RELIGIOUS TRAINING.
It has been my aim in this volume to avoid, as far as possible, all topics
involving controversy, and only to present such truths, and to elucidate
such principles, as can be easily made to commend themselves to the good
sense and the favorable appreciation of all the classes of minds likely to
be found among the readers of the work. There are certain very important
aspects of the religious question which may be presented, I think, without
any serious deviation from this policy.
_In what True Piety consists_.
Indeed; I think there is far more real than seeming agreement among parents
in respect to this subject, or rather a large portion of the apparent
difference consists in different modes of expressing in words thoughts and
conceptions connected with spiritual things, which from their very nature
can not any of them be adequately expressed in language at all; and thus it
happens that what are substantially the same ideas are customarily clothed
by different classes of persons in very different phraseology, while, on
the other hand, the same set of phrases actually represent in different
minds very different sets of ideas.
For instance, there is perhaps universal agreement in the idea that some
kind of change--a change, too, of a very important character--is implied
in the implanting or developing of the spirit of piety in the heart of
a child. There is also universal agreement in the fact--often very
emphatically asserted in the New Testament--that the essential principles
in which true piety consists are those of entire submission in all things
to the will of God, and cordial kind feeling towards every man. There
is endless disagreement, and much earnest contention among different
denominations of Christians, in respect to the means by which the
implanting of these principles is to be secured, and to the modes in which,
when implanted, they will manifest themselves; but there is not, so far as
would appear, any dissent whatever anywhere from the opinion that the end
to be aimed at is the implanting of these principles--that is that
it consists in bringing the heart to a state of complete and cordial
submission to the authority and to the will of God, and to a sincere regard
for the welfare and happiness of every human being.
_A Question of Words_
There seems, at first view, to be a special difference of opinion in
respect to the nature of the process by which these principles come to be
implanted or developed in the minds of the young; for all must admit that
in early infancy they are not there, or, at least, that they do not appear.
_No_ one would expect to find in two infants--twin-brothers, we will
suppose--creeping on the floor, with one apple between them, that there
could be, at that age, any principles of right or justice, or of brotherly
love existing in their hearts that could prevent their both crying and
quarrelling for it. "True," says one; "but there are germs of those
principles which, in time, will be developed." "No," rejoins another,"
there are no _germs_ of them, there are only _capacities_ for them, through
which, by Divine power, the germs may hereafter be introduced." But when we
reflect upon the difficulty of forming any clear and practical idea of
the difference between a _germ_--in a bud upon an apple-tree, for
instance--which may ultimately produce fruit, and a _capacity_ for
producing it which may subsequently be developed, and still more, how
difficult is it to picture to our minds what is represented by these words
in the case of a human soul, it would seem as if the apparent difference in
people's opinions on such a point must be less a difference in respect
to facts than in respect to the phraseology by which the facts should be
represented.
And there would seem to be confirmation of this view in the fact that the
great apparent difference among men in regard to their theoretical views of
human nature does not seem to produce any marked difference in their action
in practically dealing with it. Some parents, it is true, habitually treat
their children with gentleness, kindness, and love; others are harsh
and severe in all their intercourse with them. But we should find, on
investigation, that such differences have very slight connection with
the theoretical views of the nature of the human soul which the parents
respectively entertain. Parents who in their theories seem to think the
worst of the native tendencies of the human heart are often as kind and
considerate and loving in their dealings with it as any; while no one would
be at all surprised to find another, who is very firm in his belief in
the native tendency of childhood to good, showing himself, in practically
dealing with the actual conduct of children, fretful, impatient,
complaining, and very ready to recognize, in fact, tendencies which in
theory he seems to deny. And so, two bank directors, or members of the
board of management of any industrial undertaking, when they meet in the
street on Sunday, in returning from their respective places of public
worship, if they fall into conversation on the moral nature of man, may
find, or think they find, that they differ extremely in their views, and
may even think each other bigoted or heretical, as the case may be; but yet
the next day, when they meet at a session of their board, and come to the
work of actually dealing with the conduct and the motives of men, they may
find that there is _practically_ no difference between them whatever. Or,
if there should be any difference, such as would show itself in a greater
readiness in one than in the other to place confidence in the promises or
to confide in the integrity of men, the difference would, in general, have
no perceptible relation whatever to the difference in the theological
phraseology which they have been accustomed to hear and to assent to in
their respective churches. All which seems to indicate, as has already been
said, that the difference in question is rather apparent than real, and
that it implies less actual disagreement about the facts of human nature
than diversity in the phraseology by which the facts are represented.
_Agency of the Divine Spirit_.
It may, however, be said that in this respect, if not in any other, there
is a radical difference among parents in respect to human nature, in
relation to the religious education of children--namely, that some
think that the implanting of the right principles of repentance for all
wrong-doing, and sincere desires for the future to conform in all things to
the will of God, and seek the happiness and welfare of men, can not come
except by a special act of Divine intervention, and is utterly beyond the
reach--in respect to any actual efficiency--of all human instrumentalities.
This is no doubt true; but it is also no less true in respect to all the
powers and capacities of the human soul, as well as to those pertaining to
moral and religious duty. If the soul itself is the product of the
creative agency of God, _all_ its powers and faculties must be so, and,
consequently, the development of them all--and there certainly can be
no reason for making the sentiment of true and genuine piety an
exception--must be the work of the same creative power.
But some one may say. There is, however, after all, a difference; for
while we all admit that both the original entrance of the embryo soul into
existence, and every step of its subsequent progress and development,
including the coming into being and into action of all its various
faculties and powers, are the work of the Supreme creative power, the
commencement of the divine life in the soul is, in a _special and peculiar
sense_, the work of the Divine hand.
And this also is doubtless true; at least, there is a certain important
truth expressed in that statement. And yet when we attempt to picture to
our minds two modes of Divine action, one of which is special and peculiar,
and the other is not so, we are very likely to find ourselves bewildered
and confused, and we soon perceive that in making such inquiries we are
going out of our depth--or, in other words, are attempting to pass beyond
the limits which mark the present boundaries of human knowledge.
In view of these thoughts and suggestions, in the truth of which it would
seem that all reasonable persons must concur, we may reasonably conclude
that all parents who are willing to look simply at the facts, and who are
not too much trammelled by the forms of phraseology to which they are
accustomed, must agree in admitting the substantial soundness of the
following principles relating to the religious education of children.
_Order of Development in respect to different Propensities and Powers_.
[Illustration: THE FIRST INSTINCT.]
1. We must not expect any perceptible awakening of the moral and religious
sentiments too soon, nor feel discouraged and disheartened because they do
not earlier appear; for, like all the other higher attributes of the soul,
they pertain to a portion of the mental structure which is not early
developed. It is the group of purely animal instincts that first show
themselves in the young, and those even, as we see in the young of the
lower animals, generally appear somewhat in the order in which they are
required for the individual's good. Birds just hatched from the egg seem to
have, for the first few days, only one instinct ready for action--that of
opening their mouths wide at the approach of any thing towards their nest.
Even this instinct is so imperfect and immature that it can not distinguish
between the coming of their mother and the appearance of the face of a boy
peering down upon them, or even the rustling of the leaves around them by a
stick. In process of time, as their wings become formed, another instinct
begins to appear--that of desiring to use the wings and come forth into the
air. The development of this instinct and the growth of the wings advance
together. Later still, when the proper period of maturity arrives, other
instincts appear as they are required--such as the love of a mate, the
desire to construct a nest, and the principle of maternal affection.
Now there is something analogous to this in the order of development to be
observed in the progress of the human being through the period of infancy
to that of maturity, and we must not look for the development of any power
or susceptibility before its time, nor be too much troubled if we
find that, in the first two or three years of life, the animal
propensities--which are more advanced in respect to the organization which
they depend upon--seem sometimes to overpower the higher sentiments and
principles, which, so far as the capacity for them exists at all, must be
yet in embryo. We must be willing to wait for each to be developed in its
own appointed time.
_Dependence upon Divine Aid_.
2. Any one who is ready to feel and to acknowledge his dependence upon
Divine aid for any thing whatever in the growth and preservation of his
child, will surely be ready to do so in respect to the work of developing
or awakening in his heart the principles of piety, since it must
be admitted by all that the human soul is the highest of all the
manifestations of Divine power, and that that portion of its structure on
which the existence and exercise of the moral and religious sentiments
depend is the crowning glory of it. It is right, therefore--I mean right,
in the sense of being truly philosophical--that if the parent feels and
acknowledges his dependence upon Divine power in any thing, he should
specially feel and acknowledge it here; while there is nothing so well
adapted as a deep sense of this dependence, and a devout and habitual
recognition of it, and reliance upon it, to give earnestness and efficiency
to his efforts, and to furnish a solid ground of hope that they will be
crowded with success.
_The Christian Paradox_.
3. The great principle so plainly taught in the Sacred Scriptures--namely,
that while we depend upon the exercise of Divine power for the success of
all our efforts for our own spiritual improvement or that of others,
just as if we could do nothing ourselves, we must do every thing that is
possible ourselves, just us if nothing was to be expected from Divine
power--may be called the Christian paradox. "Work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you both to will and
to do." It would seem, it might be thought, much more logical to say, "Work
out your own salvation, for there is nobody to help you;" or, "It is not
necessary to make any effort yourselves, for it is God that worketh in
you." It seems strange and paradoxical to say, "_Work out your own_
salvation, _for_ it is _God that worketh in you_ both to will and to do."
But in this, as in all other paradoxes, the difficulty is in the
explanation of the theory, and not in the practical working of it. There
is in natural philosophy what is called the hydrostatic paradox, which
consists in the fact that a small quantity of any liquid--as, for example,
the coffee in the nose of the coffee-pot--will balance and sustain a very
much larger quantity--as that contained in the body of it--so as to keep
the surface of each at the same level. Young students involve themselves
sometimes in hopeless entanglements among the steps of the mathematical
demonstration showing how this can be, but no housekeeper ever meets with
any practical difficulty in making her coffee rest quietly in its place
on account of it. The Christian paradox, in the same way, gives rise to
a great deal of metaphysical floundering and bewilderment among young
theologians in their attempts to vindicate and explain it, but the
humble-minded Christian parent finds no difficulty in practice. It comes
very easy to him to do all he can, just as if every thing depended upon his
efforts, and at the same time to cast all his care upon God, just as if
there was nothing at all that he himself could do.
_Means must be Right Means_.
4. We are apt to imagine--or, at least, to act sometimes as if we
imagined--that our dependence upon the Divine aid for what our Saviour,
Jesus, designated as the new birth, makes some difference in the obligation
on our part to employ such means as are naturally adapted to the end in
view. If a gardener, for example, were to pour sand from his watering-pot
upon his flowers, in time of drought, instead of water, he might
make something like a plausible defense of his action, in reply to a
remonstrance, thus: "_I_ have no power to make the flowers grow and bloom.
The secret processes on which the successful result depends are altogether
beyond my reach, and in the hands of God, and he can just as easily bless
one kind of instrumentality as another. I am bound to do something, it is
true, for I must not be idle and inert; but God, if he chooses to do so,
can easily bring out the flowers into beauty and bloom, however imperfect
and ill-adapted the instrumentalities I use may be. He can as easily make
use, for this purpose, of sand as of water."
Now, although there may be a certain plausibility in this reasoning, such
conduct would appear to every one perfectly absurd; and yet many parents
seem to act on a similar principle. A mother who is from time to time,
during the week, fretful and impatient, evincing no sincere and hearty
consideration for the feelings, still less for the substantial welfare and
happiness, of those dependent upon her; who shows her insubmission to the
will of God, by complaints and repinings at any thing untoward that befalls
her; and who evinces a selfish love for her own gratification--her dresses,
her personal pleasures, and her fashionable standing; and then, as a means
of securing the salvation of her children, is very strict, when Sunday
comes, in enforcing upon them the study of their Sunday lessons, or in
requiring them to read good books, or in repressing on that day any undue
exuberance of their spirits--relying upon the blessing of God upon her
endeavors--will be very apt to find, in the end, that she has been watering
her delicate flowers with sand.
The means which we use to awaken or impart the feelings of sorrow for sin,
submission to God, and cordial good-will to man, in which all true piety
consists, must be means that are _appropriate in themselves_ to the
accomplishment of the end intended. The appliance must be water, and not
sand--or rather water _or_ sand, with judgment, discrimination, and tact;
for the gardener often finds that a judicious mixture of sand with the
clayey and clammy soil about the roots of his plants is just what is
required. The principle is, that the appliance must be an appropriate
one--that is, one indicated by a wise consideration of the circumstances of
the case, and of the natural characteristics of the infantile mind.
_Power of Sympathy_.
5. In respect to religious influence over the minds of children, as in all
other departments of early training, the tendency to sympathetic action
between the heart of the child and the parent is the great source of the
parental influence and power. The principle, "Make a young person love
you, and then simply _be_ in his presence what you wish him to be," is the
secret of success.
The tendency of young children to become what they see those around them
whom they love are, seems to be altogether the most universally acting and
the most powerful of the influences on which the formation of the character
depends; and yet it is remarkable that we have no really appropriate name
for it. We call it sometimes sympathy; but the word sympathy is associated
more frequently in our minds with the idea of compassionate participation
in the sufferings of those we love. Sometimes we term it a spirit of
imitation, but that phrase implies rather a conscious effort to _act_ like
those whom we love, than that involuntary tendency to _become_ like them,
which is the real character of the principle in question. The principle is
in some respects like what is called _induction_ in physical science, which
denotes the tendency of a body, which is in any particular magnetic or
electric condition, to produce the same condition, and the same direction
of polarity, in any similar body placed near it. There is a sort of _moral
induction_, which is not exactly sympathy, in the ordinary sense of
that word, nor a desire of imitation, nor the power of example, but an
immediate, spontaneous, and even unconscious tendency to _become what those
around us are_. This tendency is very strong in the young while the opening
faculties are in the course of formation and development, and it is
immensely strengthened by the influence of love. Whatever, therefore,
a mother wishes her child to be--whether a sincere, honest Christian,
submissive to God's will and conscientious in the discharge of every duty,
or proud, vain, deceitful, hypocritical, and pharisaical--she has only to
be either the one or the other herself, and without any special teaching
her child will be pretty sure to be a good copy of the model.
_Theological Instruction._
6. If the principle above stated is correct, it helps to explain why so
little good effect is ordinarily produced by what may be called instruction
in theological truth on the minds of the young. Any system of theological
truth consists of grand generalizations, which, like all other
generalizations, are very interesting, and often very profitable, to mature
minds, especially to minds of a certain class; but they are not appreciable
by children, and can only in general be received by them as words to be
fixed in the memory by rote. Particulars first, generalizations afterwards,
is, or ought to be, the order of progress in all acquisition of knowledge.
This certainly has been the course pursued by the Divine Spirit in the
moral training of the human race. There is very little systematic theology
in the Old Testament, and it requires a considerable degree of ingenuity to
make out as much as the theologians desire to find even in the teachings
of Jesus Christ. It is very well to exercise this ingenuity, and the
systematic results which are to be obtained by it may be very interesting,
and very beneficial, to those whose minds are mature enough to enter into
and appreciate them. But they are not adapted to the spiritual wants of
children, and can only be received by them, if they are received at all, in
a dry, formal, mechanical manner. Read, therefore, the stories in the Old
Testament, or the parables and discourses of Jesus in the New, without
attempting to draw many inferences from them in the way of theoretical
belief, but simply to bring out to the mind and heart of the child the
moral point intended in each particular case, and the heart of the child
will be touched, and he will receive an _element_ of instruction which he
can arrange and group with others in theological generalization by-and-by,
when his faculties have advanced to the generalizing stage.
_No repulsive Personal Applications_.
7. In reading the Scriptures, and, indeed, in all forms of giving religious
counsel or instruction, we must generally beware of presenting the thoughts
that we communicate in the form of reproachful personal application. There
may be exceptions to this rule, but it is undoubtedly, in general, a sound
one. For the work which we have to do, is not to attempt to drive the heart
from the wrong to the right by any repellent action which the wrong may
be made to exert, but to allure it by an attractive action with which
the right may be invested. We must, therefore, present the incidents and
instructions of the Word in their alluring aspect--assuming, in a
great measure, that our little pupil will feel pleasure with us in the
manifestations of the right, and will sympathize with us in disapproval of
the wrong. To secure them to our side, in the views which we take, we must
show a disposition to _take_ them to it by an affectionate sympathy.
Our Saviour set us an excellent example of relying on the superior
efficiency of the bond of sympathy and love in its power over the hearts of
children, as compared with that of formal theological instruction, in the
few glimpses which we have of his mode of dealing with them. When they
brought little children to him, he did not begin to expound to them the
principles of the government of God, or the theoretical aspects of the way
of salvation; but took them _up in his arms and blessed them_, and called
the attention of the by standers at the same time to qualities and
characteristics which they possessed that he seemed to regard with special
affection, and which others must imitate to be fit for the kingdom of God.
Of course the children went away pleased and happy from such an interview,
and would be made ready by it to receive gladly to their hearts any truths
or sentiments which they might subsequently hear attributed to one who was
so kind a friend to them.
If, however, instead of this, he had told them--no matter in what kind
and gentle tones--that they had very wicked hearts, which must be changed
before either God or any good man could truly love them, and that this
change could only be produced by a power which they could only understand
to be one external to themselves, and that they must earnestly pray for
it every day, how different would have been the effect. They would have
listened in mute distress, would have been glad to make their escape when
the conversation was ended, and would shrink from ever seeing or hearing
again one who placed himself in an attitude so uncongenial to them.
And yet all that might be true. They might have had yet only such appetites
and propensities developed within them as would, if they continued to hold
paramount control over them all their lives, make them selfish, unfeeling,
and wicked men; and that they were, in a special though mysterious manner,
dependent on the Divine power for bringing into action within them other
and nobler principles. And so, if a physician were called in to see a
sick child, he might see that it was in desperate danger, and that unless
something could be done, and that speedily, to arrest the disease, his
little patient would be dead in a few hours; and yet to say that to the
poor child, and overwhelm it with terror and distress, would not be a very
suitable course of procedure for averting the apprehended result.
_Judge not, that ye be not judged_.
8. And this leads us to reflect, in the eighth place, that we ought to
be very careful, in our conversations with children, and especially in
addresses made to them in the Sunday-school, or on any other occasion, not
to say any thing to imply that we consider them yet unconverted sinners. No
one can possibly know at how early an age that great change which consists
in the first faint enkindling of the Divine life in the soul may begin
to take place, nor with what faults, and failings, and yieldings to the
influence of the mere animal appetites and passions of childhood it may,
for a time, co-exist. We should never, therefore, say any thing to children
to imply that, in the great question of their relations to God and the
Saviour, we take it for granted that they are on the wrong side. We can not
possibly know on which side they really are, and we only dishearten and
discourage them, and alienate their hearts from us, and tend to alienate
them from all good, by seeming to take it for granted that, while _we_ are
on the right side, _they_ are still upon the wrong. We should, in a word,
say _we_, and not _you_, in addressing children on religious subjects, so
as to imply that the truths and sentiments which we express are equally
important and equally applicable to us as to them, and thus avoid creating
that feeling of being judged and condemned beforehand, and without
evidence, which is so apt to produce a broad though often invisible gulf of
separation in heart between children, on the one hand, and ministers and
members of the Church, on the other.
_Promised Rewards and threatened Punishments_.
9. It is necessary to be extremely moderate and cautious in employing the
influence of promised rewards or threatened punishments as a means of
promoting early piety. In a religious point of view, as in every other,
goodness that is bought is only a pretense of goodness--that is, in reality
it is no goodness at all; and as it is true that love casteth out fear, so
it is also true that fear casteth out love. Suppose--though it is almost
too violent a supposition to be made even for illustration's sake--that the
whole Christian world could be suddenly led to believe that there was to be
no happiness or suffering at all for them beyond the grave, and that the
inducement to be grateful to God for his goodness and submissive to his
will, and to be warmly interested in the welfare and happiness of man, were
henceforth to rest on the intrinsic excellence of those principles, and to
their constituting essentially the highest and noblest development of the
moral and spiritual nature of man--how many of the professed disciples of
Jesus would abandon their present devotion to the cause of love to God and
love to man? Not one, except the hypocrites and pretenders!
The truth is, that as piety that is genuine and sincere must rest on
very different foundations from hope of future reward or fear of
future punishment, so this hope and this fear are very unsuitable
instrumentalities to be relied on for awakening it. The kind of gratitude
to God which we wish to cherish in the mind of a child is not such as would
be awakened towards an earthly benefactor by saying--in the case of
a present made by an uncle, for instance--"Your uncle has made you a
beautiful present. Go and thank him very cordially, and perhaps you will
get another." It is rather of a kind which might be induced by saying,
"Your uncle, who has been so kind to you in past years, is poor and sick,
and can never do any thing more for you now. Would you like to go and sit
in his sick-room to show your love for him, and to be ready to help him if
he wants any thing?"
True piety, in a word, which consists in entering into and steadily
maintaining the right moral and spiritual relations with God and man, marks
the highest condition which the possibilities of human nature allow, and
must rest in the soul which attains to it on a very different foundation
from any thing like hope or fear. That there is a function which it is the
province of these motives to fulfill, is abundantly proved by the use that
is sometimes made of them in the Scriptures. But the more we reflect
upon the subject, the more we shall be convinced, I think, that all such
considerations ought to be kept very much in the back-ground in our
dealings with children. If a child is sick, and is even likely to die, it
is a very serious question whether any warning given to him of his danger
will not operate as a hindrance rather than a help, in awakening those
feelings which will constitute the best state of preparation for the
change. For a sense of gratitude to God for his goodness, and to the
Saviour for the sacrifice which he made for his sake, penitence for his
sins, and trust in the forgiving mercy of his Maker, are the feelings to be
awakened in his bosom; and these, so far as they exist, will lead him to
lie quietly, calmly, and submissively in God's hands, without anxiety in
respect to what is before him. It is a serious question whether an entire
uncertainty as to the time when his death is to come is not more favorable
to the awakening of these feelings, than the state of alarm and distress
which would be excited by the thought that it was near.
_The Reasonableness of Gentle Measures in Religious Training_.
The mother may sometimes derive from certain religious considerations the
idea that she is bound to look upon the moral delinquencies and dangers
which she observes in her children, under an aspect more stern and severe
than seems to be here recommended. But a little reflection must convince
us that the way to true repentance of, and turning from sin, is not
necessarily through the suffering of terror and distress. The Gospel is not
an instrumentality for producing terror and distress, even as means to an
end. It is an instrumentality for saving us from these ills; and the Divine
Spirit, in the hidden and mysterious influence which it exercises in
forming, or transforming, the human soul into the image of God, must be as
ready, it would seem, to sanction and bless efforts made by a mother to
allure her child away from its sins by loving and gentle invitations and
encouragements, as any attempts to drive her from them by the agency of
terror or pain. It would seem that no one who remembers the way in which
Jesus Christ dealt with the children that were brought to him could
possibly have any doubt of this.