The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-10-18 00:00:00

' combination lead on to the formation of just judgment, so
necessary to the right appreciation of all things. We are
daily struck with instances of ignorance, awkwardness,
and inaptness in various individuals, and we are apt to
think them belonging to an inferior formation ; but the
conclusion is a wrong one. Their maladroitness only
springs from want of the just exercise of those faculties
with which they may have been as richly endowed as-
others who may at the same time be making distinguished
figures in life. The simplest thing is strange to the most
talented, coming in its newness. See, then, the necessity
for early practice of the various functions of our organiza-
tion, both mental and bodily. If we neglect their cultiva-
tion, at the periods nature has appointed, imagining that
at some future time, when they are more expanded, they
will prove in a higher degree fruitful, we might as reason-
ably expect to gather our harvests when we sow our land.
Our work must be done in the morning of life. It is true,
that in later periods of life, the will has accomplished Her-
culean labours ; but experience sufficiently proves that the
omission of early education can never be supplied. There
is a softness in the texture of the brain which leaves it
open to impressions, becoming more and more indelible
as it gains stability, while, as the process is advancing,
the difficulty of fixing any mould upon it goes on increas-
ing-. This is the reason we all remember the most trivial
circumstances of our youth better than the events of riper
years ; and thus it is that the Divine Being has fitted
youth for the reception of that teaching so essential to the
well-being of after-life.
After remarking at considerable length upon the im-
mense value of cheerfulness and sweetness of temper, in
all our dealings and intercourse with children, Mr. Bain—
brigge eloquently and convincingly pointed out the ads-an-.
vantages both to the teacher and to the taught,—to the
parent and to the child,—of mutual and implicit con& -.
dente in all their intercourse and employments. He then,
after painfully picturing the consequences of neglect upon
childhood, and contrasting it with the results of a judicious
and careful training, concluded by saying, all the advan-
tages of this life are transitory. The goods of fortune are
precarious. We may accumulate wealth, and bequeath it
to our offspring ; and yet, who can say it shall not melt
away like snow in the sunshine ? If we can bequeath vin.
tue, a good name, and unblemished reputation, these are
things over which time can exercise no power. Temporal
possessions may pass into other hands ; but a mind en-
lightened by intelligence, and a heart trained into habits,
which not only fit the individual for the duties of the pre-
sent life, but prepare him for the fruition of a more glo-
rious state, are gifts more valuable than the world with all
its splendour can bestow. They are beyond the power of,
fortune, of which neither, time nor chance can deprive him.
The effects of a well-directed education, even in a single
child, may conduce to the temporal and eternal welfare of
multitudes yet unborn.
The lecture was attentively and earnestly listened to
tbroughout,,the intoregt. .vineed by those uresent seeming
to grow with its progress. The third lecture of the series,
will, be delivered in the same place on Friday evening next.