On this page

• Text (1)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • 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.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    gioiis instruction ; thotightve consider it as , of nil branches of a general course of instruction , that which least requires such a provision , and m which the influence of Government is least likely to be of a saltitafy kind . The extension of secular education thousands are anxious to impede , and few comparatively are willing to give themselves any trouble to promote it ; but al { are abundantly eager to inculcate religion , and we may count by mil .

    iiofis thosfe who either by pilrse or person are actively engaged in propagating their religious opinions through all channels . On other subjects almost any teaching which could emanate from the Suite , Would be ah impfove * ment on What exists : on that one subject the voluntary principle already provides , -in ample measure , instruction quite equal to any which our present statesmen seem to have the capacity to conceive . . A& to Church Establishments , such as exist in Europe , and even such as ftte conceited in the abstract , by all mankind except a fei * closet

    philosofiherd ; we deny their claim to the title of institutions for religious instruction . Their objects we conceive to be of a quite distinct character , and stich as not onty may safely be left to the voluntary principle , but cannot jufetly be provided for in any other manner . 1 * he Clergy , indeed , are , in a certain measure , teachers of religion , and it is easy to conceive a clergy of whom that might be the sole office . But the leading feature in the conception of a clergyman , in the minds of the

    majority of believers in Christianity , is that of a person appointed , not to teach them , but to go through certain ceremonies with them ; in the Catholic church to perform for them , in Protestant churches to asiftst them in the performance of , the religious observances which they consider as means ot obtaining the faVour of the Supreme Being . Now this is , if anything ever was * , an individual and personal concern . If any one deems a particular kind of observances to be conducive to salvation , and the assistance

    of any other person to be necessary for the performance of them , it is for him , or those who share his persuasion , to defray the expense . If aid be afforded by the State , it ought to be afforded impartially ; each should be assisted to support the worship he voluntarily prefers . But in princljple , this is not one of those wants of individuals which the State is called upon either to awaken or to relieve . It is not a matter in which society is concerned , either by its interests ot by any call of duty ; though

    doubtless , in the choice of a mode of worship , individuals are determined by the general state of their intellectual and moral nature , and in that , society has the deepest interest . Let society then go to the fountain-head , and address itself to the cause , not to the symptom . Let it provide adequate means , and adequate encouragement , for the mental culture of all classes of the people , leaving it to them to provide themselves with all helps necessary for their individual devotions . A $ et it instruct the people :

    wg do not say educate : that task must necessarily devolve upon the family ; a State never educates , except by the general spirit of its institutions . But it can instruct ; and by instruction it can not only form the intellect , but de * Vhlppe the moral perceptions . h We know of nv branch of the general culture of the mental faculties ,

    Which Id not a fit subject for a State provision . People may he trusted to themselves to learn whatever is necessary for gaining their daily bread , jftie instruction which is intended to form , not human beings , but trades huSQ and fcqusfcwiveB , tiefcd ttot , efceept to the Vcrjr potot , b 6 &ffdtded by a Slat © e * taWif&mfent . Professional lMtructloh m&y he left to thfc coinpe

    Untitled Article

    * f $ Tfdte * on the tfetoipaptri .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1834, page 442, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2634/page/60/