But the reader may inquire, what is the use of the holes and the pins?
By pinning two rules together, one resting upon the other, and then turning one of them around, the cla.s.s will readily gain a correct idea of the use of the term _angle_; also of the terms acute angle, right angle, and obtuse angle. By pinning three of these rules together at their ends, the children not only _see_, but can _handle_ the simplest form of geometrical figures. When this figure is _defined_, they are enabled permanently to possess themselves of the meaning of the word _triangle_, by the simultaneous exercise of _three senses_. By combining rules of the same and different lengths, they become familiar with equilateral, isosceles, scalene, right, and obtuse angled triangles. By combining, in this way, such a set of rules as I have described, the child readily becomes familiar with the names and many of the properties of more than half a score of geometrical figures, with less effort on the part of the teacher than would be required to teach the child the names of the same number of letters. These exercises, then, may well precede the learning of the alphabet, or, at least, proceed simultaneously with it. By this means the child"s interest in the school is increased; his senses are cultivated; he is enabled better to fix his attention; he progresses more rapidly and thoroughly in his juvenile studies, and at the same time lays the foundation for future excellence in penmanship and drawing, and other useful arts.
The child may also be taught to discriminate the varieties of green in leaves and other things; of yellow, red, and blue, in flowers and paints; and to distinguish not only the shades of all the colors, but their respective proportions in mixtures of two or more. Many persons, for want of such early culture, have grown to years without the ability of distinguishing between colors, as others have who have neglected the culture of the ear without the ability of distinguishing between tunes.
Drawing, whether of maps, the shape of objects, or of landscapes, is admirably adapted to discipline the sight. Children should be encouraged carefully to survey and accurately to describe the prominent points of a landscape, both in nature and in picture. Let them point out the elevations and depressions; the mowing, the pasture, the wood, and the tillage land; the trees, the houses, and the streams. Listen to their accounts of their plays, walks, and journeys, and of any events of which they have been witnesses. In these and all other exercises of the sight, children should be encouraged to be strictly accurate; and whenever it is practicable, the judgment they p.r.o.nounce and the descriptions they give should, if erroneous, be corrected by the truth. Children can not fail to be interested in such exercises; and even where they have been careless and inaccurate observers, they will soon become more watchful and exact.
It is by the benign influences of education only that the senses can be improved. And still their culture has been entirely neglected by perhaps the majority of parents and teachers, who in other respects have manifested a commendable degree of interest in this subject. That by judicious culture the senses may be educated to activity and accuracy, and be made to send larger and purer streams of knowledge to the soul, has been unanswerably proved by an acc.u.mulation of unquestionable testimony. Most persons, however, allow the senses to remain uneducated, except as they may be cultivated by fortuitous circ.u.mstances. Eyes have they, but they see not; ears have they, but they hear not; neither do they understand. It is not impossible, nor perhaps improbable, that he who has these two senses properly cultivated will derive more unalloyed pleasure in spending a brief hour in gazing upon a beautiful landscape, in examining for the same length of time a simple flower, or in listening to the sweet melody of the linnet as it warbles its song of praise, than those who have neglected the cultivation of the senses experience during their whole lives!
This subject commends itself to all who regard their individual happiness, or who desire to render their usefulness as extensive as possible. Upon parents, teachers, and clergymen, who are more immediately concerned in the correct education of the rising generation, its claims are imperative. Let them be met, in connection with other appropriate means now in use and hereafter to be put in requisition, and our schools can not fail to become increasingly attractive; truancy, hence, will be less frequent, and the benign influences resulting from the correct education of the _whole man_ will inspire the benevolent and philanthropic to renewed and increased efforts to secure the right education of _all men_, a condition upon which the maximum of human happiness depends.
CHAPTER VII.
THE NECESSITY OF MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.
The exaltation of talent, as it is called, above virtue and religion, is the curse of the age. Education is now chiefly a stimulus to learning, and thus men acquire power without the principles which alone make it a good. Talent is worshiped; but if divorced from rect.i.tude, it will prove more of a demon than a G.o.d.--CHANNING.
Religion ought to be the basis of education, according to often-repeated writings and declamations. The a.s.sertion is true.
Christianity furnishes the true basis for raising up character; but the foundation must be laid in a very different manner from that which is commonly practiced. * * * We can, indeed, scarcely conceive of the purity, the self-denial, and the power that might be given to human character by systematic development.--LALOR.
We have now reached a department of our subject of surpa.s.sing importance, for however judiciously physical and intellectual cultivation may have been conducted, if we make a mistake here, all is lost. Knowledge is _power_, it is true; but we should bear in mind that it is potent for evil as well as for good; and that, whether its effects be good or ill, depends entirely upon the dispositions and sentiments by which it is impelled and guided. Numerous have been the instances ill.u.s.trative of the fact that the greatest scourges of our race are men of gigantic _cultivated_ intellect. Where knowledge but qualifies its possessor for inflicting misery, ignorance would indeed be bliss.
I find my views on this important subject so admirably expressed in the writings of some of the most eminent men of the age, that I feel it both a privilege and a duty to enforce the sentiments I would inculcate by the introduction of their testimony.
Dr. Humphrey observes,[25] that "it must strike every one who is capable of taking a just and comprehensive view of the subject, that the common idea of a good education--of such an education as every child in the state ought to receive--is exceedingly narrow and defective. Most men leave out, or regard as of very little importance, some of the essential elements. They seem to forget that the child has a _conscience_ and a _heart_ to be educated as well as an _intellect_. If they do not lay too much stress on mental culture, which, indeed, is hardly possible, they lay by far too little upon that which is moral and religious. They expect to elevate the child to his proper station in society, to make him wise and happy, an honest man, a virtuous citizen, and a good patriot, by furnishing him with a comfortable school-house, suitable cla.s.s-books, competent teachers, and, if he is poor, paying his quarter bills, while they greatly underrate, if they do not entirely overlook, that high moral training, without which knowledge is the power of doing evil rather than good. It may possibly nurture up a race of intellectual giants, but, like the sons of Anak, they will be far readier to trample down the Lord"s heritage than to protect and cultivate it.
[25] In a lecture before the American Inst.i.tute of Instruction, on the Moral and Religious Training of Children.
"Education is not a talismanic word, but an _art_, or rather a _science_; and, I may add, the most important of all sciences. It is the right, the proper training of the _whole man_, the thorough and symmetrical cultivation of all his n.o.ble faculties. If he were endowed with a mere physical nature, he would need, he would _receive_ none but a physical training. On the other hand, if he were a purely intellectual being, intellectual culture would comprehend all that could be included in a perfect education. And were it possible for a moral being to exist without either body or intellect, there would be nothing but the heart or affections to educate. But man is a complex, and not a simple being.
He is neither all body, nor all mind, nor all heart. In popular language, he has three natures, a corporeal, a rational, and a moral.
These three, mysteriously united, are essential to const.i.tute a perfect man; and as they all begin to expand in very early childhood, the province of education is to watch, and a.s.sist, and shape the development; to train, and strengthen, and discipline neither of them alone, but each according to its intrinsic and relative importance.
"When it is said that "man is a religious being," we should carefully inquire in what respects he is so. In a guarded and limited sense the proposition is undoubtedly true. Terrible as was the shock which his moral nature received by "the fall," it was not wholly buried in the ruins. Though blackened and crushed to the effacing of that glorious image in which he was created, his moral susceptibilities were not destroyed. The capacity of being restored, and of infinite improvement in knowledge and virtue, was left. In the lowest depths of ignorance and debas.e.m.e.nt, the human soul feels that it must have some religion, some support, some refuge "when flesh and heart fail." There is a natural dread of annihilation, a longing after immortality, a starting back from the last leap in the dark. Men, if they have not true religion, will cling to the greatest absurdities as subst.i.tutes. Hence the pagan world is full of idols. Tribes and nations seemingly dest.i.tute of all moral sense, nevertheless have "G.o.ds many and lords many." If there are any cold-blooded, incorrigible atheists in the world, you must look for them not in heathen lands. You must go where the altars of the true G.o.d have been thrown down. In this view, _man is a religious being_. He has a moral nature. He is susceptible of deep and controlling religious impressions. He can, at a very early period of life, be made to see and feel the difference between right and wrong--between good and evil. He can, while yet a child, be influenced by hope and by fear--by reason, by persuasion, and by the word of G.o.d; and all this shows that religion was intended to be a prominent part of his education. There can be no mistake in this. It is plainly the will of G.o.d that the moral as well as the intellectual faculties should be cultivated. Every child, whether in the family or the school, is to be treated by those who have the care of him as a moral and accountable being. His religious susceptibilities invite to the most diligent culture, and virtually enjoin it upon every teacher. The simple study of man"s moral nature, before we open the Bible, unavoidably leads to the conclusion that any system of popular education must be extremely defective which does not make special prevision for this branch of public instruction.
"Even if there had been no fatal lapse of our race--if our children were not naturally depraved, nor inclined to evil in the slightest degree, still they would need religious as well as physical and intellectual guidance and discipline. It is true, the educator"s task would be infinitely easier and pleasanter than it now is, but they would need instruction. They would enter the world just as ignorant of their immortal destiny as of letters. They would have every thing to learn about the being and perfections of G.o.d; every thing about his rightful claims as their Creator, Preserver, and moral Governor; and every thing touching their duties and relations to their fellow-men. Moreover, there is every reason to believe that moral and religious training would be necessary _to strengthen the principle of virtue_ in the rising generation, and confirm them in habits of obedience and benevolence. As, notwithstanding their bodies are perfect bodies, and their minds perfect minds at their creation, no member or faculty being wanting, still they need all the helps of education; so, if they had a perfectly upright moral nature, they would need the same helps. There is no more reason to think, had sin never entered into the world, every child would have grown up to the "fullness of the stature of a perfect man" in a religious sense, without an appropriate education, than that he would have become a scholar without it. But the little beings that are all the while springing into life around us to be educated are the sinful offspring of apostate parents. How deeply depraved, how strongly inclined to sin from the cradle, this is not the place to inquire. All agree that they show an early bias in the wrong direction; and that, left to grow up without moral culture and restraint, the great majority would go far astray, and become bad members of society. This is sufficient for our present argument. The evil bias must be counteracted.
For the safety of the state, as well as for their own sakes, all its children must be brought under the forming and sanative influence of religious education. No adequate subst.i.tute was ever devised, or ever can be. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." This is divine; and the opposite is equally true. Train up a child in the way he should _not_ go, or--which comes to about the same thing--leave him to take the wrong way of his own accord, and when he is old he will not depart from that. His tread will be heavier and heavier upon the broad and beaten track. "Men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles." "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may those also do good who are accustomed to do evil."
"Moral and religious training ought, undoubtedly, to be commenced in every family much earlier than children are sent to school, and no parent can throw off upon the schoolmaster the responsibility of bringing them up in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord." He must himself teach them the good way, and lead them along in it by his own example. But few parents, however, have the leisure and ability to do all that is demanded in this vitally essential branch of education. All are ent.i.tled to the aid of their pastors and religious teachers; and every good shepherd will feel a tender concern for the lambs of his flock, and will feed them with the sincere milk of the word both in the sanctuary and at the fireside. But the work should not stop here. There ought to be a co-operation of good influences in all the seminaries of learning, and especially in the primary schools. This co-operation would be necessary if moral and religious household instruction were universally given, and if all the children of the state regularly attended public worship, and enjoyed the benefits of catechetical and Sabbath-school teaching. But those who would banish religion from our admirable systems of popular education by the plea that it belongs exclusively to the family and the Church, ought to remember what mult.i.tudes of children this exclusion would deprive of their birth-right as members of a Christian community. There are tens of thousands in our own heaven-blessed New England, and hundreds of thousands in these United States, who receive no religious instruction whatever at home, and whose parents are connected with no religious denomination. What is to be done? We can neither compel ignorant and graceless fathers and mothers to teach their children the fear of the Lord, nor to send them to any place of worship or Sabbath-school. I ask again, what is to be done? These neglected children are in the midst of us. Our cities swarm with them. They are scattered every where over our beautiful hills and valleys. Grow up they will among our own children, without principle and without morals, to breathe mildew upon the young virtues which we have sown in our families, and to prey upon the dearest interests of society, unless somebody cares for their moral and religious education. And where shall they receive this education, if not in the school-house? You will find them there, if in any place of instruction, and mult.i.tudes of them you can reach nowhere else.
"A more Utopian dream never visited the brain of a sensible man than that which promises to usher in a new golden age by the diffusion and thoroughness of what is commonly understood by popular education. With all its funds, and improved school-houses, and able teachers, and grammars, and maps, and black-boards, such an education is essentially defective. Without moral principle at bottom to guide and control its energies, education is a sharp sword in the hands of a practiced and reckless fencer. I have no hesitation in saying, that if we could have but one, moral and religious culture is even more important than a knowledge of letters; and that the former can not be excluded from any system of popular education without infinite hazard. Happily, the two are so far from being hostile powers in the common domain, that they are natural allies, moving on harmoniously in the same right line, and mutually strengthening each other. The more virtue you can infuse into the hearts of your pupils, the better they will improve their time, and the more rapid will be their proficiency in their common studies. The most successful teachers have found the half hour devoted to moral and religious instruction more profitable to the scholar than any other half hour in the day; and there are no teachers who govern their schools with so much ease as this cla.s.s. Though punishment is sometimes necessary where moral influence has done its utmost, the conscience is, in all ordinary cases, an infinitely better disciplinarian than the rod. When you can get a school to obey and to study because it is right, and from a conviction of accountability to G.o.d, you have gained a victory which is worth more than all the penal statutes in the world; but you can never gain such a victory without laying great stress upon religious principle in your daily instructions.
"There is, I am aware, in the minds of some warm and respectable friends of popular education, an objection against incorporating religious instruction into the system as one of its essential elements. It can not, they think, be done without bringing in along with it the evils of sectarianism. If this objection could not be obviated, it would, I confess, have great weight in my own mind. It supposes that if any religious instruction is given, the distinctive tenets of some particular denomination must be inculcated. But is this at all necessary? Must we either exclude religion altogether from our common schools, or teach some one of the many creeds which are embraced by as many different sects in the ecclesiastical calendar? Surely not. There are certain great moral and religious principles in which all denominations are agreed; such as the ten commandments, our Savior"s golden rule--every thing, in short, which lies within the whole range of duty to G.o.d and duty to our fellow-men. I should be glad to know what sectarianism there can be in a schoolmaster"s teaching my children the first and second tables of the moral law; to "love the Lord their G.o.d with all their heart, and their neighbor as themselves;" in teaching them to keep the Sabbath holy, to honor their parents, not to swear, nor drink, nor lie, nor cheat, nor steal, nor covet. Verily, if this is what any mean by sectarianism, then the more we have of it in our common schools the better. "It is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation," that there is so little of it. I have not the least hesitation in saying, that no instructor, whether male or female, ought ever to be employed who is not both able and willing to teach morality and religion in the manner which I have just alluded to. Were this faithfully done in all the primary schools of the nation, our civil and religious liberties, and all our blessed inst.i.tutions, would be incomparably safer than they are now. The parent who says, I do not send my child to school to learn religion, but to be taught reading, and writing, and grammar, knows not "what manner of spirit he is of." It is very certain, that such a father will teach his children any thing but religion at home; and is it right that they should be left to grow up as heathens in a Christian land? If he says to the schoolmaster, I do not wish you to make my son an Episcopalian, a Baptist, a Presbyterian, or a Methodist, very well. That is not the schoolmaster"s business. He was not hired to teach sectarianism. But if the parent means to say, I do not send my child to school to have you teach him to fear G.o.d and keep his commandments, to be temperate, honest, and true, to be a good son and a good man, then the child is to be pitied for having such a father; and with good reason might we tremble for all that we hold most dear, if such remonstrances were to be multiplied and to prevail.
"In this connection I can not refrain from earnestly recommending the daily reading of the Scriptures, and prayer,[26] in all our schools, as eminently calculated to exert a powerful moral influence upon the scholars. It is melancholy to think what swarms of children are growing up even in Ma.s.sachusetts--and what mult.i.tudes of them in every one of these United States--who will seldom, if ever, hear the voice of prayer if they do not hear it in the schools, and to whom the Bible will remain a sealed book if it be not opened there. I would not insist that _every_ primary teacher should be absolutely required to open or close the school daily with prayer. Great and good as I think the influence of such an arrangement would be, it might be impossible, at present, to find a sufficient number of instructors otherwise well qualified who are fitted to lead in this exercise. The number, however, I believe is steadily increasing. It is probably too late for me, but I hope that some of you, gentlemen, may live to see the time when the voice of prayer, and of praise too, will be heard in every school-house of the land. Could I know that this would be the case, it would give me a confidence in the perpetuity of our civil and religious liberties which I should exceedingly rejoice to cherish as I pa.s.s off from the stage."
[26] I would not be understood to recommend that any person who does not love the Bible, and the doctrines which it inculcates, and who does not seek after that purity of heart which it every where enjoins, should conduct devotional exercises in school; but I would respectfully inquire whether any who do not _delight_ in such exercises, and who do not esteem it a _privilege_ to lead the devotions of those under their charge, do not lack an _essential_ qualification to teach school. Our laws generally require that the school-teacher be, among other things, _well qualified in respect to moral character_ TO INSTRUCT _a Primary School._
It would seem that these patriotic sentiments, enforced by such persuasive eloquence by this venerable man, can hardly fail to find a permanent lodgment in every truly American bosom. The great principles of natural and revealed religion, in which all are agreed, ought to be inculcated in our common school-books,[27] just as every teacher ought orally to instill these principles into the minds of his pupils. That will be a happy day, especially to the children of ignorant and vicious parents, when they shall learn more of that "fear of the Lord which is the beginning of knowledge" in the school-house than they have ever yet done. Nor is it discovered that the practice of teaching morals according to the Christian code, and using the Bible for that purpose, the great majority adopting it, is any infringement whatever on the religious rights and liberty of any individual.
[27] The day of writing the above, a lady mentioned to me the following gratifying ill.u.s.tration of my idea. The subject of it is a little girl only five years of age, who has never attended school, but has learned to read at home, under her mother"s tuition. After reading in the first number of one of our excellent series of reading books, the story of "the honest boy" who never told a lie, for perhaps the twentieth time, the little girl said to her mother, "Mother, I like to read this story, for it always makes me feel very happy." Similar instances I have witnessed scores of times, in the family and in the school. Teachers may almost invariably lead their scholars to admire and copy the examples of good children about whom they read, and to dislike and avoid those of bad ones. This power over children should always be exercised for good.
The anecdote of the Indian touching this subject may arrest the attention of some reader who would otherwise peruse these paragraphs without profit, and fix indelibly in his mind the sentiment I would inculcate, and I therefore insert it. The Indian inquires of the white man what religion he professes. The white man replies, "_Not any._"
"_Not any?_" says the Indian, in astonishment; "then you are _just like my dog_; he"s got no religion." We have _men_ enough like the Indian"s dog, without teaching our _children_ to be like him.
The French, in the days of the Revolution, voted G.o.d from his throne.
They abolished the Sabbath, and declared that Christianity was a nullity. They set apart one day in ten, not for religion, but for idleness and licentiousness. History informs us that the G.o.ddess of Reason, personified by a naked prost.i.tute, was drawn in triumph through the streets of Paris, and that the munic.i.p.al officers of the city, and the members of the National Convention of France, joined publicly in the impious parade. We need not wonder, then, that even the forms of religion were destroyed, and that licentiousness and profligacy walked forth unveiled. How unlike this is the state of things in these United States! We are professedly a Christian nation. We recognize the existence of a superior and superintending power in all our inst.i.tutions.
The New World was early sought by a Christian people, that fled from oppression in order to find a home where they might worship G.o.d unmolested, and bequeath to posterity the same inestimable privilege and inalienable right. In the days of the Revolution, Washington and his coadjutors were accustomed to invoke the blessing of the G.o.d of battles; and without His favor, they looked not for victory. In the Congress of this Great Nation, and in our State Legislatures, we are accustomed to acknowledge our dependence upon G.o.d in employing chaplains with whom we unite in daily devotions.
The Const.i.tution of the United States requires that all legislative, executive, and judicial officers in the United States, and in the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support the Const.i.tution. The Const.i.tution of each of the several states requires a similar oath or affirmation; and some of them further provide that, in addition to the oath of office, all persons appointed to places of profit or trust shall, before entering upon the same, subscribe a declaration of their faith in the Christian religion.
In our Penitentiaries even, we employ chaplains for the social, moral, and religious improvement of criminals confined within them; for our object is, not merely to _deter others_ from vice by the punishment of offenders, but, if possible, _to reform the offenders themselves_, and, bringing them back to virtue, make them useful members both of Christian and of civil society. Should we not, then, recognize G.o.d in our common schools--the primary training-places of our country"s youth--by reading His word, and familiarizing the juvenile mind of the nation with the precepts of the Great Teacher, whose code of morals is acknowledged, even by infidels, to be infinitely superior to any of human origin? And should we not humbly invoke His aid in our efforts to learn and to do his will? and His blessing to attend those efforts? A Paul may plant, and Apollos water; but G.o.d giveth the increase.
The instruction in our common schools, I repeat, should be Christian, but not sectarian. There is sufficient common ground which all true believers in Christianity agree in, to effect an incalculable amount of good, if honestly and faithfully taught. Which of the various religious sects in our country would take exceptions to the inculcation of the following sentiments, and kindred ones expressed in every part of the Scriptures?
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy G.o.d with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." "As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you."
If there is a single instance in which a sect of professing Christians would take exceptions to the inculcation of these and kindred sentiments in all the schools of our land, I have yet to learn it. On the contrary, I have received and accepted invitations from scores of clergymen, representing not less than eight different denominations, to address their congregations on the subject of "Moral and Religious Education in Common Schools;" and, having expressed the sentiments herein advocated, I have, in every instance, received letters of approval and encouragement; and their hearty prayers and active co-operation have confirmed me in the belief that they are ready and willing to "work together" upon this common platform, in advancing the interests of this glorious cause.
I have spoken of the Christian religion as the most important branch of a common school education. The cultivation of the intellectual faculties alone const.i.tutes no sufficient guaranty that the subject of it will become either a virtuous man, a good neighbor, or a useful citizen. But where physical education has been properly attended to, if we combine with the cultivation of the intellectual faculties of a child a good moral and religious education, we have the highest and most unquestionable authority for believing that, in after life, he will "do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with G.o.d."
"The Bible, in several expressive texts," says Dr. Stowe,[28] "gives emphatic utterance to the true principle of all right education. For example, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and a knowledge of the Holy is understanding." Religion must be the basis of all right education; and an education without religion is an education for perdition. Religion, in its most general sense, is the union of the soul to its Creator; a union of sympathy, originating in affection, and guided by intelligence. The word is derived from the Latin terms _re_ and _ligo_, and signifies to _tie again_, or _reunite_. The soul, sundered from G.o.d by sin, by grace is _reunited_ to Him; and this is _religion_."
[28] In a lecture before the American Inst.i.tute of Instruction, on the Religious Element in Education.
I might present many and substantial reasons why instruction in the principles of religion should be given in our common schools and in all our inst.i.tutions of learning, and why those heaven-given principles should be exemplified wherever taught.
_The nature of the human mind requires it_, as is clearly shown by the writer last quoted. "The mind is created, and G.o.d is its creator. Every mind is conscious to itself that it is not self-existent or independent, but that its existence is a derived one, and its condition one of entire, uniform, unceasing dependence. This feeling is as truly a part of the essential const.i.tution of the mind as the desire for food is of the body, and it never can be totally suppressed. If it ever seems to be annihilated, it is only for a very brief interval; and any man who would persist in affirming himself to be self-existent and independent, would be universally regarded as insane. The sympathy which attracts the s.e.xes toward each other is not more universal nor generally stronger than that inward want which makes the whole human race feel the need of G.o.d; and, indeed, the feelings are, in many respects, so a.n.a.logous to each other, that all ancient mysteries of mythology, and the Bible itself, have selected this sympathy as the most expressive, the most unvarying symbol of the relation between the soul and G.o.d.
"Till men can be taught to live and be healthy and strong without food; till some way is discovered in which the social state can be perpetuated and made happy, with a total separation of the s.e.xes; till the time arrives when these things can be done, we can not expect to relieve the human mind from having some kind of religious faith. This being the fact, a system of education which excludes attention from this part of the mental const.i.tution is as essentially incomplete as a system of military tactics that has no reference to fighting battles; a system of mechanics which teaches nothing respecting machinery; a system of agriculture that has nothing to do with planting and harvesting; a system of astronomy which never alludes to the stars; a system of politics which gives no intimation on government; or any thing else which professes to be a system, and leaves out the very element most essential to its existence. The history of all ages, of all nations, and of all communities is a continued ill.u.s.tration of this truth. Where did the nation ever exist untouched either by religion or superst.i.tion?
which never had either a theology or a mythology? When you find a nation that exists without food of some sort, then you may find a nation that subsists without religion of some sort; and never, _never_ before. How unphilosophical, how absurd it is, then, to pretend that a system of education may be complete, and yet make no provision for this part of the mental const.i.tution! It is one of the grossest fooleries which the wickedness of man has ever led him to commit. But it is not only unphilosophical and foolish, it is also exceedingly mischievous; for where religion is withheld, the mind inevitably falls to superst.i.tion, as certainly as when wholesome food is withheld the sufferer will seek to satisfy his cravings with the first deleterious substance which comes within his reach. The only remedy against superst.i.tion is sound religious instruction. The want exists in the soul. It is no fact.i.tious, no accidental or temporary want, but an essential part of our nature. It is an urgent, imperious want; it must and will seek the means of satisfaction, and if a healthful supply be withheld, a noxious one will be subst.i.tuted."
THE BIBLE IN SCHOOLS.--Having taken the liberty of recommending the devotional reading of the Scriptures in all the public schools as eminently calculated to make them what they ought to be--nurseries of morality and religion as well as of good learning--I am now prepared to express the strong conviction, to adopt the language of Dr. Humphrey, "_that the Bible ought to be used in every primary school as a cla.s.s-book_. I am not ignorant of the objections which even some good men are wont to urge against its introduction. The Bible, it is said, is too sacred a volume to be put on a level with common school-books, and to be thumbed over and thrown about by dirty hands. This objection supposes that if the Bible is made a school-book, it must needs be put into such rude hands; and that it can not be daily read in the cla.s.ses without diminishing the reverence with which it ought to be regarded as the book of G.o.d. But I would have it used chiefly by the older scholars, who, if the teachers are not in the fault, will rarely deface it. A few words now and then, reminding them of its sacred contents, will be sufficient to protect it from rough and vulgar usage.
"The objection that making the Bible a common school-book would detract from its sacredness in the eyes of the children, and thus blunt rather than quicken their moral susceptibilities, is plausible; but it will not, I am confident, bear the test of examination and experience. What were the Scriptures given us for, if not to be read by the old and the young, the high and the low? Is the common use of any good thing which a kind Providence intended for all, calculated to make men underrate it?
The best of Heaven"s gifts, it is true, are _liable_ to be perverted and abused; but ought this to deter us from using them thankfully and properly? We, the descendants of the Puritans, are so far from regarding the Bible as too sacred for common use, that, however we may differ among ourselves in other respects, we cordially unite in efforts to put the sacred treasure in the hands of all the people. It is one of our cardinal principles, as Protestants, that the more they read the Scriptures the better. Are we right or are we wrong here? Let us bring the question to the test of experience. Who are the most moral and well-principled cla.s.s in the community? those who have been accustomed from childhood to read the Bible, till it has become the most familiar of all books, or those who read it but little? Of two schools, of equal advantages in other respects, which is best regulated and most easily governed? which has most of the fear of G.o.d in it, the deepest reverence for his word, that where the Bible is read or from which it is excluded?
It is easy for ingenious men to reason plausibly, and tell us that such and such injurious effects _must_ follow from making sacred things too familiar to the youthful mind; but who ever heard of such effects following from the use of the Bible as a school-book? It will be time enough to listen to this objection when a solitary example can be adduced to sustain it.