be able to answer the inquiry- Where is thy flock, thy beautiful flock?' if one babe shall have been so offended."-Educational Magazine, vol. i. pp. 113, 114. And the writer goes on to remark, with great truth, that—

"It is essential for keeping the mind of the scholar in due and healthful subordination, that at each fresh lesson he should feel that he has acquired some fresh information. The average class of masters are unable to go beyond a very narrow round of questioning upon religious subjects, (where of course they are under more restraint than on indifferent ones;) and the consequence is, that the children come to their task with dull and heavy feelings, as to a thrice-told tale."-Educational Magazine, vol. i. p. 114.

This subject is resumed in a paper "On the religious instruction in national schools, with especial reference to learning by heart;" signed "G. M." This writer seems at first sight to differ with the one from whom our last extracts have been made; but the difference is in seeming only. He rightly observes, that

"The mind can be exercised and developed upon religious, quite as well as upon secular things. The education given by the Church is not the less intellectual because it is spiritual.”—Educational Magazine, vol. i. p. 160.

And then he proceeds, with perhaps unnecessary caution, to press upon the managers of church-schools a question which must be answered by them;-" Is not the religious instruction given in our schools, in many instances, mere rote-work?" No one, he observes, who has not had considerable experience among children, would ever suspect how utterly they detach words from ideas. Not that they do not often give the meaning of certain words in other words, but the explanation is got by rote just as much as is the thing explained.

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"The words may be as simple and easy as the best old Saxon words can be, and yet not one child in twenty will attach any meaning to them at all. There could not be shorter or easier words than the common explanation (in monosyllables) of Amen,' viz. So be it;' or, 'Let it be so and yet I have tested one hundred children at once, all of whom snapped out in a moment, that 'Amen' meant 'So be it,' or, 'Let it be so;' and yet not one had any notion of the use or application, and only a few could tell why it should not be said after anything else as well as after a prayer or a blessing it was the 'it' that puzzled them. It is evident from the quick off-hand mode of answering, that they seldom dream that they have anything to do with the meaning. The evil, however, is not so ready of detection, because the books they learn by rote include almost all the questions that the examiner is likely to put; the net is of so fine a mesh, that not many common or easy questions escape. Now and then the new form of the question poses them; as, e. g. asking, What is a sacrament?' or even, 'What do you mean by a sacrament?' will probably not be answered

by one in twenty, all of whom could reply in a moment to 'What meanest thou by this word sacrament.' "-Educational Magazine, vol. i. pp. 161, 162.

The great cause of this melancholy evil is considered by this writer to be, the allowing the learning of words by rote to take precedence of understanding the meaning. The common practice is to set a portion to be committed to memory, and to trust to chance for the meaning. The stress of praise or blame is laid upon the correct or incorrect rehearsal of the words of the mere words-of words as words ::

"1. The words are everything with the child. His sole aim is to be able to 'say' his lesson. His only care is, by repeating the words over and over again, to commit them to memory: he thinks his work all done when this is done. He looks upon anything beyond as a sort of work of supererogation; he has had quite enough of it without being (as he would perhaps say to a school-fellow) bothered' afterwards with, or about the explanation.

"2. Again, there is often no opportunity for the explanation afterwards; the time allowed for the lesson is taken up with hearing it said; some idle or unlucky urchins having to try it over and over again. Even when there is a desire on the part of the teacher to explain the meaning, or to inquire into the pupil's understanding of the lesson, it is thus put off from day to day, until the arrears are too great to be overtaken, and there is no chance but starting afresh.

"3. A third evil is, that learning the words first by rote is a positive hindrance in the way of acquiring the meaning afterwards. The freshness is gone which would awaken an interest in the mind. . . . . The child has neither the will nor the power to acquire the meaning. He has been too long used to the words as abstracted from all ideas; or, in some instances, associated with wrong ones. He fancies he knows all about it, because he can say the whole by rote. If asked the meaning, the chance is that he answers in the words that come next. 'What is an inheritor?' He bawls out, 'The kingdom of heaven.' 'What are the pomps and vanity of this wicked world?" He is only too ready with an answer,-All the sinful lusts of the flesh.'"-Educational Magazine, vol. i. p. 163.

The writer then proceeds to enumerate some of the advantages that would result from reversing the usual order, and so allowing instruction as to the meaning to have precedence of committing words to memory.

"1. There will be a gradual development of the child's mind, as well as a mere exercise of the memory. When, therefore, I lay so much stress upon the meaning being first understood, as far as a child is capable of understanding spiritual things, I set very little value upon merely telling a child the meaning, still less upon setting him to learn an explanation by rote. It is not explanation, indeed, that is so much wanted, as development: and this is best done by oral instruction, in which each question arises out of the preceding answer.

"2. When the pupil has got firm hold of the ideas as attached to certain words, the words will at any time recall the ideas to his mind; and so the mere exercise of committing the lesson to memory will be of great service. For each time he repeats the sentence over, the mind will be occupied more or less with the meaning; and consequently, by the same process, the ideas as well as the words are fixed in the mind. In this way we are cultivating and improving not merely a mechanical, but an intelligent memory. The

pupil will be led to meditate upon the truths contained in the form of sound words which he has learnt, and to correct his own crude notions by an authorised standard: and in this there is a moral, as well as a mental advantage..

"3. It is easy to see, that the children must be more interested in what is intellectual, than in what is merely mechanical. By the previous questions and answers their attention is engaged; they like to be allowed to answer in their own words, which they cannot do without attaching ideas to them: the instruction hangs better together, each question being started by the answer before. The correcting of the pupil's answer by the teacher, tends to precision of thought. The pupils are always pleased to have their minds exercised, as well as their bodies; they are glad to learn whenever they really do learn, that is, when they acquire new ideas. . . . . There are few things that lighten up their little faces more than oral instruction, when it is so managed as to carry them along with it. I would have said, when it is made level to their capacities, had I not feared being misunderstood to be advocating a sort of religion made easy; which is far from my thoughts. Let this instruction, as far as an explanation is attempted, be not so much brought down to their level, as held just within their reach; it will do them good, as well as interest them more, to have to stretch for it.

"4. It follows now, as a matter of course, that in the long run more will be learnt, and by heart too. All writers upon the philosophy of the mind tell us, that what is interesting and pleasing makes thereby a deeper and more lasting impression upon the memory. ... By the time the children comprehend the meaning of the lesson, they will be able to repeat a good part of it; and in learning the whole, word for word, the ideas previously acquired will help to suggest the words, and the meaning will tie the whole together.

"5. The great advantage of all would be the moral effect we might hope (with God's blessing) to see produced upon the heart and character. Let it be thoroughly understood, that the meaning is the grand point, that the meaning of the lesson is the lesson; that the words (most useful and indeed essential) are only so for the idea's sake, and we may hope for an improvement in heart, as well as in head."-Educational Magazine, vol. i. pp. 166-168.

Such being the principle upon which we are to proceed in giving religious instruction, and such the resulting advantages, the question arises, How are we to reduce these principles to practice, so as to obtain (under God's blessing) these important results? answer furnished to this question by the writer of this "Address," is full and practical :—

The

"The end in view, we must ever remember, is not merely to cultivate a single faculty, be it memory or any other; but to improve the whole mind and character of the future man; to train him up in the principles and practices of true Christianity, according to the Holy Catholic Church. This, as far as instruction is concerned, will be best secured by grounding him well in the authorised formularies of the Church, more especially in the Catechism.

"A.-Let the work be begun with oral instruction, the question being varied as much as possible, to make sure of the child's comprehending it; and the questions being afterwards varied again, to make sure of his understanding the subject. Let him be catechised thus:

"1. As to the meaning of the words. Here let every possible use be made of analysis and etymology.

"2. As to the meaning of the sentences, or the words in their connexion.

The child would learn English grammatically, if he did not learn English grammar. There is no reason, however, why he should not learn both.

"3. As to the subject as a whole, so far as a child can be expected to comprehend it. Doubtless there is much that he must as yet take upon trust; indeed, it is in strict analogy both with Scripture and the course and constitution of nature, that such should be the case. But that is widely different from learning words by rote. A boy of eleven or twelve, or at all events of thirteen or fourteen years of age, can take in, without difficulty, a Collect or a prayer as a whole, or even the Catechism as an enlargement of the baptismal vow, in connexion with baptismal privileges.*

"B. When this has been done thoroughly by question and answer; by varied illustration; by direct and continual application to the child's own state and prospects; by private conversation, as opportunity may arise; in other words, by oral instruction in every way;-then, but not till then, let the substance of the instruction, in a concise form, be committed to memory,... verbatim et literatim, with a religious strictness; let it be frequently rehearsed; and let great attention be paid to the elocution of the rehearsal for good reading or good elocution is, after all, the best test of perfect intelligence."-Educational Magazine, vol. i. pp. 169, 170.

There are two points in the religious education of the young, which ought ever to be most carefully attended to. The first is, to give to all our religious teaching a direct personal application to the child himself.

"The great aim of secular instruction in schools is, to develop the understanding; religious and spiritual instruction at the same time solemnizes the mind, and improves the character.... The whole is addressed at once to the child: not that he may merely exercise his understanding or memory upon it, but that he may live upon it. The question is not, 'Ought baptized persons to keep their baptismal vows?" but it is, 'Dost thou not think that thou art bound to believe, and to do as they (thy godfathers and godmothers) have promised for thee?' The Church does not (as we sometimes hear the Catechism marred and spoiled) bid the child say the Lord's prayer; but, having led him to understand and realize the baptismal vow at length, then addresses him pointedly thus:-'My good child, know this, that thou art not able to do these things of thyself, nor to walk in the commandments of God, and to serve Him, without His special grace; which thou must learn at all times to call for by diligent prayer. Let me hear, therefore, if thou canst say the Lord's Prayer.' It is this direct and continual application to the child's own privileges, and duties, and wants, that distinguishes spiritual from secular instruction. They are both exercise for the understanding; but the former is also food for the soul. Not words only, but light; and yet not light only, but, in and above all, life that every truth we teach may become a principle of life to the soul."-Educational Magazine, vol. i. p. 171.

The second point to be attended to in the religious education of

"When any portion of the Creed is our theme, we always talk over the different incidents to which it relates; sometimes we take up one part, sometimes another; and I open the Bible and read some passages illustrating the subject. But though I branch out in this way, and elicit questions and observations from my hearers, I try not to wander too far, nor to introduce too great a variety of subjects; we perhaps talk over only one point in the portion of the Catechism selected for the morning; but then, before we conclude, we repeat, reverently and discreetly, the whole passage; thus replacing, in its frame-work, the part we have been endeavouring to render interesting and intelligible.”—Mrs. Tuckfield.