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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
noraritfe and wane c # f mental , re * ligious atiid moral discipline , they , too , are enslaved by their feelings , ifrhich own no other restraints than
superior bodily strength and the arm of public law . Their cor * lection and their indulgence of their children , have hence no bounds : and though they wear this moment the aspect of love and kindness , they appear the
next under that of anger , threatening ami revenge . The violators of social order , the sons of tumult and licentiousness , will , as is natural , usually be discovered anaong the most uneducated of our race .
It is time , however , to reverse thfe picture . —Let us next behold man rising from the savage state to on £ of comparative civilization : let us see him as he appears under the forming hand' of education ,
titifder the controul of enlightened laws . It is granted , there are seasons and circumstances in which even here , malignant and ungo . verned feelings will gain the ascendancy over conscience and his
better judgment . But , in this situation , he will , for the most j ) art , be guided rather by the dictates of reason , and in many instances by those of religion , than by the blind impulse of his affections . Education has furnished
him with the materials—I had almost said , with the capacity—of thought : it has given him ideas , together with a power of resolving , comparing and combining them ;
and he therefore takes delight in Cotisulting his understanding , and in app lying his intellectual facuK ties to the persons , events and measures which come within his notice . To deliver ( he human racefronj
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servitude to their passfotis , ^^ make judgment aiaSd r ^ iMtAls prlri-r ciple the master-sprmgs 6 f a& . tion—is the mos t irnpoftintr ^ fttl of education . And precisely this benefit the popular plaritf W instruction are calculated to
bestow , in the niQSi practicable manner , on prodigious numbers . Besides the information they communicate , and the constant ernplpyment they provide , they train their scholars , witii superior ease to habits of submission , orfer
and attention ; habits pre-eminently favourable to ' thf J ?^ government of the emotions I 'The very silence wKich characterises many schools of this description , contributes essentially tb thre Sifcne
object , and leayes ^ T' ^ pJpy ^ Jfy 1 * pression upon the f iupils , ^ ar iv ^ ell as upon the spectators . . \ r ^ How auspicious then to iuan * s personal comfort ,, an ^ to lii ^ jso - cial usefulness , reputation "and prosperity , must be the ^ get fetal ,
and much raor ^ the Ulliy € 3 rsal f adoption of , this systeiii I * 3 i : ^ he evil passions fostered , by ^ " !^ Tan 6-rance , by bU inability ^ raisinclination to reflect ^ " . "Ijeii ^ g ; Corr ected , the crimes which inf ^ t ^ mi lies and larger , communities would be diminished , " afttf' the
miud would possess a pek < : e hitherto unknown . Thougll i "from the imperfection of ciur nature , sin - and misery miist still exist , their prevalence would b&Jessened : the remedy arid thfe Antidote
would be at hand . Thfe nappiness of the world , I am persuaded , is not so oftc ; n disturbed b £ cool , designing villainy , a . s by uhchastised affections : and if Unkind
are ouce brought to t ^ efe feel tbav religious virtii ^ i ^ bxrt ^ atiother nanie for tHe greattsi ¦ portion ol
Untitled Article
14 $ Essay on Popular Plans of Education ?
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1814, page 148, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2438/page/12/
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