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EDUCATION A SERVICE OF CHRIST.

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operation and agency of a divine life upon the feelings and convictions of the child. It is inconceivable, how any but infidels, half Christians, or mock Christians, can, with any degree of consistency, object to the principle, of building education wholly and solely upon the faith in the indwelling, and the internal operation of that divine principle, which, if it be gradually received into the child's soul, as the stream of a new life, and brought to full consciousness and clearness in him, is, what is termed in Scripture, "Christ formed in us," and makes us new creatures in Christ." No Christian can think himself justified in educating in the child the carnal mind, which is enmity against God; all that a Christian can wish to do, is, to become subservient in his influence upon the child, to the gradual formation and ultimate birth of a spiritual mind, of the new man, in the child. But if this be avowedly our object, and we be Christians in truth and in spirit, we must know that it is impossible for us to educate the new man into the child; but that we can only, by the outward manifestation of that same spirit of Christ, and by judicious treatment, as regards both instruction and discipline, lead the child more clearly to perceive, and more readily to obey, this internal ruler; and we must know, likewise, that the existence of such a ruler, and our faith in him, is the indispensable condition of our so doing; for the new man is not born" of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."*

* The following testimony of personal experience, extracted from "The "Journal of JOB SCOTT, an American Minister," is so direct to the point, that I cannot forbear inserting it here :-" Almost as early as I can remember "any thing, I can well remember the Lord's secret workings in my heart, by "his Grace or Holy Spirit, very sensibly bringing me under condemnation for 66 my evil thoughts and actions, as rudeness and bad words, though I was not frequent in the use of the latter; for disobedience to parents; for inwardly "wishing, in moments of anger, some evil to such as offended me; and such "like childish and corrupt dispositions and practices, which, over and beyond "all outward instruction, I was made sensible were evil, and sprang from a "real root of evil in me. And I am in a full belief that, in every quarter of the "globe, children at an early age have good and evil set before them in the

CONSEQUENCES OF THIS PRINCIPLE.

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Taking this view of the subject, there cannot be much "shining of the light of Christ in their hearts, with clearness and evidence "sufficient to discover to them their duty, if they honestly attend to it. And "though I am deeply sensible of the necessity and utility of much careful guardianship, cultivation, and instruction, in order to guard children against "the corrupting influence of example, invitation, and perverse inclination, "which abundantly and prevalently surround them; yet, I fear a great part of the tuition, which too many children receive, tends rather to blunt the "true sense and evidence of divine truths upon the mind, and to substitute "notions and systems instead thereof, than to encourage an honest attention "to the teachings which lead into all truth. I am satisfied, if the teachings "of men were never to thwart the teachings of the Holy Spirit, many

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5 things would fix on the mind of children to be evils, which they are now in"structed and persuaded are innocent and commendable. Indeed, it is "mournful to observe how many of them are bolstered up in pride, vanity, "and revenge; taught to plume themselves upon their supposed superiority "of parts and attainments, nursed up in the ideas of grandeur and worldly "honour, yea, inspired with exalted notions of the merit of valour, heroism, "and human slaughter. Many there are who put light for darkness, and "darkness for light; bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. They call the "divine light, which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world,' a "natural light, an ignis fatuus, or by some other ignominious epithet; though "the Scriptures declare it to be the very LIFE of the holy WORD, that was IN 66 THE BEGINNING WITH GOD, and truly WAS GOD. There are many,

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who, under a notion of advocating the true cause and doctrine of Christ, "strike violently against the very life of it, and will not allow that the "manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal,' though "the Scriptures expressly assert it, and experience confirms it to those who rightly profit by the measure received. Many who have, from tradition and "education, for a season believed, the Holy Spirit, graciously vouchsafed them, "was some very inferior thing to the true Spirit of the everlasting and most "Holy God, have, at length, by yielding to its dictates, and taking it for their "leader, grown wiser than their teachers, and been indubitably instructed and 66 assured, that it was indeed THE ETERNAL SPIRIT, which from their 'infantile days strove with them, for their reconciliation with God, the eternal source of it, as it did with the old world, for their recovery from their corrupted, "alienated state. In regard to my own early acquaintance with the Holy "Spirit's operation, though I then knew not what it was, I have now no more " doubt about it, than I have about the existence and omnipresence of God. "It is sealed upon my heart with as much clearness and certainty, that it is "the Spirit of the living God, and that it visits, wooes, invites, and strives "with all, at least for a season, as it is that God is no respecter of persons; " and I as fully believe no man can have any clear knowledge of God, or of his

I own religious duty, without the Holy Spirit's influence, as I believe, the "wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, and that the world by wisdom "knows him not."

74 THE END OF EDUCATION NOT TEMPORAL.

difficulty attending the question; to what sort and degree of education every human individual can, as such, lay claim, independently of rank, fortune, or any other distinction? Whatever is in any way calculated to bring him more fully under the influence and controul of that indwelling power of divine life, forms part of that education which, in a Christian land, ought not only to be placed within reach of, but, with anxious solicitude, to be bestowed upon every child. No rank can be so high, no circumstances so affluent, as to render it unnecessary, or in the slightest degree less valuable; nor can there be any station in society so low, as to preclude it from the claim to its blessings. And, if it is evident, on one hand, that the situation in life of the parents, should not be permitted to affect it, it is equally obvious, on the other, that, so far from being made subservient to the child's own pursuits in after-life, it ought to build up in the child that, to which the whole of his earthly existence is to be a constant ministration. It is not by the claims, which society intends to make at a future period upon the individuals, nor by those artificial distinctions, which our unsocial feelings, and, derived from them, our social prejudices, have introduced among men, that the sort and degree of education bestowed upon every child, ought to be regulated; but, by the purpose which God has with every individual, and by the means with which he has gifted him, for the attainment of that purpose. Such phrases as these:-"That will not make him a good carpenter, or a good shoemaker.”—“ It may be very well for those who can afford to amuse themselves with these things."-" I really do not think that it is benefiting the poor, to give them so much education-it will only make them discontented with, or disqualify them for, their station ;"-ought never to come over benevolent, over Christian lips. It ought to be recollected, that a man's station is made for him, and not the man for the station. We must not permit ourselves to talk, or to think, as if this life had an existence for itself, and a purpose in itself,

ALL THINGS TO BE REFERRED TO ONE PURPOSE. 75

as if religion was the only thing in time, that refers to eternity; but we should have it present to our minds, that the whole of this life is nothing, and worse than nothing, unless it be referred to a future state, which, let it not be forgotten, is, at the same time, the original one. This relation between time and eternity we must not acknowledge merely as a doctrine, to be mentioned in our prayers, and urged in sermons; we must make the feeling of that doctrine an habitual feeling of our souls, and let our conduct become a practical exemplification of it. How differently from what it is now, would then the plan of our lives be sketched out, how differently filled up. Instead of setting apart one portion of our time for the service of God, and another portion, generally far the larger one, for the things of this world, we should appropriate to the pursuit of heavenly objects the whole of our time; so much so, that even the bustle of life, as far as we felt it a duty to participate in it, could never divert our attention, for a moment, from the great purpose. Instead of considering ourselves responsible for the exercise of a spiritual influence, with reference to some persons only, and viewing our relation to others as founded merely in the things of this earth, and, therefore, destitute of all reference to any thing spiritual, we should feel, that every intercourse with another creature, which sets aside the circumstance of his being created by the same God, and placed upon this earth for the same purpose with ourselves, and deals with him merely as with an earthly being, is a positive sin; that it is a duty we owe, both to others and to ourselves, to enter into no relationship whatever, without sanctifying it, as an opportunity of promoting the kingdom of heaven-because every communication, established independently of this object, becomes a vehicle of corruption between others and ourselves. And if we felt this, and gave it practical effect in the regulation of our own lives, how differently should we then feel, and think, and act, with reference to the education of our children.

Could it then ever occur to us,

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EVERY FINITE PURPOSE TO BE ABANDONED.

to give one education for the glory of God, and another education for the getting on in the world? I think not. We should then perceive, what our Lord means, when he says, "No man can serve two masters;" we should then draw nearer, both in understanding and in practice, to the spirit of the Apostle's injunction : Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

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It is hardly possible to conceive the immense change, which the literal accomplishment of this rule would produce in the whole aspect of society. If every subordinate purpose of life were done away with in our social institutions, if the majority of men-not to say every mansought nothing but the kingdom of God, and its righteousness; how many motives of oppression, on one hand, how many sources of anxiety on the other, would then cease; how many necessities, which we have artificially imposed upon ourselves, and the weight of which we foolishly increase, in proportion as we feel their pressure, would then entirely vanish; how many false aims, now proposed by society to its deluded members, would then sink into nothingness; how many temptations to sin, now publicly held out, would thereby be avoided; and how many a legislative enactment might then be spared, which has the object of curing those moral diseases, which the false principles of the social constitution necessarily produce, but, as it is intended to cure the result only, and not the cause, can have no other effect than that of rendering the state of things still more artificial, more corrupt, more abhorrent from Christian principle. How many of those callings, which,—as they have for their object the satisfaction of the unnatural wants, or the gratification of the defiled tastes of society, and for their motive and stimulus, the prospect of worldly gain or honour-are as many snares, in which the souls of men are entangled, would then become utterly useless and unnecessary. How little would men have to do, and to care, for their earthly sub