On Bowing at the Name of Christ. 107 ing at the name Jesus be henceforth forborne. The theme we are upon is a sad point: I pray consider severely on it. "You know there is no other name under hea ven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. You know that it is a name above every name. This name, it is the sweetest and fullest of comfort of all the names and attributes of God-God my Saviour. If Christ were not our Jesus, Heaven were then our envy, which is now our blessed hope. And must I, Sir, hereafter do no exterior reverence, none at all, to God my Saviour, at the mention of his saving name Jesus? Why, Sir, not to do it, to omit it, and to leave it undone, it is questionable, it is controvertible. But to deny it, to forbid it to be done; take heed, Sir, God will never own you, if you forbid his honour. Truly, Sir, it horrors me to think of this. "For my part I do humbly ask pardon of this house, and thereupon I take leave and liberty to give you my resolute resolution. I may, I must, I will do bodily reverence unto my Saviour, and that upon occasion taken at the mention of his saving name Jesus. And, if I should do it also as oft as the name of God, or Jehovah, or Christ is named in our solemn devotions, I do not know any argument in divinity to controul me. "Mr. Speaker, I shall never be frighted from this with that fond shallow argument; oh! you make an idol of a name. I beseech you, Sir, paint me a voice, make a sound visible if you can; when you have taught mine ears to see and mine eyes to hear, I may then perhaps understand this subtle argument. In the mean time reduce this dainty species of new idolatry under its proper head (the second commandment) if you can. And if I find it. there, I will fly from it any whither with you. "Mr. Speaker, this, as I said, is a sad point in divinity to forbid exterior worship to God. Was it ever heard before, that any man of any religion, in any age, did ever cut short, and abridge any worship upon any occasion to their God? Take heed, Sir, and let us all take heed, whither we are going. If Christ be Jesus, if Jesus be God, all reverence exterior as well as interior is too little for him. I hope we are not going up the back stairs to Socini anism. "In a word, Sir, I shall never obey your order, so long as I have a hand to lift up to heaven-so long as I have an eye to lift up to heaven. For these are corporal bowings; and my Saviour shall have them at his name Jesus." Now if you agree with me, Mr. Editor, on the duty, or even the decency and propriety of this little act of adoration, I am sure the insertion of this speech in your useful work cannot but contribute mainly to the promotion of it. I say nothing of the parliament, or its motives, to which this speech was addressed. It was at a time, the like of which, I trust, we shall not see again, when Church and King were both overthrown. I will take up no more of your valuble space, but subscribe myself your constant reader and well wisher and admirer, Worcestershire, Jan. 14th, 1825. E. W. when This speech was made in a time the fear of Popish forms was in danger of leading to the opposite extreme-that of neglecting all forms, however innocent and decent. A good Protestant who sees that some forms are needful and profitable, will endeavour to guard against making them mere forms; he will desire that they should assist his worship, not be used instead of it. "At the name of JESUS it is required that every knee should bow." We do well then to observe this literally; but we know, at the same Extracts from "Friendly Advice," &c, 109 time, its spiritual meaning-that every Christian is to receive the Saviour Jesus Christ as his Lord and Master, and to do him the reverence of a humble heart and an obedient service.-ED. EXTRACT FROM "FRIENDLY ADVICE ON THE MANAGEMENT AND EDUCATION OF CHIL DREN." "Do not punish your children according to the vexation you feel in yourself, but according to their real faultiness. To have a frock torn, or a pitcher broken, may be a great inconvenience to yourself ; but, if you punish a child for such accidents as severely as you would for a lie; he will soon dread your displeasure, more than the lie which may screen him from it." "Never punish a child from anger." "Passionate correction may lead a child to fear his parents, and outwardly to obey them, but it will not introduce into the heart the right principle of obedience." "Endeavour to avoid terrifying and violent punishments. Very hard blows have caused the death of children by secret injuries unknown at the time; and to lock them up in cellars, or other dark places, may bring on fits, and disorder their senses. A girl about ten years old completely lost her senses, in consequence of being terrified by punishment, and an excess of severity. "Be very cautious in the use of the rod, and never employ it but upon the most serious occasions. If used in anger, or for trifling faults, it will only harden the heart and stupify the conscience." "And yet where correction is likely to do good, it must not be neglected. Instead of using the rod on all occasions, a child may be confined in an up from joining his companions at play, the whole of one day, or may be sent to bed an hour or two before the usual time. In most cases, mild punishments will answer a better purpose, than those which are violent. "Instead of snatching up a child at the moment he has disobeyed your orders, and giving him a few angry words and hard blows, have patience with him, calmly convince him of his fault, and assure him that disobedience to your orders is a thing that you never pass over, and tell him that you shall therefore put him to bed at night, at five, instead of eight. You will find that this expectation has a secret effect upon him throughout the day, and that he will be the more careful to obey your orders for the future," This is not the first time that we have made extracts from the excellent little work from which the above advice is taken. There are very few subjects more needful to be attended to than the education of children, and perhaps there is none of more difficulty. It is easier to see faults than to avoid them; and even those parents who are the most anxious to bring up their children well, do not always find it easy to attend to those rules which they have laid down for themselves. In fact, to be a good instructor requires a degree of patience which few can command; it requires health and energy and equal spirits, which do not fall to the lot of many. There should be a constant and uniform endeavour to lead the child to the earnest pursuit of what is: right, and to the abhorrence of what is wrong The difference between right and wrong then is the great distinction which it should be the aim of instructors to point out and a child should be able to see, that this, and this only, is the object of the instructor, and, should feel sure that it will be 1 Extracts from “Friendly Advice," &c. 111 treated accordingly. But if, instead of this, the humour of the parent or teacher is to govern every thing if there is to be all indulgence one day, and all scolding another, when the child's behaviour has been nearly the same, what has the scholar to depend on? Instead of seeking for encouragement, by doing right, and avoiding wrong, it will naturally look to the parent's countenance to know its fate, and thus will soon become insensible to any other distinction. Goldsmith has well described the trembling of the school-boys at the looks of their master when he first entered the school "Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace A child's estimate of right and wrong will indeed be generally in proportion to the importance which the parent or the teacher seems to put upon it; and, iflittle childish habits are to be as severely censured as real faults, a child will suppose that his parent sees no difference, and will very soon himself learn to see none. Besides, as these little trifling matters are constantly occurring, a parent will have nothing to do but to be finding fault; and this, of itself, will keep a child constantly in a sort of humour in which it can learn nothing with pleasure, and therefore, nothing with effect. And, besides this, one of these two bad consequences is almost sure to follow,-the child will either try to avoid the presence of the instructor, or will be wholly indifferent to all his instructions. Awkward habits in children are however, not to be neglected-far from it; but they are not be put upon a level with crimes against religion and morals. But they will be so, if the same stress be laid upon them and if more stress be laid upon them, then they will be probably more regarded. An old Scotch gude-wife laid it down as a rule that" clean |