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MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION.

tion, the reality of his illusions, which he is unable to discern from the reality of the reality, will only tend to insure the perpetuity of his ignorance; for none are so unwilling and unfit to learn, as those who fancy they know already. Woe unto our children, because such is the knowledge by which, and in which, they are educated! They are taught religion by names and words, not by life and spirit; those that are destined to become the teachers of the people, are told of the Lord God, and of his marvellous works, in the same style, in which they are made acquainted with the fables of Jove and Hercules; the youthful imagination is imbued with both at the same time, so that the latter, which is the more palpable, is almost sure to make a deeper impression; the importance of both, must, from the solicitude evinced by the teacher, appear, at least, equal to the pupil, and the shame attached to ignorance of mythology, even if there was never any attached to the knowledge of religion, will cause the balance to sink on the side of the former.— Is it, then, I ask, to be wondered at, that, from such schools, a Robert Taylor issues forth, who can make no distinction between mythology and revelation, and is insane enough to reject the latter, because he has sense enough to see the futility of the former ?—And let it not be supposed, that this reproach falls upon the Establishment only; if the Dissenters have not equalled it in "classical attainments," it is only because they want the means; not because they see the impropriety, and the danger, of filling a youth's head with "cunningly devised fables," before he has acquired any knowledge of the truth, to the test of which they must be brought, if they shall at all be made available for instruction. And yet, it seems not very difficult to conceive, that it is a heavy sin, to acquaint the child with a number of idol-gods, created in the corrupt fancy of man, and after the corrupt image of man, before he has had time vitally to apprehend the all-important truth, that man was originally created after, and is destined to be restored to, the likeness of the one true and living

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God. But none are so blind as those that will be blind, and the more the light stares them in the face, the greater is their blindness.

The poor, it is true, have this advantage, that the snares of heathenism are withheld from them; but if they have a bad thing less, have they, therefore, a good thing more? What is the condition of their religious instruction? Are they not made to run over the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and Catechism, in the same manner, as over the pence and multiplication table; and do they understand any more of the former than of the latter? What can they, from the character of their tuition, possibly learn on the subject, but that these are words, which are required to come forth from their lips? About their meaning they concern themselves the less, as their mind is wholly taken up with the apprehension of the punishment, or the hope of the reward, that awaits a deficient, or perfect, performance, of this unhallowed babbling of things most sacred.

But, leaving all these incidental defects of our much lauded Christian instruction out of the question, I would ask: Where is the school, in which children are received in the name of Christ, in the true sense of the word? Where is the teacher, who abstains from inculcating any human system, but, contenting himself with laying before the pupil, in a plain and intelligible manner, the facts of revelation, leaves the interpretation of them to the Spirit of the Lord God, having faith that the child has some part in that Spirit? Where is the teacher, or the parent, that is contented to see a child become a Christian, without caring, whether he profess himself of this or that denomination, or of any denomination at all? Or, rather, I should ask, where are the people, in this enlightened age, that can believe a man to be a Christian, if he be of no denomination? That is to say, where are they that will acknowledge a man to be a Christian, if he choose not to be a carnal Christian after their fashion? Have they not-so great is the want of classing men in denominations-col

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THE DIVINE PATTERN OF EDUCATION.

lected all those, who profess to be of none, under the queer denomination, "Nondescript," of whose tenets, I apprehend, it would be difficult to give an accurate account? One question more, on this tender point, the carnality of the Christian world: If there were no earthly interests mixed up with religion, would men be so anxious to give, or to receive, from each other, outward pledges concerning it? I apprehend not. If it was purely for the sake of Christ, and of the salvation of souls through him, the denomination would become less important, and from this very reason, the Christian character itself would have greater weight. As it is, however, there are but few who can understand, that the inward does not come by the outward, and still fewer who can conceive of the inward existing without the outward, or independently of it. Here is the great point. Because we are anxious to make our children Churchmen, or Baptists, or Independents, or Friends, and so forth, therefore we fail of making them Christians, as, otherwise, by the blessing of God, we might be enabled to do. Because we teach religion, without faith in the indwelling of the everlasting light, in the child's darkness, therefore that light faileth to shine upon our instruction, as we have the promise that it would do, if we were to teach truly in the name of Him, who has been made manifest in the flesh, as the true light.

It is a remarkable fact, that whilst every man, who chooses to start a new system of education, or instruction, is sure to find followers, there has not yet been any attempt made, at least not professedly, or consciously, to take for a model, that great pattern of education, which God himself has laid down, in his marvellous guidance of the human species, from darkness to light. If He, whose is the kingdom and the power, has condescended to prepare mankind, during ages, for the reception of that important revelation, by which the way of salvation was thrown open to all men, why should we, his feeble instruments, be so loth to take a similar course with the child, and, instead of

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cramming crude doctrines into babes, to lay the groundwork of the gospel, by a previous course of practical preparation? But the fact is, that the dealings of God with man, have never been understood in this respect; for, owing to the mass of minute criticisms upon the Bible, with which our attention is engrossed, we have not yet had time to consider the comprehensive and sublime views of life which are contained in it, and of which the present subject forms a striking illustration.

The first step which God took with man, after he had fallen from his primitive state, was to appoint outward nature as his first teacher, and the ties of blood, as tokens of remembrance of that heavenly tie, which, by man's disobedience, was broken. The second step, in the Noachic dispensation, was to impress man with the connexion between the earthly and the unearthly, and to show him the outward world, and his own physical existence, as a stage, on which he may manifest moral good or evil.

The flood itself was an awful demonstration of the truth, that the most Holy will not suffer unholiness in his creation; whilst the covenant with Noah, by the mildness, both of its tenor and its emblem, held out the prospect of a hope in heaven, to man, whose view, by the first decree after the fall, was confined to the earth. At the same time, the few simple commands, concerning the treatment of earthly things, which are added, were the first exercise of practical obedience, required at the hands of man, after the fall. He was taught to yield up the earthly thing unto God his Maker. The Abrahamic dispensation was the next positive step; and the dispersion of the human race from Babel, was a preparation for it, in the same manner as the flood was for the covenant with Noah, showing man, that he was not permitted to do after his own will and conceit. Having thus been convinced, by fact, of the vanity of the attempt, of projecting for himself the plan of his existence, he was better prepared to receive the idea of a direct guidance by the Lord, and of instrumentality to his will, which it was

the object of the covenant with Abraham, at the same time, to establish and to reveal: whilst the sacrifice of Isaac answered the double purpose, of extending man's willingness to deny himself for God's sake, to the yielding up of the dearest treasure he possesses on earth; and of laying down a striking type, by which future dispensations might be recognized. After this, came the Mosaic dispensation, with its two precursors, the Egyptian bondage, and the wandering in the wilderness; mighty lessons to convince man that he must not lose his trust in God, which alone can save him from falling a prey to the violence of man, and to the power of the elements. The positive progress, however, of the education of mankind, intended by this dispensation, was, to extend the idea of divine guidance, and of human instrumentality, from the individual to the nation; to establish a state of things in subordination to God, to whom all things, earthly and human, in the Jewish theocracy, were directly subservient; and to lay down. a distinct code of laws, regulating the duties of man towards God, and the social relations between man and man. At the same time, the contrast between God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the Creator of man, and idols, made by the hand of man,-between true and imaginary religion,— was put before man in the most marked manner.

So far, the divine education of mankind was purely practical; establishing relations, and giving commands, but adding of doctrine no more than was immediately and inevitably involved in the expression of those relations and commands. By degrees, man was introduced to all the influences which earth and heaven contain; he was rendered conscious of his own position in the midst of them, and the duties resulting from his position were clearly laid before him. This, in progress of time, led necessarily to the discovery, on the part of man, that he was unable to perform what his situation required of him; transgression followed upon transgression, and sacrifice was instituted upon sacrifice, again with the two-fold object, of preserving