PREFACE. THIS discourse was preached before a very respectable audience; and it is now submitted to the candour of the public, at the request of some persons, the sincerity of whose approbation I cannot distrust, and with the authority of whose judgment I ought not to trifle. I intend it, in some measure, as a sequel to a Sermon which I published in 1780, at the desire of the late Mr. Thurlow. In that Sermon I entered into a full and elaborate vindication of the general principles on which charity schools are supported. But upon the present occasion I have studiously preserved a plainer style, I have chiefly attended to the practical part of the subject, I have enlarged more copiously upon the best methods of religious education for all young persons; and, with a very few exceptions, I profess only to deliver such common and useful observations, as are adapted to the apprehension of common and well-disposed readers. In consequence of two or three seeming deviations from the direct and beaten track of my subject, I may, in the second part of it, be thought to expatiate too much upon the Perjuria Punici Furoris, Cum sit lis mihi de tribus Capellis. This objection I shall endeavour to remove, or at least to weaken, by observing, that enquiries relating to the knowledge which is to be communicated, and the employments which should be assigned to the poor of both sexes, cannot be considered as unimportant; that in tracing the causes, and marking the circumstances of the most familiar events, we often catch involuntarily a glimpse of society in various forms; and that, in the discussion of all moral questions, where theory is closely connected with practice, we find our judgment assisted, as well as our curiosity amused, by incidental rẻmarks and collateral researches. Ἐοίκα (says Socrates) καὶ συγγραφικῶς ἐρεῖν, ἀλλ ̓ οὖν ἔχει yê πws is λéyw; Phædo. p. 102. edit. Serran. For the unusual length of this Sermon I am unable to make any satisfactory apology-but as to the passages in which I refer to local circumstances, I hope to alledge a proper and sufficient excuse in their local importance. In respect to the notes, they appear to me necessary, sometimes to explain my opinions, and sometimes to justify my reasoning. They are taken from writers whom I know to be familiar to every man of letters. A DISCOURSE ON EDUCATION. PROVERBS, Xxii. 6. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. DEEPLY as must every well-disposed man be impressed with the truth and the importance of these words, considered abstractedly from the authority of the writer, he will at the same time rejoice, that the cause of religious education has found in Solomon a most eloquent advocate, and a most sagacious and dispassionate judge. But as the peculiar manner of a teacher often gives additional force to the doctrines which he inculcates, you will permit me to lay before you some preliminary observations on that species of writing in which the injunction and the promise contained in my text are conveyed to us. It will perhaps be said, that observations of this kind may be affixed to any passage in any part of the book. I allow the fact, but am able to blunt the edge of every objection which may be drawn from it; for, in the first place, it is certainly right, in some form or other, to explain, in the ears of a Christian congregation, the general character of proverbial writings; secondly, no form can be more proper than to make such explanation an appendage to some particular precepts; and, finally, no precept can be more interesting to us than that which is delivered in the text, whether we consider ourselves as the professors of a pure religion, or the members of a civilized community. In countries where composition was not embellished by critical refinement, and where the sciences were either totally unknown, or irregularly cultivated, the use of Proverbs has universally prevailed. While the modifications of artificial life were neither considerable in number, nor extensive in their effects, the utility of short and plain directions was universally felt; and as the manners of men were not distorted by affectation, nor their understandings debauched by sophistry, general rules afforded a safe and easy guidance * for those who were neither able nor willing to perplex themselves by cavils, to hunt after exceptions, or trace out all the minuter circumstances, by which particular cases were discriminated. Hence, in the regulation both of private and public concerns, in correcting the vices of individuals, and in curbing the passions of the multitude, proverbs were often employed with distinguished and instantaneous success. They produced, indeed, such consequences as it is extremely diffi *My meaning may be illustrated by the following passage in Apostolius : Ετυμολογεῖται ἡ παροιμία ἐκ τῆς παρὰ προθέσεως δὲ τοῦ οἶμος ἡ ὅδος, παραοιμία καὶ παροιμία· ἤτοι τό παροδικὸν τρίμμα τε καὶ διήγημα· ἐν γὰρ τῇ ἀρχῆ ἔτι τῶν τρίβων ἀσήμων οὐσῶν, διὰ τὸ τοὺς ὁδεύοντας μὴ ἀποκάμνειν τῷ μη γινώσκειν πόσον της ὁδοῦ διήνυσαν, καὶ τί λείπεται, σημεῖα οἱ παλαιοὶ κατὰ τίνας τῆς ὁδοῦ τόπους ἐτίθεσαν κ. τ. λ. cult for us in these later ages of civilization to conceive, and such too, as far surpass what might now be expected from a series of the most cogent reasoning, or from the display of the most brilliant eloquence. In the peculiar structure of proverbs we may find some of the reasons to which their uncommon efficacy is to be ascribed. They are calculated to awaken attention without effort, and without art to impress conviction. In oral tradition they found a safe vehicle, and by daily experience they were called forth into constant use. The numerosity of the sentence pleased the ear, and the vivacity of the image dazzled the fancy. By their pointedness they were clearly understood, and from their conciseness they were easily retained. Brevity,* indeed, as appears from the practice of every writer, and the decision of every judge, is indispensably necessary. But whether the primary and leading idea should be conveyed by direct terms, or oblique allusion; whether it should be placed in full light or darkened by a partial shade; whether it should stand prominently in the front of the picture, and assail attention, or gently invite it by being thrown, as it were, in the back ground, will depend wholly * Quicquid præcipies, esto brevis. A rule which is applicable on more occasions than that to which it is immediately applied by the poet. See also a passage quoted by Lowth from Demetrius: Hepì èpμýv. Præl. 24. + Ab aliis hoc finitur modo, παροιμία ἐστὶ λόγος ἐπικαλύπτων τὸ σάφες ἀσαφεῖς, id est, Proverbium est sermo rem manifestam obscuritate tegens. Prolegom. to Erasm. Adag. Sacra vero |