Page 5 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

4 PREFACE.
erence to living objects, or to the scenes and characters of real li ; the second, by the impressive appeals of religious truth, which, apart om their moral e ects, possess a para­ mount in uence in giving a re ecting tone to the mind. As the cts of religion have rnished at all times the best ref­ utation of its adversaries, it has been considered judicious, occasionally to vary its didactic lessons with brief extracts
om the history of the Christian Church.
Among the moral and religious pieces in prose and poe­ try, the pupils of the Christian Schools will recognise the e usions of one whose voice once supplied the lessons now furnished by his writings, and whose living example im­ pressed the moral which his memory must illustrate r the future. The look of attention and the tone of benevolence, in which these lessons were conveyed, will indeed be missed, but his spirit will still speak to the hearts of those over whom he bent with more than parental solicitude. In re­ calling the memory of one who, r their sakes, rsook not only the rst circle of literary distinction, but the more en­ dearing one of kindred and of home, it will not il also to convey the salutary truth, that the highest attainments of the scholar may be still further exalted and ennobled by re­ ligion; that the lustre of genius never appears to such ad­ vantage as through the veil of humility ; and that the moral beauty of virtue itself acquires an additional charm, when exercised in the cause of charity•

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