first Notions shall be good or bad, is wholly in the Parent's or Inftructor's Power; but it is abfolutely out of their Power to prevent the one, if they do not take Care to inftil the other. And therefore it must be their Duty to fee, that the Principles of Religion and Piety be first put into Poffeffion, and be most deeply rooted in their Minds and Hearts.— How early they are capable of any Impreffions, it is not eafy to determine; I believe, they make Obfervations themselves much fconer than is generally imagined; and from the Time they are firft taught the Ufe and Meaning of Words, they should be obliged to learn and retain fuch in their Memories, as, when understood, will be of the greatest Use and Importance to them. They fhould from the Beginning be taught to know the God who made them, and that Providence which is every Moment their great Defence and Support. They fhould from the Beginning be directed to the Lord that bought them, and led on gently in the Knowledge of eternal Life.As their Minds open, thefe things fhould be explained to them; their Weight and Imporportance fhould be often preffed upon them; and, as Occafion offers, they fhould be led on farther and farther, till at length they are fully instructed in all neceffary Truths, and well informed both in the Doctrines and the Ways of Salvation.-The Manner of doing this muft be fuited to the Capacity and the Difpofition

of the Child; if gentle Methods will be effectual, they are always to be preferred; but if feverer are requifite, the Rod must not be fpared, left the Child should be undone; and no Time or Opportunity should be loft by the Parents, of inculcating this Knowledge daily and almost hourly upon them.-They should remember and obey God's Commands to the Jews, and proceed in the Ways which their great Lawgiver points out.-Thefe Words, fays he to the Jewish Parent, which I command thee this Day fhall first be well fixed in thine own Heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy Children.-And the Method of thy teaching them fhall be this, Thou shalt talk of them when thou fitteft in thine Houfe, and when thou walkeft by the Way, and when thou lyeft down, and when thou rifeft up.-That is, thou shalt at all proper Times, and in all proper Places, be perpetually inftilling these things into them, till they are by this Means well rooted and grounded in the Truth.

Nor is it enough that they be thus early instructed in the Knowledge of their Duty ;

2. A fecond thing, I think, implied by St. Paul is, that they be brought up in the conftant Practice and Obfervance of it, as faft as their Age and Capacity will give leave.-I mean, that they be not only taught to know God, but likewife accustomed to worship him ; that they be obliged to addrefs themselves to him

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him by Prayer, at least as oft as they rife and lye down; and that they be used to frequent the publick Offices of the Church, as foon as they can with Decency attend them.-Habits, we know, of any kind have a mighty Effect and Influence upon us. They not only render the most difficult things practicable and eafy, but they likewife create a Liking and a kind of Affection in us to thofe Things, to which we have been moft and foonest accuftomed.—And it is therefore of mighty Confequence and Importance to the Child, that he be early and long used to walk in those Paths, which it is his indifpenfable Duty, and will be his greatest Happiness, to purfue to the End of Life.-If he be early accustomed to address himself to God, and to approach him with that Reverence both in publick and private, which is fuitable to the Supreme Lord of Heaven and Earth; this will by Degrees make very strong and lafting Impreffions on his tender Mind, will give him an awful Senfe of his Duty to his God, and greatly reftrain him, as he increafes in Years, from all Acts of known Difobedience to his Laws. It will be a mighty Check and Restraint upon his growing Paffions; will much conduce to his keeping them within due Bounds, and give him a strong Biafs and Inclination on the fide of what is good.-For he will find it no easy matter to get rid of himself; the Anguish and Remorfe of his own Mind will throw great Difficulties

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in the Way of Sin; and when Appetite from within, and Temptations from without, ftrongly excite and allure him to pursue vicious Courses, his beft Defence, next to the Divine Affistance, will be, that he has been early armed with this Armour of God.-And if through Heat of Appetite, or the Wiles of the Tempter, he fhould be conquered for a Time, and even give himfelf up to do Iniquity; yet ftill there are Hopes, if the Seeds of true Piety have been early and wifely fown in him, that he will ere long return from his wicked Ways, and become more diligent and fteady in obeying the Ordinances of the Lord. -For it is one great Advantage of an early Education in Piety, that, unless the Understanding be weak or darkened, as well as the Heart corrupted, thefe Seeds fown in Infancy, tho' ftifled for a Seafon, will yet in time. spring up afresh, shew the Wanderer the Folly of his vicious Courses, and bring him back to that peaceful and pleafing Road of Duty, which alone will reward him with true Comfort, and make him reft fatisfied with himself.

And in this Cafe of habituating Children gradually to the Discharge of their Duty, the Example of the Parent will be even of more Confequence to them, than any Admonitions or Inftructions they can give them.-If he commands his Children one thing, and does another, they will foon have Sagacity enough to discover this Inconfiftency, and will very hardly

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hardly be perfuaded that the Rule is of any Moment, when they fee the Man who gives it act contrary to it.-And therefore wife Men have long fince obferved, that the greatest Reverence and Regard is due to Children; that is, that those who have the Infpection of them ought to be very careful of their own Conduct before them; and ought not only to instruct them what they ought to do, but walk themfelves before them in the Ways in which they Should go.

And to this Diligence of bringing them up in the Practice of their Duty, and by Example as well as Precept leading them on in it, the Parent has yet to add,

3. The third Particular before mentioned, which is, To take Care that as their Minds open, and their Capacities enlarge, they may be made to understand not the Meaning only, but likewife the true Grounds and Reafons of those Doctrines and Duties, in which they have been inftructed. Without this, their Work will be very weak and imperfect, and cannot reasonably be expected to bring forth much Fruit in their future Lives and Converdations. Prejudice and Custom have indeed no little Weight and Efficacy upon us; and it is right to put all the Advantages we can on the fide of Virtue; but thefe alone are not fufficient to establish any Scheme of Religion upon, or to convince a reasonable and thinking

Man,