terms an internal intuition, or a spontaneous feeling of GRATITUDE, CONFIDENCE, and LOVE; and thus to bring forth to religious feelings the germs that lie within him. Genuine religion is a sentiment of gratitude, confidence, and love towards God our heavenly Father, which antecedently manifests itself towards earthly parents.

Through the care, the tenderness, the love of his Mother, the child arrives at a consciousness of himself, as it were, by intuition. He is necessarily led to the conclusion, " "They care for me they love me: I am something." He first recognises himself in the brightest mirror, the love-speaking eye of the Mother.

An intuition or perception of the manner in which human kind manifests itself towards the child, through its true and active representative, the Mother, is the essential and only foundation for exciting the powers of the HEART; without which its development is unattainable. He who had never experienced the tender care and loving-kindness of a human being, would be as void of feelings and affections, as if he possessed no heart.

We cannot but remark under what a lovely image human kind is exhibited to the child by

God; what a pleasing representative of his species is assigned to him; and in what an interesting point of view God's universal family is made to appear to him.

It is in the power of a Mother to exercise so beneficial an influence over her child, as to be every thing to him: on the other hand, the immediate link connecting man with the spiritual world is wanting, when his Mother either neglects him, or leads him astray: when his Mother is to him-no Mother.

Hence arises the melancholy sight of so many, even of the great and rich, and highly accomplished and instructed in all the refinements of life, having had pains bestowed upon them in every direction, except in the cultivation of the HEART; shining as heroes, as politicians, as legislators, as rulers, but not as MEN.

It is through the MOTHER, through true maternal Love only, that man becomes MAN.

The intuition of his Mother's kind and benevolent treatment, creates in him the elements adapted for the higher cultivation of the heart; vix. FAITH, LOVE, and GRATITUDE, constituting the original and essential qualities of his spiritual nature.

The child, according to his internal organization, will and must be inspired with FAITH, LOVE, and GRATITUDE, provided the Mother prove, in the true sense of the word, a Mother to him he will and must be so, as long as she continues to act the part of a kind Mother, or as long as any other will act in the true spirit of a Mother towards him, should Providence or imperious necessity ordain such a change.

LOVE, FAITH, and GRATITUDE are the only really existing good in the heart of the child; the innate germs, which, when suitably developed, will elevate him to morality, and to the invisible kingdom of God. Through these alone he is led to a spontaneous resolution to submit to the moral law, agreeably to the will of him who has excited his Faith, Love, and Gratitude. Without these roots of morality and religion, the moral law and religious knowledge remain subjects of speculation, of discussion, of writing, and of disputation only; destitute of that genial warmth of heart, of that vital influence on the thoughts and actions, which can alone render them acceptable in the sight of an all-perfect Being.

Reason only recognises and admits the existence of God, and of whatever is divine, after it has been highly cultivated; and only then admits it in the same manner as it admits any other moral truth. But the HEART of the spiritually awakened man conceives and embraces God and things divine, as indispensably necessary. It conceives him through itself; and the child is inspired with a filial heart towards God, from the moment he is represented as the kind, benevolent Father of all mankind, and certainly comprehends him, as far as man can comprehend God.

Religious cultivation, therefore, as long as it is elementary, has nothing to do with the understanding, but must confine itself to the

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If proper care be taken to develop the germs of the heart, man becomes established in Religion and Morality; and the road is opened which leads to the intuition of the spiritual world.

It is not the cultivated mind, the profound understanding, but the pure heart only that can behold God.

If any man seemeth to be wise in this

world he must become a fool, that he may be wise*

The effects produced on the child, by observing the Mother act as a representative of his species, are also twofold. He perceives the Mother as a being acting for him, and at the same time overflowing with kindness and benevolence.

By this diffusion of benevolence, she becomes to him an object of the highest enjoyment. In her and through her he perceives himself provided for, and she receives his thanks by his looks and actions; by his twining round her and clinging to her in the fondest manner, and in preference to any other.

His feelings must be awakened, his sympathy must be excited, his heart must be warmed; but only through the kind attention, the benevolent treatment which he constantly experiences.

As a being that acts for him, the child beholds in the Mother a ruling power, on which he entirely depends, and to which he will and

*It is virtue, direct virtue, which is the hard and valuable part of education, and to which all other considerations and accomplishments should be postponed.-Locke.