themselves and their children from the imputation of such disgrace?

Let it be admitted, then, that children ought to be trained to obedience, and, if necessary, to receive chastisement: at what age shall parental authority be exerted for this purpose? I answer, there is little danger of its being exerted too soon; the danger is altogether on the other side. I know not that a child was ever injured by commencing the habit of obedience too young, very many have been ruined by neglecting it till too late. A child will learn either to obey, or disobey; there is no middle ground. If he learns the first, you have your desire, and your subsequent task to continue the habit will be comparatively light: First impressions ought to be good; they are easiest made, and usually strong and abiding. But if the child first acquires the habit of disobeying, you have then not only to teach him a new habit afterwards, but have also an old one to obliter. ate; and you need not be told how much easier it is to establish, than to destroy, a habit. If a child is taught to obey, and knows of no way to avoid it, he will obey of course, and do it cheerfully. If you compel him only now and then to listen to your commands, and suffer him at other times to do as he pleases, he will obey you only from compulsion, and never from habit. But in beginning to establish your authority over him, it is advisable that your first commands should be of the negative kind. Order him not to do a thing, rather than to do it. You can more easily compel him to de. VOL. X.

sist from an action, than to perform one; and in that way you establish your authority to the full as well, for you teach him to obey, and that is the whole which you have in view. When once taught to obey your negative commands, he will readily submit to such as are positive. I have known parents spend more time, use severer measures, and put their children to more pain, in endeavoring to procure their submission to one single positive command, and give up the point at last, than would have been necessary to secure their obedience for life, had the business been undertaken in season, and conducted properly afterwards. It is unnecessary, perhaps impossible, to assign any precise age, at which this work of obedience. is to be commenced. It is sufficient to say, that as soon as a child is old enough to form wishes that ought not to be grat ified, to be malignant, obstinate and turbulent, if he is crossed in obtaining them, it is time to deny him the gratification of his desires, and to restrain his resentment which may in consequence ensue.

If he is old

enough to be spiteful, and vindictive, when you interfere with the objects which he covets, it is time that you teach him self-denial, and reduce him to a better temper. Here begin; here interpose your parental authority; accustom him to be denied, and to take it patiently; habituate him to submit his will to yours, and to take pleasure in gratifying you, as well as himself. My own opinion is, that by the time a child is two years old, the important work of securing his obedience may and ought to be ac

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complished; oftentimes still earlier; and that the business is better and more effectually done then, than at a later period. It was the advice of the late President Witherspoon, that sagacious observer of human nature and truly great man, to begin with the infant, as soon as he should manifest a fondness for a play thing, and, before he should obstinately covet it, to take it from him, and so gradually habituate him to self-denial, and to his parent's authority. It was his opinion that in this way, the child might be taught the habit of obedience without punishnent, and without a contest. I have known the experiment to be made in part, and so far with entire success. But on this particular topic, and the subject of education generally, I cannot do so well as to refer my readers to the author himself in his "Let ters on Education;" a work which every parent ought to 1ead, and which contains more practical good sense on the subject in hand, than I remember to have seen in any other book, the Bible excepted.

Many parents will not hesitate to acknowledge themselves culpable in neglecting the proper discipline of their children. The task, they say, is difficult, and one to which they are not equal; their will is good, but their resolution feeble. Having said this, they seem to feel as if they had disburdened their consciences by so frank a confession, and then very quietly pursue the same path which they had previously trodden. But in such a case, something more is required than empty confessions of allowed fauns, to remedy the mischief

which they have occasioned. If they have erred, this furnishes no reason for continuing the error, but a very strong one for relinquishing it. Nor is proper discipline so difficult a task as it is represented The real difficul ties lie on the other side; the ob ject of discipline is to avoid, not to create them. Who meets with most difficulties; the parent that has his children under due subordination, or he that suffers them to live without any control? But allow the task to be as diffi cult as it is represented; are you unwilling to encounter a few obstacles for the sake of your children? Had you rather ruin them by your neglect, than pro mote their best interests at the expense of a pittance of your present ease? Is a plain and obvious duty to be abandoned, because some trifling obstacle may oppose its fulfilment? The truth is, great numbers of our country. men have gone very far in the neglect of parental discipline, and are more willing to acknowl. edge or palliate the fault, than they are to renounce it. Every one can talk on the subject, as it happens to strike his humor at the moment; can condemn, or justify himself as circumstances vary, or theoccasion suits him. without serious pains to produce a reformation, the evil has taken too deep root to be easily eradicated. The united efforts of all, who rightly estimate the importance of obedience to parents, are necessary to arrest the progress of the mischief complained of, and to restore us to that better course, which our fathers took in training up their children for public and private usefulness. In the number of those against

But

this world for old age, if you may be spared to that period. But remember, One thing is needful. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Seri ously and constantly attend on public worship, so far as circumstances will permit. Though you are now young, remember that you were born to die, and that you may die soon. Strive, I intreat you, to be prepared for that solemn event. Be penitent and believing. Be reconciled to God, submissive and devoted to the Savior. Forget not the advice of your father. Perhaps this may be the last opportunity I shall have to counsel you. Think on these things. And finally, God bless you, my daughter. Farewell. April 8, 1813.

rance of the evidences on which this religion is founded.

In our enlightened country, which has ever enjoyed the Gos. pel-a land of Bibles and Sab baths, it seems to be taken for granted, that every person believes the truth of revelation, who does not openly acknowledge himself an infidel. But by a few moments' reflection on this subject, we must all be convinced of the contrary.

That Mahomedanism should be handed down from generation to to generation; that parents should bequeath, and children. inherit it, without ever examining whether it be true, or false, or even once suspecting its authenticity, is not strange; for this religion exactly coincides with the propensities of man's depraved nature. It fosters some of the strongest and worst pas sions of the human heart. But Christianity has a tendency directly the reverse. It arrays it scif against every darling sin; it strikes a death blow at all our inordinate desires. Hence arises our opposition to the religion it inculcates. We are hostile to Christianity, because it opposes our vicious inclinations. religion of the Bible and a wicked heart are very bitter enemies. The sinner therefore will naturally be led to doubt the truth of this religion, unless he has such evidence as will bring to his mind irresistible conviction. This evidence indeed exists; but unhappily he is ignorant of

The

it. It is true he has lived in a Christian land all his days, known the holy Scriptures from his youth, and has heard the Gospel preached from Sabbath to