broken up. They uncovered the roof therefore, by removing part of the canopy, or covering, which was probably fastened by hooks in the parapet wall, or the roof of the house. This part of the canopy, so deprived of its support would open a way to the very presence of Jesus; and having secured the four corners of the bed with cords, they let down the sick man, not through the tiling, but as it might more properly have been rendered, along the tiles, with which the face of the wall was adorned, until he reached that part of the court, whereJesus sat teaching.-That they ornamented the faces of their walls of the middle court with tiles, we have the authority of Shaw, who has given a particular account of them.

But a little attention to Mark ii. 4, will, we think, make it probable to every one, that the expression, "when they had broken it up," refers not to the roof of the house, but to the bed of the

paralytic. And the word which is rendered bed, in Luke, signifies a bedstead, or a bed having a frame work around it; but the word which Mark uses, signifies only a carpet, or perhaps, a mattress. His four friends then, having carried the paralytic upon this frame, to the parapet next to the inner court, they fastened their cords to the mattress on which he lay, and let it down, with the sick man upon it, into the court below. It is easy then to conceive, that the paralytic, when he could walk, could without difficulty carry his bed.

Eastern beds consist of very thick cotton quilts, one of which, folded double, serves as a mattress, upon which the person sleeps, and the other as a covering. To the ear of a Jew, there could therefore have been nothing incongruous in the question, "who bade thee carry thy bed?" or in the command, "arise, take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.”

"Who ever has had opportunity of examining into the religious opinions of persons in the inferior ranks of life, even in the most enlightened and civilized nations, will find that their system of belief is derived from instruction, not dis covered by inquiry." DR. ROBERTSON.

SECTION IV.

AT the close of the second section several ingredients of character were mentioned; and we proposed to show that all these are subjected by God to the influence of education, At the head of the list, opinions were

placed as the first ingredient of character to be considered. In every country a great portion of moral conduct is comprised under a compliance with general customs, either civil or religious; and all general customs depend on popular opinions. The opinions of men must therefore be of great importance in the formation of characters. It will be the object of this section to prove, that opinions are the fruit of education; and that a child may

be taught to regard any doctrine as essential to his salvation, whether it be true or false.

Let it be supposed that a newly married couple should remove to an island remote from all others of the human family, and there be blessed with a beloved son. Let this son be kept from all intercourse with any human being except his parents, and allowed no books but such as accord with his parents' views of religion. Let it also be supposed that the parents strongly feel the importance of their own opinions, and that they are diligent and persevering in their endeavors, to impress them on the mind of their son, as opinions, on the belief and practice of which his happiness will depend, both in this world and the world to come. Finally, let it be supposed that the example of the parents corresponds with their verbal instructions.

Now what event can be considered as more probable or more certain, than that this child will grow up with a profound veneration for the opinions of his parents, whether they be correct or erroneous, Christian,Mahometan, or Pagan? Is it not as certain that he will imbibe the opinions of his father, and conform to the rites and customs which his parents enjoin, as that he will be capable of receiving instructions and impressions?

In support of the hypothesis, that early opinions are properly the fruit of education, we cannot indeed produce examples of such solitary instruction; but we may produce facts equally convincing. For in every country,

in every nation and every sect, children who are strictly educated, imbibe the opinions of their parents or instructors. Opinions which to a christian appear so absurd, that it would seem almost impossible that any rational being should admit them, are transmitted from father to son, through a long succession of ages, and held in as great veneration as christians feel for any of the doctrines of the gospel.

In the account Mr. Rollin gives of Egypt, we find that the ancient Egyptians had a relig ious veneration for the ox, the dog, the wolf, the hawk, the crocodile, the ibis and the cat. Such was their regard for these animals, that the punishment of death was inflicted on any one who intentionally killed any of these creatures. In a time of famine they would sooner eat the flesh of each other, than the flesh of these deified animals. A gentleman from Rome being in Egypt, accidentally killed a cat, which so exasperated the inhabitants, that the king himself could not restrain them from killing the unfortunate Roman.

In 1707, a Danish Missionary asked an Indian Priest, whether he thought it "unlawful to eat fish or flesh." The Braman replied "Nature has plentifully provided us with other food, so that we have no need to eat our fellow creatures; and it is. written in our law, that these very creatures, if devoured by men in this world, will be their tormentors in the next. And because you Europeans drink strong liquors and kill and eat your fellow creatures, endued with five

senses as well as yourselves, I confess we have an inbred aversion to you, and all that belongs to you." Thirty four Conferences, p. 276.

In a letter to one of the Missionaries, a learned Malabarian mentioned among the greatest of his objections to the morals of christians, their "eating cows' flesh, and spitting in their houses." By education he had been taught to regard these two customs as immoral. Through the same influence the natives of India are induced to esteem it as a religious act, for the parent to cast his own child into the Ganges, to be devoured by sharks; and for a woman to sacrifice herself on the funeral pile of her husband.

In Guinea, one of the most celebrated deities is a serpent. "Rich offerings are made to this deity; priests and priestesses appointed for its service. It is invoked in extreme wet, dry, or barren seasons; and on all the great difficulties or occurrences of life." View of Religions.

Among the deities of the Hottentots, is an insect, about the size of a "child's little finger." If this insect "honors a village with a visit, the inhabitants assemble about it in transports of devotion. They suppose the arrival of this insect in a village, brings happiness and prosperity to all its inhabitants; and that their offences to that moment are buried in oblivion. If the insect happens to light upon a Hottentot, he is distinguished and revered as a saint, and the delight of the deity ever after. The fattest ox in the village is immediVol. III.

14

ately killed for a thank offering, and the time is turned into a festivity in honor of the deity and the saint." View of Religions.

Dr. Robertson, in his History of America, gives some shocking accounts of the religious rites of the Indians. Speaking of the religion_of the Mexicans, he says "Fasts, mortifications and penances, all rigid, and many of them excruciating to an extreme degree, were the means employed to appease the wrath of their gods; and the Mexicans never approached their altars without sprinkling them with blood, drawn from their own bodies. But of all offerings, human sacrifices were deemed the most acceptable. This religious belief, mingled with the implacable spirit of vengeance, and adding new force to it, every captive taken in war, was brought to the temple, was devoted as a victim to the deity, and sacrificed with rites no less solemn than cruel." Vol. ii. pp. 308, 309.

"A cruel custom that prevailed in some of the most savage tribes, subsisted among the Peruvians. On the death of the Incas, and of other eminent persons, a considerable number of their attendants was put to death and interred around their Guacas, that they might appear in the next world with their former dignity, and be served with the same respect. On the death of Huana-Capae, the most pow erful of their monarchs, above a thousand victims were doomed to accompany him to the tomb.”

It would be easy to fill a volume with facts relating to the

heathens in proof of the doctrine, that opinions are the proper fruit of education, and are thus transmitted from father to son, and from one generation to another. By the same influence the followers of Mahomet regard him as a prophet of the Most High, and the Alcoran as the word of God.

If we look into the history of the Jews, we shall find striking proofs of the power of education. That people were much addicted to war; yet such was their veneration for the Sabbath, that they would suffer themselves to be butchered by their enemies, raththan fight on their holy day; and probably they would have starved to death, rather than eat the flesh of swine. Such was the force of education on the minds of the Jews.

But we are not under a necessity of passing the bounds of christendom, for proofs directly in point. If we look into the history of the papal church, we may find many facts to astonish a protestant. By the influence of education the papists of former times believed, that the Roman Pontiff was the infallible Head of the whole christian church-that the bread and wine in the Lord's supper are converted into the real body and blood of Christ; and that it was an act of duty to put such hereties to death, as denied the truth of these supposed essential doctrines. Thus the merciful religion of Jesus was converted into an engine of despotism, persecution, misery and death.

With what awe must the child of a papist have received the

consecrated bread, while he believed it to be the real flesh of the Lord Jesus! With what awful veneration must he regard the pope, while it was supposed that he was the vicegerent of the Deity, with power to forgive sins, to grant indulgences, and to punish error with death!

Among every sect of protestants we see the children, who are strictly educated, growing up in a firm belief of the opinions of their respective parents and guides; at least they appear to have no doubt of the correctness and propriety of the doctrines and rites, which distinguish their own sect. These are admitted as unquestionable, until by mixing with other people, hearing other teachers, or reading other books, their educational faith is shaken.

A child that is piously educated as an Episcopalian, imbibes a veneration for the peculiar tenets and rites of that church. It is so likewise with the children who are strictly educated as Presbyterians, or as Congregationalists, or as Baptists, or as Moravians, or as Quakers, or as Shakers; and so of every denom. iuation.

In each of these sects there are doubtless many things commendable, and many things,

which should be corrected. But true opinions and false opinions, are equally subject to the power of education. There is no doctrine, however true and important, or however false and inconsistent, which a child may not be made to regard as essential to his salvation. The dif ferent objects, which different

dore as the Deity, are almost innumerable: and equally namerous and different have been the rites and customs, which different children have been made to regard as essential to their happiness. And Christians are under a great mistake, if they suppose, that the children of Pagans and Mahometans have less veneration for their respective religious doctrines and rites, than the children of Christians generally have for the doctrines

pel.

Thus evident it is, that opinions are the fruit of education; and when it shall be considered what influence opinions have or may be made to have in relation to the other ingredients of human character, and the customs and moral conduct of mankind, we hope it will appear, that a truly christian education is of infinite importance. But these illustrations must be reserved for future Numbers.

FALSE notions of the nature of religion may be grounded on or supported by the persuasion of the truth or importance of particular tenets; but however closely mistakes in practice or temper may be connected with false articles of belief, error in our notions of particular doctrines is entirely distinct from our misConceptions of the nature and design of religion itself.

Among many mistakes of the nature of religion there is one which seems to exclude every thing that is essential to the christian character. This is that which discovers itself in a loose way of talking, and makes religion to consist in good dispositions to virtue, constitutional and amiable instincts, or a certain inoffensiveness of conduct. It is true such persons are rather denominated good than relig ious, because it is too often ap. parent that the idea of God has hardly entered their minds, sheds

no influence on their amiable dispositions, and helps not to preserve the regularity of their conduct. Though a principle of conscience may never have governed them, nor any intelligent spirit of benevolence animated their conduct; though they may have lived without God in the world, and have been free from vice only in consequence of favorable circumstances, they are falsely set down as examples of what men ought to be, aud of what christianity is designed to form.

Others make religion to consist entirely in services performed expressly towards God, as though he had an interest distinct from that of his creatures, or as though he required acts of homage, as something which he needs from them.

It is true that the term relig ion is originally and properly applicable to our duties towards God, but to suppose that these