ty, and that,
consequently, however much interest your pupils may apparently take in
religious instruction, they can not know, and you can not know, whether
Christian principle reigns within them in any other way than by
following them through life, and observing how, and with what spirit,
the various duties which devolve upon them are performed.

There are very many fallacious indications of piety, so fallacious and
so plausible that there are very few, even among intelligent Christians,
who are not often greatly deceived. "By their fruits ye shall know
them," said the Savior; a direction sufficiently plain, one would think,
and pointing to a test sufficiently easy to be applied. But it is slow
and tedious work to wait for fruits, and we accordingly seek a criterion
which will help us quicker to a result. You see your pupil serious and
thoughtful. It is well; but it is not proof of piety. You see him deeply
interested when you speak of his obligations to his Maker, and the
duties he owes to Him. This is well, but it is no proof of piety. You
know he reads his Bible daily, and offers his morning and evening
prayers. When you speak to him of God's goodness, and of his past
ingratitude, his bosom heaves with emotion, and the tear stands in his
eye. It is all well. You may hope that he is going to devote his life to
the service of God; but you can not know, you can not even believe with
any great confidence. These appearances are not piety. They are not
conclusive evidences of it. They are only, in the young, faint grounds
of hope that the genuine fruits of piety will appear.

I am aware that there are many persons so habituated to judging with
confidence of the piety of others from some such indications as I have
described, that they will think I carry my cautions to the extreme.
Perhaps I do; but the Savior said, "By their fruits ye shall know them,"
and it is safest to follow his direction.

By the word "fruits," however, our Savior unquestionably does not mean
the mere moral virtues of this life. The fruits to be looked at are the
fruits of _piety_, that is, indications of permanent attachment to the
Creator, and a desire to obey his commands. We must look for these.

There is no objection to your giving particular individuals special
instruction adapted to their wants and circumstances. You may do this by
writing or in other ways, but do not lead them to make up their minds
fully that they are Christians in such a