A Practical Enquiry into the Philosophy of EducationGall, James
Philosophy
A Practical Enquiry into the Philosophy of Education
Gall, James
Education
Note R, p. 314.--There is not perhaps a subject in the whole range of
human investigation that is so much misunderstood in practice, as a
person's own happiness. Whatever causes uneasiness, or distress, or
anxiety of mind, destroys happiness;--which shews that it is this
pleasure, or delight itself,--this exercise of the heart, that we are
seeking, and not the money, or the applause, or the sensual indulgences,
which sometimes procure it. The heart of man has been made for something
higher and more noble than these grovelling objects of sense and time.
History and experience shew, that it can never be satisfied with any
finite good; and especially, the possession of all earthly enjoyments
only leaves the void more conspicuous and more painful. The whole world,
if it were attained, would but more powerfully illustrate its own
poverty; for even Alexander weeps because there are no more worlds to
conquer. Scripture declares, and Nature, so far as we can trace her,
confirms it, that man--and man alone--was _made after the image of
God_,--and therefore nothing short of God himself can ever satisfy
_him_. Heaven itself would be inadequate to fill the soul, or to allay
the cravings of such a being. The fellowship and love of the Almighty,
and that _alone_, by the very constitution of our nature, can fill and
satisfy the boundless desires of the human heart. They who stop short of
this, can never be satisfied; while they who place their happiness on
HIM, will always be full, because he alone is infinite. The
love of God, and the desire for his glory then, are the only true
foundation of human happiness. And hence it is, that the perfection of
enjoyment, and the whole sum of duty, meet in this one point,--THE
LOVE OF GOD.
Note S, p. 318.--The writer is aware that, in doing justice to this
department of a child's education, it is impossible to avoid the charge
of "enthusiasm," perhaps "illiberality," or "fanaticism." In what we
have urged in the preceding pages, we have endeavoured calmly to state
and illustrate simple facts,--plain indications of Nature,--and to draw
the obvious deductions which they suggest. We intend to follow precisely
the same course here, although quite aware that we are much more liable
to be misunderstood, or misrepresented. We shall at least endeavour
calmly to put what we have to say upon a true philosophical basis.
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