Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Instruction (Volume 19); Proceedings, Constitution, List of Active Members, and Addresses (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1848. Excerpt: ... LECTURE II. THE CO-OPERATION OF PARENTS AND TEACHERS. By JACOB BATCHELDER, LYNN, MASS. The first lesson in Metaphysics, conveyed to the' infant's mind, is comprehended in a morsel of wisdom rescued from the ruins of heathen philosophy, and1 confirmed by Holy Writ, in the passage as familiar to every Christian as it is simple and sublime, --"In: him we live, and move, and have our being." But how inadequate to the expression of this great' conception, is the formula prescribed in our catechisms, urged on the memory of the child, and resting there like moonlight on the stainless snow, --" Who made: you?" "God." The question bears the form of an inquiry into a. historical fact, and the answer appears coolly and conclusively to establish the agent. The child refers the, fact and the agent to the same category as the discovery of America by Columbus, or the invention of.' the steam engine by Savary. It perceives itself made, and believes itself finished; and the parent and teacher scarcely rise above the zero of the same sagacious conclusion. Hence they fail of being affected by a deep and abiding sense of the responsibilities imposed on them. They do not feel that they are co-efficients with God in the creation of man; that in this life is the process of creation continued; that the immortal germ 'tis theirs to nourish, theirs aright to train, till it attain to the fulness of a perfect plant for, paradise prepared. But let it be believed that God's creative power is never inert, but ever and every where in full activity; that the child not only was, but has been, and is created, body and soul, --that its infancy is emblematic of " the beginning," when first the spirit of God moved on the face of the waters, --that its earthly existence is the six days of its cre...