must be motives of
action held out to the child; something that will tend to keep him from
the commission of evil, and something that will stimulate and encourage
him in doing good. Both are necessary, and therefore, neither of them
should be neglected. What these motives ought to be, we shall
immediately shew; but at present, we are anxious to establish the fact,
that motives to do good, should be invariably employed with our pupils,
as well as motives to avoid evil. In ordinary life, we generally find
too much of the one, and too little of the other. The fear of punishment
held out to prevent mischief or evil, is common enough; but there is
seldom sufficient attention paid to the providing of proper incitements
to the practice of virtue. Some, indeed, have gone the length of
affirming that there ought to be no such incitement held out to the
young; under the erroneous idea, that actions performed for an
equivalent, or in the hope of a reward, cease to be virtuous. But the
same reasoning would apply with almost equal force to the fear of
punishment in stimulating to duty, or in deterring from wickedness; and
yet they would scarcely affirm, that the child who, for fear of the
consequences, refused to break the Sabbath or to tell a lie, was equally
guilty with the boy who did both. There are, no doubt, some motives to
virtue that are higher and more noble than others, as there are
differences in the degrading nature of punishment employed to deter men
from vice. But both kinds may be necessary for different persons. The
man who forgives his enemy because he seeks the approbation of his Maker
and the reward promised by him, and the man who does so, because he
wishes to live in quiet, and to consult his own ease;--the boy who
refrains from sin lest he should offend God, and another who does the
same from the fear of the rod,--are each influenced by motives, although
they are of a very different kind. But it is plain, that the motives
employed may be equally efficient, and that they ought to be used
according to their influence upon the individual, and his advancement in
the paths of morality and religion. Where the higher motive has not as
yet acquired influence, the lower motive must be employed; but to refuse
the employment of either would be wrong, and the sentiment which would
totally exclude them, has no countenance in Nature, in experience, nor
in Scripture. In Nature, we see the directly opposite principle
exhibited