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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Communication of Religio n * Knowledge to the Young . 651
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tied up to any of these bodies , at this vast distance from usi , you would still discover others as much above you as the stars that you see here are above the earth * * and yet , my child , so great is God , that all these bodies added together are but as a grain of sand in his sight ; and yet you are as ? much the care of this God and Father
of ail worlds and all spirits , as if he had no son but you , or there were no creature for him to love and protect , feut you alone . * * * * * therefore , my child , fear and worship and love God ; and take him for your Lord and Father and Friend . * * Your youth
and little mind is only yet acquainted with my family , and , therefore , you think that there is no happiness out of it . But , my child , you belong to a greater family than mine : you are a younger member of the family of the Almighty Father of all nations ; who hath created infinite orders of
beings and numberless generations of men , to be fellow-members of one and the same society in heaven / ' * This is a specimen of the manner in which a kind , judicious father may converse respecting God with his children , when he sit 3 in his house , and
when he walks by the way . Not that a long address to them on these interesting subjects can be either requisite or desirable . The quotatiqns which I have made , are to be considered as oaly a pattern of this indirect but attractive method of instruction . To
individuals who cherish habits of correct thought and feeling , in the allimportant task of education , these extracts will perhaps have suggested hints , both as to the manner and the
practicability of communicating religious knowledge in their families : and of such hints they will not fail to take advantage . In acting upon them , their own judgment and hearts will be their best directors . We must
frequently have remarked the extreme curiosity of the infant mind : we eanflot be ignorant that the principle is bestowed on it , for highly beneficial purposes ; and , if we be wise , we shall not neglect to guide youthful curiosity into a proper channel , and to apply lfc to the mast useful ends . For the
accurate and successful performance Law ' s Serious Call , Scc tJ ( Ed . 7 , ) 239—246 .
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of this parental duty , two errors must be avoided : we must shun alike tediousness and levity . Could I suppose that any of my readers are in danger of mistaking tbe nature of the practice , of which . I have ventured to express nay feeble
approbation , I would here mention a circumstance , which , a few months ago , seized the attention of the writer of ttm essay . On a venerable and engaging spot , that commands a boundless view of the ocean , he perceived a
mother and her young son apart from every other individual . The child gazed with earnestness on ** the world of waters : ' * he beheld it , as is probable , for the first time , and with all the astonishment which such a
spectacle , so magnificent and so novel , cannot fail of raising in the youthful mind . Nothing was heard of their conversation : no attempt was made to break in upon their seclusion . It was observed , however , that the parent most carefully directed her child
to the whole of the stupendous scene before them , encouraged his curiosity , and seemed to aim at gratifying it ;
nor , at that moment , could I forbear to imagine , and indeed to hope , that she was elevating the thoughts and affections of her beloved charge to Him who made " earth , sea ,, sky ;" that , while pointing to the vast expanse , she was , in effect , saying ,
C View the broad sea ' s majestic plains i And think how wide its Maker reigns ; That band remotest nations joins , And on each wave His goodness shines . ' * *
Let not this anecdote be considered as a digression : it will be more than excused , if it enable a single parent better to understand what is meant by talking of God with his children ii \ the way , or supply him with afnew motive to the practice . . ¦ ,
On all proper occasions , therefore * but especially when , being alone with our youthful charge , our regards are , directed to the objects of , creation ^ wheu the rising ajid the setting sun , when " all the dread magnificence of heaven , " when the charms of spring , when summer suns , wkea the glories of the decaying year , and when the snows and storms of wiater present * Doddridgc ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1824, page 651, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2530/page/11/
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