REASONS SUGGESTED WHY MANY OF OUR YOUTH DO NOT BECOME PERMANENTLY ATTACHED TO THE CHURCH.

REV. SIR, I have read with interest in your number for May, the three letters bearing upon a vital point, viz., the lapse of our scholars into the ranks of dissent after they leave our schools, and I beg to offer a few remarks thereon.

The case submitted by your correspondent, "R. F.," is scarcely a common one. He considers that his school is professedly a church school, and yet admits the fact, that "nearly all his boys' parents are dissenters." Now, where the prejudice of dissent thoroughly pervades the minds and influences the hearts of parents, what reasonable ground of expectation can we have that their children will grow up churchmen? I apprehend that in the generality of such cases we can have none whatever. For if we look for such a result, we must assume the position, that the moral force of a schoolmaster is greater than that of the parent, whereas both religion and experience prove to us the contrary. Should we then refuse to impart sound religious knowledge to the children of dissenters, if, for the sake of secular advantages, they are willing to receive? By no means. There is a vitality and power in communicated truth which may survive the most deadly blight, and ultimately surmount the most inveterate bias. But abstract truth is not more certainly divine than is parental authority, and the latter has the peculiarity of being unceasingly and unerringly active in the formation of character. Like the sun which "shines on the evil and the good," and which must as certainly rear and expand the poisonous as well as the life-giving plant, will the subtle energy of parental authority exert its indestructible influence for good or evil. With this power, therefore, arrayed against us, we must "cast our bread upon the waters," if peradventure "it may be seen after many days." But of the classes which ordinarily make up our church schools, the vast majority consists, first, of children whose parents respect the church as an institution, who are in reality within her pale, but who are living in a state of indifference to their religious duties, and ignorant of the many blessings which she holds out to the obedient and well informed; secondly, of children whose parents, though possessing but a small amount of knowledge, are under the influence of sound religious principles, and whose authority, therefore, is on the side of an intelligent and systematic development of true churchmanship. Yet most lamentable are the failures which in this extensive and legitimate sphere of exertion mark the career of our schools. Alas for us! we look around our churches in

vain for that mighty phalanx of " 'young men,' to whom might be said, "ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one," and which the countless hosts of our professedly educated children ought to supply. Why is this?" is a question that ought not to be superficially dealt with, nor hastily dimissed from our minds. It is immeasurably the most important one connected VOL. III.-JUNE, 1845.

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with church education, as affecting, in the greatest possible degree, the end and objects of all our labours.

The parts of our system which in my estimation operate most unfavourably, or are in themselves the most inefficient for the safe transmission of sound church principles from childhood to youth, and from youth to manhood, in cases where the parental bond imposes no impenetrable barrier, are, first, the substitution of Sunday school teaching for the express provision of the church, that her younger members shall be catechised by the regular minister, as constituting a part of his charge; secondly, the very imperfect observance of the full course of the ecclesiastical year, as set forth in the prayer book; thirdly, the neglect of the musical service; and, fourthly, surpassing all other errors, our practical disbelief that young persons ought to be regular participators in the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ.

As I am very fearful of trespassing beyond the space ordinarily allowed to your correspondents, I will confine myself at present to the first of these subjects.

The church has taken good care that children, the lambs of Christ's flock, shall have an appropriate share in the pastoral administrations, and she has wisely pointed out the time and the manner in which they shall receive the same. Hence we find by canon 59, every parson, vicar, or curate, upon every Sunday and holiday, before evening prayer, shall, for half an hour or more, examine and instruct the youth and ignorant persons of his parish, in the ten commandments, the articles of belief, and the Lord's prayer, and shall diligently hear, instruct, and teach them the catechism set forth in the Book of Common Prayer, &c.; and all fathers, mothers, masters and mistresses, shall cause their children, &c. to come to the church at the time appointed, obediently to hear," &c. By the rubric, also, it is directed, that "the curate of every parish shall diligently, upon Sundays and holidays, after the second lesson at evening prayer, openly in the church, instruct and examine so many children of his parish sent unto him, as he shall think convenient, in some part of the catechism," &c. It is far from my wish to depreciate the advantages which may have arisen, or which may now flow from the Sunday school system; but it is my deliberate conviction, that so far as it is allowed to clash with the above wholesome regulation, or altogether to supersede it, so far we are presented with a definite cause of the defection of our youth, and the small amount of true principle and affection they retain to attach them to "the mother of us all."

1st. They hereby fail to apprehend, as a distinct living fact, that they have a priestly and pastoral head, in whom, under God, are centred the deepest and most solemn responsibilities to watch for their souls. Their tender minds, expanding to outward impressions, fail to imbibe a clear conception, that there belongs to them, as members of Christ, and arising therefrom, a spiritual and godly oversight, which earthly relationships and secular ordinances do not embody. They easily enough learn to say, "our minister," our clergyman," &c.; but they want the clear consciousness, that his ministrations are, in their measure and degree, as effectual for their blessing as for the blessing of

those of riper years. They want the strong conviction, that they are not, as it were, a supplemental, but an integral part of his flock, and beholden to him for that which no mere casualties can bestow. It will not be denied, that the apprehension of spiritual realities should be imparted at the earliest possible period; and the more tender the age, the more it is indebted for these apprehensions to the medium of external circumstances. Now it seems impossible so effectually to impregnate the minds of children with the idea of the reality of the pastoral and priestly offices, as by a formal and stated application of them to themselves. This is the legitimate way to secure their hearts and sway their understandings. By the neglect of this, a vacancy arises through which they do but very vaguely discern that determinate channel of truth, which, in the course of God's providence, is identified with an ordained ministry. But some will say, 'Are not right convictions formed in their minds by the instructors in Sunday schools, whose special engagements are to foster and develop religious habits?" I answer, that though their instructions do convey religious impressions, yet the point contended for is thereby lost or obscured. The pastoral office ceases to be a definite object: the gaze of children is diverted from an object conspicuous in the appointment of God, to those objects which are not so, but by a much lower appointment. Whatever respect the Sunday school teacher gains for his authority, the minister loses, so long as he omits to manifest an indubitable supremacy and openly and unequivocally to gather up the scattered remnants of authoritative teaching.

This

Let it be remembered what we are endeavouring to account for, viz. : that children do not remain permanently attached to the church. being admitted, it must be, that their habits are not sufficiently strengthened in the peculiar and distinctive principles of the church. And in reviewing the process which is adopted in the formation of those habits, it is but fair I think, to say, that whatever the exigences of the times which render Sunday schools expedient, whatever amount of devoted piety the instructors may bring to bear upon their work, whatever amount of positive good may result from their labours, the departure from the practice enjoyed by the canons and the rubric, is a hiding of the ministerial authority from the apprehension of children. Neither does it appear that the omission can be well supplied, if even the clergyman personally labours in the Sunday school. To the quick apprehension of children, he is but there doing what many others may do as effectually or nearly so. His proper individuality is lost; and if his ministrations to them are solely confined to the common level, of what secular persons may supply, from what circumstances, I would ask, are they to learn to estimate his paramount authority? True, they may gather some notions of it from his general ministrations in the congregation; but as far as their own condition and standing naturally call it forth, it fails to attract their notice.

2ndly. Sunday school teaching, exclusive of that formally provided by the Church, deprives children of the impressiveness which truth acquires, when associated in its delivery with sacred places, and surrounded with the most sacred objects; and rather leads to the irreligious no

tion, that places as well as persons have no determinate character. The words "openly in the church" have an import, and bearing upon their hearts and minds, which no one will do well lightly to esteem. There, in God's immediate presence, with all around in unison with the solemn occasion; the font, a mute but powerful remembrancer of their baptism into Christ; the altar, which reminds them of the still further mysteries of our faith; the holy stillness of God's courts; the distinctive attitude of God's servant; the eyes of a serious congregation bearing witness to the fulfilment of an important ministerial function; the stupendous facts of our redemption speaking through sense to faith; and, it may be, the images of holy angels, apostles, and martyrs gazing upon them; these and kindred objects are powerful auxiliaries to awaken deep emotions in the hearts of children, and to impress upon their understandings the reality of the doctrine inculcated. The contrary assertion that these

matters are extraneous and non-essential in the communication of religious truth, may have some degree of consistency in the mouth of a dissenter; but it is not a sound church principle which leads numbers of our youth to wander away unable to perceive the superior sanctity of a consecrated temple, whose form and furniture are significant of heavenly realities, to the unmeaning unadorned meeting-house, or the secular-looking school-room and lecture-hall; and I cannot be persuaded but that this incapacity results to a great extent from the fact, that their highest interest, their most solemn engagements, their most indispensable obligations, have not been habitually unfolded and reiterated in their ears by the highest authority, from within the precincts of God's sanctuary.

3rdly. From the prevalent idea of the very ordinary qualifications requisite for a Sunday school teacher, (alike applicable as that term is to the ignorant and the well informed, to women as well as men), there arises an absolute impossibility, that the thousands of our children who depend upon this as the purest service of religious instruction, can make progress towards a rational and comprehensive view of the various parts of christian doctrine. It cannot be too clearly borne in mind, that the child is no other than the man in embryo, and if we are to look for his expansion into an intelligent and conscientious churchman, the light of truth should be poured into his mind in just proportions and in systematic order. This is not the case in Sunday schools. The largest amount of instruction there communicated is desultory, unconnected, and unarranged. Prominence is given to what may be termed popular doctrines and to repeated illustrations of matters lying on the very surface of scriptural truth, while the " analogy of faith" is little understood and less explained. But some will say, the doctrines which are most clearly gathered from scripture, and which even ordinary persons may understand and teach, are the very doctrines most necessary to inculcate upon children." True, but if the import and bearing of " repentance, faith, and holiness" are to be circumscribed by the narrow limit of household words, and left isolated from the priestly functions and sacramental depositaries of the church, we are not to be surprised if they fail to carry our youth above the level of dissent.

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Many other considerations might be added tending to show that our

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Sunday system is positively calculated to account for the evil we must all deplore. I will briefly refer to one other point. Your correspondent "F." is quite right in characterizing it as a severe infliction upon children" who attend school five other days out of six. We teach them the propriety of resting from their secular labours on the Lord's day, while we provide them an amount of mental application and confinement which induces certain physical lassitude and dejection. And it may perhaps be remarked with truth, though the process may be insensible to many, that hereby the high and holy associations connected with the first day of the week,' as being the highest church day, degenerate into a less true and sacred character, from the fact that we make it the highest school day. I have observed in many cases doubted evidence, that the true church principle herein involved has been but faintly appreciated and all but lost in the routine of school exercises. And the more practically efficient the Sunday school becomes, the more intensely secular does the day appear to children, and indispose them for the higher services of God's house. I think not with some, that the children in our national schools, receiving religious instruction five days in the week, need it not on Sunday. They rather need it on that day in its purest form and quality, in its most solemn and authoritative application, through the most conspicuous channel, in the most sacred place, in digested and intelligent order, and at the time when parents and sponsors may rejoice before God to see their babes, 'fed with the sincere milk of the word," and may well forego the monopoly of God's house and of the ministrations of His servant. In reference to those of our Sunday scholars, who are unable to attend the week-day school, the Sunday system is thought to be indispensable. Now the foregoing remarks are as applicable to them as to our regular scholars. If it be religious teaching they especially require, none can be so efficient as that provided by the church and here contended for ; and if it be the mere mechanical parts of education which they stand in need of, an hour's gratuitous instruction in the evenings of the six days, would obviously be more consistently devoted to such purpose than the sacred hours of the sabbath. In the training establishment at Westminster, (confessedly the best we have), we find the children regularly assembled, not for the inferior drudgery of Sunday school instruction, but to be conducted to the church and duly taught by the officiating clergyman. This arrangement teaches us, first, that it is not intended that the moral influence of the schoolmaster should supersede the divine authority of the minister; secondly, that the teaching of the latter is essential, in order to consolidate, gather up, and most forcibly apply the subject matter communicated by the former; thirdly, that children have a claim upon the ministry for a special and appropriate part of the public ministrations of God's house.

Cornwall Central School.

T. F.

ON ATTACHING YOUNG PERSONS TO THE CHURCH. REV. SIR,-I have anxiously perused the several papers which have appeared in your Journal, on maintaining a connection with children after