inciples.

1. Our community is agreed that _there is a God_. There is probably not
a school in our country, where the parents of the scholars would not
wish to have the teacher, in his conversation with his pupils, take this
for granted, and allude reverently and judiciously to that great Being,
with the design of leading them to realize his existence, and to feel
his authority.

2. Our community are agreed, that _we are responsible to God for all our
conduct_. Though some persons absurdly pretend to believe, that the
Being who formed this world, if indeed they think there is any such
Being, has left it and its inhabitants to themselves, not inspecting
their conduct, and never intending to call them to account, they are too
few among us to need consideration. A difference of opinion on this
subject, might embarrass the teacher in France, and in other countries
in Europe, but not here. However negligent men may be in _obeying_ God's
commands, they do almost universally in our country, admit in theory,
the authority from which they come; and believing this, the parent, even
if he is aware that he himself does not obey these commands, chooses to
have his children taught to respect them. The teacher will thus be
acting with the consent of his employers, in almost any part of our
country, in endeavoring to influence his pupils to perform moral duties,
not merely from worldly motives, nor from mere abstract principles of
right and wrong, but _from regard to the authority of God_.

3. The community are agreed, too, in the belief of _the immortality of
the soul_. They believe, almost without exception, that there is a
future state of being, to which this is introductory and preparatory,
and almost every father and mother in our country, wish to have their
children keep this in mind, and to be influenced by it, in all their
conduct.

4. The community are agreed, that _we have a revelation from heaven_. I
believe there are very few instances where the parents would not be glad
to have the Bible read from time to time, its geographical and
historical meanings illustrated, and its moral lessons brought to bear
upon the hearts and lives of their children. Of course, if the teacher
is so unwise as to make such a privilege, if it were allowed him, the
occasion of exerting an influence, upon one side or the other of some
question which divides the community around him, he must expect to
excite jealousy and distrust, and to be exclu