of each page, make the necessary lines for two rows of pounds, shillings, and pence; the first row being for those sums of money which are due, but which have not been received or paid; and the outer row for those which have been received or paid.

These Tables will show the manner in which this accountbook is to be formed, and how the accounts are to be kept.

By the preceding simple statement it will be seen, that nothing more is, required than to enter each article of re ceipt and expenditure as they take place; and, by casting up first the receipts and placing the amount on a bit of paper, then the payments in the same manner, placing the sums under the received, by subtraction the balance of cash in hand may be at any time ascertained. Thus in the foregoing table, d.

£. s.

Received 9 11 0

Paid 5 5 10

Balance in hand 4 5 2

If the balance be at the bottom of the page, it must be carried to the next receipt page, saying, balance brought over; but if not, it may be brought to the same, saying, balance carried down, and balance brought down.

The utility of two rows of £.'s. d. will be seen by the items Jan. 3 and 11; in the first it appears there were bought of the grocer articles to the amount of 17s. 2d. which were intended to have been paid for, but through some cause or other were neglected at the time the account was balanced. The item must therefore be entered on the paid side, at the commencement of the next account, saying, brought forward, due to Mr. Raisin 17s. 2d. and carried to the outer row when paid.

With regard to the item dated the 11th, the same remarks will apply, with this addition, that to ascertain what the articles really were, it is recommended, whether immediately paid for or not, to enter them separately as they may be received in the inner row, and carry out the amount of the whole if paid, or forward if not paid.

INSTRUCTING CHILDREN IN RELIGION.

RELIGION, in all the parts of it, both what is to be believed and what is to be practised, is most necessary to be taught to children. It is mentioned in the first place, not only because it is a matter of the highest importance, and of most universal concern to all mankind, but because it may be taught even in the very early years of life. As soon as children begin to know any thing, and to exercise their reason about matters that lie within the reach of their knowledge, they may be brought to know so much of religion as is necessary for their age and state. For instance,

1. Young children may be taught that there is a God, a great and almighty God, who made them, and who gives them every good thing; that he sees them every where, though they cannot see him; and that he takes notice of all their behaviour.

2. They may be told what they should do, and what they should avoid, in order to please God. They should be taught in general to know the difference between good and evil. They may learn, that it is their duty to fear, and love, and worship God; to pray to him for what they want, and to praise him for what they enjoy; to obey their parents, to speak truth, and to be honest and friendly to all mankind; and to set a guard upon their own appetites and passions: and that to neglect these things, or to do any thing contrary to them, is sinful in the sight of God.

3. Their consciences are capable of receiving conviction when they have neglected these duties, or broken the commands of God or of their parents; and they may be made sensible that the great and holy God, who loves the righteous, and bestows blessings upon them, is angry with those who have broken his conmands and sinned against him; and therefore that they themselves are become subject to his displeasure.

4. They may be told, that there is another world after this; and that their souls do not die with their bodies: that they

shall be taken up into heaven, which is a state of pleasure and happiness, if they have been good and holy in this world; but if they have been wicked children, they must go down to hell, which is a state of inisery and torment.

5. They may also be informed, that though their bodies die and are buried, yet God can and will raise them to life again; and that their body and soul together must be made happy or miserable according to their behaviour in this life.

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 holiness, 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 man, 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 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 him 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 blessed 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 up to Christ as his disciples, or professors of Christianity; and as an emblem of that purity of heart and life, after which, as Christians, they should constantly aspire. The other is the Lord's supper, 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,

>namely, the Lord's supper, is to be frequently performed, to keep us always in mind of the death of Christ, till he come again from heaven to judge the world.

This is the sum and substance of the Christian religion, drawn out into a very few plain articles; and children of common capacity, who are arrived at three or four years of Sage, may be taught some part of these articles, and may learn to understand them all at seven, or eight, or nine; at least so far as is needful for all their own exercises of devotion and piety. As their age increases, they may be instructed more at large in the principles and practices of our holy religion, as will be shewn more particularly in the following article and in other parts of this work.

STUDY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES,

THE first book in the Bible, called GENESIS, contains an account of the most grand, and, to us, the most interesting events that ever happened in the universe.-The creation of the world, and of man-the deplorable fall of man, from his first state of excellence and bliss, to the distressed condition in which we see all his descendants continue-the sentence of death pronounced on Adam, and on all his race, with the reviving promise of that deliverance, which has since been wrought for us by our blessed Saviour-the account of the early state of the world-of the universal deluge the division of mankind into different nations and languages-and the story of Abraham, the founder of the Jewish people, whose unshaken faith and obedience, under the severest trial human nature could sustain, obtained such favour in the sight of God, that he vouchsafed to style him his friend, and promised to make of his posterity a great nation; and that in his seed, that is, in one of his descendants, all the kingdoms of the earth should be blessed: this, you will easily see, refers to the Messiah, who was to be the blessing and deliverance of all nations. It is amazing that the Jews, possessing this prophecy among many others, should have been so blinded by prejudice, as to have expected, from this great personage, only a temporal deliverance of their own nation from the subjection to which they were reduced under the Romans: it is equally amazing, that some