I know there is an objection among many people to teaching children doctrines of any kind, because they are liable to be controverted. But let us not be wiser than our Maker. If moral precepts alone could have reformed mankind, the mission of the Son of God into the world would have been unnecessary. The perfect morality of the Gospel rests upon the doctrine which, though often controverted, has never been refuted. I mean the vicarious life and death of the Son of God.
– Dr. Benjamin Rush, 1798
