Edward Stuart Talbot

“ Such thoughts go beyond the schools; for a school is a picture, a parable, a miniature of life: the principles at work in a school, are at work widely in life, among the grown, as well as the children, though in different forms. But though they go beyond the schools, these thoughts have a most practical bearing on the duties of those who have to do with the Schools and with the children who attend them.
For what ends now does a School exist? It exists because we count two things good for children: and it aims at those two things. The first is Discipline: the second is Knowledge. ”

“ No more is knowledge. A sharp man is not necessarily a good man. Villains may use skill and science for villainy. And without being a villain, it is easy to be spoilt by knowledge if knowledge is treated merely as a means of getting on; if a superiority in knowledge is valued as a ground for boasting over others, or for "cutting them out"; if great and glorious subjects are learnt and studied not for their greatness or glory, but for gain or show, or pride
Authority then and knowledge may be an evil and not a good. Yet we send our children to school to be under authority and learn knowledge. ”

“ What we need for reading it is not cleverness so much as faith; for each man there is wisdom enough and to spare, if he will gather up the knowledge that comes to him from every side, not to trade in it, nor to tickle his curiosity with it, nor to cut a figure by help of it, but for the divine meaning and value that it has: if, as life goes on, he will try to be ever learning, pressing on to get at the meaning of things, by putting together what he sees without him, and what he feels within ”

“ Is any master a good teacher who does not give the pupil an interest in his subject but only crams him for a Prize? So it should be with knowledge everywhere. A man will hardly be able to succeed with a subject of knowledge unless he cares about it; but even if he does so succeed, he himself will gain no real good from it. To do us good, knowledge must have a value of its own, and be felt by us to have it. ”

“ Possibly it may be answered that obedience and discipline are such good things, that if he is wise, he will submit and be the better for it. But then I am not asking whether authority is good for the wise, but whether it is good for all. And I think you know how easily a man or a child either (for their childish sense of what is fair and just is very keen and quick) may easily gain much harm rather than good by being under the rule of an authority which he does not see to have any right over him but what power gives. ”

“ Do you not see how precious it is to us that they should be Christian Schools, that their authority over the children should speak as it were for God, and should be set over them by God? Sooner probably, and more deeply than we at all think, there sinks into their young conscience a sense that it is a good and right power which is over them, that it is one which they ought to obey, and not only one which they must obey perforce till they can deceive it or escape from it. ”

“ Authority. How does it act? We see in our Schools that it acts by power. We have power in the Schools over the children, power to order, power to reward them, power to punish and expel them, if they disobey. Authority everywhere rests on power, and works by power. The government has power at its command, soldiers, police, the action of the law: even in the home the father is the strongest: and can enforce, if need be, his will.
(2.) Knowledge. Knowledge, to put the thing simply, is that by which a man finds his way. ”

“ God has taught them through the simple instincts of their hearts, until you forfeit it, respect for you. If they hear you speak with respect of the Schoolmaster, if when they begin to complain, or rebel, you, instead of encouraging them, gently show them that they are wrong, and make them feel that the master's authority is a wise and right one, they will give him some of the respect which they give to you: his discipline will seem to them not of might only but of right, and then it will be for their good. So, again, with their knowledge, show them that you care about it. ”

“ And Knowledge of which the things learnt in the Schools are the simple beginnings, but which runs up and branches out into all the sciences, which scales the heavens to count the stars, and runs through the depths and intricacies of creation; which is the secret of power, and is ever putting new powers into our hands ”

“ Under discipline we must be, some of it, as we think, just, some of it unjust or seeming so: truths and doctrines checking our thoughts; rules checking our wishes; the wills of others, their selfishness or their necessities or their comfort hampering and limiting us, want of money or health or time hindering us from what we would do; bereavement and trouble taking from us what we would keep; our path and our fortune shaped for us, more perhaps than we shape it for ourselves. Is all this discipline certainly good for us? ”

“ We are born into the world as it were like a person lost in an unknown land, of which ha does not know the country or the language And all the knowledge that is given us is to help us to find our way: we learn what sort of a place the world is, and how we are to live, and what is useful, and what brings money and a living. All kinds of knowledge, reading and summing, and learning how to handle a knife and fork, or sit on a horse, up to the knowledge which fits a man for a great post and enables him to earn a large salary, all are parts of this learning our way. ”

“ And those to whom any authority is committed, do not diminish, but increase it, if they remember themselves, and let it be seen by those over whom they rule, that they are "over them in the Lord," that their authority is from God. Such authority is natural and right; it appeals to the conscience it trains, but it does not crush; and it lasts when the authority of mere strength would long ago have been laughed at or defied. ”

“ Show them (they will be quick enough to see the difference) that you value these things for their own sakes, because it is always worth while to do a thing well if it is done at all, because knowledge of the things in this world is a knowledge of what is very good, because a knowledge of all that concerns man is full of deep and tender interest, because in particular to know the things of God is the highest thing given to man. Shew them this out of School and you will not only double the value of their School, but you will be shaping their character for life ”

“ And knowledge, if it is to be a good, must be seen to be precious, to be worth something for its own sake: this is what it wants to prevent it from seeming a mere task set for no reason by a master's caprice, or from being degraded into a kind of cash, to be paid in buying reputation or success. ”

“ But further, upon what does your own authority in your homes rest? and upon what higher authority than yours does the master hold authority over the children? Does he stand for you only, or for a Power higher than you? Brethren, do you not see that the root of all rightful authority, be it of parent or teacher, ruler or king or priest, lies in this that it comes from the One Authority, viz God? His Authority is perfect, not only because He is all powerful, but also because He is all good. ”

“ I think if we had secular schools we should see the difference in the children's tone And so as to the knowledge, is it not a precious thing that the knowledge should come to them not from an 'Education-shop,' where they buy so much, to spend it again in other things, but from the hand of those who give it in God's name because it is good, because God who made the things of knowledge, and made men's hearts and minds to know, would have us use those minds, and gain the interest and enjoyment and wisdom which true knowledge rightly given always brings ”

“ There is Authority in the School to give the Discipline: and there is Teaching to give the Knowledge.
Two great matters surely: Authority and Knowledge: the objects of our Schools, but going far beyond our Schools Authority, which sits on thrones, and is exercised by Governments, and speaks through magistrates, and courts of law, and officers of state, which speaks in the Church through the pastors whom God has set over His people: which rules in the home, in the loving and protecting rule of husband over wife, of parents over children. ”

“ But over what is so plain as this, we ought not to spend our time; the fewest and simplest words will make those who have any love of our Lord, and willingness to spend for His sake, give almost above their power; and those who have no such spirit, will give no more for much speaking. Nor have I much regard for the extra tritle which the urgency of a preacher draws out of peoples pockets; unless it comes from hearts touched with some true sense of the privileges as well as duty of Christian giving. ”

“ Even the high sciences are the same: Astronomy teaches us whereabouts we are in the great Universe, what sort of a place it is to which our little world belongs: and Religious knowledge helps us to find our way in another and yet higher sense. ”

“ He was speaking of the great superiority of Scotch Schools, and the reason which he gave for this was the great interest taken by the parents in the work of the children at School. At home in the evening they would question them about their work in the day, showing their own interest in the subjects taught, and encouraging industry and proficiency by their approval. We have something to learn here. Shew pleasure to the children if their reading has been good, their writing neat, their lessons accurate, their knowledge of Bible and Catechism reverent and intelligent. ”

“ And if Power comes down upon us, and with no questions asked or answers given, sets us rules or orders, and compels us to obey, and forces and punishes us till we do; what follows? Is this good for the one who is under rule? ”

“ No; if we take it only as a rule of force, as that to which we must yield, because we can do no other, as an iron necessity, it will harden us, or sour us with the bitterness of a restless and unsatisfied spirit. ”

“ Nor will you doubt that your Schools should be Christian Schools, through which the Church's little ones shall be trained in the knowledge of her Holy Faith, and through which the Church's pastors may begin to do their duty to the lambs of Christ's flock. ”

“ T falls to me this morning to ask you to give your help liberally towards the burthen of the cost of the Schools in this Parish. You do not need, I am sure, to be reminded that a good School, well ordered, and well taught, is an immense blessing to a place. You see the proof of it in your children. Those of you who have ever lived where there were not Schools, or where they were bad, will see it doubly by the contrast. ”