The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-12-26 00:00:00

bN EDUCATION.

[FROM SIMONS OF Tel lay. 6. J. 20LLMOPFU—Tim.
LAM FOON TIRO •
To other general rules we will subjoin a few tint
shall more especially relate to the chief particular vir-
tues to which children and young persons should be
trained up, by those whose duty it is to form thee
hearts or their moral characters.
The first of these is this :—lnure them, from their
earliest infancy, to obedience and submission. He
that his not letirat this in his childhood and youth
is unhappy for the rest of hie life. All of us
are occasionally brought into situations where it is
necessary for us to submit, where we must comply
if we would , not run counter to our duties, or bring
harm upon ourselves and others. Either we must
avoid human society altogether, renounce all its
advantages and pleasures, and take up our abode in
the holes of the rock or the dens of the forest ; or
we must sacrifice a part of our natural liberty to the
security and quiet enjoyment of the rest, subject mu.
selves to certain restraints, and alternately yield to
each other. But how unfit must he be for this,
who has for ten, fifteen, or a greater number of years,
unmolestedly followed his own inclinations, who has
suffered no opposition, whose wishes for every thing
he saw were so many commands uniformly submitted
to by the blind indulgence of his parents and tutors,
and who now, all at once must adopt a quite different
course of action. The time is arrived when he must
make his entrance into the world. At every step he
meets with obstructions. His wishes are scarcely no-
ticed, while he expects to see all men running to fulfil
them. They much rather oppose his desires and aims.
His vanity and arrogance will be offended one while in
this manner, and, then in another; but the disease
is too inveterate to admit of a cure. Unfortunate
man ! Deplorable victim of extreme fondness and
indulgence ! How often, when Once thou comest
to reflection, how often wilt thou lament this cruel
tenderness! How often wilt thou wish that thy pa-
rents, thy preceptors, had exerted their proper au-
thority over thee, and taught thee obedience ! 0, ye
parents ! would you spare your children these sighs,
these complaints, and the miseries that extort them,
inure them to discipline ; I say to discipline, for by
precept and exhortation alone you will never sue-
Iceed—exercise them in obedience and submission.
Allow yourselves to be easily prevailed on ; fre-
quently go before their requests when they ask
for things innocent and good; and shew them
by facts how much you have their real satisfac-
tion and their real happiness at heart ; but newer
should they obtain any thing from you by force—never
yield to their impetuosity or clamour; let not the
tears of stubbornness melt you to an ill-timed compas-
sion. Enjoin them nothing without mature delibera-
tion, without sufficient reason; let the justice, the
equity, the indulgence that is due to their age and
weakness, be the rule of all your commands; but
when once you have delivered them, never think of a
repeal, but absolutely insist on the most punctual
and unreserved compliance ; and let neither head-
long opposition, nor artful flattery, move you to
the revocation of them. Beware, however, of
issuing too many, or two different orders at once.
You will thereby lay an insupportable yoke on their
necks, and in some measure compel them to disobe-
dience ; or you will make timid vassals of them, im-
patiently waiting for the moment when they may mis-
use their freedom without reproof or observation.
Leave, therefore, to their option whatever is in itself
indifferent and can have no prejudicial influence on.
their morals ; and be content sometimes in furnishing
them with useful suggestions and reasons by which
they may determine for themselves. Imitate herein
the Great Lawgiver of the universe. Consider how
much He has left to our free agency, and how greatly
he has thus facilitated our obedience to his commands!
The neglect of this rule is the principal cause why so
few children learn. If we will be always treapingcom-
tnand upon command, and regulate, as it were,tevery
posture, every word, every look, every motion ofthe
child or the youth by law, we ourselves cannot be at-
tentive to all these commands, and must of necessity
pass over many transgressions of our laws in silence :
and by this means the rest of our laws and ordinances,
even the weightest of them, lose their force, and dis-
obedience becomes habitual.