The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1883-11-15
chronological Journal
Intellectual and Moral Culture.

chronological Journal.l
Intellectual and Moral Culture.
The history of man shows the fail.
ure Of teachers in religion and morals
to make men truthful and honest
This truth holds good in nations
where the Bible is taken for a stand.
ard of right and wrong, as we'll as in
those countries where the people bow
at the feet Of Mahomet or worship at
the shrine Of Buddha, or an imagina-
ry deity. Even in Puritan New En-
gland, where the school-house and the
church stand side by side, and the
young have the advantages of excel
lent intellectual culture and the relig-
ious training, according to the Epis-
copal and other creeds Of different
Christian denominations, vice and
sensuality abound, and men in high
stations, both in Church and State,
violate the laws of the land, and in
prisons, and sometimes upon the gal
lows, suffer the penalty of their
crimes. There is cause for this state
Of morals; and we affirm that it is the
result of error on the part Of intellec-
tual, moral, and religious teachers in
educating and training the youthful
mind.
It is affirmed by those who have the
education Of the race under their su-
pervision, that the youthful minds
should be educated at home by par
ents. This is true, but how can the
young be educated at home when the
parents are ignorant, and have no in
tellectual or moral culture? Or in
countries where the public school
reaches all, how are the children to be
taught morality at home when both
parents are violators Of the Decalogue?
Furthermore, how can any instructor,
private or public, teach the young
the principles of honesty without a
knowledge Of the innate faculties of
the mind to be educated? Educate
the intellect and neglect conscience,
and people, like the inhabitants of
New England, having learned men,
great in science, theology, and law,
but in numerous cases deficient in the
eternal principle of justice. is found
to be the result. This is proved by
the many instances of fraud by bank
cashiers and persons holding positions
Of trust in wealthy corporations. And
these defaulters, in most instances,
have been educated in our public
schools, and many Of them have had
the advantages of religious instruction
in our churches by distinguished doc
tors Of divinity. The cause Of this
state of things has been the wonder
of the teachers Of religion Of the Pu-
rltan school in New Englond for
more than two hundred years.
To the mind Of believer in phre-
biological truth, the cause Of the prev
alence Of vice and crime in Christen-
dom becomes perfectly obvious. He
sees that the intellect has been culti-
waited while the moral powers have
been left to the guidance of mere rea-
son. Moral science has been taught
in our institutions of learning, ON the
false principle that justice among
men is the result Of intellectual cul-
ture. And the expounders Of the
Gospel Of Christ have held, generally,
that morality alone is not sufficient to
entitle a person to admission to the
heavenly mansion; thus undervalued
To erroneous interpreta-
tions Of Scripture and heathenish the
ories Of mental philosophy may be as
cribed the failure in great part of our
public instruction to render men "a
law unto themselves.
Until the discovery Of Phrenology
by DR.. Gall, educators had no guide
to direct them in the safe road that
leads the young to the temple of viz
tue. They were blind guides, not
having the light Of science to show
them that conscience is an innate SEN
timent Of the mind, and
needs something more than a. COM
mand to make men abstain from COM
evil.
When conscience shall be recog-
nized as faculty of the soul to be
as has recently been denied
by distinguished educator Of Massa-
and proper means are used
to train this feeling, as we would train
courage, love, fear, hope, or kindness,
we may then expect the oft-disputed
statement Of Solomon to show itself
to be true, viz: "Irain up child in
the way he should go, and when he is
old he will not depart from it" Our
schools instruct the intellect, and stop;
they do not train the moral feelings.
The difference between instruction
and training is great. We train
horses, dogs, and oxen, and they obey
us. We instruct children IN intellec-
tual matters, but we fail to train them
in morals, at least in the public
schools. We submit, that nearly all
the training pupils get in school, is
addressed to fear, ambition, or shame,
through the system of "narks." When
does a teacher appeal to conscience,
the law-keeper Of the human mind?
When is pupil trained to do right
because it is right? We remember
how, sixty years ago, the restless Or
playful child was put to shame by be-
ing seated in the middle of the room
on the Ounce block" and made to
wear the fools cap" and the whole
school was permitted to laugh the de-
linquent to scorn. This was simply
mortifying the love Of Appreciation
through shame, while the industrious
and orderly were recompensed by
praise marks through the same fac
ulty, Approbativeness. Sometimes
Cautiousness was painfully appealed
to by the whip, but conscience rarely,
if ever. Hence the cunning
of the child was aroused to
avoid detection and consequent pun