onclude, that the lives and conduct
of men, and especially the narrative parts of Scripture, are the proper
materials to be employed in the moral training of the young; and the
mode of making use of them is also very plainly indicated. The closer we
can bring the lesson taught to the child's own experience, or to his own
circumstances, the more familiar will it become, and the deeper will be
the impression it will make. An instance of infant disinterestedness or
heroism, in the parlour or the play-ground, pointed out, and placed in
connection with corresponding circumstances in the lives or conduct of
those from whom they have previously drawn moral lessons, will render
the latter much more familiar and practical, and will create more
energetic desires, and stronger feelings of emulation with respect to
the former. Or if the conduct of the person of whom the child hears or
reads, can be brought home and applied to his own case and
circumstances; or if he can be made to perceive the very same
dispositions or conduct exhibited in his companions; or if he can be
made to see how he himself can embody in his own conduct those
principles and actions which God has approved, and requires to be
imitated,--the end of the teacher will be much more certainly gained,
than it can be in any other way. This is moral training, conducted by
the proper moral means; and to attempt to gain the same end by means
which do not either more or less embody these principles, will be found
to be much more difficult, and much less efficient. Whoever will
consider what is implied by our Lord's address to the Pharisees who
erroneously blamed his disciples for unlawfully, as they thought,
plucking the ears of corn on the Sabbath, will see this method of
reading and applying Scripture distinctly pointed out. "Have ye never
read," said our Lord, "what David did, and those who were with him?"
This they might have done frequently; but the mere reading could never
answer the purpose for which it was recorded. The moral lesson must be
drawn, and it must also be applied to similar cases of mere ceremonial
observance.

To apply this principle, then, to the moral training of the young by
means of Scripture History, the method is obvious.--The events of the
narrative are to be used as examples or warnings to the child in
corresponding circumstances. If, for example, the teacher wishes to
enforce the duty and the benefits of patience, the history of Job has
been