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THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. 



they are treated by injudicious parents, in too 

 Tiat.y instances lay the foundation of those petu- 

 jant and malignant tempers, which are a pest 

 both to Christian and to general society. Indul 

 gence often leads to an opposite extreme; and 

 produces such a degree of insubordination among 

 the young, that nothing is to be seen and heard 

 but a perpetual round of scolding and healing, 

 and the contest of angry passions. &quot; Among the 

 lower ranks of people,&quot; says Dr. Witherspoon, 

 &quot; who are under no restraint from decency, you 

 may sometimes see a father or mother running 

 out into the street, after a child who has fled from 

 them, with looks offury and words of execration, 

 and they are often stupid enough to imagine that 

 neighbours or passengers will approve them in 

 mis conduct.&quot; Wherever parental authority is 

 thus undermined, and such conduct uniformly pur 

 sued, a sure foundation is laid for an extensive dis 

 play, in after life, of the malignant passions of the 

 human heart. 



If we follow our youth from the nursery to the 

 school-room, we shall find the same malevolent af 

 fections developing themselves on a larger scale, 

 and indirectly cherished, by the books they read, 

 the discipline by which they are trained, and the 

 amusements in which they indulge. Here we 

 may behold one little fellow taking a malicious 

 pleasure in pinching his neighbour, another in 

 kicking him, a third in boxing him, a fourth in 

 tearing his book, a fifth in pilfering his property, 

 and a sixth in endeavouring to hold him up to 

 scorn and ridicule ; and all of them combined to 

 frustrate, if possible, the exertions of their teacher, 

 and to prevent their own improvement. If we 

 look into the majority of the books which are read 

 in schools, we shall find them full of encomiums 

 upon war, and upon warriors. The Caesars, the 

 Alexanders, and the Bonapartes, whose restless 

 ambition has transformed the earth into scenes 

 of desolation and carnage, are represented as pat 

 terns of every thing that is brave, noble, generous, 

 and heroic. The descriptive powers of the poet 

 are also called in, in order to inflame the youth 

 ful mind with warlike dispositions, and to excite 

 an ardent desire for mingling in scenes of conten 

 tion, and for the acquisition of false glory and of 

 military renown. Hence, there is no part of their 

 school exercises in which the young so much de 

 light, and in which they so much excel, as in that 

 in which they are called upon to recite such 

 speeches as &quot; Sempronius s speech for war,&quot; or 

 to ape the revengeful encounter of Norval and 

 Glenalvon. While the spirit of war is thus vir 

 tually cherished, the counteraction of vicious 

 propensities, and the cultivation of the moral 

 powers of the young, are considered as a matter 

 of inferior importance, and, in many seminaries 

 ot instruction, are altogether overlooked. Many 

 of the school collections to which I allude in 

 stead of exhibiting, in simple language, the beau- 

 .ies and sublimities of the works of nature, the 



displays of the natural and moral character of the 

 Deity, the facts o f Sacred History, the morality 

 of the Gospel, the scenes of rural and domestic 

 life, and the operations of philanthrophy are 

 filled with extracts from metaphysical writers, 

 from parliamentary debates, and from old plays, 

 novels, and farces, which are frequently interlard 

 ed with oaths, obscenity, and the slang ofBilling;- 

 gate, which can have no other tendency than 

 to pollute and demoralize the youthful mind Ii 

 needs, therefore, excite no surprise, that the 

 great body of mankind is still so deficient in ra 

 tional information and substantial knowledge, 

 and that a warlike spirit is afloat, and exerting its 

 baleful influence among the nations. 



If we follow the young from the school-room 

 to the play-ground, or to the streets and the hi&quot;h- 

 ways, we shall find the spirit of malignity dis 

 playing itself in a vast diversity of forms. Here, 

 we may behold one mischievous little boy slap 

 ping his neighbour in the face, another tearing 

 his neighbour s clothes, another tossing his cap 

 into a dirty ditch, another chalking his back in 

 order to hold him up to ridicule, and another 

 pouring out upon him a torrent of nicknames, 

 and of scurrilous epithets. There, we may be 

 hold a crowd of boys pelting a poor beggar 01 an 

 unfortunate maniac with stones and dirt for their 

 diversion ; mocking the lame, the deformed, and 

 the aged, and insulting the passing traveller. 

 And, when such objects do not happen to occur, 

 we may see them assailing, with a shower of 

 stones, a cat, a dog, a hare, or a fowl, that happens 

 to cross the path, and enjoying a diabolical plea 

 sure in witnessing the sufferings of these unfortu 

 nate animals. Here, we may behold an insolent 

 boy insulting a timid girl, overturning her pitcher, 

 and besmearing her with mire ; there we be 

 hold another saluting his fellow with a malignant 

 scowl, and a third brandishing his whip, and 

 lashing a horse or a cow, for his amusement. 

 On the one hand, we may sometimes behold a 

 ring of boys, in the centre of which two little de 

 mons are engaged in mutual combat, with eyes 

 glaring with fury and revenge, exerting their phy 

 sical powers to the utmost stretch, in order to 

 wound and lacerate, and cover with blood and 

 gore, the faces of each other : on the other hand, 

 we may behold an unfortunate boy, whom a natural 

 temperament, or a virtuous principle, prevents 

 from engaging in similar combats, assailed witb 

 opprobrious epithets, and made a laughing-stock, 

 and an object of derision and scorn, because he 

 will not be persuaded to declare war against his 

 neighbour. And, what is stiil more atrocious 

 and disgusting, we may behold children of thirty 

 or forty years of age, encouraging such malevo 

 lent dispositions, and stimulating such combatants 

 in their diabolical exertions!* Such inferna! 



* The practice of boxing, among boys, which s&amp;gt; 

 jnerally prevails, especially in England, is a dis 

 ruce to the boasted civilization and Christianity c 



