with the marvellous nature of this history, will charm a child, if you do not burden her memory with too many similar narratives, if you wait till she asks for them, and if they are promised her as a reward when she makes improvement. It is important, likewise, that these stories should not have the appearance of study, and that the child should not be obliged to repeat them; for such repetitions, unless they are voluntary, are a constraint, and take away all the charm of stories of this kind.

It must be observed, however, that, if the child has any facility in speaking, she will undertake, without the suggestions of others, to repeat to those whom she loves, the stories that have given her the most delight; still, it is not wise to establish any rule in this respect. You may have recourse to some one who will be free with the child, and who will seem to wish to hear her tell the story. The child will be delighted to repeat it; do not appear to listen, let her tell it without correcting her mistakes. When she has become accustomed

to this exercise, you may point out to her, in an easy and gentle manner, the best method of telling a story, which consists in rendering it short, simple, and natural, by the choice of such circumstances as best represent the fact. If you have several children, you can gradually instruct them how to represent the personages of the histories which they have learned; let one be Abraham, and another Isaac; these representations will please them much more than other amusements, will accustom them to think and speak of serious things with pleasure, and will impress these histories indelibly on their memory.

You should endeavor to inspire them with a greater relish for sacred histories than for any others, not by telling them that they are better, which they will not perhaps believe, but by making them feel that they are so. Lead them to observe how important they are, how remarkable, how wonderful, how full of natural description, and vivacity tempered with dignity. The histories of the creation, of the fall of Adam, the deluge, the

calling of Abraham, the sacrifice of Isaac, the adventures of Joseph to which we have just alluded, the birth and flight of Moses, are not only well adapted to excite the curiosity of children, but also, by disclosing the origin of religion, to lay the foundation of it in the mind. He must be in profound ignorance of what is essential in religion, who does not perceive that it has its basis in history; it is in a succession of wonderful facts, that we find its establishment, its perpetuity, and every thing that it leads us to practise and believe. None need imagine that we wish them to plunge into the depths of science, when we propose all these histories they are on the contrary, brief, various, and adapted to the tastes of all, even of the most uninstructed. The Deity, who knows better than any mortal that human soul which he has formed, has made religion dependent on facts within the comprehension of ordinary understandings; and these facts facilitate our conception and recollection of the mysteries. Tell a child, for instance, that in the Deity three equal

Persons constitute one nature; by means of hearing and repeating these terms, she will retain them in her memory; but I doubt whether she conceives their meaning. Tell her that when Jesus Christ was ascending from the waves of Jordan, there came a voice out of heaven from the Father, saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Say likewise, that the Holy Spirit descended on the Saviour in the form of a dove; in this way, you make her clearly discover the Trinity-by means of a history which she will never forget. Here are three Persons that she will always distinguish by the difference of their actions; you will have only to teach her that they all constitute but one God. This example is sufficient to show the utility of history; though it appears to prolong the process of instruction, it in reality abridges it, and frees it from the dullness of catechisms, in which mysteries are detached from facts; thus we find that, anciently, the prevalent mode of instruction was through the medium of history. The admirable

method, of instructing all the ignorant, recommended by St. Augustine, was not a system which this father alone had introduced; it was the prevailing system and practice of the church. It consisted in showing, by the course of history, that religion is coeval with the world. Jesus Christ expected in the Old Testament, and reigning in the New, constitutes the summary of Christian instruction.

This method requires more time and attention than the instruction to which many confine themselves; but when this detail is familiar, the course of religious instruction is complete, while, on the other hand, if this is unknown, no clear ideas will be entertained with respect to Jesus Christ, the gospel, the church, and the circle of Christian virtues. A historical catechism, simple, short, and more intelligible than ordinary catechisms, might contain all that is necessary in this way; so that it cannot be said that very much study is required.

We may join to the histories just noticed, the passage of the Red sea, and the sojourn