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poration and Test Acts , such men , therefore , naturally thought they desired only " gain from godliness . " They supposed they were impelled by envy of their episcopal cathedrals—their academic bowers and ample funds . Those statesmen could not think that it was from principle alone they acted . —They could not understand
the sigh that might be breathed by the minister as he passed some episcopal palace , glaring with lights and surrounded by numerous equipages , as he returned to an humble home on a stormy , wintry night from some little village , after he had distributed the bread of life to cottagers , who could offer him no refreshment but
a crust of bread and a glass of water from a crystal spring—and only gladdened by the hope that he had made the wretched glad . They would suppose that jealousy had impelled the sigh . They did not understand that it was the sigh of
pity for the lordly prelate , accompanied by a silent prayer , that in the day of final retribution he might render to the Master Shepherd a good account . —No , they think not that his wishes and his hopes are more exalted—that he would not put on the tiara if offered him—that he dare not
—that the acceptance would contradict principles dearer to him than life . But such publications as that to which he last alluded , perpetuated the delusion . When such statesmen learnt that Protestant Dissenters desired a connexion with the State—wished to partake its wealth , and
thought Christianity dependent on its support , all their prejudices acquired confirmation " strong as proofs from holy writ ; " and against such principles on the part of Protestant Dissenters , he must therefore publicly protest . ( Loud applause . )
Amongst many circumstances which induced him to urge union and vigilance was a measure about to be introduced into Parliament during the present session . Dissenters must not be captivated by alluring names . An Act to
which he had referred , and which would have taken poor children from their pious parents , was a pill gilded and saccharized by a specious title , that was called " An Act to prevent the Misapplication of the Poors' Rates ; " and the other bill would be
nominally " A Bill to promote the Universal Education of the Poor . " What could be more captivating than such a measure to the friends to education and to truth ? But yet few Bilk would require more deliberate attention . He need
not say he was a friend to education . { Applame . ) But all should begin tp perceive that instruction is not educan 1 ° " : « was not merely teaching poor ^ nudren to . read , and write that would «* ake them good members of society ; it
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was not those attainments alone which would make them useful and honourable and happy . Education included all the process that formed the human characterwhich united the head and heart—which
not only increased the intellectual power of man , but increased the moral energy that would direct that power , —that not merely accumulated floods of water , which might desolate and astound , but caused those floods to fertilize and improve—that connected the present and
the future being of man . They ought not to be deceived by the comparison drawn between Scotland and Ireland : — as if the relative state of the peasantry of those countries depended principally upon reading and writing . It was not merely such instruction , but the whole education of Scotland that occasioned
their pre-eminence , not in intellectual , but in moral , and therefore real worth . To natural , physical causes might be attributed that , whilst Scotland was agricultural and pastoral—whilst the population was scant , send the parish Presbyters patriarchal , and all about them breathed the air of native purity , that the Scottish
peasantry were not only among the bravest of the brave ; but among the worthiest of the excellent . But though yet these schools continue ; though yet they can read and write , observe them in places , manufacturing and populous : look to them in those places where the poor laws are intruding ; look to them
in Glasgow , and learn , that instruction is not education , as there instructed Scotsmen have become as depraved , enervated , propense to licentiousness and discontent , as in their own manufacturing towns , or in the worst haunts of the metropolis . But it was not merely because he would prefer instruction after
the philosophical system of Pestalozzi recently acted on in Switzerland ; because he would render instruction really useful ; because he might doubt the necessity of a new system of parochial schools ; because he might prefer Sunday Schools , and deem them not only adequate , but far more excellent — that he suggested caution as to the measure when it shall
be proposed . Its possible infraction of religious liberty originated those remarks . The independent education of future generations would be the only hope for civil or religious freedom . Now , during the last summer , the Archbishop of
Canterbury made a visitation through part of his diocese , accompanied by the Bishop of Exeter . During the excursion he delivered a charge . Therein he m said to have complained " of the united attacks of Dissenters and Infidels ;" , to { have lamented , that the meanest and moM ignorant of the people , employ themselves
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Intelligence . ' —Protestant Society ; Mr . FPilkss Speech . ^ 93
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v i * xv . \
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1820, page 493, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2491/page/49/
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