holding some article of property, by doing some one of the hundred vexing things which are signified by the word teasing. Be assured that these are all transgressions of the great law of love. You do not like to be vexed yourselves, and therefore you ought not to vex others. Some children can better bear to be teased than others, and it is well that you should learn to bear it, for it is a rough world you live in. But while you should endeavor to bear provocation, when it comes, with as calm and strong a spirit as possible, you should resolve not to give provocation, but to be kind and amiable, and considerate of the feelings of every one.

And here I would throw in a word for the brute creation. Avoid teasing not only your fellow beings, but the inferior animals. God made them, and made them for enjoyment. See that you embitter not their lives, their short lives, which God gave so kindly. Study their habits, for they are curious and interesting. Admire their form and structure, for they are well adapted to their habits and wants. Accept their services, which are many and great. But do not tease them. Do not make them wish, if they can wish, that they had never been born. Show that you deserve your own superiority of rank, by treating them gently and humanely.

3. There is a fault, or I should rather call it a sin, which is to be observed in some children, but from which I hope you are free, for I cannot think of it without indignation-I mean the habit of tyrannising over inferiors in age or strength. I believe I state no more than the bare fact, when I say, that many have had their days of childhood almost spoiled for them, by the sufferings of mind and body which have been inflicted on them by some little tyrant of the neighborhood. A grievous sin is the sin of tyranny, and perhaps as often to be met with among children as among men. Sometimes one will tyrannise over many, and sometimes many will join together to tyrannise over one. But in all cases, tyranny is a grievous and hateful sin-it causes so much unhappiness! Even children of the softer sex are not free from it. Even little girls will sometimes combine together to treat with rude and cutting neglect some one of their companions, because they have some foolish prejudice against her, and thus, if she has any feeling, make her miserable; and she, all the while, may be as good a child, and as worthy of notice, as any of them. Avoid, I beseech you, the taint of this sin of tyranny. And let those who are free from it themselves, frown upon it, when they see it in others. Discourage it; talk against it;

take the part of those who are oppressed by it. As far as you are able, permit it not to show its hateful form, or exercise its hateful power.

And here I will stop; not because I have got through the list of the faults of children, but because those which I have named belong to one class or family of faults, and because I have already said enough for your attention and your memory. I have spoken to you as your sincere friend, more desirous to improve you than to entertain you. It will do you no harm, but only good, to be reminded seasonably of your imperfections, and to think and reflect on them, so that you may be led to amend them. Go on, my children, from weakness to strength, and from strength to more strength, and may the good Spirit of God our Father go with you and help you!

SERMON XI.

A SUMMARY.

MY LITTLE CHILDREN, THESE THINGS WRITE I UNTO YOU,
THAT YE SIN NOT.

THESE words are from the First Epistle of John, second chapter, first verse. They represent, in a brief form, the object of religious instruction, whether it be addressed to children, or to persons in mature life. The purpose of the apostle, is the purpose of every Christian teacher. I have written to you, my children, and preached to you, from first to last, that I might keep you from sin, and help you to be virtuous and worthy; and not merely that I might entertain you for a few moments at a time, with words that should make no lasting impression on

your minds and hearts. I have written to you, and spoken to you, "that ye sin not."

And now that I speak to you once more, it is my intention to refresh your memory of what has been formerly said to you, by repeating to you the substance of these discourses, which had for their only design your improvement in knowledge, and goodness, and piety.

1. I taught you in my first discourse, that you were not here in the world by chance, without a Maker; but that just as certainly as a rich musical instrument, for instance a church organ, must have been made, and made by a being having a mind, or intellect, so certainly must you have been made, and made by a Being having a mind, or intellect. I told you that as an organ could only be made by some one who intended to make it, and knew how to make it, and was acquainted with all its various parts, so you yourselves could only be made by some One who intended to make you, and knew how to make you, and was acquainted with all the various parts which compose the wonderful frame of your bodies, and the still more wonderful frame of your souls. That One is God. He made also the earth, and the stars, and every thing we behold. He is before