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into their hands were chiefly the Scrip tures, and the Shorter Catechism of our church. And though by no means the most proper, when viewed merely as books of elementary instruction, yet the advantages resulting from the per

usal of them more than compensated for all the disadvantages with which the use of them was attended. The business of our schools was always conduct ed with prayer; and in almost every cottage family worship was maintained. Thus public and private education united to promote one great object, the religions improvement of the young, the good effects of all which have for

ages been remarked in the character of the peasantry of Scotland, and have excited the envy and admiration of sursurrounding nations.

"But the education of the poor is now on a different footing. They are taught to read more according to rule and method, and go through such branches of education as are necessary to fit them for the situations which they may be called to occupy. But there is too great a want of the sacred unction of religion. In many of our schools, till very lately, when the Church was obliged to interfere, the Scriptures were excluded, and the Assembly's Shorter Catechism completely set aside. In country parishes, care is generally taken that the intention of the legislature with regard to the religious edu cation of the young shall not be entirely frustrated; and many of the teachers

are not wanting in their endeavours to promote this important object.

"It is, however, a melancholy fact, that in many instances religion is very little attended to either in our schools or academies." Inquiry, pp. 17—19.

In England, the state of facts is somewhat different from this description of affairs in Scotland; for among us the education of the poor, as respects religiou, is often better conducted than that of the rich. Very few of the sons of our nobility and gentry, at our great academical institutions, could successfully contend with the children of their father's tenants and labourers, at a well conducted national school. The "romantic fondness" acquired for our civil or ecclesiastical establishments at the public seminaries of the land is often

far removed from a humble and ingenuous reception of the principles and precepts of the Gospel, as the truth, we may remark of most large actual rules of faith and practice. In schools, whether for rich or poor, that religious knowledge, rather than religious duty, is the object of solicitude. This subject is one of great moment, especially at a time when so large and increasing a portion doms is under the process of of the population of these kingeducation; for on the character of the education thus widely bestowed, will depend its good or bad effects. For the poor to be able universally to read, will not necessarily be a benefit either to themselves or to others. The result will depend upon the way in which their knowledge is acquired; the principles inculcated, and the habits formed during its acquirement; and the ends to which it is directed. To know, as a mere fact, who was Jesus Christ, will no more moralize or christianize the human soul, than to know who was Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar. A religious education is what the exigence of these times, and indeed of all times, demands; and hence, among other reasons, the high opinion we have always entertained of the importance of Sunday Schools; a topic on which we forbear to enlarge, as we mean to devote a paper expressly to it in our présent Number. We have, however, placed at the head of this article a little publication on that topic from the press of the sister kingdom of Ireland, which we recommend our readers to consult, in order to see how the friends of education there, as well as in England and Scotland, think on this vital point. The work abounds in valuable suggestions, and does great honour to its compilers. Happy indeed should we be to hear that the children of the misguided peasantry of that country were generally under a course of education upon the principles exhibited in this publication; and far from

thinking, with some persons, that there has been too great precipitation in the benevolent friends of Ireland, either here or on the other side of the Channel, in undertaking the great work that lies before them, our chief cause of grief and alarm is, that it has been so long neglected, and so inadequate ly commenced. Let the enemies of Sunday Schools, whether in Ireland or elsewhere, consider well the following statements :

"The design of Sunday-schools is, to teach the lower orders, what they have too often no other, or no regular, op. portunity of learning,-and what facts and experience prove that they have not hitherto in general learned, the great truths and precepts of Christianity; to train them up in early principles of religion, habits of regularity, propriety, and cleanliness; to enlighten their understandings, ameliorate their morals, and soften and civilize their

manners.

"This object, it is evident, must be equally desirable in all places,-town, village, or country; where there are day schools, or where there are none; where there are manufactories, or where

there are none.

"Whether a child has been idling throughout the week, or employed at a day-school, or at a manufactory, or in the field, it is equally important that he should be preserved from early habits of wasting, as well as of more openly profaning, the Sabbath-day. Whether he has been, during six days, learning to play, or to dig, or to weave, or to read it is equally important that he should on one day learn to read his Bible; to know his duty, and his prospects, as a man and as a Christian; and to understand those principles, which are to be his guide in after-life.

"Where there is no Sunday-school, what means has he, in fact, of learning these principles and truths? Is it from his parents? Alas! they know but little of the state of Ireland who would send the children of our poor to their parents for instruction. Whither should we send them, then? To the neighbouring dayschool? Have we ever visited the place, or inquired, or examined, what is taught there? Have we found religious instruction in common spelling-books; or on the writing-master's copper-plates? Or

have we always found there the Bible in the hands of the learner; or a pious Christian in the person of the teacher? If not, and if we have often visited such places, we must have observed that writing, and accounts, and reading for reading's sake-compounding letters, syllables, and words of empty sound, or worse than empty sound, from whatever book the learner happens to be possessed of, form too frequently the course of study in such schools. Then why bid the young peasant seek no other principles than these-no instruction but there? But whither, in fine, should we send him? Should we, indeed, leave him any longer without resource; destitute of all means and opportunity of learning those principles of right, for whose violation we may afterwards, as magistrates or jurors, condemn him to the gallows-of whose violation we ourselves may hereafter be the victims? To provide a practical answer to these questions, and an effectual remedy for this melancholy, long felt, and long admitted want,-to teach the simple truths and duties of religion to the poor of every persuasion,—this is the object of Sunday-schools,

"And now, if it be asked, what are the effects to be expected from these schools, and from this system altogether; we reply, that from such a system, made general, the benefits to be expected, both here and hereafter, to individuals, as well as to society at large, are in every point of view incalculable. But without indulging in future speculations, many of which cannot, perhaps, be duly appreciated on this side of eter nity, let us turn to facts, and consult past and present experience. The benefits which have resulted, wherever the system has been properly supported, and persevered in, are practically such as it might appear exaggeration to describe. The testimony of those who are resident in such places-and there are some even of the highest orders in this country who can bear such testimony-is the best answer which can be given to the question; and upon that testimony the claim of Sunday-schools to public encouragement may safely rest.

"The Sabbath, no longer wasted or profaned as the day for idle sports and petty depredations, but becomingly appropriated to its intended object— the acquisition of religious knowledge, and the enjoyment of devotional feel

ing; children trained up in principles of propriety; parents awakened or reclaimed, by the lessons and example of their offspring; the general habits, sentiments, and manners, of the poor improved, refined, and civilized; industry excited; economy, cleanliness, and domestic comforts of every kind, promoted; the labours of parochial ministers facilitated and lightened, and their flocks prepared to receive their exhortations; laws respected and obeyed; a people taught the only sure foundation of all duty, the only steadfast principle on which the authority of the magistrate, and the rights, the lives, and properties of individuals, can with any security depend;-these are amongst the obvious consequences of an universal establishment of Sunday-schools. Nor is this all; even teachers themselves, many moral and benevolent young persons who have undertaken this office, have first learned to feel the genuine influence of religious truth, while thus labouring to impress upon their pupils the Scriptures which contain it. A bond of mutual affection too, has thus

been formed; and an influence which may last perhaps through life, acquired over the minds of the children, by per. sons, both disposed to exert it with advantage, and also more or less committed and engaged to do so, in justice to their own past labours, and in consistency with the maxims which they have taught. A general spirit of improve ment has also been excited among all ranks. The rich have been brought acquainted with the wants and actual circumstances of their poorer neighbours, and induced to establish various other institutions for their relief.

“Nor are we to reckon this last among the least of the advantages resulting from the Sunday-school system -this friendly approach of all orders towards each other; not levelling the distinction of ranks, but uniting the interests of all; removing the prejudices of the one; encouraging the efforts, softening the asperities, and engaging the affections of the other." Hints, pp. 7-10.

We have not space for further quotations from this work; but our readers will not think the above extract misplaced; since it points out one of the principal remedies for the evil which Mr. Ramsay

laments. An education of which religion is not the basis, will only prepare the ground for the very worst seed; and it is well if it do not speedily produce a rank crop of whatever is baleful to man and offensive to God. But a truly Christian education, such as is generally the substratum and the summit of Sunday-school instruction, is the best possible guarantee for the principles, the morals, and the good conduct of the rising generation, amidst the many dangers to which they are likely to be exposed in an age of free opinion and under the influence of a licentious press.

The fourth cause assigned by Mr. Ramsay for the increase of infidelity is our intercourse with the continental nations of Europe. The author, we think, lays a little more stress on this particular point than it will well bear. There can in

deed be no doubt that too many of our European neighbours have been inoculated with a spirit of scepticism in religion, and with what is truly or falsely called a spirit of "liberality" in politics; and that consequently a considerable portion of injury may and must have resulted from close intercourse with them; but it so happens, in the present instance, that the late inundation of mischievous publications, civil and theological, has not in general arisen or spread among those classes of persons who possess facilities for foreign travel and intercourse. We question whether one in a hundred of the persons among whom the publications of Hone, Carlile, and similar writers, are chiefly read, ever quitted their own shores, or had the opportunity of conversing with foreigners sufficiently to be exposed to any contagion from their principles. Whereas the families of the who have almost universally trahigher and richer classes of society, velled on the continent since the peace, have, with few or no exceptions, opposed themselves to the late ebulition of infidelity and

anarchy. It is possible, and indeed we think almost inevitable, that their own principles may have suffered by mingling familiarly with nations whose notions on religion, and the duties of the Sabbath, and many other important points, are in general much more lax than our own; but we doubt whether the evil, great as we acknowledge it to be, has been quite equal to the estimate of those who have formed their judgment on the subject, without sufficiently taking into their account the many qualifications which the case admits of and requires. This remark applies peculiarly to those modes and habits which, in the public opinion of a particular country, are identified with certain stages of vice or virtue, of religion or irreligion; but which, in another country, may be very differently regarded. We conceive that in these points our French neighbours above all nations, and especially the female part of them, have some little cause to complain of our national estimate of their character.

Mr. Ramsay's fifth cause of the infidelity of the present times, is the progress of wealth, manufactures, and commerce. We shall extract a portion of the argument on each of these points.

Of the effects of Wealth he remarks:

"Although riches, when properly employed, are the means of extensive good, yet, in the present imperfect state of our nature, they are extremely apt to be abused. They are apt to withdraw our affections from God, and to produce an overweening attachment to the gratifications of the present life. Hence our Lord speaks of it as a very difficult thing for a rich man to be truly religious. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. When riches increase, they generally produce a desire for more, and this desire is strengthened by gratification, till the love of money becomes the root of all evil. They introduce luxuries and pleasures, and all those things which estrange us from God, and

which create a dislike to spiritual objects; and this again introduces backsliding, apostacy, and all manner of has been found, that corruption has in evil. In the history of all nations, it some measure kept pace with the progress of wealth." Inquiry, p. 25.

The effects of Manufacturing Habits in a country are next mentioned as follow:

"By the improvement of machinery, our manufactures have attained a high degree of perfection. What in former times was slowly and imperfectly performed by individual labour, is now better and more speedily executed by the operation of machines. These machines, however, require vast multitudes of persons to carry on the work connected with them; in consequence of which, both young and old, all who can be of any use, are collected together in shops and work-houses. The good and

the bad are there mixed, and remain shut up together; the intercourse of the bad contaminates the manners of the

good; the desire of luxuries, both in diet and in dress, increases with the means of obtaining them: children are taken early from school, when perhaps they were too late in being sent there, for the purpose of making gain, and freeing their parents from the burden of their support; their parents, wholly occupied with the care of procuring those gratifications which custom has rendered in some degree necessary to them, neglect the education of their children, and allow them to grow up in ignorance, sensuality, and vice. Profaning the Sabbath themselves, by doing that which is in itself sinful, they are at no pains to teach their children to sanctify it. Their children, destitute of religious culture, dislike and neglect the ordinances of Divine appointment, and of course can entertain no respect or esteem for those who dispense and support them. The enemy takes advantage of these circumstances, and sows tares in a field peculiarly adapted for bringing forth a crop of the rankest vegetation. From neglect, and a dislike to Divine institutions, they insensibly them; till at last they join the opponents come to speak against and reproach champions of infidelity." Inquiry, pp. of religion, and stand forth the open 26, 27.

The head of Commerce branches into several particulars; the more

important of which, in his view, is the connexion of Great Britain with the East Indies: he might have added, with much more truth, with the West Indies. The author thus

states his conviction :

"With regard to our Eastern possessions, it is certain that many who have resided a number of years in India, and afterwards returned to this country, have brought with them a decided hostility to the progress of the Gospel among heathen nations, and to many of those observances which, being enjoined by the word of God, are peculiarly adapted to check the growth of infidelity, and to promote the increase of piety and godliness. Besides, when so many of our countrymen are scattered over the face of the earth in quest of riches, residing in places where there are no Sabbaths, no religious ordinances, no means of improvement, but every where idolatry, superstition, and wickedness; or shut up in ships amidst a profane and ungodly crew, eager in the pursuit of gain, and negligent of salvation, religious impressions are obliterated, and they diffuse around them, wherever they go, the contagion of a bad example. And in this way they contribute their part to the decline of religion, and to the progress of immo. rality and vice." Inquiry, pp. 28, 29.

We agree, in the main, in all these three with our author, though not without some necessary reservations. Our decreasing limits, however, forbid our entering upon individual points: we shall therefore pass on to the sixth cause; namely, Vanity and Self-conceit. At the first mention of this prolific head, we were somewhat surprised that the author should have viewed vanity and self-conceit as being so peculiarly characteristic of any particular age as to merit a distinct enumeration in the present summary; but upon perusing his argument, we think he has successfully shewn that the circumstances of the present day are such as give more than ordinary scope for the operation of these principles. He remarks:

"Knowledge is now placed within the reach of the lowest orders of the

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people. The sources of information are scattered abroad in such profusion, as to be accessible to the poor as well as to the rich. And the two subjects to which their attention is almost exclusively directed, are religion and politics. Every public measure, negocia tion, or appointment, is discussed in parliament, and circulated in the ordinary vehicles of communication. The people join together in procuring newspapers and periodical publications; they meet and discuss all public measures, whether civil or ecclesiastical;" they feel their own weight in the political scale, and, in their own little spheres, become so accustomed to speak, to criticise, and to judge, that they acquire an overweening confidence in their own talents and consequence. It is a remark of one of our most celebrated poets, that a little learning is a dangerous thing; and certainly, when not accompanied with judgment and modesty, no talent is more liable to be abused. The labouring classes cannot enter fully into the investigation of any difficult or disputed subject: they have neither time nor opportunities for doing so. On which account they are the more dis. posed to entertain high notions of their. own acquirements. Puffed up with self-conceit, they think themselves competent to decide upon the most abstruse and intricate subjects, and deliver their opinions with as much confidence, as if they had devoted their life to such speculations.

"This spirit, when applied to poli tics, produces discontent and opposi tion to those who are intrusted with the management of public affairs. It leads to insurrection, tumult, and disorder, and all the evils that accompany them. When applied to religion, it rejects with scorn and neglect whatever seems what it cannot comprehend, and treats inconsistent and improper. And as the Bible may by sophistry be made to appear full of inconsistencies and absurdities to those who have only a superficial acquaintance with it, and who, from a pride of understanding, presume to measure the doctrines of inspiration by their own notions and sentiments, it is set aside by a great proportion of the

reformers of the present day. It strikes

at the root of those exalted notions which they entertain of themselves. It casts down every lofty imagination, every sentiment that rises in opposition to Divine truth." Inquiry, pp. 31, 32.

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