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Untitled Article
useful abridgment of the Bible , together with . Dr . Priestley ^ s longer Catechism , will give a degree of information which will make
them read or hear the separate parts of the Scriptures " with more interest and improvement . It will also be of great importance , that parents should do what they can to enable thereto understand what they read ; and here they will find the - knowledge which they
have themselves acquired , from various sources , in the earlier part ' of their lives , . of singular advantage to them . If , unhappily , they have too much neglected the acquisition of suqh knowledge , if they are in earnest in the work , they * will avail themselves of any opportunities which they may
have of gaining the requisite information ; and perhaps it is not one of the least advantages attendant upon this branch of religious education , that it makes a parent ' s own knowledge more complete and practical . In the early periods of religious instruction the object must be to communicate knowledge gradually y in the latter periods to cultivate such a taste , as will lead young persons to seek , for themselves , the sources of knowledge . If the cultivation of the religious affections go hand in hand with the communication of religious
knowledge , some interest will be felt in all religious knowledge which is intelligible ; and the field is so wide and interesting , q , nd valuable and instructive books are
now so much in the power of every one , that if a young person have acquired that taste , and it is sufficiently countenanced on the part of the parents , particularly
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273 On Eatly Religious Education *
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by early habit , the leisure of the Lord ' s day at least will seldom fail to be given to the pursuit of religious knowledge .
It is of great importance in early religious instruction , that we should not attempt to explain to children what is beyond the then state of their understand
ings ; but accustom them to wait until their minds are more ad . vanced . If a parent sufficientl y possesses the confidence of his children , they will be readily sa . tisfied , when they are told with
respect to any difficulty that they cannot understand that no \ v but that those who are older , and know more , do understand it , and that they will too . Where we can make them fully understand the reasons of our own conduct , or
the reasons of what they know of the dealings of GocT , this should be done ; and their inquiries should be encouraged : but even with respect to our own plans and injunctions , they must often
exercise confidence and submission ; and it is wise early to produce the same with respect to the dealings and commands of God . They can in some cases be made to observe , that they now understand what they did not at some past
period ; and still more easily , that they can themselves understand what their younger brothers and sisters cannot . As they advance in observation and understanding , and make inquiries with respect to the providence of God , to
it will sometimes be necessary go further , and impress upon their minds , that there are-some things , which we ourselves , and even the Wisest of mankind , cannot folj j understand , but that in heaven *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1811, page 278, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2416/page/22/
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