Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-05-01
Written for the Rutland Herald
Discipline --- Religious Training.
NO. XIV.

Discipline --- Religious Training.
NO. XIV.
The vast Importance of religious train
ing for our children, must not be lost
sight of, in this connection. | urge this
point not only in view of the personal
welfare of these children, in their eter-
nal relations to God, but in view of their
future relations to society. This last
view may first occupy our attention. 1t
is conceded by all, that morality is an in
dispensable element in human character.
All the learned infdels, such as Boiling
broke, SALISBURY, Gibbon, Voltaire,
D'Alembert and Thomas Paine, have
plead the cause of morality, and insisted
upon its incubation in the training of
children. The famous Stephen Girard,
who thirty years ago left, by his will,
an immense fortune, Gin trusD to the
city Of Philadelphia, to found an InfdeI
College, for the home and training of
orphan children, provided for instruc-
tiontin morality. He decreed that this
college should be built on his own .es-
tate, and that the whole forty-fiye acres
should be enclosed by solid wall, ten
feet high, and guarded by iron pickets
on its tops, to shut out the outside world
that buildings should be erected, suited
to accommodate at least three hundred
orphans between the ages of six and ten
years and that all religious teachings
and influence should be scrupulously ex-
cluded.
And yet, that same Stephen Girard,
in the same will that enjoined and re-
quired ''that no ecclesiastic, missionary
or minister of any sect whatever, shall
ever be admitted, for any purpose, or as
a visitor, within the premises appropri-
ated to the purposes of the said college"
expressed the desire that call the teach
ers shall take pains to institute into
the minds of the scholars tile purest lori3a
cipLes Of morality, so that on their en-
trance into active life, they may, from
inclination and habit, evince benevOlence
towards their fellow creatures, and a
love for truth, sobriety and industry"
The distinguished naturalist of Eng
land, Prof. Huxley, who processes no
sympathy with revealed religion, says,
''there must be a moral substratum to
the child's education, to make it valu-
able, :" and strange to say he adds, 'and
there is no other source from which this
can be obtained, at all comparable with
the Bible" Hence, he advocates the
use of the Bible in the training of chill
dren.
And just here, | wish to make point
in favor of religious culture for our chill
dren, founded upon Prof. Huxley's adj
mission. Morality is indispensable in
educating the young, but the religion of
the Bible is the foundation and source
of all morality. Indeed, without reli-
gion, there could be no morality Re
ligion takes every principle and rule of
morals under its peremptory sanction,
and every pure precept ever inculCated,
either by inf1dels or christians, has had
one common origin, the inspired ao0rd Of
God
Well then, could the immortal Web
ster, pleading against the validity of Mr..
Girards will, claim that his beauest was
no charity. 1t could be no charity, as
viewed by the dying christian mother
who realizes that she is about to leave
her tender children in poverty and help
lessness. Would she not prefer to trust
them to the charity of ''cold world"
which does sometimes give coup of
water" to a furnishing stranger, and
which always allows the benevolent dis
ciples of Jesus to minister to the wants
of the friendless sufferer, rather than to
shut them up within these Snfdel walls,
beyond the reach of the solaces and con-
solutions, the grace and hopes of the
christian religion? There can be only
one answer to this inquiry
And what had the State to hope from
the education of such an army of or
phans exclusively under the influence of |
inf1delity? Could they be fitted for the I
duties and responsibilities of citizenship
in Christian community, and under
laws founded upon Christian principles
| deny that pure morality can be incul-
Gated without the aid of Christianity. |
deny that ''benevolence, love of truth.
sohriety aud industry" can spring from
inclination and habit" in those who
have been shut away from the teachings
and regenerating power of the gospel.
But our citizens must be so trained, and
they must be imbued with this spirit if
we would hope for the prosperity and
oerpetuity of the republic. Thanks to
IN overriding Providence who has. after
all, in some mysterious way, caused the
9irard College, under His will. to be
conducted on purely Christian principles
Turing all these thirty years; and we may
nope it will be so conducted through all
coming time The religious training of
children is the first duty of parents, and
hey must take the work into their own
lands So says the inspired penman
When giving the Decalogue to the Jews. !
And these words. which | command
hee, this day, shall be in thy heart.
md thou shalt teach them diligently F.
INTO thy children, and shall talk of them
yhen thou sittest in thy house, and when |
hou walkest by the way, when thou n
est down, and when thou risest up"
And still more imposing and fearful
uthority enjoins upon parents the same {
reat duty. ''Suffer little children to ;
ONE unto me. This injunction is adj
ressed directly to all fathers and moth |
rs to whose care have been entrusted T
little children. This is the time when ]
hey are to be instructed in divine things, h