Excerpt from The Way to Bless and Save Our Country: A Sermon, Preached in Philadelphia, at the Request of the American Sunday School Union, May 23, 1831 As every science and course of instruction depends, essen tially, upon a few elementary principles, and that of Chris tian education as much as any other, so a familiar acquaint. Ance with these principles is essential. Before we undertake to teach, it is extremely important that we understand the primary laws of thought and feeling; and that we have an intimate acquaintance with the elements which we are to arrange and combine, so as to strengthen every faculty, and to secure the most perfect developement of symmetry and beauty. And, whatever our ultimate object may be, we must begin at the beginning. We must commence With the simplest combinations, either of characters, substances, thoughts, or affections. This holds true, whether we would construct the most ordinary machine, or measure the height and magnitude of the stars - whether we would unlock the stores of literature in a foreign language, or fathom the deepest and sweetest wells of our own - whether, in short, we would, in any way, concentrate and direct the mighty energies either of matter, or of mind. He who should wait for his son to understand Paradise Lost, before he would teach him the first lesson in two letters; or, who should at tempt to bend an oak of fifty circles, would be about as wise, and about as successful, as the parent who should wholly neglect the religious instruction of his children in their ten der years, and then undertake to change their habits, and mould their hearts, in the strong maturity of passion and ap petite. We must begin the work early, or we shall labour in vain, and spend our strength for nought and in vain. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.