surdly pretend to believe that the Being
who formed this world, if, indeed, they think there is any such Being,
has left it and its inhabitants to themselves, not inspecting their
conduct, and never intending to call them to account, they are too few
among us to need consideration. A difference of opinion on this subject
might embarrass the teacher in France, and in other countries in Europe,
but not here. However negligent men may be in _obeying_ God's commands,
they do almost universally in our country admit in theory the authority
from which they come, and believing this, the parent, even if he is
aware that he himself does not obey these commands, chooses to have his
children taught to respect them. The teacher will thus be acting with
the consent of his employers, in almost any part of our country, in
endeavoring to influence his pupils to perform moral duties, not merely
from worldly motives, nor from mere abstract principles of right and
wrong, but _from regard to the authority of God._

3. The community are agreed, too, in the belief of _the immortality of
the soul._ They believe, almost without exception, that there is a
future state of being to which this is introductory and preparatory, and
almost every father and mother in our country wish to have their
children keep this in mind, and to be influenced by it in all their
conduct.

4. The community are agreed that _we have a revelation from Heaven._ I
believe there are very few instances where the parents would not be glad
to have the Bible read from time to time, its geographical and
historical meanings illustrated, and its moral lessons brought to bear
upon the hearts and lives of their children. Of course, if the teacher
is so unwise as to make such a privilege, if it were allowed him, the
occasion of exerting an influence upon one side or the other of some
question which divides the community around him, he must expect to
excite jealousy and distrust, and to be excluded from a privilege which
he might otherwise have been permitted freely to enjoy. There may, alas!
be some cases where the use of the Scriptures is altogether forbidden in
school; but probably in almost every such case it would be found that it
is from fear of its perversion to sect or party purposes, and not from
any unwillingness to have the Bible used in the way I have described.

5. The community are agreed, in theory, that _personal attachment to the
Supreme Being is the duty of every h