A practical view of Christian education

Contents

Page

Preliminary Essay. By T. H. Gallaudet 1

Chap. I. — Inadequate Attention to Religion in Education— Some of its Causes 17

Chap. II. — The Period from early Infancy to the Learning to Read. —Faulty Course commonly pursued. — A very early attention to Tempers and Habits recommended.— Religion how to be Instilled.— Parental Example 32

Chap. III. — General Observations. — Parents to guard against their Faults in the presence of their Children. — Children, not to be made Playthings. — The Child's Good, and not the Parent's Ease, to be the Object.— The Heart to be had in View rather than the Outward Act.— Guard against a Child's Artifices.— Study Consistency of System. — Intercourse with your Children. — Freedom of Conversation. — Study of Character.— Personal Exertion in Education 46

Chap. IV.— The Period between a Child's Beginning to Read and going to School : its Importance.— The Objects of Education, and their relative Value. — Commencement of Instruction in Reading. — Rousseau : — Education a Discipline.— Choice of Books. — Tones and Articulation. — Care in the Use of Religious Books :— Selection of them.— Catechisms 68

Chap. V.— Mechanical Reading : how obviated.— School Lessons to promote Moral dualities : Obedience ; Regularity ; Attention ; Patience ; Alacrity.— Happy Fruits of these Qualities.— Failures to be expected.— How to be borne 97

11 CONTENTS.

Page Chap. VI.— Means for the Support of Parental Authority and Influence.— Rewards and Punishments 112

Chap. VII. — Example. — Emulation. — Effect of Personal Character of Parents.— Deceit 131

Chap. VIII. — Attention to Children when not at their Lessons.— Amusements. — Behaviour of Children to each other. — Quarrels. — A Domineering, or a Teasing Spirit. — Selfishness and Jealousy.— Conduct of the two Sexes to each other. — Domestic Effects in well and ill educated Families contrasted.— Acquaintance.—Familiarity with Servants 147

Chap. IX.— Hardihood.— Moderate Habits.— Artificial Hardships.— Moderation favorable to Elevation of Character.— Rules.— Preparation for Prayer.— Self-Examination.— Prayer.— How long Boys should be kept under Domestic Education.— Preparation for School.— Governess 168

Appendix.— No. I 185

No. Ill 196

Infidelity and Atheism are openly avowed in our land. Nay, what is worse, those who reject the Bible, and deny that there is a God, seek to make proselytes to these appalling doctrines.

For this purpose, plans are organized ; societies are formed ; meetings are held ; lectures are delivered ; books are published ; and the press, — the great moral lever of our country, — is put in motion. The Ministers of Jesus Christ are represented as a band of vile impostors. The Word of God is treated with contempt and ridicule. The Sabbath is declared to be a superstitious observance, and worthy only of being discarded and forgotten. Marriage is denounced, as unnatural, selfish, and oppressive. In fine, Religion, with its hallowed institutions and awful sanctions ; and Morality, with all its restraints and obligations ; must no more check the innocent propensities of our nature, and man may live, as if Death were an eternal sleep.

Let it not be said, that, in all this, there is no just cause of alarm ; that the evil will cure itself; that there is too much good sense, and patriotism, and piety in the community, to suffer the interests of religion and morality to be endangered ; that opposition will but aggravate the mischief ; and that truth is omnipotent, and will triumph in her own majestic strength, without the aid of any auxiliary.

How then has error ever gained the ascendency in any age or country ? Did the monster start into being, at once, in all his gigantic and terrific shape ? Was not his birth-place often unknown, his growth gradual, his movements insidious ? Timely resistance might have prevented his influence ; might have for ever annihi'

B lated it. But he was not feared, till age had given him strength, and partisans, and victory. And, then, nothing but a tremendous conflict could resist and subdue his power.

So it may be in our country. So it will be, if the friends of religion do not bestir themselves, and watch every movement of its enemies, and meet their covert wiles, as well as their open attacks, with the weapons of truth and righteousness.

How many of our youth, especially in our large cities, are exposed to the seductive influence of the advocates of infidelity. Some from curiosity ; others from a false notion of independence ; and not a few, to overcome the reproaches of conscience, that they may riot in sin without remorse ; are led to listen to those who scoff at sacred things, to attend their meetings of free debate and inquiry, and to purchase and read their deistical and blasphemous publications. Every one thus corrupted, in his turn, corrupts others. The evil spreads. It is fast spreading. The mere fact, that a public print dares openly to avow these principles of irreligion, and finds supporters, proves this ; and shows that no means should be left unemployed to rescue the rising generation, the hope of our beloved country, from the contamination of this deadly poison.

The religious education of our children and youth is our great, I had almost said, our only security. The advocates of infidelity know full well the importance of this principle ; and hence thendislike of marriage, and of the domestic relations of life. Parental government, in their estimation, is a minor theocracy ; the very fountain-head of slavish fear, and of all the horrors of superstition. They would destroy it for ever. Let marriage be dissolved. Let the family circle be broken up. Let the ties of kindred be known and felt no more. Let the children belong to the public, and be nurtured and educated at the public charge. Then you will be able to mould this ductile mass of infantile human nature, and form, as you choose, the combination of circumstances, of which these men and women in miniature are to be the creatures. All foreign influence being removed, these children of nature will begin to act in accordance with the laws of their being. Each will live only to be happy, and to make all others so. In the progress of a few generations, the tide of population will begin to flow on, free from every impurity ; never again to have any thing foul or turbid mingle in its waters.

Yes; parental government is a minor theocracy. God, in His wisdom, has instituted it. How admirable this provision which He has made for such creatures as we are ! We have a helpless infancy, and a dependent childhood. We need the watchings of maternal solicitude, and the supplies of a father's care, to cherish and sustain us. The very birds in their nest exemplify and inculcate this truth. The whole animal creation teaches us the force and the value of parental affection. But man, of all other animals, needs to be the object of this affection, far, far the longest portion of time. God, therefore, has made provision for these peculiar wants of our species, by the distribution of mankind into families. And in the family state, man is to be prepared for all the relations which he is to sustain in life, as a member of society ; or in eternity, as a subject of God's universal empire.

The authority exercised by the parent ; the moral influence which he exerts upon the child ; the confidence which the child reposes in him ; its filial affection, submission and obedience ; all these are illustrations and enforcements of the obligations that are yet to rest upon the child, as it grows up, in regard to God and to its fellow-men. In the very early stages of education, and while the infantile mind is not yet capable even of comprehending the truth, that there is an infinite and invisible Being to whom it is accountable, and whose will it is bound to obey ; the parent is, as it were, in the place of God, to the child. The parent is the superior being whom the child recognizes, as having a just claim to its love and obedience. The will of the parent often clashes with the will of the child. The latter learns the necessity and the duty of yielding. It is thus taught, that its will must submit to the will of another. It is prepared, in this way, both to understand and to recognize the authority of God himself, and to know and to feel that His will is to control, and to bring into complete subjection , the wills of all the beings whom He has formed .

Besides, how should we ever be able to form any adequate conceptions of our Father who is in heaven, or of the endearing lelalion in which we stand to Him, if we were not acquainted with the bond which unites the earthly parent and the child ? Having sustained this relation, we are prepared to comprehend that higher one in which we stand to the Father of our spirits. It is thus, that amid the endearments, instructions, and restraints of the parental roof, the child is to be taught the exercise of those very affections, and the discharge of those very duties, which, under the influence of divine truth, are to form his mature character of piety towards God, and of good- will to men.

Destroy marriage. Break up the family state. And the boldest step is taken ; most sure in its progress, and most extensive in its effects, — to banish from the world, both the knowledge and the love of Jehovah.

The religious instruction of children, given by the parent, in the family, enforced by a consistent example, and accompanied with fervent prayer, furnishes fathers and mothers with the only wellgrounded hope, that their offspring will be secure against the assaults of infidelity and the temptations of the world, and that they will become the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. It furnishes the philanthropist with the only rational expectation, that a succession of patrons and agents will follow on, one after the other, to sustain and carry forward the benevolent institutions and enterprises of the day. It furnishes the patriot with the only sure promise of the future welfare of his country. It furnishes the friends of the Redeemer with the only certain and delightful anticipation of the rapid spread of His gospel, and speedy triumph of His cause. Such is the lofty destiny, and such are the exalted privileges of the rising generation of our land. And in view of them, what momentous responsibilities rest upon those who are fathers and mothers !

Christian parents ! weigh well these facts and truths ; and say, if there are not obligations of the most solemn and affecting kind, pressing upon you, to attend personally, faithfully, and prayerfully, to the religious education of your children.

This volume, containing A Practical View of Christian Education in its early stages, by Thomas Babington, Esq., is one of the best treatises on this subject, in our language. Its author was, not long since, if he is not still, a member of the British Parliament, and f

also extensively engaged in commercial transactions in the city of London. His sentiments, therefore, repugnant as they doubtless will be to the feelings of those who entertain vague and low views of Christian faith and practice, are not to be attributed to the narrowness of his sphere of observation or of duty ; to his want of expansion of mind or refinement of feeling ; to his secluded habits and ignorance of the world ; or to a contracted and illiberal estimate of the doctrines and requisitions of the gospel. Nor is he a mere theorist, descanting on what might be best, and leaving plain, practical parents to smile at the uselessness of his speculations. He has himself brought up a very numerous family of children, to whose education he has devoted his time and attention, with an assiduity and frequency that very few men, engaged in public life? and the transactions of an extensive business, have been able to bestow upon such an object. What he says, therefore, is to be received as coming from one whose own education, of the most liberal and accomplished kind ; whose situation in society, affording him the best opportunities of an enlarged acquaintance with human nature and the every-day duties of life ; and whose personal experience in reducing his principles to practice, or rather of deducing his principles from his practice ; all conspire to give great weight to his opinions and advice, among all parents who regard, as they ought, not merely the temporal, but the eternal, welfare of their offspring.

In the peculiarity of his religious sentiments, Mr. Babington, who is of the English, Protestant Episcopal Church, agrees, in the main, with those expressed in the Christian Observer, or with what may be familiar to more of his readers in this country, the views of Mrs. Hannah More.

The whole work is printed, word for word, from the seventh London edition ; a mode, it is thought, more fair towards the author, and vastly more acceptable to the generality of readers, who wish to judge for themselves of the sentiments that are advanced, than to attempt, by any omissions or alterations , to make such a treatise conform, in all respects, to the peculiar views of an individual, or to any particular standard of doctrine or of duty. In some instances, the sentiments of the author are adapted to the pe-

b 2

O PRELIMINARY ESSAY.

culiar class of society, and to the religious denomination to which he belonged, and to modes of educating children which do not prevail in this country. But, in these respects, it is not difficult to understand his general principles, and to accommodate them if they are approved, to the circumstances of the reader.

There are some topics which are not noticed at all, or very cursorily indeed, in this work, which the writer of these preliminary remarks, deems of sufficient importance to present to the consideration of those parents wrho take an interest in the religious education of their children, and to which he begs leave to invite their serious attention.

I. The icant of religious instruction, by the parent, in the family, can never be adequately supplied in any other way.

This remark is not intended to depreciate other modes of imparting religious instruction to children and youth. Let such modes, and especially the excellent system of Sabbath school instruction, receive the full amount of praise to which they are justly entitled. But what other teacher, with very few exceptions, can gain such an influence over the child, and find such easy access to his mind and to his heart, as the parent can, and especially the mother, if she has the love of God in her soul. One important object which the Author of our being doubtless had in view, in constituting this endearing relation, was, to make it the means of unfolding the intellectual and moral capacities of the child, and of preparing him to comprehend and appreciate the truths of Revelation, through the agency of the parent. From what other human being, if family government has been preserved, and the child inspired with filial confidence, and obedience and love, can instruction be received with such attention, docility, and reverence, as from the lips of a kind and pious father or mother ? After having secured that attachment and respect which the watchfulness of parental solicitude has produced in the breast of infancy and early childhood ; after having induced those habits which are indispensable to the beneficial reception of religious instruction ; and after having communicated the elements of this instruction to the expanding and inquiring mind ; how can the parent cease to carry on a work so auspiciously begun, — how can such advantages, so happily secured, be abandoned, — and the tender vine be transplanted from its native soil, to be reared under the care of a foreign and strange hand !

Let it not be said, that the case supposed is an extreme one, and rarely, if ever, has an existence. In all its aggravating circumstances, it may not often be found, and especially among pious fathers and mothers. But it is worthy of serious inquiry, to what extent parental responsibility is weakened, and parental care diminished, by the provision which is made, in other ways, for the religious instruction of youth.

The children have their Sabbath-school lesson to leam during the week. How far is this considered as supplying the place of direct religious conversation and instruction, on the part of the parent ? How many hours are rilled up by a quiet attention to this lesson, affording the parent the better opportunity to transact the common concerns of the family, which formerly used to be devoted to the actual communication of divine truth to the child ? The books, too, which are drawn from the Sabbath-school library, or borrowed from the neighbor, or purchased at the book-store, excellent indeed in their kind, and deserving an important place in the course of religious education, — are they not, also, often made to discharge the duty of the parent, and to exonerate from the task of becoming a teacher of babes ?

The Sabbath returns ; hallowed, among other objects, for the very purpose of religious instruction in the family. The fathers daily occupation, and the mother's weekly cares, are suspended. The little group surround the table and the fire-side. All without and within is quietness. Is the occasion, thus furnished by God himself, employed as it ought to be ? Or rather, does not the preparation for the Sabbath-school, with the time which it consumes, and the belief of the parent, that there, all that is important of religious knowledge will be communicated to the child, serve to abate his interest in his own personal discharge of duty, and to lead him to enjoy that ease which is so grateful to human nature ; under the impression that a system of instruction, approved everywhere by the wise and the good, and which he himself contributes to support and cherish, by his influence and his prayers, is doing all for his offspring which "can be accomplished, and rendering unnecessary any individual efforts of himself or his partner ?

The little one who lately hung on the lips of its father or mother, to learn something of God and its soul, and of its destiny beyond the grave, as soon as an elder brother or sister can conduct it to the Sabbath-school, is sent thither, and thus transferred to a new teacher, yet to learn its disposition and habits, and to inspire it with confidence and affection. The parent, shall I say, is relieved of one more burden ; in a way, too, to remove all anxiety, and to satisfy the demands of conscience.

Are these things exaggerated ? Is not the original to the picture which has been drawn, often to be found ? And much as Sabbath-schools ought to be encouraged, and sustained, and extended throughout the length and breadth of the land, deserving the prayers, and the support of all the friends of their country and of the Redeemer ; are there not some dangers attending them, of the kind that have been mentioned, and which need to be pointed out and avoided ?

No parent, surely, however faithfully his children may attend the Sabbath-school, and be prepared too for this attendance, can offer this as a reason, or plead it as an excuse, for the neglect of personal, unremitted, and prayerful attention to their religious instruction in the family.

Doubtless there are instances, and these very numerous ones, where there is such entire neglect of religious instruction, on the part of the parent, that the Sabbath-school is the only means of supplying this defect ; and a few other cases, in which incompetency seems to forbid the hope of the child's receiving any benefit in the bosom of the family. But the evil alluded to still exists, and to no inconsiderable extent. And it seems to be an imperative duty, for ministers of the gospel to press their obligations upon parents, and for parents seriously to consider the weight of these obligations ; and while the child is sent regularly, and with careful preparation, to the Sabbath-school, to take care that the salutary influence there employed, and the excellent instruction there communicated, shall have their efficacy increased and rendered sure, by accompanying efforts and prayers under the parental roof How else can the express command of God be complied with, or His blessing be implored or expected ?

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart t and thou shalt teacKthem diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them, when thou sittest in the house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

II. The religious instruction of children should be made a prominent part of the whole course of their education, and blended with all their other studies and pursuits.

We are commanded, " whether we eat, or drink, or whatsoever we do, to do all to the glory of God." That religion is but little worth, the spirit of which does not manifest itself in the daily concerns and intercourse of life. Children should early be taught this important truth, both by precept and by example. But they will not feel its force, if religious instruction is communicated to them in a solemn, formal way, and only on certain recurring occasions.

Suppose a parent is anxious that his child should understand and practise the rules of what is termed good breeding, and that he should acquire the air and manners of refined society. Will he give a set lecture on the subject once a week, and then furnish illustrations of his principles in a very grave and ceremonious manner ? Will he not rather seek occasion, daily and familiarly, to lead the child to imbibe those feelings, and to adopt those habits, which, in his opinion, constitute true politeness ? And why ought not a similar course to be pursued, if the paramount desire of the parent is, that his offspring should possess, and exhibit in their daily life and conversation, that " wisdom which is from above, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be intreated, full of mercy and of good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."

The sooner the child can be taught to feel and to act as an immortal being ; to consider this life as but the threshold of an eternal existence beyond the grave ; and to make all its occupations and pursuits subservient to the honor of its Maker, to the cause of the Redeemer, and to the best interests, both temporal and spiritual, of its fellow-men; — the sooner is the great object of Christian education accomplished.

If it is the duty of the mature Christian to blend the very spirit of his religion with all his studies, and business, and intercourse with his fellow-men ; and continually to bear in mind the connection which things temporal have with things eternal ; and to inscribe holiness unto the Lord upon all his occupations and pursuits ; — why should not the child be educated on the same elevated principles, and inspired with the same heavenly desires, and form the same consistent habits of thought and of action.

But it is too often the case, that the education of the children, even of pious parents, is conducted far differently. In fact, two processes of influence, and example, and instruction are going on ; one, to prepare them to do well in the world, in accordance with the maxims and the spirit of the world ; the other, (ah ! in how languid and desultory a way it is pursued,) to prepare them for the approach of death, and the retributions of eternity. Six days in the week, they must conclude, for the most part, from the general tenor of the conversation which is addressed to them, or wThich they hear, in the family circle, the school-room, or the common walks of life, that this world is their only stage of action, and that their great aim should be, to secure wealth, respectability, and distinction. The Sabbath, indeed, and now and then some unexpected occurrence in Providence, leads them to more serious reflections, and they are gravely told, that they are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, and that they should seek a better, a heavenly country.

Why this strange inconsistency ! Why this want of harmony of influence, of unity of design, of singleness of purpose, in training up the heirs of immortality !

What must a child think of this striking fact which is continually presented to his observation ? He hears his parent, and his Sabbath-school teacher, and his minister declare, that the concerns of the soul are more important than all others ; that his happiness in eternity depends upon his embracing the offers of salvation through Jesus Christ ; and that delay in doing this may prove his eternal ruin. And yet the individual to whose rare he is principally entrusted during six days of the week ; who is the source of most of the knowledge that he is acquiring to prepare him for usefulness and respectability in life ; whose influence in forming his modes of thinking and of acting, his whole character and habits, is usually quite equal, and often superior, to that of the parent ; his daily instructer expresses no interest, gives no advice, inculcates no precepts, communicates no truth, with regard to the welfare of his immortal spirit. How can he account for this ? His parents, and the parents of all his school-mates, he must conclude, have confidence in his teacher, or they would not place their children under his care. And yet this teacher, to say the least, is neutral on the subject of religion ; never accompanies his injunctions with any appeal to the sanctions of duty towards God ; never reproves misconduct, or punishes disobedience, with a reference to that omniscient eye that sees us at all times, and to that awful tribunal before whom we must all stand, to render an account for the deeds done in the body ; never encourages to docility and industry, to obedience and kindness by the winning motives which revelation affords ; never invokes the divine blessing on himself and his little flock, or explains to their understandings, or impresses upon their hearts, the interesting and affecting truths of the sacred oracles !

Now, what must the child think of all this ; for think he will, and draw his own conclusions. Must he not suppose, that, after all, religion is not such an important matter, as he has sometimes been taught to believe, and that, at least, he need not take a deeper interest in it than the mass of people do who are around him?

Is there no remedy for these evils ? In a land called Christian ; among those who profess to be the disciples of Jesus Christ, and who admit, in principle, the solemn obligations which they are under, to train up their offspring in the nurture and admonition of the Lord ; shall no regard be had to the religious character of the teacher who has the care of their children, the greater part of the time, and whose example and influence have upon them an effect, that must be felt not only in this world, but in that which is to come. I say no regard ; for how prevalent the opinion is, that intellectual qualifications, and a good moral character, are the only requisites to be sought after in selecting a teacher of youth.

It is admitted, that piety, in such cases, is not always to be found, and that such is the state of society, and the difficulties growing out of those differences which exist among the various religious denominations, that very often, this defect cannot be remedied, and must be submitted to.

But is the general apathy on this subject justifiable ? Would not a spirit of conciliation and of compromise often produce a better state of things ? Surely, if the whole Christian public could be made to view this matter in its true light, in the light of eternity, and to appreciate the worth of the immortal souls of their offspring, sectarian feelings would be laid aside ; there would be a demand for pious teachers of youth ; their numbers would gradually increase ; and the blessing of heaven would rest upon one of the most efficacious means of grace, — the conducting of the whole course of education upon the principles of the gospel; and the training up of children and youth, to perform all the duties, and attend to all the concerns of life, with a continual reference to the relation in which they stand to God, and the bearing which their conduct here is to have upon their eternal destiny.

Such a course, so far from casting the gloom of what some consider a religious melancholy, over all the business and intercourse of life, would prove the very means of divesting religion of formality and constraint, by blending it with all our feelings, and conversation and conduct ; by applying its principles to the thousand, nameless, every day occurrences which constitute the happiness or the suffering of the great mass of mankind ; by transfusing its spirit of peace and love into families, and neighbourhoods, and communities ; by redeeming it from the reproach which it has now too often to bear, that its professors can pray and preach, but do not practise ; by making it a familiar companion, and not an occasional censor and judge ; and thus shedding a cheerfulness, and conferring a dignity upon all that we do or suffer, by connecting it all with the, will of our Father who is in heaven, and with His gracious assurance, that [all things shall