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if any one will ascend beyond thirty short years of time, and take the judgment of the ct?nturics and a| which preceded this prc&ent generation of men, be will find thnt by universal consent the s;todiei of nature were far postponed to the studios of man and the study of God, and the command orer nature's secrets, rated far beneath tltc command over self, and obedience to Ihc holy, just, and good ofditiances of the Mo8t High. We have therefore the best right to conclude^' that if education fulfil the rudimental idea which it names, and indeed the only catholic idea of it which can be taken up, it muHt address )t»eU' to unfold these three various parts of man's nature^ in due subordination to one another, by all the helps and instruments which can be made suh^er- vient to that blessed end. Now, all who believe in revealed religion, and have had any experience of its godly fruits, know well how utterly ineffectual is every other mean^ to quicken religious life within the soul, save the revelation of his mind and will, which for that end God himself hath given to the children of men. The Gospel of Christ, as it is unfolded tbcrc» in all its various forms of narration, of (]<ictrine, of precept, and of example, of promise and reward, and of prophecy and ful- 6Iraent, through four thousand years of time, k the only light which availcth to dispel the brood- ing darkness wherein tJic spirits of all the young 792 OH EDUCArioM, [DU. Bnd old are found involved, and hidden from ^1 twled^e^which concemeth God and immonality, 'tbe inrbibic world, nnd everlasting life. Thc^' have Wriuon most beautifully concerning the light of [b&ture, and the revelation nf God contained in the matt^nal iniiver&e; and very pleasant it 'veretobclieve all ^'hich they havebcautifntlyvrrit- ten; but I have yet to find tliu man eitlier in the 'H'cords of well autlienticat^d history^ or in tbe 'circles of living society, who hath derived from tiiat source any abiding consciouEnces of God $ exUtcncc, or revelation of his mind, any deliver- Lce from aia, or practical government of life; Ffcny wctl-groundcd hope of immortality, any [:&vaL]abli- consolation agamst JifilictiLiEt and death* 'ct I blot not out of the scheme these the handy- 'orka of God; but before they can be rightly ■perused 1 exact much previous knowlcdi^c con- cerning Uim whom they do but dtmty rcprc^nt, and concerning that sad calamity of the world which hath shifted every- one of them from its centre; and then with such illumination both human nature and pbyEical