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THE EARTH MADE FOR MAN.

so much swallowed up-such as high station and a great name, power, and popularity, the silence of admiration, or the shout of approbation, or such as the protection of commerce, the encouragement of the fine and useful arts, the spread of knowledge, the enlargement of science, the pursuits of various studies, the establishment and improvement of public institutions, the promotion of national prosperity, and the increase of national grandeur and glory— what are they all but vanity and vexation of spirit? Are they not all perishable? Do they not leave in those who spend their lives in pursuit of them, the sting of a vacant existence? Or, if the gratification of apparent and momentary success, and the little vanity of handing down a great name to posterity, should keep up the delusion as long as the display lasts, what will become of all those notions of human grandeur, when brought to that standard, which eternity will apply to the things of time? And what will remain of the loftiest structures of human ingenuity, when the heavens shall depart, as a scroll when it is rolled together, when mountains and islands will be moved out of their places?

Who, that considers these things in their true light, and estimates them according to their intrinsic value, can, for a moment, suppose that the human soul and its faculties, destined as they are for immortality, can be made for those inferior purposes? Is it not evident, on the contrary, that all those things which keep man under bondage, are created for him; that he, and the restoration of his being to the original likeness of his Maker, is the great purpose to which all the things of the earth, and all the relations of society ought to be subservient? Is it not evident that they are nothing but a stage of exercise and of trial, to afford room for the expansion and invigoration of those faculties, which, by the fall, were contracted in selfishness, and lost their power, by alienation from their true life. And is it not evident, therefore, that the education of every individual, without exception, should have for its object,

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to render him conscious of that one and universal purpose, for which all his faculties were created, and to lead him to use them in subjection to that centre of harmony, that power of light and life, by which alone they can be rightly directed, as by it they were made?

Who is there, to whom an education different from this should be imparted; or, who is there, that stands not in need of this education? Who is there, whom society dare to pronounce incapable or unworthy of it; or, how can any community of men deserve the name of a Christian community, unless it give to every one of its children this education, which concentrates the whole man in Christ? How can it lay claim to any participation in the membership of Christ, and the love which he beareth to his church, unless, in the name, and through the power, of Christ, it fulfil, in its place and in its measure, the Father's will, "that of all which he gave to be Christ's, and which he has confided to the guardianship of Christ's church, nothing be lost."

LECTURE IV.

HOW FAR IS THE EDUCATION OF A CHILD TO BE REGULATED ACCORDING TO HIS NATURAL CAPACITIES, AND HOW FAR MUST EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES BE PERMITTED TO AFFECT IT?

THE view which has been taken of the preceding question must, as you are easily aware, in a great measure, determine the answer to be given to the one now under consideration; and I have, therefore, to request of you, that, in following my arguments through this lecture, you will bear in mind the leading points discussed in the last. This will be the more necessary, as a variety of topics, connected with the last question, have been reserved for the present lecture, in order to avoid repetition, which, owing to the affinity of the two questions, must otherwise inevitably have taken place.

If we cast a short reviewing glance upon the opinions prevailing among the public, or advanced by different writers, on the subject now before us, we shall find, that they are all comprehended in two classes, utterly opposed to each other. The one contains all the modifications of that system, which has, at present, the upper hand in society, and according to which man's education is entirely

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dependent on the circumstances under which he is born, admitting from this general rule but a few rare exceptions, and these only, because the history of some of the most eminent and the most excellent men, is an insurmountable obstacle to the universal application of the vulgar theory, that the distinctions of rank are connected with the intrinsic value of the individual. The other class, in which some of the most exalted minds have collected small crowds of discontented and clamorous followers, would level all the distinctions of society, and, in education, as in every thing else, would concoct a national porridge, of which all should partake in a perfectly equal measure. That neither of the two systems is correct, must become evident at the first attempt to put them in practice; the former is too contracted, the latter too superficial to answer the demands of real life. Nevertheless, in spite of this experience, every one follows his own views, as far as circumstances, and a better feeling, unconsciously dwelling in his bosom, will permit him to do so; for, happily for mankind, they succeed no better in carrying through their erroneous and perverse systems in perfect consistency, than they generally do in the endeavour to realize those great and sublime truths, which have descended from heaven to earth, in order to transform the earth into a heaven. This incapability of man, to make himself and his posterity a complete victim to the perversity of his own notions and purposes, although it may afford some relief to those, who might otherwise despair at the view of so many exertions, which are making, from generation to generation, in a direction diametrically opposed to that in which God intends to lead our species, is not, however, a sufficient counterpoise to the effects of ignorance and prejudice in the eyes of him, who is not contented to see the frame of human society outwardly upheld, and, perhaps, improved, but who considers an increase of the intrinsic value of man, as the only object of civilization, and as the only test of its true progress. He must go deeper; he

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MAN HAS NO RIGHT TO KNOWLEDGE.

cannot rest satisfied with the conviction, that, by the interposition of a merciful Providence, the gates of darkness are not permitted to prevail against man; he must inquire into the origin of those errors, which, although checked in their effect upon society, yet produce results deplorable enough to rouse the attention of every friend of humanity.

I have, on a former occasion, observed, that men would generally do better, in the examination of questions concerning the institutions and relations of society, to take for their guide the nature of their duties, than the nature of their rights. The same remark applies, in a very striking manner, to the question, how far the education of a child is to be regulated according to his natural capacities, and how far external circumstances should be permitted to affect it? If we endeavour to solve this question, on the ground commonly taken, by asking: How much is the child capable of knowing according to his natural capacities, and how much has he a right to know, according to the length of his father's purse?-it is evident that we shall be involved in a host of inconsistencies and contradictions, of which it is not, perhaps, the worst, that while we acknowledge a measure given by God, in the natural capacities, we so far disregard this measure, that we would allow, nay, often, try, to enforce more, where the circumstances of the parent seem to us to call for " a higher education ;" and, on the other hand, we invariably prohibit much of that, which God appears to have permitted, because, we say, it is beyond the child's station in society. Out of this labyrinth there is no other way, than at once to dismiss the idea of any right to more or less knowledge, to more or less cultivation of the mind, and to inquire into the nature and measure of the duty which devolves or may devolve on every individual. The first advantage to be derived from this basis of inquiry, for the solution of our present question, is, that the different gifts of Providence, would be weighed according to their intrinsic value, and not, as is the case in the common view of the subject, according to