"They inculcate morality and good actions surely," said Lady Belfield.
"It is true," replied Mr. Stanley, "but they often inculcate them on a worldly principle, and rather teach the pride of virtue, and the profit of virtue, than point out the motive of virtue, and the principle of sin. They reprobate bad actions as evil and injurious to others, but not as an offense against the Almighty. Whereas the Bible comes with a plain, straightforward, simple, but powerful principle—'How shall I do this great wickedness against God?' 'Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in THY sight.'
"Even children should be taught that when a man has committed the greatest possible crime against his fellow creature, still the offense against God is what will strike a true penitent with the most deep remorse. All morality which is not drawn from this scriptural source is weak, defective, and hollow. These entertaining authors seldom ground their stories on any intimation that human nature is corrupt; that the young reader is helpless, and wants assistance; that he is guilty, and wants pardon."
"Surely, my dear Mr. Stanley," said Lady Belfield, "though I do not object to the truth and reasonableness of any thing you have said, I can not think that these things can possibly be made intelligible to children."
"The framers of our catechism, madam, thought otherwise," replied Mr. Stanley. "The catechism was written for children, and contains all the seeds and principles of Christianity for men. It evidently requires much explanation, much development; still it furnishes a wide and important field for colloquial instruction, without which young persons can by no means understand a composition so admirable, but so condensed. The catechism speaks expressly of 'a death unto sin'—of 'a new birth unto righteousness'—of 'being born in sin'—of being the 'children of wrath'—of becoming the 'children of grace'—of 'forsaking sin by repentance'—of 'believing the promises of God by faith.' Now while children are studying these great truths in the catechism, they are probably, at the same time, almost constantly reading some of those entertaining stories which are grounded and built on a quite opposite principle, and do not even imply the existence of any such fundamental truths."
"Surely," interrupted Lady Belfield, "you would not have these serious doctrines brought forward in story books?"
"By no means, madam," replied Mr. Stanley; "but I will venture to assert that even story books should not be founded on a principle directly contradictory to them, nay, totally subversive of them. The Arabian Nights, and other oriental books of fable, though loose and faulty in many respects, yet have always a reference to the religion of the country. Nothing is introduced against the law of Mohammed; nothing subversive of the opinions of a Mussulman. I do not quarrel with books for having no religion, but for having a false religion. A book which in nothing opposes the principle of the Bible, I would be far from calling a bad book, though the Bible was never named in it."
Lady Belfield observed, "That she was sorry to say her children found religious studies very dry and tiresome; though she took great pains, and made them learn by heart a multitude of questions and answers, a variety of catechisms and explanations, and the best abridgments of the Bible."
"My dear Lady Belfield," replied Mr. Stanley, "you have fully accounted for the dryness and dullness of which you complain. Give them the Bible itself. I never yet knew a child who did not delight in the Bible histories, and who would not desire to hear them again and again. From the histories, Mrs. Stanley and I proceed with them to the parables; and from them to the miracles, and a few of the most striking prophecies. When they have acquired a good deal of this desultory knowledge, we begin to weave the parts into a whole. The little girl who had the honor of dining with you to-day, has begun this morning to read the Scriptures with her mother systematically. We shall soon open to her something of the scheme of Christianity, and explain how those miracles and prophecies confirm the truth of that religion in which she is to be more fully instructed.
"Upon their historical knowledge, which they acquire by picking out the most interesting stories, we endeavor to ground principles to enlighten their minds, and precepts to influence their conduct. With the genuine language of Scripture I have taken particular care they shall be well acquainted, by digging for the ore in its native bed. While they have been studying the stories, their minds have at the same time been imbued with the impressive phraseology of Scripture. I make a great point of this, having often seen this useful impression effectually prevented by a multitude of subsidiary histories and explanations, which too much supersede the use of the original text.