Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1842-06-01
PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.


he following resolution: THAT the growing
disposition manifested of late to the Bible
as reading book in Common Schools, is an
auSpicious omen 10 our country.
| After brilliant exoTdium Mr.. ThompSOu
said:
We are 10 contemplate these interests in their
connexion with the young; and The youth not OF
| Asia, or Europe, but of our own land Our
children All how The soul swellS when they
come before il; our laughing children, with
hearts all Joy, and hope, and sunshine The
father relaxes his care-worn brow when be
looks upon his son, who is to bear his honora-
bic name TO coming ages. The mother, how
she cherishes in her heart of hearts her chill
dren; she "who made her breast the pillow of
their infancy, who watched above their couch
with vigilan, fond, never-ceasing love" M
effor, is too great, and no obstacle too appalling
for parental affection; and many parent who
bows not TO the authority of God, YET desires
that his children may own and acknowledge
him; and when The parental heart is renovated,
how impor,unalely will i, hang over the mercy
seat, and pray that God would be the God of It's
offspring. There is nothing selfish or soTdld
IN the ordinary gratitude of the Christian heart.
II is not simply the grateful remembrance of
personal enjoyments and lavOrs; but IL rises IN
TO life and energy as the uusinled waves Of the
Divine beneyulence are seen 10 eniod within
their ample embrace every object and thing
upon which their munificence can be expended:
and when such objects are the youth OF our
country, our children. shall not this feeling find
scope and passage! If we prize the Bible and
know our duty, we shall teach il TO our children,
when we rise up and when we lie down, i'll the
house and hy the waysIde; and this no less be-
cause it is The command of God, Than a dictate
Of nature. Natural reason impels us 10 warn
our offspring to avoid the evil and choose the
good; and man, wherever found, and In almost
every age, under the yer-present consciousness
Of his spiritual nature, necessities and Depend
ance, has endeavored TO insiil into The mind Of
his offspring the religion, true, or false, by
which his own feelings were directed The
| Greek, the Turk the Hebrew, and the Roman
commenced their religious instruction from the
cradle, and in the synagogue and temple; in
The grove, The camp, and the academy, by The
board and IN The mosque, were the cherished
principles of their faith, both nv precep, and
example, brought 10 bear upon the intellect and
morals of the young; and While Christian prin-
ciples had their early vgor and integrity under
The recent impulse Of the glorious Reformation
nf Luther, and the no less blessed revolution
which landed PurIIauism upon Plymouth rock,
these same phllosophIc practices were adhered
To- with fidelity which cvincsd their Difference
TO Divine authority, and their appreciation Of
the religion they believed. And many districts
OF our own land and in oar schools OF primary
instruction, has the Bible been placed in the
hands Of the young, that their opening minds
ghl come in contact with the elevaring and
purifying influences which as a fact il ever
sheds over all who become acquainted with lis
truths.
Sir, our resolution regards this disposition 10
use the Bible in common schools as growing
and increasing. And why should il not be so!
What hook like the Bible TO mould the charac-
ter of The young' What, intellectually, can so
exalt the mind, and cha>ten yet enrich the i'm
aginaiion. If the young soul dilates over the
pages of Milton, and revels among his superb
and glorious imagining how shall it not ex-
pand and glow when il rises to the source
whence the blind poet drew his inspiraion7
If the bounding spirit is mellowed and subdued,
when on The pictured page of YoUNG, he meets
the august and solemn shades of Death, Judg-
ment and Eternity, and estimates The iinsel gIo.
ries of earth, and more the substantial realities
Ol heaven, dS lie StdnuS WIN tne COUlpialHeT
above the sepulchre Of departed generations,
where the "gray hairs Of The mourner become
touched with the halo Of the prophet" shall i,
not more deeply appreciate these things, when
they meet him in every living line Of the sacred
Record! Do the young seek after wealth as
The chief good when they see the glilering
god so idoIized by the multitude! Here Dives
stands before him in purple and fine linen, and
there lifts up his eyes in torment. Is he ambi-
,ous Of fame! True, his experience may fur
nish The corrective, when on the scene of their
sbors, and The theatre Of their tIinmphs, the
memory Of the mghiesi so soon perishes from
remembrance when he visits scenes redolent
Of genius. When he reads The shores Of Lake
Leman, once The abodes Of Rousseau, Voare,
GIbbon. Byron, Gigantic minds that sought by
dangerous paths road TO (ane;" and well may
he ask, where are they? what now ayails their
renown! Alas! the Swiss peasant Ireads the
bowers they irod, unconscious that they ever
| lived; and the boorish fisherman casts his net
| A II I 81 4