| | | | The state of our Parochial Schools, and the system of education | pursued in them, have been for some time past subjects of public | thought and inquiry; and much has been said, written, and | planned about them. The great importance of this department, | and its natural claim upon clerical care and industry, are felt; and | education ~~ meaning by that word not scholarlike, or | philosophical, or polite education only, but the common average | Christian teaching which all the young members of the Church as | such, rich or poor, ought to receive ~~ has risen vastly as a | subject of intellectual and religious interest in the country. | Everybody is talking now about education. Persons devote | themselves to the labours of a schoolmaster now, who would not | have dreamed of doing so some years ago; and situations of even | moderate rank are occupied by men of intellectual gifts and some | measure of scholarlike accomplishments, who have sought a less | irksome and a politer field some time back. We are now | concerned with parochial education solely. In proportion as | general thought and attention have been drawn to the educational | question, in that proportion have persons become dissatisfied | with the plan and method of instruction pursued in most of our | day parish-schools. We will anticipate our course of remark, and | say at once, and at starting, that we allude principally to the | monitorial system now at work in our parishes ~~ a system | thought such a happy discovery when first introduced, but which | the trials and experience of the last thirty years have now placed | in a much more questionable aspect. It will be our endeavour, in | the course of this article, to compare the method of giving | instruction now pursued in most of the parish-schools of | England, with another method of a much older and more | authoritative stamp; one which the Church universal, and our | own branch of it in particular, has, in direct and express form, | recommended and enjoined; one which brings teacher and pupil | into much closer contact, ~~ which elicits thought and invites | effort, and makes the whole process of education more of a | mental, and less of a mechanical, work. | | We will now come to the point. To state there is a vast mass of | existing evil in the country, and that all men see that there is but | one remedy for the evil, viz. education, would but amount to a | truism. | | First, then, we will look at the existing systems of teaching as | used under authority in the country, and on their face bearing a | certain relation to the Church in England; and this is an important | fact to remember, viz. that the systems which are now in | working, and which we propose to consider, come before us | claiming, to a great degree, the authority and sanction of the | Church of England; in fact, they are looked upon by most men as | the church method of education in this country. | | 'The Minutes,' we have prefixed to the head of this article, | profess to be . They contain the result of an | investigation made into the state of education in a large part of | the country in this day. They bring before us the fact, that the | school in each parish which the commissioner has visited, is the | church school of the parish, and the very place where the | clergyman is carrying out his plan of catholic teaching to the | children of his cure. It is the education, then, which the | commissioned ministers and authorities of the Church in England | are carrying out, and have, in a great degree, attached to | themselves as their own. We have two points to deal with in | connexion with the matter. The mode in which this system is | being carried out, even according to the commissioner's own | report, and the merits of that system itself, whatever they may be. | The plan of the National Society is the system of education | which is being worked with authority. The chief, and most | important part of the Minutes, consists of the statements of Mr. | Allen, made with reference to his visitation of schools in | Bedford, Cambridge, Huntingdon, and schools in the southern | district. Two or three facts grieve us at the very outset of Mr. | Allen's statement. He gives a most distressing view of the | scantiness of any educational systems in very many parishes of | Huntingdonshire: e.g. out of | ninety-seven parishes forty-nine have no daily schools whatever, (p. 1), | and out of forty-one rural parishes in which daily schools were | inspected in Bedfordshire, the number in which any reasonable | measure of intelligent and really valuable instruction was | communicated cannot be stated higher than twenty-four; and, | consequently, the number of parishes practically without daily | schools of value for the poor must be raised to eighty-two. | Similarly in Cambridgeshire, the rate of valuable schools was | forty-nine, and that of parishes without them was eighty-three; | and in Huntingdonshire the good schools were in the proportion | of twenty-six to sixty-one, | | (p. 2) Here is a sad deficiency in any education at all in a large | number of parishes. Besides this, Mr. Allen tells us that in many | places funds were existing for carrying out schools, while no | schools were at the time practically existing. He says himself, | that in many large parishes in Cambridgeshire, there cannot be | found a single intelligent or properly qualified teacher at work in | the daily instruction of the poor. Again, (p. 5), he remarks on | methods of instruction pursued, and says, , and | , he says, . | | So much for Mr. Allen's own confession to government of the | imperfect working of existing systems of education: the whole | impression we receive from his report, is, that the dark side of | the case was the one which most pressingly presented itself to the | eye. The education which is at work throughout the country is | not doing even its work in a way in which a system which | professes to be the Church and National system should be doing | it. A poor apology for education is presenting itself in some of | the most civilised counties of midland England, not far removed | from the metropolis, in dioceses of by no means the largest | territorial extent; and this state of things is confessed by an | intelligent commissioner, who for many reasons would wish to | give the best and most favourable report he could. | | But our work here rather is, to show the inefficiency of the | particular method itself of teaching at present at work in the | country. Hear Mr. Moseley in his own report of the Midland | District Schools: | | . continues Mr Moseley, . . | Mr Moseley then, very rightly tells us that : , | he continues, . | | All most true; and coming from the inspector of the National | Schools himself, it comes with still greater weight: and we | would here remind our readers that every | school in the midland district, visited by Mr. Moseley, was | carried on in this manner: therefore it may be safely put forward | as the system of the Society. We cannot | do better than to let Mr. Moseley exhibit the system still further | in his own words. | | | | | Once more: ~~ | | | Thus far we have let Mr. Moseley speak for himself. It seemed | important he should do so; he has described the system well, | with its faults and defects, and, what is more, the irremediable | nature of them. | | Again, Mr. Bellairs says, ~~ | | | | Again, hear Mr. Cook's opinion of monitors, who is inclined to | take a more favourable view: ~~ | | | | | | Mr. Moseley says, in page 246 of Report: ~~ | | | | | Again: ~~ | | | | Again, of the want of moral influence in our Schools: ~~ | | | | We have such official statements on the subject of monitorial | teaching before us. The Church should give moral and religious | training to her children. She baptizes them, and she should | educate them in their baptismal promises. Here education should | especially bring moral influences, personal authority, the force of | example, upon them: it should bring the teacher in an | authoritative, a magisterial, and, so far as he receives his | situation | | from the Church, in an ecclesiastical position, before them. But | here we see machinery, rather than moral influence; and a mode | of instruction is before us, that can neither impress nor mould, | neither elevate nor strengthen. What must be the inevitable | tendency of placing boys in the position of moral influence and | power over others, before them themselves have formed one | strong moral habit? added to which, there is the danger of an | incalculable amount of vanity incurred by emitting knowledge as | fast as it is taken in. All such plans of teaching must, on all | sides, lead children to look on education as a merely intellectual | process. The pupils have thereby points of knowledge drilled | into them; the teacher has no other possession than mere | knowledge, even if he has that; and his impression in the | imparting knowledge is the main object of his present and future | life. The monitorial system discourages all efforts at personal | religious influence, and works on children as if they were | themselves mere automatons, destitute of a moral or social | nature. | | We might add this objection: that one danger of so working the | monitorial system in this way is leading men to work | system threadbare, ~~ to give them a pure | affection for the mere formalities of arrangement. Each man, | and especially he who undertakes the education of children, | should be conscious, more or less, of some system by which he | works ~~ but to put this forward as the main object, as well as | means, of his teaching ~~ to make the pupils themselves | conscious of 'the system' ; and to be | willing to sacrifice all personal exertion and usefulness, as Mr. | Moseley tells us, to the mere pleasure of , seems to us | to be an error. | | But the great fault of such a system is, that it fails in giving | elementary instruction. It is not catechetic, in the highest sense | of the word. Our full meaning in the use of it shall appear | presently. But first, to show that the Society does not pay | sufficient attention to elementary instruction; let us hear the | Report again. In p. 125 of the Report, Mr. Watkins tells us, in | his visits to the schools of the Northern District, that, . | This is bad for schools taught by the Society's own masters, and | under the Society's own system. , (which we take to be | the meaning of the fifth article on this page,) . But still | more startling are his statistics under the sixth article. Mr. | Watkins informs us, that out of one | | hundred and twenty schools, in union with the Society, | twenty-three had made positively, | no progress in religious knowledge in | proportion to the time they had been at school; | twenty-six only, what the inspector terms | moderate progress; | fifty-six , good progress; and only fifteen | , very good. In ninety , out of the | one hundred and twenty, no attempt whatever is made to keep up | connexion with the children after leaving school. This state of | things is what we should expect from the manner in which the | monitorial system is worked. All the tables on which we cast our | eye in the Report bring before our mind the fact, most strongly, | that a very large proportion of time and labour is spent on | subject-matter which is not religious, and we should have | thought, in many cases, not useful for the class of persons taught | in these schools. | | The absence of teaching by interrogation, an essential part of the | catechetical process, is thus complained of by Mr. Bellairs: ~~ | | | | These are results exactly such as we should expect, in schools | carried out under the monitorial system; since, of course, | anything like direct interrogation must proceed from a person | who, from superior knowledge, and the moral influence of | position, commands the minds of the children. No monitor can | do this. No monitor is really a teacher. The teacher must always | know considerably more than he wishes to teach the pupil; he | must not intend to drown his own stock of knowledge. The | monitorial system appoints teachers who, having reached a | certain attainment of knowledge, are called on to give out | all that to their disciples; and the tendency | of this is what we have just seen, ~~ the absence, to a great | degree, of religious instruction by the catechetical process. Both | of these require high attainments in the teacher. The more | elementary the subject-matter of education is to be, the higher | must be the knowledge of the instructor. He must possess | information on each point, the farthest removed from merely | elementary knowledge: a shallow teacher and low acquirements | will do to teach men the details of things ~~ to plunge them in | medias res ; ~~ but to keep | them close, and to work them thoroughly on the elements of a | truth, requires a very thorough knowledge of all its bearings. Of | course, the monitorial system cannot attempt this. | | | Turn to the Report again, (p.124): Mr. Watkins shows the mode | of teaching history and geography, in general, to be dry and | uninteresting; a mere set of cut and dried questions formed to | save the master trouble. It would be endless and tedious to quote | all the passages which show the facts we are here concerned to | substantiate. The Reporters have been so candid in their | statements, that even a cursory reader will find little difficulty in | detecting the harm we are asserting to exist in the Society's plan. | | Statements like this (p. 127) abound throughout the Report: ~~ | | | And yet this Broken Catechism has been constantly used in the | Society's schools; and, worked under the monitorial system, must | produce all the harm, in different directions, which Mr. Watkins | here complains of. | | We will not multiply quotations, which might be made from | nearly every page, to prove the same mechanical and | unelementary state of things: we will proceed to a more | important point which is left us to discus; viz., what is the system | we would substitute for this, and which is rather the object we | now have in view. We pass on from a review of a bad system, | badly worked, to make some suggestions as to the adoption of | the style of education which we esteem to be distinctly catholic | ~~ 'the Catechetical;' what it is, and how it may be applied to | general parochial teaching, ~~ either in places where education | may be begun de novo , or | where a bad state of things is already at work. | | Instruction is now given, and knowledge conveyed, by | exhortation, address, advice, and other like methods, by which | the object of the instruction is dealt with without any exertion on | his own part. The undue importance attached to preaching is the | result of this system. Sermons are thought to be the best mode of | conveying religious knowledge. The sermon of the Sunday or | holy-day is followed up by the oft-repeated advice of the week; | the explicit statement, over and over again, of the same truths, | and the reproofs of the same faults, the very fall of which on the | ear has become like a dead unmeaning sound. The defectiveness | of this method may be seen in almost every parish in the | kingdom; and our adults, of a certain age, will be | | often scarcely able to give a correct answer to the simplest | question as to the faith which is in them, while they have been | the objects of direct instruction for years, ~~ have listened to | sermons, and received advice, reproofs, and exhortation. There | are many such, who will scarcely be able to give you in the | words of the Creed a single article to which they were pledged at | Baptism. We are not stating controverted facts, nor are we | intending to reflect any discredit on the energy and good | intentions of those who have occupied the place of religious | teachers of late years. They meant well, and they worked well; | but they gave up the system of the Church, and their work has | been imperfect, and the result crippled and maimed. Our poor | are lamentably ignorant. If you ask them a question on the | simplest point of religion, they will generally plead their want of | scholarship as the reason for their inability to answer it; and this | is common where, as we have already said, they have had | indefatigable pains bestowed upon them by good and earnest | men. | | The deficiency is felt in all directions. We have heard the | complaint of whole neighbourhoods where, in many parishes | named, not one out of a large number of village schoolmasters | was able, on being asked, to give a distinct answer, in | explanation of any one point in the Catechism, or the meaning of | words used in it. Such is the result of the prevalent system. The | catechetical method, we say, is the authorized plan for educating | a Christian mind: it is the effective, the practical, the solid, | sound, and useful, mode of educating; and it is the remedy which | most obviously suggests itself, for looseness of knowledge and | ideas which have been the effect of the religious instructions of | recent times. | | The great strength of the catechetical mode of teaching lies in the | fact of its drawing out the mind and powers of the disciple, and | leading himself to deduce truth on reflection, as well as to | enunciate them. Men will always save themselves trouble if they | can; they do so unconsciously; the tendency to relax exertions is | mixed up with our nature throughout, and influences us | frequently when we are not in the least degree aware of such | being the case. This is true of our bodies ~~ of our conscience, | as well as of our intellectual powers. We know this is strangely | true of our conscience; it will soon cease to warn us if not | exerted, and it needs to be called to exert itself. People who | substitute an external rule, and system of routine, for the voice of | their own conscience, and do what they see done around them; | who are just as virtuous, and no more, than the world ~~ | religious or secular ~~ around them, and who attach themselves | to an outward guide, instead of their own inward one, cease to | feel the directions of the latter; they gradually lose the genuine | native oracle of | | conscience. It is equally true in the intellectual world; the | understanding is weakened, and the intellect impaired, by not | being allowed to exert themselves on the subject-matter of their | education. The powers of apprehension and attention are so | enervated from being saved trouble, that they soon will cease to | exist altogether. This is often the case so unconsciously to | ourselves, that, although we wish most earnestly to call those | intellectual powers into play, yet, if we are allowing ourselves to | be the objects of direct instruction, which does not of necessity | call out our mental powers, we shall find them increasingly | unwilling, and ourselves surrendering the use of them. Our | mental as well as our moral powers should be compelled to exert | themselves; their perfection consists in exertion; their strength | and keenness in their energy. All this is in close analogy with | the natural world. An organ or function of the body is absorbed, | or paralized, or obliterated, if deprived of a healthy and | life-giving opportunity of action. Work is the proper preservative of | being, either physical or ethical or intellectual. | | The catechetical system unites all this. The subject matter of | instruction is first given by direct teaching, and the memory | exerted upon it. It is then drawn out by questions, which require | a process of thought in the mind of the disciple, calling out his | own powers, and strengthening his intellectual faculties. Besides | which, the actual subject is clearly apprehended and understood | in a way in which it would not be without this process. A direct | question involves a logical process in the mind. The child | himself gives birth to the idea; he himself has formed into shape | what he enunciates; he gives a shape and outline to a floating | matter within him; and in giving it definite form, the truth itself | becomes clearer to his own mind. The edge which he himself | gives it, by exerting his intellectual powers to give it outline, | presses keenly on him, and he feels its reality in the act of giving | it birth. He receives his knowledge, in the first instance, in so | modified a shape, that he does not see or understand its separate | part or tendencies. In answer to a question, he must place the | truth in some defined idea; he must use the power of abstraction; | he must discover the aptness of the answer to the particular point | in view, and whether the exact portion of the general truth | floating in his mind is that which answers to the question. To do | this, he must abstract, generalize, and divide. He has then | formed his idea: this is one step towards definition, and in doing | this he has ranged over the whole surface of his knowledge on | this point, has discovered its different bearings, and has got it | into shape; the general diffused body of light has become a | focus; the floating sounds have formed themselves into a distinct | tune. | | The expression by words becomes the next step in the history of | definition. The approval of his answer, or the contrary, becomes | a third step in definition. So, by degrees, he strikes out for | himself, and from himself, a clear view on one given subject, | which he has gathered and taken out from a large floating subject | matter, and upon which he has been compelled to exert his | intellectual powers. He has been led to see what to lay hold of as | important in the knowledge he possesses, and how he can apply | it to some practical detail. Truth becomes | objective to himself, and that by his own power. He has | painted a picture on his own mind, and has become acquainted | with its form. He arranges facts under principles, or gives them a | certain connexion with other facts, which he would never have | done otherwise. He may have been long convinced of a fact, but | it rested without point in his mind, scarcely recognised. On a | question being asked with reference to it, he discovers the fact, | lays hold of it, and classes it under a | certain arrangement. It is one of a class, or it is connected with, | and finds its place under a certain principle; and the being led to | classify the fact leads him to a clearer knowledge of it, enables | him to understand it, and gives it a definite relation, in the world | of things, which it never had before. This process assists the | memory, defines his own notions, and strengthens his intellect. | He knows where he is. It is a logical process, and unconsciously | he has become a logician. Take a case: A child is aware of the | bare fact of Elijah being a prophet; i.e. | the term prophet is attached in his mind to the name of Elijah. | But the notion is indefinite. He is asked what Elijah was, and he | immediately is led to summon to his mind the class of persons | called prophets, to consider what they were, to see the point in | which Elijah resembled the class, and to state the fact of his | resemblance. A child is aware of the fact of Herod being a cruel | man, but the notion is indefinite ~~ is floating. When asked what | kind of person Herod was, he calls to mind his acts; he tries them | by some standard of what a person placed in Herod's position | should be; tried by other cases, he finds that it is in the point of | mercy that he fails. Herod is a cruel man; he all along | knew this; he would have told you so if he | had been asked, but he did not understand what he meant till it | was drawn out of him; ~~ till he was asked. All this is a logical | process, and must define his view ~~ give it a form it had not | before ~~ give the fact in his knowledge an importance by its | being attached to a class, and give the class a definiteness by | being illustrated by an instance and example; and all this work is | carried on, and the result reached, by himself. | | | As a singular instance of the power of the system, a schoolboy | has just left the room of the writer, to whom, wishing to give | some employment for half an hour, he gave him some paper, and | told him to write an account of the Crusade. It was the boy's first | effort at composition, and, when he brought back the paper, it | was covered with an exact account of the war, all drawn out in | question and answer, which proves the system under which the | boy had been brought up was the one in which he | thought , thereby giving a singular accuracy | to his view and statement, and plainly showing that the process | in his mind had been one of close questioning on each point. He | had never been taught how to give an account of any given | subject, and consequently it was entirely in his case the product | of his own way of thinking: ~~ , &c. And so the paper | goes on with a most curiously accurate statement of the cause of | the war, and the motives and feelings of each party in it; and this | from a poor boy who has been brought up, in the village school, | under the system, only five months; and, being told to give an | account of the Crusade, without any guidance, his thoughts fell | into this line, and his statements followed them. The fact is | interesting, as showing the power with which the peculiar mode | had laid hold of his mind, and the accuracy with which it had led | the boy to think out his subjects. He was told to think of a | subject: he immediately goes through a process of close question | and answer upon it. He has first to decide what is the question to | ask, and then is not satisfied till he gets the true answer. All this | must very considerably strengthen and improve the powers of the | mind. | | Contrast the condition of the child's mind who has reached this | end with regard to such instances as we have just mentioned, | with that of the child who is barely told of the fact, and in whose | mind the fact is barely left. It is evident how far more clear, | distinct, and applicable to practice, and tenacious on the memory, | instances of knowledge must be which have been the subject | matter of a mental operation of this kind, compared with what | those must be which merely lie like objects floating on a surface, | upon which they make no impression, and on which they bear | with no weight. | | Let us conceive this mode carried out into the detail of all | Christian truths. Conceive each truth known to the child, | arranged under some class of ideas and principles; conceive this | done at the moment; and we shall soon see the power of the | | catechetical system, in strengthening the understanding and | laying hold of the memory. Every article of the Creed, when | placed in the form of a question, gives an opportunity of calling | to mind and investigating the whole train of moral principles. | Every fact of Holy Scripture does the same. Catechetical | instruction becomes a constant compulsion to the child to have | recourse to the treasure-house of its knowledge, to bring out | instances which are to be tried one with another ~~ rejected if | they do not agree; in which work the judgment is called into | play, and is strengthened itself by weighing the fitness of facts | with principles. Catechetical instruction prevents a child holding | truths without attaching a positive meaning to them. The mind | most anxious to understand, and to retain, will find itself sinking | back into an indolent indifference, without some such external | compulsion as this. It gives the power and pleasure of creation | and examination, and thereby imparts a | consciousness of power which is itself power, and is the | parent of power: it gives a keenness and edge to the mind, and, | through consciousness of its own being, it supplies a new and | vigorous motive. This system teaches method and arrangement; | lets the disciple know where he is, and where his knowledge is; | reproduces from given subject matter; strikes out new relations | of truth; becomes a kind of myrioramic picture, suggesting new | views by a re-arrangement of existing data. | | What, in fact, the study of languages and moral philosophy does | for us; catechetical instruction does for the poor. The | examination of the structure of languages, the carrying on this | work involved in all the difficulty attending a dead language, the | close attention to verbal technicalities, the constant exercise of | powers of generalization and abstraction, and the comparison of | similar and dissimilar parts in words and grammar; these, and | many other parts of the study of language, draw out, discipline, | strengthen, render keen our faculties, in much the same way as | catechetical instruction does the powers of those whose position | cuts them off from the above method of education. Of course, | the catechetic process is constantly used in the education of our | own higher schools; indeed, the whole system, to a certain | degree, involves it: but where it is not distinctly adopted, the | same result is reached in this way. The fact is, one truth runs | through our whole moral and intellectual being. God has given | us powers which must be worked to have their effect. It is our | tendency to save ourselves trouble; it is our moral discipline to | have to exert ourselves. This is true throughout our compound | nature. Close attention must be given to each faculty, or the | whole structure will collapse; the whole chain become unlinked. | The strength of our faculties | | depends on their exertion; their exertion hangs on their being | brought attentively to bear. The faculties must have food and | fuel, in the consumption of which they live and grow, in the lack | of which they pine away and wither. | | In this way, catechetical instruction teaches its subject matter | with an efficacy which no other system has. We may look on the | matter simply in an intellectual point of view, and apart from any | other consideration. The best means of gaining knowledge is, | after all, by dwelling on simple elementary truths; working them | thoroughly into the mind, and developing their own native | substance and inherent riches. On this plan the learner will | actually gain more knowledge than if he placed directly before | him, as an object, the different points of knowledge he wished to | make his own. Kindred facts gather round one given fact like | flakes to a rolling snow-ball; and the attention, by being fixed on | one point only , | gains a strength and keenness it would lose in diffusion. | E.g. A man wishes to gain a knowledge of | the facts of Church history in order to apply them to the | construction of principles; he finds an immense space to wander | over, which discourages his own energy, and weakens his | attention by a scattered application to numberless points of | Church practice. Church doctrine, struggles with the State, the | condition of branches of the Church elsewhere, lives of her | Saints, and countless other points rise up before him in the field | of inquiry, and he becomes bewildered. Let such a man satisfy | himself with laying hold of one single | life of a ruler or saint of the Church in one given epoch of her | history; let him consciously and directly give his sole attention to | this one point, determining to get it up thoroughly, to study it in | all its bearings and relations, to see it in contrast with all | collateral facts, bringing to bear the focus of his attention in full | intensity on this one object, seizing the quivering, vibrating | feelers of historic truth with the firm forceps of a single-eyed | attention, and he will have acquired more actual knowledge of | Church history, more insight into the relations of things with | regard to her, more power to form true principles about her in the | study of the one life, than the man would who has spent double | the time in wandering over the boundless plain of historic | centuries. The former will have gathered more, attracted more | positive facts to the little reading of his own life, than the other | will in all his comprehensive researches. He will have definite | points to guide his mind's eye; he will be looking down a vista of | close rocks which bound the ray of his mental vision, as to one | star at the end, and the ray of that star will gradually strike out | the minutest points among the objects which surround him, | which he would never have descried; while, on the other hand, | | if he took his stand upon the summit from whence his eye would | have no given resting-place, he would lose in distinctness what | he gained in space, and he would come away with an imperfect | knowledge of every object. Each fact, each period, each point in | history, has a thousand objects passing over it continually in faint | and dim shadows, which, rolling in rapid succession, require to | be closely watched, and will then come out in brighter and | brighter colours, and more and more defined outline, till the | surface, however small, becomes to us the camera obscura | of revolving centuries. Meanwhile our powers are in | repose, from having but one point to be consciously studying. | One fact has the power of reflecting its kindred to the attentive | eye ~~ and kindred facts are better seen in connexion with each | other than looked at separately ~~ their meaning comes out, their | relations are understood. | | Nothing is understood by itself, since everything is placed in the | order of being with a certain inherent relation to something else. | We perhaps never know the full extent of these inherent relations | in any one existing thing, and consequently must profess a | complete knowledge of nothing. The more closely we examine, | the more will come out. The possibility of evolving inherent | power is inexhaustible in the smallest objects which exist around | us. But the way we mention is the mode in which the objects we | study will display their relations most exuberantly and | comprehensively. They become their own expositors, | interpreters, unfolders; and we are safer in examining them, and | letting each object tell its own history, and furnish its own | colouring, than in striving to see each thing separately for | ourselves. The earth has a power within herself which is one and | simple in itself, but is seen by us in all the varied shapes and | colours which array her bosom. We see them, and they are | many, but they result from one inward common energy, which | we do not see: so we would dwell on simple truths, and they will | soon give to us all the varied objects of their own development. | | To illustrate this, let a man who wishes for knowledge in Church | history in this country take the life of St. Anselm; let him bend | his whole attention to this one man; his character, as formed by | the Church system; his position with regard to the Church; the | objects he had in view for the Church over which he presided; | the relative position of that branch of the Church to others; and | the student of St. Anselm will find himself gradually become an | able Church historian. Facts will grow up around him; they will | attach themselves by magnetic attraction to the small point he is | studying; each century of the Church will be contributing its | small gifts, like floating leaves rushing together into | | the centre of the eddy; and the student will hourly find his actual | knowledge increasing. St. Anselm's life will become the mirror | which reflects the whole procession of the Bishops, Saints, and | Martyrs, councils and decrees, conquests and struggles, of the | universal Church. Facts will fall into their proper place, and | assume their true proportions. It is far easier to study facts as | illustrations of one given truth, than to study each as in itself an | object of inquiry: they become parts of the whole, instead of | being themselves separate existence in our minds. The whole | order of things and course of events form but one whole, and we | should keep that view before us in studying the passing objects | of time and place. | | This is the case with everything, especially so with the study of | languages, and the pursuits of classical education. The more | confined the sphere of labour is, and the fewer the points which | are consciously pursued, the more thorough the knowledge | gained. The boy who has read one or two Greek plays well, with | all the editions of them, all the commentators on them, all the | sources of illustration and explanation at his side to refer to, has | mastered a field which will give him a great advantage when he | proceeds to the rest of the Greek drama: and he will have a more | masterly knowledge of the Greek drama as a whole, from having | concentrated himself upon one or two plays to begin with, than | he would have had had he diffused himself equally over all. The | mind is brought to bear on smaller space, and it gains in accuracy | of knowledge what it seems to lose in extent. | | We have been trying to give some illustration of what we mean | by the great power possessed by catechetical teaching, in giving | actual knowledge of its subject matter. | It does so through the study of few, simple, and elementary | truths; and though the gaining of mere knowledge as such is not | its point, still, as a matter of fact, it compasses that end much | better than a more apparently intellectual method does; and | curtailing at first, really enlarges ultimately. It thinks less of the | point struck out than of the inherent power to strike it out; it | tracks to simple truths; it views the diversified | face of things, as really resulting from the inward energy of | one source; it leads the student to that one fountain, and takes for | granted all else will follow; for if what we have said holds good | of common, how much more does it of religious, truths! Into | how wide a sphere of knowledge of religious facts does the close | study of any one elementary truth ~~ the Atonement ~~ the | blessed Trinity ~~ the unity of God ~~ lead us! Dwell closely on | these, and they will become hands leading us down all the | pathways of religious truth, which diverge from them, and | converge again to them. | | | Such are the two systems of education which we have been | describing; the common or monitorial one that now chiefly | prevails in our schools, and the catechetical one. Of the former | the object is rather knowledge than moral training; and while its | object is an inferior one, it fails even of that. It does not give that | very knowledge, the communication of which it so exclusively | aims at; and it goes on repeating its lesson of information, which | is forgotten almost as soon as it is given. It partakes of the | impatience and hurry of the age, and proceeds from that | intellectual temper, of which the Hamiltonian system is the | extreme result. Avoiding, or cutting short, the elementary part of | knowledge, it grasps truths before it can hold them; and the child | goes on from one fact to another, as the school books pull him | along, without entering into any one of them properly, or having | any point of view or centre given him to help his understanding. | The object of the catechetical system is the | discipline of the mind , and the effect on the character while | passing through the system of teaching. The full result which, as | a system conveying knowledge on a given subject-matter it | might produce, is not the point arrived | at. The recipient is himself strengthened, and drawn out | intellectually and morally by this process; the man is developed | in all his parts, and with this discipline the catechist is satisfied. | The man is not cared for in the rival system; it is some particular | work he is urged to do, and he himself, his mental power, and | moral discipline, are passed by. | | We have not made hitherto any appeal to authority, or gone into | the subject of Church customs and law, or touched on what our | own Church says on the point, because we have wished to | exhibit the catechetical system, first of all, standing on its own | basis, and recommending itself on the ground of its inherent | practical power and utility. That is, after all, its real | recommendation. The Church adopted it because it was a useful | and efficient system; because it did its work, and fixed religious | ideas and doctrines on the youthful mind, as she wanted. We | repeat, that we do not want to bring down authority upon persons | in the first instance, in such a question as this. Let people | examine the subject upon those ordinary principles of common | sense and experience upon which they would act in general | matters. We are sure the catechetical method will stand the test, | and that it is, in fact, its great distinction, that it is based on | common sense, and appeals to our genuine experience and | observation as to the way in which all real profitable knowledge | is acquired. However, we are members of the Church, and it is | surely our duty to attend to her voice, and listen to her | recommendation, if she has any to give us. And on this subject | | we find her most clear and explicit, and enjoining the work of | catechizing on the clergy. Wherever she speaks of the education | of her children, she speaks of catechizing; she continued at the | Reformation the method of instruction which former ages had | transmitted. She adopts the views of the primitive Church on | this subject, and takes them for her standard. It will therefore not | be amiss to go a little into this point, and see how far, as | members of the Church universal, and of the Church in England | in particular, the catechetical method of instruction has a claim | upon us above other and more recent ones. | | The word catechism has been used with far greater latitude by | the Church, viz. to signify the whole method of teaching persons | for Baptism or Confirmation, including the subject-matter; in | short, it expressed the idea of instruction of a Christian person | generally. Our work just now is with the confined sense of the | word catechizing, as involving a peculiar mode of conveying | truth, which we have asserted to be essentially catholic, and very | effective, for reasons above mentioned. | | The word is used by St. Luke, chap. i., in the sense of an | instruction of an elementary nature in things pertaining to the | mysteries of salvation. In the same sense the word is used in the | Acts, with regard to Aquila. This mode of instruction was used | by the Church in the Apostolic day. To this elementary teaching | the writer to the Hebrews refers, when he speaks of their | education in the . | | In the early Church, the classes of catechumens were two. The | adults, who, whether Jews or Gentiles, were persuaded to receive | the Gospel, but not yet baptized, were not admitted to baptism till | they had given an account of 'the faith that was in them' and had | been examined in that faith. The second class consisted of those | children who had been baptized, who had been born in the | Church, and were grown old enough to be instructed in the | promises they had had made for them at Baptism. They were | expected to give account of those things they had learnt, before | they received Confirmation. This would of necessity involve | statements on the part of the instructed, in answer to questions | put to them. We find a canon of the council of Carthage thus | worded: | | | | After the registering of names of catechumens, there followed a | scrutiny or examination of their proficiency under the preceding | stages of their catechetical exercises. This was often repeated | before Baptism. They that were approved in their examinations | were called 'electi,' as we find by the decrees of | | Pope Leo the Great, who speaks of them under their appellation, | because they were now accepted and chosen as persons qualified | for baptism at the festivals of Easter and Whitsuntide, the usual | times of Baptism. From these customs, existing in the early | Church, we gather that the mode of instructing by questions, in | what was already learnt, was then in use, and that education was | not merely carried on by announcement of truths barely, or mere | exhortation and warning. | | The Creed and the Lord's Prayer formed the great basis of this | instruction in the early Church, being simple and elementary | forms; they are, therefore, the best groundwork of an instruction | in the first principles of faith. | | The whole form, renunciation and confession in Baptism, to a | certain degree, implied this mode of instruction, viz., of direct | statements, emanating from the baptized himself. The words of | St. Paul to Timothy would imply it, when he declared that he had | . In the early Church this renunciation was made in the | presence of the people, the candidates standing in the Baptistery, | with their faces turned towards the west, and stretching out their | arm as if in defiance of Satan. They were asked by the Bishop, | ? To which they made answer, . The same | question was made, and the answer given, on each point. Every | question was put and the answer returned twice, once before the | people and once at the font. After the renunciation, the open | confession of faith was made: the Bishop giving them each | article of the Creed in the form of a question, which was | answered before the people. This form of interrogation in church | and before the people, is quite as ancient as the Apostolic days. | To it St. Peter refers, when he speaks of the answer of a good | conscience towards God; the word being strictly | translated 'stipulatio,' a law term referring to agreements | made by word. | | Now, all this form used at Baptism involves the idea of | instruction by question and answer; instruction in which the | disciple himself took a part in definite statements of truth. The | whole mode of administering Baptism seems to have taken in | this particular form of instruction. But, again, we find this mode | of instruction was carried on by the Jews before our blessed | Lord's advent. Josephus tells us they were very careful to have | their children taught in the law ~~ (lib. iv. c. 8); to which end | they had, in every village, a person called , (to whom | St. Paul alludes in Rom. ii. 10,) whose business it was to teach | the children the law till they were ten years old; and from thence | to fifteen, to | | teach them in the Talmud. Grotius tells us that, at thirteen, they | were brought into the house of God in order to be publicly | examined; and being approved, they were then declared to be | 'children of the precept,' i. e. they were | bound to keep the law, and from thenceforth answerable for their | own sins. Our Lord submitted Himself to this public | examination at twelve years old, for which profession He staid | behind in Jerusalem, and offered Himself to the doctors in the | temple. From this general custom the Church seems to have | formed her's, of having children instructed in this manner by a | person especially appointed for it, called a catechist, to which we | have formerly referred. Eusebius, in speaking of the catechist, | and referring to Paulænus, tells us his office was to teach | catechumens in the fundamentals of religion for two years | together, and especially on the greater occasion of Lent, | preparatory to Baptism, when the instruction was carried on by | public catechizing in church, before the | people. Persons were then instructed previous to Baptism, | whereas the instruction is now after it; yet it amounted to the | same thing in both cases, as children cannot now be admitted as | catechumens, as far as instruction goes, till after receiving the | Holy Sacrament of Baptism, on account of age. Indeed, in | earlier days, it was the custom to continue the catechetical | instruction after Baptism. St. Basil, after Baptism, was detained | in the house of his bishop to be instructed in the mysteries of | religion. We are told, by more than one Father, that, in primitive | times, it was always the custom for the baptized, | after Confirmation , to be more fully | catechized in all things necessary to salvation. The analogy of | the instruction of catechumens in the early Church, holds good | with regard to the case of the education of our children after | Baptism. | | This system, then, was Jewish and Catholic. The form of | question and answer seems borne out again by the manner of | instruction used by St. Philip with the eunuch , which | was that of question and answer. | | That catechizing included this particular method of conveying | instruction, we might deduce from the formation of the word | , a compound of , 'repeated | sound;' so that, according to the derivation, | 'catechism' is an instruction first taught and | instilled into a person, and then repeated upon the catechist's | examination. The ancient practice of conveying instruction by | question and answer, is borne out and proved to us by all the | accounts we have of the customs of the early Church. These | catechumens, who were called | competentes of the last order, were examined by the | bishop in the Creed, which they had been primarily taught by | catechists in the Baptisteries, | | or the schools adjoining the church. We are told by | Bingham: ~~ | | | | Palm Sunday was the day in which the Creed was publicly taught | the catechumens in all churches. | | | says a canon of the council of Agde. It seems they were taught | twenty days in Baptisteries, or Catechetic Schools, by catechists | (answering to our Church Schools); and eight days publicly in | the Church by the Priest. | | In the Greek churches the public catechising took place only on | Maundy Thursday. Having repeated and been examined in the | Creed publicly, they learnt the Lord's Prayer. | | | says Ferrandus. Besides this, they were in the habit of learning | and reciting the form of Renunciation, which they would have to | use at Baptism. | | | Again, some fragments of ancient creeds imply the same form of | conveying instruction. The Creed we find in a fragmentary state | in St. Cyprian. He says, | | | | So much for the apparent antiquity of this method. But further, | this mode of conveying instruction is enjoined directly by the | Church in England. She plainly contemplates the conveyance of | religious knowledge through question and answer. The fact of | our form of catechism implies it. There can be no doubt as to her | feeling about this mode of instruction. Our present Catechism | was drawn up in the reign of Edward VI., and the part on the | sacraments was added by Bishop Overal, then Dean of St. Paul's, | in the reign of James I. The early Christians seem to have had no | more in their catechisms than the Renunciation, the Baptismal | Vow, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer. This was the form learnt | by heart, and answered by the catechumens. | | It was thought that this form was deficient in the matter of the | | Sacraments, a subject which in the early church was much dwelt | upon ( e.g. Cyril, Cat. Myst.), on account | of which Overal made that addition. The Church orders that this | instruction should be used on Sundays and holidays. | | | | Then the following rubric , ~~ | | | These rubrics show the intention of the Church about | catechetical instruction and the particular form of it. The first | book of Edward VI. orders it once in six weeks, at least, which | was afterwards altered into a direction that the minister should | use it every holiday. In the injunctions of Queen Elizabeth, | (xliv.) it was only required upon every holiday, and every second | Sunday in the year. The season of Lent was selected by the | Church in earlier as well as later days as one of catechising | publicly, when the most solemn Catechisms were always used. | The fifty-ninth canon orders distinctly ~~ | | | | This catechizing was ordered in all Prayer Books till the last | review to be half an hour before Evening Prayer; it was then | altered to . | | Parents and masters are bound, both by the rubrics and | the canons, to send their children and apprentices to be | catechized, on pain finally of excommunication; and by the | canon of 1571, the minister was yearly, within twenty days after | Easter, to present to the Bishop the names of all those in the | parish who had not sent their children and servants at the times | appointed, and to enforce this. It was one of the articles | exhibited to be admitted by authority, . Again, the | rubric , in the Confirmation Service, directs, that | | , &c. All these rubrics and arrangements in the | Church in England, both those originally made, and the | alterations proposed in them, show that the Church fully intended | that her education should be carried on by the means of | catechetical instruction. | | We have tried then to show that, à priori | , we should expect this would be the best method for | conveying and impressing truths on the minds of all persons. | Secondly, that the Church has, in her earliest and purest ages, as | well as in this land more lately, used and authorized the system. | And thirdly, that in all the existing cases where we have seen it | used, it has had the most satisfactory results. | | It becomes, then, a question, how shall each one of us ~~ how | shall each priest or deacon, in his own sphere, through his own | parish, contribute his aid to remedy the general evil? How shall | he best bring to bear the Church Catechetical System on the | people committed to him? How shall he manage the existing | system he finds gaining in his parish, so as to conduce to the | interest of the Church? | | In the first place, the clergyman must occupy a position of | independence. He must not be the agent of a Committee, or the | mere administrator of a subscription fund. He must be able to | carry out his education of the children as the baptized members | of the Church, and look on his school as the Church's school of | instruction provided by her for her children, with reference to the | explanation of the Baptismal promises and preparation for | Confirmation. One great difficulty here will be the devotion of | time, attention, and interest, which the clergyman must, himself, | expend upon her children. He must look on them as one of his | especial fields of parochial labour. He must put into existence a | system of teaching which must be worked out, to a certain extent, | by himself personally; and which cannot, and may not, be left | simply to the schoolmaster. The whole arrangement of the | school must depend on his systematic personal attendance to | work and keep it in motion. The commissioned instructor of the | children of Christ's Holy Catholic Church, who is to lead them | from Baptism to Confirmation and the first Communion, and | from that to the Bar of God, has a hard life of labour, | discrimination, and devotion before him. | | The fact of the parish school thus being immediately in | connexion with the Church, under her control, and intended to | carry out her education, will show the necessity of the whole | process of teaching being framed to carry out the Baptism of the | children. The Church sends her children fresh from the | Baptismal font, with directions to receive instruction in the | | nature of the promises then made, and to prepare for | Confirmation. The parish school, then, must be in preparation | for Confirmation ~~ the sphere for the explanation of the | Baptismal promises ~~ the opportunity of . Strictly, | then, this is the sole education which the Church commissions or | expects her ministers to give her children: of course the sphere | will be wide, and may be widened at discretion, according to | circumstances. But if this is adhered to as the rule and object, it | will avoid much unconnected diffusiveness of teaching, which | has been the fault of this age in education, and will enable the | teacher to rally his facts around one given point, the great | advantage of which we have spoken of above. However far he | may go from that one point, we shall still be safe if restricted by | definite bounds to it as the goal. | | This, then, will be the rule; it may seem to confine and limit too | much the expanse of education, but in the end it will be found to | have the contrary effect, as all working by definite system has. | We need not repeat what we have said on this subject. The mere | fact of continually tracing all truths to one given point, and | gathering them round and round one common centre, gives | expansion as well as unity to truth. | | In the parish school, let the reading of Holy Scripture be with | constant reference to the teacher, as well as the child's mind to | the Baptismal promise and preparation for Confirmation. Let the | repeating and explaining of the Catechism be all with reference | to the same; keeping up the clear view that the Catechism was | constructed expressly to explain Holy Baptism. Let the public | catechizing in Church be always prepared for at school, | beforehand; and let it be after the public administration of Holy | Baptism, after the Second Lesson, that direct allusion may be | made to the Sacrament just administered; ~~ let all the | statements and questions be illustrative of that, and the parents | and sponsors of the child, just baptized be themselves instructed | in the sacred obligations under which they have just place | themselves. Again, if there be an opportunity, from the age and | other circumstances of children, to instruct them in history, let it | be in connexion directly with the Church, and, bearing out the | administration of her rites, it may be easily brought to bear on | Confirmation and other Episcopal offices. But let it continually | have these references. Let the child be always made to feel that | it is learning what the Church has ordered it to learn ~~ that it is | preparing for Confirmation. Let it, as well as the teacher, have | the clear idea of one higher point, to which everything is to be | referred ~~ to | | Baptism in the past, and Confirmation in the future. This will | tend very much to prevent the danger of education being | merely intellectual in its tendency ~~ will | show each single department of teaching to be worth nothing in | itself, and to be subservient to the further ends of religion and | morals. Knowledge will take its right place; and education will | be employed to give a good tendency and direction to | knowledge, not merely to impart it. | | Each arrangement in the school may have direct and | acknowledged reference to Holy Baptism. To a child's mind, its | needlework and writing may be made to have direct connexion | with that one point, the fulfilment of some duty of industry or | contentment which is mixed up with Baptismal promises. | Suppose such a system as this: ~~ Part of one day devoted to | reading Holy Scripture in connexion with the typical history of | the Jews, as developed in our baptized state; the kingdoms of | darkness showed forth in Egypt and their sojourn there; | holy Baptism, in the passage of the Red Sea; the pilgrimage of | life, in the wilderness; the guidance of our Lord, in Moses; and | the struggles of the baptized, in the Books of Joshua and Judges. | Let all this be read and studied with this acknowledged reference, | periodically, one day in each week; and they have gained these | points: ~~ 1st, the child has got up its facts, far more accurately | and retentively by referring them to one great point; 2d, he has | formed a moral habit with respect to Baptism; 3d, he has had | explained to him the nature of Baptism. Suppose a day set apart | for the study of the Old Testament, with a view of eliciting | Baptismal obligations, the meaning of the third promise, | especially by discovering God's Commandments in it. A third | day to the study of the New Testament historically, with | reference to the formation of a Church, and the working and | appointment of Holy Baptism and Confirmation. A fourth day to | the study of our blessed Lord's life and conduct on earth as the | pattern of the baptized. The fifth day to the study of the same, to | gather the statement of Cod's law, scattered throughout the | Gospel, as compared with the statement of the Mosaic | dispensation. Suppose this to be the sketch of the five days' | work in reading Holy Scripture, with this unity of view and aim. | We, of course, now only suggest a sketch to illustrate what we | mean. | | Again, suppose the same system carried on throughout, and the | Catechism taught daily, with the same view; perhaps, one day, | simply said; a second day, proved from Holy Scripture; a third, | treated for public catechizing in church, and so forth; and, | perhaps, a day set apart for the especial study of the Baptismal | and Confirmation Services. All this will have the force | | of unity of plan ~~ will assist the mental powers ~~ will give | education its true province and direction. Let the same plan be | carried out with regard to the manner of teaching, as much as | possible, using the plan of question and answer, and evolving the | truth by contrast and exhaustion from all surrounding matter; so | leaving its keen edges to press on the mind of the child, chiselled | and polished of itself. To carry out his plan perfectly, it is | manifest that the presence of the minister himself becomes very | important. It would be impossible to leave the working of such a | system, so bound up with the Church's teaching, entirely to a | mere schoolmaster. Besides the great force of association which | would be lost, much advantage is gained in the fact of the | minister, who has himself admitted the child into the Church, or | is in the habit of doing so weekly in the presence of the children, | himself guiding them on from its sacred portal down the | cloistered pathway to Confirmation ~~ the same man ~~ the | same voice ~~ the same hand which will present them to the | Bishop ~~ which would close their eyes in death, and commit | their last remains to the still resting-place of the grave. We say | nothing of the power of ordination-grace for the work of | instruction, as for other offices of priestly calling. We have done | nothing more here than make suggestions on the plea of carrying | out the catechetical system in that department of parochial work | which comes under the head of schools. We might develope the | plan much minutely, but that is hardly just now our province. | | We are aware we are here making out a line of considerable | labour, toil, and anxiety, for the parish priest. It will be said we | are giving him a good deal to do, and we do not deny it. Without | pretending to lay down any exact limits, or say what proportion | of the care and work of a school the clergyman should take on | himself, and what he should leave to the schoolmaster; and | without asserting what extent of actual personal work there | should be in the parish school, on the part of the clergyman, as | distinct from mere superintendence and supervision; it is obvious | that the more a parish school aims at, the more there is for the | clergyman to do in it. The higher the school system rises, and | the more moral and spiritual the influence it exerts over the | youthful flock, the more congenial does the atmosphere of the | schoolroom become to the clerical office; the more is a | clergyman at home there, and on his own ground. In the | meantime, there are great consolations, as well as cares; and | fresh sympathies and interests come with the tighter obligations. | The close bond of union formed by it between the poor and their | minister; the separate interest it tends to create for them, from | that of those more wealthy classes, upon whom their education, | | and often birth, too much disposes them to rely; the way in which | such a system binds the clergyman to his parish, and makes him | feel the real injury he does by leaving it, ~~ all these, and many | others, are advantages on the opposite side, which are very | strong balances to the irksomeness which such a practice might | produce to the minister himself. | | It is incalculable the benefit which such a plan as this would give | to the poor. It would give them an indissoluble bond of union | with the minister; give them a home and friend of their own; give | them position and locality in the social world, which now hardly | belongs to them. Let us suppose such a system of teaching as | this begun, and having a number of young persons, in a parish, | growing and forming under it. Let us suppose the Creed well | worked into their minds by this method; beginning with the first | Article in it, and thoroughly imprinting that upon them, and | going on from that to the rest, in regular order. Let us have, at | each stage, the same perpetual and ever-renewed act of | extracting the child's mind, placing it in contact with each several | article of knowledge and belief, and, by means of question and | answer, making the learner form his own apprehension of it. Let | us suppose all this course of teaching, gathering, as it proceeds, a | quantity of Scripture illustration about it; illustrations from the | Jewish Law, from the history of the chosen people, from the lives | of patriarchs, prophets, and kings; from the miracles, discourses, | parables, in the New Testament. A Creed imprinted, a Scriptural | knowledge formed in this way, and composing an available and | effective whole in the child's mind, might not all these | reasonably be expected to make a permanent practical | impression upon some in the school? The process would be a | slow one; but is it too much to expect that the parish priest would | ultimately derive strength, consolation, and support to himself | and his office from it, in that new circle of parishioners which | such teaching would tend to form? We know how liable all | efforts at doing good are to disappointment, and how weak a reed | the human mind is to lean upon, especially when you are doing | most for it, and think you have most claims on its gratitude. It | may very likely turn out, that boy after boy, whom you thought | you had formed, may disappoint you, may forget you, your | lessons and your training, when he leaves the schoolroom for the | world, and remain as an eyesore in your parish, and an | ever-annoying memorial of labour thrown away. Be it so. In all such | cases as these, it is only a residuum of good that the | most sanguine, after all, should look to, and this they may not | unreasonably look to. And that residuum is a great | thing. It makes up for much waste, for many regrets, for many | slips and losses. It is the natural legitimate reward of labour and | toil in the Lord's | | vineyard; and though, in some cases, God may think fit to try the | faith of His zealous servants, by refusing even this, still even this | trial does not come without its consolation. We may easily have | done good, though we do not see it; and if the work in one part of | the field shows no apparent fruits, in another it does. One | clergyman has a discouraging parish, another an encouraging | one; the former may rejoice at his brother's success, and derive | relief from it. The apparent fruits of any system are sure to be, to | a certain extent, irregular; and circumstances and causes which | we do not know of, nip them here, and expand them there. But | on the whole, and in the long run, good works. | | We will state, in conclusion, that, in drawing out, as we have | done, in explaining and recommending, the catechetical system | of instruction to the clergy of our Church, we do not mean at all | to undervalue the labours of those whose services have been | devoted to another system, or to forget the great deal of good, | and real religious teaching, that has been going on in different | parts of our Church. We know, and we could mention, the | highest instances of self-devotion to the cause of the education of | the poor. In country parishes, and places far from the world's | eye, ~~ in hidden spots, and recesses where no reward could | reach the self-denying priest and teacher, but that of his own | conscience, the work has been going on. But we speak now of | general features ~~ general effects ~~ general tendencies, | observable in the religious education of the day. Where real and | sound success has been attained among us, it has been owing, we | believe, to that very principle of catechizing which we have been | dwelling on. The method is so natural a one, that persons who | take pains in the work of education almost necessarily fall into it, | and it forms part of their system, whether they know it or not. | Every instructor is more or less a catechizer, whether he is | conscious of it or not. The principle lies deep in our common | sense, and act it must, partially or widely, irregularly or | regularly. What we should like, is to see the principle brought | out, expanded, and applied systematically, and, if we may say so, | scientifically. This has not been done, and a rival scheme has | occupied the ground, and modern education has adopted another | system. As opposed to this system, and the general tendencies of | the age, we have suggested, in this article, a return to the | catechetical plan. It is the plan of nature, and of the Church; and, | with these two high authorities in its favour, we leave it to the | serious, sober, earnest, and conscientious consideration of our | Clergy. | | We want to see education brought to bear in its highest powers | on the poor as well as the rich; and we are convinced that | multitudes of various shades of opinion in this day will | sympathize with the desire to employ some of the energies and | | powers of the lower orders in the work of the Church; she wants | their ministry, as of all other ranks of society, and many | symptoms are now showing themselves of a growing conviction | of this fact in England. There are powers, intellectual and moral, | among the poor, which we cannot afford to lose, and which a | sound and real system of education would bring out and apply. | We know the cry with which these efforts may be met. The | oft-repeated. | | But we grudge that the plough should have all; and we also deny | that the necessary effect of a sound, moral, catechetical education | is to unfit for their calling. And we firmly believe that that | system of education which is most calculated to draw out with | strength and vigour the intellectual powers, and which is best | suited to enlist every faculty of attention, memory, and | reflection, and even of imagination, as well as of judgment, into | the service of religion, is that which we have been advocating, | which has the sanction of ages, the warrant of past success, and | the approval of our natural instincts, and which we earnestly | entreat our readers not hastily to suspect or to pass by without a | fair trial.