THE NECESSITY OF MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.
The exaltation of talent, as it is called, above virtue and
religion, is the curse of the age. Education is now chiefly a
stimulus to learning, and thus men acquire power without the
principles which alone make it a good. Talent is worshiped; but if
divorced from rectitude, it will prove more of a demon than a
god.--CHANNING.
Religion ought to be the basis of education, according to
often-repeated writings and declamations. The assertion is true.
Christianity furnishes the true basis for raising up character; but
the foundation must be laid in a very different manner from that
which is commonly practiced. * * * We can, indeed, scarcely conceive
of the purity, the self-denial, and the power that might be given to
human character by systematic development.--LALOR.
We have now reached a department of our subject of surpassing
importance, for however judiciously physical and intellectual
cultivation may have been conducted, if we make a mistake here, all is
lost. Knowledge is _power_, it is true; but we should bear in mind that
it is potent for evil as well as for good; and that, whether its effects
be good or ill, depends entirely upon the dispositions and sentiments by
which it is impelled and guided. Numerous have been the instances
illustrative of the fact that the greatest scourges of our race are men
of gigantic _cultivated_ intellect. Where knowledge but qualifies its
possessor for inflicting misery, ignorance would indeed be bliss.
I find my views on this important subject so admirably expressed in the
writings of some of the most eminent men of the age, that I feel it both
a privilege and a duty to enforce the sentiments I would inculcate by
the introduction of their testimony.
Dr. Humphrey observes,[25] that "it must strike every one who is capable
of taking a just and comprehensive view of the subject, that the common
idea of a good education--of such an education as every child in the
state ought to receive--is exceedingly narrow and defective. Most men
leave out, or regard as of very little importance, some of the essential
elements. They seem to forget that the child has a _conscience_ and a
_heart_ to be educated as well as an _intellect_. If they do not lay too
much stress on mental culture, which, indeed, is hardly possible, they
lay by far too little upon that which is moral and religious. They
expect to elevate the child to his proper station in society, to make
him wise and happy, an honest man, a virtuous citizen, and a good
patriot, by furnishing him with a comfortable school-house, suitable
class-books, competent teachers, and, if he is poor, paying his quarter
bills, while they greatly underrate, if they do not entirely overlook,
that high moral training, without which knowledge is the power of doing
evil rather than good. It may possibly nurture up a race of intellectual
giants, but, like the sons of Anak, they will be far readier to trample
down the Lord's heritage than to protect and cultivate it.
[25] In a lecture before the American Institute of Instruction, on the
Moral and Religious Training of Children.
"Education is not a talismanic word, but an _art_, or rather a
_science_; and, I may add, the most important of all sciences. It is the
right, the proper training of the _whole man_, the thorough and
symmetrical cultivation of all his noble faculties. If he were endowed
with a mere physical nature, he would need, he would _receive_ none but
a physical training. On the other hand, if he were a purely intellectual
being, intellectual culture would comprehend all that could be included
in a perfect education. And were it possible for a moral being to exist
without either body or intellect, there would be nothing but the heart
or affections to educate. But man is a complex, and not a simple being.
He is neither all body, nor all mind, nor all heart. In popular
language, he has three natures, a corporeal, a rational, and a moral.
These three, mysteriously united, are essential to constitute a perfect
man; and as they all begin to expand in very early childhood, the
province of education is to watch, and assist, and shape the
development; to train, and strengthen, and discipline neither of them
alone, but each according to its intrinsic and relative importance.
"When it is said that 'man is a religious being,' we should carefully
inquire in what respects he is so. In a guarded and limited sense the
proposition is undoubtedly true. Terrible as was the shock which his
moral nature received by 'the fall,' it was not wholly buried in the
ruins. Though blackened and crushed to the effacing of that glorious
image in which he was created, his moral susceptibilities were not
destroyed. The capacity of being restored, and of infinite improvement
in knowledge and virtue, was left. In the lowest depths of ignorance and
debasement, the human soul feels that it must have some religion, some
support, some refuge 'when flesh and heart fail.' There is a natural
dread of annihilation, a longing after immortality, a starting back from
the last leap in the dark. Men, if they have not true religion, will
cling to the greatest absurdities as substitutes. Hence the pagan world
is full of idols. Tribes and nations seemingly destitute of all moral
sense, nevertheless have 'gods many and lords many.' If there are any
cold-blooded, incorrigible atheists in the world, you must look for them
not in heathen lands. You must go where the altars of the true God have
been thrown down. In this view, _man is a religious being_. He has a
moral nature. He is susceptible of deep and controlling religious
impressions. He can, at a very early period of life, be made to see and
feel the difference between right and wrong--between good and evil. He
can, while yet a child, be influenced by hope and by fear--by reason, by
persuasion, and by the word of God; and all this shows that religion was
intended to be a prominent part of his education. There can be no
mistake in this. It is plainly the will of God that the moral as well as
the intellectual faculties should be cultivated. Every child, whether in
the family or the school, is to be treated by those who have the care of
him as a moral and accountable being. His religious susceptibilities
invite to the most diligent culture, and virtually enjoin it upon every
teacher. The simple study of man's moral nature, before we open the
Bible, unavoidably leads to the conclusion that any system of popular
education must be extremely defective which does not make special
prevision for this branch of public instruction.
"Even if there had been no fatal lapse of our race--if our children were
not naturally depraved, nor inclined to evil in the slightest degree,
still they would need religious as well as physical and intellectual
guidance and discipline. It is true, the educator's task would be
infinitely easier and pleasanter than it now is, but they would need
instruction. They would enter the world just as ignorant of their
immortal destiny as of letters. They would have every thing to learn
about the being and perfections of God; every thing about his rightful
claims as their Creator, Preserver, and moral Governor; and every thing
touching their duties and relations to their fellow-men. Moreover, there
is every reason to believe that moral and religious training would be
necessary _to strengthen the principle of virtue_ in the rising
generation, and confirm them in habits of obedience and benevolence. As,
notwithstanding their bodies are perfect bodies, and their minds perfect
minds at their creation, no member or faculty being wanting, still they
need all the helps of education; so, if they had a perfectly upright
moral nature, they would need the same helps. There is no more reason to
think, had sin never entered into the world, every child would have
grown up to the 'fullness of the stature of a perfect man' in a
religious sense, without an appropriate education, than that he would
have become a scholar without it. But the little beings that are all the
while springing into life around us to be educated are the sinful
offspring of apostate parents. How deeply depraved, how strongly
inclined to sin from the cradle, this is not the place to inquire. All
agree that they show an early bias in the wrong direction; and that,
left to grow up without moral culture and restraint, the great majority
would go far astray, and become bad members of society. This is
sufficient for our present argument. The evil bias must be counteracted.
For the safety of the state, as well as for their own sakes, all its
children must be brought under the forming and sanative influence of
religious education. No adequate substitute was ever devised, or ever
can be. 'Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he
will not depart from it.' This is divine; and the opposite is equally
true. Train up a child in the way he should _not_ go, or--which comes to
about the same thing--leave him to take the wrong way of his own accord,
and when he is old he will not depart from that. His tread will be
heavier and heavier upon the broad and beaten track. 'Men do not gather
grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles.' 'Can the Ethiopian change his
skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may those also do good who are
accustomed to do evil.'
"Moral and religious training ought, undoubtedly, to be commenced in
every family much earlier than children are sent to school, and no
parent can throw off upon the schoolmaster the responsibility of
bringing them up in the 'nurture and admonition of the Lord.' He must
himself teach them the good way, and lead them along in it by his own
example. But few parents, however, have the leisure and ability to do
all that is demanded in this vitally essential branch of education. All
are entitled to the aid of their pastors and religious teachers; and
every good shepherd will feel a tender concern for the lambs of his
flock, and will feed them with the sincere milk of the word both in the
sanctuary and at the fireside. But the work should not stop here. There
ought to be a co-operation of good influences in all the seminaries of
learning, and especially in the primary schools. This co-operation would
be necessary if moral and religious household instruction were
universally given, and if all the children of the state regularly
attended public worship, and enjoyed the benefits of catechetical and
Sabbath-school teaching. But those who would banish religion from our
admirable systems of popular education by the plea that it belongs
exclusively to the family and the Church, ought to remember what
multitudes of children this exclusion would deprive of their birth-right
as members of a Christian community. There are tens of thousands in our
own heaven-blessed New England, and hundreds of thousands in these
United States, who receive no religious instruction whatever at home,
and whose parents are connected with no religious denomination. What is
to be done? We can neither compel ignorant and graceless fathers and
mothers to teach their children the fear of the Lord, nor to send them
to any place of worship or Sabbath-school. I ask again, what is to be
done? These neglected children are in the midst of us. Our cities swarm
with them. They are scattered every where over our beautiful hills and
valleys. Grow up they will among our own children, without principle and
without morals, to breathe mildew upon the young virtues which we have
sown in our families, and to prey upon the dearest interests of society,
unless somebody cares for their moral and religious education. And where
shall they receive this education, if not in the school-house? You will
find them there, if in any place of instruction, and multitudes of them
you can reach nowhere else.
"A more Utopian dream never visited the brain of a sensible man than
that which promises to usher in a new golden age by the diffusion and
thoroughness of what is commonly understood by popular education. With
all its funds, and improved school-houses, and able teachers, and
grammars, and maps, and black-boards, such an education is essentially
defective. Without moral principle at bottom to guide and control its
energies, education is a sharp sword in the hands of a practiced and
reckless fencer. I have no hesitation in saying, that if we could have
but one, moral and religious culture is even more important than a
knowledge of letters; and that the former can not be excluded from any
system of popular education without infinite hazard. Happily, the two
are so far from being hostile powers in the common domain, that they are
natural allies, moving on harmoniously in the same right line, and
mutually strengthening each other. The more virtue you can infuse into
the hearts of your pupils, the better they will improve their time, and
the more rapid will be their proficiency in their common studies. The
most successful teachers have found the half hour devoted to moral and
religious instruction more profitable to the scholar than any other half
hour in the day; and there are no teachers who govern their schools with
so much ease as this class. Though punishment is sometimes necessary
where moral influence has done its utmost, the conscience is, in all
ordinary cases, an infinitely better disciplinarian than the rod. When
you can get a school to obey and to study because it is right, and from
a conviction of accountability to God, you have gained a victory which
is worth more than all the penal statutes in the world; but you can
never gain such a victory without laying great stress upon religious
principle in your daily instructions.
"There is, I am aware, in the minds of some warm and respectable friends
of popular education, an objection against incorporating religious
instruction into the system as one of its essential elements. It can
not, they think, be done without bringing in along with it the evils of
sectarianism. If this objection could not be obviated, it would, I
confess, have great weight in my own mind. It supposes that if any
religious instruction is given, the distinctive tenets of some
particular denomination must be inculcated. But is this at all
necessary? Must we either exclude religion altogether from our common
schools, or teach some one of the many creeds which are embraced by as
many different sects in the ecclesiastical calendar? Surely not. There
are certain great moral and religious principles in which all
denominations are agreed; such as the ten commandments, our Savior's
golden rule--every thing, in short, which lies within the whole range of
duty to God and duty to our fellow-men. I should be glad to know what
sectarianism there can be in a schoolmaster's teaching my children the
first and second tables of the moral law; to 'love the Lord their God
with all their heart, and their neighbor as themselves;' in teaching
them to keep the Sabbath holy, to honor their parents, not to swear, nor
drink, nor lie, nor cheat, nor steal, nor covet. Verily, if this is what
any mean by sectarianism, then the more we have of it in our common
schools the better. 'It is a lamentation, and shall be for a
lamentation,' that there is so little of it. I have not the least
hesitation in saying, that no instructor, whether male or female, ought
ever to be employed who is not both able and willing to teach morality
and religion in the manner which I have just alluded to. Were this
faithfully done in all the primary schools of the nation, our civil and
religious liberties, and all our blessed institutions, would be
incomparably safer than they are now. The parent who says, I do not send
my child to school to learn religion, but to be taught reading, and
writing, and grammar, knows not 'what manner of spirit he is of.' It is
very certain, that such a father will teach his children any thing but
religion at home; and is it right that they should be left to grow up as
heathens in a Christian land? If he says to the schoolmaster, I do not
wish you to make my son an Episcopalian, a Baptist, a Presbyterian, or a
Methodist, very well. That is not the schoolmaster's business. He was
not hired to teach sectarianism. But if the parent means to say, I do
not send my child to school to have you teach him to fear God and keep
his commandments, to be temperate, honest, and true, to be a good son
and a good man, then the child is to be pitied for having such a father;
and with good reason might we tremble for all that we hold most dear, if
such remonstrances were to be multiplied and to prevail.
"In this connection I can not refrain from earnestly recommending the
daily reading of the Scriptures, and prayer,[26] in all our schools, as
eminently calculated to exert a powerful moral influence upon the
scholars. It is melancholy to think what swarms of children are growing
up even in Massachusetts--and what multitudes of them in every one of
these United States--who will seldom, if ever, hear the voice of prayer
if they do not hear it in the schools, and to whom the Bible will remain
a sealed book if it be not opened there. I would not insist that _every_
primary teacher should be absolutely required to open or close the
school daily with prayer. Great and good as I think the influence of
such an arrangement would be, it might be impossible, at present, to
find a sufficient number of instructors otherwise well qualified who are
fitted to lead in this exercise. The number, however, I believe is
steadily increasing. It is probably too late for me, but I hope that
some of you, gentlemen, may live to see the time when the voice of
prayer, and of praise too, will be heard in every school-house of the
land. Could I know that this would be the case, it would give me a
confidence in the perpetuity of our civil and religious liberties which
I should exceedingly rejoice to cherish as I pass off from the stage."
[26] I would not be understood to recommend that any person who does not
love the Bible, and the doctrines which it inculcates, and who does not
seek after that purity of heart which it every where enjoins, should
conduct devotional exercises in school; but I would respectfully inquire
whether any who do not _delight_ in such exercises, and who do not
esteem it a _privilege_ to lead the devotions of those under their
charge, do not lack an _essential_ qualification to teach school. Our
laws generally require that the school-teacher be, among other things,
_well qualified in respect to moral character_ TO INSTRUCT _a Primary
School._
It would seem that these patriotic sentiments, enforced by such
persuasive eloquence by this venerable man, can hardly fail to find a
permanent lodgment in every truly American bosom. The great principles
of natural and revealed religion, in which all are agreed, ought to be
inculcated in our common school-books,[27] just as every teacher ought
orally to instill these principles into the minds of his pupils. That
will be a happy day, especially to the children of ignorant and vicious
parents, when they shall learn more of that "fear of the Lord which is
the beginning of knowledge" in the school-house than they have ever yet
done. Nor is it discovered that the practice of teaching morals
according to the Christian code, and using the Bible for that purpose,
the great majority adopting it, is any infringement whatever on the
religious rights and liberty of any individual.
[27] The day of writing the above, a lady mentioned to me the following
gratifying illustration of my idea. The subject of it is a little girl
only five years of age, who has never attended school, but has learned
to read at home, under her mother's tuition. After reading in the first
number of one of our excellent series of reading books, the story of
"the honest boy" who never told a lie, for perhaps the twentieth time,
the little girl said to her mother, "Mother, I like to read this story,
for it always makes me feel very happy." Similar instances I have
witnessed scores of times, in the family and in the school. Teachers may
almost invariably lead their scholars to admire and copy the examples of
good children about whom they read, and to dislike and avoid those of
bad ones. This power over children should always be exercised for good.
The anecdote of the Indian touching this subject may arrest the
attention of some reader who would otherwise peruse these paragraphs
without profit, and fix indelibly in his mind the sentiment I would
inculcate, and I therefore insert it. The Indian inquires of the white
man what religion he professes. The white man replies, "_Not any._"
"_Not any?_" says the Indian, in astonishment; "then you are _just like
my dog_; he's got no religion." We have _men_ enough like the Indian's
dog, without teaching our _children_ to be like him.
The French, in the days of the Revolution, voted God from his throne.
They abolished the Sabbath, and declared that Christianity was a
nullity. They set apart one day in ten, not for religion, but for
idleness and licentiousness. History informs us that the goddess of
Reason, personified by a naked prostitute, was drawn in triumph through
the streets of Paris, and that the municipal officers of the city, and
the members of the National Convention of France, joined publicly in the
impious parade. We need not wonder, then, that even the forms of
religion were destroyed, and that licentiousness and profligacy walked
forth unveiled. How unlike this is the state of things in these United
States! We are professedly a Christian nation. We recognize the
existence of a superior and superintending power in all our
institutions.
The New World was early sought by a Christian people, that fled from
oppression in order to find a home where they might worship God
unmolested, and bequeath to posterity the same inestimable privilege and
inalienable right. In the days of the Revolution, Washington and his
coadjutors were accustomed to invoke the blessing of the God of battles;
and without His favor, they looked not for victory. In the Congress of
this Great Nation, and in our State Legislatures, we are accustomed to
acknowledge our dependence upon God in employing chaplains with whom we
unite in daily devotions.
The Constitution of the United States requires that all legislative,
executive, and judicial officers in the United States, and in the
several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support the
Constitution. The Constitution of each of the several states requires a
similar oath or affirmation; and some of them further provide that, in
addition to the oath of office, all persons appointed to places of
profit or trust shall, before entering upon the same, subscribe a
declaration of their faith in the Christian religion.
In our Penitentiaries even, we employ chaplains for the social, moral,
and religious improvement of criminals confined within them; for our
object is, not merely to _deter others_ from vice by the punishment of
offenders, but, if possible, _to reform the offenders themselves_, and,
bringing them back to virtue, make them useful members both of Christian
and of civil society. Should we not, then, recognize God in our common
schools--the primary training-places of our country's youth--by reading
His word, and familiarizing the juvenile mind of the nation with the
precepts of the Great Teacher, whose code of morals is acknowledged,
even by infidels, to be infinitely superior to any of human origin? And
should we not humbly invoke His aid in our efforts to learn and to do
his will? and His blessing to attend those efforts? A Paul may plant,
and Apollos water; but God giveth the increase.
The instruction in our common schools, I repeat, should be Christian,
but not sectarian. There is sufficient common ground which all true
believers in Christianity agree in, to effect an incalculable amount of
good, if honestly and faithfully taught. Which of the various religious
sects in our country would take exceptions to the inculcation of the
following sentiments, and kindred ones expressed in every part of the
Scriptures?
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself." "As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them
likewise." "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to
them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and
persecute you."
If there is a single instance in which a sect of professing Christians
would take exceptions to the inculcation of these and kindred sentiments
in all the schools of our land, I have yet to learn it. On the contrary,
I have received and accepted invitations from scores of clergymen,
representing not less than eight different denominations, to address
their congregations on the subject of "Moral and Religious Education in
Common Schools;" and, having expressed the sentiments herein advocated,
I have, in every instance, received letters of approval and
encouragement; and their hearty prayers and active co-operation have
confirmed me in the belief that they are ready and willing to "work
together" upon this common platform, in advancing the interests of this
glorious cause.
I have spoken of the Christian religion as the most important branch of
a common school education. The cultivation of the intellectual faculties
alone constitutes no sufficient guaranty that the subject of it will
become either a virtuous man, a good neighbor, or a useful citizen. But
where physical education has been properly attended to, if we combine
with the cultivation of the intellectual faculties of a child a good
moral and religious education, we have the highest and most
unquestionable authority for believing that, in after life, he will "do
justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God."
"The Bible, in several expressive texts," says Dr. Stowe,[28] "gives
emphatic utterance to the true principle of all right education. For
example, 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and a
knowledge of the Holy is understanding.' Religion must be the basis of
all right education; and an education without religion is an education
for perdition. Religion, in its most general sense, is the union of the
soul to its Creator; a union of sympathy, originating in affection, and
guided by intelligence. The word is derived from the Latin terms _re_
and _ligo_, and signifies to _tie again_, or _reunite_. The soul,
sundered from God by sin, by grace is _reunited_ to Him; and this is
_religion_."
[28] In a lecture before the American Institute of Instruction, on the
Religious Element in Education.
I might present many and substantial reasons why instruction in the
principles of religion should be given in our common schools and in all
our institutions of learning, and why those heaven-given principles
should be exemplified wherever taught.
_The nature of the human mind requires it_, as is clearly shown by the
writer last quoted. "The mind is created, and God is its creator. Every
mind is conscious to itself that it is not self-existent or independent,
but that its existence is a derived one, and its condition one of
entire, uniform, unceasing dependence. This feeling is as truly a part
of the essential constitution of the mind as the desire for food is of
the body, and it never can be totally suppressed. If it ever seems to be
annihilated, it is only for a very brief interval; and any man who would
persist in affirming himself to be self-existent and independent, would
be universally regarded as insane. The sympathy which attracts the sexes
toward each other is not more universal nor generally stronger than that
inward want which makes the whole human race feel the need of God; and,
indeed, the feelings are, in many respects, so analogous to each other,
that all ancient mysteries of mythology, and the Bible itself, have
selected this sympathy as the most expressive, the most unvarying symbol
of the relation between the soul and God.
"Till men can be taught to live and be healthy and strong without food;
till some way is discovered in which the social state can be perpetuated
and made happy, with a total separation of the sexes; till the time
arrives when these things can be done, we can not expect to relieve the
human mind from having some kind of religious faith. This being the
fact, a system of education which excludes attention from this part of
the mental constitution is as essentially incomplete as a system of
military tactics that has no reference to fighting battles; a system of
mechanics which teaches nothing respecting machinery; a system of
agriculture that has nothing to do with planting and harvesting; a
system of astronomy which never alludes to the stars; a system of
politics which gives no intimation on government; or any thing else
which professes to be a system, and leaves out the very element most
essential to its existence. The history of all ages, of all nations, and
of all communities is a continued illustration of this truth. Where did
the nation ever exist untouched either by religion or superstition?
which never had either a theology or a mythology? When you find a nation
that exists without food of some sort, then you may find a nation that
subsists without religion of some sort; and never, _never_ before. How
unphilosophical, how absurd it is, then, to pretend that a system of
education may be complete, and yet make no provision for this part of
the mental constitution! It is one of the grossest fooleries which the
wickedness of man has ever led him to commit. But it is not only
unphilosophical and foolish, it is also exceedingly mischievous; for
where religion is withheld, the mind inevitably falls to superstition,
as certainly as when wholesome food is withheld the sufferer will seek
to satisfy his cravings with the first deleterious substance which
comes within his reach. The only remedy against superstition is sound
religious instruction. The want exists in the soul. It is no factitious,
no accidental or temporary want, but an essential part of our nature. It
is an urgent, imperious want; it must and will seek the means of
satisfaction, and if a healthful supply be withheld, a noxious one will
be substituted."
THE BIBLE IN SCHOOLS.--Having taken the liberty of recommending the
devotional reading of the Scriptures in all the public schools as
eminently calculated to make them what they ought to be--nurseries of
morality and religion as well as of good learning--I am now prepared to
express the strong conviction, to adopt the language of Dr. Humphrey,
"_that the Bible ought to be used in every primary school as a
class-book_. I am not ignorant of the objections which even some good
men are wont to urge against its introduction. The Bible, it is said, is
too sacred a volume to be put on a level with common school-books, and
to be thumbed over and thrown about by dirty hands. This objection
supposes that if the Bible is made a school-book, it must needs be put
into such rude hands; and that it can not be daily read in the classes
without diminishing the reverence with which it ought to be regarded as
the book of God. But I would have it used chiefly by the older scholars,
who, if the teachers are not in the fault, will rarely deface it. A few
words now and then, reminding them of its sacred contents, will be
sufficient to protect it from rough and vulgar usage.
"The objection that making the Bible a common school-book would detract
from its sacredness in the eyes of the children, and thus blunt rather
than quicken their moral susceptibilities, is plausible; but it will
not, I am confident, bear the test of examination and experience. What
were the Scriptures given us for, if not to be read by the old and the
young, the high and the low? Is the common use of any good thing which a
kind Providence intended for all, calculated to make men underrate it?
The best of Heaven's gifts, it is true, are _liable_ to be perverted and
abused; but ought this to deter us from using them thankfully and
properly? We, the descendants of the Puritans, are so far from regarding
the Bible as too sacred for common use, that, however we may differ
among ourselves in other respects, we cordially unite in efforts to put
the sacred treasure in the hands of all the people. It is one of our
cardinal principles, as Protestants, that the more they read the
Scriptures the better. Are we right or are we wrong here? Let us bring
the question to the test of experience. Who are the most moral and
well-principled class in the community? those who have been accustomed
from childhood to read the Bible, till it has become the most familiar
of all books, or those who read it but little? Of two schools, of equal
advantages in other respects, which is best regulated and most easily
governed? which has most of the fear of God in it, the deepest reverence
for his word, that where the Bible is read or from which it is excluded?
It is easy for ingenious men to reason plausibly, and tell us that such
and such injurious effects _must_ follow from making sacred things too
familiar to the youthful mind; but who ever heard of such effects
following from the use of the Bible as a school-book? It will be time
enough to listen to this objection when a solitary example can be
adduced to sustain it.
"How do all other men out of the Protestant communion, Papists,
Mohammedans, Jews, and Gentiles, reason and act in the education of
their children? Do they discard their sacred books from the schools as
too holy for common and familiar use? No. They understand the influence
of such reading far too well, and are too strongly attached to their
respective religions to exclude it. The Romanists, indeed, forbid the
use of the Scriptures to the common people; but the Missal and the
Breviary, which they hold to be quite as sacred, are their most familiar
school-books. A large portion of the children's time is taken up with
reading the lessons and reciting the prayers; and what are the effects?
Do they become disgusted with the Missal and Breviary by this daily
familiarity? We all know the contrary. The very opposite effect is
produced. It is astonishing to see with what tenacity children thus
educated cling to the superstitions and absurdities of their fathers;
and it is because their religion is wrought into the very texture of
their minds, in the schools as well as in the churches. Go to Turkey, to
Persia, to all the lands scorched and blighted by the fiery train of the
Crescent, and what school-books will you find but portions of the Koran?
Pass to Hindostan, and there you will find the Vedas and Shasters
wherever any thing like popular education is attempted. Enter the great
empire of China, and, according to the best information we can obtain,
their sacred books are the school-books of that vast and teeming
population. Inquire among the Jews, wherever in their various
dispersions they have established schools, and what will you find but
the Law and the Prophets, the Targums and the Talmud.
"Now when and where did ever Protestant children grow up with a greater
reverence for the Bible, a stronger attachment to their religion, than
Jewish, Mohammedan, and Pagan children cherish for their school-books,
to the study of which they are almost exclusively confined, in every
stage of their education? It is opposing theory, then, to great and
undeniable facts, to say that using the Christian Scriptures in this
manner would detract from their sacredness in the eyes of our children.
If this is ever the case, it must be where the teacher himself is a
Gallio, and lacks those moral qualifications which are essential to his
profession. Another objection which is sometimes brought against the use
of the Bible is, that considerable portions of it--though all true, and
important as a part of our great religious charter--are not suitable for
common and promiscuous reading. My answer is, we do not suppose that any
instructor would take all his classes through the whole Bible, from
Genesis to Revelation. The genealogical tables, and some other things,
he would omit of course, but would always find lessons enough to which
the most fastidious could make no objection.
"The way is now prepared to take an affirmative attitude, and offer some
reasons in favor of using the Bible as a school-book. In the first
place, _it is the cheapest school-book in the world_. It furnishes more
reading for _fifty cents_ than can be obtained in common school-books
for _two dollars_. This difference of cost is, to the poor, an important
consideration. With large families on their hands, they often find it
extremely difficult to meet the demands of teachers and committees for
new books. Were the Scriptures generally introduced, they would take the
place of many other reading-books which parents are now obliged to
purchase at four-fold expense. This would be a cogent argument on the
score of economy, even if the popular school-books of this year were
sure of maintaining their ground the next. But so busy is the press in
bringing forward new claimants to public favor, that they rapidly
supplant each other, and thus the burden is greatly increased.
"In the next place, _the Bible furnishes a far greater variety of the
finest reading-lessons than any other book whatever_. This is a point to
which my attention has been turned for many years, and the conviction
grows upon me continually. There is no book in which children a little
advanced beyond the simplest monosyllabic lessons will learn to read
faster, or more readily catch the proprieties of inflection, emphasis,
and cadence, than the Bible. I would by no means put it into the hands
of a child to spell out and blunder over the chapters before he has read
any thing else. The word of God ought not to be so used by mere
beginners. But it contains lessons adapted to all classes of learners,
after the first and simplest stage. Let any teacher who has never made
the trial put a young class into the first chapter of John, and he will
be surprised to find how easy the reading is, and with what pleasure and
manifest improvement they may be carried through the whole Gospel; and
as few are too young to read with advantage in the Bible, so none are
too old. It is known to every body, that the very best reading lessons
in our most popular school-books for the higher classes are taken from
the Scriptures. Just open the Sacred Volume with reference to this
single point, and turn over its thousand pages. As a history, to
interest, instruct, and improve the youthful mind, what other book in
the world can compare with it? Where else will you find such exquisitely
finished pieces of biography? such poetry? such genuine and lofty
eloquence? such rich and varied specimens of tenderness, pathos, beauty,
and sublimity? I regret that I have not room for a few quotations. I can
only refer, in very general terms, to the history of the creation; of
Joseph and the forty years' wandering in the wilderness; to the book of
Job; to the Psalms of David; to Isaiah; to the Gospels; and to the
visions of John in the Isle of Patmos.
"Now if the primary qualities of a good school-book are to teach the art
of reading, and to communicate instruction upon the most interesting and
important subjects, I have no hesitation in saying that the Bible stands
pre-eminently above every other. If I were again to become a primary
instructor, or to teach the art of reading in any higher seminary than
the common school-house, I would take the Bible in preference to any
twenty 'Orators' or 'English Readers' that I have ever seen. Indeed, I
would scarcely want any other. Milton and Shakspeare I would not reject,
but I would do very well without them, for they are both surpassed by
Isaiah and John. Let enlightened teachers, and members of any of the
learned professions, read over aloud, in their best manner, such
portions of Scripture as they may easily select, and see if they have
ever found any thing better fitted to bring out and discipline the
voice, and to express all the emotions in which the soul of true
eloquence is bodied forth. Why do the masters of oratory, who charm
great audiences with their recitations, take so many of their themes
from the Bible? The reason is obvious. They can find none so well suited
to their purpose. And why should not the common schools, in which are
nurtured so many of the future orators, and rulers, and teachers of the
land, have the advantage of the best of all reading-lessons? Moreover,
since so much of the sense of Scripture depends upon the manner in which
it is read, why should not the thousands of children be taught the art
in school, who will never learn it at home? The more I study the Bible,
the more does it appear to me to excel all other reading-books. You may
go on improving indefinitely, without ever making yourself a perfect
scriptural reader, just as you might, with all the help you can command,
spend your whole life in the study of any one of its great truths
without exhausting it. Let it not be said that we have but few
instructors who are capable of entering into the spirit of the Sacred
Volume, so as to teach their scholars to read it with propriety. Then
let more be educated. It ought to be one of the daily exercises in our
Normal Schools, and other seminaries for raising up competent teachers,
to qualify them for this branch of instruction."
I remark again, that were the Bible made a school-book throughout the
commonwealth and throughout the land, _an amount of scriptural knowledge
would be insensibly treasured up, which would be of inestimable value in
after life_. Every observing teacher must have been surprised to find
how much the dullest scholar will learn by the ear, without seeming to
pay any attention to what others are reading or reciting. The boy that
sits half the time upon his little bench nodding or playing with his
shoe-strings, will, in the course of a winter, commit whole pages and
chapters to memory from the books he hears read, when you can hardly
beat any thing into him by dint of the most diligent instruction.
Indeed, I have sometimes thought that children in our common schools
learn more by the ear, without any effort, than by the study of their
own class-books; and I am quite sure this is the case with the most of
the younger scholars. Let any book be read for a series of years in the
same school, and half of the children will know most of it by heart.
Wherever there are free schools--and the free school system is now
becoming extensively adopted in every part of the United States--the
great mass of the children are kept at school from four or five years of
age, to nine or ten, through the year; and in the winter season, from
nine or ten to fifteen or sixteen. The average of time thus devoted to
their education is from eight to ten years. Now let the Bible be read
daily as a class-book during all this time, in every school, and how
much of it will, without effort, and without interfering in the least
with other studies, be committed to memory. And who can estimate the
value of such an acquisition? What pure morality; what maxims of supreme
wisdom for guidance along the slippery paths of youth, and onward
through every stage of life; what bright examples of early piety, and of
its glorious rewards, even in the present world; what sublime
revelations of the being and perfections of God; what incentives to love
and serve him, and to discharge with fidelity all the duties which we
owe to our fellow-men! and all these enforced by the highest sanctions
of future accountability. Let any man tell, if he can, how much all this
store of divine knowledge, thus insensibly acquired, would be worth to
the millions of children who are growing up in these United States of
America. They might not be at all sensible of its value at the time, but
how happily and safely would it contribute to shape their future
opinions and characters, both as men and as citizens.
Another cogent reason for using the Bible as a common school-book is,
that _it is the firmest basis, and, indeed, the only sure basis of our
free institutions, and, as such, ought to be familiar to all the
children in the state from their earliest years_. While it recognizes
the existence of civil governments, and enjoins obedience to magistrates
as ministers of God for the good of the people, it regards all men as
free and equal, the children of one common Father, and entitled to the
same civil and religious privileges. I do not believe that any people
could ever be enslaved who should be thoroughly and universally educated
in the principles of the Bible.
It was no less truly than eloquently said by Daniel Webster, in his
Bunker Hill address, that "the American colonists brought with them from
the Old World a full portion of all the riches of the past in science
and art, and in morals, religion, and literature. The _Bible_ came with
them. And it is not to be doubted that to the _free_ and _universal_ use
of the Bible it is to be ascribed that in that age men were much
indebted for right views of civil liberty. The Bible is a book of faith
and a book of doctrine; but it is also a book which teaches man his
individual responsibility, his own dignity, and equality with his
fellow-men."
These sentiments of the great American statesman are worthy to be
engraved in golden capitals upon the monument under whose shade they
were uttered! Yes, it was the free and universal use of the Bible which
made our Puritan fathers what they were; and it is because, in these
degenerate times, multitudes of children will be taught to read it
nowhere else, that I am so anxious to have it read as a school-book. One
other, and the only additional reason which I shall suggest, is that, as
the Bible is _infinitely the best_, so it is the only decidedly
_religious book_ which can be introduced into our popular systems of
early education. So jealous are the different sects and denominations of
each other, that it would be hardly possible to write or compile a
religious school-book with which all would be satisfied. But here is a
book prepared to our hands, which we all receive as the inspired record
of our faith, and as containing the purest morality that has ever been
taught in this lower world. Episcopalians can not object to it, because
they believe it teaches the doctrines and polity of their own church;
and this is just what they want. Neither Congregationalists,
Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Universalists, nor any other
denomination, can object to it for the same reason. Every denomination
believes, so far as it differs from the rest, that the Bible is on its
side, and, of course, that the more it is read by all, the better.
For me to object to having the Bible read as a common school-book on
account of any doctrine which those who differ from me suppose it to
teach, would be virtually to confess that I had not full confidence in
my own creed, and was afraid it would not bear a scriptural test. It
seems to me an infinite advantage, for which we are bound devoutly to
thank the Author of all good, that he has given us a religious book of
incomparable excellence, which we may fearlessly put into the hands of
all the children in the state, with the assurance that it is able to
make them "wise unto salvation," and will certainly make them better
children, better friends, and better members of society, so far as it
influences them at all. But some persons who highly approve of daily
scriptural reading in common schools are in favor of using _selections_
rather than the whole Bible. I should certainly prefer this, provided
the selections are judiciously made, to excluding the Scriptures
altogether; but I think there are weighty and obvious reasons why the
_whole_ Bible should be taken rather than a part. The whole is cheaper
than half would be in a separate volume; and when the whole is
introduced, "without note or comment," there can be no possible ground
for sectarian jealousy.
Doctors of divinity not only, but the most eminent statesmen in the
country, hold the views here presented. The bold and noble stand taken
by the Legislature of New York more than ten years ago (1838), has
revived the hopes and infused fresh courage into the minds of those who
believe that the safety and welfare of our country are essentially
dependent on the prevalence of a "_religious_ morality and a _moral_
religion." The representatives of this great state, whose system of
education is becoming increasingly an object of imitation in all the
rest, at one and the same session doubled the amount of the public money
for the purpose of improving the education given in the common
schools--which, to the praise of that state, be it said, are _now
free_--and in reply to the petition of sundry persons, praying that all
religious exercises and the use of the Bible might be prohibited in the
public schools, decided by a vote of _one hundred and twenty-one_ to
ONE! that the request of the petitioners be not granted. For the purpose
of corroborating the doctrines of this volume, I will introduce a
paragraph from the report of the Hon. Daniel D. Barnard on the occasion
referred to, which was sustained by the noble, unequivocal, and almost
unanimous testimony of the representatives of the most powerful member
of the American states.
"Moral instruction is quite as important to the object had in view in
popular education as intellectual instruction; it is indispensable to
that object. But, to make instruction effective, it should be given
according to the best code of morals known to the country and the age;
and that code, it is universally conceded, is contained in the Bible.
Hence the Bible, as containing that code, so far from being arbitrarily
excluded from our schools, ought to be in common use in them. Keeping
all the while in view the object of popular education, the fitting of
the people by _moral_ as well as by _intellectual_ discipline for
self-government, no one can doubt that any system of instruction which
overlooks the training and informing of the moral faculties must be
wretchedly and fatally defective. Crime and intellectual cultivation
merely, so far from being dissociated in history and statistics, are
unhappily old acquaintances and tried friends. To neglect the moral
powers in education is to educate not quite half the man. To cultivate
the intellect only is to unhinge the mind and destroy the essential
balance of the mental powers; it is to light up a recess only the better
to see how dark it is. And if this is all that is done in popular
education, then nothing, literally nothing, is done toward establishing
popular virtue and forming a moral people."
This is but a specimen of an invaluable document, which does honor to
the heart and head of him who penned it, and to the Legislature of the
commonwealth by which it was adopted by almost unparalleled unanimity.
The Hon. Samuel Young, the eminently distinguished superintendent of
common schools in the same state, in a report made in 1843, inculcates
sentiments which so well accord with my own views of the importance of
weaving scriptural reading into the very warp and woof of popular
education, that I gladly add his testimony. "I regard the New Testament
as in all respects a suitable book to be daily read in our common
schools, and I earnestly recommend its general introduction for this
purpose. As a mere reading-book, intended to convey a practical
knowledge of the English language, it is one of the best text-books in
use; but this, although of great use to the pupils, is of minor
importance when the moral influences of the book are duly considered.
Education consists of something more than mere instruction. It is that
training and discipline of all the faculties of the mind which shall
symmetrically and harmoniously develop the future man for usefulness and
for happiness in sustaining the various relations of life. It must be
based upon knowledge and virtue; and its gradual advancement must be
strictly subordinated to those cardinal and elementary principles of
morality, which are nowhere so distinctly and beautifully inculcated as
in that book from whence we all derive our common faith. The nursery and
family fireside may accomplish much; the institutions of religion may
exert a pervading influence; but what is commenced in the hallowed
sanctuary of the domestic circle, and periodically inculcated at the
altar, must be daily and hourly recognized in the common schools, that
it may exert an ever-present influence, enter into and form a part of
every act of life, and become thoroughly incorporated with the rapidly
expanding character. The same incomparable standard of moral virtue and
excellence, which is expounded from the pulpit and the altar, and which
is daily held up to the admiration and imitation of the family circle,
should also be reverently kept before the mind and the heart in the
daily exercises of the school."
I will add the testimony of another whom we all delight to honor. Never
were sentiments uttered more worthy to be remembered and repeated
through all generations, than those which fell from the Father of his
Country in his Farewell Address to the American people. "Of all the
dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and
morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the
tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of
human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.
The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and
cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with
private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked. Where is the
security for property, for reputation, for life, if a sense of religious
obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation
in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition
that _morality_ can be maintained _without religion_. Whatever may be
conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar
structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national
morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles." How noble,
how elevated, how just these parting words.
Washington was an enlightened Christian patriot, as well as a great
general and a wise statesman. The oracles which he consulted in all his
perils, and in the perils of his country, were the oracles of God.[29]
No one of the fathers of the Revolution knew better than he did that
religion rests upon the Bible as its main pillar, and that as a
knowledge and belief of the Bible are essential to true religion, so
they are to private and public morality. I can not doubt, says the
venerable President of Amherst College, that could the greatest among
the great men of his day add a codicil to his invaluable legacy, it
would be, "Teach your children early to read and love the Bible. Teach
them to read it in your families; teach them in your schools; teach them
everywhere, that the first moral lesson indelibly enstamped upon their
hearts may be to 'fear God and keep his commandments.' 'The fear of the
Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.'"
[29] John Quincy Adams, during his long and eventful life, was
accustomed to read daily portions of the Scriptures in several
languages.
How few are aware of what the Bible has done for mankind, and still less
of what it is destined to accomplish. "Quench its light, and you blot
out the brightest luminary from these lower heavens. You bring back
'chaos and old night' to reign over the earth, and leave man, with all
his immortal energies and aspirations, to 'wander in the blackness of
darkness forever.' It was by constantly reading it that our Puritan
fathers imbibed that unconquerable love of civil and religious liberty
which sustained them through all the 'perils of the sea and perils of
the wilderness.' It was from the Bible they drew those free and admired
principles of civil government that were so much in advance of the age
in which they lived. It was this book by which they 'resolved to go till
they could find some better rule.'"
The Bible has built all our churches, and colleges, and school-houses;
it has built our hospitals and retreats for the insane, the deaf, and
the blind; it has built the House of Refuge, the Sailors' Home, and the
Home for the Friendless. To it we are indebted for our homes, for our
property, and for all the safeguards of our domestic relations and
happiness. It is under its broad shield that we lie down in safety,
without bolts or bars to protect us. It has given us our free
constitutions of civil government, and with them all the statutes and
ordinances of a great and independent people, whose territory extends
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is the industry, sobriety, and
enterprise, which nothing but the Bible could ever inspire and sustain,
that have dug our canals, and built our thousand factories, and "clothed
the hills with flocks, and covered over the valleys with corn;" that
have laid down our railways and established telegraph lines, bringing
the East into the neighborhood of the West, and enabling the North to
hold converse with the South. The Bible has directly and indirectly done
all this for us, and infinitely more. Let not, then, the book which has
given to us sweet homes, and happy families, and systems of public
instruction, and has thus constituted us a great and prosperous
people--the book which diminishes our sorrows and multiplies our joys,
and gives to those who obey its precepts a "hope big with
immortality"--let not this book be excluded from the common schools of
our country. In the name of patriotism, of philanthropy, and of our
common Christianity, let me, in behalf of the millions of youth in our
country who will otherwise remain ignorant of it, ask that, whatever
else be excluded from our schools, there be retained in them this Book
of books, the BIBLE.