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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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They , do not in the years of childhood help their offspring in attaining the invaluable acquisition of a good temper , of a happy , cheerful turn of mind . It is very probable that these parents are themselves sufferers from an
education defective in this point . There may be perpetual difficulties engendered in their own dispositions hy neglect or injudicious treatment of the temper in early life , and these
difficulties , which render the path of duty often painful , give an appearance of anxiety to the countenance , and make any impression upon children unfavourable , it is to be feared , to the connexion in their minds of
cheerfulness with duty . Let such parents , however , diligently strive against imparting their own disadvantages to their offspring . It is cruel to withhold from them the powerful assistance of habit and pleasant association . It is inexcusable to spoil a temper , trusting to an after-acquired principle to subdue and correct it . Instead of
suffering a child to commit faults , and then reasoning upon their criminality , how easy would it often be to avert the commission of the fault altogether ! When selfishness is creeping in , might not removal into a society , where opposite examples prevail , and
where self-denial finds a speedy reward , be oftentimes a better corrective than the painful , humiliating , distasteful process of solitary self « subjection ? When a child has acquired
a fretfulness of manner , might not a little observation on circumstances , or on the manners of those whose injudicious management has in all probability occasioned it , enable the parent to remove the evil without constant
altercation , and substitute a blessing for one of the chief of human afflictions ? It is true that offences will come , and there may be as much wisdom in
letting a child sometimes feel how far the indulgence of a bad temper will carry it , as , in general , in avoiding what may irritate . On such occasions the highest principles should surely be allowed to have their full operatio n * and conscience do its work
faithfully ; for a Christian parent cannot avoid the conclusion , that if he wishes Ms child to be a religious character , it $ 8 in vain to look for his exemption from the pairis of repentance . If it
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be unreasonable to expect lie will be always happy from without , still leas can he look for his beings always at peace within . It is only when we lower the standard of God ' s requirements , or exalt our own fulfilment of them far beyond what Scripture ar \ d
experience warrant , that we can look upon ourselves with constant complacency ; a high and healthful sense of the mercy of God , of his parental and forgiving character , is sufficient to prevent dejection where the mind is not previously weakened ; and to supply those beautiful ideas of the Father of
the universe is one of a parent ' s mosc precious privileges . We see , then , how needful it is in education to use all our lights , to attend both to our natural and revealed knowledge of human nature , to call in the aid both of social and divine
considerations . It is painful to think that sweet dispositions and valuable habits should not be so secure in themselves , nor so likely to do honour to the Christian cause as they might , from a defect in the foundation on
which we have reared them . It is yet more painful to see uprightness , uncompromising rectitude , and high moral and religious feelings , rendered of little value by the predominance of minor faults . If perfectibility be not a dream , and Christianity ever is allowed here on earth to do her work
fully , how glorious will one day be her triumphs ! But it as our misfortune that amid the many disappointing thing 9 connected with religion as it is in the world , the lovv practice of some , and the high pretensions of others , we are led to regard as romantic even that calm view of Christianity which
is attained simply by tracing its principles to their legitimate results . Yet from whence is improvement to come , if it does not arise from those whose minds have followed out the system , and , seeing to what it leads , are antfious to pursue it with zeal , tempered only fcy what common prudence ana
the spirit of Christian patience suggest ? Among its noblest triump hs we may surely reckon an extensive cultivation of every faculty , and . * studious formation of every habit , with a reference to its assistance tn strengthening- Christian principle J habit . The philosophy of the mind teaches us the inconvenience of p »
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454 Further 'Thoughts on Christian Education .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1826, page 454, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2551/page/10/
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