all his creatures, but as the capricious protector of some obscure and narrow sect. They see in their Redeemer not the author of a rational and comprehensive religion, but the teacher of dark and doubtful tenets, the knowledge of which is confined to what they rashly esteem his chosen Israel. If they adhere to these opinions, they are too prone to indulge themselves in presumptuous decisions, and uncharitable censures. But if, in the progress of life, they should once discover the fallacy of early prejudices, there is great danger to unlettered men in the notions which they afterwards adopt. Escape from error is not always a transition to truth. Where the tares are rooted up the wheat is not always sown. A coarse and impertinent scepticism rushes into the place of a blind and implicit faith. The understanding, thrown off from the only basis on which it had been accustomed to rest, totters in restless uncertainty, or seeks for refuge in a stubborn unbelief. The heart exchanges gloomy seriousness for profane levity. Religion, when it is no longer revered for its supposed mysteriousness, is hated for its supposed austerity; and after this dreadful revolution, all faith is subverted, all morality is corrupted, all piety is extinguished.

How, then, shall these evils be averted? I answer, by leaving the veil over mysterious subjects undrawn to the minds of children, by reasoning to them chiefly of "righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come:" by setting before them those truths which are intelligible to all capacities, and interesting to all ranks-truths which they may

hereafter review without disgust, and retain without difficulty-truths which familiarity will confirm, but not debase-truths which fanaticism cannot deface, which dogmatism cannot distort, and which sophistry cannot overthrow.

Into this train of reflection I have been led, not only by the general incapacity of children to reap any benefit from controversy, but by some untoward symptoms of bigotry and intolerance which I have lately discerned in those, who most arrogantly represent themselves as the only supporters of our Ecclesiastical Establishment, as the favoured depositaries of Christian knowledge, as the very best teachers of the very best truths. Against ignorance, professing, indeed, "to wield the sword of faith, and to have put on the breast-plate of salvation," but, in reality, entrenched only in obstinacy, and armed with uncharitableness,-against such an usurper, and such a foc, I should disdain to struggle, if I were not anxious to shelter these children from spiritual delusion and spiritual bondage. If, however, my opinion should have little weight with you, I trust that you will not lightly spurn the authority of Archbishop Tillotson, whose sentiments on this subject are exactly similar to my own; whose moderation was equalled only by his sagacity and his piety; and whose character many of you must have been accustomed to revere, as that of a steady friend to the laws and government of his country, and one of the brightest luminaries in that constellation of learned and virtuous prelates who have adorned the Established Church.

In closing this discourse, I shall address myself to those worthy persons who have undertaken the tender and most useful office of superintending the education of females. Never do the soft and lovely virtues of your sex appear with brighter lustre, than when you are thus engaged in instructing the ignorant, in consoling the friendless, in watching the blush that suffuses the cheek of ingenuous youth, and in wiping away the tear from the eyes of those that weep. Ye cast many a piteous and many a vigilant look on those female cares that escape the notice of our sterner sex; ye perceive the first dawnings of many excellences which eventually form a virtuous character, but, from their minuteness and exquisite delicacy, are unobserved by us ;-ye can with peculiar grace descend to the detail of many courteous and affectionate offices, which in minds of a more robust form would appear hardly becoming;-ye, as Solomon expresses it, "blemish not your good deeds, nor use uncomfortable words when ye give." "Shall not the dew," say ye, "assuage the heat?" "is not a good word," in your estimation, "better than a gift? and are not both with a gracious woman?" Yes; and therefore men of reflection will know how to value the importance of your services; men of taste and sensibility will admire the spirit with which they are performed, and, for the sake of doing justice to them in description, they will have recourse to the apposite and luminous language of King Lemuel: "Ye," they will exclaim, "gird the loins of these children with strength, and strengthen their arms.

Ye perceive that their merchandize is good, and that their candle goeth not out by night. Ye bid them seek wool and flax, and work them willingly. Ye teach them to lay their hands to the spindle, to hold the distaff, to make fine linen, to deliver girdles to the merchant, to look well to their household, and not to eat the bread of idleness. Ye shew them that favour is deceitful, that beauty is vain, and that the woman who feareth the Lord shall alone be praised."

Go on, then, I beseech you, in this your labour of love; and may He who "out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hath ordained strength," give effect to your pious and benevolent intentions. In this world, may you enjoy the profit of your wellmeant toils, in the modesty, in the industry, in the becoming demeanour, and the heartfelt gratitude of those whom you patronize; and in the great Day when you, together with the other supporters of these charitable institutions, shall be summoned to your last and solemn account,—then, oh! then, may these little ones plead for you before the tribunal of the blessed Jesus, and accompany you, as you enter into the everlasting kingdom of their Father and your Father, of their God and your God.

SERMON XI.*

ON CONFIRMATION.

ACTS viii. 17.

Then laid they their hands on them, amd they received the Holy Ghost.

THAT external signs facilitate and invigorate the impressions, which the qualities of the things signified are fitted to make by their own proper and intrinsic force, is known to us by the experience of every day. In conformity to this principle, which has its foundation in the nature of man, the Apostles, when they had baptised their converts, and prayed for them, laid their hands on them. In the Epistle, too, of the Hebrews, vi. 2. the doctrine of baptism and laying on of hands is joined with the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment, and from the facts just now mentioned to you we see the close connection of this ceremony with the religious opinions of the very earliest believers. After the apostolic age it was extended from baptism to confirmation, and in both cases it points out to us the spiritual condition of

* June 1815.