The Development of School Support in Colonial Massachusetts (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

George Leroy Jackson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1331371309 ISBN 13: 9781331371304

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2019

Synopsis

Excerpt from The Development of School Support in Colonial Massachusetts

It was against dogmatism, authority, form, pretence that Puritanism and its sister movements Pietism and Jansenism arose. Conduct, faith, piety, righteousness, and good works, the holding Up of high individual standards marked this movement and made its followers stand out distinctly. The religious tenets of the Puritans believed to have been ably and faithfully worked out Of the Scriptures, at first carried out the best traditions Of the Reformation in the general ideas expressed above; that they soon became narrow and intolerant is but the fault of the age. The fact that they believed themselves to be God's elect as proved by the Bible, that their way Of thinking and doing must therefore be the only possible escape from punishment and the way whereby mankind might be saved made them the stronger and more per sistent in their ideas when they were met by opposition and perse cution. The Puritan was one with the Reformation in his belief in his power to draw inspiration from God, to have direct per sonal communion between each human being and his Maker, and to find in the Bible, each man for himself, the guiding principles Of all his thoughts and acts.

Nothing could be stronger than the Puritan belief in the Bible. The Westminster Confession which the Puritan accepted teaches that all things necessary for man's salvation are found in the Scriptures; that they were immediately inspired by God and con tain within themselves the infallible rule of interpretation; and that they commanded all the people Of God to read and search them.1 Unquestionably the Bible and the capacity to read it was an essential part Of Puritan society derived from the general Reformation movement. They did not wish a blind acceptance of their faith but that each should read for himself and embrace the Creed through conviction of the righteousness Of their faith. Such conviction was possible only to those who could read a Bible whose authenticity was vouched for by a still higher schol arship. They were God's elect, but to deserve His protection each one must read, ponder over the Scriptures and the explana tion by the minister in order to know His will.

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Product Description

Excerpt from The Development of School Support in Colonial Massachusetts The aim of this study is, first, to trace the various methods through which the early schools of Massachusetts were supported - showing at the same time the basis of experience for dealing with the problem of support through the close relationship existing between - 1) education and religion, and 2) education and the support and apprenticeship of the poor; and, second, after partial support by general taxation had become customary, to point out the main causes which made general taxation the sole method of school support and hence gave rise to the "free school" - publicly controlled and publicly supported. The men who managed affairs in the early Massachusetts towns were beyond question influenced by the methods and ideals which prevailed in the mother country. We know that in England there was a close relationship in Puritan thought between education and religion, hence there would be a definite tendency to continue the same relationship in the colony. The mere incident of a sea-voyage would scarcely destroy all associations formed up to that time. We know that for years the English people had been working out the problem of poor relief and during the life of the colonists in England had arrived at a definite method of caring for the poor, hence it is highly improbable that, when the necessity arose, this method should not occur to the colonists as a possible way of solving a similar difficulty. In other words there can be no doubt that what these men had thought and done in England was the basis of their thinking and doing in the Massachusetts Colony. Hence in meeting the practical problem of supporting any institution we would expect them to use the prevailing English method, or a modification of that method, or the application for the support of one institution of the prevailing or modified English method of supporting another. In the matter of school support, as we shall see later, the Eng

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1331371309
• ISBN 13: 9781331371304
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 99