When a child shall have made such necessary reflections as lead to a knowledge of herself and of God--add to them the historical facts in which she has already been instructed: this union will enable her to have a correct idea of the whole of religion: and she will remark with pleasure the connection between such reflections and the history of mankind. She will have observed that man did not make himself, that his soul is the image of God, that his body has been formed with so many admirable resources, by an industry and power which can only be divine--and she will then recollect the creation. Afterwards she will think that he is born with inclinations contrary to reason, that he has been deceived by pleasure, carried away by anger, and that his body hurries on his soul, contrary to reason, as a furious courser rushes forward with a horseman; instead, of the soul governing the body. She will perceive the cause of this disorder in the history of the sin of our first parents; and this history will lead her to that of the Saviour, who reconciles man to God. Such is the foundation of religion. To make young people better understand the mysteries, actions, and precepts of Christ, we must dispose them to read the Evangelists. They must, therefore, be early prepared to read the word of God, as they are prepared to receive the holy communion of the Sacraments.[6] [6] Here follows, in the original, certain matter which may be thought to savour too strongly, on the one hand, of the authority due to the _Romish Church_; and on the other, of principles (resulting therefrom) which are now called _Evangelical_; and as such, contrary to the doctrine and tenets of the established Church of England. Remember, then, to place before their eyes the Gospel, and the great examples of antiquity; but not till you are assured of their docility, and simplicity of faith. Provided you lay the foundation of humility, submission, and an aversion to all suspicious singularity, you will shew young people, with great benefit and effect, every thing the most perfect in the law of God, in the institution of the Sacrament, and in the practice of the ancient church. I know that one cannot hope to give these instructions, in their full latitude, to all sorts of children; I propose it only, in order that we may make use of them, as exactly as possible, according to circumstances, time, and the dispositions of them whom we instruct. Superstition, without doubt, is to be avoided in the sex: but nothing eradicates or prevents it better than solid instruction: this instruction, although it ought to be restrained within proper bounds, and different from the studies of the learned, produces greater effects than is ordinarily imagined. A person sometimes thinks himself to be well informed, who in reality is not so; and whose ignorance is even so great that he is not in a condition to feel what he wants in order to know the foundation of christianity.