THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY X We ILLINOIS smm » ESSAYS, Itteravp, ittotal $ Pjilofopfitcal Br BENJAMIN R USH, M. D. / AND PROFESSOR OF THE INSTITUTES OF MEDICINE AND CLINICAL PRACTICE IN THE Univerfity of Pennfylvania. BfB CO P+ Pljifcmelpljia; PRINTED BT THOMAS & SAMUEL F. BRADFORD , N°. 8, SOUTH FRONT STREET. 1798 . I I J \ \ % OF FRATERNAL AFFECTION, . l ' i THE FOLLOWING ESSAYS ARE INSCRIBED T$ JACOB RUSH, V , Judge of the Third Diftrift of Penn fy lvar.ia. By his Friend And Brother, THE AUTHOR. I , January g> 17 98* * ■f i'' •- ^ 1 * ■ - • , ' r, , * * ' .A awput . i t’J'f-i "••VI':! 1 -A N ■ - r ♦ v .. i a ’■ . li i f ■ ■V . J V: ’ PREFACE. Most of the following EiTays were publifhed in the Mufeum, and Columbi¬ an Magazine, in this City, foon after the end of the revolutionary war in the United States. A few of them made their firft appearance in pamphlets. They are now publifhed in a fingle volume, at the requeft of feveral friends, and with a view of promoting the ends at firft con¬ templated by them. Two of the EiTays, viz: that upon the ufe of Tobacco, and the account of remarkable circumftances in the conftitution and life of Ann Woods, are now fubmitted for the firft time to the eye of the public. The author has omitted in this collection two pamphlets which he publifhed in the year 1772, upon the flave- ry of the Negroes, becaufe he conceived the objcCt of them had been in part aecom- PREFACE. plifhed, and becaufe the Citizens of the United States have (ince that time been fur- nilhed from Great Britain and other coun- % tries, with numerous tradls upon that fub- jedf, more calculated to complete the effe& intended by the author, than his early pub¬ lications. « BENJAMIN RUSH. Philadelphia y Jan, 9 , 179 &. i 4 / i TABLE OF CONTENTS. A Page PLAN for eftablilhing Public Schools in Pennfylvanla, and for conducing Education agreeably to a Republican form of Go¬ vernment. Addrefled lo the Legiflature and Citizens of Pcnn- fylvania, in the year 17S6, 7 Of the mode of Education proper in a Republic, i Obfervations upon the ftudy of the Latin and Greek languages, as a branch of liberal Education, with hints of a plan of liberal Inftru&ion, without them, accomodated to the prefent ftate of fcciety, manners and government in the United States, ■%? Thoughts upon the amufements and puniihments, which are proper for Schools, 57 Thoughts upon Female Education, accomodated to the prefent Rate of fociety, manners and government, in the United States of America, 7^ A defence of the Bible as a School Book, , 93 An addrefs to the Miniftcrs of the Gofpel of every denomination in the United States upon fubje&s interelling to morals, 114 An inquiry into the confiftency of Oaths with Chriftianity, 135 • I An enquiry into the Effe&s of Public Puniihments upon Criminals, and upon Society, i^S An enquiry into the confiftcncy of the Punifhmcnt of Murder by Death, with Reafon and Revelation, 164 A plan of a Peace Office for the United States, 183 Information to Europeans who are difpofed to migrate to the United States of America, 1S9' f 4 TABLE O F CONTENTS. An Account of the Progrefs of Population, Agriculture, Manners* 'and Government, in Pennfylvania. 2,13 V An Account of the manners, of the German Inhabitants of Pennfyl¬ vania, 226 Thoughts on common fenfe, 249 An Account of the Vices peculiar to the Indians of North America, 257 Gbfervations upon the influence of the Habitual ufe of Tobacco upon Health, Morals, and Property, ‘ * 263 An account of the Sugar Maple Tree of the United States, 27 5 An account of the life and death of Edward Drinker, who died on the 17 of November, 17S2, in the 103 year of hi^ age, 295 Remarkable circumftances in the confutation and life of Ann Woods, an old woman of 96 years of age, _ 301 Eicgraphical Anecdotes of Benjamin Lay, 305 Biographical Anecdotes of Anthony Benezet, 311 Paradife of Negro Slaves — a dream, 305 Eulogium upon Dr. William Cullen, 321. Eulogium upon David Rittenhoufe, 34-3 ©Taps, LITERARY, MORAL, AND PHILOSOPHICAL. --—. A ELAN FOR ESTABLISHING PUBLIC SCHOOLS Ilf PENNSYLVANIA, AND FOR CONDUCTING EDUCA¬ TION AGREEABLY TO A REPUBLICAN FORM OF GO¬ VERNMENT. ADDRESSED TO THE LEGISLATURE AND CITIZENS OF PENNSYLVAN I A, IN THt YEAR 17 86. B EFORE I proceed to the fubje£t of this cf- fay, I (hall point out, in a few words, the influence and advantages of learning upon mankind. I. It is friendly to religion, inafmuch as it aflifts in removing prejudice, fuperftition and enthuflafm, in promoting juft notions of the Deity, and in enlarging # V our knowledge of his works. II. It is favourable to liberty. Freedom can exifl only in the fociety of knowledge. Without learning, v men are incapable of knowing their rights, and where learning is confined to a few people, liberty can be neither equal nor univerfal. B « \ f £ A PLAN FOR ESTABLISHING PUBLIC v: f r + * : : S III. It promotes juft ideas of laws and govern- * . t ment. (f When the clouds of ignorance are dif- . v •• * pelled (fays 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 pleafures of fociety and converfation. ; * « r ' • i' | V. It promotes agriculture, the great bafis of na¬ tional wealth and happinefs. Agriculture is as much a fcicnce as hydraulics, or optics, and has been equally indebted to the experiments and refearches of learned men. The highly cultivated ftate, and the immenfe 4 • * j profits of the farms in England, are derived wholly from the patronage which agriculture has received • ... ; f. * j in that country, from learned men and learned focieties. VI. Manufactures of all kinds owe their perfection chiefly to learning—hence the nations of Europe advance in manufactures, knowledge, and com¬ merce, only in proportion as they cultivate the arts and fciences. For the purpofe of diffufing knowledge through every part of the ftate, I beg leave to propofe the following fimple plan. I. Let there be one univerfity in the ftate, and let this be efublifhed in the capital. Let law, phyfic, divifiity, the law of nature and nations, oeconomy, &c. be taught in it by public leCtures in the winter feafon 5 SCHOOLS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 3 after the manner of the European univerfities, and let the' profeflors receive fuch falaries from the ftate as will enable them to deliver their lectures at a moderate price. II. Let there be four colleges. One in Philadelphia j one at Carlifle j a third, for the benefit of our German fellow citizens, at Lancafter ; and a fourth, fome years hence at Pittfburg. In thefe colleges, let young men be inftrudted in mathematics and in the higher branches of fcience, in the fame manner that they are now taught in our American colleges. After they have received a teftimonial from one of thefe colleges, let them, if they can afford it, complete their ftudies by fpending a feafon or two in attending the lectures in the univerfity. I prefer four colleges in the ftate to one or two, for there is a certain fize of colleges as" there is of towns and armies, that is moft favourable to morals and good government. Oxford and Cam¬ bridge in England are the feats of difiipation, while the more numerous, and lefs crouded univerfities and colleges in Scotland, are remarkable for the order, diligence, and decent behaviour of their ftudents. III. Let there be free fchools eftablifhed in every townfhip, or in diftridts confifling of one hundred families. In thefe fchools let children be taught to read and write the Englifh and German languages, and the ufe of figures. Such of them as have parents that can afford to fend them from home, and are difpofed to extend their educations, may remove their children from the free fchool to one of the colleges. 4 A PLAN FOR ESTABLISHING PUBLIC By this plan the whole Hate will be tied together by one fyftem of education. The univerfity will in time furnifli mailers for the colleges, and the colleges will furnifli mailers for the free fchools, while the free fchools, in their turns, will fupply the colleges and the univerfity with fcholars, Iludents and pupils. The fame fyllems of grammar, oratory and philofophy, will be taught in every part of the Hate, and the literary features of Pennfylvania will thus defig- nate one great, and equally enlightened family. But, how fiiall we bear the expenfe of thefc § literary inllitutions ?-1 anfwer—Thefe inllitutions will lejfen our taxes. They will enlighten us in the great bufinefs of finance—they will teach us to en- creafe the ability of the Hate to fupport government, by encreafing the profits of agriculture, and by pro¬ moting manufactures. They will teach us all the modern improvements and advantages of inland navi¬ gation. They will defend us from hafty and expen five experiment in government, by unfolding to us the experience and folly of paft ages, and thus, inftead of adding to our taxes and debts, they will furnifli us with the true fecret of leflening and difeharging both of them. But, fhall the ellates of orphans, batchelors and perfons who have no children, be taxed to pay for the fupport of fchools from which they can derive no benefit ? I anfwer in the affirmative, to the firlt SCHOOLS IN PENNSYLVANIA* $ t. part of the objection, and I deny the truth of the latter part of it. Every member of the community is interefled in the propagation of virtue and knowledge in the {fate. But I will go further, and add, it will be true ceconomy in individuals - to fupport public fchools. The batchelor will in time fave his tax for this purpofe, by being able to ileep with fewer bolts and locks to his doors—the eflates of orphans will in lime be benefited, by being protefled from the ravages of unprincipled and idle boys, and the children of wealthy parents will be lefs tempted, by bad company, to extravagance. Fewer pillories and whipping polls, and fmaller goals, with their ufual expenfes and taxes, will be ne- ceffary when our youth are properly educated, than at prefent; I believe it could be proved, that the expenes of confining, trying and executing criminals, amount every year, in moft of the counties, to more money than would be fufficient to maintain all the fchools that would be necefiary in each county. The confeflions of thefe criminals generally fhow us, that their vices and punifhments are the fatal confe- quences of the want of a proper education in early life. I fubmit thefe detached hints to the confideration of the legiflature and of the citizens of Penfylvania. The plan for the free fchools is taken chiefly from the plans which have long been ufed with fuccefs in I 6 ©F THE MODE OF EDUCATION' Scotland, and in the eaftern Hates * 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 thefe fchools fliould be fup- ported and governed—the modes of determining the characters and qualifications of fchoolmafters, and the arrangement of families in each diftrict, fo that children of the fame religious feel and nation, may be educa- as much as poflible together, will form a proper part of a law for the eftablifhment of fchools, and there¬ fore does not come within the limits of this plan. OF THE MODE OF EDUCATION PROPER. IN A REPUBLIC. % T HE bufinefs of education has acquired a new complexion by the independence of our country. The form of government we have aflumed, has created a new clafs of duties to every American. It becomes us, therefore, to examine our former habits upon this fubje£l, and in laying the * Ihire are 600 of thefe fchools in the fmall ftate of Connecticut, wh c 1 at this time have in them 25, 000 fcholars. PROPER IN A REPUBLIC * foundations for nurferies of wife and good men, to adapt our modes of teaching to the peculiar form of our government. The firfl remark that I fhall make upon this fubje£t is, that an education in our own, is to be preferred to an education in a foreign country. The principle of patriotifm ftands in need of the reinforcement of prejudice, and it is well known that our ftrongeft prejudices in favour of our country are formed in the firft 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 lioftages for the fulfillment of a diftant engagement, thofe wife republicans refufed to comply with his de¬ mand, but readily offered him double the number of * • * * • their adult citizens, whofe habits and prejudices could not be fhaken by refiding in a foreign country. Faffing by, in this place, the advantages -to the community « • from the early attachment of youth to the laws and conflitution of their country, I fhall only remark, that * young men who have trodden the paths of fciencc r • 4 _ t .: , j. together, or have joined in the fame fports, whether of » fwimming, fcating, fifhing, or hunting, generally feel, • ■ j , t thro’ life, fuch ties to each other, as add greatly to the obligations of mutual benevolence. 0 l ^ I conceive the education of our youth in this country to be peculiarly neceffary in Pennfylvania, while our citizens are compofed of the natives of fo many diffe- f ** % rent kingdoms in Europe. Our fchools of learning, . S OF THE MODE OF EDUCATION by producing one general, and uniform fyftem of education, will render the mafs of the people more homogeneous, and thereby fit them more eafily for uniform and peaceable government. I proceed in the next place, to enquire, what mode of education we fhall adopt fo as to fecure to the ftate all the advantages that are to be derived from the proper inftrudlion of youth j and here I beg leave to remark, that the only foundation for a ufeful 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 objedl and life of all republican governments. Such is my veneration for every religion that reveals the attributes of the Deity, or a future ftate of rewards and punilhments, that I had rather fee the opinions of Confucius or Mahomed inculcated upon our youth, than fee them grow up w r holly devoid of a fyftem of religious principles. But the religion I mean to recommend in this place, is that of the New Tefta- ment. It is foreign to my purpofe to hint at the arguments which eftablifh the truth of the Chriftian revelation. My only bufinefs is to declare, that all its doctrines and precepts are calculated to promote the happinefs of fociety, and the fafety and well being of civil govern¬ ment. A Chriftian cannot fail of being a republican. The kiftory of the creation of man, and of the relation /• >> -f. V ' ' . V* • ' PROPER IN A REPUBLIC '9 A. . • of our fpecies to each other by birth, which is recorded in the Old Teftament, is the beft refutation that can . - * * ■ i 1 ■ be given to the divine right of kings, and the ftrongeft argument that can be ufed in favor of the original and natural equality of all mankind. A Chriftian, I fay again, cannot fail of being a republican, for every precept of the Gofpel inculcates thofe degrees of hu¬ mility, felf-denial, and brotherly kindnefs, which are diredlly oppofed to. the pride of monarchy and the • ■ i #• • pageantry of a court. A Chriftian cannot fail of being ufefui to the republic, for his religion teacheth him, that no man u liveth to himfelf.” * And lallly, a Chriftian cannot fail of being wholly inoffenfive, for his religion teacheth him, in all things to do to others what he would wifh, in like circumftances, they fhould do to him. * y. ~ . • ' r r .c . I am aware that I diffent from one of thofe paradox- ical opinions with which modern times abound; and that it is improper to fill the minds of youth vrith religious prejudices of any kind, and that they fhould be left to choofe their own principles, after they have arrived at an age in which they are capable of judging for themfelves. Could we preferve 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 impoftible. The human mind runs as » k naturally into principles as it does after fadts. It ■ # # • i fubmits with difficulty to thofe reftraints or partial C 10 0F THE MODE OF EDUCATION difcoveries which are impofed upon it in the infancy of X reafon. Hence the impatience of children to be in¬ formed upon all fubjedls that relate to the invifible world. But I beg leave to afk, why fhould we puriue a different plan of education with refpedl to religion, from that which we purfue in teaching the arts and fciences ? Do we leave our youth to acquire fyflems of geography, philofophy, or politics, till they have arrived at an age in which they are capable of judging for themfelves ? We do not. I claim no more then for religion, than for the other fciences, and I add fur¬ ther, that if our youth are dilpofed after they are of age to think for themfelves, a knowledge of one fyftem, will be the belt means of conducting them in a free enquiry into other fyflems of religion, juft as an acquaintance with one fyftem of philofophy is the beft introduction to the ftudy of all the other fyflems in the world. Next to the duty which young men owe to their Creator, I with to fee a regard to their country, incul¬ cated upon them. When the Duke of Sully became prime minifler to Henry the IVth of France, the firft thing he did, he tells us, “ Was to fubdue and forget “ his own heart.” The fame duty is incumbent upon every citizen of a republic. Our country includes family, friends and property, and fhould be preferred to them all. Let our pupil be taught that he does not belong to himfelf, but that he is public property. Let him be taught to love his family, but let him be PROPER IN A REPUBLIC. II taught,at the fame time, that he mult forfake, and even forget them ; when the welfare of his country requires it. He mud watch for the date, as if its liberties depended upon his vigilance alone, but he mud do this in luch a manner as not to defraud his creditors, or neglect his family. He mud love private life, but he mud decline no dation, however public or refponfible it may be, when called to it by the fuffrages of his fellow citizens. He mud love popularity, but he mud defpife it when fet in competition with the didiates of his judgement, or the real intered of his country. He mud love character, and have a due fenfe of injuries, but he mud be taught to appeal only to the laws of the date, to defend the one, and punifh the other. He mud love family honour, but he mud be taught that neither the rank nor antiquity of his ancedors, can command refpedt, without perfonal merit. He mud avoid neutrality in all quedions that divide the date, but he mud {him the rage, and acrimony of party fpir- it. He mud be taught to love his fellow creatures in every part of the world, but he mud cheridi with a more intenfe and peculiar affedlion, the citizens of Pennfylvania and of the United States. 1 do not wifli to fee our youth educated with a fingle prejudice againd any nation or country ; but we impofe a tafk upon human nature, repugnant alike to reafon, revelation and the ordinary dimenfions of the human heart, when we require him to embrace, with equal affedlion, the whole family of mankind. He mud be taught to am ad 52 OF THE MODE OF EDUCATION wealth, but it mud be only to encreafe his power of -contributing to the wants and demands of the flate. ' * He mull be indulged occafionally in amufements, but he mud be taught that ftudy and bufinefs fhould be his principal purfuits in life. Above all he mud love life, and endeavour to acquire as many of its convenien- ^ . . i » w « * ' . ■ * ■ ces as poffible by induftry and economy, but he mud be taught that this life “ is not his own,” when the fafety cf his country requires it. Thefe are praCtica- ble lefions, and the hiftory of the commonwealths of Greece and Rome (how, that human nature, without i ' ’ the aids of Chriftianity, has attained thefe degrees of perfection. While we inculcate thefe republican duties upon our pupil, we mult not negleCt, at the fame time, to infpire him with republican principles. He mud be taught - • • * % r , . that there can be no durable liberty but in a republic, > * . ’ ' . • and that government, like all other fciences, is of a .... ’ / progrelhve nature. The chains which have bound this f . 1 * -i ■ ' fcience in Europe are happily unloofed in America. .** > Here it is open to inveftigation and improvement. t • • ' While philofophy has protected us by its difcoveries from a thoufand natural evils, government has unhap- * .v . pily followed with an unequal pace. It would be to difhonour human genius,only to name the many defects which ft ill exift in the belt fyftems of legiflation. We t . % f * ' \ daily fee matter of a periihable nature rendered durable by certain chemical operations. In like man¬ ner, I conceive, that it is poffible to combine power in PROPER IN A REPUBLIC. *3 fuch a way as not only to encreafe the happinefs, but to promote the duration of republican forms of government far beyond the terms limited for them by hiftory, or the common opinions of mankind. To afTift in rendering religious, moral and political inftrudtion more effectual upon the minds of our youth, it will be necefiary to fubjsdt their bodies to phyfical dis¬ cipline. To obviate the inconveniences of their ftudious and fedentary mode of life, they fhould live upon a temperate diet, confifting 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 fhould avoid tailing Spirituous liquors. They fhould alfo be accuftomed occafionally to work with their hands, in the intervals of Study, and in the bufy feafons of the year in the country. Moderate fieep, filence, occafional folitude and cleanlinefs, fhould , ' f * * be inculcated upon them, and the utmofl advantage fhould be taken of a proper diredlion of thofe great principles in human condudt,-—fenfibility, habit, imitations and aflociation. I*; •' t ‘S • The influence of thefe phyfical caufes will be power¬ ful upon the intellects, as well as upon the principles and morals of young people. ■ • To thofe who have ftudied human nature, it will not appear paradoxical to recommend, in this eflay, a particular attention to vocal mufic. Its mechanical *4 » . « - '* > / . 'i ' •• , / % m 14 OF THE MODE OF EDUCATION effects in civilizing the mind, and thereby preparing it for the influence of religion and government, have been fo often felt and recorded, that it will be unneceffary to mention facts in favour of its ufefulnefs, in order to excite a proper attention to it. I cannot help bearing a teftimony, in this place, againft the cuftom, which prevails in fome parts of America, (but which is daily falling into difufe in Europe) of crouding boys together under one roof for the purpofe of education. The practice is the gloomy remains of monkifh ignorance, and is as unfavorable to the improvements of the mind in ufeful learning, as monafteries are to the fpirit of religion. I grant this mode of fecluding boys from the intercourfe of private families, has a tendency to make them fcholars, but our bufinefs is to make them men, citizens and chriftians. The vices of young people are generally learned from each other. The vices of adults feldcm infeft them. By feparating them from each other, therefore, in their hours of relaxation fromftudy, we fecure their morals from a principal fource of corruption, while we improve their manners, by fubjecting them to thofe reftraints which the difference of age and fex, naturally produce in private families. From the obfervations that have been made it is plain, that I confider it is poffible to convert men into repub¬ lican machines. This mud be done, if we expe£t them to perform their parts properly, in the groat machine PROPER IN A REPUBLIC. *5 of the government of the ftate. That republic is fophif- ticated with monarchy or ariftrocracy that does not revolve upon the wills of the people, and thefe mud be fitted to each other by means of education before they can be made to produce regularity and unifon in go¬ vernment. Having pointed out thofe general principles, which fhould be inculcated alike in alt the fchools of the ftate, I proceed now to make a few remarks upon the method of conducing, what is commonly called, a liberal or learned education in a republic. I {hall begin this part of my fubje£t, by bearing a teftimony againft the common pra£tice of attempting to teach boys the learned languages, and the arts and fciences too early in life. The firft twelve years of life are barely fufficient to inftruffc a boy in reading, writing and arithmetic. With thefe, he may be taught thofe modern languages which are necefiary for him to fpeak. The ftate of the memory, in early life, is favorable to the acquifition of languages, efpeeially when they are conveyed to the mind, through the ear. • % It is, moreover, in early life only, that the organs of fpeech yield in fuch a manner as to favour the juft 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 ftudy of the Greek language conftituted a material part of the literature 1 6 or THE MODE OF EDUCATION •» of the Athenians, hence the fublimity, purity and immortality of fo many of their writings. The ad¬ vantages of a perfedt knowledge of our language to young men intended for the profeflions of law, phyfic, or divinity are too obvious to be mentioned, but in a date which boafts of the firft commercial city in America, I wifh to fee it cultivated by young men, who are intended for the compting houfe, for many fuch, I hope, will be educated in our colleges. The time is pad when an academical education was thought to be unneceflary to qualify a young man for merchan¬ dize. I conceive no profeffion is capable of receiv¬ ing more embellilhments from it. The French and > German languages fhould likewife be carefully taught in all our Colleges. They abound with ufeful books upon all fubjedls. So important and neceffary are thofe languages, that a degree fhould never be con¬ ferred upon a young man who cannot fpeak or tranilate them. r Connected with the ftudy of languages is the itudy of Eloquence. It is well known how great a part it conftituted of the Roman education. It is the firft accomplishment in a republic, and often fets the whole machine of government in motion. Let our youth, therefore, be inftrufted in this art. We do not extol it too highly /.when we attribute as much to the power of eloquence as to the fword, in bring¬ ing about the American revolution. / I I ,-y PROPER IN A REPUBLIC 17 With the ufual arts and fciences that are taught in 4 our American colleges, I wifh to fee a regular courfe of lectures given upon Hiflory and Chronology* The fcience of government, whether it related to conftitutions or laws, can only be advanced by a care- . ful fele£tion of fa£ts ; and thefe are to be found chiefly in hiilory. Above all, let our youth be inftru£ted in the hiilory of the ancient republics, and the pro- grefs of liberty and tyranny in the different {lares of Europe. I wifh likewife to fee the numerous fadls that relate to the origin and prefent ftate of commerce, together with the nature and principles of Money, reduced to fucha fyflem, as to be intelligible and a- creeable to a young man. If we confider the com¬ et J o merce of our metropolis only as the avenue of the wealth of rhe ftate, the fludy of it merits a place in a young man’s education ; but, I confider commerce in a much higher light when I recommend the fludy of it in republican feminaries. I view it as the be ft fecurity againft the. influence of hereditary monopolies of land, and, therefore, the fureft protection againft ariitocracy. I confider its effects as next to thofe of religion in humanizing mankind, and laftly, I view it as the means of uniting the different nations of the world together by the ties of mutual wants and obligations. © -.. t rp ' . i : • Chemiftry by unfolding to us the effects. of heat and mixture, enlarges our acquaintance with the *' . - wonders of nature and the myftcries of art; hence D l8 ©F THE MODE OF EDUCATION it 1ms become, in mod of the univerfities of Europe, a pieceflary branch of a gentleman’s education. In a young country, where improvements in agriculture and manufactures are fo much to be defired, the cultiva¬ tion of this fcience, which explains the principles of both of them, (hould be confidered as an objeCt of the utmoft importance. Again, let your youth be inftruCted in all the means of promoting national profperity and inde¬ pendence, whether they relate to improvements in agriculture, manufactures, or inland navigation. Let him be inftruCted further in the general principles + 9 # 4 • of legiflation, whether they relate to revenue, or to the prefervation of life, liberty or property. Let him be directed frequently to attend the courts of juft ice, where he will have the bdt opportunities- of acquairing habits of comparing, and arranging his ideas by obferving the difcovery of truth, in the examination of witnefies, and where he will hear the laws of the ftaie explained, with all the advan¬ tages of that fpecies of eloquence which belongs to the bar. Of fo much importance do I conceive it to be, to a young man, to attend occafionally to the deciftons of our courts of law, that I with to fee cur colleges eftablifhed, only in county towns. But further, confidering the nature of our con¬ nection with the United States, it will be necefiary to make our pupil acquainted with all the prerogatives ' PROPER IN A REPUBLIC. *9 of the national government. Me mud be inftru£ted / in the nature and variety of treaties. He mud know the difference in the powers and duties of the feveral fpecies of ambaffadors. He muff be taught wherein the obligations of individuals and of dates are the fame, and wherein they differ. In fhort, he mud accquire a general knowledge of all thofe laws and forms, which unite the fovereigns of the earth, or feparate them from each other. J - , r | • A> { ♦ />S •' , , . t. . k l « ■ -- •»«» « — * ' I beg pardon for having delayed fo long to fay any thing of the feparate and peculiar mode of education proper for women in a republic. I am fenfible that they mud concur in all our plans of of education for young men, or no laws will eve^ render them effectual. To qualify our women for ' V this purpofe, they fhould not only be indru£ted in the ufual branches of female education, but they fhould be taught the principles of liberty and go¬ vernment ; and the obligations of patriotifm fhould be inculcated upon them. The opinions and conduct of men are often regulated by the women in the mod arduous enterprizes of life ; and their approbation is frequently the principal rev/ard of the hero’s dangers, and the patriot’s toils. Befides, the fird impreffions upon the minds of children are gene- raly derived from the women. Of how much con- fequence, therefore, is it in a republic, that they fhould think judly upon the great fubjects of liberty and government ! 20 OF THE MODE OF EDUCATION, &C. 1 | The complaints that have been made againft religion, liberty and learning, have been, againft each of them in a feparate ftate. Perhaps like certain liquors, they fhould only be ufed in a ftate of mixture. They mutually affift in correcting the abufes, 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 thefe, upon govern¬ ment, and of government, upon individuals, it is • r * impoflible to meafure the degrees of happinefs and perfection to which mankind may be raifed. For my part, I can form no ideas of the golden age, fo much celebrated by the poets, more delightful, than the contemplation of that happinefs which it is now in K the power of the legiflature of Permfylvania to confer upon her citizens, by eftablifhing proper modes and places of education in every part of the ftate. 9 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. I T requires the recolle&ion of efcapes from s. lion and a bear, to encounter the flrong and univerfai prejudice, in favor of the Latin and Greek languages, as a neceflary branch of liberal education, if, in combating this formidable enemy of human reafon, I fhouid be lefs fuccesful than the Hebrew {tripling was in contending with the giant of the Philiftines, I hope it will be aferibed wholly to the want of fkill to direct arguments, which, in other hands, would lay this tyrant in the dull. I {hall attempt to difeufs this queftion, by firft deliv¬ ering a few general propofitions. I fhall afterwards apply thefe propofitions, and anfwer fuch arguments as are ufually urged in favor of the Latin and Greek languages as neceffary parts of an academic education. I. The great defign of a liberal education is, to prepare youth for ufefulnefs here, and for happinefs hereafter. It OBSERVATIONS ON THE STUDY OF THE - • •»*•••# msm * II. The proper time for acquiring the neceflary branches of knowledge for thefe important purpofes, is in the firft eighteen years of life. III. From four to five years are ufually fpent in acquiring a competent knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages. IV. The knowledge of things always preceeds the knowledge o£ words. Children difcover the truth of this obfervation every day. They know all the objects around them, long before they are able to call them by their proper names, or even to artU culate founds of any kind. It is fuppofed that children acquire more ideas of things in the firft three years of their lives, than they acquire in any thirty years afterwards. V. The acquifition of words leflens the ability of the mind to acquire ideas. That underftanding muft have uncommon ftrength, which does no{ contract an oblique direction by being employed four or five years in learning the Latin or Greek languages. . r VI. The difficulty of acquiring thofe dead languages, and the little pleafure which accompanies the knowledge of them in early life, occafion. the principal obftacles to teaching, in mafters, and learning, in fcholars. • LATIN AX ID GREEK LANGUAGES. 2 3 The famous Bulby is faid to have died of (C bad Latinthat is, the ungrammatical verfions of his fcholars broke his heart. How few boys relifli Latin and Greek leffons! The pleafure they fometimes difcover in learning them, is derived either from the talcs they read, or from a competition, which awak- 1 ens a love of honour, and which might be dif- played upon a hundred more ufeful fubje&s •, or it may arife from a defire of gaining the good will of their mailers or parents. Where thefe incentives? are wanting, how bitter does the ftudv of languages render that innocent period of life, which feems ex*- clufively intended for happinefs! “ I wilh I had never been born,’’ faid a boy of eleven years old, to his mother : " why, my fon ?” faid his mother. “ Be- caufe lam born into a world of trouble. 1 ” “ What i( trouble,” faid his mother fmiJing, “ have you • i * j .. « « » . . j - * * €f known, my fon ?”— a Trouble enough, mamma,” faid he, » * £ jk > 1 ? . ■-%, books. lie often amufed himfelf in reading natural and ancient hiftory, was inquifitive after knowledge of every kind, and was never heard to alk a foolilh or impertinent queftion. VII. Many fprightly boys of excellent capacities for ufeful knowledge, have been fb difeuded with the dead o 7 o languages, as to retreat from the drudgery of fchools, to low company, whereby they have become bad mem- OBSERVATIONS ON THE STUDY OF THE 24 bers of fociety, and entailed mifery upon all who have been connected with them. - -► > « '« • « • 4 ' f*. * 1.4 Cs l * 1 % VIII. The Latin and Greek languages are the firft teds of genius in fchools. Where boys difcover a want of capacity for them, they are generally taken from fchool, or remain there the butts of their com¬ panions. Dr. Swift early difcovered a want of tafte for the dead languages. It would be unjuft to men¬ tion this faCt, without afcribing it to the voice of reafon and nature fpeaking in this great man. He had no relifh for the hufks of literature. Truth and knowledge were alone commenfurate to the dignity and extent of his mind. IX. The ftudy of fome of the Latin and Greek daffies is unfavourable to morals and religion. In¬ delicate amours, and fhocking vices both of gods and men, fill many parts of them. Hence an early and dangerous acquaintance with vice ; and hence, from an affociation of ideas, a diminfhed refpeCt for the unity and perfections of the true God. . Thofe daffies which are free from this cenfure, p 4* 1*. contain little elie but the hiflories of murders, per¬ petrated by kings, and related in fuch a manner as to excite pleafure and admiration. Hence the univerfal preference of the military character to all others.—To the fame caufe we may aferibe the early paflion for a cockade in fchool boys ; and the the frequent adoption of the principles and vices of LATIN AND GREEK LANGUAGES- 2$ l armies* by young men who are deftined for other profeffions. , * s * X. The fludy of the Latin a'nd Greek languages is improper in the prefent ftate of fociety and government in United States. While Greek and Latin are the only avenues to fcience, education will always be confined to a few people. It is only by rendering knowledge universal, that a re¬ publican form of government can be preferved in our country. . % I fhall hereafter mention other reafons why the ftudy of thefe languages is improper in a peculiar manner in the United States. * • XI. The cultivation of the Latin and Greek lan¬ guages is a great obftacle to the cultivation and perfection of the Englifh language- XII. It is like wife one of the greateft obftructions that has ever been thrown in the way of propagating ufeful knowledge. • f . \ On each of thefe two lad propofitions I fhall treat more fully in another place., I proceed new to confider the principle arguments ' that have been urged in favour of the Latin and Greek languages* as necefiavy parts of a liberal education. E 26 OBSERVATIONS ON THE STUDY OF THE I. A knowledge of the Latin or Greek grammar, it has been faid, is neceflary for cur becoming acquainted with Englifh grammar. There was a time when the authority of a great name impofed this opinion upon me, and even led me publicly to adopt it, but I am now iatisfied that it is wholly deftitute of truth. I have known many bachelors and mafters of arts, who were incorrect Englifh fcholars, and many per- fons of both fexes, ignorant of the dead languages, who both wrote and fpoke Englifh, agreeably to the ftrictefi rules of modern grammar. Indeed I cannot help afcribing the late improvements in the Englifh language chiefly to the neglect of the Latin and Greek languages. The Greek is fuppofed to be the mofc perfedt language both in its conftrudlion and harmony, that has ever been fpoken by mortals. Now this language was not learned through the medium of any other. Hence it was acquired and fpoken with equal propriety by all ranks of people, and not lefs by an apple woman, than by the celebrated orators of Greece. In that highly favoured nurfery of human genius, the avenues to knowledge were not obltrudt- ed by two or three dead, or even foreign languages j nor was the precious feafon of youth, when memory is mo ft faithful, and curiofity moft active, mis-fpent in learning words. Hence the fame of ancient o Greece in arts and fciences, and lienee the lublimity of the orations of Demofthenes, and of the poems of Homer. There was nothing in the compofition I I LATIN AND GREEK LANGUAGES. 27 of the blood, or in the ftructure of the nerves of the ancient Greeks, which gave them a pre-eminence over the reft of mankind. It arofe entirely from their being too wife to wafte the important years of edu¬ cation in learning to call fubftances, by two or three different names, inftead of ftudying their qualities and ufes. The conftrudfion of the Englifh, differs mate¬ rially 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 inftances. I hope to prove hereafter, that a knowledge of grammar, like a knowledge of pro¬ nunciation, fhould be learned only by the ear in early life. The pradfice of teaching boys Englifh grammar, through the medium of a dead language, is as abfurd, as it would be for a parent to force his child to chew peb¬ bles or mahogany, in order to prepare its gums or teeth to mafticate bread and meat. 2 . We are told that the Roman and Greek authors are the only perfect models of tafte and eloquence, and that it is neceffary to ftudv them, in order to acquire their tafte and fpirit. Strange language indeed? what ! did nature exhauft herfelf in Greece and Rome ? Are the ancients the only repofitories of the great principles of tafte and genius? I rejedl the fuppofitionj and will venture to aflert, in oppofition to it, that we ftiall never equal the fublime and original authors of antiquity until we ceafe to ftudv them. 1 2$ OBSERVATIONS ON THE STUDY OF THE l • Nature is always the fame. Let us yield to her infpi- ration alone, and avail ourfelves of allufions to the many difcoveries which have lately been made in her works. Shakefpeare owes his fame, as a fublime and original " i poet, to his having never read (as is generally believed) a Latin or Greek author. Hence he fpoke from nature, or rather, nature fpoke thro’ him. But it (hould be remembered that art, as well as nature feeds the flame of genius. By neglecting the ancients, we may bor¬ row imagery from the many ufeful and well known • arts which have been the inventions of modern ages, _ \ and thereby furpafs the antients in the variety and effect of our compofitions. It is to this paffion for ancient writers that we are to aferibe the great want of originality, that marks too many of the poems of mod¬ ern times. A judicious critic has obferved, that the deferiptions of Spring, which are publifhed every year in England, apply chiefly to the climates of Greece and the neighbourhood of Rome. This is the natural effect of a fervile attachment to the ancient poets. It infenfibly checks invention and leads to imitation, The pleafure with which the poems of the fhoemaker, the milk-maid, and the Ayrefhire ploughman, have been read by all claffes of people, proves that an acquaintance with the Greek or Roman poets, is not neceffary to infpire juft ideas, or to produce harmony in poetry. Ur. Swift, as an author, owes nothing to the ancients* He has attained to what Pope calls the u majefty” and yyhat Lord Shafteflbury calls the “ divinenefs” of fun- LATIN "AND GREEK LANGUAGES. 29 ^ $ plicity in writing. All his compofitions, exemplify his own perfect definition of ftyle. They confift of “ proper words in their proper places.” I have heard of a learned gentlemen in Scotland, who, when any of his friends propofed to introduce a flranger to him. afk- ed only, as a proof of his tafle for compofition, whether he admired Dr. Young’s Night Thoughts ? Were I to receive a vifitor upon fimilar terms, my only queftion fhould be, “ does he admire the ftyle of Dr. “ Swift r Under this head I {hall only add, that the mofl intimate acquaintance with the Roman and Greek writers will not produce perfection of ftyle in men who are devoid of tafte and genius. Hence we fometimes find the moft celebrated feacheis of the Latin and * • \ Greek languages extremely deficient in Englifh compo¬ fition. I acknowledge that Milton, Addifon, Hume, Middleton and Bolingbroke, whofe ftyles have been fo much admired, were all Latin and Greek fcholars. 1 But in thefe authors, a native ftrength of genius, and \ r k tafte preferved their writings from the afleCtation and obfeurity which are imparted to Englifh compofitions, by an adherence to the grammars and arrangement of the Latin and Greek languages. 3 . It has been faid that we cannot know the ufe or meaning of thofe numerous Englifh words which are derived from the Latin and Gieek, without a know¬ ledge of thofe languages. To this I may anfwer, that 3 ^ OBSERVATIONS ON THE STUDY OF THB 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 neceflary to ena¬ ble us to underftand the ufe of many Englifh words; for far the greateft part of them are derived from thofe languages. Eut I objedt further to this argument, that if a knowledge of the derivation of Englifh words from the Greek and Latin languages, fhould be follow¬ ed by a ftrift regard to their original meaning, it would 4 O O O lead us into many miftakes. The derivation of the word u angel” would lead us to contemplate a meflen- ger, inftead of a perfect finite intelligence. The derivation of the word “ rebellion” would lead us to * contemplate a war commenced by a conquered people : inftead cf a refinance to the juft authority of govern¬ ment. Many other instances of fimilar incongruity misfit be mentioned betwoen the meaning of certain Encriifi words, and their Roman and Greek originals. O y O 1 conclude therefore that a knowledge of the derivation cf words is not necefTary to teach us their proper ufe and meaning. Cuftom, which is the lav/ and rule of fpeech, and what is, inftead of what Jhould be common, will always govern the ufe of words. Where cuftom is unknown, modern Englifh dictionaries will fupply its place. r Here I beg leave to repeat that the ftudy of the Greek and Latin languages by the Englifh nation has been one of the greateft obftruftions, that ever ( LATIN AND GREEK LANGUAGES. Jt has been thrown in the way of the propagation of ufefui knowledge. By rendering our language unintel¬ ligible to the greateft part of the people who hear or read it, it has made it an improper vehicle of inflrudlion. The orations of Demofthenes, we arc told, w r ere, like earthquakes in ancient Greece. They moved whole nations. The reafon of this is plain. He never ufed a fmgle v/ord in any of them, but what was alike intelligible to all cla/Tes of his hearers. The effect of Indian eloquence upon the councils and wars of the favages in America, depends wholly upon its being perfectly underfcood and felt by every member of their communities. It has often been remarked that in England no play will fuccecd without action, while fentiment alone infures the loudefl claps of applaufe, in the theatres of France. The reafon of this is obvious. The Englifh lan¬ guage requires adtion to tranflate it, to half the common audience of a theatre, whereas the French language, which is uniform and ftationary, is un- derftood, and, of courfe, the fentiment which is conveyed by it, is felt and enjoyed by all who hear it . The writings of Voltaire are quoted by the hairdreffers and milliners of Paris, becaufe they are written in the fimple language of the country, while many of the mofl celebrated Britifli authors cannot be underftood by common readers, without the help of a didlionary or interpreter. Richardfon and Fielding are an exception to this* remark. They ) are alike intelligible and acceptable to the learned an L 3 Z OBSERVATIONS ON TfLE STUDY OV THE unlearned, znafmueh as they have conveyed all their ideas in plain, but decent Englifh words. The po¬ pularity of the methodifl preachers may be aferibed in part to their fpeaking in a language that is intel- ligible to the common people. It is true, many of them are deficient in education, but this deficiency appears more in an ignorance of the conftrudlion of the Englifh language, than in the proper ufe of Englifh words, and perhaps this may be aferibed chiefly to their extempore mode of preaching. It is happy for fome of thofe churches where the Latin and Greek languages are confidered as necefiary parts for education in their clergy, that part of the public worfhip of God is confined to reading the feriptures, and to forms of prayer, both of which are written in Englifh, and are intelligible to every clafs of hearers. Such congregations are net left to the mercy of their preach¬ ers in every part of divine fervice. A pious woman in London who heard her minifler fpeak of the Deity, by the name of the great Philanthropift, afked when fhe came home, what heathen god Philanthropift was ? There are few fermons compofed by Latin and Greek fcholars 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 Baptift to appear again in our world, and to fend to fome cf our doffors of divinity, or to many of our i young preachers to enquire after the figns of their divine million, few of them could adopt the anfwer / LATIN AND GREEK LANGUAGES. 33 0 of our Saviout* and fay that to the poor the gofpel was “ preached.'” It will require a total ignorance of the Latin and Greek languages, or an uncommon mixture of good fenfe and piety in a preacher who is acquaint¬ ed with them, to addrefs an audience in fuch a manner as to be perfe-dtiy underftood by the illiterate part of them. I with to prefs the confiderations that have been mentioned under this head, home to the feelings of the friends of virtue and religion. It has been demon- ftrated, that the ftudy of the ancient claffics is hurtful to morals. It is equally plain that the corruption of our language by the conftant fubftitution of words of Greek and Latin origin, to thofc which had become familiar and univerfal, from long ufage, has greatly re¬ tarded the progrefs of knowledge of all kinds, but in a more efpecial manner, a great proportion of that fpecies of it which is delivered from the pulpit. I appeal to the conferences of minifters of the gofpel of all denominations, whether, inftead of expofing their their candidates for the miniftry, to temptation from that kind of learning “ which pufFeth up, without “ edifying,’ 7 it would net be better to direct them to employ the time which is ufually mif-pent in acquiring it, in ftudying the fcripturcs, and in making themlelves mafters of the Engl ifli language ? It is im- poflible to tell what great improvements would be made by thefe means in moral happinefs in the United States. F 34 OBSERVATIONS ON THE STUDY OF THE / 4. We are told that a knowledge of the Greek and Roman languages, is neceflary to enable us to under- ftand the frequent allufions that are made by Englifh writers to the mythology of thofe ancient nations. To this I anfwer, that the lefs we know of this fubjedf, the better ; for what is the hiitory of the ancient fables, but an agreeable defcription of frauds—rapes—and murders, which, while they pleafe the imagination, fhock the moral faculty ? It is high time to ceafe from idolizing the idolatry of Greece and Rome. Truth alone is knowledge, and fpending time in ftudying Greek and Roman fictions, is only labouring to be more ignorant. If there is any moral contained in thefe fictions, it is fo much involved in obfcurity, as not to be intelligible to a young man at that time of life in which he ufually becomes acquainted with them. Happy will it be for the prefent and future generations, if an ignorance of the Latin and Greek languages, fhould bamfh from modern poetry, thofe difgraceful invocation of heathen gods, which indicate no lefs a want of genius, than a want of reverence for the true God. I (hall only add in this place, that the beft writers in the Englifh language leldom borrow allu¬ fions from the mythology of the Greek or Roman nations. Richardfon and Fielding have pafled them by, and hence arifes another reafon why the vrorks of thofe authors are fo univerfally intelligible and acceptable to to all clafies of readers. LATIN AND GREEK LANGUAGES. 35 5. It has been faid, that the Latin language has become a neceflary part of liberal knowledge, inas¬ much as the European nations have by common con- fent made it the vehicle of their difeoveries. This argument had fume weight while fcience confifted on¬ ly learning what was known ; but fince the enquiries ,of philofophers have been dire&ed to new objects of obfervation and experiment, the Latin language has not been able to keep pace with the number and ra¬ pidity of their difeoveries. Where {hall we find Latin words to convey juft ideas of the many terms which electricity—^chemiftry—navigation—and many other fcience shave introduced into our modern languages? f.t is from experience of the infufliciency of the Latin language for this purpofe, that moft of the modern na¬ tions of Europe have been obliged to adopt their own languages, as the vehicles of their difeoveries, in fcience. If this argument had been acknowledged to have weight in Europe, it fhould, from local circum- ftances, have no weight in America. Here we have po intercourfe with any part of Europe, except her com¬ mercial feaports, and in thefe, all bufinefs is tranf- a&ed in modern languages. America, with refpeft to the nations of Europe, is like the new planet, with refpecd to thofe, whofe revolutions have long been deferibed in the folar fyftem. She is placed at too great a diftance from moft of them, to be within the influence of a reciprocal exchange of the rays of knowledge. Like a certain animal, deferibed by the 3 6 OBSERVATIONS ON THE STODV OF THE naturalifts, fhe muft impregnate herfelf. But while fhe retains a friendly intercourfe with Great Britain-, all the valuable difcoveries which are publifhed in Latin, in any part of Europe, will be tranfmitted to her through the medium of Englifh tranflations. 6 . It has been faid that a knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages is neceflary to the learned pro- feffions of law—phyfic—and divinity. To this I an* fvver, that the moil ufeful books in each of thefe pro- feffions are now tranflated, or written in Englifh, in confequence of which, knowledge in law—phyfic— and divinity has been greatly multiplied and extended. I fee no ufe at prefent for a knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages, for a lawyer, a phyfician, 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 molt celebrated and fuccefsful lawyers in the United States, are ftrangers to the Latin language. An eminent phyfician, who fpent feveral of the years of his youth in learning this language, has affured me, that he had not more than three times in his life found any advantage from it. Very few phyficians, I believe, (profeffors of medecine only excepted, who are obliged to review Latin thefes previoufly to their publication) retain their knowledge of this language, after they become ePcablifhed in bufi- nefs, and if they do, it is preferred lefs from necellity, than from vanity, or a defire of reviving, by reading I LATIN AND CREEK LANGUAGES. 37 / the daffies, the agreeable ideas of the early and inno¬ cent part of their lives. I know that it is commonly believed, that a know¬ ledge of the Greek language, is neceflary to enable a divine fully to underftand the New Teftament. But I object to this opinion, that the mod ufeful and ne- cefTary parts cf this divine book are intelligible to the lowed capacities in its prefent Englifh drefs: and I believe further, that there have been as many difputes among the critics, about the meaning of words, and about editions and tranflations of the New Teftament, as there have been among unlearned chriftians about \ the meaning of its obfeure and difficult paffages. If a knowledge cf the Greek language be neceflary to enable a divine to underftand the New Teftament, it follows, that a critical knowledge of all the dialects in which the different parts of it were origi¬ nally compofed, is equally neceflary for the fame pur- pole *, and, if neceflary to a divine, why not to the common people, for they are equally interefted in all the truths of revelation ? The difficulties and ab- furdities into which we are led by this propofition, 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 manuferipts. In this confined ftate of knowledge, an acquaintance with the Latin language was thought to be neceflary \ OBSERVATIONS ON THE STUDY OF THE to civilize the human mind—hence the teachers of it acquired the title of “ profeffors of humanity ” in the European univerfities. But we live in an age in which knowledge has been drawn from its dead repo- fitories, and diffufed by the art of printing, in living languages, through every part of the world. Huma¬ nity has therefore changed hides. Her gentlenefs is now altogether in favour of modern literature. J We forget not only the age, but the country like- wife in which we live. In Europe many ancient con¬ futations—laws—treaties—-official letters—and even private deeds, are written in Larin—hence the know¬ ledge of it has fometimes been found ufeful for ftates- men and lawyers—but all the conftitutions, laws, treaties, public letters, and private deeds of the United States, are written in Engliffi ; and of courfe a know¬ ledge of the Latin language is not neceffary to un¬ derhand them. It is therefore as ufelefs in America, as the Spanifh great-coat is in the ifland of Cuba, ox the Dutch foot-Oove, at the Cape of Good Hope, % We forget further the difference of occupation be¬ tween the inhabitants of the prefent, and of the fifteenth century. Formerly public prayers and war were the only bufinefs of man : but fince agriculture, manufac¬ tures and commerce, have afforded fuch 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 LATIN AND GREEK LANGUAGES. 7,i) ipfo facto , advalo - rertiy and a hundred others, equally difgufting, from Englifh compofitions. It would moreover preferve LATIN AND GREEK LANGUAGES. 43 our language from encroachments of French and Ita¬ lian words, fuch as eclat — amateur — douceur—en pajjant — corps — dilettanti—con cuore—piano and many others, all of which impair the uniformity and dignity of the Englifh language. 2. The rejection of the Latin and Greek langauges from our fchools, would produce a revolution in fcience, and in human affairs. That nation which {hall firfl {hake off the fetters of thofe ancient languages, will advance further in knowledge, and in happinefs, in twenty years, than any nation in Europe has done, in a hundred. 3. It will have a tendency to deilroy the prejudices of the common people againft fchools and colleges. The common people do not defpife fcholars, becaufe they know more, but becaufe they know lefs than them- felves. A mere fcholar can call a horfe, or a cow, by two or three different names, but he frequently knows nothing of the qualities, or ufes of thofe valuable animals. 4. It would be the means of banilhing pride from our feminaries of public education. Men are generally moit proud of thofe things that do not contribute to the happinefs of themfelves, or others.- Ufeful know- ledge generally humbles the mind, but learning, like fine clothes, feeds pride, and thereby hardens the hu¬ man heart. 44 OBSERVATIONS ON THE STUDY OF THE 5. It would greatly encreafe the number of lludents 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 v body, becaufe it would be conftantly applicable to \ fome of the neceffury and ufeful purpofes of life, and particularly to the fecurity and order of wife and juft, government. 6. It would remove the prelent immenfe difparity t which fubfills between the fexes, in the degrees of their education and knowledge. Perhaps one caufe of the mifery of many families, as well as communities, may be fought for in the mediocrity of knowledge of the women. They fhould know more or lefs> in order to be happy themfelves, and to communicate happinefs to others. By ceafing to make Latin and Greek a neceffary part of a liberal education, we open the doors for every ipecies of improvement to the female part of iociety -hence will arife new pleafures in their com¬ pany,—and hence, too, we may expedl a general reformat on and refinement, in the generations which are to follow us 5 for principles and manners in all focicties are formed chiefly by the women. It may be afked here, how fhall we employ thofe years of a boy, that ate now ufually fpent in learning the Latin and Greek languages ? 1 lhall endeavour to anfwer this queftion by laying down a fhort plan of a liber ml Inglifh educ at: on. In this undertaking, I lhall I LATIN AND GREEK LANGUAGES. 45 • • ftrive to forget for a while all the fydems of education I have ever feen, and fuggeft fuch a one as is founded in the original principles of action in the human mind. I v ^ • . • k * * # v i. Let the firft eight years of a boy’s time be em¬ ployed in learning to fpeak, fpell, read and write the Englifh language. Lor this purpofe, let him be com¬ mitted to the care of a matter, who fpeaks correctly at all times, and let the books he reads, be written in a fimple and corre6t ftyle. During thefe years, let not an Englifh grammar by any means be put into his hands. It is to mod boys, under even twelve years ,of age, an unintelligible book. As well might we contend, that a boy fhould be taught the names and number of the humours of the eye, or the mufcles of the tongue, in order to learn to fee, or to fpeak, as be taught the Englifh language, by means of grammar. Sancho, in attempting to learn to read, by chewing the four and twenty letters of die alphabet, did not exhib¬ it a greater abfurdity, than a boy of feven or eight years old docs, in committing grammar rules to memory, in order to underftand the Englifh language. Did we wifh to deferibe a fhip, fo as to have all its parts perfedlly and fpeedilv known, would we begin by deferibing its detached parts in a fhip-yard, or a rope-walk? Or would we not firft fix every part in its proper place, and then explain the names and ufes of thefe parts, by (hewing their fubferviency to each other? In like manner, I af¬ firm, that the conftrudlion of our language fhould be learned by a careful attention to the places and ufes of the 1 46 OBSERVATIONS ON THE STUDY OF THE % different parts of fpeech in agreeable compofitions, and not by contemplating them in a disjointed ftate in an Englifh grammar. But I will add further, that grammar fhould be taught only by the ear. Pro- nounciation, which is far more extenfive, and dif¬ ficult, is learned only in this way. To teach con¬ cord in the arrangement of words, let the mafter converfe with his pupils as well as hear them read, and let him diftinftly mark and corredl every devi¬ ation from grammatical propriety which they utter. This method of teaching grammar has been tried with fuccefs in the families of feveral gentlemen of my acquaintance. It is both rational, and practicable. It has, moreover, the authority of the wife Greeks to re¬ commend it. Homer, Xenophon, Demofthenes and Longinus, I believe, were all taught to fpeak, read, and write their native language, without the incum¬ brance of a Greek grammar. I do not mean by any thing that has been advanced, to mfinuate that our pupil fhould not be inftructed in the principles and laws of our language. I have referved this part of know¬ ledge to a much later period of his youth, at which time he will acquire it- almofl as foon as Moliere’s “ Citizen turned Gentleman,” learned to diftinguifh between profe and poetry. Pie will find that he is in poffeffion of this knowledge, and that the bufmefs of his mafter will be only to give names to things with which he is already acquainted. LATIN AND GREEK LANGUAGES. 47 Under this head, I {hall only add, that the perfec¬ tion of the ear, as an avenue of knowledge is not fufficiently known. Ideas acquired throu gh that or¬ gan, are much more durable, than thofe acquired by the eyes. We remember much longer what we hear, than what we fee •, hence, old men recolleft voices, long after they forget faces. 1 hefe facts are capable of great application to the bufmefs of educa¬ tion. Having provided our pupil with a vehicle of know¬ ledge, by teaching him to read and write, our next bufmefs fhould be to furnilh him with ideas. Here it will be neceflary to remark, that the human mind in early life firft comprehends fubftances. From thefe it proceeds to actions, from actions to qualities, and from qualities to degrees. Let us therefore in edu¬ cation, follow this order of nature, and begin by in- {trusting our pupil in the knowledge of fubftances, or things. For this purpofe, let us initiate him into the knowledge of the globe on which he exifts, by teach¬ ing him o 2. Natural hiftory. This ftudy is fimple and truly delightful. Animals of all kinds are often the fubje£ts of converfation and difputes among boys in their walks and diverfions. But this is not all 3 this ftudy is the foundation of all ufeful and practical knowledge in agriculture, manufactures and commerce, as well as in philofophy, chemiftry, and mcdecine. By making OBSERVATIONS ON THE STUDY OF THfc natural hiftory the firft fludy of a boy, we imitate! the conduct of the firfl: teacher of man. The firft leffon that Adam received from his Maker in Para- dife, was upon natural hiftory. It is probable that the dominion of our great progenitor over the brute creation, and every other living creature, was founded upon a perfedi knowledge of their names and qualities, for God appears in this, as well as in other inflances, to have a£Ied by the inftrumentality of human rea- ion.—Where a mufeum is wanting, all that is ne- ceffary for a boy to know of animals and fifhes—infedts trees and herbs, may be taught by means of prints. 3. Geography, is a (impie fcicnce, and accom* modated to the capacity of a boy under twelve years of age. It may be perfectly underftood by means of cards—globes—and maps *, for each of thefe modes of conveying inftruclion, feizes uport the fenfes and imagination. The frequent application which a boy is obliged to make of his knowledge in geography, in reading, and converfation, will foon fix it upon his memory, and from the time and manner in which lie will acquire it, he wull never forget iti I allow four years to be employed in acquiring thefe two fundamental branches of knowledge. After our pupil has become tolerably well acquainted with them, he fhould be inftrucled in the LATIN AND GREEK LANGUAGES 49 4. French and German languages. Thefe will be equally neceffary, whether commerce—phyfic—law or 1 divinity is the purfuit of a young man. They fhould be acquired only by the ear. Great care fhould be taken not to permit him to learn thefe languages be¬ fore he is twelve years old, otherwife he will contract fo much of the French and German accent as will impair the prononciation of his native tongue. 5. Arithmetic, and fome of the more fimple branches of the mathematics fhould be acquired be¬ tween the twelfth and fourteenth years of his life. 6. Between his fourteenth and eighteenth years, he fhould be inftrudted in grammar—oratory—criti- cifm—the higher branches of mathematics—philofophy —chemiftry—logic—metaphyfics—chronology—hifto- ry—-government—the principles of agriculture, and manufactures—and in every thing elfe that is necefiary to qualify him for public ufefulnefs, or private hap- pinefs. 7. I know it is common to introduce what is called Moral Philofophy into a fyftem of liberal education. The name of this fcience is derived from the Pagan fchools. The fludy of it conflicted a material part of their learning. Inftead of continuing this anti-chriftian mode of teaching morals, I would propofe a courfe of lectures to be given upon the evidences, doctrines and precepts of the Chriftian religion. The laft part of this H 5-0 OBSERVATIONS ON THE STUDY OE THE f , \ • courfe might be made to include the whole circle of moral duties, and from the connection it would have with the evidences and doCtrines of Chriftanity it waauld produce an impreffion upon the under landing which no time or circumftances would ever wear away. It is by negleCting to teach young men the Chris¬ tian religion as a Science, or by the feparation of its morals from its principles, that colleges have become in fo many inftances the nurferies of infidelity. Extract of a letter from the reverend Air. fames Muir, principal of the academy of Alexandria in Virginia , to the Author , dated July 29, 1791* “ ~S - HAVE read with Satisfaction, in the Mufeum, -JL “ your observations on Studying the learned lan- “ guages. There is little tafte for them in this place. a In our academy, where there are near ninety “ -Students, not above nineteen are poring over Latin 1 “ and Greek. One of thefe nineteen was lately ‘ 6 addreffed by a Student of Arithmetic in the follow- « ing language—Pray, Sir, can you refolve me, by “ your Latin, this queftion, If one bufhel of corn coft “ four Shillings, what coft fifty bufhels ?—A demand “ of this kind from a youth, is to me a proof of the u tafte of Americans in the prefent day, who prefer “ the ufeful to the ornamentalV LATIN AND GR.EEK LANGUAGES. 5 1 ANSWER to the foregoing letter , containing further cbfervations upon the Jludy of the Latin and Greek lan¬ guages. Dear Sir, 4 I T gave me great pleafure to find, by your polite letter of July 29th, that my opinions, upon the fubjeel of the Latin and Greek languages, have met with your approbation \ and that the young gentlemen who compole your academy had difcovered fo much good fenfe in preferring ufeful to ufelefs , or, at heft, ornamental literature. 1 I have read all the replies that have been publifhed to my opinions : and am more confirmed in the truth of them, than ever, by the weaknefs and fallacy of the objedlions that have been made to them. The ftyle of fome of thofe replies has eftablifhed one of my pro- pofitions in the mod forcible manner. It has demon- flrated that a knowledge of the dead languages does not confer taPce or elegance in the Englifh language, any more than it does good breeding, or good temper. I except from this remark the candid ana ingenious letters publifhed in the Federal Gazette, faid to be V written by Dr. Stuber, of this city. To perfuade men, that white is blacky or black, white , it is necefiary fometimes to make them believe that they are grey. The mind requires a refling point, in pafiing from error to truth, upon many fubjecls. I fhall avail myfelf of this weaknefs in human nature, and take the 52 OBSERVATIONS ON THE STUDY OF THE liberty of fuggefting a method of teaching the Latin and Greek languages, which I conceive, will be ac¬ commodated to the prefent flate of the prejudices of our countrymen in their favour. The late Dr. Franklin ufed to fay, 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 —/even to ipeak it—and the whole ten to write it. Now, when we confider how feldom we are called upon to /peak or write the Latin or Greek languages, fuppofe 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 bothy in two years, as will be neceflary for him. He will, moreover, by this plan, be able to read more of the claffics than are read at prefent in our fchools. The claffics are now read only for the fake of acquiring a knowledge of the con {fraction of the languages in which they are written \ but by the plan I have propofed, they would be read for the fake of the matter they contained, and there would be time enough to read each book from its beginning to its end. At prefent, what boy ever reads all the AEnead of Virgil, or the Iliad of Homer ? In fhort, few boys ever carry with them fro^n fchool, any thing but a fmattering of the claffics. They peep into a dozen of them ^ but are taught to attend to every thing they contain, more than to the fubjccts which arc treated of by them. LATIN AND GREEK LANGUAGES. 53 In the way I have propofed, a boy would be able to N tranflate all the Latin and Greek books he would meet with, and from the perfedl knowledge he would • ^ acquire of them at fchool, he would probably retain that knowledge as long as he lived. To carry this mode of teaching the Latin and Greek languages into efFedt, it is absolutely necelTary that a boy fhould fil'd be indrudted in kijiory and. geography* Let him read an account of the rife, progrefs, and fall of the Greek and Roman nations*, and examine, upon maps, the countries they inhabited and conquered, and their languages will foon become interefting to him. The neglect of this natural and eafy mode of indruc- tion, is an inverfion of all order. The abfurdity of it was once happily expofed by a boy of eight years old, who, with a Latin Grammar in his hand, gravely aiked his father, “ who made the Latin language, and what i( was it made for ?” Had this boy been previoufly indructed in the Roman hidory, he would not have aiked fuch a cuedion. Confidering his age, it was as natural, as it was foolifli. There is no play common .among children, that drikes me with an idea of half the folly that I am ftruck with, every time I look into a Latin fchool, and fee thirty or forty little boys pinioned clown to benches, and declining nouns, conjugating verbs, or writing Latin verfions. I confider the hieheft attainment in this O kind of learning, as nothing more than fuccefsful dot- 54 OBSERVATIONS ON THE STUDY OF THE tards, but far lefs ufeful than thofe which are exhibited in the ufual athletic excercifes of fchool boys. By adopting the plan I have propofed, a boy will not open a Latin or Greek book,, till he is fourteen or fifteen years old; fo that the dead languages, inftead of being the firft, will be the la ft things he will learn at fchool. At this age, he will learn them with half the trouble, and underftand them much better than he would have done at nine or ten years of age. For though languages are acquired with moft cafe by the ear under puberty, yet they a^e acquired moft eafily by the eye, after that period of life. But there is. another advantage in making the Latin and Greek languages the laft things that are taught at fchool. The bent of a young man’s inclinations is generally known at fourteen or fifteen, and feklom fooner. 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 unnecefiary, it will- be improper to detain him any longer at fchool, by which means much money will be faved by the parents, and much time faved by the boy, both of which are wafted by the prefent indifcriminate and prepofterous mode of teaching the dead languages. The idea of the neceffity of a knowledge of thofe languages, as an introduction to the knowledge of the Englifh language, begins to lofe ground. It is certainly a very abfurd one. We have feveral Englifh LATIN AND GREEK LANGUAGES. 55 fchools in our city, in which boys and girls of twelve and fourteen years old have been taught to fpeak and write our native language with great grammatical pro¬ priety. Some of thefe children would difgrace our bachelors and matters of arts, who have fpent four or five years in the ftudy of the Laiin and Greek lan¬ guages in cur American colleges. It is true, thefe Latin and Greek fcholars, after a while, acquire a knowledge of our language : but it is in the fame flow way, in which fome men acquire a knowledge of the forms of good breeding. Three months inttru£tioii will often impart more of both, than a whole life fpent in acquiring them Amply by imitation. Where there is one Latin fcholar, who is obliged, in the courfe of his life, to /peak or write a Latin ientence, there are hundreds who are not under that neceflity. Why then fhould we fpend years in teach- ing that which is fo rarely required in future life ? For fome years to come, the reading of the language, may be neceflary , but a young man of fourteen or fifteen, may be taught to do tills perfectly in one year, without committing a Angle grammar rule to memory, or without /polling his hand by writing a An¬ gle verfion. Much more, in my opinion, might be faid in favour of teaching our voung men to fpeak the Indian lan¬ guages of our country, than to fpeak or write Latin. # J 3 y their means, they might qualify thcmfelves to be¬ come ambafladers to our Indian nations, or introduce 56 observations on the study, &c. among them a knowledge of the bleiTings of civilization and religion. We have lately feen a large portion of power * wrefted from the hands of kings and priefts, and ex- ercifed by its lawful owners. Is it not high time to wreft the power over the education of our youth, out of the hands of ignorant or prejudiced fchoolmafters, 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 reafon, while we tolerate a fyftem of educa¬ tion in our fchools, which is as difgraceful to the human underftanding as the moft corrupt tenets or practices of the pagan religion, or of the Turkifh go¬ vernment. With great refpect for your chara£ter, as well as for your prefent honourable and ufeful employment, I am, dear fir, Your friend and moft obedient fervant. BENJAMIN RUSH. Philadelphia , Aiigujl 24, 1791. V Thoughts upon the amusements and punish. MFNTS WHICH ARE PROPER FOR SCHOOLS. AD¬ DRESSED to George Clymer, esq^ Dear Sir, laft time I had the pleafure of being in -2- your company, you did me the honour to re- queft my opinion upon the Amusements and Punish¬ ments which are proper for fchools The fubje&s are of a very oppofite nature, but I fhall endeavour to comply with your wifhes, by fending you a few thoughts upon each of them. I am fure you will not rejeCt my opinions becaufe they are contrary to received practices, for I know that you are accuf- tomed to think for yourfelf, and that every propo¬ rtion that has for its objeCts the intercfts of humanity and your country, will be treated by you with atten¬ tion and candor. I fhall begin with the fubjefts of Amusements. Montefquieu informs us that the exercifes of the laft day of the life of Epaminondas, were the fame as his amafemmts in his youth. Herein we have an epi¬ tome cf the perfection of education. The amufe- iiKnts of Epaminondas were of a military nature \ but as the profeffion of arms is the bufinefs of only a part of mankind, and happily much left ' I > 58 ON THE AMUSEMENTS AND PUNISHMENTS necellary in the United States than in ancient J \ Greece, I would propofe that the amufements cf our youtn, at fchool, fhould confiffc of luch exercifes as will be moft fubfervient to their future employments In life. Thefe are; i. agriculture; 2. mechanical occupations; and 3. the bufmefs of the learned pro- fefiicns. w # I. There is a variety in the employments of agri¬ culture which may readily be fuited to the genius, tafte, and ftrength of young people. An experiment has been made of the efficacy of thefe employments, as amufements, in the Methodift College at Abing- ton. in Maryland ; and, I have been informed, with the happieft effecSls. A large lot is divided between the fcholars, and premiums are adjudged to thofe of them who produce the moft: vegetables from their grounds, or who keep them in the belt order. II. As the employments of agriculture cannot af¬ ford amufement at all fealons of the year, or in cities I would propofe, that children fhould be allured to to feek amufements in fuch of the mechanical arts as are fuited to their ftrength and capacities. Where is the boy who does not delight in the ufe of a ham- mer—a chiflel—or a faw ? and who has not enjoy¬ ed a high degree of pleafure in his youth, in con- ftructing a miniature houfe ? How amufing are the machines which are employed in the manufactory of * ^loathing of all kinds ! and how full of various en- PROPER FOR SCHOOLS. 5 ? tertainment are the mixtures which take place in the •chemical aits ! each of thcfe might be contrived upon fuch a fcale as not only to amufe young people, but to afford a profit to their parents or mailers. The Moravians ; at Bethlehem in our ftate, have proved that this propofition is not a chimerical one. All the amufements of their children are derived from their performing the fubordinate parts of feveral of the mechanical arts; and a confiderable portion of the wealth of that worthy and happy fociety is the pro- duel of the labour of their little hands.— If, in thefe amufements, an appeal fhould be made to that fpirit of competition which is fo com¬ mon among young people, it would be the means of producing more pleafure to the children, and more profit to all who are connected with them. The wealth of thofe manufacturing; towns in England, which employ the children of poor people, is a proof of what might be expected from connecting amufe- ment and labour together, in all our fchools. The i produ£t from the labour obtained in this way, from all the fchools in the United States, would amount fo a fum which would almoft exceed calculation. III. To train the youth who are intended for the learned profeffions or for merchandize, to the duties of their future employments, by means of ufeful amufements, which are related to thofe employments, will be impracticable > but their amufements may be I 60 ON THE AMUSEMENTS AND PUNISHMENTS, derived from cultivating a fpot or ground ; for where ; # is the lawyer, the phyfician, the divine, or the mer¬ chant, who has not indulged or felt a pafiion, ill, fome part of his life, for rural improvements ?-In¬ deed I conceive the feeds, of knowledge in agri¬ culture will be moft productive, when they are planted in the minds of this dafs of fchoiars. V I I have only to add under this head, that the com¬ mon amufements of children have no connection with their future occupations. Many of them injure their cloaths, fome of them wafte their ftrength, and impair their health, and all of them prove more or lefs, the means of producing noife, or of exciting angry paffions, both of which are calculated to beget vulgar manners. The Methodifts have wifely banifned every fpecies of play from their college. Even the healthy and pleafurable exercife of fwimming, is not permitted to their fchoiars, except in the prefence of one of their mailers. Do not think me too flriCl if I here exclude gunning from among the amufements of young men, My object ions to it are as follow. i It hardens the heart, by inniCtirig unnecefTary pam and death upon animals. 2 - It is unnecefTary in civilized fociety, where animal food may be obtained from clomeflic animals, with greater facility. PR.0PER FOR SCHOOLS. 6i 3. It confumcs a great deal of time, and thus creates ,habits of idlenefs. * ^ * >, • 4. It frequently leads young, men into low, and bad company. % 5. By impofing long abftinencc from food, it leads to intemperance in eating, which naturally leads to in¬ temperance in drinking. 6. It expofes to fevers, and accidents. The news¬ papers are occafionally filled with melancholy accounts of the latter, and every phyfician mull have met with frequent and dangerous in fiances of the former, in * the courfe of his practice. I know the early ufe of a gun is recommended in our country, to teach our young men the ufe of fire¬ arms, and thereby to prepare them for war and battle. But why fhould we infpire our youth, by fuch exer- cifes, with hoflile ideas towards their fellow crea¬ tures ?—Let us rather inflill into their minds fenti- ments of univerfal benevolenee to men of all nations and colours. Wars originate in error and vice. Let us eradicate thefe, by proper modes of education, and wars will ceafe to be neceflary in our country. The divine author and lover of peace cc will then / “ fuffer no man to do us wrong ; yea, he will re- prove kings for our fake, faying, touch not my “ anointed and do my people no harm/' Should the nations with whom war is a trade, approach our 6 % ON THE AMUSEMENTS AND PUNISHMENTS coafts, they will retire from us, as Satan did from our Saviour, when he came to aflault him ; and for the fame reafon, becaufe they will “ find .nothing in u us’" congenial to their malignant difpofitions *, for the flames of war can be fpread from one nation to ano¬ ther, only by the conducing mediums of vice and error. I have hinted at the injury which is done to the health of young people by fome of their amufements; but there is a practice common in all our fchools, which does more harm to their bodies than all the amufements that can be named, and that b>, obliging them to fit too long in one placc> or crowding too many of them together in one room . By means of the former, the growth and fhape of the body have been impaired *, and by means of the latter, the feeds of fevers have often been engendered in fchools. In the courfe of my bufmefs, I have been called to many hundred children who have been feized with indifpo- fitions in fchool, which evidently arofe from the ac- i tion of morbid effluvia, produced by the confined breath and perfpiration of too great a number of children in one room. To obviate thefe evils, chil¬ dren fhould be permitted, after they have faid their lefibns, to amufe themfelves in the open air, in fome of the ufeful and agreeable cxercifes which have been mentioned. Their minds will be flrengthened, as * , well as their bodies relieved by them. To oblige a fprightly boy to fit /even hours in a day, with his PROPER FOR SCHOOLS. 6 3 little arms pinioned to his Tides, and his neck unna¬ turally bent tov/ards his book *, and for ?io crime !— what cruelty and folly are manifefted, by fuch an ab- furd mode of inftructing or governing young peo¬ ple ! I come next to fay a few words upon the fub- jetf of punishments which are proper in fchools. In barbarous ages every thing partook of the com¬ plexion of the times. Civil, ecclefiadical, military, and domeftic punifhments were all of a cruel. nature. With the progrefs of reafon and chridianity, punifh¬ ments of all kinds have become lefs fevere. Soli¬ tude and labour are now fubdituted in many countries, with fucccfs, in the room of the whipping-pod and the gallows.—The innocent infirmities of human nature are no longer proferibed, and punifhed by the church. Difcipline, confiding in the vigilance of officers, has leffened the fuppofed neceffity of military executions *, and hufbands—fathers—and maders now blufli at the hidory of the times, when wives, chil¬ dren, and fervants, were governed only by force. But unfox tunately this fpirit of humanity and civilization has not reached our fchools. The rod is yet the principal indrument of governing them, and a fchool- mader remains the only defpot now known in free countries. Perhaps it is becaufe/the little fubjeds of their arbitrary and capricious power have not been in a condition to complain. I fhall endeavour there- tjA on the amusements and punishments i • fore to plead their caufe, and to prove that corpo¬ ral puniftimenrs (except to children under four or five years of age) are never neceflary, and always hurtful, in fchools.—The following arguments I hope will be fufficient to eftabliih this propofition. % % j 1. Children are feidom fen't to fchool before they are capable of feeling the force of rational or moral obligation. They may therefore be deterred from committing offences, by motives lefs difgraceful than the fear of corporal punifhments. 2 . By correcting children lor ignorance and negli¬ gence in fchool, 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 abfurd to inflict the punifhment of the whipping-poft upon a man, for not dreffirlg fafhionably or neatly, than it is to ferule a boy for blotting his copy bock, or miff fuelling a word. 3. If the natural affection of a parent is fometimes hifufficient, to reftrain the violent effects of a fudden guff of anger upon a child, how dangerous mull the power of correcting children be when lodged in the hands of a fchool-mafter, in whofe anger there is no mixture of parental affection ! Perhaps thofe parents act moll wifely, who never truft themfelves to inflict * corporal punifhments upon their children, after they -are four or five years old, but endeavour to puniffi, and PROPER FOR SCHOOLS. 6 S ieclaim them, by confinement, or by abridging them of fome of their ufual gratifications, in drefs, food or amufements. ' ■ r * . 4. Injuries are fometimes done to the bodies* and fometimes to the intellects of children, by cor¬ poral punifhments. I recoiled, when a boy, to have loft a fchool-mate, who was faid to have died in. confequenee of a fevere whipping he received in fchool. At that time I did not believe it pofiible, but from t. what I now know of the difproportion between the vio¬ lent emotions of the mind, and the ftrength of the body in children, I am difpofed to believe, that not only ficknefs, but that even death may be induced, by the convulfions of a youthful mind, worked up to a high fenfe of fhame and refentment. , V , The effects of thumping the head, boxing the ears* and pulling the hair, in impairing the intellects, by l means of injuries done to the brain, are too obvious to be mentioned. 5. Where there is Jhame , fays Dr. johnfon, there may be virtue . But corporal puniftiments, inflicted at fchool, have a tendency to deftroy the fenfe of fhame, and thereby to deftroy all moral fenfibility. The boy that has been often publicly whipped at fchool, is under great obligations to his maker, and his parents, if he afterwards efcape the whipping-poft or the ga U K I %6 ON THE .AMUSEMENTS AND PUNISHMENTS 6. Corporal punittiments, inflidted at fchool, tend to beget a fpirit of violence in boys towards each other, which often follows them through life ; but they more certainly beget a fpirit of hatred, 6r revenge, towards / .a their matters, which too often becomes a ferment of the fame baneful paffions towards other people. ‘The celebrated Dr. afterwards Baron Haller declared, that he never faw, without horror, during the remain¬ ing part of his life, a fchool-mafler, who had treat¬ ed him with unmerited feverity, when he was only ten years old. A fimilar anecdote is related of the famous M. de Condamine. I think I have known feveral inftances of this vindidtive, or indignant fpirit, to continue towards a cruel and tyrannical fchool-mafter, in perfons who were advanced in life, and who were # otherwife of gentle and forgiving difpofitions. 7. Corporal punifhments, inflidted at fchools, beget a hatred to inftrudtion in young people. I have fome- times fufpedted that the Devil, who knows how great an enemy knowledge is to his kingdom, has had the addrefs to make the world believe that ferruling ; pulling and boxing ears.) cudgelling , horfmg ) &c. and, in boarding- fchools, a little flawing , are all abfolutely neceflary for the government of young people, on purpofe that he might make both fchools, and fchool-mafters odious, and thereby keep our world in ignorance; for ignorance is the belt means the Devil ever contrived, to keep up the number of his fubjedts in our world* 1 PROPER FOR SCHOOLS. 67 8. Corporal puniftiments are not only hurtful, but altogether unnecefiary, in fchools. Some of the moft celebrated and fuccesful fchool-mafters, that I have known, never made ufe of them. 9. The fear of corporal punifhments, by debilitating the body, produces a correfponding debility in the mind, which contracts its capacity of acquiring know¬ ledge. This capacity is enlarged by the tone which the mind acquires from the action of hope, love, and confidence upon it; and all thefe paffions might eafi- ly be cherifhed, by a prudent and enlightened fchool- mafter. 10. As there fhould always be a certain ratio be? tween the ftrength of a remedy, and the excitability of the body in difeafes, fo there fhould be a fimilar ratio between the force employed in the government of a fchool, and the capacites and tempers of children. A kind rebuke, like frefh air in a fainting fit, is calcu¬ lated to aft upon a young mind with more efFeft, than flimulants of the greatefh power; but corporal punijh- ments level all capacities and tempers, as quack-me- dicines do, all conflitutions and difeafes. They difhonour and degrade our fpecies ; for they fuppofe a total abfence of all moral and intelleftual feeling from the mind. Have we not often feen dull children fud- denly improve, by changing their fchools ? The reafon is obvious. The fuccesful teacher only accommodated his manner and difcipline to the capacities of his fcholars. ON THE AMUSEMENTS AND PUNISHMENTS ii. I conceive corporal punifhments, inflidled in an arbitrary manner, to be contrary to the fpirit of liberty, and that they fhould not be tolerated in a free government. Why fhould not children be protefted from violence and injuries, as well as white and black fervants ?—Had I influence enough in our legiflature to obtain only a Angle law, it fhould be to make the punifhment for fir iking a fchool boy, the fame as for afiaulting and beating an adult member o i fociety. To all thefe arguments I know fome well difpofed people will reply, that the rod has received a divine commiflion from the facred Scriptures, as the inftru- ment of correcting children. To this I anfwer that the rods in the Old Teftament, by a very common figure in Rhetoric, (lands for punifhments of any kind, juft . * ^ ' * ■ . . • as the /wordy in the New Teftament, (lands for the faithful and general adminiflration of juftice, in fuch a way as is mod calculated to reform criminals, and J # i - ' • • . - ; ‘ to prevent crimes The following method of governing a fchool, I apprehend, v/ould be - attended with much better ef¬ fects, than that which I have endeavoured to fhew to be contrary to reafon, humanity, religion, liberty, and the experience of the wifcfl and beft teachers in the world. Let a fchool-mafler endeavour, in the firfl place, to acquire the confidence of his fcholars, by a prudent deportment. Let him learn to command his paffions PROPER FOR SCHOOLS. 69 and temper, at all times, in his fchool,—Let him treat the name of the Supreme Being with reverence, as often as it occurs in books, or in converfation with his fcholars.—Let him exaft a rcfpcctful behaviour towards himfelf, in his fchool; but in the intervals of fchool hours, let him treat his fcholars with gentlenefs and familiarity. If he fhould even join in their amufe- ments, he would not loofe, by his condefcenfion, any part of his authority over them. - But to fecure their affe£tion and refpeft more perfectly, let him, once or twice a year, lay out a fmall fum of money in pen¬ knives, and books, and diftribute them among his fcho¬ lars, as rewards for proficiency in learning, and for good behaviour. If thefe prudent and popular meafures fhould fail of preventing offences at fchool, then let the following modes of punifhment be adopted. 1. Private admonition. By this mode of rebuking, we imitate the conduct of the divine Being towards his offending creatures, for his jirji punifhment is always inflifted privately, by means of the Jlill voice of con- fcience. . . - ' » 2. Confinement after fchoobhours are ended; but with the knowledge of the parents of the children. 3. Holding a fmall fign ofdifgrace, of any kind, in the middle of the floor, in the prefence of a whole fchool. 70 ON THE AMUSEMENTS AND PUNISHMENTS If thefe punifhments fail of reclaiming a bad boy, he fhould be difmifled from fchool, to prevent his cor-? rupting his fchool-m-ates. It is the bufmefs of parents, and not of fchool-mafters, to ufe the laft means for eradicating idlenefs and vice from their children. The world was created in love. It is fuftained by love. Nations and families that are happy, are made fo only by love. Let us extend this divine principle, to thofe little communities which we call fchools. Children are capable of loving in a high degree. They may therefore be governed by love. The occupation of a fchool-mafter is truly dignified. He is, next to mothers, the moft important member of civil fociety. Why then is there fo little rank con¬ nected with that occupation ? Why do we treat it with fo much negledt or contempt ? It is becaufe the voice of reafon, in the human heart, affociates with it the idea of defpotifm and violence. Let fchooh matters ceafe to be tyrants, and they will foon enjoy the refpedt and rank, which are naturally connected with their profefiion. We are grofiy miftaken in looking up wholiy to our governments, and even to minifters of the gofpel, to pro¬ mote public and private order in fociety. Mothers and fchool-mafters plant the feeds of nearly all the good and evil which exift in our world. Its reformation muft therefore be begun in nurferies and in fchools. It the habits we acquire there, were to have no influence PROPER FOR SCHOOLS. 7 * tojton our future happinefs, yet the influence they have Upon our governments, is a fufficient reafon 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 exiltence as a free people, by eftablidl¬ ing the means of national credit and defence *, * but thefe are feeble bulwarks againft flavery, compared with habits of labour and virtue, difleminated among our young people; Let us eftablifh fchools for this purpofe, in every townfhip in the United States, and conform them to reafon, humanity, and the prefent ftate of fociety 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 cherifhed with fo much ardor, in the beginning of the American revolution, and which you have manifefted ever fince, both by your public and private conduct. We fuffer fo much from traditional error of various kinds, in education, morals, and government, that I have been led to wifn, that it were polfible for us to have fchools eftablifhed, in the United States, for teaching the art of forgetting . I think three-fourths of all our fchool-matters, divines, and legiflators would * Mr. Clymer was one of the Rcprefentativcs of Pennfylvania, in the firft Congrefs of the United States which met in New York, in the year 1789 . 72 ON THE AMUSEMENTS AND PUNISHMENT* profit very much, by fpending two or three years iri fuch ufeful inftitutiorts. An apology may feem neceflary, not only for the length of this letter, but for fame of the opinions contained in it. I know how apt mankind are to brand every propofition for innovation, as vifionary and Utopian. But good men fhould not be difeouraged, by fuch epithets, from trteir attempts to combat vice and error. There never was an improvement, in any art or fcience, nor even a propofal for meliorating the condition of mart, in any age or country, that has not been confidered in the light of what has been called, nnce Sir. Thomas More’s time, an Utopian fcheme. The application of the magnet to navigation, and of (leam to mechanical purpofes, have both been branded as Utopian projects. The great idea in the mind of Columbus, of exploring a new world, was long viewed, in mod of the courts of Europe, as the dream of a, vifionary failor. But why do we go to an cient times, for proofs of important innovations in human affairs having been treated as Utopian fchemes. You and I recollect the time, when the abolition of negro flavery in our Hate, as alfo when the independence of the United States, and the prefent wife and happy confed¬ eracy of our republics, were all confidered by many of our fober prudent men, as fubjedts of an Utopian nature* PROPER POR SCHOOLS. 73 If thofc benefactors of mankind, who have levelled mountains in the great road of human life, by the difeoveries or labours which have been mentioned, have beeen ftigmatized with obloquy, as vifionary projectors, why fhoiild an individual be afraid of fimilar treatment, who has only attempted to give to that road, from its beginning, a ftraight direction. If but a dozen men like yourfelf, approve of my opinions, it will overbalance the moft illiberal oppofi- tion they may meet with, from all the learned vulgar of the United States. ' • V ■ , , t : hn f f/ r * T *• ‘ X ' L 4 j L- I For the benefit of thofe perfons who confider opinions as improved, like certain liquors, by time *, and who are oppofed to innovations, only becaufe they did not occur to their anceflors, I fhall conclude my letter with an anecdote of a minifter in London, who, after em- i ploying a long fermon, in controverting what he fuppofed to be an heretical opinion, concluded it with the following words, u I tell you, I tell you my bre- “ thren,—I tell you again,—that an old error is better than a new truth/* With great regard I am, Dear Sir, Your’s fincerely, BENJAMIN RUSH, Philadelphia , Augujl 2-0th, 179O. L i 74 ON Ithe amusements, &c. 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 “ treatife on human mifery,” written by a Mr. Salz- man, an enlightened fchooi-mafter, in which a ftriking tiew is given of the mifery inflicted upon part of the human race, by the prefent abfurd, and cruel modes of conducting education in public fchools. The author * - ' * * * r concludes this part of his work, my friend informs me, with a dream, in which he beholds with ineffable joy, the avenging angel defcending from heaven, and after¬ wards confuming in an immenfe bonfire, certain abfurd fchool-books, and all the ferrules in the world. * r * ‘ * « . • . C ■/1 * t .. »i ’ .0 * ' > I -- « . ' ’ v!;xo . * ; i.t ■; -r- V v ’Jr * • * r M» j r- j / Thoughts upon female edu cat ion* accommodat* » ED TO THE PRESENT STATE OF SOCIETY, MANNERS, AND GOVERNMENT, IN THE UNITED STATES OF America. Addressed to the visitors of the YOUNG LADIES 5 ACADEMY IN PHILADELPHIA, 28 tll 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 felicita¬ tions of the Principal of the Academy, in undertaking to exprefs my regard for the profperity of this femmary of learning, by fubmitting to your candor, a few Thoughts upon Female Education. The firft remark that I lhallmake upon this fubje£t, js, that female education fhculd be accommodated to the ftate of fociety, manners, and government of the coun¬ try, in which it is conducted. This remark leads me at once to add,,that the educati¬ on of young ladies, in this country, fhould De conducted upon principles very different from what it is in Great Britain, and in fome refpects, different from what it was when we were part of a monarchical empire. There are feverai circumftances in the fituation, em¬ ployments, and duties of women in America, which require a peculiar mode of education. 7 6 THOUGHTS UPON I. The early marriages of our women, by contracting the time allowed for education, renders it neceflary to conti aft its plan, and to confine it chiefly to the more ufeful branches of literature* II. The ftate of property in America, renders it neceflary for the greateft part of our citizens to employ themfelves, in different occupations, for the advance* ment of their fortunes. This cannot be done without the affiftance of the female members of the community. They mufl be the Rewards, and guardians of their hufbands’ property. That education, therefore, will be moll proper for our women, which teaches them to difeharge the duties of thofe offices with the moft fuccefs and reputation. * . t III. From the numerous avocations from their families, to which profeffional life expofes gentlemen in America, a principal fhare cf the inftruClion of children naturally devolves upon the women. It be¬ comes us therefore to prepare them by a fuitable education, for the difeharge of this rnoft important duty of mothers. IV. 'The equal fhare that every citizen has in the liberty, and the poffible (hare he may have in the government of our country, make it neceflary that our ladies fhould be qualified to a certain degree by a pecu- FEMALE EDUCATION. 77 liar and fuitable education, to concur in inftruCting their fons in the principles of liberty and government. V. In Great Britain the bufinefs of fervants is a regular occupation ; but in America this humble ftation is the ufual retreat of unexpected indigence; lienee the fervants in this country poflefs lefs knowledge and fubordination than are required from them; and lienee, • 4 # , • • « our ladies are obliged to attend more to the private af¬ fairs of their families, than ladies generally do, of the . * * * » — fame rank in Great Britain. “ They are good fervants/* faid an American lady of diftinguifhed merit, # in a letter to a favorite daughter, § “ who will do well with than to obtrude a letter upon a perfon of rank or bufi- * nefs, which cannot be eafily read. Peculiar care i fhould be taken to avoid every kind of ambiguity ancj * affectation in writing names . I haye now a letter in my polTeffion upon bufinefs, from a gentleman of a liberal • profeflion in a neighbouring ftate, which I am unable to anfwer, becaufe I cannot difcover the name which is fubfcribed to it. + For obvious reafons I would recom- > * The yrefent mode of writing among perfons of tafte is to ufe a ca¬ pital letter only for the. firft word of a fentence, and for names of perfons, places and months, and for the firft word of every line in poetry. The words fhould be fo fliaped that a ftraight line may be drawn between two, lines, without touching the extremities of the words in either of them. -j- Dr. Franklin received many letters while he was in France during the American war, from perfons who wifhed to migrate to America, and who appeared to pcfTefs knowledge and talents that would have been ufe- ful to his country, buttheir names were fubfcribed to their letters in fy artificial and affedled a manner, that he was unable to decypher them, and of courfe, did not anfwer them. FEMALE EDUCATION. 79 friend the writing of the firft or chriftian name at full length, where it does not confift of more than two fyllables. Abbreviations of all kind in letter writing, , which always denote either hafte or cnrleffiiefs, ftiou’d . likewife 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 ftate of bufinefs in America, or to the fimplici- ty of the citizens of a republic. III. Some knowledge of figures and book-keeping is abfolutely necefiary to qualify a young lady for the duties which await her in this country. There are certain occupations in which (he may affift her hufband with this knowledge *, and ihould {he furvive him, and agreeably to the cuftom of our country be the execu¬ trix of his will, {lie cannot fail of deriving immenfe advantages from it. IV. An acquaintance with geography and fome in- (trufhon in chronology will enable a young lady to I * read hiftory, biography, and travels, with advantage ; and thereby qualify her not only for a general inter- courfe with the world, but to be an agreeable com- 1 f panion for a fenfible man. To thefe branches cf knowledge may be added, in fome inftances ; a general acquaintance with the firft principles of aftronomy natural philofophy and chemiftry, particularly, with fuch parts of them as are calculated to prevent fuperftition, 1’ by explaining the caufes, or obviating the effefls of So THOUGHTS UPON of natural evil, and fuch, as are capable of being ap* plied to domeftic, and culinary purpofes. V. Vocal mufic fhould never be negle£ted, in the | # > * . ' . * m education of a young lady, in this country* Befides preparing her to join in that part of public worfhip which confifts in pfalmody, it will enable her to foothe the cares of dome ft ic life. The diftrefs and vexation ~ v ■’ • ^ % s of a huiband—the noife of a nuffey, and, even, the • * the forrows that will fometimes intrude into her own bofom, may all be relieved by a fong, where found and fentiment unite to act upon the mind. I hope it will not be thought foreign to this part of our fubject to introduce a fadl here which has been fuggefted to me by my profeflion, and that is, that the exercife of the organs of the bread, by Tinging, contributes very much to defend them from thofe difeafes to which our climate* and other caufes, have of late expofed them.—- Our German fellow citizens are feldom affii&ed with confumptions, nor have I ever known but one inftance of fpitting of blood among them. This, I believe, i9 in part occafioned by the ftrength which their lungs acquire, by exercifing them frequently in vocal mufic, for this conftitutes an effential branch of their educate on. The mufic-mafter of our academyj: has furniflied me with 2n obfervation {till more in favour of this opinion. He informed me that he had known feveral infcances of perfons who were ftrongly dif- pofed to the confumption, who were reftored to health, by the moderate exercile of their lungs in finging. | Mr. Adgate, FEMALE EDUCATION. VI. Dancing is by no means an improper branch of education for an American lady. It promotes health, arid renders the figure and motions of the body % eafy and agreeable. I anticipate the time when the refources of converfation fhall be fo far multiplied, that the amufement of dancing fhall be wholly con¬ fined to children. But in our prefent ftate of fociety and knowledge, I conceive it to be an agreeable fub- ftitute for the ignoble pleafures of drinking, and gaming, in our afiemblies of grown people. VII. The attention of our young ladies fhould be dire&ed, as foon as they are prepared for it, to the reading of hiflory—travels—poetry—and moral eflays. Thefe ftudies are accommodated, in a peculiar manner, to the prefent ftate of fociety in America, and when a relifh is excited for them, in early life, they fubdue that paffion for reading novels, which fo generally prevails among the fair fex. I cannot difmifs this fpe- cies of writing and reading without obferving, that the fubje£ts of novels are by no means accommodated to our prefent manners. They hold up life , it is true, but it is not as yet life in America. Our paflions have not as yet " overftepped the modefty of nature.” nor are they cc torn to tatters,” to ufe the expreflions of the poet, by extravagant love, jealoufy, ambition, or revenge. As yet the intrigues of a Britifh novel, are as foreign to our manners, as the refinements of Afiatic vice. Let it not be faid, that the tales of dif- • M I 82 THOUGHTS UFON 1 trefs, which fill modern novels, have a tendency td foften the female heart into a£ts of humanity. The faff is the reverfe of this. The abortive fympathy which is excited by the recital of imaginary diftrefs, blunts the heart to that which is real ; and, hence, we fometimes fee inftances of young ladies, who weep away a whole forenoon over the criminal forrows of a fictitious Charlotte or We?ter, turning with difdain at three o’clock from the fight of a beggar, who fo* licits in feeble accents or figns, a fmall portion only of the crumbs which fall from their fathers’ tables. , VIII. It will be neceffary to connect all thefe branches of education with regular inftru&ion in the chriftian religion. For this purpofe the principles of the different feels of chriftians fhould be taught and explained, and our pupils fhould early be furnifhed with fome of the mod fimple arguments in favour of the truth of chriftianity*. A portion of the bible (of 1 ate improperly banifhed from our fchools)fhould be read by them every day, and fuch queftions fhould * be aiked, after reading it as are calculated to imprint upon their minds the interefting ftories contained in it. « PwOuffeau has afferted that the great fecret of edu¬ cation confifts in u wafting the time of children pro- ' * i ' * Baron Haller’s letters to his daughter on the truths of the chriftian religion, and Dr. Beatie’s (t evidences of the chriftian religion briefly * and plainly ftated ” are excellent little tradts, and well adaptjd for this purpofe. FEMALE EDUCATION. 33 fitably.” There is fome truth in this obfervation. I m believe that we often impair their health, and weaken their capcities, by impoling ftudies upon them, which are not proportioned to their years. But this objec¬ tion does not apply to religious inflrucfion. There are certain Ample propofitions in the chriftian religion, which are fuited in a peculiar manner, to the infant ftate of reafon and moral fenfibility. A clergyman of long experience in the inftrudtion of youth j in¬ formed me, that he always found children acquired religious knowledge more eafily than knowledge upon other fubjedts 5 and that young girls acquired this kind of knowledge more readily than boys. The female breaft is the natural foil of chriftianity; and while our women are taught to believe its doctrines, and obey its precepts, the wit of Voltaire, and the ftile of Boling- broke, will never be able to deftroy its influence upon our citizens. I cannot help remarking in this place, that chrif¬ tianity exerts the mod friendly influence upon Icience, as well as upon the morals and manners of mankind. Whether this be occafioned by the unity of truth, and the mutual afliftance which truths upon different fubjedts afford each other, or whether the faculties of the mind be fharpened and corrected by embracing . the truths of revelation, and thereby prepai*ed to in- veftigate and perceive truths upon other fubjecls, I The Rev. Mr. Nicholas Collin’, minifter of the Svvedifh church hi Wicocoe. S 4 THOUGHTS UPON will not determine, but I believe that the greateft difcoveries in fcience have been made by chriftian philofopher-s, and that there is the moft knowledge in thofe countries where there is the moft chriftianity.* If this remark be well founded, then thofe philofophers who rejedl: chriftianity, and thofe chriftians, whether parents or fchool-mafters, who negledl the religious inftruction of their children and pupils, reject and ne¬ glect the moft effectual means of promoting know¬ ledge in our country. IX. If the meafures that have been recommended for infpiring our pupils with a fenfe of religious and • moral obligation be adopted, the government of them will be eafy and agreeable. I fliall only remark under this head, that JtriEinefs of difcipline will always render feverity unneceflary, and that there will be the moft inftrudlion in that fchool, where there is the moft • i •, ’ i • i- order. I have faid nothing in favour of inftrumental mufic as a branch of female education, becaufe I conceive * This is true in a peculiar manner in the fcience of medecine. A youzg Scotch phyfician of enterprizing talents, who conceived a high idea of the (bate of medecine in the eaftern countries, fpent two years in enqui¬ ries af:er medical knowledge in Conftantinople, and Grand Cairo. On € his return to Britain he confeffcd to an American phyfician whom he met at Naples, that after all his refearches and travels, he i( had difeovered c: nothing except a fing^ faCf relative to the plague, that he thought xe worth remembering or communicating.” The fcience of medecine in China according to the accounts of De Kalde is in as imperfeft a ftate as among the Indians cf North America. / FEMALE EDUCATION. S 5 it is by no means accommodated to the prefent ftate of fociety and manners in America. The price of mufical inftrumerits, and the extravagant fees de¬ manded by the teachers of inftrumental mufic, form but a fmall part of my objections to it. To perform well, upon a mufical inftrument, re¬ quires much time and long practice. From two to four hours in a day, for three or four years appropriated to mufic, are an immenfe deduction from that fhort period of time which is allowed by the peculiar circum- ftances of our country for the acquifition of the ufeful branches of literature that have been mentioned. How many ufeful ideas might be picked up in thefe hours from hiftory, philofophy, poetry, and the numerous moral efFays with which our language abounds, and how much more would, the knowledge acquired upon thefe fubjects add to the confequence of a lady, with her huiband and with fociety, than the belt performed pieces of mufic upon a harpficord or a guittar! Of the many ladies whom we have known, who have fpent the moft important years of their lives, in learning to play upon inftruments of mufic, how few of them do we fee amufe themfelves or their friends with them, after they become miftrefifes of families ! Their harp- fichords ferve only as fide-boards for their parlours, and prove by their filence, that necefiity and circum- ftances, will always prevail over fafhion, and falfc maxims of education. THOUGHTS UPON S6 Let it not be fuppofed from thefe observations that I am infenfible of the charms of inftrumental mufic, or that I with to exclude it from the education of a lady where a mufical ear irrefiftably difpofes to it, and affluence at the fame time affords a profpect of fuck an exemption from the ufual cares and duties of the miftrefs of a family, as will enable her to praitife it. Thefe circumftances form an exception to the general conduit that Should arife upon this fubjeit, from the prefent ftate of Society and manners in America. It is agreeable to obferve how differently modern writers, and the infpired author of the Proverbs, defcribe a fine woman. The former confine their praifes chiefly to perfonal charms, and ornamental ac- complifhments, while the latter celebrates only the vir¬ tues of a valuable miftrefs of a family, and a ufeful member of Society. The one is perfeitly acquainted with all the fafhionable languages of Europe; the other, iC opens her mouth with wifdom” and is per¬ fectly acquainted with all the ufes of the needle, the diftaff, and the loom. The bufinefs of the one, is pleafure; the pleafure of the other, is bufinefs. The one is admired abroad; the other is honoured and beloved at home. “ Her children arife up and “ call her bleffed, her hufband alfo, and he praifeth her.’* There is no fame in the world equal to this; nor is there a note in mufic half fo delightful, as the refpeit- ful language with which a grateful fon or daughter FEMALE EDUCATION^ 87 perpetuates the memory of a fenfible and affectionate mother. It fhould not furprize us that BritifK cuftoms, with refpeCt to female education, have been transplanted into our American fchools and families. We fee marks of the lame incongruity, of time and place, in many other things. We behold our houfes accomodated to the climate of Great Britain, by eaftern and wefterrt directions. We behold our ladies panting in a heat of ninety degrees, under a hat and cufhion, which were calculated for the temperature of a Britifh fummer. We behold our citizens condemned and punilhed by a criminal law, which was copied from a country, where maturity in corruption renders public executions ■ a part of the amufements of the nation. It is high time to awake from this ferviiity—to ftudy our own character—to examine the age of our country—and to adopt manners in every thing, that (hall be accomo¬ dated to our ftate of fociety, and to the forms of our government. In particular it is incumbent upon us to make ornamental accomplifnments yield to principles and knowledge, in the education of our women* 0 i- A philofopher once faid a let me make all the bal- lads of a country and I care not who makes its laws.” He might with more propriety have faid, let the ladies of a country be educated properly, and they will not only make and adminifter its laws, but form its manners and character. It would require a lively imaginaiton to deferibe, or even to comprehend, the 3S ^THOUGHTS tTPON happinefs of a country, wheYe knowledge and virtue* were generally diffufed among the female fex. Our young men would then be reftrained from vice by the terror of being banifhed from their company. The loud laugh, and the malignant fmile, at the expence of innocence, or of perfonal infirmities—the feats of fuccefsful mimickry—and the low priced wit, which is borrowed from a mifapplication of feripture phrafes, would no more be confidered as recommendations to the fociety of the ladies. A double entendre in their prefence, would then exclude a gentleman forever from the company of both fexes, and probably oblige him to feek an afylum from contempt, in a foreign country. The influence of female education would be ftill more extenfive and ufeful in domeflic life. The obligations of gentlemen to qualify themfelves by knowledge and induftry to difeharge the duties of benevolence, would be encreafed by marriage ; and the patriot—the hero—and the legiflator, would find the fweeteft reward of their toils, in the approba¬ tion and applaufc of their wives. Children would dis¬ cover the marks of maternal prudence and wifdom in every ftation of life ; for it has been remarked that t there have been few great or good men who have not been bleffed with wife 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—Conftantine was refeued from paganifm by his mother Conflantia—and Edward the fixth inherited thofe great and excellent i I FEMALE EDUCATION 89 qualities which made him the delight of the age in which he lived, from his mother, lady Jane Seymour. Many other inftances might be mentioned, if neceffary, from ancient and modern hiftory, to eftablifh the truth of this propofition. I am not enthufiaflical upon the fubject of educati¬ on. In the ordinary courfe of human affairs, we fhali probably too foon follow the footfleps of the nation* of Europe in manners and vices. The firfl marks we fhali perceive of our declenfion, will appear among our women. Their idlenefs, ignorance, and profli¬ gacy will be the harbingers of our ruin. Then will the character and performance of a buffoon on the theatre, be the fubjedt of more converfatlon and praife, than the patriot or the minifter of the gofpel ;—then will our language and'pronunciation be enfeebled and corrupted by a flood of French and Italian words ;—then will the hiftory of romantic amours, be preferred to the pure and immortal writings of Addifon, Hawkefworth and Johnfon ;—then will our churches be negledted, and the name of the fupreme being never be called upon, but in profane exclamations ;—then will our Sundays be appropriated, only to feafts and concerts ?—and then will begin all that train of domeftic and political calamities-But, I forbear* The profpecl is fo painful, that I cannot help, fi- lently, imploring the great arbiter of human, af¬ fairs, to interpofe his almighty goodnefs, and to de- N THOUGHTS UPON 9O liver us from thefe evils, that, at lead one fpot of the earth may be referved as a monument of the effects of good education, in order to (hev/ in fome degree, what our fpecies was, before the fall, and what it {hall be, after its reftoration. Thus, gentlemen, have I brieflly finiflied what I propofed. If I am wrong in thofe opinions in which I have taken the liberty of departing from general and fafhonable habits of thinking, I am fure you will dif- cover, and pardon rny miftakes. But if I am right, I am equally fure 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 perfon, who has no other claim to attention, than a delire of adding to the dock of human happinefs I cannot difmifs the fubjefl of female education without remarking, that the city of Philadelphia fird faw a number of gentlemen afTociated for the purpofe of direfling' the education of young ladies. By means of this plan, the power of teachers is regulated and redrained, and the objefls of education are extended. By the reparation of the fexes in the unformed date of their manners, female delicacy is cheriihed and preferved. Here the young ladies may enjoy all the literary advantages of a boarding-fchool, and at the fame time live under the protection of their pa- V_, A •» * FEMALE EDUCATION. 9 1 ‘ \ rents*. Here emulation may be excited without 9 jealoufy,—ambition without envy,—and competition without ftrife. The attempt to eftablifli this new mode of education for young ladies, was an experi¬ ment, and the fuccefs of it hath anfwered our ex¬ pectations. Too much praife cannot be given to our principal J and his afTiftants, for the abilities and m f * fidelity with which they have carried the plan into execution. The proficiency which the young ladies have difcovered in reading—writing—fpelling-—arith¬ metic—grammar—geography—mufic—and their dif¬ ferent catechifms, fince the lad examination, is a lefs equivocal mark of the merit of our teachers, than any thing I am able to exprefs in their favour. But the reputation of the academy muft be fufpended, till the public are convinced, by the future conduct and character of our pupils, of the advantages of the inftitution. To you, therefore, Young Ladies, an important problem is committed for folution ; and that is, whether our prefent plan of education be a wife one, and whether it be calculated to prepare you for the duties of focial and dome (lie life. 1 know that the ele¬ vation of the female mind, by means of moral, * (l Unnatural confinement makes a young woman embrace with avi- (i dity every pleafure when file is fet free. To relifii domeftic life, one lc muft be acquainted with it$ for it is in the houfe of her parents a young t( woman acquires the relifii.” Lord Kuims’s thougnts upon education, and the culture of the heart. J Andrew Brown. 9 * THOUGHTS UPON, &C. phyfical and religious truth, is confidered by fome men as unfriendly to the domeftic chara&er of a ■woman. But this is the prejudice of little minds, and fprings from the fame fpirit which oppofes the ge¬ neral diffufion of knowledge among the citizens of pur republics. If men believe that ignorance is favourable to the government of the female fex, they are certainly deceived; for a weak and ignorant woman will always be governed with the greateft difficulty. I have fometimes been led to afcribe the invention of ridiculous and expenfive fafhions in fe- male drefs, entirely to the gentlemen*, in order to divert the ladies from improving their minds, and thereby to fecure a more arbitrary and unlimited authority over them. It will be in your power, ladies, to correct the miftakes and pra£lice of our fex up¬ on thefe fubjedls, by demonftrating, that the female temper can only be governed by reafon, and that the cultivation of reafon in women, is alike friend¬ ly to the order of nature, and to private as well as public happinfs. * The very expenfive prints of female drefles which are publhhed annually in France, are invented and executed wholly by gentlemen. A DEFENCE OF THE USE OF THE BIBLE AS A SCHOOL book. Addressed to the Rev. Jeremy Belknap, , OF BOSTON. Dear Sir, I T is now fcveral months, fince I promifed to give you my reafons for preferring the bible as a fchool book, to all other compofitions. I (hall not trouble you with an apology for my delaying fo long to comply with my promife, but fhall proceed im- mediately to the fubje£t of my letter. Before I ftate my arguments in favour of teach¬ ing children to read by means of the bible, I fhall affume the five following propofitions.; I. That chriftianity is the only true and perfect religion, and that in proportion aSv mankind adopt its principles, and obey its precepts, they will be wife, and happy. II. That a better knowledge of this religion is to be acquired by reading the bible, than in any other way. Ill That the bible contains more knowledge necef- fary to man in his prefent ftate, than any other book in the world. 94 DEFENCE OF THE USE OF THE IV. That knowledge is moft durable, and religious inftruction moft uleful, when imparted in early life, V. That the bible, when not read in fchools, is feldom read in any fubfequent period of life. My arguments in favor of the ufe of the bible as a fchool book are founded, I. In the conftitution of the human mind. 1. The memory is the firft faculty which opens in the minds of children. Of how much confequence, then, mud it be, to imprefs it with the great truths of chriftianity, before it is pre-occupied with lefs intereft- ing fubjects ! As all the liquors, which are poured into a cup, generally tafte of that which firft filled it, fo all the knowledge, which is added to that which is treafured up in the memory from the bible, generally receives an agreeable and ufeful tindlure from it. 2. There is a peculiar aptitude in the minds of chil¬ dren for religious knowledge. I have conftantly found them in the firft fix or feven vears of their lives, more inquifitive upon religious fubjects, than upon any others : and an ingenious inftruftor of youth has X informed me, that he has found young children more capable of receiving jufc ideas upon the moft difficult tenets of religion, than upon the moft fimple branches of human knowledge. It would be ftrange if it were otherwife; for God creates all his means to fuit all his ends. There mult of courfe be a fitnefs between the BIBLE IN SCHOOLS. 95 human mind, and the truths which are eflential to its happinefs. 3. The influence of prejudice is derived from the im- preflions, which are made upon the mind in early life j prejudices are of two kinds, true and falfe. In a world where falfe prejudices do fo much mifchief, it would difcover great weaknefs not to oppofe them, by fuch as are true . I grant that many men have rejected the prejudices derived from the bible : but I believe no man ever did f l i > r fo, without having been made uuifer or better , by the early operation of thefe prejudices upon his mind. Every juft principle that is to be found in the writings of Voltaire, is borrowed from the Bible : and the mo¬ rality of the Deifts, which has been fo much admired * ' and praifed, is, I believe, in moft cafes, the effect of habits, produced by early inftrudlion in the principles of chriftianity. 4. We are fubjeft, by a general law in our natures, to what is called habit . Now if the ftudy of the fcrip- • tures be neceflary to our happinefs at any time of our lives, the fooner we begin to read them, the more we (hall be attached to them \ for it is peculiar to all the a£ts of habit, to become eafy, ftrong and agreeable by repetition. 1 1 . 5. It is a law in our natures, that we remember lougef the knowledge we acquire by the greateft number DEFENCE OF THE USE OF THE i of our lenfes. Now a knowledge of the contents of the bible, is acquired in fchool by the aid of the eyes and the ears ; for children after getting their leflbns, always fay them to their mailers in an audible voice \ of courfe there is a prefumption, that this knowledge will be retained much longer than if it had been acquir¬ ed in any other wav. 6. The interefting events and characters, recorded and defcri'bed in the Old and New Teft aments, are accomodated above all others to feize upon all the faculties of the minds of children. The underftand- ing, the memory, the imagination, the paffions, and the moral powers, are all occafionally addreffed by the various incidents which are contained in thofe divine books, infomuch that not to be delighted with them, is to be devoid of every principle of pleafure that exifts in a found mind. 7. There is a native love of truth in the human mind* Lord Shaftefbury fays, that “ truth is fo con- ** genial to our minds, that we love even the Jhadonx) « of itand Horace, in his rules for compofing an epick poem, eflabliflies the fame law in our natures, by advifmg the tC fictions in poetry to refemble truth . 199 Now the bible contains more truths than any other book in the world : fo true is the teftimony that it bears of Godin his works of creation, providence, and redemption, that it is called truth itfelf, by way of pre¬ eminence above things that are only Amply true. How BIBLE IN SCHOOLS. 97 forcibly are we flruck with the evidences of truth, in the hiftory of the Jews, above what we difcover in the hiftory of other nations ? Where do we find a hero, or an hiftorian record his own faults or vices except in the Old Teftament? Indeed, my friend, from fome accounts which I have read of the American revolution, I begin to grow fceptical to all hiftory 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 circumftance : and from this affection for the truths of of the bible, it will acquire a difcernment of truth in other books, and a preference of it in all the tranfadtions 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 appa¬ rently forgotten for forty or fifty years. Of how much confequence, then, mud it be, to fill the mind with that fpecies of knowledge, in childhood and youth, which, when recalled in the decline of life, will fupport the foul under the infirmities of age, and frnooth the avenues of approaching death ? The bible is the only book which is capable of affording this fupport to old age ; and it is for this reafon that we find it reforted to with fo much diligence and pleafure by fuch old people as have read it in early life. I can recolledl many inftances of this kind in perfons who difcovered 98 DEFENCE OF THE USE OF T1IE no attachment to the bible, in the meridian of their lives, who have notwithftanding, fpent the evening of them, in reading no other book. The late Sir John Pringle, Phyfician to the Queen of Great Britain, after palling a long life in camps and at court, clofed it by ftudying the fcriptures. So anxious was he to increafe his knowledge in them, that he wrote to Dr. Michaelis, a learned profefler of divinity in Germany, for an explanation of a difficult text of fcripture, a fliort time before his death. IX. My fecond argument iii favour of the ufe of the bible in fchools, is founded upon an implied command of God, and upon the practice of feveral of the wifeft nations of the world.—In the 6th chapter of Deu¬ teronomy, we find the following words, which are directly to my purpofe, “ And thou fhalt love the “ Lord thy God, with all thy heart and with all thy u foul, and with all thy might. And tliefe words u which I command thee this day fliall be in thine (t heart. And thou fljalt teach them diligently unto thy (f children , and fhalt talk of them when thou fitted in ✓ o i( thine houfe, and when thou walked: by the way, u and when thou lieft down, and when thou rifeft “ up.” It appears, moreover, from the hiflory of the Jews, that they flourifhed as a nation, in proportion as they honoured and read the books of Mofes, which contain¬ ed, a written revelation of the will of God, to the chil- BIBLE IN SCHOOLS. t 99 dren of men. The law was riot only neglected, but loft during the general profligacy of manners which accom¬ panied the long and wicked reign of Manaflah. But the difcovery of it, in the rubbifh of the temple, by Jofiah, and its fubfequent general ufe, were followed by a re¬ turn of national virtue and profperity. 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 fhowed the fincerity of their re¬ pentance, by their general reformation. The learning of the Jews, for many years confifted in nothing but a knowledge of the feriptures. Thefe were the text books of all the inftru&ion that was given in the fchools of their prophets. It was by means of this general knowledge of their law, that thofe Jews that wandered from Judea into our coun* tries, 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- Teftament, that they procured a tranflation of it into the Greek language, after they loft the Hebrew tongue, by their long abfenee from their native country. The utility of this tranflation, commonly called the feptuagint, in facilitating the pro- grefs of the gofpel, is well known to all who are ac¬ quainted with the hiftory of the (lift age of the chriftian church. IOC DEFENCE OF THE USE OF THE Buf the benefits of an early and general acquaintance with the bible, were not confined only to the Jewifh nations. They have appeared in many countries in Europe, fince the reformation. The induflry, and habits of order, which diftinguifh many of the German nations, are derived from their early iriftrudlion in the principles of chriflianity, 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 fame caufe. If we defcend from » ■ \ : • i K 1 ' ^ • ( 4 nations to feels, we fhall find them wife and profperous in proportion as they become early acquainted with the feriptures. The bible is dill ufed as a fchool book among the quakers. The. morality of this fe£l of chriftians is univerfaily acknowledged. Nor is this all, —their prudence in the management of their private" affairs, is as much a mark of their fociety, as their fober manners. ' * * ” f I wifh to be excufed for repeating here, that if the bible did not convey a fingle diredlion for the attain¬ ment of future happinefs, it fhould be read in our fchools in preference to all other books, from its containing the greateft portion of that kind of knowledge which is cal¬ culated to produce private and publick temporal hap- • t « * - ^ 4 pinefs. : f We err not only in human affairs, but in religion likewife, only hecaufe (< we do not know the feriptures. The oppofite fyftems of the numerous fe£ts of chriftians BIBLE IN SCHOOLS. IOI -rile chiefly from their being more in ft meted in cate- chifms, creeds, and confefiions of faith, than in the feriptures. Immenfe truths, I believe, arc concealed in them. The time, I have no doubt, will come, when pofterity will view and pity our ignorance of thefe truths, as much as we do the ignorance of the difciples of our Saviour, who knew nothing of the meaning of thofe plain paflages in the old teftament which were daily fulfilling before their eyes. Whenever that time {hall arrive, thofe truths which have efeaped our notice, or, if difcovered,have been thought to be oppofedto each j. other, or to be inccmfiftent with themfelyes, will then like the ftones of Solomon’s temple, be found fo exa&ly to accord with each other, that they {hall be cement¬ ed without noife or force, into one fimple and fuhlime fvftem of religion. i o But further, we err, not only in religion but in phl- lofophy like wife, becaufe we do not know or believe (( the feriptures.” The fciences have been compared to a circle of which religion compofes a part. To under? {land any one of them perfectly it is necedary to have fome knowledge of them all. Bacon, Boyle, and Newton included the feriptures in the inquiries to which their univerfal geniufes difpofed them, and their phiiofophy was aided by their knowledge in them. A ftriking agree¬ ment has been lately difeovered between tlie hiftory of certain events recorded in the bible and fome of the operations and productions oi nature, particularly thofe which are related in WhitehurfTs obfervations on the * 102 DEFENCE OF 1 HE USE OF THE deluge— in Smith’s account of the origin of the variety cf colour in the human fpecies, and in Bruce’s travels. It remains yet to be fhown how many other events, related in the bible, accord with fome late important difcoveries in the principles of medecine. The events, and the principles alluded to, mutually eftablilh the truth of each other. • From the difcoveries of the chriftian philofophers, whofe names have been laft mentioned, I have been led to queftion whether moft harm has been done to revelation, by thofe divines who have unduly multiplied the objects of faith, or by thofe deifts who have unduly multiplied the objects of reafon, in explaining the fcriptures. I fhall now proceed to anfwer fome of the objec¬ tions which have been made to the ufe of the bible as a fchool book. I. We are told, that the familiar ufe of the bible in our fchools, has a tendency to leflen a due reverence for it. This objection, by proving too much, proves nothing at all. If familiarity leffens refpe£t for divine things, then all thofe precepts of our religion, which enjoin the daily or weekly worfhip of the Deity, are improper. The bible was not intended to reprefent a • PI Jewifli ark; and it is an antichriftian idea, to fuppofe that it can be profaned, by being carried into a fchool houfe, or bv being handled by children. But where will the bible be read by young people with more reverence than in a fchool ? Not in moft private families *, for I believe there are few parents, whoprc- BIBLE IN SCHOOLS. I03 ferve fo much order in their houfes, as is kept up in our common Englifh fchools. II. We are told, that there are many pafiages in the old teftament, that are improper to be read by children, and that the greatelt part of it is no way in- terefling to mankind under the prefent difpenfation of the gofpel. There are I grant, feveral chapters, and many verfes in the old teftament, which in their prefent unfortunate tranflation, fhould be palled over by children. But I deny that any of the books of the old teftament are not interefting to mankind, under the gofpel difpenfation. Molt of the characters, events, and ceremonies, mentioned in them, are perfo- nal, providential, or inftituted types of the Meffiah : All of which have been, or remain yet to be, fulfilled by him. It is from an ignorance or neglect of thefe types, that we have fo many deifts in chriftendom ; for fo irrefragably do they prove the truth of chriltianity, that I am fure a young man who had been regularly inftructed in their meaning, could never doubt after¬ wards of the truth of any of its principles. If any ob- fcurity appears in thefe principles, it is only (to ufe the words of the poet) becaufe they are dark , with ex - cejfive bright. » I know there is an objection among many Peo¬ ple to teacli children doctrines of any kind, becaufc 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 S04 DEFENCE OF THE USE OF 1 THE controverted ; and yet who has objected to our teach* ing thefe doCrinea to our chilldren ? The curiofity and capacities of young people for the myfleries of religion, awaken much fooner than is generally fuppofed. Of this we have two remarkable proofs in the old teflame it. The firPc is mentioned in the twelfth chapter of Exodus. “ And it fliall come when your children fliall fay unto you, u What mean you by this Jervice ?” that ye fliall fay, 45 It is the facra- 4C lice of the Lord’s pa Hover, who pafTed over the houfcs i( of the children of Ifrael in Egypt, when he frnote the “ Egyptians, and delivered our houfes. And the chil- ig dren of Ifrael went away, and did as the Lord had u commanded Mefes and Aaron.” A fecond proof of the deiire of children to be inflruCed in the myfleries of religion, is to be found in the fixth chapter of Deuter¬ onomy. “ And when thy fon ajketh thee in the time to come faying, “ What mean the teflimonies—and the 44 flatutes—and the judgments which the Lord our God 44 hath commanded you ?” Tlien thou fhalt fay unto thy fon, c ‘ We were Pharoah’s bondmen in Egypt, and 44 the Lord our God brought us out of Egypt with a 44 mighty hand.” Thefe enquiries from the mouths of children are perfectly natural; for where is the parent who has not had fimilar queftions propofed to him by his children upon their being being firfl conduc¬ ed to a place of worfiiip, or upon their beholding, for the firfl time, either cf the facraments of our religion ? BIBLE IN SCHOOLS* toy Let us not not be wifer than our Maker. If moral precepts alone could have reformed mankind ; the mif- fion of the Son of God into our world, would have been unneceffary. He came to promulgate a fyftem . 9 of doBrineSy as well as a fyftem of morals. The perfedf morality of the gofpel refts upon a doEirlne , which, though often controverted, has never been refuted, I mean the vicarious life and death of the Son of God. This fublime and ineffable do£trine delivers us from the abfurd hypothefes of modern philofophers* con¬ cerning the foundation of moral obligation, and fixes it upon the eternal and fell moving principle of love. It concentrates a whole fyftem of ethics in a fingle text of fcripture. that ye love one another , even as I have loved you ” By witholding the knowledge of this doctrine from children, we deprive ourfelves of the beft means of awakening moral fenfibility in their minds. We do more, we furnifh an argument, for witholding from them a knowledge of the morality of the gofpel like- wife 5 for this, in many inftances, is as fupernatural, and therefore as liable to be controverted, as any of the doctrines or miracles which are mentioned in the new teftament. The miraculous conception of the faviout of the world by a virgin, is not more oppofed to the ordinary courfe of natural events, nor is the doctrine of the atonement more above human reafon, « — than thofe moral precepts, which command us to love our enemies, or to die for our friends. P I 10 6 DEFENCE OF THE USE OF THE i III. It has been faid, that the divifion of the bible into chapters and verfes, renders it more difficult to be read, by children than many other books. By a little care in a mafter, this difficulty may be ob¬ viated, and even an advantage derived from it. It may ferve to transfer the attention of the fchoiar to the fenfe of a fubje£l; and no perfon will ever read well, who is guided by any thing elfe, in his flops, em- phafis, or accents. The divifion of the bible into chapters and verfes, is not a greater obftacle to its be¬ ing read with eafe, than the bad pundluation of moft other books. I deliver this ftridture upon other books, from the authority of Mr. Rice, the celebrated author of the art of fpeaking, whom I heard declare in a large company in London, that he had never feen a book properly pointed in the Engliffi Language. He exem¬ plified, riotwithflanding, by reading to the fame com¬ pany a paffage from Milton, his perfedl knowledge of the art of reading. Some people, I know, have propofed to introduce extracts from the bible, into our fchools, inftead of the bible itfelf. Many excellent works of this kind, are in print, but if we admit any one of them, we (hall have the fame inundation of them that we have had of grammars, fpelling books, and lefions for children, many of which are publifhed for the benefit of the authors only, and all of them have tended greatly to in- creafe the expcnce of education. Befides, thefe extra£ls I BI2LE IN SCHOOLS. IO 7 or abridgements of the bible, often contain the tenets of particular fe£ts or perfons, and therefore, may be im¬ proper for fehools compofed of the children of differ¬ ent fe£ts of chriftians. The bible is a cheap book, and is to be had in every bookftore. It is, moreover, efteemed and prefered by all fe£ts ; becaufe each finds its peculiar doctrines in it. It fhould therefore be ufed in preference to any abridgements of it, or hifto- ries extracted from it.* 0 » 1 I have heard it propofed that a portion of the bible fhould be read every day by the mafter, as a means of inftrucfing children in it: But this is a poor fubftitutc for obliging children to read it as a fchool book ; for by this means we infenfibly engrave , as it were/ its con¬ tents upon their minds : and it has been remarked that children, inftructed in this way in the fcriptures, fel- dom forget any part of them. They have the fame advantage over thofe perfons,who have only heard the fcriptures read by a mafter, that a man who has work- • r ed with the tools of a mechanical employment for feve- ral years, has over the man who has only ftood a few hours in a work {hop . and feen the fame bufinefs carri¬ ed on by other people. In this defence of the ufe of the bible as a fchool book, I beg you would not think that I fuppofe the Bi¬ ble to contain the only revelation which God has made to man. I believe in an internal revelation* or a moral 108 DEFENCE OF THE USE OF THE % * principle, which God has implanted in the heart of , • every man, as the precurior of his final dominion over the whole human race. How much this internal reve¬ lation accords with the external, remains yet to be ex¬ plored by philofophers. I am difpofed to believe, that moft of the doctrines of chriflianity revealed in the bi- ble might be difeovered by a clofe examination of all the principles of adrion in man : But who is equal to fuch an enquiry ? It certainly docs not fuit the natural in¬ dolence, or laborious employments of a great majority of mankind. The internal revelation of the gofpel may be compared to the ftraight line which is made through a wildernefs by the affiftance of a compafs, to a diftant country, which few are able to difeover, while the bible refembles a public road to the fame country, which is wide, plain, and eafily found. tc And a highway {hall be there, and it {hall be called the way of holinefs. The way faring men, though fools, {hall not err therein.” Neither let me in this place exclude the Revelation which Gcd has made cf himfelf to man in the works of creation. I am far from wifhing to leflen the in¬ fluence of this fpecies of Revelation upon mankind. But the knowledge of God obtained from this fource, is obfeure and feeble in its operation, compared with that which is derived from the bible. The vifible creation fpeaksof the Deity in hyeroglyphics, while the bible des¬ cribes all his attributes and perfections in fuch plain, BIBLE IN SCHOOLS. IOp and familiar language that iC he who runs may “ read.” How kindly has our maker dealt with his creatures, in providing three different cords to draw them to himfelf! But how weakly do fome men aft, who fufpend their faith, and hopes upon only one of them ! * By laying hold of them all, they would approach more fpeedily and certainly to the centre of all hap-* pinefs. To the arguments I have mentioned in favour of the,ufe of the bible as a fchool book, I fhall add a few reflections. • » • The prefent fafhionable practice of rejecting the bible from our fchoois, I fufpedt has originated with the deifts. They difcover great ingenuity in this new mode of attacking chriftianity. If they proceed in it, they will do more in half a century, in extirpating our religion, than Bolingbroke or Voltaire could have ef¬ fected in a thoufand years. I am not writing to this clafs cf people. I defpair of changing the opinions of any of them. I wifh only to alter the opinions and con- duct of thofe lukewarm, or fuperftitious chriflians, who have been mifled by the deifts upon this fubjedh On the ground of the good old cuftom, of ufing the bible as a fchool book, it becomes 11 s to entrench our religion. It is the laft bulwark the deifts have left it; for they have rendered inftrudlion in the principles. I IO DEFENCE OF THE USE OF THE df chriftianity by the pulpit and the prefs,fo unfafhiona* 0 ble, that little good for many years feems to have been done by either of them. The effeCts of the difufe of the bible, as a fchool book have appeared of late in the neglect and even contempt with which fcripture names are treated by many peo¬ ple. It is becaufe parents have not been early taught to know or refpeCl the characters and exploits of the old and new tcftament worthies, that their names are exchanged for thofe of the modern kings of Europe, or of the principal characters in novels and romances. I conceive there may be fome advantage in bearing fcrip¬ ture names. It may lead the perfons who bear them, to ftudy that part of the fcriptures,in which their names are mentioned, with uncommon attention, and perhaps it may excite a defire in them to poflefs the talents or vir¬ tues of their ancient namefakes.This remark firft occur¬ red to me, upon hearing a pious woman whofe name was Mary, fay, that the firft paflages of the bible, which made a ferious imprefiion on her mind, were thofe in- terefting chapters and verfes in which the name of Mary is mentioned in the NewTeftament. It is a fingular fact, that while the names of the kings and emperors of Rome, are now given chiefly to horfes and dogs , fcripture names have hitherto been con¬ fined only to the human fpecies. Let the enemies and contemners of thofe names take care, left the names of BIBLE IN SCHOOLS. Ill more modern kings be given hereafter only to the fame animals, and left the names of the modern heroines of romances be given to animals of an inferior fpecies. It is with great pleafure, that I have obferved the bi- ble to be the on : y book read in the Sunday fchools in England. We have adopted the fame practice in the * # Sunday fchools, lately eftablifhed in this city. This will give our religion (humanly fpeaking) the chance of a longer life in our country. We hear much of the perforis educated in free fchools in England, turning out well in the various walks of life. I have enquired into the caufe of it, and have fatisfied myfelf, that it is wholly to be afcribed to the general ufe of the bible in thofe fchools, for it feems the children of poor people are of too little confequence to be guarded from the fuppofed evils of reading the fcriptures in early life, or in an unconfecrated fchool houfe. # i However great the benefits of reading the fcriptures in fchools have been, I cannot help remarking, that thefe benefits might be much greater, did fchoolmafters take more pains to explain them to their fcholars. Did they demonftrate the divine original of the bible from the purity, confiftency, and benevolence of its doctrines and precepts—did they explain the meaning of the levitical inftitutions, and fhow their application to the numerous and fuceffive gofpcl difpenfations—did they inform their pupils that the grofs and abominable vices 112 DEFENCE OF THE USE OF THE of the Jews were recorded only as proofs of the depravU ty of human nature, and of the infufhciency of the law, to produce moral virtue and thereby to eftablifh the neceffity and perfection of the gofpel fyflem—and above all, did they often enforce the difeourfes of our Saviour, as the bed. rule of life, and the fureft guide to hap- pinefs, how great would be the influence of our fchools upon the order and profperity of our country ! Such a mode of inflruCting children in the chrillian religion, would convey knowledge into their underjtcindings , and would therefore be preferable to teaching them creeds, and catechifms, which too often convey, not know¬ ledge, but words only, into their memories . I think I am not too fanguine in believing, that education, con¬ duced in this manner, would, in the courfe of two generations, eradicate infidelity from among us, and render civil government fcarcely neceffary in our coun¬ try. In contemplating the political inftitutions of the United States, I lament, that we wafte fo much time and money in punifliing crimes, and take fo little pains to prevent them. We profefs to be republicans, and yet we negleCl the only means of eftablifhing and per¬ petuating our republican forms of government, that is, the univerfal education of our youth in the principles of chriftianity, by means of the bible ; for this divine book, above all others, favours that equality among * mankind, that refpeC for juft laws, and all thofe fober BIBLE IN SCHOOLS. IT 3 und frugal virtues, which conftitute the foul of repub- licanifm. I have now only to apologize for havging addrefled this letter to you, after having been allured by you, that your opinion, refpedting the ufe of the bible as a fchool book, coincided with mine. My excufe for what I have done is, that I knew you w’ere qualified by your knowledge, and difpofed by your zeal in the caufe of truth, to correct all the errors you would dif- cover in my letter. Perhaps a further apology may be neceffary for my having prefumed to write upon a fubjedt fo much above my ordinary ftudies. My excufe for it is, that I thought a fingle mite from, a member of a profefiion, which has been frequently charged with fcepticifm in religion, might attract the notice of perfons who had often overlooked the more ample contributions upon this fubjedt, of gentlemen of other profeflions. With great refpedl, I am, dear fir, your fincere friend. BENJAMIN RUSH. Philadelphia , March 10, 1791. 0 . V * An ADDRESS TO THE MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL OF EVERY DENOMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES, upon Subjects interesting to morals. “f 7 *ROM the nature of your purfuits, and from your influence in fociety, I am encouraged to addrefs you upon fubjedts of the utmoft impor¬ tance to the prefent and future happinefs of your fel¬ low-citizens, as well as to the profperity of the United States. Under the great diverfityof opinions, you entertain in religion, you are all united in inculcating the ne- cefiity of morals. In this bufinefs you are neither catholics nor protefhants—churchmen nor diflenters. One fpirit adluates you all. From the fuccefs, or failure, of your exertions in the caufe of virtue, we anticipate the freedom or fiavery of our country. Even the new government of the united ftates, from which fo many advantages are expedted, will neither reftore order, nor eftablifh juftice among us, unlefs it be ac¬ companied and fuppcrted by morality, among all clafles of people. Jmprefied with a fenfe of the truth of thefe obfervations, I {hall briefly point out a few of thofe pradtices, which prevail in America, which ex- ADDRESS TO TI1E MINISTERS, &C. I 1 5 ert a pernicious influence upon morals, and thereby prepare our country for mifery and flavery. I {hall begin by pointing out, in the firft place, the mifehevious effects of fpirituos liquors upon the morals • 4 . 4 • of our citizens. I. They render the temper peevifh and paffionate. They beget quarrels, and lead to profane and indecent language. They are the parents of idlencfs and ex¬ travagance, and the certain forerunners of poverty, and frequently of jails, wheelbarrows, and the gallows. They are likewife injurious to health and life, and kill more than the peftilence, or the fword. Our legif- latures, by premitting the ufe of them, for the fake of the paltry duty collected from them, act as abfurdly as a prince would do, who fhould permit the cul¬ tivation of a poifonous nut, which every year car- ried off ten thoufand of his fubjects, becaufe it yielded a revenue of thirty thoufand pounds a year. Thefe ten thoufand men would produce annually by their labour, or by paying a trifling import upon any one of the neceffaries of life, twenty times that fum. In order to put an end to the defolating effedts of fpirituous liquors, it will be proper for our minifters to preach agaiuft, not the abufe.of them only, but their ufe al¬ together. They are never neceffary but in fleknefs : and then they are better applied to the outfide, than to the ijifide of the body. 1 Jl6 ADDRESS TO THE MINISTERS II Militia laws have an unfriendly influence upon morals, more efpecially where they authorife the elec¬ tion of the officers by the privates. The meetings of citizens for militia exercifes are generally attended with intemperance in drinking, quarrelling, profane fwearing, and acts of violence to the property oi the perfons who live near the places where thole meetings are held. It is a miftake to fuppofe that the defence of liberty requires a well organized militia in the time of peace. The United States proved in the beginning of the late war, and France has proved fmce, that armies of difciplined irrefutable troops may be formed in a fhort time out of the peafants of a country. War has lately be¬ come a fimple art. All that is practical in it, may be acquired in a few weeks. The moft gallant exploits were performed during the late war, by men who had been but a few days in the pradtice of handling fire arms. III. Fairs are a Pandora’s box opened twice a year, in many of the ftates. They are wholly unneceflary, fince (hops are fo common in all the civilized parts of the country. They tempt to extravagance—gaining —drunkennefs—and uncleannefs. They are proper only in defpotic ftates, where the more a people are corrupted, the more readily they fubrnit to arbitrary / / i • government. IV. Law-fuits fhould be difeouraged as much as poffible. They are highly difreputable between perfons M7 OF EVERY DENOMINATION. who profefles chriftianity. The attendance upon courts expofes to idlenefs—drinking - and gaming; and the ufual delays of juflice leldom fail of entailing hereditary difcord among neighbours. It is with inexpreflible plea- fure that I have lately feen an account of a recom¬ mendation from the prefbyterian fynod of Ncw-York and Philadelphia, to all the churches under their care to fettle their difputes after the manner of the pri¬ mitive chriftians and friends, by arbitration. Blefied event in the hiflory of mankind ! may their praftice fpread among all fedls of chriftians, and may it prove a prelude of that happy time foretold in the fcrip- tures, when war and murder fhall be no more. V. The licen ticufnefs of the prefs is a fruitful fource of the corruption of morals. Men are deterred from in¬ juring each other, chiefly by the fear of detection or punifhment. Now both of thefe are removed by the ufual fecrecy of a licentious prefs. Kence revenge, fcandal and falfehood are cherifhed and propagated in a community. But further: the caufe of liberty is greatly injured by perfonal calumnies ; for who will believe a truth that is told of a bad man, that has been accuftomed to read falfehoods publifhed every day cf a good man ? Printers who vend fcurrility, would do well in confidering, that the publiiher of fcandal, is as bad as the author of it, in the fame manner that the receiver cf Helen goods, is sis bad as the thief. I *l8 AN ADDRESS TO THE MINISTERS It becomes the purchafers, and readers of perfonal fcandal likewiie to confider that they are accomplices in the guilt of the authors of it. We read with hor¬ ror the accounts of human depravity which has con¬ verted public executions into part of the amufements of feveral ancient and modern nations, but the depra¬ vity of the human heart is of the fame nature in that man, who can read with pleafure, or even indifference, •' the mangled chara£fer of a fellow citizen in a licentious newfpaper. VI. Horfe-racing and cock-fighting are unfriendly amufements to morals, and of courfe to the liberties of our country. They occafion idlenefs, fraud, gaming and profane fwearing, and harden the heart againft the feelings of humanity. Thefe vulgar fports fhould be forbidden by law in all chriflian and republican coun¬ tries. VII. Clubs of all kinds, where the only bufinefs of the company, is feeding (for that is the true name of a gratification that is fimply animal) are hurtful to morals. The fociety in taverns where clubs are ufually held, is feldorn fubjedf to much order. It expofes men to idlenefs, prodigality, and debt. It is in private families, only that fociety is innocent, or improving. Here manners are ufually kept within the bounds of decen- cy by the company of females, who generally compote OF EVERY DENOMINATION'. 11 $ a part of all private families ; and manners, it is well known, have an influence upon morals. * VIII. Amufements of every kind, on Sundays, beget habits of idlenefs and a love of pleafure, which extend their influence to every day of the week. In thofe manufacturing towns in England, where the Sundays are {pent in idlenefs or frolicking, little or no work is ever done on theenfuing day;hence it is called St. Mon¬ day. If there were no hereafter—individuals and fo- cieties would be great gainers, by attending public worfhip every Sunday. Refc from labour in the houfe of God, winds up the machine of both foul and body, better than any thing elfe, and thereby invigorates it for the labours and duties of the enfuing week. Should I ever travel into a chriftian country, and wifh to know whether the laws of that country were wife and juft, and whether they were duly obeyed, the only queftion I would afk, fliould be u do the people fpend Sunday at church, or in pleafurable entertainments at home and abroad ?” the Sunday fchools in England have been found extremely ufeful in reforming the children of poor people. Who can witnefs the practices of fwimming, Aiding and fcating, which prevail fo univer- fally on Sundays, in molt of the cities of the United States, and net wifh for fimilar inftitutions to refeues our poor children from deftruction ? I (hall conclude my remarks upon this fubje£t,by declaring, that I do not wifh to fee any new laws made to enforce the keeping ADDRESS TO THE MINISTERS I 20 of the Sabbath. I call upon minifters of the gofpe! only, to increafe and extend, by their influence, the pure and ufeful fpirit of their religion In riding through our country, we may always tell, by the ap¬ pearance of the people we meet with cn the road, or fee at taverns, whether they enjoy the benefit of public werfnip, and of a vigilant and faithful mini fry. Where a fettlement enjoys thefe ineftimable be flings, we generally find taverns deferted on a Sunday, and a ftillnefs pervading the whole neighbourhood, as if nature herfelf had ceafed from her labours, to {hare % with man in paying her weekly homage to God for his creating goodnefs Thus I have briefly pointed out the principal four- ces of vice in our country. They are all of a public nature, and aflfe£t, in a direct manner, the general in- terefts of fcciety. 1 fhall now fuggeft a few fources of vice, which arc of a domeftic nature, and which in¬ directly affect the happinefs of mn’ country. I. The frequent or long abfence of the mafier and miftrefs from home,bydifloIving the bounds of dcmeftic government, proves a fruitful fc-urce of vice among children and fervants. To prevent in feme degree, the inconveniencies which arife from the neceffary ab¬ fence of the heads of a family, from home, it would be a good practice to inveft the eldeft fon or daughter, when of a fuitable age, with the government of the family and to make them refponfible for their conduct, upon ' # # - « « v T* f r ~ § , OF EVERY DENOMINATION. 1 2t' ? the return of their parents. Government in a family is like an elettric rod to a houfe. Where it is wanting a family is expofed to the attacks of every folly and vice, that come within the fphere of its attra£lion. f j II. Frequent and large entertainments weaken do- meftic government, by removing children and fervants too long from the eye cf authority. They moreover, expofe children and fervants to the temptation of eat- ting and drinking to excefs. • y A ^ III. Boys and girls fhould never be admitted as fer¬ vants—into a genteel family. They are feldom in- ftructed properly, by their mailers or miftrefles. y t Their leifure hours are moreover fpent in bad compa¬ ny : and all the vices which they pick up, are fpread ✓ among the children of the family, who are generally more prone to affociate with them, than with any other. r. Where poverty or death makes it necefTary to bind out children, they fhould be bound to thofe perfons only, . « who will work with them.' By thefe means, they will be trained to induftry, and kept from idlenefs and vice. IV. Servants, both male and female fhould always £ , be hired by the year, otherwife no proper government: can be eflablifhed over them. The impertinence and irregular conduft of fervants, arife from their holding their places by too fhort a tenure. It would be a good law to fine every perfon, who hired a fervant, without a written good character, figned by his lafl mafteiy . R I 122 ADDRESS TO THE MINISTERS \ • and counterfigned by a magiftrate. This pracHc* would foon drive bad fervants out of the civilized parts^ of ©ur country and thereby prevent much evil both in families and fociety. How many young men and wo¬ men have carried through life the forrowful marks in their confciences or characters, of their being early ini¬ tiated into the myfteries of vice, by unprincipled fer¬ vants of both fexes ! Servants that are married, fhould be preferred to fuch as are fingle. Matrimony in all ranks of people leffens the temptation to vice, and fur- nifhes frefn motives to juft conduct, «• * * V. Apprentices fhould always board and lodge, if pof- fible, with their matters and miftrefies, when they are feparated from their parents. Young people feldom fall into bad company in the day time. It is in the evening, when they ceafe to be fubjeCt to government, that they are in the molt danger of corruption : and this danger can be obviated only by fubjeCting all their hours to the direction of their matters or miftrefies. I (hull conclude this addrefs, by fuggefting to mini- fters of the gofpel, a plan of a new fpecies of federal government for the advancement of morals in the Uni¬ ted States. Let each fe£t appoint a reprefentative in a general convention of chriftians, whofe bufinefs fhall be, to unite in promoting the general objeCts of chrif- tianity. Let no matters of faith or opinion ever be in¬ troduced into this convention, but let them be confider- ^ t OF EVERY DENOMINATION. 1^3 t zd as badges of the fovereignty of each particular fe£t. To prevent all difputes, let the objects of the delibera¬ tions of this general convention be afcertained with the fame accuracy, that the powers of the national govern¬ ment are defined in the new c on ft i tut ion of the United States. By this previous ccmpaft, no encroachments will ever be made by the general government, upon the principles—difcipline—or habits of any one fe£l— for in the prefent ftate of human nature, the divifion of chriftians into fe£ts, is as neceffary to the exiftence and prefervation of chriftianity, as the divifion ot man¬ kind into nations, and of nations into feparate families are neceftary to promote general and private happinefs. By means of fuch an inftitution, chriftian charity will be promoted, and the difcipline of each church will be ftrengthened—for I would propofe, that a difmiflion for immorality, from any one church, fhould exclude a man from every church in the ecclefraftical union. But the advantages of this chriftian convention will not end here. It will poffefs an influence over the laws of the United States. This influence wall differ from that of moil of the ecclefiaftical aflociations that have exifted in the world. It will be the influence of reafon •over the paffions of men. Its objebls will be morals, not principles, and the defign of it will be, not to make men zealous members of any one church, but to make them—good neighbours—good hufbands—good fathers —good maftcrs—good fervants—and of courfe good I \ ' t J24 ADDRESS TO THE MINISTERS, &C. » rulers and good citizens. The plan is certainly a prac¬ ticable one. America has taught the nations of Eu¬ rope by her example to be free, and it is to be hoped (he will foon teach them to govern themfelves. Let her advance one ftep further—and teach mankind, that \ it is poffible for chriftians of different denominations to love each other, and to unite in the advancement of their common interefts. By the gradual operation of fuch natural means, the kingdoms of this world are pro¬ bably to become the kingdoms of the prince of righte? * * ^ oufnefs and peace. Philadelphia , June 2 1 , 1788 . »» ’ * ' T. ■' * » % i An enquiry into the consistency of oaths with REAiON AND CHRISTIANITY. . * ' * ■ • » I N difcufling this queftion, I {hall firft mention the objections to oaths, which are founded in * reafon \ and, fecondly, the objections to them which are derived from the precepts and fpirit of the chrif- tian religion. I. Oaths produce an idea in the minds of men, that there are two kinds or degrees of truth, the one intend¬ ed for common, and the other for folemn occafions. Now, this idea is directly calculated to beget a want of reverence for the inferior kind of truth ^ hence men are led to trifle with it in the common affairs of hu¬ man life. I grant that fome men will tell the truth, when urged to it by the folemn formalities of an oath, who would not otherwife do it : But this proves the great mifchief of oaths in fociety *, for as men are called upon to fpeak the truth 999 times in com¬ mon life, to once they are called upon to fwear to it, we have exactly 999 falfehoods to one truth told by them. How extenfive, then, mull be the mifchief of j:his great difproportion between truth and falfehood, in all the affairs of human life ! It is wrong to do 126 ON OATHS. any thing that fhall create an idea of two kinds of truth. There is a fcale of falfehoods ; but truth has ho degrees or fubdivifions. Like its divine author, it is an eternal unchangeable unit. i II. The practice of fwearing according to human laws, appears to be the caufe of all profane fwear¬ ing, which is fo univerfal among all ranks of people in common converfation ; for if there are two modes of fpeaking the truth, it is natural for men to pre¬ fer that mode which the laws of our country have entitled to the firft degree of credibility : hence men fwear, when they wifli to be believed, in common con¬ verfation. « 4 III. Oaths have been multiplied upon fo many trifling occafions, that they have ceafed, in a great degree, to operate with any force upon the nuoft folernn occafions : hence the univerfal prevalence of perjury in courts, armies and cuftoni-houfes, all over the world. This fatt is fo notorious in Jamaica, that a law has lately been pafled in that iiland, which re¬ quires a bond of ^.200, inftead of an oath, from every captain that enters his veflel in the cuftom-houfe, as a fecurity for his veracity in the manifeft of his cargo, and for the amount of his duties to the govern¬ ment. Reafon and feripture (when perfeftly underftood) are never contrary to each other \ and revelation from God can never give a fanttion to that which is fo / ON OATHS. 127 evidently abfurd, and unfriendly to the intercfts of hu¬ man fociety. Let us proceed then to examine the bible, and here we fliall find, that oaths are as contrary to the precepts and fpirit of chriftianity as they are to found reafon. Before I mention either the precepts or the fpirit of the gofpel, which militate againft oaths, I fliartl men- tion a few of the cafes of fwearing which I find upon record in the New Teitament. I fhall firft mention % the precedents in favour of this pra£tice, and then the precepts and precedents againfl: it. The firjl precedent I fhall produce, is taken from the example of the devil, who addreffes our Saviour in an oath, in Mark v. 7. u What have I to do with thee, Jefus, thou fon of the moft high God ? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not.” A Jecoml precedent is taken from the exam pie of the high prieft, who addreffes our Saviour in an oath in Matthew, xxvi. 63. a I adjure thee,” fays he, juft before he confents to his death, “ by the living God , that thou tell us whether thou be the Chrift the fon % of God.” It has been faid that there was no impro¬ priety in this mode of expreffion, etherwife our Sa¬ viour would have rebuked it: but let it be remem¬ bered, that he ftood before the tribunal of a high- pried, as a prifoncr y an d fiot as a teacher ; and hence we find he fubmits in filence to all the prophane in- fults that were offered him. In this filent fubmifli- v T2& ON OATHS. 4 /• on to infult, he moreover fulfilled an ancient prophefy I know not the man.” It would feem from this account, that a bare affirma¬ tion was fo chara fieri (lie of a disciple of Jefiis Chrift, that Peter could not ufe a more direft method to convince the maid, who charged him with being a follower of Jefus of Nazareth, that he was not a chrift ian , than by having recourfe to the Jewifh and pagan praflice of taking an oath. Herod furnifhes a fourth mftance of fwearing, in Matthew xiv. 7, when he promifed to give the daugh¬ ter of Herodias whatever (he fhould aik of him : fhe afked for John the baptift’s head in a charger: the king repented of his hafty promife *, a neverthelefs, for the oath’s fake, and them which fit with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her.” Here it is evident he would have violated a common pro¬ mife. But if common promifes are not held facred, 1 * and binding, there is an end of a great portion of truth in fociety, and of all the order and happinefs which arife from it. To fecure conftant and uni- verfal truth, men fiiould fwear always or not at all . / ♦ ON OATHS. 129 A fifth precedent for fwearing we find in the xix of Adis and 13th verfe. “Then certain of the vaga¬ bond Jews, exorcifts, took upon them to call over them which had evil fpivits, the name of the Lord Jefus, faying, we adjure thee y by Jefus whom Paul • • • v ♦. f • 1 r T / preacheth. And the man in whom the evil fpirit - 1 » -I 4 ♦ • 0 , , , r ■ f • was, leaped on them, and overcame them ; fo that • • f * •' they fled out of the lioufe naked and wounded.” The lafi precedent for fwearing that I {hall men¬ tion, is the one related in Adis xxiii. 21ft. It con¬ tains an account of forty men who had bound them- felves, by an oath , not to eat or drink, until they had killed St. Paul. It would feem that this banditti * w *• - Vki .‘1 >• s. ^ • •• 1 ' » , . knew each other perfedily, and that they would not *■ • > * ■ .4 adi together under the form of a common obligation. The occafion indeed, feems to require an oath. It was an aflociation to commit murder. I am difpof- ed to fufpedi that oaths were introduced originally to compel men to do things that were contrary to juftice, or to their confciences. In mentioning the precepts and precedents that are to be found in the new tefiament againfl fwear¬ ing, the following ftriking paflage, taken from Matthew v. verfes 34, 35, 36, 37, fhould alone determine the a ’ ± « j. 4 i queftion. « Swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne ; nor by the earth, for it is his footftool ; nor by Jerufalem, for it is the city of the S 130 ON OATHS. great king. Neither {halt thou {wear by thy head, • r “ v becaufe thou canft not make one hair white or black But let your communication be yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than thefe, cometh of evil.” The words of the apoftle James, are equally pointed againft Swearing, chap. v. 12. “ But above all things my brethren, Swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath ; but let your yea, be yea, and your nay, nay ; left ye fall into condemna¬ tion.” I know, thefe paflages are Said to be levelled only W * ■ 0^ f againft profane Swearing in common conversation, but this will appear improbable when we refledt, that our Saviour’s words were addrefled exclusively to his dif- ciples, and that the epiftle of St. James, from whence the prohibition of Swearing is taken, is directed to a number of pious converts to chriftianiiy, none ’of whom, any more than the difciples of our Lord, could be fufpefled of profane Swearing in common conver¬ sation. Both paffiages equally condemn oaths of every kind, and demonstrate their contrariety to the gofpel difpenfation* f , 7 . * i . . There is a peculiar meaning in the reafon which is given for the prohibition of fwfearing in the pre¬ cept, of cur Saviour, viz. that any thing more than a » —* , bare affirmation, cometh of evil. Yes, it came originally from the univerfal prevalance of falsehood in Society ; but the chriftian religion, by opening new Sources of ON OATHS. , 131 moral and religious obligation, and by difcovering more fully the beauty and rewards of truth and deformity, and future punifhment of falfehood, has rendered the obligation of oaths wholly unneceffary. They com¬ ported with the feeble difeoveries of the Jewifh, and the numerous corruptions of the pagan religions; but they are unneceffary under that full and clear manifes¬ tation of the divine will which is contained in the gofpel. Csefar's wife fhould not be fufpe£led.—With how much more propriety fhould this be faid of the veracity of a chriflian, than of the chaflity of the wife of a heathen emperor, Every time a chriflian fwears, he expofes the purity and truth of his religion to fufpicion. “ As for you, Petrarch, your word is fufficient,” faid the cardinal Colonna, in an enquiry into the caufe of a riot that had happened in his fami¬ ly, while that celebrated poet was a member of it; and in which he exacted an oath from every ther member of his family, not excepting his own brother, the bifhop £>f Luna. The fame addrefs fhould be made to every chriflian, when he is called upon to declare the truth. “ You believe in a future (late of rewards and punifhment-r-you prof els to be the follower of that Being who has inculcated a regard for truth, under the awful confideration of his omnifcience, and who has emphatically (lyled himfclf the truth.” jTcur word) therefore , is fifjicient . A nobleman is permitted, by the laws of England, to declare the truth upon his honour. The profefiion 132 ON OATHS. of chriftianity is declared in Icripture to be an high calling, and chriftians are faid to be priejls and kings. Strange ! that perfons of fuch high rank, Should be treated with lefs refpedl than Englifh noblemen ; and {till more ftrange ! that perfons poflefling thefe auguft titles, Should betray their iliuftrious birth and dignity, ' t by conforming to a practice which tends fo much to invalidate the truth and excellency of their re¬ ligion. It is very remarkable, that in all the accounts we have of the intercourfe of our Saviour with his dif- ciples, and of their fubfequent intercourfe with each other, there is no mention made of a Angle oath being taken by either of them. Perhaps there never was an event in which the higheft degrees of evidence were more neceffary, than they were to eflablifh the truth of the refurrediion of our Saviour, as on the truth of this miracle depen¬ ded the credibility of the chriftian religion. But in the ettabliftiment of the truth of this great event, no oath is taken, or required. r ihe witneiTes of it (imply relate what they faw, and are believed by all the difciples except one, who ftill remembered too well the prohibition of his matter, “ fwear not at all,” to afk for an oath to remove his unbelief. It is worthy of notice likewife, that no prepofterous oath of cilice is required of the difciples when they a flume the apoftolic charadler, and are fent forth to ON OATHS. 133 preach the gofpel to all nations. How unlike ;the fpirit of the gofpel are thofe human conftitutions and laws, which require oaths of fidelity, every year ! and which appear to be founded in the abfurd idea that men are at all times the guardians of their own virtue. Tliere can be no doubt of chriftians having uniform¬ ly refuftd to take an oath in the firft ages of the church : nor did they conform to this pagan cuftom, till after chriftianity was corrupted by a mixture with many other parts of the pagan and Jewifh religions. _ - There are two arguments in favour of oaths which are derived from the new teftament, and which . r / : o remain to be refuted.— ill. St. Paul ufes feveral ex- 4 ^ «f ff preffions in his epiftles which amount to oaths, and even declares than by a bare affirmation. O N OATHS. *35 The friends of virtue and freedom have beheld, with great pleaiure, a new conftitution eftablifhed in the United States, whofe objects are peace y union 2nd jujlice . It will be in the power of the firfl congrefs that fhall aft under this conftitution, to fet the world an e'xample of enlightened policy, by framing laws that fhall command obedience without the abfurd and .‘T * improper obligation of oaths. By this means they will add the reftoration and eftablifhment of truth, to the great and valuable objects of the conftitution that have been mentioned. * 4 "V „ * * * » * • • 1 ., „ f ■ • • •. - t t - •». . - Jan. 20 1789. r v • 'll ■<- . / An enquiry into the effects of public ru- I ' % w N I SHMENTS UPON CRIMINALS, AND UPON SOCIETY. Read in the society for promoting politi¬ cal ENQUIRIES, CONVENED AT THE HOUSE OF ■* ^ ^ j # ... ^ Benjamin Franklin, esq^ in Philadelphia, 1 •! . • .. 4 i • March 9th, 1787. 1 - - * s • * • * ^ : . J f . ;. 9 i( Accuftomed to look up to thofe nations from whom we have derived <£ our origin, for our laws, oar opinions, and ouv manners $ we have re- cc tained, with undid ingui/hing reverence, their errors, with their im- “ provements ; have blended, with our public inttitutions, the policy of