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Joshua Bates's Lecture on Moral Education: Transcript

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Rome, or the Autocrat of Russia; but you do all you can to render them unfit for American citizens, Christian freemen, denizens of Heaven.

Thus in every good system of moral education, reason in connection with conscience, must be cultivated, exercised, and to a certain extent, left to follow out its own conclusions, free from the shackles of human authority. But since reason, at best, is exceedingly limited in its researches, and peculiarly liable to error in its conclusions, - since it is chained down to earth and limited by time - since its observations cannot reach other worlds, nor its eye penetrate the darkness of the grave, it must be aided by revelation; or it will fail to enlighten conscience, and guide securely in the path of duty and the way of life. You cannot take a single step in the business of educating immortal beings for immortal life, without the aid of that gospel, which "brings life and immortality to light." If then, you would train your children to virtue and happiness, you must proceed to the work, with the Bible in your hands, and the spirit of the Bible, or rather the Spirit of God in your heart; and you must so proceed, as to place this blessed book open, in the hands of your moral pupil, and lead him to read, believing, and seeking the same spirit to open his heart and instil into his bosom the sentiments and principles, which these Holy Oracles inculcate. Any system of moral education, which excludes the Holy Scriptures, must fail - forever fail, of securing the great object of moral discipline. Without the Bible you may, indeed, produce external morality - mechanical virtue - passive obedience to human authority; but you can never thus form a holy character, for the service - the everlasting service and enjoyment of a Holy God, - a character positively virtuous, resulting from principle, producing happiness, and enduring forever.

Another part of the human constitution, capable of being modified by education; and on account of its influence on moral character, requireing great care to secure its full development, and to furnish it with due restraint and proper regulation, is imagination. Without stopping here to define the term, I may remark, that all our sympathies and sensibilities depend very much on the vividness of the conceptions which awaken them. If, therefore, action is desired; and if activity is superinduced by feeling, it is evident that the more lively the imagination, the more powerful will be the excited emotion, and consequently the more prompt and vigorous the resulting

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action. Hence the cultivation and due regulation of the imagination became important, in a system of moral education - indispensable, indeed, to exalted virtue, to pure and permanent felicity. And hence peculiar watchfulness and care are requisite, lest this power in the youthful mind be suffered, on the one hand, to slumber, till sensibility dies, and the age of feeling is past; or, on the other, be permitted to run wild, till the awakened feeling breaks forth, like a mountain torrent, overpowering the judgment, and leading to unrestrained action and the inconsistent ravings of the wildest enthusiasm; or, what is worse still, be allowed to rouse the sympathies and play upon the sensibilities, while there is no room for action, and of course no active principles formed; till these susceptibilities are completely exhausted - till the springs of moral action lose their elasticity and power, and all moral sensibility is eradicated from the soul - till, in the language of sacred metaphor, the heart is hardened, the conscience seared, and the man past feeling! - It is a law of our nature (says Bishop Butler, and we may add a law exhibiting the wisdom and goodness of our Creator) "that passive impressions are weakened by repetition; while active principles are strengthened by exercise." Thus the emotion of pity, or compassion, is diminished by repeated scenes of distress; while, in the meantime, the principle of benevolent action, if kept in exercise, gathers strength by practice, at length settles into a confirmed habit of doing good, and will sometimes continue to operate powerfully and efficiently, almost without emotion. But, if no action follows the emotions of pity in their incipient state, and the susceptibility be suffered to wear away, and spend itself in unavailing sighs and tears, without establishing any active principle or forming any active habit, the very foundation of this virtue will be torn away; and the child or youth thus dealt with, will grow up to vice, hardness of heart, and perhaps deeds of cruelty and blood. Hence the importance of securing to the cause of virtue the first awakened emotions of the heart, by giving them the proper direction, and affordinig them opportunity to settle into principle and flow out in action. Hence, too, the danger of all excitement, which does not lead toa ction, or, at least, to a fixed and determined resolution, which partakes of the nature, and in a moral view, constitutes the essence of action. Hence, I may add, the pernicious consequences of novel reading and theatrical amusements, inasmuch as they rouse the imagination and awaken

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the sensibilities, often beyond the scenes of real life; and when ther eis no call for action, nor scarcely any for forming the purpose of action; inasmuch as the sensibilities of our nature are thus exhausted, the sympathies worn away, and the very foundations of virtue removed, before any habit of action is formed, or any active principle is superinduced. I know of no consideration of greater practical importance in its bearing on moral education, or more worthy of the regard of parents and teachers, than this. I have not time, however, to illustrate and enforce it, in this place. let it then be simply observed, that, in order at once, to develop, exercise, and control, the youthful imagination, and thus secure its influence to the cause of virtue and happiness, the whole course of early reading and observation should be watched over with parental solicitude, and directed by great wisdom and practical skill.

To these remarks on the culture and training of the conscience, the reason, and the imagination, I might add particular observations on the means of directing and controlling the passions, appetites, and various propensities; indeed, all the original susceptibilities and powers of the human mind. They are all capable of being modified by external circumstances; and are, therefore, more or less subject to the influence of education. But the statements already made, and the illustrations already given, present a view of Moral Education, sufficiently broad and extensive, for the purposes of this lecture.

The first practical observation, which this view of the subject suggests to my mind, is, that moral and intellectual education should never be separated. Indeed, the connection is so intimate, that neither of them can be carried to a high degree of perfection, without the aid of the other. Virtue is always favorable to high intellectual attainments, and to deep and persevering research after truth and science. While a well cultivated mind with enlarged and correct views of truth is essential to the exercise of the higher virtues, and to all successful efforts in the cause of benevolence and human happiness. It is true, a man may be a good man - pious and benevolent, with little knowledge and a contracted intellectual training; but his piety will be likely to degenerate into bigotry or fanaticism; and his benevolence into a sickly sensibility, or a pernicious liberality; at best, his good influence must be comparatively limited. It is true, likewise, that native genius, with the facilities now afforded for literary acquisition, though

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connected with licentiousness in sentiment and practice, may sometimes shoot forth its branches, covered with the richest foliage, and producing a luxuriant growth of fruit, beautiful to the eye and sweet to the taste. But its leaves will soon wither, and its fruit will always prove poisonous. The most brilliant talents, and the highest intellectual attainments, without moral and religious principle, will only enlarge the capacity of the possessor for mischief and misery - will make him more wretched in himself, and more injurious to the character and happiness of all, whom his influence can reach. Let moral and intellectual education, then, never be separated. If in any case the former must be limited, let the latter be limited with it. If the latter be granted upon a large and liberal scale, let the former come in for an equal share of interest and attention.

Hence I observe, secondly, that in every school and literary institution, from the highest to the lowest grade, provision should be made for moral and religious instruction. I know, it has been objected, that in these days of division and party strife, such instruction is liable to degenerate into mere dogmatism on the one hand, and blind credulity on the other. Such a result ought certainliy to be deprecated. Against the theory of education, calculated and designed to produce it, I have already entered my protest. And I now add, against every thing which has the least tendency to such a result, let provision be carefully made. Let no institution of learning, especially if it be a public incorporated institution, be placed under the exclusive patronage and control of any particular denomination of christians. Let the common school and the college be open, and equally open, to all. There let all stand on equal ground; and be encouraged alike, to inquire after truth with the utmost freedom, provided it be done with candor and reverence. Let all, who seriously worship God, be permitted to worship in the place and in the manner, which best harmonize with their views of truth and duty. Let there be no constraint placed upon conscience. Let these precautions be taken, and these rules observed; and moral and religious instruction may be freely and fully imparted, without even the charge of sectarian influence, without complaint, except from those who are opposed to all moral and religious instruction, every where; - "who love darkness and rejoice in iniquity." - The experiment has been fairly made, in many of our colleges and academies; and always I believe,

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with complete success. Complaints of partiality have, indeed, sometimes been made, but they might generally be traced to misapprehension or designed misrepresentation. I might appeal to any, and every serious, intelligent young man who has been ducated at the college with which I am connected, - an institution, I may be permitted to say, highly favored of Heaven and distinguished for its religious character, - as a witness on this subject - to declare whether he ever suffered the least inconvenience from his peculiar views, or his attachment to any particular denomination of christians. Some may have entered with fearful apprehensions, suggested by false reports; but none, (I speak of serious, intelligent men) ever came forth, complaining of unkind treatment, through sectarian partiality on the one hand, or antipathy on the other. As long then as a literary institution does not assume a sectarian name, nor exhibit a sectarian character, nor even become connected with any particular ecclesiastical organization - as long as all students are permitted to attend public worship, where they or their parents and guardians choose, religious instruction cannot degenerate into sectarian bigotry, nor invade the rights of conscience. The experiment, I say, of imparting moral and religious instruction, without interfering with the peculiar views and conscientious practices of any serious person, has been made; and made with complete success, - on the other hand, I now add, that the attempt to establish and sustain institutions of learning, without religion, or religious instruction, has likewise been made; but the attempt, in every instance, with which I am acquainted, has resulted in an entire failure; or the failure has been prevented by a complete new-modeling of the plan. And so intimately are moral and intellectual education connected, and so mutually are they dependant on each other, that we may safely conclude that the result of every similar experiment will be the same.

Against the position we are maintaining, it has been farther urged as an objection, that there cannot be much attention paid to the subject of religion in a literary institution; - especially as the subject, in these days, is made so exciting and engrossing, without encroachment on the hours of study; and of course, without depressing the standard of scholarship. Now suppose this were true, in some extreme cases, would the objection even then be valid? - would it justify, in a system of education, a disregard to the most interesting and mo-

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mentous subject, which can be presented to the human mind? - would a little more abstract science, or polite literature, compensate for the want of the practical science of "life and immortality" - for the desecration of talents - for the loss of the soul! But it is not true; - as a general statement, it is wide from the truth. Idlers, to be sure, will be idle, whether under the cloak of religion, or in the undisguised garb of infidelity and licentiousness. Still attention - deep and absorbing attention to spiritual and eternal things, need not, and gnerally does not retard the progress of intellectual improvement. It reclaims from indolence and vain pursuits, more hours than it demands for the service of the Redeemer in acts of devotion. Where one youth is drawn away from his studies, and retarded in his literary career, by undue attention to the subject of religion, and excessive solicitude for the salvation of his sould, many, in seasons of general inquiry, and "times of refreshing from the presence of the lord," are reclaimed from a course, which would have ended in dissipation, idleness, and ruin. And not a few seem to awake, for the first time, to the pursuits of learning, when they are thus roused from their moral lethargy. It cannot, indeed, be denied, that a revival of religion, in a literary institution, as well as in every other community, with all its rich and precious blessings, often comes attended with much evil. Like every other blessing, when abused, this becomes a curse to those who pervert or despise it - who harden themselves against correction, resist the kindly influences of the Spirit of truth and love, ridicule the work of the Lord, and reproach and revile those, who are employed, as his instruments, in carrying it forward. But shall we forego the great and permanent good, through fear of the temporary and limited evil? Because light rejected, and privileges abused, increase guilt and condemnation in those, who close their eyes against the one and pervert the other, shall we strive to conceal the light, and tear away the most precious privileges, from those who love them, and to whom they are a "savor of life unto life?" Because moral and religious instruction may be disregarded, and being disregarded, become the occasion of aggravated guilt and increased condemnation to some, shall we withhold this instruction from all? Because he that resisteth the Spirit of God, is in danger of being given over to "hardness of heart and blindness of mind," shall we cease to pray for those spiritual influences by which alone men are sanctified and saved?

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Because some young men of licentious principles, with hearts already hardened, and consciences already seared, creep into our colleges and academies, and there profane the name and word of God; and do despite the Spirit of his grace, shall we all cease to adore that name, read that word, and pray for that Spirit; and thus give up all efforts to promote the cause of the Redeemer, lest these enemies of the cross of Christ should be offended, and take occasion to blaspheme? No; no; when the moral and religious influence, which has so long been diffused over most of the literary institutions of New England, shall be withdrawn, they will not be worth preserving - their light will have gone out, and their glory will have departed forever. No; no; let us never cease to pray for the diffusion of this heavenly grace upon them; nor fail to exert ourselves to preserve and increase this benign influence over them; though some, (as scoffers ever have done) continue to mock, despise, wonder, and perish!

A third obvious remark, suggested by the view we have taken of this subject, is, that the Bible ought to be used in all our schools from the highest and lowest, either as a reading book, or a classic - either to be studied in the original languages, or to be read and expounded in our vernacular tongue.

Another equally obvious and important practical remark is, that a good moral character and correct moral sentiments are indispensable qualifications in a teacher of children and youth, - qualifications, for the want of which, no intellectual qualities or literary and scientific attainments can atone. But time will not allow me to attempt an illustration of these and other practical remarks, which naturally flow from this copious subject.

To induce parents, guardias, and instructers, with all, who are so situated as to be able to exert an influence, direct or more remote, on the cause of education and the destinies of the rising generation, to apply the principles of this discourse to practical purposes, both in the family, in the primary school, and in the academy or college, let the importance of the subject, in its bearing on individual character and happiness, and on the preservation of our civil institutions, and the welfare of our country, to be carefully considered.

Parents, Guardians, Instructers, the consequences, which are to flow from the manner in which you regard and treat this subject, are of no ordinary character. They are of great moment and permanet interest, extending to your country

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- your whole country, and the world; and taking hold on eternity. Were the children whom you are educating, and the youth under your care and instruction, designed to live for a few days or years only; and then to die like the beasts that perish - die, and lose all their powers and susceptibilities - die, and cease to be: - or were you and they in a land of despotism, where no one is permitted to think or act for himself, Moral Education would be impractiable; or, if in any measure practicable, of little impotance. To attempt to train children or youth to the exercise of reason and self-goverment, would then be a vain and useless attempt. - But you are not thus situated. Nor are the objects of your guardian care and paternal solicitude, the mere children of earth and time. They are moral agents, and accountable beings. They possess immortal souls. They are in a course of education for eternity. They are capable of action; voluntary action; in its consequences, never-ending action. They are susceptible of happiness and misery - endless happiness and eternal misery. And this happiness, or this misery, will depend on the characters they form - on their principles and habits - in large sense, on their moral education. You live, too, in a land of liberty, under free institutions; where freedom of inquiry, freedom of speech, and freedom of action, are enjoyed in a high degree; - where men possess as great a measure of personal liberty as is consistent with public safety, and social order. Much, therefore - very much depends on the fidelity with which you discharge the duties, that result from your relation to your children, your wards, your pupils; - much, as it regards their happness here and hereafter; and much, as it regards the institutions and welfare of our beloved country. What is to become of these institutions, and this country? How are they to be preserved? Do you answer, by intellectual education - by diffusing knowledge through all the ranks of society? This, unquestionably, is important - indispensable to the preservation of civil liberty and to the security of social order. but will this alone accomplish the object - is this the grand conservative principle of our government? Of what avail is knowledge, without virtue - intelligence, without moral principle - the education of the head, without connecting it with the education of the heart? The tendency, as it regards moral influence on political action, in our country, seems to be continually downward; and unless this downward course should

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be speedily and effectually arrested, it must, sooner or later, sweep away our free institutions, and bring upon the country the desolating scourge of anarchy, or the iron hand of despotism! I dare not look forward upon a scene so dark and dismal! I dare not contemplate in prospect the recurrence of a French revolution, on American soil! I dare not anticipate the time, when infidelity, licentiousness, and violece, with giant-strides may traverse our country, in all its length and breadth; deluging it in blood, and sweeping it from the besom of destruction. I would rather turn from this dark side of the picture; and though it may prove but an optical illusion, view a brighter scene. I would rather indulge the hope, that some new and mighty moral influence, under the fostering hand of education, and through the kind interposition of Providence, may come in, and stay this downward course - sustain our tottering institutions, and save our country!

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