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3. Silence and reverence must be observed every moment they are in the house of God. There must be no whispering, talking, nor disturbance of any kind. Every little noise in the scholars' gallery disturbs the congregation in the gallery below. The first offence is punished by the forfeiture of all the tickets of approbation which the scholar may have then received. The second offence is punished by expulsion from the schools.

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4. Each scholar is expected to come straight from home to the chapel, and to go directly home after divine service is ended, with quietness and good behaviour. All playing and rudeness in the streets on a Sunday, is disgraceful and sinful. The first offence is punished by the forfeiture of all the tickets of approbation the scholar may have then received, and for the second offence the punishment is expulsion.

5. Boys and girls are never to be seen walking together on a Sunday to or from the chapel.

6. They are expected to pay cheerful and constant obedience to the superintendants, master and mistress, and such persons as the master and mistress may appoint to assist in keeping order and silence in their galleries.

No. XXV.

ADDRESS TO PARENTS OF CHILDREN IN THE SCHOOLS OF ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL, BEDFORD ROW.

WHEN * our Lord put the question, What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? He shewed the infinite worth of that soul, and also the awful consequences of neglecting it.

To make this more plain, he has given us a book, shewing us in a variety of ways, that the soul, like the body, has its wants, diseases, and death, also its means of recovery to spiritual health and eternal life.

This recovery is compared in Scripture to the bringing a lost sheep back again to the fold; or to one awaking from a deadly sleep to a lively hope as it is written, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead; and Christ shall give thee light.

Now RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION is one of God's appointed means for this relief and re

* Now first printed by the Society, with Mr. Cecil's per mission.

Address to Parents of Charity Children. 287

covery of the soul of man, as He saith, Take fast hold of instruction; let it not go; keep it, for it is thy life.

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More particularly with respect to our chil dren, He says, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. And accordingly he charges us, In the morning to sow the seed of instruction, and in the evening not to withhold our hand, since we know not which shall prosper.

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A brutish man knoweth not, and a fool doth not understand this wisdom; and therefore despiseth it. But mark what honour the Lord putteth upon it, when he saith, Shall I hide from Abra ham the thing that I do? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord.-Them that honour me I will honour.

And because religious instruction is God's usual method of delivering us from the blindness of ignorance, and the poison of sin, He hath not only sent His word, and promised His. spirit to them that ask Him; but He has also raised up ministers and witnesses from time to time to open men's eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God; that they may receive forgiveness of sins,

and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith which is in Jesus.

But that religious instruction which is needful at all times, is particularly needful in a day of rebuke and blasphemy, like the present. A sort of madness now abounds that leads guilty, dying creatures not only to ridicule and reject both the physicians, and the remedies God hath sent to heal them, but also to delight in spreading the pestilential disorder.

Now if some cruel wretch were contriving to give your child a dose of poison under the notion of a sweetmeat, could you rest till the child was informed of the danger, and secured against it? Or if the plague were to break out among us, would you be easy till the best remedies were administered to your family, and every thing tried for their safety?

What then are we to think of those who are so anxious to secure the body of a child which must soon turn to dust, and yet slight the means God has appointed for the safety of its never-dying soul?

None will need to have these things urged their consciences the moment after they enter eternity. But, few consider enough how

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much, even in the present world, the comfort of the parent depends upon the religious instruction of his child.

How many who have sowed the seed of religious instruction, are reaping the fruit of their labours in the piety, affection, and prosperity of their children? On the other hand, what fruitless complaining and bewailing is often heard over a profligate son, or a ruined daughter? And what bitter reflections must follow in the mind of those parents who trace this ruin from their own neglect?

I will judge, said the Lord, the house of Eli for ever, because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.

Consider the advantages of preparing your children against the time they must leave you, to struggle with a dangerous world. Good principles form a suit of armour. They are also a recommendation; for who would not prefer a servant, or a partner, who has been brought up in the fear of God and the knowledge of his duty, to one who has been left to run wild, neither fearing God, nor regarding

man?

Consider also, if they should be taken from

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