TOPICS - click to expand or collapse

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION - ITS IMPORTANCE TO THE CIVIL STATE - POLICY OF THE PURITANS - SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED - THE EARLY SCHOOL LAWS - HARVARD COLLEGE FOUNDED - CHRISTIAN FACTS CONNECTED WITH ITS ESTABLISHMENT - YALE COLLEGE - CHRISTIAN HISTORY - INFLUENCE OF THESE COLLEGES ON THE STATE - STATEMENT OF THEIR RESULT - JUDGE STORY'S VIEWS - BANCROFT'S VIEWS.

EDUCATION, next to the Christian religion, is an indispensable element of republican institutions, the basis upon which all free governments must rest.

"The state must rest upon the basis of religion, and it must preserve this basis, or itself must fall. But the support which religion gives to the state will obviously cease the moment religion looses its hold upon the popular mind. The very fact that the state must have religion as a support for its own authority demands that some means for teaching religion be employed. Better for it to give up all other instruction than that religion should be disregarded in its schools. The state itself has a more vital interest in this continued influence of religion over its citizens than in their culture in any other respect."

Christian education, from the very beginning of the New England colonies, engaged the attention of the Puritans, and ample provisions were made for the instruction of all the children and youth in every branch of human and divine knowledge. This, indeed, was one object they had in coming to the New World. Cotton Mather, in presenting the considerations for the plantation of the colonies, says :-

"The schools of learning and religion are so corrupted as (besides the unsupportable charge of education) most children, even the best and wittiest, and of the fairest hopes, are perverted, corrupted, and utterly overthrown by the multitude of evil examples and licentious behavior in these seminaries."

John Eliot, the apostle to the Indians, in a prayer before the Civil Court, in Massachusetts, in 1645, uttered the following sentiments: -

"Lord! for schools everywhere among us! That our schools may flourish! That every member of this Assembly may go home and procure a good school to be encouraged in the town where he lives! That before we die we may be so happy as to see a good school encouraged in every plantation in the country!"

In 1644, the Christian colonists, "to the end that all learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers, ordered," that every township, "after the Lord hath increased them to fifty householders, shall appoint one to teach all children to read and write; and where any town shall increase to the number of one hundred families, they shall set up a grammar school; the master thereof being able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the university."

"One of the earliest legislative acts of the Massachusetts colony was the following: - 'Forasmuch as the good education of children is of singular behoofe and benefit to any commonwealth; and whereas parents and masters are too indulgent and negligent of their duty in that kind,

" 'It is therefore ordered by this courte and authority thereof, that the selectmen of every towne, in the several precincts and quarters where they dwell, shall have a vigilent eye over theire brethren and neighbours; to see, first, that none of them shall suffer so much barbarisme in any of their familyes, as not to endeavor to teach, by themselves or others, theire children and apprentices, so much learning as may inable them perfectly to read the English tongue, and knowledge of the capitall lawes.' "

As early as 1635, free schools were commenced in Boston. The union of the Massachusetts and New Hampshire colonies continued till 1680, and during this time the example of Boston was rapidly followed by smaller towns in both colonies. "In the subject of schools both rulers and ministers felt a deep interest, and schoolmasters were a commodity in great demand, and eagerly sought." As early as 1644, one town devoted a portion of its lands to the support of schools; but, before the lands could be productive, they raised in various ways the sum of twenty pounds to hire a schoolmaster.

The following was passed by the General Court, in the year 1647, for the promotion of common education: -

"It is therefore ordered by this courte and authority thereof, That every towneshipp within this jurisdiction, after that the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty howsholders, shall then forthwith appointe one within theire towne, to teach all such children as shall resorte to him, to write and read; whose wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters of such children, or by the inhabitants in generall, by way of supplye, as the major parte of those who order the prudentials of the towne shall appointe.

"And it is further ordered, That where any towne shall increase to the number of one hundred families or howsholders, they shall sett up a grammar schoole, the masters thereof being able to instruct youths so far as they may bee fitted for the university."

In 1636, the colonists began at Cambridge, Massachusetts, the first college on the American continent. Its commencement was as follows: -

"The magistrates led the way by a subscription among themselves of two hundred pounds, in books for the library. The comparatively wealthy followed with gifts of twenty and thirty pounds. The needy multitude succeeded, like the widow of old, casting their mites into the treasury. A number of sheep was bequeathed by one man; a quantity of cotton cloth, worth nine shillings, presented by another; a pewter flagon, worth ten shillings, by a third; a fruit-dish, a sugar-spoon, a silver-tipt jug, one great set, and one smaller trencher set, by others."

"The ends," says Cotton Mather, "for which our fathers chiefly erected a college were that scholars might there be educated for the service of Christ and his churches, in the work of the ministry, and that the youth might be seasoned in their tender years with such principles as brought their blessed progenitors into this wilderness. There is no one thing of greater concernment to these churches, in present and after times, than the prosperity of that society. We cannot subsist without a college."

A college, accordingly, was established in 1636, and in 1638 Rev. John Harvard, a learned and wealthy minister, died, and by his will gave one-half of his property and his entire library to the college at Boston; and hence it is called Harvard College, and now, also, Cambridge University.

According to the rules for the government of this college, the president or professor, on being inaugurated, must first "repeat his oath to the civil government; then he must declare his belief in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and promise to open and explain the Scriptures to his pupils with integrity and faithfulness, according to the best light God shall give him." He also must promise "to promote true piety and godliness by his example and instruction."

"The rector or president shall also cause the Scriptures daily, except on the Sabbath mornings and evenings, to be read by the students at the times of prayer in the school; and upon the Sabbath he shall either expound practical theology, or cause the non-graduating students to repeat sermons; so that, through the blessing of God, it may be conducive to their establishment in the principles of the Christian Protestant religion.

"The exercises of the students had the aspect of a theological rather than a literary institution. They were practised twice a day in reading the Scriptures, giving an account of their proficiency in practical and spiritual truths, accompanied by theoretical observations on the language and logic of the sacred writings. They were carefully to attend God's ordinances, and be examined on their profiting; commonplacing the sermons, and repeating them publicly in the hall. In every year and every week of the college course, every class was practised in the Bible and catechetical divinity."

Rev. Thomas Shepard, D.D., a learned divine, and laborious minister of God, conceived the design of procuring voluntary contributions of corn - money being out of the question - from all parts of New England, for the purpose of maintaining poor students. He laid the following memorial before the commissioners of the united colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, which met at Hartford, in 1644.

"To the Honored Commissioners: -

"Those whom God hath called to attend the welfare of religious commonwealths have been prompt to extend their care for the good of public schools, by means of which the commonwealth may be furnished unto knowing and understanding men in all callings, and the church with an able minister in all places; without which it is easy to see how both these estates may decline and degenerate into gross ignorance, and, consequently, into great and universal profaneness. May it please you, therefore, among other things of common concernment and public benefit, to take into your consideration some way of comfortable maintenance for that school of the prophets that now is established .... If, therefore, it were recommended by you to the freedom of every family that is able and willing to give, throughout the plantations, to give but the fourth part of a bushel of corn, or something equivalent thereto, " &c.

This memorial was received, and its policy cordially carried out by the commissioners, who recommended to the deputies of the several General Courts, and to the elders within the four colonies, to call for a voluntary contribution of one peck of corn, or twelve pence in money, or its equivalent in other commodities, from every family, - a recommendation which was adopted and very generally responded to.

The constitution of Massachusetts, of 1780, thus refers to Harvard College: - "Whereas our wise and pious ancestors, so early as the year 1636, laid the foundation of Harvard College, in which university many persons of great eminence have, by the blessing of God, been initiated into those arts and sciences which qualified them for public employment, both in Church and State; and whereas the encouragement of arts and sciences, and all good literature, tends to the honor of God, the advantage of the Christian religion, and the great benefit of this and the other United States of America, it is declared, that the President and Fellows of Harvard College," &c.

At New Haven, Connecticut, the second successful effort was made to found a permanent college of learning. Common schools, where the elements of education were widely diffused among the rising population, did not satisfy the enlarged views of literary men, and the plan of an institution of higher pretensions and more extended scope occupied the thoughts of the first settlers of Connecticut.

After various consultations, chiefly in reference to the interests of the Church, and confined in a great measure to the liberal and enlightened clergy of the times, a definite proposition was at length submitted with regard to the establishment of a college in New Haven. The following resolution is the earliest record on the subject: -

"At a General Court, held at Guilford, June 28th, A.D. 1652, Voted, the matter about a college at New Haven was thought to be too great a charge for us of this jurisdiction to undergo alone, especially considering the unsettled state of New Haven town, being publicly declared, from the deliberate judgement of the most understanding men, to be a place of no comfortable subsistence for the present inhabitants there. But, if Connecticut do join, the planters are generally willing to bear their just proportion for erecting and maintaining of a college there."

In 1700, ten of the principal ministers in the colony were nominated and agreed upon, by a general consent, both of the ministers and people, to stand as trustees or undertakers to found, erect, and govern a college. They soon met at Branford, and laid the foundation of Yale College. Each member brought a number of books and presented them to the body, and, laying them on the table, said: "I give these books for the founding of a college in this colony." The object of a college at New Haven was stated by a large number of ministers and laymen, who petitioned the Colonial Assembly for a charter. They said that, "from a sincere regard to, and zeal for upholding the Protestant religion by a succession of learned and orthodox men, they had proposed that a collegiate school should be erected in this colony, wherein youth should be instructed in all parts of learning, to qualify them for public employment in Church and civil State."

The legislature of the colony promptly responded to the application, and a charter was granted, in which it was said, -

"Whereas, several well-disposed and public-spirited persons, out of their sincere regard to, and zeal for upholding and propagating the Christian Protestant religion by a succession of learned and orthodox men, have expressed by petition their earnest desire that full liberty and privilege be granted unto certain undertakers for the founding, suitably endowing and ordering a Collegiate School within his Majesty's Colony of Connecticut, wherein youth may be instructed in the arts and sciences, who, through the blessing of Almighty God, may be fitted for public employment both in Church and State. To the intent, therefore, that all due encouragement be given to such pious resolutions, and that so necessary and religious an undertaking may be set forward and well managed, be it enacted," &c.

The charter being granted, at a meeting of the collegiate undertakers, held at Saybrook, November 11, A.D. 1701, they sent out the following circular: -

"Whereas, it was the glorious public design of our now blessed fathers in their removal from Europe into these parts of America, both to plant, and (under the Divine blessing) to propagate in this wilderness, the blessed Reformed Protestant religion, in the purity of its order and worship, not only to their posterity, but also to the barbarous natives; in which great enterprise they wanted not the royal commands and favor of his Majesty King Charles the Second to authorize and invigorate them.

"We, their unworthy posterity, lamenting our past neglect of this grand errand, and sensible of the equal obligations better to prosecute the same end, are desirous in our generation to be serviceable thereunto. Whereunto the religious and liberal education of suitable youth is, under the blessing of God, a chief and most probable expedient:

"Therefore, that we might not be wanting in cherishing the present observable and pious disposition of many well-minded people to dedicate their children and substance unto God in such a good service, and being ourselves with sundry other reverend elders, not only desired by our godly people to undertake, as Trustees, for erecting, forming, ordering, and regulating a Collegiate School, for the advancement of such an education; but having also obtained of our present religious government both full liberty and assistance by their donation to such use; tokens, likewise, that particular persons will not be wanting in their beneficence; do, in duty to God and the weal of our country, undertake in the aforesaid design.

"For the orderly and effectual management of this affair, we agree to, and hereby appoint and confirm, the following rules: -

"1st. That the Rector take special care, as of the moral behaviour of the students, at all times, so with industry to instruct and ground them well in theoretical divinity; and to that end shall take effectual measures that the said students be weekly caused memoriter to recite the Assembly's Catechism in Latin; and he shall make, or cause to be made, from time to time, such explanations as may (through the blessing of God) be most conducive to their establishment in the principles of the Christian Protestant religion.

"2d. The Rector shall also cause the Scriptures daily (except on the Sabbath), morning and evening, to be read by the students, at the times of prayer in the school, according to the laudable order and usage of Harvard College, making expositions upon the same; and upon the Sabbath shall either expound practical theology, or cause the non-graduating students to repeat sermons; and in all other ways, according to his best discretion, shall at all times studiously endeavor, in the education of the students, to promote the power and purity of religion and the best edification of these New England churches."

Rev. Henry B. Smith, of the Union Theological Seminary at New York, in behalf of the Society for the Promotion of Collegiate and Theological Education at the West, presents the following view of the history and fruits of the colleges at Cambridge and New Haven: -

"For our encouragement it may be said that no people ever began its institutions under better auspices or with ampler promise. This we owe, under God, to the pious zeal of our Pilgrim Fathers, many of them eminent in learning as well as faith. John Cotton, of Boston, had been the head-lecturer and dean of Immanuel College in Cambridge, England. John Newton, of Ipswich, afterwards of Boston, was offered a fellowship in the same college. John Davenport, of New Haven, was termed a 'universal scholar.' Thomas Hooker, of Hartford, was a fellow of Cambridge, and was here called the 'light of the Western churches.' Thomas Thatcher, of Weymouth, composed a Hebrew lexicon. Charles Chauncey, president of Harvard, had been Professor of Greek in Cambridge, England. Cotton Mather was the author of three hundred and eighty-two publications, including the 'Magnalia.'

"Established under such auspices, it is no wonder that all our earlier colleges, and,following in their train, most of the later, have been animated by the conviction that institutions of learning are needed by Christianity, and should have this faith as the basis of all their instructions. The earliest were not so much colleges as schools for the training of the ministry. The Pilgrims, when they numbered only five thousand families, founded the University of Cambridge, in 1636, with its perennial motto, 'Christo et Ecclesiæ;' and Cotton Mather says that this university was 'the best thing they ever thought of.' In 1696, there were one hundred and sixteen pastors in the one hundred and twenty-nine churches, and one hundred and nine of these were from Harvard. Harvard has educated one thousand six hundred and seventy-three ministers: three hundred and fifty-one are still living. Yale College dates from 1700, and in its earlier years the Assembly's Catechism in Greek was read by the freshmen; the sophomores studied Hebrew; the juniors, sophomores, and the seniors, both at Harvard and Yale, were thoroughly instructed in divinity in the admirable compend of Wollebius.

"Yale has given to our churches one thousand six hundred and sixty-one ministers, of whom seven hundred and forty-one are still living. In the State of Connecticut, down to 1842, out of nine hundred and forty-seven ministers, only thirty-three were not graduates. Princeton was started in 1741, one of the fruits of the great revival, and by the New Side of that day. Dartmouth was a missionary school from its inception in 1769; and its catalogue gives the names of more than seven hundred ministers, a quarter-part of all its graduates. And almost all of our later colleges are the fruit of Christian beneficence, and their foundations have been laid with the prayers of our churches; and He who heareth prayer has breathed upon them his divine blessing, and through their influence sanctified our youth for the service of Christ and his Church. They have aspired to realize that ideal of education which Milton had in vision when he said, 'The end of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as we may the nearest by possessing our souls of true virtue, which, being united to the heavenly grace of faith, makes up the highest perfection.' "

"Yale College," says Lossing, "aside from its intrinsic worth as a seminary of learning, is remarkable for the great number of the leading men of the Revolution who were educated within its walls. That warm and consistent patriot, President Daggett, gave a political tone to the establishment favorable to the republican cause, and it was regarded as the nursery of Whig principles during the Revolution. When New Haven was invaded by Tryon, Yale College was marked for special vengeance; but the invaders retreated hastily, without burning the town. There were very few among the students, during our war for independence, who were imbued with tory principles, and they were generally, if known, rather harshly dealt with."

"Among the most striking acts of the legislation of the Puritans," says Judge Story, "are those which respect the cause of learning and education. Within ten short years after their first settlement, they founded the University of Cambridge, and endowed it with the sum of four hundred pounds, - a sum which, considering their means and their wants, was a most generous benefaction. Perhaps no language could more significantly express the dignity of their design than their own words. 'After God had carried us safe to New England,' said they, 'and we had builded our houses, provided necessaries for our households, reared convenient places for God's worship, and settled the civil government, one of the next things we longed for, and looked after, was to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity, dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches when our present ministers shall lie in the dust.' The truest glory of our forefathers is in that system of public instruction which they instituted by law, and to which New England owes more of its character, its distinction, and its prosperity than to all other causes. If this system be not altogether without example in the history of other nations (as I suspect it to be in its structure and extent), it is, considering the age and means of the projectors, an extraordinary instance of wise legislation, and worthy of the most profound statesmen of any times. At the distance of centuries, it stands alone and unrivalled. It was on this system of public instruction that our fathers laid the foundation for the perpetuity of our institutions, and for that growth of sound morals, industry, and public spirit, which has never yet been wanting in New England, and, we may fondly hope, will forever remain her appropriate praise.

"I know not what more munificent donation any government can bestow than by providing instruction at public expense, not as a scheme of charity, but of municipal policy. If a private person deserves the applause of all good men, who founds a single hospital or college, how much more are they entitled to the appellation of public benefactors who by the side of every church in every village plant a school of letters! Other monuments of the art and genius of man perish; but these, from their very nature, seem absolutely immortal."

"In these measures," says Bancroft, "especially in the laws establishing common schools, lies the secret of the success and character of New England. Every child, as it was born into the world, was lifted from the earth by the genius of the country, and in the statutes of the land received, as its birthright, a pledge of the public care for its morals and its mind."