The Catholics say that if they may have the spiritual culture of the
child till he is ten years of age, they will willingly surrender him
into the hands of the teachers of any other faith, resting secure in
the permanency of early teachings. The great value of early religious
instruction has always been conceded by the most learned. "The first
thing, therefore," says Dr. Priestly, "that a Christian will naturally
inculcate upon his child, as soon as he is capable of receiving such
impressions, is the knowledge of his Maker, and a steady principle of
obedience to Him; the idea of his living under a constant inspection and
government of an invisible being, who will raise him from the dead to an
immortal life, and who will reward and punish him hereafter according to
his character and actions here.