the several details of the life of nations, and say, for example :

"The Romans enslaved other nations; they thought themselves great heroes, and yet they were but fortunate robbers. Every nation which impoverishes another in order to fatten on its spoils, yields to a disgraceful thirst for plunder. Nations sometimes try to overreach each other; but artifice and double-dealing, when carried on upon a large scale, are but the more deserving of our detestation. Those men are highly culpable who buy and sell their fellow-men as you would cattle in the market. Woe to the nation which is a prey to insatiable thirst for gain, and therefore can neither rest in peace itself, nor allow others to do so. Can you suppose that our Heavenly Father will graciously accept the thanksgivings which are offered, with hands still polluted with blood, by one nation for having been permitted to carry fire, and death, and desolation into another?" &c.

Humanity to Animals.

This too must find a place here. Nevertheless, it is to be hoped that our pupils will have been cured at home of that thoughtlessness which takes pleasure in plucking out the feathers of a little bird, or breaking the claws of an insect, &c.: those are barbarous pastimes, though children are hardly aware of the pain they inflict by them on sentient beings. And, indeed, those of riper years are not blameless in this matter; for men will often remorselessly deprive a poor animal of its freedom, and detain it in captivity contrary to its nature; and will treat horses and beasts of burden as if they were insensible to hunger, to fatigue, and to blows.

Our course of language will therefore say to the pupils that animals are capable of feeling pleasure and pain like ourselves; that their organization resembles our own, and that they too require food and rest; that they hold their lives under the same goodness which upholds us in being; that, although the animal is not the child of God, like man, yet nevertheless he is the object of God's providential care; that the Creator has given animals for our use,

but not for us to be their tormentors; that if we would be the children of God, we must feel kindly towards all who draw the breath of life.

CHAPTER VII.

Cultivation of the Personal Tendency by means of our Course of Language.

WHILST the moral tendency leads us to realize the idea of right, whilst the religious tendency raises us towards the Author of life and all things, and while the social tendency draws us out of ourselves, and makes us live in the life of others, the personal tendency continually brings us back to our own individual self, to watch over our own selfish interests, and to procure that happiness which we ever seek and never attain to.

The personal tendency is earliest developed; it is in itself ignoble, but it soon awakens inclinations which are more valuable than itself; it excites that filial piety which will afterwards, by the aid of maternal instruction, grow into religion, and rise above the visible world. Then also is it not because we desire happiness ourselves, that we know how to wish and to promote that of our fellow-creatures? Do away with self-interest, and you will do away with all the social affections; nay, more, conscience will become dumb. Therefore, education, if wise and discreet, will beware of that stoicism which has sought, but in vain, to stifle the tendency that is, as it were, the root and food of all the others; for it is a right measure and direction that must be given to it, in order to bring it into harmony with the rest. The moral, religious, and social cultivation which will be given in our course of language, will tend powerfully to direct and to control the personal tendency. Nevertheless, the work of education would be incomplete if it did not bestow special attention on the tendency which speaks first in man,

which is so easily led astray, and which then becomes the fertile parent of every vice and disorder.

Of these there is a host; but they may be referred to three principal ones,-sensuality, covetousness, and pride. Under these three heads, the Apostle John summed up the vices of the world in his days, and it is still essentially the same; and from these primary irregularities of the personal tendency flows every kind of disorder, and every hostile passion. It would be useless to attempt to attack the vices themselves, we must seek to dry up their source. This will be the object of our course of language; and where it cannot cure, it will seek at least to prevent the evil.

Self-love. Sensuality.

Sensuality seeks to excess that which flatters the senses, and shrinks from what is revolting to them; in early age it often shows itself in the shape of daintiness and greediness; next in luxury of clothing and furniture; in fear of cold or heat, or all inclemency of weather; and lastly, in indolence, which makes men dread labour, and avoid the trouble of it by devolving it on others. We shall consider these three points separately.

To combat sensuality, we shall make use of the arms furnished by the personal tendency itself, whilst at the same time we shall beware of substituting one vice for another, as has been justly imputed to heathen moralists; but we shall avail ourselves of all that is honest and lawful in this tendency; and we shall afterwards call in the aid of morality, religion, and sociability. Nor shall we consider irony inapplicable to a subject in which it may be of material use.

Daintiness, Greediness, Drunkenness.

In order to induce us to give to our bodies the food which they require, the Creator has subjected us to the cravings of hunger and thirst, which are unpleasant in themselves, and therefore urge us to satisfy them; on the other hand, He has given to our different kinds of food a flavour which pleases the palate and attracts us: thus

adding pleasure to the calls of want; and we should disregard his views and despise his gifts, if we sought, under pretence of imaginary sanctity, to forbid men these enjoyments, and thus to confound use with abuse. “Every

creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving*." Therefore we shall only endeavour to guard our pupils against daintiness and greediness; and we shall brand intemperance with infamy, not because it is one of the vices of childhood, but because it is right to warn them against what is too fatally common in after years. The following are some of the thoughts which our course of language will suggest.

"If you wish to be a man, and a child of God, you must eat and drink in order to live, and not live in order to eat and drink. If you are a slave to your appetite, the animal will outweigh the man in you. Would you sink to the level of the beasts that browze at your feet? you have only to live but for eating and drinking, as they do. As soon as a man yields to the pleasures of the table, he loses all taste for what is grand and sublime. What remains to the sensual man of all the good cheer of which he has partaken?—nothing wherein he can glory. How disgusting is the sight of a drunkard who has drowned his reason in floods of wine, and degraded himself below the brute beast. Those who seek after delicate and costly food, should think how many poor there are who endure the pangs of hunger. I like to see a child ready to share his bit of bread with the poor man who is in want. He is ill qualified to live hereafter with angels, who is now a slave to appetite, and makes a God of his bellyt. We are liable to many diseases which were unknown to our ancestors, because we have exchanged their frugality for extravagant luxury in food. Who can number the victims who have been hurried to the grave in the prime of life, by intemperance in eating and drinking?",

* 1 Tim. iv. 4.

+ Phil. iii. 19.

Effeminacy.

This is but too common among the affluent classes, because they are too apt to study their own ease exclusively. Lodging, clothing, bedding, furniture, every thing is adapted to please the senses; and heat or cold, or the slightest inclemency of weather is dreaded. Our course of language will not indeed openly condemn those parents who bring up their children so softly, because it is our duty to inspire filial piety; but we are also bound to tell the truth, and to represent a soft life in its true colours, as well as to point out its grievous consequences. We shall say, for example, that the children of labourers are healthy and robust, because they have not been bred up softly; that the man who has done a good day's work often enjoys sweeter slumbers on his hard bed than the rich man on his bed of down; that the peasant is well satisfied with his coarse furniture, and feels no inconvenience from its not being more costly or commodious; that peace and cheerfulness often desert the palaces of the rich, and take refuge in the cabin of the poor; that children should be accustomed to bear heat and cold and inclemency of weather, or they will live in perpetual fear and discomfort; it is sad to see men squandering away immense sums in undue luxuries when so many poor are in want of the necessaries of life, &c.

Indolence.

Labour, whether of the body or the mind, requires exertion and self-denial. Many men dread all close application, and yield to indolence, which tends to beggary and dishonesty. The child loves to move and play about, and to try his powers; but as he only follows his own inclinations, he is not aware of the trouble he is giving himself, and indolence therefore has no hold upon him. It will appear, however, as soon as you try to fix him to any thing that he does not himself choose. He will immediately find it difficult, tiresome, useless; and unless his desire to please you prevails over his reluctance, he will do it with an ill grace, or but half do it. Educa