to constrain him to avoid every thing that he is told will
grieve and offend him, and to watch for opportunities to do what he now
knows will honour and please him. This is religion; and it is peculiarly
the religion of the young;--and that man or woman will be found most
religious, who, both in spirit and in action, shall approach nearest to
it in its purity and simplicity.

From all these considerations we see, that Nature has intended that the
first part of the child's education shall consist almost exclusively of
moral and religious training;--and this we think cannot be disputed by
any one who considers the above facts dispassionately, or who will allow
his mind to act as it ought to do under the influence of ascertained
truth. We shall now therefore offer a few remarks on the manner in which
this may most effectually be carried into effect; or, in other words,
how Nature may most successfully be imitated in the application of
knowledge by means of the moral sense.

1. The first thing to be observed here then is, that the early efforts
of the parent or teacher are to be employed for disciplining the child
under the influence of the executive powers of conscience.--The child is
to be trained to the perfect government of his inclinations and temper,
by a watchful attention on the part of the parent to every instance of
their exhibition in his daily conduct, the regulation of the desires,
the softening down of the passions, the eradicating of evil
propensities, the restraining and overcoming the exercise of self-will,
the converting of selfishness into benevolence, and the cultivating and
strengthening of self-controul within, and of sympathy, and forbearance,
and kindness to all without. These are the great ends which the parent
and teacher are to have in view in all their dealings with the child.
They are, in short, to take care that their pupil be reduced to a state
of enlightened submission, and uniform obedience; and for that purpose,
they are to employ all the means and the machinery provided by Nature,
in the use of which she has afforded them abundant examples.

In the accomplishment of these ends, _the agent_ employed has much in
her power. It is a delicate, as well as an important work; and here,
more than perhaps in any after period of the child's educational
progress, an affectionate and enlightened agency is of the greatest
importance. In that constant watchfulness and exertion, necessary to
check or t