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    imposes , and no little judgment to adduce the most striking Considerations and enforce the most awful sanctions . The task is , however * effected as well as perhaps is possible within such limits . The most important objects of Christian education are pointed out , with a rapid sketch of the best means

    of attaining them ; and the heart of many a Christian mother will , we doubt not , glow with p leasure as she reads the exhortations and receives the encouragement of one who evidently knows how tender are her anxieties , how ardent her hopes and fears for her offspring . We say , the Christian mother ; because for her these sermons were chiefly designed , though not to her actually addressed . The writer declares his firm persuasion ,

    " That if we knew the early history of the eminent men who hare most adorned and benefited the world , we might trace back the stream of their usefulness and their fame to the nursery—to the pure fountain of maternal prudence and affection . "— "In the earliest and most important years of existence her influence is of unspeakable consequence . The first dawning" of reason , the first stirring of passion , the first line of character , are marked by her eye .

    Her familiarity and affection remove all restraint , and she can distinctly perceive the very inmost workings of the heart and mind . * From earliest dawn till latest eve , ' her eye follows the beloved object of her hopes and fears ; so that she enjoys constant opportunities of checking every symptom of folly , encouraging- every appearance of virtue , and deducing lessons of improvement from every occurrence , and from every surrounding object . "

    Hence are adduced arguments for a solid and enlarged system of female education , which few can , with any appearance of reason , attempt to gainsay , or will be inclined to oppose . "With regard to the management of children , no talents , no endowments can be too high for so important a task . Even in the lowest mechanical employment the artisan requires to understand the proper use of his implements

    and the nature of the materials upon which he is to operate ; and surely , a Christian mother , whose own mind is either a waste or a wilderness , must be totally unfitted for enlarging the understandings , cultivating the dispositions , regulating the principles , and forming the habits of her offspring . la truth , such a mother is doubly unfitted for her station : first , by incapacity ; and again , in being unable to secure that filial reverence and respect which are essential to the due efficacy of all parental instruction . "—P . 372 .

    The necessity of early controling the temper , infusing religious feeling , and establishing moral principles , is the chief subject of these two sermons ; and they also contain valuable hints on points of minor importance , and conclude with striking appeals to parents and children on their reciprocal duties . The delineation of the mode in which early emotions of piety should be excited is beantiful , but it is too long : to be extracted . We cannot refrain , however , from quoting one other passage , which excites emotions in other hearts besides those to which it is especially addressed .

    "There is one class of young persons upon whom , above all others , 1 would , with my whole heart , press the duty of filial reverence and obedience ; I mean those who have but one parent—a widowed mother . If there be any being in existence-who peculiarly and forcibly claims our sympathy , it is a faithful wife , bereft of her earthly stay , and shelter , and consolation . In the

    early hours of her deprivation , ' she refuses to be comforted ; ' but under the gracious Providence of God , the violence of her grief subsides into sadness ; and among the first objects that rekindle an attachment to life , are the smiles and prattle of her children . In one , she traces the features , in another , the depositions , in a third , the mind of him that was ; and , in the fulness of her heart , she gradually becomes reconciled to her lot , " whilst she anticipates for

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    452 Sermons f <> r Families .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1829, page 452, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2574/page/4/