EDUCATION. 



Education, tendencies of his nature. The untutored barbarian, 

 **Y^ / like the beasts which he hunts for subsistence, or from 

 which he dreads destruction, acts merely under the 

 guidance of instinct, or from the impulse of appetite, 

 passion, or feeling. A stranger to controul, lie acknow- 

 ledges no law but his own will. Not disciplined to sub- 

 ordination, or trained to reflect on the relations of so- 

 ciety, and the duties which arise out of these relations, 

 he submits to no superior, but the leader whom he 

 chooses to conduct him to the gratification of his pri- 

 vate or national animosities ; and his wildest desires are 

 indulged without the slightest regard to any future con- 

 sequence, or to any feelings or interests but his own. 

 His enjoyments, therefore, are entirely selfish ; and 

 gloomy as they are contracted, they spring merely 

 from the gratification of the most ferocious passions, or 

 the most grovelling appetites. Even his religion tends 

 only to debase his nature, and to increase his wretched- 

 ness. His devotion is a feeling of terror; and the 

 whole system of his superstition is a fabric reared by 

 his vices, which it serves, of course, to fortify and con- 

 firm. Ascribing to his gods his own passions and par- 

 tialities, he hears in the thunder and the hurricane only 

 the voice of their wrath, which he is led to appease by 

 some dreadful expiation, or by some deed of feller ven- 

 geance against their enemies and his own. He may 

 hope for immortality ; for who ever left the precincts 

 of this world, without casting forward an anxious look 

 to another ? But the scenes which he pictures to him- 

 self beyond the limits of time, derive all their colour- 

 ing from his own dark imagination ; and the expectation 

 of a heaven, not of tranquil benignity, but of insulting 

 triumph over vanquished foes, inflames to greater vio- 

 lence the malignant passions which rankle in his breast. 

 Can a nature thus selfish, thus fiend-like, thus wretch- 

 ed, be transformed by any culture into the likeness of 

 man, as we contemplate him in the more enlightened 

 and happier regions of the world ? Do the men whom 

 we see united in regular communities, directed by the 

 same government, submitting to the same laws, and, 

 even in the pursuit of their private interest, co-opera- 

 ting towards the general good, bear any affinity to .the 

 lawless and untractable native of the wilderness ? Are 

 the benevolent schemes, which embrace in their object 

 the happiness of millions, conceived by minds akin to 

 those, whose ingenuity was npver exercised but in 

 plans of murder and devastation ? Is the heart which 

 knows no aim superior to the gratification of the lowest 

 appetites, and the most odious passions, which invests 

 in its own grossness even the powers of heaven, whom 

 it fancies the abettors of its lust and malignity of a 

 common descent, and of a kindred nature, with his, 

 who, spurning each low and sordid object, " exalts kis 

 generous aim to all diviner deeds," who, glowing with 

 the inspiration of celestial love, beholds in all creatures 

 the objects of the Creator's paternal regard, and rejoice* 

 in i o-o]>erating with the divine beneficence ? Can the 

 earth-bound soul, which scarcely darts a glance beyond 

 the tomb, or which, through the mist of sensuality, 

 seems to descry a country, where the unhallowed de- 

 sires by which it is now agitated, shall riot in full en- 

 joyment, . !aim alliance with the heaven-born, heaven- 

 a-piring spirit, wlio.se thoughts, wandering through 

 eternity, rejoice in the anticipation of its escape from 

 the encumbrance of mortality, and of its perpetual pro- 

 gress in excellence and felicity ? 



! these natures, opposite as they appear, arc 

 formed originally afler the same image. It is to edu- 

 cation alone, that the civilized and enlightened man 



owes all his superiority. It is education, which, rai- 

 sing him above the degrading dominion of sense, 

 teaches him to respect the voice of reason, and to fol- 

 low her as the guide of lus conduct. It is educa- 

 tion which reminds him of the necessity of subordi- 

 nation in regular communities ; and which, convin- 

 cing him how much the happiness of the individual 

 is promoted and secured by submission to government 

 and laws, expands even his selfish feelings into loyalty 

 and patriotism. It is education which, leading him to 

 reflect on the ties that unite him with friends, with 

 kindred, and with the great family of mankind, makes 

 his bosom glow with social tenderness, confirms the 

 emotions of sympathy into habitual benevolence, im- 

 parts to him the elating delight of rejoicing with those 

 who rejoice, and if his means are not always adequate 

 to the suggestions of his charity, sooths him, at least, 

 with the melancholy pleasure of weeping with those 

 who weep : in a word, which renders even his self-love 

 only a modification of generosity, and enables him to 

 gather his purest bliss, from seeing others blest. It is 

 education, which, elevating his thoughts habitually to 

 his Creator, gives constancy to his virtues amidst all the 

 trials of life, and serenity to his mind amidst all its evils ; 

 which leads him to repose on the wisdom, the goodness, 

 and the omnipotence of the Lord of the universe ; and 

 carries forward his views to the regions of immortality, 

 where the apparent confusion and intricacy of the ways 

 of Providence shall be unravelled into the most perfect 

 order ; and the toils, and struggles, and sufferings of 

 persevering goodness, shall be rewarded with an eter- 

 nity of unalloyed enjoyment. 



Is this, then, a general and a faithful representa- Mucatioti 

 tion of the civilized and enlightened portion of our the chief, 

 race ? And do these happy effects invariably flow though not 

 from a well-conducted education ? Vices may pre- the onI J> 

 vail in the most refined and enlightened communi- J^,";^ of e 

 ties ; but their vices are not the consequence of their human cha- 

 knowledge and refinement. The most judicious sys- racter. 

 tern of education may be counteracted by unfavour- 

 able circumstances ; but the failure is not chargeable on 

 education. The excellence which we have described as 

 the result of good education, has been attained by many ; 

 few are incapable of attaining it ; and it is this capabi- 

 lity which renders education an object of such incalcu- 

 lable importance, and such deep responsibility to nil 

 who have the charge of forming the human mind. 



So jjreat and so obvious is the influence of education 

 in the developement and direction of our moral and in- 

 tellectual faculties, that many ingenious authors have 

 ascribed to this cause alone all the varieties of human 

 character. The great variety observable, however, in 

 the external organization of infants, and the marked di- 

 versity of temper and capacities, which they display al- 

 most as soon as they are susceptible ef any impressions, 

 are objections to this theory in our opinion insuperable, 

 The intimate connection between our physical and men- 

 tal powers, and their mutual dependence, will make it 

 impossible, we suspect, for the most attentive culture, 

 to render human beings exactly alike, while nature con- 

 tinues to vary the structure and the sensibilities of their 

 corporeal system. But though the influence of nature 

 in diversifying the characters of men be great, the in. 

 fluence of education is still more remarkable. By the 

 hand of nature, our organs of sensation may be formed 

 lively or dull : to give efficacy to our actual sensations, 

 is the part of education. Nature must bestow the sen- 

 sibilities of our frame : by education, they may be ex 

 cited or repressed. The powers of the mind are tbp. 



