An Essay on the Evils of Popular IgnoranceFoster, John
Philosophy
An Essay on the Evils of Popular Ignorance
Foster, John
Education; Great Britain -- Social conditions -- 19th century; Literacy; Missions -- India; Religious education
Nor would we require that the experiment be made by presenting something
of a precisely religious nature, to which there is an innate aversion on
account of its _divine_ character, separately from its being an
intellectual thing,--an aversion even though the mental faculties _be_
cultivated. It may be made with something that ought to have power to
please the mind as simply a being of intelligence, imagination, and
sentiment,--a pleasure which, in some of its modes, the senses themselves
may intimately partake; as when, for instance, it is to be imparted by
something beautiful or grand in the natural world, or in the works of art.
Let this refined solicitation be addressed to the grossly uncultivated, in
competition with some low indulgence--with the means, for example, of
gluttony and inebriation. See how the subjects of your experiment,
(intellectual and moral natures though they are,) answer to these
respective offered gratifications. Observe how these more dignified
attractives encounter and overpower the meaner, and reclaim the usurped,
debased spirit. Or rather, observe whether they can avail for more than an
instant, so much as to divide its attention. But indeed you can foresee
the result so well, that you may spare the labor. Still less could you
deem it to be of the nature of an experiment, (which implies uncertainty,)
to make the attempt with ideal forms of nobleness or beauty, with
intellectual, poetical, or moral captivations.
Yet this addiction to sensuality, beyond all competition of worthier modes
and means of interest, does not altogether refuse to admit of some
division and diversion of the vulgar feelings, in favor of some things of
a more mental character, provided they be vicious. A man so neglected in
his youth that he cannot spell the names of Alexander, Cæsar, or Napoleon,
or read them if he see them spelt, may feel the strong incitement of
ambition. This, instead of raising him, may only propel him forward on the
level of his debased condition and society; and it is a favorable
supposition that makes him "the best wrestler on the green," or a manful
pugilist; for it is probable his grand delight may be, to indulge himself
in an oppressive, insolent arrogance toward such as are unable to maintain
a strife with him on terms of fair rivalry, making his will the law to all
whom he can force or frighten into submission.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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