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who, in spite of custom, pride, or indolence, will take their little ones to their breast, must have more comfort and success than those who cruelly consign them to the care of foster-nurses; thereby denying them that food which is not only the most proper, but is ordained likewise for their iufant state.

The human mind, in its infant opening, has been improperly compared to a blank sheet of paper, susceptible only of external impressions. But it may be rationally supposed that children receive their prejudices and inclinations in great measure from the dispositions of those persons to whose care they are entrusted.

That all children are born with vicious inclinations, there is no doubt but when we hear parents exclaiming against the bad dispositions of their own children, we cannot help oftentimes secretly condemning the parents themselves for introducing such vices into their habits, or for encouraging them by their example.

It therefore behoves every mother to be watchful of her own conduct, and perfectly satisfied of the dispositions of such servants as she entrusts with the care of her children at this susceptible time of life; when even the more affectionately those persons treat them, the worse consequences are to be apprehended, if their own tempers are not good: for as children are gratefully fond of those who use them kindly, they are by far more likely to imbibe the bad qua lities of an indulgent attendant; and, on the contrary, to profit by good examples.

Objects that attract the eyes, are at first most delightful. The pleasures from hearing are the next. From sight and sound ideas take their gradual rise. Hence a partial fondness is formed by children towards those whose province it is to attend upon them; and for this reason they are more fond of their nurses, who are constantly prattling to them, than of parents neglectful of their infancy.

The want of duty and affection in children towards their parents, so much to be censured and so generally complained of, often proceeds from this early mismanagement. The indifference, also, of too many parents towards their children, frequently owes its origin to depriving themselves of the enjoyments of their little ones at this engaging season of life. Even to an uninterested person, the expanding of an infant mind is a delightful entertainment; but to good parents, the pleasure and attachment must certainly prove exceedingly more agreeable and lasting. We must indeed

pity those whom necessity deprives of this happy solace, but utterly condemn those who wilfully commit the care and early education of their children to persons in no respect qualified for so important a task.

As the infant mind advances towards a state of maturity, an increasing degree of anxiety will be excited in the minds of parents who act under the strong impression, that their children are rational and immortal beings. The care which attends the helpless state of infancy is confined to the body only, but in a few years the children become, in the fullest sense of the term, accountable creatures; and those parents must be insensible indeed who do not, in such circumstances, consider the care of the soul as the "one thing needful."

The choice of books is of great importance in the education of children; the sons will, perhaps at an early age, be put under the care of tutors, but the formation of the minds of the daughters will ever be the peculiar province of the mother; we have already given our sentiments on the religious instruction of children, and it is only necessary to add, that it is the peculiar object of this work to furnish parents with a summary of those subjects which are most calculated to forward the work of female education.

MAXIMS, MORAL AND RELIGIOUS.

PERSONS in general too often remember what they should forget-injuries, and forget what they should remember-God, their immortal souls, death, and a future state.

If a sinner's thoughts are not changed in this world by grace, they will be in another by experience; therefore let sinners daily pray for more grace, and less of the world in their thoughts.

Get this principle wrought in your heart, that there is nothing got by sin, but misery; nothing lost by holiness,

but hell.

Piety is the best profession; honesty the best policy; vice its own punishment; and virtue its own reward.

They that deserve nothing, should be content with any thing sinner, what deservest thou?

Idleness is the mind's poison, the devil's working-time, and the Christian's snare.

The truly good man, sensible of his duty to God, his own soul, and his fellow-creatures, will never say, upon reflection, he has nothing to do.

It matters not what a man loses, if he saves his soul; but if he loses his soul, it matters not what he saves.

It is better to have a good conscience, and be poor, than a bad one, and be rich; for a guilty conscience, who can bear? We must attend to the warnings of conscience in time, For we shall feel the wounds of it eternally.

A hypocrite is a dangerous person to be in company with, because he neither is what he seems, nor seems what he is.

If a man lives and dies a mere professor of religion, it had been better for him if he had made no profession. Religion consists not in profession, but practice.

The profession of godliness may be without the practice of it, but the practice cannot be without the profession; so in the same view morality may be without true Christianity; but true Christianity cannot be without morality.

The gate which leads to eternal life, is a strait gate, therefore we should fear; but blessed be God, it is an open gate, therefore we may hope.

If you forget God in your youth, he may forget you when you are old, or remember only to punish you for your forgetfulness.

The reason why so many fall into hell, is because so few think on it.

The real Christian has Christ in his heart, heaven in his eye, and the world under his feet; God's Spirit is his guide, God's fear is his guard, God's people are his companions, God's promises are his cordials, and God's presence his eternal glory.

Take the candle of God's word, and search the corners of your heart; if your heart is not right with God, your soul must be in great danger.

He that wants to know whether he is going to heaven, should daily examine what road he is travelling in.

He that wishes to know whether he is a child of God, should enquire whether he loves and obeys his heavenly Father with all that he has and is.

As this world is but an inn, or a temporary lodging for the Christian in his way to glory, he should be contented and thankful, if he meet with decent (much more elegant) accommodations and refreshments, where there are continually so many travellers putting up.

That man shews himself to be a Christian, who chooses rather to suffer than sin.

If sin and folly are the modes of the times, we must be sure to be unfashionable, and in that respect appear nonconformists.

Riches are dust, honours are shadows, pleasure a bubble, and man a lump of vanity; but who believes all this? Alas! too few.

To have a portion in this world is a mercy, but to have this world for a portion is a misery: reader, what and where is thy portion?

A Christian, while he lives surrounded with spiritual ene mies, should take care never to stir abroad without his guard..

As among wise men, he is often the wisest who thinks he knows the least, so among fools he is commonly the greatest who thinks he knows most.

To render good for evil is God-like, to render evil for evil is man-like, to render evil for good is devil-like: which, reader, do you do?

To profess to be a Christian in words, and prove yourself a heathen by deeds, is to be an arrant liar, a talking hypo crite, and more fool than knave.

The profession of religion is evidenced by many, but the real possession of it experienced by very few: well may the caution be given to all, Beware of counterfeits.

He who thinks least about a future life, has most reason to fear his approaching death:

Howe'er the young and gay may vainly boast,
They fear death least, who think upon it most.

The man of pleasure and the free-thinker, who deny the being of a God, and live as they list, under the notion that all things came into being by chance, will do well to consider, if the world was made by chance, whether there might not be also a hell made by chance, which they may also fall into by chance, and so by chance be miserable to all eternity. Man, thoughtless man, whose moments quickly fly, Wakes but to sleep again, and lives to die; And when this present fleeting life is o'er, Man dies to live, and lives to die no more.

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THE ATHEIST AND THE ACORN.

IT was the fool who said in his heart "There is no God," into the breast of a wise man such a thought could never have entered. One of those refined reasoners, commonly called minute philosophers, was sitting at his ease beneath the shade of a large oak, while at his side the weak branches of a pumpion trailed upon the ground. This threw our great logician into his old track of reasoning against Providence. Is it consistent with common sense," said he," that infinite wisdom should create a large and stately tree, with branches of prodigious strength, only to bear so small and insignificant a fruit as an acorn? Or that so weak a stem as that of a pumpion should be loaded with so dispropor tioned a weight? A child may see the absurdity of it." In the midst of this curious speculation, down dropt an acorn from one of the highest branches of the oak, full upon his head. How small a trifle may overturn the systems of mighty philosophers! Struck with the accident, he could not help crying out, "How providential it is that this was not a pumpion.

GENIUS, VIRTUE, AND REPUTATION.

Genius, Virtue, and Reputation, three intimate friends, agreed to travel over the island of Great Britain, to see whatever might be worthy of observation. "But as some misfortune," said they, "may happen to separate us, let us consider, before we set out, by what means we may find each other again." "Should it be my ill fate," said Genius, " to be severed from you, my associates, which heaven forbid you may find me kneeling in devotion before the tomb of Shakespeare or rapt in some grove where Milton talked with angels; or musing in the grotto where Pope caught inspiration." Virtue, with a sigh, acknowledged that her friends were not very numerous: "But were I to lose you," she cried," with whom I am at present so happily united, I should choose to take sanctuary in the temples of religion, in the palaces of royalty, or in the stately domes of ministers

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