_Shewing how the education which men generally receive, makes
the doctrines of humility difficult to be practised. The
spirit of a better education represented in the character
of |Paternus|._
1. ANOTHER difficulty in the practice of humility, arises from our
education. We are corruptly educated, and then committed to take our
course in a corrupt world; so that it is no wonder, if examples of
great piety are so seldom seen.
Great part of the world are undone, by being born and bred in families
that have no religion.
But this is not the thing I now mean; the education that I here intend,
is such as children generally receive from virtuous _parents_, and
learned _tutors_ and governors.
*Had we continued perfect, as God created the first man, perhaps the
perfection of our nature had been a sufficient _self-instruction_ for
every one. But as _sickness_ and _diseases_ have created the necessity
of _medicines_ and _physicians_, so the disorder of our rational
nature has introduced the necessity of _education_ and _tutors_.
*And as the only end of the physician is, to restore nature to its
own state; so the only end of education is, to restore our rational
nature to its proper state. Education therefore is to be considered
as _reason_ borrowed at _second hand_, which is, as far as it can,
to supply the loss of _original_ perfection. And as physic may justly
be called the _art_ of restoring health, so education should be
considered in no other light, than as the art of recovering to man
the use of his reason.
2. Now as the instruction of every _art_ or _science_ is founded upon
the _wisdom_, _experience_, and _maxims_ of the several great men that
have laboured in it; so that _right use_ of our reason, which young
people should be called to by their education, is nothing but the
_best experience_, and _finest reasonings_ of men, that have devoted
themselves to the improvement of human nature.
All therefore that _great saints_ and _dying_ men, when the fullest
light and conviction, and after the highest improvement of their
reason, have said of the necessity of _piety_, of the excellency of
_virtue_, of the emptiness of _riches_, of the vanity of the _world_;
all the _sentences_, _judgments_, _reasonings_ and _maxims_ of the
wisest philosophers, when in their highest state of wisdom, should
constitute the _common lessons_ of instruction for youthful minds.
This is the only way to make the _young_ and _ignorant_ part of the
world the better for the _wisdom_ and _knowledge_ of the wise and
ancient.
3. *The youths that attended upon _Pythagoras_, _Socrates_, _Plato_,
and _Epictetus_, were thus educated. Their every day lessons and
instructions were so many lectures upon the nature of man, his true
_end_, and the right use of his faculties; upon the immortality of the
soul, its relation to God, the beauty of virtue, and its agreeableness
to the divine nature; upon the necessity of temperance, fortitude, and
generosity, and the shame and folly of indulging our passions.
*Now as Christianity has, as it were, new-created the _moral_ and
_religious_ world, and set every thing that is reasonable, wise,
holy and desirable, in its true point of light: so one would expect,
that the education of youth should be as much bettered and amended by
Christianity, as the _doctrines_ of religion are amended by it.
*As it has introduced a _new_ state of things, and so fully informed
us of the _nature_ of man, and the _end_ of his creation; as it has
fixed all our _goods_ and _evils_, taught us the means of purifying
our souls, pleasing God, and becoming eternally happy; one might
naturally suppose, that every Christian country abounded with
_schools_, not only for teaching a few questions and answers of a
_catechism_, but for the forming, training and practising youths in
such a course of life, as the _highest_ precepts, the _strictest_
rules, and the _sublimest_ doctrines of Christianity require.
4. *An education under _Pythagoras_, or _Socrates_, had no other end,
but to teach youth to _think_, _judge_, and _act_ as _Pythagoras_ and
_Socrates_ used.
And is it not as reasonable to suppose, that a Christian education
should have no other end, but to teach youth how to think, and judge,
and act according to the _strictest laws_ of Christianity?
At least one would suppose, that in all Christian schools, the
teaching youth to begin their lives in the _spirit_ of Christianity,
in such _severity_ of behaviour, such _abstinence_, _sobriety_,
_humility_, and _devotion_, as Christianity requires, should not only
be _more_, but an _hundred times_ more regarded, than any, or all
things else.
For our educators should imitate our _guardian angels_, suggest
nothing to our minds but what is _wise_ and _holy_; help us to
discover and subdue every _vain passion_ of our hearts, and every
_false judgment_ of our minds.
And it is as reasonable to expect and require all this benefit of a
Christian education, as to require that physic should strengthen all
that is right in our nature, and remove that which is _sickly_ and
_diseased_.