FF, Page 221. Religious Education—Gaelic Schools
To extend the means of education, a knowledge of the
Scriptures, and a consequent regard to religion and moral duties, great
improvements have been lately made by the humane beneficence of
individuals, who have raised a fund for the support of Gaelic schools, and
have thus enabled the natives to read the Scriptures in a language which
they understand. As the best books only are published in that language,
the principles of the people will be protected from the contamination of
seditious and improper tracts, and the advantages of education will be
unmixed with the danger that threatens their best principles, by the abuse
of those blessings which ought to be the result. The means of educating
the Highlanders in the early part of the last century, and of instructing
them in religious knowledge, do not seem to have been well understood or
welt conducted. The established clergy were directed to preach and exhort
in English, and schoolmasters to teach in the same language. Thus, while
the parishioners were compelled to listen to discourses and prayers of
which they did not comprehend one sentence, their children were taught to
pronounce and run over their letters with as little instruction. In
conformity to this precious system, patrons of Highland parishes have, in
many cases, appointed ministers from the Lowlands, totally ignorant of the
only language understood by the parishioners.
[If it were proper to be otherwise than serious on such
a subject, the appearance the Lowland clergy make in attempting to preach
in Gaelic might occasion more than a smile, The mistakes they constantly
commit, their perversion of the language and confounding of the meaning of
words, which may be understood in two or more senses, occasion ridiculous
scenes, which put the gravity of the aged to the proof, and throw the
youthful into fits of laughter not easily controlled. When these are the
means by which religious instruction is in so many cases conveyed to the
Highlanders, their ignorance may cease to excite wonder; and, instead of
seeing men expressing their grief and horror at the want of religion,
knowledge of Christianity, and the vices which, they pretend, exist in the
Highlands, it were well if a share of their horror and indignation were
raised against those who deprive the inhabitants of the means of
instruction, and some share of merit and approbation might be shown
towards a people who, although under such disadvantages, are not
altogether so ignorant as they are called. ]
In the year 1791, the case of the appointment of a
clergyman, ignorant of the Gaelic language, to a Highland parish in
Aberdeenshire, came, by appeal, before the General Assembly. But the
Assembly, from the members of which, as the fathers of the church and
supporters of religion, a different decision might have been expected,
sustained the appointment ; and thus, by giving countenance to an
unprincipled practice, by which the very source of Christian instruction
is dried up, patrons of parishes are encouraged to persevere in a
flagitious system which deprives a whole population of the means of
hearing Divine worship performed in an intelligible language. Yet, while
religious knowledge was, in these cases, placed beyond the reach of the
Highlanders, by those whose bounden duty it was to afford them every
facility to acquire it, the state of religion, and the clear notions the
people entertain of their religious duties, are very remarkable,
particularly when those disadvantages, the scarcity of clergymen, and the
general great extent of the parishes, are taken into consideration. The
indifference shown to their religious instruction at the Reformation is
well known, and looked more like a total extinction than a reform of
religion ; for, at that period, two, three, and in some cases four
parishes, were united into one ; numberless chapels were destroyed,
[The churches of the adjoining parishes of Fortingall
in Perthshire, and of Lismore in Argyleshire, are 78 miles distant. The
parish of Appin was suppressed and annexed to Lismore, and Kilchonnan
annexed to Fortingall. Nine chapels in these four parishes were totally
suppressed; and thus, where thirteen clergymen were established formerly,
the economy of the Reformers allowed only two; and this they called
teaching the true gospel, where no teachers were left, no provision for
clergymen, nor churches for Divine worship allowed. Four parishes were
united under one clergyman at Blair Athole. Similar instances are frequent
in the Highlands and Isles.]
and tracts of forty or fifty miles in extent were left
without a church, or minister of the gospel.
Although there are many thousand unable to read, and
many more unable to understand what they read, (in English), the
advantages of education, when combined with temporal comforts, are well
understood, and when allowed to go hand in hand, they have answered the
most sanguine expectations. In this manner, we see men, in the lowest
situations as cottagers, giving an education to their children, which fits
them for any profession. Many men of my intimate acqaintance, educated in
this manner, have been, and now are, eminent in different learned
professions. Others give equal promise. These men acquired the religious
and moral habits, which paved the way to their present eminence, from the
poor but well-principled parents. The number of persons thus educated from
the poorest class of the people is, I believe, unparalleled. This
commendable trait of character may be considered as part of that
chivalrous independent spirit which animated the clans, and which, amidst
poverty and frequent violations of law and regular government, developed
many honourable points of character.
But to return to the subject of religious knowledge.
They who suppose that knowledge is only acquired from books, will find
some difficulty in believing that in the Highlands, men without any
education, or any language but their own, can give a clear account of
their faith. With a memory rendered tenacious and accurate, by their
inability to read, and the consequent necessity of retaining in their
recollection what they hear, they acquire a competent knowledge of the
Scriptures, and on reference to any important passage, will readily point
out the chapter and verse. Not only can they repeat whole chapters from
recollection, but even recollect the greater part of a sermon. Men of this
kind were not to be found in every family, but they were frequent; and by
free communication of their acquirements, have greatly contributed to
considerable intelligence, both civil and religious. But, as education
extends, this faculty of a tenacious memory must diminish. When a man can
find what he wishes to know by turning up a book, he is apt to think that
he need not be at the trouble of retaining it in his memory. As education
is becoming so general, it is to be hoped, that moral principles will be
preserved and combined with increase of knowledge, and that the people
will read and comprehend the Scriptures with at least the same advantage
and instruction as when they were taught and explained by zealous and able
clergymen, and by such intelligent persons as I have just noticed.
