education; for no Christian youth ought to be permitted to see or to
hear that which ought not to be uttered or exhibited by a Christian. The
Quakers, on the other hand, had the advantage of the philosophical
moralists, inasmuch as they considered ignorance to be better than
corrupted knowledge; but they failed in this, that they seemed to rely
upon ignorance of vice as a safeguard against it, without a proper
portion of knowledge. The education then, to which I allude, ought to
embrace the most valuable positions of both. It should consist of
knowledge, and it should consist of wise prohibitions also. Knowledge
and prohibitions are inseparable. While the mind is gaining knowledge,
it should be kept innocent. And while it is kept innocent, it should be
gaining knowledge. Youth should have that kind of knowledge instilled
into them, by which they should discern the value of the prohibitions
which are enjoined them. They should have such and so much knowledge,
that if they were accidentally placed in the way of the things
prohibited, they should be able to look them in the face, and pass
through them without injury. This is that education, which, without
superseding the necessity of the influence of the Holy Spirit, has a
tendency to enable persons, while they live in the world, to live out of
it or deny it.

But lest I should not be clearly understood upon this subject, I will
exemplify how such an education would act or operate to the end
proposed.

And, first of all, knowledge may be acquired by reading. Now there are
two kinds of reading, the one useful, the other dangerous. By the
premises, I am to adopt the first, and to prohibit the last. If then I
accustom my child to the best and purest models of ancient and modern
literature, I give him a certain taste for composition. If I accustom
him to the purest and most amiable sentiments, as contained in these, I
give him a love of virtue. If I heighten these sentiments by beautiful
selections from the more pure and amiable sentiments of Christianity, I
increase that love. If I give him in my own conduct an example, he sees
me practise that which I recommend. I give him then a taste for the
purest reading, and the choicest compositions, and I offer to his
notice, at the same time, a certain system of morality, which he cannot
but gradually adopt as his own. Now I would ask, what influence could a
novel have upon a mind formed in this manner, if thrown accidentally in
hi