1 Cor. iv. 15.PEDAGOGUE. This Word in our Tongue carries with it a kind of Idea of Contempt; for when we mention a Pedagogue, without any other Word to qualifie it, it expresses a Pedant, who assumes an Air of Authority over others, which does not belong to him. But among the Antients it was otherwise. With them a Pedagogue was a Person to whom they committed the Care of their Children, to lead them, to observe them, and even to instruct them in their first Rudiments. This Office of Pedagogue nearly answered to what we call a Governor or Tutor, who is always to attend his Pupil, to teach him to live, and to form his Manners upon all Occasions.
Galat. iii. 24, 25.St. Paul speaking to the Corinthians, says; For though you have ten Thousand Instructors (or Pedagogues) in Christ, yet have ye not many Fathers. That as to himself, he is their Father in the Faith, since he has begotten them in the Gospel. The Pedagogue indeed may have some Power over his Pupil, and may exercise some Authority over him; but he can never have the natural Inclination and Tenderness of a Father.
In his Epistle to the Galatians he says, that the Law was our Schoolmaster (or Pedagogue) to bring us unto Christ. It has pointed out Christ to us in the Scriptures, in the Figures, and in the Prophecies of the Old Testament. But since we have embraced the Faith, we have no longer any Need of Schoolmasters or Pedagogues; as they are of no further Use to young People, when they have attained to Mens Estate. But after that Faith is come, we are no longer under a Schoolmaster.