3.52 



EDUCATION. 



^ ward of good conduct, rather than to associate with it 

 any idea of compulsion. We are quite convinced, that 

 the aversion which many persons, who have been 

 piously educated, have afterwards shewn to the sacrtd 

 volume, has been occasioned more frequently by 1 1 it- 

 injudicious manner in which the task of reading it has 

 been imposed upon them in their early \cars, than by 

 any other cause. Surely it is possible to excite and 

 to preserve in youth, such a relish for the inspired wri- 

 tings, that they shall read them with as much pl< .IMHV 

 ns any productions of human genius. One effectual 

 way of guarding them against any di.-like at least, to 

 the scriptures, is to train them, even in the most ordi- 

 nary. ami apparently trivial, parts of education, to those 

 dispositions and habits which the scriptures require. 

 Jf we have never taught them to subdue their passions, 

 and to restrain their desires, we cannot wonder if they 

 .-hiMilil revolt from those lessons of sobriety which tlu- 

 gospel delivers, and that spirit of self-denial which it 

 demands. If they have not been trained to ready obe- 

 dience to their parents and superiors, they will be but 

 ill prepared for that unreserved submission to their 

 Heavenly Sovereign which revelation enjoins. If they 

 have been encouraged in the idea of their own import- 

 ance, and taught to expect, that every thing must bend 

 to their pleasure, they will scorn the humility, meek- 

 ness, and patience, in short, all the graces and virtues, 

 which are required as the distinguishing marks of the 

 follower of Jesus, They will, of course, never open, 

 but with reluctance, the sacred code, in which they can 

 read only their own condemnation ; which requires a 

 spirit which they have never cultivated, and prescribes 

 duties for which their hearts are not prepared. If, 

 therefore, we would have our children religious, let us 

 begin with cherishing within them, from their earliest 

 infancy, those affections and tendencies which religion re- 

 quires, and training them to those virtues which religion 

 prescribes. Thus, when they come to study the record 

 of the divine will, they will he delighted to find how 

 much it harmonizes with their own feelings, and how 

 easy their advances in the " way of God's command- 

 ments" are rendered, by the progress which they have 

 already made. Against persons thus gradually prepa- 

 red for the reception of the doctrines and precepts of 

 religion, all the arts of the infidel will be practised in 

 vain. Even the allurements of temptation will not un- 

 eettle the principles of those, whose feelings are all en- 

 gaged on the side of religion ; and amidst all the 

 storms and agitations of life, that hope, which is the 

 anchor of the soul, will secure them from making ship- 

 wreck of their faith. 



When children have learned to read with fluency, 

 in e curiosity natural to their age, and the equally na- 

 thc choice tural pleasure of exercising their newly acquired pow- 

 of books for er, will probably induce them to read with avidity any 

 diildren. books with which they may be furnished, that are not 

 beyond the reach of their comprehension. To supply 

 them with the most proj>er books for engaging their at- 

 tention, and improving their minds, becomes, therefore, 

 an object of the greatest importance. Amidst ihe infi- 

 nite variety of books which have recently been pub- 

 lished for the use of the rising generation, the principal 

 difficulty is to select those which may at once afibrd 

 them present amusement, invigorate their mental pow- 

 ers, and confirm, while they direct, their taste for read- 

 ing. Many writers, wishing to accommodate them- 

 selves to the capacity of the youngest children, have 

 published more childish nonsense than the merest in- 

 liint was ever known to utter : others, by way of con- 





\ 



veying to them very useful information, have penned Kducition. 

 for their instruction a number of those obvious facts, S< ^"Y~ * 

 which every baby knows before it has learned to arti- 

 culate ; such as, " that is the lire the (ire, you see, i* 

 red, and it is hot : for if you touch it, it will burn you," 

 &c. Such contemptible pnxluctions are calculated, not 

 to improve, scarcely even to please children ; but only 

 to perpetuate their infancy, and to give their minds a 

 frivolous turn, which may unhappily characterize them 

 through life The lxx>ks which will most captivate 

 their fancy, and at the same time impart the most use- 

 ful instruction of which they arc yet capable, will be 

 those which describe the more common actions and 

 characters of men, the scenes of external nature, the 

 properties of material objects, the forms and tempers 

 of animals, and whatever either at present exercises 

 their active powers, or can open up to them a new 

 sphere of employment. \Ve ought particularly to en- 

 deavour so to regulate their reading, as to point their 

 curiosity to those objects which are soon to occupy 

 their more serious attention, and to prepare them for 

 engaging with eagerness and with advantage in their 

 future studies. Were we to recommend any books for 

 children, where there is such \ ariety of choice, we 

 know none which we would prefer to the " Children's 

 Friend," and " I'.veiiings at Home," productions so 

 generally known, that to have mentioned them is suffi- 

 cient. 



When our pupil has acquired a due facility in read- Classical 

 ing his own language, and a competent knowledge of eductiow 

 its grammar, it will be proper, if we are to allow him 

 the advantages of a classical education, to engage him 

 in the study of Latin. The acquisition of classical lite- 

 rature is a very important part of a liberal education. 

 We believe we may safely ha/ard the assertion, that 

 those who have denied the advantages of an acquaint- 

 ance with the languages of ancient Greece and Home, 

 have, with the single exception, perhaps, of Mr Locke, 

 been men whose classical education had either been en- 

 tirely neglected, or at least had not been prosecuted so far 

 as to enable them to estimate, from their own experience, 

 the value of the acquisition. Nor does even Mr Locke 

 forbid that a certain share of attention should be given, 

 in the education of a gentleman, to die study of Latin ; 

 while he admits the necessity of an intimate acquaint- 

 ance with both Latin and Greek to those who are to 

 follow any of the learned profession:*. Classical know- 

 ledge, if pursued as an ultimate object, is, we own, of 

 very inferior importance to those sciences which explain 

 the properties of matter and of mind, which multiply 

 the resources of man, and invest him with new powers ; 

 and, perhaps, Mr Locke might have seen men who 

 knew the classics, and knew nothing more ; who would 

 dwell with enthusiasm on the sublimities of Homer, and 

 the subtleties of Aristotle, while they were incapable 

 of appreciating the still higher sublimity of the disco- 

 veries of Newton, or the profound speculations and 

 acute reasoning displayed in the Kssay on the Human 

 Understanding. Such instances might have led him, 

 with a partiality of judgment unworthy such a philoso- 

 pher, to ascribe to the study evils which resulted only 

 from the absurd mistake of making tint study a princi- 

 pal or exclusive object ; while he rather ungratefully 

 forgot the benefit which he himself, with a long series of 

 great and learned men, who a- names adorn the annals 

 of our country, had derived from a regular classical edu- 

 cation. 



We do not know that any objections have been urged 

 against the study of the polished languages of anti- 

 1 



