532 ON THE I;ItUCADION OF YOUTH. 6. They may be taught that there is no way for such sinful creatures as we are to be received into God's favour, but for the sake of. Jesus Christ the Son of God ; who came down from heaven into our world, and lived a life of pure and perfect holi- ness, and.suffered death to reconcile sinners to the great and holy God, who is offended by the sins of men ; and now he lives in heaven to plead for mercy for them : and that as this Jesus Christ is the only reconciler between God and luau, so all their hope must be placed in him. 7. They may be taught, that their very natures are sinful: they may be convinced, that they are inclined naturally to do evil : and they should be informed, that it is the Holy Spirit of God, who must cure the evil temper of their own spirits, and make them holy and fit to dwell with God in heaven. 8. They should also be instructed to pray to God, that for the sake of Jesus Christ, the great mediator or reconciler, he would pardon their sins past, and help them by his Spirit to love and serve hint with zeal and. faithfulness for the time to come : that he would bestow all necessary blessings upon them in this world, and bring them safe at last to his heavenly kingdom. 9. In the last place they should be.informed, that our bles- sed Saviour has appointed two ordinances to be observed by all his followers. to the end of the world, which, are usually called sacraments. The one is baptism, wherein persons are to be washed with water in the name of the Father, the Son; and the Holy Spirit, to signify their being given ttp to Christ as his disciples, or professors of christianity : and as an emblem of that purity of heart and life, which as such, they must aim at and endeavour after. 'l'he other is the Lord's sapper, wherein bread is broken and wine is poured out and distributed. to be eaten and drank by christians in remembrance of the body of Christ, which was put to a bloody death, as a sacrifice to obtain pardon for the sins of men. The first of these, namely, baptism, is but once to be administered to any person ; but the last, name- ly, the Lord's supper, is to be frequently performed, to keep us always in mind of the death of Christ, till he comes again iron heaven to judge the world. This is the sum and substance rf the christian religion, drawn out into a very few plain articles ; and I think a child of ttornmort capacity, who is arrived at three or four years of age, may be taught some part of these articles, and may learn to un- derstand them all at seven, or eight, or nine: at least so far as is needful, for all his own exercises of devotion and piety, As his age increases, be may he instructed more at large in the prin- ciples and practices of our holy religion, as I shall show word particularly in the third section.
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