Essays on Education in a Republic

Source

Source: Benjamin Rush, Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical (Philadelphia: Thomas and Samuel F. Bradford, 1798), keyboarded by the Text Creation Partnership (Evans Early American Imprint Collection, N25938; CC0) Source URL: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/N25938.0001.001 Public domain basis: Public-domain essays published 1786-1798. Selection: the first six education essays of the 1798 collection (A Plan for Establishing Public Schools in Pennsylvania; Of the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic; Observations upon the Study of the Latin and Greek Languages, with the letter of James Muir and Rush's answer; Thoughts upon the Amusements and Punishments Proper for Schools; Thoughts upon Female Education; A Defence of the Use of the Bible as a School Book). Long s is modernized to s; Rush's footnotes are omitted.

A Plan for Establishing Public Schools in Pennsylvania (1786)

A PLAN FOR ESTABLISHING PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN PENNSYLVANIA, AND FOR CONDUCTING EDUCATION AGREEABLY TO A REPUBLICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT. ADDRESSED TO THE LEGISLATURE AND CITIZENS OF PENNSYLVANIA, IN THE YEAR 1786.

BEFORE I proceed to the subject of this essay, I shall point out, in a few words, the influence and advantages of learning upon mankind.

I. It is friendly to religion, inasmuch as it assists in removing prejudice, superstition and enthusiasm, in promoting just notions of the Deity, and in enlarging our knowledge of his works.

II. It is favourable to liberty. Freedom can exist only in the society of knowledge. Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights, and where learning is confined to a few people, liberty can be neither equal nor universal.

III. It promotes just ideas of laws and government. "When the clouds of ignorance are dispelled (says the Marquis of Beccaria) by the radiance of knowledge, power trembles, but the authority of laws remains immoveable."

IV. It is friendly to manners. Learning in all countries, promotes civilization, and the pleasures of society and conversation.

V. It promotes agriculture, the great basis of national wealth and happiness. Agriculture is as much a science as hydraulics, or optics, and has been equally indebted to the experiments and researches of learned men. The highly cultivated state, and the immense profits of the farms in England, are derived wholly from the patronage which agriculture has received in that country, from learned men and learned societies.

VI. Manufactures of all kinds owe their perfection chiefly to learning—hence the nations of Europe advance in manufactures, knowledge, and commerce, only in proportion as they cultivate the arts and sciences.

For the purpose of diffusing knowledge through every part of the state, I beg leave to propose the following simple plan.

I. Let there be one university in the state, and let this be established in the capital. Let law, physic, divinity, the law of nature and nations, oeconomy, &c. be taught in it by public lectures in the winter season,

after the manner of the European universities, and let the professors receive such salaries from the state as will enable them to deliver their lectures at a moderate price.

II. Let there be four colleges. One in Philadelphia; one at Carlisle; a third, for the benefit of our German fellow citizens, at Lancaster; and a fourth, some years hence at Pittsburg. In these colleges, let young men be instructed in mathematics and in the higher branches of science, in the same manner that they are now taught in our American colleges. After they have received a testimonial from one of these colleges, let them, if they can afford it, complete their studies by spending a season or two in attending the lectures in the university. I prefer four colleges in the state to one or two, for there is a certain size of colleges as there is of towns and armies, that is most favourable to morals and good government. Oxford and Cambridge in England are the seats of dissipation, while the more numerous, and less crouded universities and colleges in Scotland, are remarkable for the order, diligence, and decent behaviour of their students.

III. Let there be free schools established in every township, or in districts consisting of one hundred families. In these schools let children be taught to read and write the English and German languages, and the use of figures. Such of them as have parents that can afford to send them from home, and are disposed to extend their educations, may remove their children from the free school to one of the colleges.

By this plan the whole state will be tied together by one system of education. The university will in time furnish masters for the colleges, and the colleges will furnish masters for the free schools, while the free schools, in their turns, will supply the colleges and the university with scholars, students and pupils. The same systems of grammar, oratory and philosophy, will be taught in every part of the state, and the literary features of Pennsylvania will thus designate one great, and equally enlightened family.

But, how shall we bear the expense of these literary institutions?—I answer—These institutions will lessen our taxes. They will enlighten us in the great business of finance—they will teach us to encrease the ability of the state to support government, by encreasing the profits of agriculture, and by promoting manufactures. They will teach us all the modern improvements and advantages of inland navigation. They will defend us from hasty and expensive experiment in government, by unfolding to us the experience and folly of past ages, and thus, instead of adding to our taxes and debts, they will furnish us with the true secret of lessening and discharging both of them.

But, shall the estates of orphans, batchelors and persons who have no children, be taxed to pay for the support of schools from which they can derive no benefit ? I answer in the affirmative, to the first

part of the objection, and I deny the truth of the latter part of it. Every member of the community is interested in the propagation of virtue and knowledge in the state. But I will go further, and add, it will be true oeconomy in individuals to support public schools. The batchelor will in time save his tax for this purpose, by being able to sleep with fewer bolts and locks to his doors—the estates of orphans will in time be benefited, by being protected from the ravages of unprincipled and idle boys, and the children of wealthy parents will be less tempted, by bad company, to extravagance. Fewer pillories and whipping posts, and smaller goals, with their usual expenses and taxes, will be necessary when our youth are properly educated, than at present; I believe it could be proved, that the expenes of confining, trying and executing criminals, amount every year, in most of the counties, to more money than would be sufficient to maintain all the schools that would be necessary in each county. The confessions of these criminals generally show us, that their vices and punishments are the fatal consequences of the want of a proper education in early life.

I submit these detached hints to the consideration of the legislature and of the citizens of Pensylvania. The plan for the free schools is taken chiefly from the plans which have long been used with success in

Scotland, and in the eastern states of America, where the influence of learning, in promoting religion, morals, manners, and good government, has never been exceeded in any country.

The manner in which these schools should be supported and governed—the modes of determining the characters and qualifications of schoolmasters, and the arrangement of families in each district, so that children of the same religious sect and nation, may be educa- as much as possible together, will form a proper part of a law for the establishment of schools, and therefore does not come within the limits of this plan.

Of the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic

THE business of education has acquired a new complexion by the independence of our country. The form of government we have assumed, has created a new class of duties to every American. It becomes us, therefore, to examine our former habits upon this subject, and in laying the

foundations for nurseries of wise and good men, to adapt our modes of teaching to the peculiar form of our government.

The first remark that I shall make upon this subject is, that an education in our own, is to be preferred to an education in a foreign country. The principle of patriotism stands in need of the reinforcement of prejudice. and it is well known that our strongest prejudices in favour of our country are formed in the first one and twenty years of our lives. The policy of the Lacedemonians is well worthy of our imitation. When Antipater demanded fifty of their children as hostages for the fulfillment of a distant engagement, those wise republicans refused to comply with his demand, but readily offered him double the number of their adult citizens, whose habits and prejudices could not be shaken by residing in a foreign country. Passing by, in this place, the advantages to the community from the early attachment of youth to the laws and constitution of their country, I shall only remark, that young men who have trodden the paths of science together, or have joined in the same sports, whether of swimming, scating, fishing, or hunting, generally feel, thro' life, such ties to each other, as add greatly to the obligations of mutual benevolence.

I conceive the education of our youth in this country to be peculiarly necessary in Pennsylvania, while our citizens are composed of the natives of so many different kingdoms in Europe. Our schools of learning,

by producing one general, and uniform system of education, will render the mass of the people more homogeneous, and thereby fit them more easily for uniform and peaceable government.

I proceed in the next place, to enquire, what mode of education we shall adopt so as to secure to the state all the advantages that are to be derived from the proper instruction of youth; and here I beg leave to remark, that the only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.

Such is my veneration for every religion that reveals the attributes of the Deity, or a future state of rewards and punishments, that I had rather see the opinions of Confucius or Mahomed inculcated upon our youth, than see them grow up wholly devoid of a system of religious principles. But the religion I mean to recommend is this place, is that of the New Testament.

It is foreign to my purpose to hint at the arguments which establish the truth of the Christian revelation. My only business is to declare, that all its doctrines and precepts are calculated to promote the happiness of society, and the safety and well being of civil government. A Christian cannot fail of being a republican. The history of the creation of man, and of the relation

of our species to each other by birth, which is recorded in the Old Testament, is the best refutation that can be given to the divine right of kings, and the strongest argument that can be used in favor of the original and natural equality of all mankind. A Christian, I say again, cannot fail of being a republican, for every precept of the Gospel inculcates those degrees of humility, self-denial, and brotherly kindness, which are directly opposed to the pride of monarchy and the pageantry of a court. A Christian cannot fail of being useful to the republic, for his religion teacheth him, that no man "liveth to himself." And lastly, a Christian cannot fail of being wholly inoffensive, for his religion teacheth him, in all things to do to others what he would wish, in like circumstances, they should do to him.

I am aware that I dissent from one of those paradoxical opinions with which modern times abound; and that it is improper to fill the minds of youth with religious prejudices of any kind, and that they should be left to choose their own principles, after they have arrived at an age in which they are capable of judging for themselves. Could we preserve the mind in childhood and youth a perfect blank, this plan of education would have more to recommend it; but this we know to be impossible. The human mind runs as naturally into principles as it does after facts. It submits with difficulty to those restraints or partial

discoveries which are imposed upon it in the infancy of reason. Hence the impatience of children to be informed upon all subjects that relate to the invisible world. But I beg leave to ask, why should we pursue a different plan of education with respect to religion, from that which we pursue in teaching the arts and sciences? Do we leave our youth to acquire systems of geography, philosophy, or politics, till they have arrived at an age in which they are capable of judging for themselves? We do not. I claim no more then for religion, than for the other sciences, and I add further, that if our youth are disposed after they are of age to think for themselves, a knowledge of one system, will be the best means of conducting them in a free enquiry into other systems of religion, just as an acquaintance with one system of philosophy is the best introduction to the study of all the other systems in the world.

Next to the duty which young men owe to their Creator, I wish to see a regard to their country, inculcated upon them. When the Duke of Sully became prime minister to Henry the IVth of France, the first thing he did, he tells us, Was to subdue and forget his own heart. The same duty is incumbent upon every citizen of a republic. Our country includes family, friends and property, and should be preferred to them all. Let our pupil be taught that he does not belong to himself, but that he is public property. Let him be taught to love his family, but let him be

taught, at the same time, that he must forsake, and even forget them, when the welfare of his country requires it. He must watch for the state, as if its liberties depended upon his vigilance alone, but he must do this in such a manner as not to defraud his creditors, or neglect his family. He must love private life, but he must decline no station, however public or responsible it may be, when called to it by the suffrages of his fellow citizens. He must love popularity, but he must despise it when set in competition with the dictates of his judgement, or the real interest of his country. He must love character, and have a due sense of injuries, but he must be taught to appeal only to the laws of the state, to defend the one, and punish the other. He must love family honour, but he must be taught that neither the rank nor antiquity of his ancestors, can command respect, without personal merit. He must avoid neutrality in all questions that divide the state, but he must shun the rage, and acrimony of party spirit. He must be taught to love his fellow creatures in every part of the world, but he must cherish with a more intense and peculiar affection, the citizens of Pennsylvania and of the United States. I do not wish to see our youth educated with a single prejudice against any nation or country; but we impose a task upon human nature, repugnant alike to reason, revelation and the ordinary dimensions of the human heart, when we require him to embrace, with equal affection, the whole family of mankind. He must be taught to amass

wealth, but it must be only to encrease his power of contributing to the wants and demands of the state. He must be indulged occasionally in amusements, but he must be taught that study and business should be his principal pursuits in life. Above all he must love life, and endeavour to acquire as many of its conveniences as possible by industry and economy, but he must be taught that this life "is not his own," when the safety of his country requires it. These are practicable lessons, and the history of the commonwealths of Greece and Rome show, that human nature, without the aids of Christianity, has attained these degrees of perfection.

While we inculcate these republican duties upon our pupil, we must not neglect, at the same time, to inspire him with republican principles. He must be taught that there can be no durable liberty but in a republic, and that government, like all other sciences, is of a progressive nature. The chains which have bound this science in Europe are happily unloosed in America. Here it is open to investigation and improvement. While philosophy has protected us by its discoveries from a thousand natural evils, government has unhappily followed with an unequal pace. It would be to dishonour human genius, only to name the many defects which still exist in the best systems of legislation. We daily see matter of a perishable nature rendered durable by certain chemical operations. In like manner, I conceive, that it is possible to combine power in

such a way as not only to encrease the happiness, but to promote the duration of republican forms of government far beyond the terms limited for them by history, or the common opinions of mankind.

To assist in rendering religious, moral and political instruction more effectual upon the minds of our youth, it will be necessary to subject their bodies to physical discipline. To obviate the inconveniences of their studious and sedentary mode of life, they should live upon a temperate diet, consisting chiefly of broths, milk and vegetables. The black broth of Sparta, and the barley broth of Scotland, have been alike celebrated for their beneficial effects upon the minds of young people. They should avoid tasting Spirituous liquors. They should also be accustomed occasionally to work with their hands, in the intervals of Study, and in the busy seasons of the year in the country. Moderate sleep, silence, occasional solitude and cleanliness, should be inculcated upon them, and the utmost advantage should be taken of a proper direction of those great principles in human conduct,—sensibility, habit, imitations and association.

The influence of these physical causes will be powerful upon the intellects, as well as upon the principles and morals of young people.

To those who have studied human nature, it will not appear paradoxical to recommend, in this essay, a particular attention to vocal music. Its mechanical

effects in civilizing the mind, and thereby preparing it for the influence of religion and government, have been so often felt and recorded, that it will be unnecessary to mention facts in favour of its usefulness, in order to excite a proper attention to it.

I cannot help bearing a testimony, in this place, against the custom, which prevails in some parts of America, (but which is daily falling into disuse in Europe) of crouding boys together under one roof for the purpose of education. The practice is the gloomy remains of monkish ignorance, and is as unfavorable to the improvements of the mind in useful learning, as monasteries are to the spirit of religion. I grant this mode of secluding boys from the intercourse of private families, has a tendency to make them scholars, but our business is to make them men, citizens and christians. The vices of young people are generally learned from each other. The vices of adults seldom infect them. By separating them from each other, therefore, in their hours of relaxation from study, we secure their morals from a principal source of corruption, while we improve their manners, by subjecting them to those restraints which the difference of age and sex, naturally produce in private families.

From the observations that have been made it is plain, that I consider it is possible to convert men into republican machines. This must be done, if we expect them to perform their parts properly, in the great machine

of the government of the state. That republic is sophisticated with monarchy or aristrocracy that does not revolve upon the wills of the people, and these must be fitted to each other by means of education before they can be made to produce regularity and unison in government.

Having pointed out those general principles, which should be inculcated alike in all the schools of the state, I proceed now to make a few remarks upon the method of conducting, what is commonly called, a liberal or learned education in a republic.

I shall begin this part of my subject, by bearing a testimony against the common practice of attempting to teach boys the learned languages, and the arts and sciences too early in life. The first twelve years of life are barely sufficient to instruct a boy in reading, writing and arithmetic. With these, he may be taught those modern languages which are necessary for him to speak. The state of the memory, in early life, is favorable to the acquisition of languages, especially when they are conveyed to the mind, through the ear. It is, moreover, in early life only, that the organs of speech yield in such a manner as to favour the just pronounciation of foreign languages.

Too much pains cannot be taken to teach our youth to read and write our American language with propriety and elegance. The study of the Greek language constituted a material part of the literature

of the Athenians, hence the sublimity, purity and immortality of so many of their writings. The advantages of a perfect knowledge of our language to young men intended for the professions of law, physic, or divinity are too obvious to be mentioned, but in a state which boasts of the first commercial city in America, I wish to see it cultivated by young men, who are intended for the compting house, for many such, I hope, will be educated in our colleges. The time is past when an academical education was thought to be unnecessary to qualify a young man for merchandize. I conceive no profession is capable of receiving more embellishments from it. The French and German languages should likewise be carefully taught in all our Colleges. They abound with useful books upon all subjects. So important and necessary are those languages, that a degree should never be conferred upon a young man who cannot speak or translate them.

Connected with the study of languages is the study of Eloquence. It is well known how great a part it constituted of the Roman education. It is the first accomplishment in a republic, and often sets the whole machine of government in motion. Let our youth, therefore, be instructed in this art. We do not extol it too highly when we attribute as much to the power of eloquence as to the sword, in bringing about the American revolution.

With the usual arts and sciences that are taught in our American colleges, I wish to see a regular course of lectures given upon History and Chronology. The science of government, whether it related to constitutions or laws, can only be advanced by a careful selection of facts, and these are to be found chiefly in history. Above all, let our youth be instructed in the history of the ancient republics, and the progress of liberty and tyranny in the different states of Europe. I wish likewise to see the numerous facts that relate to the origin and present state of commerce, together with the nature and principles of Money, reduced to such a system, as to be intelligible and agreeable to a young man. If we consider the commerce of our metropolis only as the avenue of the wealth of the state, the study of it merits a place in a young man's education; but, I consider commerce in a much higher light when I recommend the study of it in republican seminaries. I view it as the best security against the influence of hereditary monopolies of land, and, therefore, the surest protection against aristocracy. I consider its effects as next to those of religion in humanizing mankind, and lastly, I view it as the means of uniting the different nations of the world together by the ties of mutual wants and obligations.

Chemistry by unfolding to us the effects of heat and mixture, enlarges our acquaintance with the wonders of nature and the mysteries of art; hence

it has become, in most of the universities of Europe, a necessary branch of a gentleman's education. In a young country, where improvements in agriculture and manufactures are so much to be desired, the cultivation of this science, which explains the principles of both of them, should be considered as an object of the utmost importance.

Again, let your youth be instructed in all the means of promoting national prosperity and independence, whether they relate to improvements in agriculture, manufactures, or inland navigation. Let him be instructed further in the general principles of legislation, whether they relate to revenue, or to the preservation of life, liberty or property. Let him be directed frequently to attend the courts of justice, where he will have the best opportunities of acquairing habits of comparing, and arranging his ideas by observing the discovery of truth, in the examination of witnesses, and where he will hear the laws of the state explained, with all the advantages of that species of eloquence which belongs to the bar. Of so much importance do I conceive it to be, to a young man, to attend occasionally to the decisions of our courts of law, that I wish to see our colleges established, only in county towns.

But further, considering the nature of our connection with the United States, it will be necessary to make our pupil acquainted with all the prerogatives

of the national government. He must be instructed in the nature and variety of treaties. He must know the difference in the powers and duties of the several species of ambassadors. He must be taught wherein the obligations of individuals and of states are the same, and wherein they differ. In short, he must accquire a general knowledge of all those laws and forms, which unite the sovereigns of the earth, or separate them from each other.

I beg pardon for having delayed so long to say any thing of the separate and peculiar mode of education proper for women in a republic. I am sensible that they must concur in all our plans of of education for young men, or no laws will ever render them effectual. To qualify our women for this purpose, they should not only be instructed in the usual branches of female education, but they should be taught the principles of liberty and government; and the obligations of patriotism should be inculcated upon them. The opinions and conduct of men are often regulated by the women in the most arduous enterprizes of life; and their approbation is frequently the principal reward of the hero's dangers, and the patriot's toils. Besides, the first impressions upon the minds of children are generaly derived from the women. Of how much consequence, therefore, is it in a republic, that they should think justly upon the great subjects of liberty and government!

The complaints that have been made against religion, liberty and learning, have been, against each of them in a separate state. Perhaps like certain liquors, they should only be used in a state of mixture. They mutually assist in correcting the abuses, and in improving the good effects of each other. From the combined and reciprocal influence of religion, liberty and learning upon the morals, manners and knowledge of individuals, of these, upon government, and of government, upon individuals, it is impossible to measure the degrees of happiness and perfection to which mankind may be raised. For my part, I can form no ideas of the golden age, so much celebrated by the poets, more delightful, than the contemplation of that happiness which it is now in the power of the legislature of Pennsylvania to confer upon her citizens, by establishing proper modes and places of education in every part of the state▪

Observations upon the Study of the Latin and Greek Languages

OBSERVATIONS UPON THE STUDY OF THE LATIN AND GREEK LANGUAGES, AS A BRANCH OF LIBERAL EDUCATION, WITH HINTS OF A PLAN OF LIBERAL INSTRUCTION, WITHOUT THEM, ACCOMMODATED TO THE PRESENT STATE OF SOCIETY, MANNERS, AND GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES.

IT requires the recollection of escapes from a lion and a bear, to encounter the strong and universal prejudice, in favor of the Latin and Greek languages, as a necessary branch of liberal education. If, in combating this formidable enemy of human reason, I should be less succesful than the Hebrew stripling was in contending with the giant of the Philistines, I hope it will be ascribed wholly to the want of skill to direct arguments, which, in other hands, would lay this tyrant in the dust.

I shall attempt to discuss this question, by first delivering a few general propositions. I shall afterwards apply these propositions, and answer such arguments as are usually urged in favor of the Latin and Greek languages as necessary parts of an academic education.

I. The great design of a liberal education is, to prepare youth for usefulness here, and for happiness hereafter.

II. The proper time for acquiring the necessary branches of knowledge for these important purposes, is in the first eighteen years of life.

III. From four to five years are usually spent in acquiring a competent knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages.

IV. The knowledge of things always preceeds the knowledge of words. Children discover the truth of this observation every day. They know all the objects around them, long before they are able to call them by their proper names, or even to articulate sounds of any kind. It is supposed that children acquire more ideas of things in the first three years of their lives, than they acquire in any thirty years afterwards.

V. The acquisition of words lessens the ability of the mind to acquire ideas. That understanding must have uncommon strength, which does not contract an oblique direction by being employed four or five years in learning the Latin or Greek languages.

VI. The difficulty of acquiring those dead languages, and the little pleasure which accompanies the knowledge of them in early life, occasion the principal obstacles to teaching, in masters, and learning, in scholars.

The famous Busby is said to have died of "bad Latin;" that is, the ungrammatical versions of his scholars broke his heart. How few boys relish Latin and Greek lessons! The pleasure they sometimes discover in learning them, is derived either from the tales they read, or from a competition, which awakens a love of honour, and which might be displayed upon a hundred more useful subjects; or it may arise from a desire of gaining the good will of their masters or parents. Where these incentives are wanting, how bitter does the study of languages render that innocent period of life, which seems exclusively intended for happiness! "I wish I had never been born," said a boy of eleven years old, to his mother: "why, my son?" said his mother. "Because I am born into a world of trouble." What trouble, said his mother smiling, have you known, my son? —"Trouble enough, mamma," said he, "two Latin lessons to get, every day." This boy was not deficient in genius nor in application to books. He often amused himself in reading natural and ancient history, was inquisitive after knowledge of every kind, and was never heard to ask a foolish or impertinent question.

VII. Many sprightly boys of excellent capacities for useful knowledge, have been so disgusted with the dead languages, as to retreat from the drudgery of schools, to low company, whereby they have become bad members

of society, and entailed misery upon all who have been connected with them.

VIII. The Latin and Greek languages are the first tests of genius in schools. Where boys discover a want of capacity for them, they are generally taken from school, or remain there the butts of their companions. Dr. Swift early discovered a want of taste for the dead languages. It would be unjust to mention this fact, without ascribing it to the voice of reason and nature speaking in this great man. He had no relish for the husks of literature. Truth and knowledge were alone commensurate to the dignity and extent of his mind.

IX. The study of some of the Latin and Greek classics is unfavourable to morals and religion. Indelicate amours, and shocking vices both of gods and men, fill many parts of them. Hence an early and dangerous acquaintance with vice; and hence, from an association of ideas, a diminshed respect for the unity and perfections of the true God. Those classics which are free from this censure, contain little else but the histories of murders, perpetrated by kings, and related in such a manner as to excite pleasure and admiration. Hence the universal preference of the military character to all others.—To the same cause we may ascribe the early passion for a cockade in school boys; and the the frequent adoption of the principles and vices of

armies, by young men who are destined for other professions.

X. The study of the Latin and Greek languages is improper in the present state of society and government in United States. While Greek and Latin are the only avenues to science, education will always be confined to a few people. It is only by rendering knowledge universal, that a republican form of government can be preserved in our country.

I shall hereafter mention other reasons why the study of these languages is improper in a peculiar manner in the United States.

XI. The cultivation of the Latin and Greek languages is a great obstacle to the cultivation and perfection of the English language.

XII. It is likewise one of the greatest obstructions that has ever been thrown in the way of propagating useful knowledge.

On each of these two last propositions I shall treat more fully in another place.

I proceed now to consider the principle arguments that have been urged in favour of the Latin and Greek languages, as necessary parts of a liberal education.

1. A knowledge of the Latin or Greek grammar, it has been said, is necessary for our becoming acquainted with English grammar. There was a time when the authority of a great name imposed this opinion upon me, and even led me publicly to adopt it, but I am now satisfied that it is wholly destitute of truth. I have known many bachelors and masters of arts, who were incorrect English scholars, and many persons of both sexes, ignorant of the dead languages, who both wrote and spoke English, agreeably to the strictest rules of modern grammar. Indeed I cannot help ascribing the late improvements in the English language chiefly to the neglect of the Latin and Greek lanquages. The Greek is supposed to be the most perfect language both in its construction and harmony, that has ever been spoken by mortals. Now this language was not learned through the medium of any other. Hence it was acquired and spoken with equal propriety by all ranks of people, and not less by an apple woman, than by the celebrated orators of Greece. In that highly favoured nursery of human genius, the avenues to knowledge were not obstructed by two or three dead, or even foreign languages; nor was the precious season of youth, when memory is most faithful, and curiosity most active, mis spent in learning words. Hence the fame of ancient Greece in arts and sciences, and hence the sublimity of the orations of Demosthenes, and of the poems of Homer. There was nothing in the composition

of the blood, or in the structure of the nerves of the ancient Greeks, which gave them a pre-eminence over the rest of mankind. It arose entirely from their being too wise to waste the important years of education in learning to call substances, by two or three different names, instead of studying their qualities and uses. The construction of the English, differs materially from that of the Latin and Greek languages; and the attempt to accommodate it to the Greek and Roman grammars has checked its improvement in many instances. I hope to prove hereafter, that a knowledge of grammar, like a knowledge of pronunciation, should be learned only by the ear in early life. The practice of teaching boys English grammar, through the medium of a dead language, is as absurd, as it would be for a parent to force his child to chew pebbles or mahogany, in order to prepare its gums or teeth to masticate bread and meat.

2. We are told that the Roman and Greek authors are the only perfect models of taste and eloquence, and that it is necessary to study them, in order to acquire their taste and spirit. Strange language indeed! what! did nature exhaust herself in Greece and Rome? Are the ancients the only repositories of the great principles of taste and genius? I reject the supposition; and will venture to assert, in opposition to it, that we shall never equal the sublime and original authors of antiquity until we cease to study them.

Nature is always the same. Let us yield to her inspiration alone, and avail ourselves of allusions to the many discoveries which have lately been made in her works. Shakespeare owes his fame, as a sublime and original poet, to his having never read (as is generally believed) a Latin or Greek author. Hence he spoke from nature, or rather, nature spoke thro' him. But it should be remembered that art, as well as nature feeds the flame of genius. By neglecting the ancients, we may borrow imagery from the many useful and well known arts which have been the inventions of modern ages, and thereby surpass the antients in the variety and effect of our compositions. It is to this passion for ancient writers that we are to ascribe the great want of originality, that marks too many of the poems of modern times. A judicious critic has observed, that the descriptions of Spring, which are published every year in England, apply chiefly to the climates of Greece and the neighbourhood of Rome. This is the natural effect of a servile attachment to the ancient poets. It insensibly checks invention and leads to imitation. The pleasure with which the poems of the shoemaker, the milk-maid, and the Ayreshire ploughman, have been read by all classes of people, proves that an acquaintance with the Greek or Roman poets, is not necessary to inspire just ideas, or to produce harmony in poetry. Dr. Swift, as an author, owes nothing to the ancients. He has attained to what Pope calls the "majesty" and what Lord Shaftesbury calls the "divineness" of simplicity

in writing. All his compositions, exemplify his own perfect definition of style. They consist of "proper words in their proper places." I have heard of a learned gentlemen in Scotland, who, when any of his friends proposed to introduce a stranger to him, asked only, as a proof of his taste for composition, whether he admired Dr. Young's Night Thoughts? Were I to receive a visitor upon similar terms, my only question should be, does he admire the style of Dr. Swift?

Under this head I shall only add, that the most intimate acquaintance with the Roman and Greek writers will not produce perfection of style in men who are devoid of taste and genius. Hence we sometimes find the most celebrated teachers of the Latin and Greek languages extremely deficient in English composition. I acknowledge that Milton, Addison, Hume, Middleton and Bolingbroke, whose styles have been so much admired, were all Latin and Greek scholars. But in these authors, a native strength of genius, and taste preserved their writings from the affectation and obscurity which are imparted to English compositions, by an adherence to the grammars and arrangement of the Latin and Greek languages.

3. It has been said that we cannot know the use or meaning of those numerous English words which are derived from the Latin and Greek, without a knowledge of those languages. To this I may answer, that

what proves too much, proves nothing at all. The argument that has been mentioned, proves that a knowledge of the Celtic, the Saxon, the German, the French, the Italian and the Dutch, is necessary to enable us to understand the use of many English words; for far the greatest part of them are derived from those languages. But I object further to this argument, that if a knowledge of the derivation of English words from the Greek and Latin languages, should be followed by a strict regard to their original meaning, it would lead us into many mistakes. The derivation of the word "angel" would lead us to contemplate a messenger, instead of a perfect finite intelligence. The derivation of the word "rebellion" would lead us to contemplate a war commenced by a conquered people: instead of a resistance to the just authority of government. Many other instances of similar incongruity might be mentioned between the meaning of certain English words, and their Roman and Greek originals. I conclude therefore that a knowledge of the derivation of words is not necessary to teach us their proper use and meaning. Custom, which is the law and rule of speech, and what is, instead of what should be common, will always govern the use of words. Where custom is unknown, modern English dictionaries will supply its place.

Here I beg leave to repeat that the study of the Greek and Latin languages by the English nation has been one of the greatest obstructions, that ever

has been thrown in the way of the propagation of useful knowledge. By rendering our language unintelligible to the greatest part of the people who hear or read it, it has made it an improper vehicle of instruction. The orations of Demosthenes, we are told, were, like earthquakes in ancient Greece. They moved whole nations. The reason of this is plain. He never used a single word in any of them, but what was alike intelligible to all classes of his hearers. The effect of Indian eloquence upon the councils and wars of the savages in America, depends wholly upon its being perfectly understood and felt by every member of their communities. It has often been remarked that in England no play will succeed without action, while sentiment alone insures the loudest claps of applause, in the theatres of France. The reason of this is obvious. The English language requires action to translate it, to half the common audience of a theatre, whereas the French language, which is uniform and stationary, is understood, and, of course, the sentiment which is conveyed by it, is felt and enjoyed by all who hear it. The writings of Voltaire are quoted by the hairdressers and milliners of Paris, because they are written in the simple language of the country, while many of the most celebrated British authors cannot be understood by common readers, without the help of a dictionary or interpreter. Richardson and Fielding are an exception to this remark. They are alike intelligible and acceptable to the learned and

unlearned, inasmuch as they have conveyed all their ideas in plain, but decent English words. The popularity of the methodist preachers may be ascribed in part to their speaking in a language that is intelligible to the common people. It is true▪ many of them are deficient in education, but this deficiency appears more in an ignorance of the construction of the English language, than in the proper use of English words, and perhaps this may be ascribed chiefly to their extempore mode of preaching. It is happy for some of those churches where the Latin and Greek languages are considered as necessary parts for education in their clergy, that part of the public worship of God is confined to reading the scriptures, and to forms of prayer, both of which are written in English, and are intelligible to every class of hearers. Such congregations are not left to the mercy of their preachers in every part of divine service. A pious woman in London who heard her minister speak of the Deity, by the name of the great Philanthropist, asked when she came home, what heathen god Philanthropist was? There are few sermons composed by Latin and Greek scholars in which there are not many hundred words, that are equally unintelligible to a majority of their hearers. Hence I cannot help thinking that were John the Baptist to appear again in our world, and to send to some of our doctors of divinity, or to many of our young preachers to enquire after the signs of their divine mission, few of them could adopt the answer

of our Saviour and say that to the poor the gospel was "preached." It will require a total ignorance of the Latin and Greek languages, or an uncommon mixture of good sense and piety in a preacher who is acquainted with them, to address an audience in such a manner as to be perfectly understood by the illiterate part of them.

I wish to press the considerations that have been mentioned under this head, home to the feelings of the friends of virtue and religion. It has been demonstrated, that the study of the ancient classics is hurtful to morals. It is equally plain that the corruption of our language by the constant substitution of words of Greek and Latin origin, to those which had become familiar and universal, from long usage, has greatly retarded the progress of knowledge of all kinds, but in a more especial manner, a great proportion of that species of it which is delivered from the pulpit. I appeal to the consciences of ministers of the gospel of all denominations, whether, instead of exposing their their candidates for the ministry, to temptation from that kind of learning which puffeth up, without edifying, it would not be better to direct them to employ the time which is usually mis-pent in acquiring it, in studying the scriptures, and in making themselves masters of the English language? It is impossible to tell what great improvements would be made by these means in moral happiness in the United States.

4. We are told that a knowledge of the Greek and Roman languages, is necessary to enable us to understand the frequent allusions that are made by English writers to the mythology of those ancient nations. To this I answer, that the less we know of this subject, the better; for what is the history of the ancient fables, but an agreeable description of frauds—rapes—and murders, which, while they please the imagination, shock the moral faculty? It is high time to cease from idolizing the idolatry of Greece and Rome. Truth alone is knowledge, and spending time in studying Greek and Roman fictions, is only labouring to be more ignorant. If there is any moral contained in these fictions, it is so much involved in obscurity, as not to be intelligible to a young man at that time of life in which he usually becomes acquainted with them. Happy will it be for the present and future generations, if an ignorance of the Latin and Greek languages, should banish from modern poetry, those disgraceful invocations of heathen gods, which indicate no less a want of genius, than a want of reverence for the true God. I shall only add in this place, that the best writers in the English language seldom borrow allusions from the mythology of the Greek or Roman nations. Richardson and Fielding have passed them by, and hence arises another reason why the works of those authors are so universally intelligible and acceptable to to all classes of readers.

5. It has been said, that the Latin language has become a necessary part of liberal knowledge, inasmuch as the European nations have by common consent made it the vehicle of their discoveries. This argument had some weight while science consisted only learning what was known; but since the enquiries of philosophers have been directed to new objects of observation and experiment, the Latin language has not been able to keep pace with the number and rapidity of their discoveries. Where shall we find Latin words to convey just ideas of the many terms which electricity—chemistry—navigation—and many other sciences have introduced into our modern languages? It is from experience of the insufficiency of the Latin language for this purpose, that most of the modern nations of Europe have been obliged to adopt their own languages, as the vehicles of their discoveries, in science. If this argument had been acknowledged to have weight in Europe, it should, from local circumstances, have no weight in America. Here we have no intercourse with any part of Europe, except her commercial seaports, and in these, all business is transacted in modern languages. America, with respect to the nations of Europe, is like the new planet, with respect to those, whose revolutions have long been described in the solar system. She is placed at too great a distance from most of them, to be within the influence of a reciprocal exchange of the rays of knowledge. Like a certain animal, described by the

naturalists, she must impregnate herself. But while she retains a friendly intercourse with Great Britain, all the valuable discoveries which are published in Latin, in any part of Europe, will be transmitted to her through the medium of English translations.

6. It has been said that a knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages is necessary to the learned professions of law—physic—and divinity. To this I answer, that the most useful books in each of these professions are now translated, or written in English, in consequence of which, knowledge in law—physic— and divinity has been greatly multiplied and extended. I see no use at present for a knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages, for a lawyer, a physician, or a divine, in the United States, except it be to facilitate the remembrance of a few technical terms which may be retained without it. Two of the most celebrated and successful lawyers in the United States, are strangers to the Latin language. An eminent physician, who spent several of the years of his youth in learning this language, has assured me, that he had not more than three times in his life found any advantage from it. Very few physicians, I believe, (professors of medecine only excepted, who are obliged to review Latin theses previously to their publication) retain their knowledge of this language, after they become established in business, and if they do, it is preserved less from necessity, than from vanity, or a desire of reviving, by reading

the classics, the agreeable ideas of the early and innocent part of their lives.

I know that it is commonly believed, that a knowledge of the Greek language, is necessary to enable a divine fully to understand the New Testament. But I object to this opinion, that the most useful and necessary parts of this divine book are intelligible to the lowest capacities in its present English dress: and I believe further, that there have been as many disputes among the critics, about the meaning of words, and about editions and translations of the New Testament, as there have been among unlearned christians about the meaning of its obscure and difficult passages. If a knowledge of the Greek language be necessary to enable a divine to understand the New Testament, it follows, that a critical knowledge of all the dialects in which the different parts of it were originally composed, is equally necessary for the same purpose; and, if necessary to a divine, why not to the common people, for they are equally interested in all the truths of revelation? The difficulties and absurdities into which we are led by this proposition, are too obvious to be mentioned.

We are very apt to forget the age in which we live. In the fifteenth century, all the knowledge of Europe was locked up in a few Greek and Latin manuscripts. In this confined state of knowledge, an acquaintance with the Latin language was thought to be necessary

to civilize the human mind—hence the teachers of it acquired the title of "professors of humanity" in the European universities. But we live in an age in which knowledge has been drawn from its dead repositories, and diffused by the art of printing, in living languages, through every part of the world. Humanity has therefore changed sides. Her gentleness is now altogether in favour of modern literature.

We forget not only the age, but the country likewise in which we live. In Europe many ancient constitutions—laws—treaties—official letters—and even private deeds, are written in Latin—hence the knowledge of it has sometimes been found useful for statesmen and lawyers—but all the constitutions, laws, treaties, public letters, and private deeds of the United States, are written in English; and of course a knowledge of the Latin language is not necessary to understand them. It is therefore as useless in America, as the Spanish great-coat is in the island of Cuba, or the Dutch foot-stove, at the Cape of Good Hope.

We forget further the difference of occupation between the inhabitants of the present, and of the fifteenth century. Formerly public prayers and war were the only business of man: but since agriculture, manufactures and commerce, have afforded such different and profitable employments to mankind, there cannot be greater folly than to learn two languages which are no ways connected with the advancement of any of them.

I once thought health, the greatest blessing in the world, said Mr. Rittenhouse to the author of this essay, but I do not think so now. There is one thing of much greater value, and that is time. This opinion of our excellent American philosopher, is true every where, but in a more especial manner in the United States. Here the opportunities of acquiring knowledge and of advancing private and public interest are so numerous, and the rewards of genius and industry so certain, that not a particle of time should be mis-spent or lost. We occupy a new country. Our principal business should be to explore and apply its resources, all of which press us to enterprize and haste. Under these circumstances, to spend four or five years in learning two dead languages, is to turn our backs upon a gold mine, in order to amuse ourselves in catching butterflies.

It is agreeable to hear of the progress of human reason in the gradual declension of the usual methods of teaching the Latin and Greek languages within the last forty years in Europe. Formerly boys were obliged to commit whole volumes of Latin and Greek poetry to memory, as the only means of learning those languages. Nor was this all; they were obliged to compose Latin verses without the least regard being paid to genius, or taste for poetry. The last act of school tyranny, was to compel boys to read the ancient classics without the help of translations. All these methods of teaching the dead languages are now laid

aside. The next ray of truth that irradiates human reason upon this subject, I hope will teach us to reject the Latin and Greek languages altogether, as branches of a liberal education.

The progress of human reason should likewise be acknowledged in having banished Latin and Greek quotations from sermons, and other religious tracts, which are intended for the common people. Such quotations are to be found only in books of science, addressed to the members of the learned professions, or to persons who are supposed to be acquainted with the Latin and Greek languages.

There are certain follies, like the objects of sight, which cannot be seen when the eye is placed too near them. We are struck with pity and horror in contemplating the folly discovered by our ancestors in their military expeditions to the holy land of Palestine. The generations which are to follow us, will probably view our partiality to the classic ground of Greece and Rome, with similar emotions. We laugh at the credulity of those nations who worshipped apes and crocodiles, without recollecting, that future ages will treat our superstitious veneration for the ancient poets and orators, with the same ridicule. Posterity, in reading the history of the American revolution, will wonder that in a country where so many exploits of wisdom and virtue were performed, the human understanding was fettered by prejudices in favour of the Latin and Greek

languages. But I hope with the history of this folly, some historian will convey to future generations, that many of the most active and useful characters in accomplishing this revolution, were strangers to the formalities of a Latin and Greek education.

It is high time to distinguish between a philosopher, and a scholar, between things and words. He was educated at the college of— said a gentleman to his friend, speaking of a young man who was known to them both. "You mean Sir," replied his friend, he got his learning at the college of—; but as to education, he appears to have received none any where. This young man was an excellent Latin and Greek scholar, but knew nothing of men, or things.

Let it not be supposed from any thing that has been here advanced, that I wish the knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages to be extinct in the world. Far from it. My wish is to see it preserved, like the knowledge of law, or medicine, as a distinct profession. Let the persons, who devote themselves to the study of these languages, be called linguists, or interpreters, and let them be paid for their translations and explanations of Latin and Greek books, and other compositions in those languages. No more confidence will be placed by the public, in the members of this new profession, than is daily placed in lawyers and physicians, in matters of much greater importance; nor will more

credit be given to them, than we are accustomed to give to travellers and historians. There can be no more reason why every man should be capable of translating or judging of a Latin or Greek book, than there can be why every man should be a lawyer or a physician, or why he should be obliged to visit Constantinople or Grand Cairo, in order to become acquainted with the situation of these two great cities. If this method of preserving and applying the dead languages should be adopted, young men will learn them as they do law and physic, by serving an apprenticeship, instead of going to school.

The following advantages would immediately attend the rejection of the Latin and Greek languages as branches of a liberal education.

1. It would improve, and finally perfect the English language, by checking the increase of those superfluous words which are derived from the Latin and Greek languages. What use have we for festivity—celebrity —hilarity—amenity—and a hundred other duplicate words, with which Johnson and Harris have corrupted and weakened our language, and which are unintelligible to three fourths of common English readers? The rejection of the ancient languages, would further banish Latin and Greek words, such as, exit, fecit, excudit, pinxit, acme, finis, bona fide, ipso facto, ad valorem, and a hundred others, equally disgusting, from English compositions. It would moreover preserve

our language from encroachments of French and Italian words, such as eclat—amateur—douceur—en passant —corps—dilettanti—con cuore—piano and many others, all of which impair the uniformity and dignity of the English language.

2. The rejection of the Latin and Greek langauges from our schools, would produce a revolution in science, and in human affairs. That nation which shall first shake off the fetters of those ancient languages, will advance further in knowledge, and in happiness, in twenty years, than any nation in Europe has done, in a hundred.

3. It will have a tendency to destroy the prejudices of the common people against schools and colleges. The common people do not despise scholars, because they know more, but because they know less than themselves. A mere scholar can call a horse, or a cow, by two or three different names, but he frequently knows nothing of the qualities, or uses of those valuable animals.

4. It would be the means of banishing pride from our seminaries of public education. Men are generally most proud of those things that do not contribute to the happiness of themselves, or others. Useful knowledge generally humbles the mind, but learning, like fine clothes, feeds pride, and thereby hardens the human heart.

5. It would greatly encrease the number of students in our colleges, and thereby extend the benefits of education through every part of our country. The excellency of knowledge would then be obvious to every body, because it would be constantly applicable to some of the necessary and useful purposes of life, and particularly to the security and order of wise and just government.

6. It would remove the present immense disparity which subsists between the sexes, in the degrees of their education and knowledge. Perhaps one cause of the misery of many families, as well as communities, may be sought for in the mediocrity of knowledge of the women. They should know more or less, in order to be happy themselves, and to communicate happiness to others. By ceasing to make Latin and Greek a necessary part of a liberal education, we open the doors for every species of improvement to the female part of society:—hence will arise new pleasures in their company,—and hence, too, we may expect a general reformation and refinement, in the generations which are to follow us; for principles and manners in all societies are formed chiefly by the women.

It may be asked here, how shall we employ those years of a boy, that are now usually spent in learning the Latin and Greek languages? I shall endeavour to answer this question by laying down a short plan of a liberal English education. In this undertaking, I shall

strive to forget for a while all the systems of education I have ever seen, and suggest such a one as is founded in the original principles of action in the human mind.

1. Let the first eight years of a boy's time be employed in learning to speak, spell, read and write the English language. For this purpose, let him be committed to the care of a master, who speaks correctly at all times, and let the books he reads, be written in a simple and correct style. During these years, let not an English grammar by any means be put into his hands. It is to most boys, under even twelve years of age, an unintelligible book. As well might we contend, that a boy should be taught the names and number of the humours of the eye, or the muscles of the tongue, in order to learn to see, or to speak, as be taught the English language, by means of grammar. Sancho, in attempting to learn to read, by chewing the four and twenty letters of the alphabet, did not exhibit a greater absurdity, than a boy of seven or eight years old does, in committing grammar rules to memory, in order to understand the English language. Did we wish to describe a ship, so as to have all its parts perfectly and speedily known, would we begin by describing its detached parts in a ship-yard, or a rope-walk? Or would we not first fix every part in its proper place, and then explain the names and uses of these parts, by shewing their subserviency to each other? In like manner, I affirm, that the construction of our language should be learned by a careful attention to the places and uses of the

different parts of speech in agreeable compositions, and not by contemplating them in a disjointed state in an English grammar. But I will add further, that grammar should be taught only by the ear. Pronounciation, which is far more extensive, and difficult, is learned only in this way. To teach concord in the arrangement of words, let the master converse with his pupils as well as hear them read, and let him distinctly mark and correct every deviation from grammatical propriety which they utter. This method of teaching grammar has been tried with success in the families of several gentlemen of my acquaintance. It is both rational, and practicable. It has, moreover, the authority of the wise Greeks to recommend it. Homer, Xenophon, Demosthenes and Longinus, I believe, were all taught to speak, read, and write their native language, without the incumbrance of a Greek grammar. I do not mean by any thing that has been advanced, to insinuate that our pupil should not be instructed in the principles and laws of our language. I have reserved this part of knowledge to a much later period of his youth, at which time he will acquire it almost as soon as Moliere's "Citizen turned Gentleman," learned to distinguish between prose and poetry. He will find that he is in possession of this knowledge, and that the business of his master will be only to give names to things with which he is already acquainted.

Under this head, I shall only add, that the perfection of the ear, as an avenue of knowledge is not sufficiently known. Ideas acquired through that organ, are much more durable, than those acquired by the eyes. We remember much longer what we hear, than what we see; hence, old men recollect voices, long after they forget faces. These facts are capable of great application to the business of education.

Having provided our pupil with a vehicle of knowledge, by teaching him to read and write, our next business should be to furnish him with ideas. Here it will be necessary to remark, that the human mind in early life first comprehends substances. From these it proceeds to actions, from actions to qualities, and from qualities to degrees. Let us therefore in education, follow this order of nature, and begin by instructing our pupil in the knowledge of substances, or things. For this purpose, let us initiate him into the knowledge of the globe on which he exists, by teaching him

2. Natural history. This study is simple and truly delightful. Animals of all kinds are often the subjects of conversation and disputes among boys in their walks and diversions. But this is not all; this study is the foundation of all useful and practical knowledge in agriculture, manufactures and commerce, as well as in philosophy, chemistry, and medecine. By making

natural history the first study of a boy, we imitate the conduct of the first teacher of man. The first lesson that Adam received from his Maker in Paradise, was upon natural history. It is probable that the dominion of our great progenitor over the brute creation, and every other living creature, was founded upon a perfect knowledge of their names and qualities, for God appears in this, as well as in other instances, to have acted by the instrumentality of human reason.—Where a museum is wanting, all that is necessary for a boy to know of animals and fishes—insects —trees and herbs, may be taught by means of prints.

3. Geography, is a simple science, and accommodated to the capacity of a boy under twelve years of age. It may be perfectly understood by means of cards—globes—and maps; for each of these modes of conveying instruction, seizes upon the senses and imagination. The frequent application which a boy is obliged to make of his knowledge in geography, in reading, and conversation, will soon fix it upon his memory, and from the time and manner in which he will acquire it, he will never forget it.

I allow four years to be employed in acquiring these two fundamental branches of knowledge. After our pupil has become tolerably well acquainted with them, he should be instructed in the

4. French and German languages. These will be equally necessary, whether commerce—physic—law or divinity is the pursuit of a young man. They should be acquired only by the ear. Great care should be taken not to permit him to learn these languages before he is twelve years old, otherwise he will contract so much of the French and German accent as will impair the prononciation of his native tongue.

5. Arithmetic, and some of the more simple branches of the mathematics should be acquired between the twelfth and fourteenth years of his life.

6. Between his fourteenth and eighteenth years, he should be instructed in grammar—oratory—criticism—the higher branches of mathematics—philosophy —chemistry—logic—metaphysics—chronology—history—government—the principles of agriculture, and manufactures—and in every thing else that is necessary to qualify him for public usefulness, or private happiness.

7. I know it is common to introduce what is called Moral Philosophy into a system of liberal education. The name of this science is derived from the Pagan schools. The study of it constituted a material part of their learning. Instead of continuing this anti-christian mode of teaching morals, I would propose a course of lectures to be given upon the evidences, doctrines and precepts of the Christian religion. The last part of this

course might be made to include the whole circle of moral duties, and from the connection it would have with the evidences and doctrines of Christanity it would produce an impression upon the understanding which no time or circumstances would ever wear away. It is by neglecting to teach young men the Christian religion as a science, or by the separation of its morals from its principles, that colleges have become in so many instances the nurseries of infidelity.

Letter from James Muir

Extract of a letter from the reverend Mr. James Muir, principal of the academy of Alexandria in Virginia, to the Author, dated July 29, 1791.

I HAVE read with satisfaction, in the Museum, your observations on studying the learned languages. There is little taste for them in this place. In our academy, where there are near ninety students, not above nineteen are poring over Latin and Greek. One of these nineteen was lately addressed by a student of Arithmetic in the following language—Pray, Sir, can you resolve me, by your Latin, this question, If one bushel of corn cost four shillings, what cost fifty bushels?—A demand of this kind from a youth, is to me a proof of the taste of Americans in the present day, who prefer the useful to the ornamental.

Answer to James Muir

ANSWER to the foregoing letter, containing further observations upon the study of the Latin and Greek languages.

DEAR SIR,

IT gave me great pleasure to find, by your polite letter of July 29th, that my opinions, upon the subject of the Latin and Greek languages, have met with your approbation; and that the young gentlemen who compose your academy had discovered so much good sense in preferring useful to useless, or, at best, ornamental literature.

I have read all the replies that have been published to my opinions: and am more confirmed in the truth of them, than ever, by the weakness and fallacy of the objections that have been made to them. The style of some of those replies has established one of my propositions in the most forcible manner. It has demonstrated that a knowledge of the dead languages does not confer taste or elegance in the English language, any more than it does good breeding, or good temper. I except from this remark the candid and ingenious letters published in the Federal Gazette, said to be written by Dr. Stuber, of this city.

To persuade men, that white is black, or black, white, it is necessary sometimes to make them believe that they are grey. The mind requires a resting point, in passing from error to truth, upon many subjects. I shall avail myself of this weakness in human nature, and take the

liberty of suggesting a method of teaching the Latin and Greek languages, which I conceive, will be accommodated to the present state of the prejudices of our countrymen in their favour.

The late Dr. Franklin used to say, that the learning of a dead or foreign language might be divided into ten parts. That it required five only to learn to read it—seven to speak it—and the whole ten to write it. Now, when we consider how seldom we are called upon to speak or write the Latin or Greek languages, suppose we teach our boys only to read them. This will cut off one half the difficulty of learning them, and and enable a boy to acquire as much of both, in two years, as will be necessary for him. He will, moreover, by this plan, be able to read more of the classics than are read at present in our schools. The classics are now read only for the sake of acquiring a knowledge of the construction of the languages in which they are written; but by the plan I have proposed, they would be read for the sake of the matter they contained, and there would be time enough to read each book from its beginning to its end. At present, what boy ever reads all the Aenead of Virgil, or the Iliad of Homer? In short, few boys ever carry with them from school, any thing but a smattering of the classics. They peep into a dozen of them; but are taught to attend to every thing they contain, more than to subjects which are treated of by them.

In the way I have proposed, a boy would be able to translate all the Latin and Greek books he would meet with, and from the perfect knowledge he would acquire of them at school, he would probably retain that knowledge as long as he lived.

To carry this mode of teaching the Latin and Greek languages into effect, it is absolutely necessary that a boy should first be instructed in history and geography. Let him read an account of the rise, progress, and fall of the Greek and Roman nations; and examine, upon maps, the countries they inhabited and conquered, and their languages will soon become interesting to him. The neglect of this natural and easy mode of instruction, is an inversion of all order. The absurdity of it was once happily exposed by a boy of eight years old, who, with a Latin Grammar in his hand, gravely asked his father, who made the Latin language, and what was it made for? Had this boy been previously instructed in the Roman history, he would not have asked such a question. Considering his age, it was as natural, as it was foolish.

There is no play common among children, that strikes me with an idea of half the folly that I am struck with, every time I look into a Latin school, and see thirty or forty little boys pinioned down to benches, and declining nouns, conjugating verbs, or writing Latin versions. I consider the highest attainment in this kind of learning, as nothing more than successful dostards,

but far less useful than those which are exhibited in the usual athletic excercises of school boys.

By adopting the plan I have proposed, a boy will not open a Latin or Greek book, till he is fourteen or fifteen years old; so that the dead languages, instead of being the first, will be the last things he will learn at school. At this age, he will learn them with half the trouble, and understand them much better than he would have done at nine or ten years of age. For though languages are acquired with most ease by the ear under puberty, yet they are acquired most easily by the eye, after that period of life. But there is another advantage in making the Latin and Greek languages the last things that are taught at school. The bent of a young man's inclinations is generally known at fourteen or fifteen, and seldom sooner. Now if he incline to commerce—to a military—or a naval life—or to a mechanical employment, in all of which it is agreed, Latin and Greek are unnecessary, it will be improper to detain him any longer at school, by which means much money will be saved by the parents, and much time saved by the boy, both of which are wasted by the present indiscriminate and preposterous mode of teaching the dead languages.

The idea of the necessity of a knowledge of those languages, as an introduction to the knowledge of the English language, begins to lose ground. It is certainly a very absurd one. We have several English

schools in our city, in which boys and girls of twelve and fourteen years old have been taught to speak and write our native language with great grammatical propriety. Some of these children would disgrace our bachelors and masters of arts, who have spent four or five years in the study of the Latin and Greek languages in our American colleges. It is true, these Latin and Greek scholars, after a while, acquire a knowledge of our language: but it is in the same slow way, in which some men acquire a knowledge of the forms of good breeding. Three months instruction will often impart more of both, than a whole life spent in acquiring them simply by imitation.

Where there is one Latin scholar, who is obliged, in the course of his life, to speak or write a Latin sentence, there are hundreds who are not under that necessity. Why then should we spend years in teaching that which is so rarely required in future life? For some years to come, the reading of the language, may be necessary; but a young man of fourteen or fifteen, may be taught to do this perfectly in one year, without committing a single grammar rule to memory, or without spoiling his hand by writing a single version.

Much more, in my opinion, might be said in favour of teaching our young men to speak the Indian languages of our country, than to speak or write Latin. By their means, they might qualify themselves to become ambassadors to our Indian nations, or introduce

among them a knowledge of the blessings of civilization and religion.

We have lately seen a large portion of power wrested from the hands of kings and priests, and exercised by its lawful owners. Is it not high time to wrest the power over the education of our youth, out of the hands of ignorant or prejudiced schoolmasters, and place it in the hands of men of more knowledge and experience in the affairs of the world? We talk much of our being an enlightened people; but I know not with what reason, while we tolerate a system of education in our schools, which is as disgraceful to the human understanding as the most corrupt tenets or practices of the pagan religion, or of the Turkish government.

With great respect for your character, as well as for your present honourable and useful employment, I am, dear sir,

Your friend and most obedient servant. BENJAMIN RUSH.

Philadelphia,

August 24, 1791.

Thoughts upon the Amusements and Punishments Proper for Schools

THOUGHTS UPON THE AMUSEMENTS AND PUNISHMENTS WHICH ARE PROPER FOR SCHOOLS. ADDRESSED TO GEORGE CLYMER, ESQ.

DEAR SIR,

THE last time I had the pleasure of being in your company, you did me the honour to request my opinion upon the AMUSEMENTS and PUNISHMENTS which are proper for schools The subjects are of a very opposite nature, but I shall endeavour to comply with your wishes, by sending you a few thoughts upon each of them. I am sure you will not reject my opinions because they are contrary to received practices, for I know that you are accustomed to think for yourself, and that every proposition that has for its objects the interests of humanity and your country, will be treated by you with attention and candor.

I shall begin with the subjects of AMUSEMENTS. Montesquieu informs us that the exercises of the last day of the life of Epaminondas, were the same as his amusements in his youth. Herein we have an epitome of the perfection of education. The amusements of Epaminondas were of a military nature; but as the profession of arms is the business of only a small part of mankind, and happily much less

necessary in the United States than in ancient Greece, I would propose that the amusements of our youth, at school, should consist of such exercises as will be most subservient to their future employments in life. These are; 1. agriculture; 2. mechanical occupations; and 3. the business of the learned professions.

I. There is a variety in the employments of agriculture which may readily be suited to the genius, taste, and strength of young people. An experiment has been made of the efficacy of these employments, as amusements, in the Methodist College at Abington, in Maryland; and, I have been informed, with the happiest effects. A large lot is divided between the scholars, and premiums are adjudged to those of them who produce the most vegetables from their grounds, or who keep them in the best order.

II. As the employments of agriculture cannot afford amusement at all seasons of the year, or in cities I would propose, that children should be allured to to seek amusements in such of the mechanical arts as are suited to their strength and capacities. Where is the boy who does not delight in the use of a hammer—a chissel—or a saw? and who has not enjoyed a high degree of pleasure in his youth, in constructing a miniature house? How amusing are the machines which are employed in the manufactory of cloathing of all kinds! and how full of various entertainment

are the mixtures which take place in the chemical arts! each of these might be contrived upon such a scale, as not only to amuse young people, but to afford a profit to their parents or masters. The Moravians, at Bethlehem in our state, have proved that this proposition is not a chimerical one. All the amusements of their children are derived from their performing the subordinate parts of several of the mechanical arts; and a considerable portion of the wealth of that worthy and happy society is the product of the labour of their little hands.—

If, in these amusements, an appeal should be made to that spirit of competition which is so common among young people, it would be the means of producing more pleasure to the children, and more profit to all who are connected with them. The wealth of those manufacturing towns in England, which employ the children of poor people, is a proof of what might be expected from connecting amusement▪ and labour together, in all our schools. The product from the labour obtained in this way, from all the schools in the United States, would amount to a sum which would almost exceed calculation.

III. To train the youth who are intended for the learned professions or for merchandize, to the duties of their future employments, by means of useful amusements, which are related to those employments, will be impracticable; but their amusements may be

derived from cultivating a spot of ground; for where is the lawyer, the physician, the divine, or the merchant, who has not indulged or felt a passion, in some part of his life, for rural improvements?—Indeed I conceive the seeds of knowledge in agriculture will be most productive, when they are planted in the minds of this class of scholars.

I have only to add under this head, that the common amusements of children have no connection with their future occupations. Many of them injure their cloaths, some of them waste their strength, and impair their health, and all of them prove more or less, the means of producing noise, or of exciting angry passions, both of which are calculated to beget vulgar manners. The Methodists have wisely banished every species of play from their college. Even the healthy and pleasurable exercise of swimming, is not permitted to their scholars, except in the presence of one of their masters.

Do not think me too strict if I here exclude gunning from among the amusements of young men. My objections to it are as follow.

1 It hardens the heart, by inflicting unnecessary pain and death upon animals.

2. It is unnecessary in civilized society, where animal food may be obtained from domestic animals, with greater facility.

3. It consumes a great deal of time, and thus creates habits of idleness.

4. It frequently leads young men into low, and bad company.

5. By imposing long abstinence from food, it leads to intemperance in eating, which naturally leads to intemperance in drinking.

6. It exposes to fevers, and accidents. The newspapers are occasionally filled with melancholy accounts of the latter, and every physician must have met with frequent and dangerous instances of the former, in the course of his practice.

I know the early use of a gun is recommended in our country, to teach our young men the use of firearms, and thereby to prepare them for war and battle. But why should we inspire our youth, by such exercises, with hostile ideas towards their fellow creatures?—Let us rather instill into their minds sentiments of universal benevolenee to men of all nations and colours. Wars originate in error and vice. Let us eradicate these, by proper modes of education, and wars will cease to be necessary in our country. The divine author and lover of peace will then suffer no man to do us wrong; yea, he will reprove kings for our sake, saying, touch not my anointed and do my people no harm. Should the nations with whom war is a trade, approach our

coasts, they will retire from us, as Satan did from our Saviour, when he came to assault him; and for the same reason, because they will find nothing in us congenial to their malignant dispositions; for the flames of war can be spread from one nation to another, only by the conducting mediums of vice and error.

I have hinted at the injury which is done to the health of young people by some of their amusements; but there is a practice common in all our schools, which does more harm to their bodies than all the amusements that can be named, and that is, obliging them to sit too long in one place, or crowding too many of them together in one room. By means of the former, the growth and shape of the body have been impaired; and by means of the latter, the seeds of fevers have often been engendered in schools. In the course of my business, I have been called to many hundred children who have been seized with indispositions in school, which evidently arose from the action of morbid effluvia, produced by the confined breath and perspiration of too great a number of children in one room. To obviate these evils, children should be permitted, after they have said their lessons, to amuse themselves in the open air, in some of the useful and agreeable exercises which have been mentioned. Their minds will be strengthened, as well as their bodies relieved by them. To oblige a sprightly boy to sit seven hours in a day, with his

little arms pinioned to his sides, and his neck unnaturally bent towards his book; and for no crime!— what cruelty and folly are manifested, by such an absurd mode of instructing or governing young people!

I come next to say a few words upon the subject of PUNISHMENTS which are proper in schools.

In barbarous ages every thing partook of the complexion of the times. Civil, ecclesiastical, military, and domestic punishments were all of a cruel nature. With the progress of reason and christianity, punishments of all kinds have become less severe. Solitude and labour are now substituted in many countries, with success, in the room of the whipping-post and the gallows.—The innocent infirmities of human nature are no longer proscribed, and punished by the church. Discipline, consisting in the vigilance of officers, has lessened the supposed necessity of military executions; and husbands—fathers—and masters now blush at the history of the times, when wives, children, and servants, were governed only by force. But unfortunately this spirit of humanity and civilization has not reached our schools. The rod is yet the principal instrument of governing them, and a school-master remains the only despot now known in free countries. Perhaps it is because the little subjects of their arbitrary and capricious power have not been in a condition to complain. I shall endeavour therefore

to plead their cause, and to prove that corporal punishments (except to children under four or five years of age) are never necessary, and always hurtful, in schools.—The following arguments I hope will be sufficient to establish this proposition.

1. Children are seldom sent to school before they are capable of feeling the force of rational or moral obligation. They may therefore be deterred from committing offences, by motives less disgraceful than the fear of corporal punishments.

2. By correcting children for ignorance and negligence in school, their ideas of improper and immoral actions are confounded, and hence the moral faculty becomes weakened in after life. It would not be more cruel or absurd to inflict the punishment of the whipping-post upon a man, for not dressing fashionably or neatly, than it is to ferule a boy for blotting his copy book, or mis-spelling a word.

3. If the natural affection of a parent is sometimes insufficient, to restrain the violent effects of a sudden gust of anger upon a child, how dangerous must the power of correcting children be when lodged in the hands of a school-master, in whose anger there is no mixture of parental affection! Perhaps those parents act most wisely, who never trust themselves to inflict corporal punishments upon their children, after they are four or five years old, but endeavour to punish, and

reclaim them, by confinement, or by abridging them of some of their usual gratifications, in dress, food or amusements.

4. Injuries are sometimes done to the bodies, and sometimes to the intellects of children, by corporal punishments. I recollect, when a boy, to have lost a school-mate, who was said to have died in consequence of a severe whipping he received in school. At that time I did not believe it possible, but from what I now know of the disproportion between the violent emotions of the mind, and the strength of the body in children, I am disposed to believe, that not only sickness, but that even death may be induced, by the convulsions of a youthful mind, worked up to a high sense of shame and resentment.

The effects of thumping the head, boxing the ears, and pulling the hair, in impairing the intellects, by means of injuries done to the brain, are too obvious to be mentioned.

5. Where there is shame, says Dr. Johnson, there may be virtue. But corporal punishments, inflicted at school, have a tendency to destroy the sense of shame, and thereby to destroy all moral sensibility. The boy that has been often publicly whipped at school, is under great obligations to his maker, and his parents, if he afterwards escape the whipping-post or the gallows.

6. Corporal punishments, inflicted at school, tend to beget a spirit of violence in boys towards each other, which often follows them through life; but they more certainly beget a spirit of hatred, or revenge, towards their masters, which too often becomes a ferment of the same baneful passions towards other people. The celebrated Dr. afterwards Baron Haller declared, that he never saw, without horror, during the remaining part of his life, a school-master, who had treated him with unmerited severity, when he was only ten years old. A similar anecdote is related of the famous M. de Condamine. I think I have known several instances of this vindictive, or indignant spirit, to continue towards a cruel and tyrannical school-master, in persons who were advanced in life, and who were otherwise of gentle and forgiving dispositions.

7. Corporal punishments, inflicted at schools, beget a hatred to instruction in young people. I have sometimes suspected that the Devil, who knows how great an enemy knowledge is to his kingdom, has had the address to make the world believe that ferruling, pulling and boxing ears, cudgelling, horsing, &c. and, in boarding-schools, a little starving, are all absolutely necessary for the government of young people, on purpose that he might make both schools, and school-masters odious, and thereby keep our world in ignorance; for ignorance is the best means the Devil ever contrived, to keep up the number of his subjects in our world.

8. Corporal punishments are not only hurtful, but altogether unnecessary, in schools. Some of the most celebrated and succesful school-masters, that I have known, never made use of them.

9. The fear of corporal punishments, by debilitating the body, produces a corresponding debility in the mind, which contracts its capacity of acquiring knowledge. This capacity is enlarged by the tone which the mind acquires from the action of hope, love, and confidence upon it; and all these passions might easily be cherished, by a prudent and enlightened school-master.

10. As there should always be a certain ratio between the strength of a remedy, and the excitability of the body in diseases, so there should be a similar ratio between the force employed in the government of a school, and the capacites and tempers of children. A kind rebuke, like fresh air in a fainting fit, is calculated to act upon a young mind with more effect, than stimulants of the greatest power; but corporal punishments level all capacities and tempers, as quack-medicines do, all constitutions and diseases. They dishonour and degrade our species; for they suppose a total absence of all moral and intellectual feeling from the mind. Have we not often seen dull children suddenly improve, by changing their schools? The reason is obvious. The succesful teacher only accommodated his manner and discipline to the capacities of his scholars.

11. I conceive corporal punishments, inflicted in an arbitrary manner, to be contrary to the spirit of liberty, and that they should not be tolerated in a free government. Why should not children be protected from violence and injuries, as well as white and black servants?—Had I influence enough in our legislature to obtain only a single law, it should be to make the punishment for striking a school boy, the same as for assaulting and beating an adult member of society.

To all these arguments I know some well disposed people will reply, that the rod has received a divine commission from the sacred Scriptures, as the instrument of correcting children. To this I answer that the rod, in the Old Testament, by a very common figure in Rhetoric, stands for punishments of any kind, just as the sword, in the New Testament, stands for the faithful and general administration of justice, in such a way as is most calculated to reform criminals, and to prevent crimes

The following method of governing a school, I apprehend, would be attended with much better effects, than that which I have endeavoured to shew to be contrary to reason, humanity, religion, liberty, and the experience of the wisest and best teachers in the world.

Let a school-master endeavour, in the first place, to acquire the confidence of his scholars, by a prudent deportment. Let him learn to command his passions

and temper, at all times, in his school,—Let him treat the name of the Supreme Being with reverence, as often as it occurs in books, or in conversation with his scholars.—Let him exact a respectful behaviour towards himself, in his school; but in the intervals of school hours, let him treat his scholars with gentleness and familiarity. If he should even join in their amusements, he would not loose, by his condescension, any part of his authority over them. But to secure their affection and respect more perfectly, let him, once or twice a year, lay out a small sum of money in penknives, and books, and distribute them among his scholars, as rewards for proficiency in learning, and for good behaviour. If these prudent and popular measures should fail of preventing offences at school, then let the following modes of punishment be adopted.

1. Private admonition. By this mode of rebuking, we imitate the conduct of the divine Being towards his offending creatures, for his first punishment is always inflicted privately, by means of the still voice of conscience.

2. Confinement after school-hours are ended; but with the knowledge of the parents of the children.

3. Holding a small sign of disgrace, of any kind, in the middle of the floor, in the presence of a whole school.

If these punishments fail of reclaiming a bad boy, he should be dismissed from school, to prevent his corrupting his school-mates. It is the business of parents, and not of school-masters, to use the last means for eradicating idleness and vice from their children.

The world was created in love. It is sustained by love. Nations and families that are happy, are made so only by love. Let us extend this divine principle, to those little communities which we call schools. Children are capable of loving in a high degree. They may therefore be governed by love.

The occupation of a school-master is truly dignified. He is, next to mothers, the most important member of civil society. Why then is there so little rank connected with that occupation? Why do we treat it with so much neglect or contempt? It is because the voice of reason, in the human heart, associates with it the idea of despotism and violence. Let school-masters cease to be tyrants, and they will soon enjoy the respect and rank, which are naturally connected with their profession.

We are grosly mistaken in looking up wholly to our governments, and even to ministers of the gospel, to promote public and private order in society. Mothers and school-masters plant the seeds of nearly all the good and evil which exist in our world. Its reformation must therefore be begun in nurseries and in schools. If the habits we acquire there, were to have no influence

upon our future happiness, yet the influence they have upon our governments, is a sufficient reason why we ought to introduce new modes, as well as new objects of education into our country.

You have lately been employed in an attempt to perpetuate our existence as a free people, by establishing the means of national credit and defence; but these are feeble bulwarks against slavery, compared with habits of labour and virtue, disseminated among our young people. Let us establish schools for this purpose, in every township in the United States, and conform them to reason, humanity, and the present state of society in America. Then, Sir, will the generations who are to follow us, realize the precious ideas of the dignity and excellence of republican forms of government, which I well recollect you cherished with so much ardor, in the beginning of the American revolution, and which you have manifested ever since, both by your public and private conduct.

We suffer so much from traditional error of various kinds, in education, morals, and government, that I have been led to wish, that it were possible for us to have schools established, in the United States, for teaching the art of forgetting. I think three-fourths of all our school-masters, divines, and legislators would

profit very much, by spending two or three years in such useful institutions.

An apology may seem necessary, not only for the length of this letter, but for some of the opinions contained in it. I know how apt mankind are to brand every proposition for innovation, as visionary and Utopian. But good men should not be discouraged, by such epithets, from their attempts to combat vice and error. There never was an improvement, in any art or science, nor even a proposal for meliorating the condition of man, in any age or country, that has not been considered in the light of what has been called, since Sir. Thomas More's time, an Utopian scheme. The application of the magnet to navigation, and of steam to mechanical purposes, have both been branded as Utopian projects. The great idea in the mind of Columbus, of exploring a new world, was long viewed, in most of the courts of Europe, as the dream of a visionary sailor. But why do we go to ancient times, for proofs of important innovations in human affairs having been treated as Utopian schemes. You and I recollect the time, when the abolition of negro slavery in our state, as also when the independence of the United States, and the present wise and happy confederacy of our republics, were all considered by many of our sober prudent men, as subjects of an Utopian nature.

If those benefactors of mankind, who have levelled mountains in the great road of human life, by the discoveries or labours which have been mentioned, have been stigmatized with obloquy, as visionary projectors, why should an individual be afraid of similar treatment, who has only attempted to give to that road, from its beginning, a straight direction.

If but a dozen men like yourself, approve of my opinions, it will overbalance the most illiberal opposition they may meet with, from all the learned vulgar of the United States.

For the benefit of those persons who consider opinions as improved, like certain liquors, by time; and who are opposed to innovations, only because they did not occur to their ancestors, I shall conclude my letter with an anecdote of a minister in London, who, after employing a long sermon, in controverting what he supposed to be an heretical opinion, concluded it with the following words, I tell you, I tell you my brethren,—I tell you again,—that an old error is better than a new truth.

With great regard I am, Dear Sir, Your's sincerely, BENJAMIN RUSH.

Philadelphia,

August 20th, 1790.

P. S. Since writing the above letter, an ingenious German friend of mine has informed me, that a curious work has lately appeared in Germany, entitled, A treatise on human misery, written by a Mr. Salzman, an enlightened school-master, in which a striking view is given of the misery inflicted upon part of the human race, by the present absurd, and cruel modes of conducting education in public schools. The author concludes this part of his work, my friend informs me, with a dream, in which he beholds with ineffable joy, the avenging angel descending from heaven, and afterwards consuming in an immense bonfire, certain absurd school-books, and all the ferrules in the world.

Thoughts upon Female Education

THOUGHTS UPON FEMALE EDUCATION, ACCOMMODATED TO THE PRESENT STATE OF SOCIETY, MANNERS, AND GOVERNMENT, IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ADDRESSED TO THE VISITORS OF THE YOUNG LADIES' ACADEMY IN PHILADELPHIA, 28th JULY, 1787, AT THE CLOSE OF THE QUARTERLY EXAMINATION, AND AFTERWARDS PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE VISITORS.

GENTLEMEN,

I HAVE yielded with diffidence to the solicitations of the Principal of the Academy, in undertaking to express my regard for the prosperity of this seminary of learning, by submitting to your candor, a few Thoughts upon Female Education.

The first remark that I shall make upon this subject, is, that female education should be accommodated to the state of society, manners, and government of the country, in which it is conducted.

This remark leads me at once to add,, that the education of young ladies, in this country, should be conducted upon principles very different from what it is in Great Britain, and in some respects, different from what it was when we were part of a monarchical empire.

There are several circumstances in the situation, employments, and duties of women in America, which require a peculiar mode of education.

I. The early marriages of our women, by contracting the time allowed for education, renders it necessary to contract its plan, and to confine it chiefly to the more useful branches of literature.

II. The state of property in America, renders it necessary for the greatest part of our citizens to employ themselves, in different occupations, for the advancement of their fortunes. This cannot be done without the assistance of the female members of the community. They must be the stewards, and guardians of their husbands' property. That education, therefore, will be most proper for our women, which teaches them to discharge the duties of those offices with the most success and reputation.

III. From the numerous avocations from their families, to which professional life exposes gentlemen in America, a principal share of the instruction of children naturally devolves upon the women. It becomes us therefore to prepare them by a suitable education, for the discharge of this most important duty of mothers.

IV. The equal share that every citizen has in the liberty, and the possible share he may have in the government of our country, make it necessary that our ladies should be qualified to a certain degree by a peculiar

and suitable education, to concur in instructing their sons in the principles of liberty and government.

V. In Great Britain the business of servants is a regular occupation; but in America this humble station is the usual retreat of unexpected indigence; hence the servants in this country possess less knowledge and subordination than are required from them; and hence, our ladies are obliged to attend more to the private affairs of their families, than ladies generally do, of the same rank in Great Britain. "They are good servants," said an American lady of distinguished merit, in a letter to a favorite daughter, who will do well with good looking after. This circumstance should have great influence upon the nature and extent of female education in America.

The branches of literature most essential for a young lady in this country, appear to be,

I. A knowledge of the English language. She should not only read, but speak and spell it correctly. And to enable her to do this, she should be taught the English grammar, and be frequently examined in applying its rules in common conversation.

II. Pleasure and interest conspire to make the writing of a fair and legible hand, a necessary branch of a lady's education. For this purpose she should be

taught not only to shape every letter properly, but to pay the strictest regard to points and capitals.

I once heard of a man who professed to discover the temper and disposition of persons by looking at their hand writing. Without enquiring into the probability of this story; I shall only remark, that there is one thing in which all mankind agree upon this subject, and that is, in considering writing that is blotted, crooked, or illegible, as a mark of vulgar education. I know of few things more rude or illiberal, than to obtrude a letter upon a person of rank or business, which cannot be easily read. Peculiar care should be taken to avoid every kind of ambiguity and affectation in writing names. I have now a letter in my possession upon business, from a gentleman of a liberal profession in a neighbouring state, which I am unable to answer, because I cannot discover the name which is subscribed to it. For obvious reasons I would recommend

the writing of the first or christian name at full length, where it does not consist of more than two syllables. Abbreviations of all kind in letter writing, which always denote either haste or carlessness, should likewise be avoided. I have only to add under this head that the Italian and inverted hands which are read with difficulty, are by no means accommodated to the active state of business in America, or to the simplicity of the citizens of a republic.

III. Some knowledge of figures and book-keeping is absolutely necessary to qualify a young lady for the duties which await her in this country. There are certain occupations in which she may assist her husband with this knowledge; and should she survive him, and agreeably to the custom of our country be the executrix of his will, she cannot fail of deriving immense advantages from it.

IV. An acquaintance with geography and some instruction in chronology will enable a young lady to read history, biography, and travels, with advantage; and thereby qualify her not only for a general intercourse with the world, but to be an agreeable companion for a sensible man. To these branches of knowledge may be added, in some instances, a general acquaintance with the first principles of astronomy natural philosophy and chemistry, particularly, with such parts of them as are calculated to prevent superstition, by explaining the causes, or obviating the effects of

of natural evil, and such, as are capable of being applied to domestic, and culinary purposes.

V. Vocal music should never be neglected, in the education of a young lady, in this country. Besides preparing her to join in that part of public worship which consists in psalmody, it will enable her to soothe the cares of domestic life. The distress and vexation of a husband—the noise of a nursey, and, even, the the sorrows that will sometimes intrude into her own bosom, may all be relieved by a song, where sound and sentiment unite to act upon the mind. I hope it will not be thought foreign to this part of our subject to introduce a fact here which has been suggested to me by my profession, and that is, that the exercise of the organs of the breast, by singing, contributes very much to defend them from those diseases to which our climate; and other causes, have of late exposed them.— Our German fellow citizens are seldom afflicted with consumptions, nor have I ever known but one instance of spitting of blood among them. This, I believe, is in part occasioned by the strength which their lungs acquire, by exercising them frequently in vocal music, for this constitutes an essential branch of their education. The music-master of our academy has furnished me with an observation still more in favour of this opinion. He informed me that he had known several instances of persons who were strongly disposed to the consumption, who were restored to health, by the moderate exercise of their lungs in singing.

VI. DANCING is by no means an improper branch of education for an American lady. It promotes health, and renders the figure and motions of the body easy and agreeable. I anticipate the time when the resources of conversation shall be so far multiplied, that the amusement of dancing shall be wholly confined to children. But in our present state of society and knowledge, I conceive it to be an agreeable substitute for the ignoble pleasures of drinking, and gaming, in our assemblies of grown people.

VII. The attention of our young ladies should be directed, as soon as they are prepared for it, to the reading of history—travels—poetry—and moral essays. These studies are accommodated, in a peculiar manner, to the present state of society in America, and when a relish is excited for them, in early life, they subdue that passion for reading novels, which so generally prevails among the fair sex. I cannot dismiss this species of writing and reading without observing, that the subjects of novels are by no means accommodated to our present manners. They hold up life, it is true, but it is not as yet life in America. Our passions have not as yet "overstepped the modesty of nature." nor are they "to[…] […]o tatters," to use the expressions of the poet, by extravagant love, jealousy, ambition, or revenge. As yet the intrigues of a British novel, are as foreign to our manners, as the refinements of Asiatic vice. Let it not be said, that the tales of distress,

which fill modern novels, have a tendency to soften the female heart into acts of humanity. The fact is the reverse of this. The abortive sympathy which is excited by the recital of imaginary distress, blunts the heart to that which is real; and, hence, we sometimes see instances of young ladies, who weep away a whole forenoon over the criminal sorrows of a fictitious Charlotte or Werter, turning with disdain at three o'clock from the sight of a beggar, who solicits in feeble accents or signs, a small portion only of the crumbs which fall from their fathers' tables.

VIII. It will be necessary to connect all these branches of education with regular instruction in the christian religion. For this purpose the principles of the different sects of christians should be taught and explained, and our pupils should early be furnished with some of the most simple arguments in favour of the truth of christianity. A portion of the bible (of late improperly banished from our schools) should be read by them every day, and such questions should be asked, after reading it as are calculated to imprint upon their minds the interesting stories contained in it.

Rousseau has asserted that the great secret of education consists in "wasting the time of children profitably."

There is some truth in this observation. I believe that we often impair their health, and weaken their capcities, by imposing studies upon them, which are not proportioned to their years. But this objection does not apply to religious instruction. There are certain simple propositions in the christian religion, which are suited in a peculiar manner, to the infant state of reason and moral sensibility. A clergyman of long experience in the instruction of youth informed me, that he always found children acquired religious knowledge more easily than knowledge upon other subjects; and that young girls acquired this kind of knowledge more readily than boys. The female breast is the natural soil of christianity; and while our women are taught to believe its doctrines, and obey its precepts, the wit of Voltaire, and the stile of Bolingbroke, will never be able to destroy its influence upon our citizens.

I cannot help remarking in this place, that christianity exerts the most friendly influence upon science, as well as upon the morals and manners of mankind. Whether this be occasioned by the unity of truth, and the mutual assistance which truths upon different subjects afford each other, or whether the faculties of the mind be sharpened and corrected by embracing the truths of revelation, and thereby prepared to investigate and perceive truths upon other subjects, I

will not determine, but I believe that the greatest discoveries in science have been made by christian philosophers, and that there is the most knowledge in those countries where there is the most christianity. If this remark be well founded, then those philosophers who reject christianity, and those christians, whether parents or school-masters, who neglect the religious instruction of their children and pupils, reject and neglect the most effectual means of promoting knowledge in our country.

IX. If the measures that have been recommended for inspiring our pupils with a sense of religious and moral obligation be adopted, the government of them will be easy and agreeable. I shall only remark under this head, that strictness of discipline will always render severity unnecessary, and that there will be the most instruction in that school, where there is the most order.

I have said nothing in favour of instrumental music as a branch of female education, because I conceive

it is by no means accommodated to the present state of society and manners in America. The price of musical instruments, and the extravagant fees demanded by the teachers of instrumental music, form but a small part of my objections to it.

To perform well, upon a musical instrument, requires much time and long practice. From two to four hours in a day, for three or four years appropriated to music, are an immense deduction from that short period of time which is allowed by the peculiar circumstances of our country for the acquisition of the useful branches of literature that have been mentioned. How many useful ideas might be picked up in these hours from history, philosophy, poetry, and the numerous moral essays with which our language abounds, and how much more would the knowledge acquired upon these subjects add to the consequence of a lady, with her husband and with society, than the best performed pieces of music upon a harpsicord or a guittar! Of the many ladies whom we have known, who have spent the most important years of their lives, in learning to play upon instruments of music, how few of them do we see amuse themselves or their friends with them, after they become mistresses of families! Their harpsichords serve only as side-boards for their parlours, and prove by their silence, that necessity and circumstances, will always prevail over fashion, and false maxims of education.

Let it not be supposed from these observations that I am insensible of the charms of instrumental music, or that I wish to exclude it from the education of a lady where a musical ear irresistably disposes to it, and affluence at the same time affords a prospect of such an exemption from the usual cares and duties of the mistress of a family, as will enable her to practise it. These circumstances form an exception to the general conduct that should arise upon this subject, from the present state of society and manners in America.

It is agreeable to observe how differently modern writers, and the inspired author of the Proverbs, describe a fine woman. The former confine their praises chiefly to personal charms, and ornamental accomplishments, while the latter celebrates only the virtues of a valuable mistress of a family, and a useful member of society. The one is perfectly acquainted with all the fashionable languages of Europe; the other, "opens her mouth with wisdom" and is perfectly acquainted with all the uses of the needle, the distaff, and the loom. The business of the one, is pleasure; the pleasure of the other, is business. The one is admired abroad; the other is honoured and beloved at home. Her children arise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praiseth her. There is no fame in the world equal to this; nor is there a note in music half so delightful, as the respectful language with which a grateful son or daughter

perpetuates the memory of a sensible and affectionate mother.

It should not surprize us that British customs, with respect to female education, have been transplanted into our American schools and families. We see marks of the same incongruity, of time and place, in many other things. We behold our houses accomodated to the climate of Great Britain, by eastern and western directions. We behold our ladies panting in a heat of ninety degrees, under a hat and cushion, which were calculated for the temperature of a British summer. We behold our citizens condemned and punished by a criminal law, which was copied from a country, where maturity in corruption renders public executions a part of the amusements of the nation. It is high time to awake from this servility—to study our own character—to examine the age of our country—and to adopt manners in every thing, that shall be accomodated to our state of society, and to the forms of our government. In particular it is incumbent upon us to make ornamental accomplishments yield to principles and knowledge, in the education of our women.

A philosopher once said let me make all the ballads of a country and I care not who makes its laws. He might with more propriety have said, let the ladies of a country be educated properly, and they will not only make and administer its laws, but form its manners and character. It would require a lively imaginaiton to describe, or even to comprehend, the

happiness of a country, where knowledge and virtue, were generally diffused among the female sex. Our young men would then be restrained from vice by the terror of being banished from their company. The loud laugh, and the malignant smile, at the expence of innocence, or of personal infirmities—the feats of successful mimickry—and the low priced wit, which is borrowed from a misapplication of scripture phrases, would no more be considered as recommendations to the society of the ladies. A double entendre in their presence, would then exclude a gentleman forever from the company of both sexes, and probably oblige him to seek an asylum from contempt, in a foreign country. The influence of female education would be still more extensive and useful in domestic life. The obligations of gentlemen to qualify themselves by knowledge and industry to discharge the duties of benevolence, would be encreased by marriage; and the patriot—the hero—and the legislator, would find the sweetest reward of their toils, in the approbation and applause of their wives. Children would discover the marks of maternal prudence and wisdom in every station of life; for it has been remarked that there have been few great or good men who have not been blessed with wise and prudent mothers. Cyrus was taught to revere the gods, by his mother Mandane —Samuel was devoted to his prophetic office before he was born, by his mother Hannah—Constantine was rescued from paganism by his mother Constantia—and Edward the sixth inherited those great and excellent

qualities which made him the delight of the age in which he lived, from his mother, lady Jane Seymour. Many other instances might be mentioned, if necessary, from ancient and modern history, to establish the truth of this proposition.

I am not enthusiastical upon the subject of education. In the ordinary course of human affairs, we shall probably too soon follow the footsteps of the nations of Europe in manners and vices. The first marks we shall perceive of our declension, will appear among our women. Their idleness, ignorance, and profligacy will be the harbingers of our ruin. Then will the character and performance of a buffoon on the theatre, be the subject of more conversation and praise, than the patriot or the minister of the gospel;—then will our language and pronunciation be enfeebled and corrupted by a flood of French and Italian words;—then will the history of romantic amours, be preferred to the pure and immortal writings of Addison, Hawkesworth and Johnson;—then will our churches be neglected, and the name of the supreme being never be called upon, but in profane exclamations;—then will our Sundays be appropriated, only to feasts and concerts?—and then will begin all that train of domestic and political calamities—But, I forbear. The prospect is so painful, that I cannot help, silently, imploring the great arbiter of human, affairs, to interpose his almighty goodness, and to deliver

us from these evils, that, at least one spot of the earth may be reserved as a monument of the effects of good education, in order to shew in some degree, what our species was, before the fall, and what it shall be, after its restoration.

Thus, gentlemen, have I brieflly finished what I proposed. If I am wrong in those opinions in which I have taken the liberty of departing from general and fashonable habits of thinking, I am sure you will discover, and pardon my mistakes. But if I am right, I am equally sure you will adopt my opinions; for to enlightened minds truth is alike acceptable, whether it comes from the lips of age, or the hand of antiquity, or whether it be obtruded by a person, who has no other claim to attention, than a desire of adding to the stock of human happiness

I cannot dismiss the subject of female education without remarking, that the city of Philadelphia first saw a number of gentlemen associated for the purpose of directing the education of young ladies. By means of this plan, the power of teachers is regulated and restrained, and the objects of education are extended. By the separation of the sexes in the unformed state of their manners, female delicacy is cherished and preserved. Here the young ladies may enjoy all the literary advantages of a boarding-school, and at the same time live under the protection of their parents.

Here emulation may be excited without jealousy,—ambition without envy,—and competition without strife. The attempt to establish this new mode of education for young ladies, was an experiment, and the success of it hath answered our expectations. Too much praise cannot be given to our principal and his assistants, for the abilities and fidelity with which they have carried the plan into execution. The proficiency which the young ladies have discovered in reading—writing—spelling—arithmetic—grammar—geography—music—and their different catechisms, since the last examination, is a less equivocal mark of the merit of our teachers, than any thing I am able to express in their favour.

But the reputation of the academy must be suspended, till the public are convinced, by the future conduct and character of our pupils, of the advantages of the institution. To you, therefore, YOUNG LADIES, an important problem is committed for solution; and that is, whether our present plan of education be a wise one, and whether it be calculated to prepare you for the duties of social and domestic life. I know that the elevation of the female mind, by means of moral,

physical and religious truth, is considered by some men as unfriendly to the domestic character of a woman. But this is the prejudice of little minds, and springs from the same spirit which opposes the general diffusion of knowledge among the citizens of our republics. If men believe that ignorance is favourable to the government of the female sex, they are certainly deceived; for a weak and ignorant woman will always be governed with the greatest difficulty. I have sometimes been led to ascribe the invention of ridiculous and expensive fashions in female dress, entirely to the gentlemen, in order to divert the ladies from improving their minds, and thereby to secure a more arbitrary and unlimited authority over them. It will be in your power, LADIES, to correct the mistakes and practice of our sex upon these subjects, by demonstrating, that the female temper can only be governed by reason, and that the cultivation of reason in women, is alike friendly to the order of nature, and to private as well as public happinss.

A Defence of the Use of the Bible as a School Book

A DEFENCE OF THE USE OF THE BIBLE AS A SCHOOL BOOK. ADDRESSED TO THE REV. JEREMY BELKNAP, OF BOSTON.

DEAR SIR,

IT is now several months, since I promised to give you my reasons for preferring the bible as a school book, to all other compositions. I shall not trouble you with an apology for my delaying so long to comply with my promise, but shall proceed immediately to the subject of my letter.

Before I state my arguments in favour of teaching children to read by means of the bible, I shall assume the five following propositions.

I. That christianity is the only true and perfect religion, and that in proportion as mankind adopt its principles, and obey its precepts, they will be wise, and happy.

II. That a better knowledge of this religion is to be acquired by reading the bible, than in any other way.

III That the bible contains more knowledge necessary to man in his present state, than any other book in the world.

IV. That knowledge is most durable, and religious instruction most useful, when imparted in early life,

V. That the bible, when not read in schools, is seldom read in any subsequent period of life.

My arguments in favor of the use of the bible as a school book are founded, I. In the constitution of the human mind.

1. The memory is the first faculty which opens in the minds of children. Of how much consequence, then, must it be, to impress it with the great truths of christianity, before it is pre-occupied with less interesting subjects! As all the liquors, which are poured into a cup, generally taste of that which first filled it, so all the knowledge, which is added to that which is treasured up in the memory from the bible, generally receives an agreeable and useful tincture from it.

2. There is a peculiar aptitude in the minds of children for religious knowledge. I have constantly found them in the first six or seven years of their lives, more inquisitive upon religious subjects, than upon any others: and an ingenious instructor of youth has informed me, that he has found young children more capable of receiving just ideas upon the most difficult tenets of religion, than upon the most simple branches of human knowledge. It would be strange if it were otherwise; for God creates all his means to suit all his ends. There must of course be a fitness between the

human mind, and the truths which are essential to its happiness.

3. The influence of prejudice is derived from the impressions, which are made upon the mind in early life; prejudices are of two kinds, true and false. In a world where false prejudices do so much mischief, it would discover great weakness not to oppose them, by such as are true.

I grant that many men have rejected the prejudices derived from the bible: but I believe no man ever did so, without having been made wiser or better, by the early operation of these prejudices upon his mind. Every just principle that is to be found in the writings of Voltaire, is borrowed from the Bible: and the morality of the Deists, which has been so much admired and praised, is, I believe, in most cases, the effect of habits, produced by early instruction in the principles of christianity.

4. We are subject, by a general law in our natures, to what is called habit. Now if the study of the scriptures be necessary to our happiness at any time of our lives, the sooner we begin to read them, the more we shall be attached to them; for it is peculiar to all the acts of habit, to become easy, strong and agreeable by repetition.

5. It is a law in our natures, that we remember longest the knowledge we acquire by the greatest number

of our senses. Now a knowledge of the contents of the bible, is acquired in school by the aid of the eyes and the ears; for children after getting their lessons, always say them to their masters in an audible voice; of course there is a presumption, that this knowledge will be retained much longer than if it had been acquired in any other way.

6. The interesting events and characters, recorded and described in the Old and New Testaments, are accomodated above all others to seize upon all the faculties of the minds of children. The understanding, the memory, the imagination, the passions, and the moral powers, are all occasionally addressed by the various incidents which are contained in those divine books, insomuch that not to be delighted with them, is to be devoid of every principle of pleasure that exists in a sound mind.

7. There is a native love of truth in the human mind. Lord Shaftesbury says, that truth is so congenial to our minds, that we love ever the shadow of it: and Horace, in his rules for composing an epick poem, establishes the same law in our natures, by advising the "fictions in poetry to resemble truth." Now the bible contains more truths than any other book in the world: so true is the testimony that it bears of God in his works of creation, providence, and redemption, that it is called truth itself, by way of preeminence above things that are only simply true. How

forcibly are we struck with the evidences of truth, in the history of the Jews, above what we discover in the history of other nations? Where do we find a hero, or an historian record his own faults or vices except in the Old Testament? Indeed, my friend, from some accounts which I have read of the American revolution, I begin to grow sceptical to all history except to that which is contained in the bible. Now if this book be known to contain nothing but what is materially true, the mind will naturally acquire a love for it from this circumstance: and from this affection for the truths of of the bible, it will acquire a discernment of truth in other books, and a preference of it in all the transactions of life.

VIII. There is a wonderful property in the memory, which enables it in old age, to recover the knowledge it had acquired in early life, after it had been apparently forgotten for forty or fifty years. Of how much consequence, then, must it be, to fill the mind with that species of knowledge, in childhood and youth, which, when recalled in the decline of life, will support the soul under the infirmities of age, and smooth the avenues of approaching death? The bible is the only book which is capable of affording this support to old age; and it is for this reason that we find it resorted to with so much diligence and pleasure by such old people as have read it in early life. I can recollect many instances of this kind in persons who discovered

no attachment to the bible, in the meridian of their lives, who have notwithstanding, spent the evening of them, in reading no other book. The late Sir John Pringle, Physician to the Queen of Great Britain, after passing a long life in camps and at court, closed it by studying the scriptures. So anxious was he to increase his knowledge in them, that he wrote to Dr. Michaelis, a learned professer of divinity in Germany, for an explanation of a difficult text of scripture, a short time before his death.

IX. My second argument in favour of the use of the bible in schools, is founded upon an implied command of God, and upon the practice of several of the wisest nations of the world.—In the 6th chapter of Deuteronomy, we find the following words, which are directly to my purpose, And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

It appears, moreover, from the history of the Jews, that they flourished as a nation, in proportion as they honoured and read the books of Moses, which contained, a written revelation of the will of God, to the children

of men. The law was not only neglected, but lost during the general profligacy of manners which accompanied the long and wicked reign of Manassah. But the discovery of it, in the rubbish of the temple, by Josiah, and its subsequent general use, were followed by a return of national virtue and prosperity. We read further, of the wonderful effects which the reading of the law by Ezra, after his return from his captiviy in Babylon, had upon the Jews. They hung upon his lips with tears, and showed the sincerity of their repentance, by their general reformation.

The learning of the Jews, for many years consisted in nothing but a knowledge of the scriptures. These were the text books of all the instruction that was given in the schools of their prophets. It was by […] of this general knowledge of their law, that those Jews that wandered from Judea into our countries, carried with them and propagated certain ideas of the true God among all the civilized nations upon the face of the earth. And it was from the attachment they retained to the old Testament, that they procured a translation of it into the Greek language, after they lost the Hebrew tongue, by their long absence from their native country. The utility of this translation, commonly called the septuagint, in facilitating the progress of the gospel, is well known to all who are acquainted with the history of the first age of the christian church.

But the benefits of an early and general acquaintance with the bible, were not confined only to the Jewish nations. They have appeared in many countries in Europe, since the reformation. The industry, and habits of order, which distinguish many of the German nations, are derived from their early instruction in the principles of christianity, by means of the bible. The moral and enlightened character of the inhabitants of Scotland, and of the New England States, appears to be derived from the same cause. If we descend from nations to sects, we shall find them wise and prosperous in proportion as they become early acquainted with the scriptures. The bible is still used as a school book among the quakers. The morality of this sect of christians is universally acknowledged. Nor is this all, —their prudence in the management of their private affairs, is as much a mark of their society, as their sober manners.

I wish to be excused for repeating here, that if the bible did not convey a single direction for the attainment of future happiness, it should be read in our schools in preference to all other books, from its containing the greatest portion of that kind of knowledge which is calculated to produce private and publick temporal happiness.

We err not only in human affairs, but in religion likewise, only because "we do not know the scriptures." The opposite systems of the […] sects of christians

arise chiefly from their being more instructed in catechisms, creeds, and confessions of faith, than in the scriptures. Immense truths, I believe, are concealed in them. The time, I have no doubt, will come, when posterity will view and pity our ignorance of these truths, as much as we do the ignorance of the disciples of our Saviour, who knew nothing of the meaning of those plain passages in the old testament which were daily fulfilling before their eyes. Whenever that time shall arrive, those truths which have escaped our notice, or, if discovered, have been thought to be opposed to each other, or to be inconsistent with themselves, will then like the stones of Solomon's temple, be found so exactly to accord with each other, that they shall be cemented without noise or force, into one simple and sublime system of religion.

But further, we err, not only in religion but in philosophy likewise, because we do not know or believe the scriptures. The sciences have been compared to a circle of which religion composes a part. To understand any one of them perfectly it is necessary to have some knowledge of them all. Bacon, Boyle, and Newton included the scriptures in the inquiries to which their universal geniuses disposed them, and their philosophy was aided by their knowledge in them. A striking agreement has been lately discovered between the history of certain events recorded in the bible and some of the operations and productions of nature, particularly those which are related in Whitehurst's observations on the

deluge—in Smith's account of the origin of the variety of colour in the human species, and in Bruce's travels. It remains yet to be shown how many other events, related in the bible, accord with some late important discoveries in the principles of medecine. The events, and the principles alluded to, mutually establish the truth of each other. From the discoveries of the christian philosophers, whose names have been last mentioned, I have been led to question whether most harm has been done to revelation, by those divines who have unduly multiplied the objects of faith, or by those deists who have unduly multiplied the objects of reason, in explaining the scriptures.

I shall now proceed to answer some of the objections which have been made to the use of the bible as a school book.

I. We are told, that the familiar use of the bible in our schools, has a tendency to lessen a due reverence for it. This objection, by proving too much, proves nothing at all. If familiarity lessens respect for divine things, then all those precepts of our religion, which enjoin the daily or weekly worship of the Deity, are improper. The bible was not intended to represent a Jewish ark; and it is an antichristian idea, to suppose that it can be profaned, by being carried into a school house, or by being handled by children. But where will the bible be read by young people with more reverence than in a school? Not in most private families; for I believe there are few parents, who preserve

so much order in their houses, as is kept up in our common English schools.

II. We are told, that there are many passages in the old testament, that are improper to be read by children, and that the greatest part of it is no way interesting to mankind under the present dispensation of the gospel. There are I grant, several chapters, and many verses in the old testament, which in their present unfortunate translation, should be passed over by children. But I deny that any of the books of the old testament are not interesting to mankind, under the gospel dispensation. Most of the characters, events, and ceremonies, mentioned in them, are personal, providential, or instituted types of the Messiah: All of which have been, or remain yet to be, fulfilled by him. It is from an ignorance or neglect of these types, that we have so many deists in christendom; for so irrefragably do they prove the truth of christianity, that I am sure a young man who had been regularly instructed in their meaning, could never doubt afterwards of the truth of any of its principles. If any obscurity appears in these principles, it is only (to use the words of the poet) because they are dark, with excessive bright.

I know there is an objection among many People to teach children doctrines of any kind, because they are liable to be controverted. But where will this objection lead us?— The being of a God, and the obligations of morality, have both been

controverted; and yet who has objected to our teaching these doctrines to our chilldren?

The curiosity and capacities of young people for the mysteries of religion, awaken much sooner than is generally supposed. Of this we have two remarkable proofs in the old testament. The first is mentioned in the twelfth chapter of Exodus. And it shall come when your children shall say unto you, "What mean you by this service?" that ye shall say, It is the sacrafice of the Lord's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

A second proof of the desire of children to be instructed in the mysteries of religion, is to be found in the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy. And when thy son asketh thee in the time to come saying, What mean the testimonies—and the statutes—and the judgments which the Lord our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharoah's bondmen in Egypt, and the Lord our God brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

These enquiries from the mouths of children are perfectly natural; for where is the parent who has not had similar questions proposed to him by his children upon their being being first conducted to a place of worship, or upon their beholding, for the first time, either of the sacraments of our religion?

Let us not not be wiser than our Maker. If moral precepts alone could have reformed mankind, the mission of the Son of God into our world, would have been unnecessary. He came to promulgate a system of doctrines, as well as a system of morals. The perfect morality of the gospel rests upon a doctrine, which, though often controverted, has never been refuted, I mean the vicarious life and death of the Son of God. This sublime and ineffable doctrine delivers us from the absurd hypotheses of modern philosophers, concerning the foundation of moral obligation, and fixes it upon the eternal and self moving principle of LOVE. It concentrates a whole system of ethics in a single text of scripture. "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you." By witholding the knowledge of this doctrine from children, we deprive ourselves of the best means of awakening moral sensibility in their minds. We do more, we furnish an argument, for witholding from them a knowledge of the morality of the gospel likewise; for this, in many instances, is as supernatural, and therefore as liable to be controverted, as any of the doctrines or miracles which are mentioned in the new testament. The miraculous conception of the saviour of the world by a virgin, is not more opposed to the ordinary course of natural events, nor is the doctrine of the atonement more above human reason, than those moral precepts, which command us to love our enemies, or to die for our friends.

III. It has been said, that the division of the bible into chapters and verses, renders it more difficult to be read, by children than many other books.

By a little care in a master, this difficulty may be obviated, and even an advantage derived from it. It may serve to transfer the attention of the scholar to the sense of a subject; and no person will ever read well, who is guided by any thing else, in his stops, emphasis, or accents. The division of the bible into chapters and verses, is not a greater obstacle to its being read with ease, than the bad punctuation of most other books. I deliver this stricture upon other books, from the authority of Mr. Rice, the celebrated author of the art of speaking, whom I heard declare in a large company in London, that he had never seen a book properly pointed in the English Language. He exemplified, notwithstanding, by reading to the same company a passage from Milton, his perfect knowledge of the art of reading.

Some people, I know, have proposed to introduce extracts from the bible, into our schools, instead of the bible itself. Many excellent works of this kind, are in print, but if we admit any one of them, we shall have the same inundation of them that we have had of grammars, spelling books, and lessons for children, many of which are published for the benefit of the authors only, and all of them have tended greatly to increase the expence of education. Besides, these extracts

or abridgements of the bible, often contain the tenets of particular sects or persons, and therefore, may be improper for schools composed of the children of different sects of christians. The bible is a cheap book, and is to be had in every bookstore. It is, moreover, esteemed and prefered by all sects; because each finds its peculiar doctrines in it. It should therefore be used in preference to any abridgements of it, or histories extracted from it.

I have heard it proposed that a portion of the bible should be read every day by the master, as a means of instructing children in it: But this is a poor substitute for obliging children to read it as a school book; for by this means we insensibly engrave, as it were, its contents upon their minds: and it has been remarked that children, instructed in this way in the scriptures, seldom forget any part of them. They have the same advantage over those persons, who have only heard the scriptures read by a master, that a man who has worked with the tools of a mechanical employment for several years, has over the man who has only stood a few hours in a work shop and seen the same business carried on by other people.

In this defence of the use of the bible as a school book, I beg you would not think that I suppose the Bible to contain the only revelation which God has made to man. I believe in an internal revelation, or a moral

principle, which God has implanted in the heart of every man, as the precursor of his final dominion over the whole human race. How much this internal revelation accords with the external, remains yet to be explored by philosophers. I am disposed to believe, that most of the doctrines of christianity revealed in the bible might be discovered by a close examination of all the principles of action in man: But who is equal to such an enquiry? It certainly does not suit the natural indolence, or laborious employments of a great majority of mankind. The internal revelation of the gospel may be compared to the straight line which is made through a wilderness by the assistance of a compass, to a distant country, which few are able to discover, while the bible resembles a public road to the same country, which is wide, plain, and easily found. "And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the way of holiness. The way faring men, though fools, shall not err therein."

Neither let me in this place exclude the Revelation which God has made of himself to man in the works of creation. I am far from wishing to lessen the influence of this species of Revelation upon mankind. But the knowledge of God obtained from this source, is obscure and feeble in its operation, compared with that which is derived from the bible. The visible creation speaks of the Deity in hyeroglyphics, while the bible describes all his attributes and perfections in such plain,

and familiar language that he who runs may read.

How kindly has our maker dealt with his creatures, in providing three different cords to draw them to himself! But how weakly do some men act, who suspend their faith, and hopes upon only one of them! By laying hold of them all, they would approach more speedily and certainly to the centre of all happiness.

To the arguments I have mentioned in favour of the use of the bible as a school book, I shall add a few reflections.

The present fashionable practice of rejecting the bible from our schools, I suspect has originated with the deists. They discover great ingenuity in this new mode of attacking christianity. If they proceed in it, they will do more in half a century, in extirpating our religion, than Bolingbroke or Voltaire could have effected in a thousand years. I am not writing to this class of people. I despair of changing the opinions of any of them. I wish only to alter the opinions and conduct of those lukewarm, or superstitious christians, who have been misled by the deists upon this subject. On the ground of the good old custom, of using the bible as a school book, it becomes us to entrench our religion. It is the last bulwark the deists have left it; for they have rendered instruction in the principles

of christianity by the pulpit and the press, so unfashionable, that little good for many years seems to have been done by either of them.

The effects of the disuse of the bible, as a school book have appeared of late in the neglect and even contempt with which scripture names are treated by many people. It is because parents have not been early taught to know or respect the characters and exploits of the old and new testament worthies, that their names are exchanged for those of the modern kings of Europe, or of the principal characters in novels and romances. I conceive there may be some advantage in bearing scripture names. It may lead the persons who bear them, to study that part of the scriptures, in which their names are mentioned, with uncommon attention, and perhaps it may excite a desire in them to possess the talents or virtues of their ancient namesakes. This remark first occurred to me, upon hearing a pious woman whose name was Mary, say, that the first passages of the bible, which made a serious impression on her mind, were those interesting chapters and verses in which the name of Mary is mentioned in the New Testament.

It is a singular fact, that while the names of the kings and emperors of Rome, are now given chiefly to horses and dogs scripture names have hitherto been confined only to the human species. Let the enemies and contemners of those names take care, lest the names of

more modern kings be given hereafter only to the same animals, and lest the names of the modern heroines of romances be given to animals of an inferior species.

It is with great pleasure, that I have observed the bible to be the only book read in the Sunday schools in England. We have adopted the same practice in the Sunday schools, lately established in this city. This will give our religion (humanly speaking) the chance of a longer life in our country. We hear much of the persons educated in free schools in England, turning out well in the various walks of life. I have enquired into the cause of it, and have satisfied myself, that it is wholly to be ascribed to the general use of the bible in those schools, for it seems the children of poor people are of too little consequence to be guarded from the supposed evils of reading the scriptures in early life, or in an unconsecrated school house.

However great the benefits of reading the scriptures in schools have been, I cannot help remarking, that these benefits might be much greater, did schoolmasters take more pains to explain them to their scholars. Did they demonstrate the divine original of the bible from the purity, consistency, and benevolence of its doctrines and precepts—did they explain the meaning of the levitical institutions, and show their application to the numerous and sucessive gospel dispensations—did they inform their pupils that the gross and abominable vices

of the Jews were recorded only as proofs of the depravity of human nature, and of the insufficiency of the law, to produce moral virtue and thereby to establish the necessity and perfection of the gospel system—and above all, did they often enforce the discourses of our Saviour, as the best rule of life, and the surest guide to happiness, how great would be the influence of our schools upon the order and prosperity of our country! Such a mode of instructing children in the christian religion, would convey knowledge into their understandings, and would therefore be preferable to teaching them creeds, and catechisms, which too often convey, not knowledge, but words only, into their memories. I think I am not too sanguine in believing, that education, conducted in this manner, would, in the course of two generations, eradicate infidelity from among us, and render civil government scarcely necessary in our country.

In contemplating the political institutions of the United States, I lament, that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes, and take so little pains to prevent them. We profess to be republicans, and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government, that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of christianity, by means of the bible; for this divine book, above all others, favours that equality among mankind, that respect for just laws, and all those sober

and frugal virtues, which constitute the soul of republicanism.

I have now only to apologize for havging addressed this letter to you, after having been assured by you, that your opinion, respecting the use of the bible as a school book, coincided with mine. My excuse for what I have done is, that I knew you were qualified by your knowledge, and disposed by your zeal in the cause of truth, to correct all the errors you would discover in my letter. Perhaps a further apology may be necessary for my having presumed to write upon a subject so much above my ordinary studies. My excuse for it is, that I thought a single mite from a member of a profession, which has been frequently charged with scepticism in religion, might attract the notice of persons who had often overlooked the more ample contributions upon this subject, of gentlemen of other professions. With great respect, I am, dear sir, your sincere friend.

BENJAMIN RUSH.

Philadelphia,

March 10, 1791.