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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

PREVAILING VIEWS OF THIS SUBJECT.

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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 culti vation 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

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their importance, in a worldly point of view, in the present condition of society. It would, then, be acknowledged, that the measure of talent, with which every individual is gifted, determines the measure of intellectual and moral exertion for which he is destined,-in the years of education, more exclusively for the development of his own mind, and in after life, likewise for the benefit, that is to say, the internal improvement, of his fellow creatures; and this measure of intellectual and moral exertion, would not be looked upon, as it now is too often, as a means of gratifying himself, and others, accordingly as he may, or may not, feel disposed; but it would be considered, in its true light, as a sacred obligation, for the neglect, or imperfect discharge of which, the individual himself, as well as every one that has contributed to divert or prevent him from it, is highly responsible. If this be true, with reference to common talents, and capacities, how much more eminently will it prove true, when applied to genius. This heavenly gift, this incorporation, as it were, of the divine idea in the faculties of man, how little has it been understood, how profanely abused, in most cases, both by those to whom the gift was imparted, and by the multitude, for whose benefit it was given. Genius, whatever be the direction in which it manifests itself, whether in the compositions of the pencil, or in the lofty regions of poetic thought, in the modulations of harmonious notes, or in the strains of sacred eloquence, is a manifestation of the divine mind; it is, as it were, the breath of God, going over the creature, and imparting life to its works. It is not a meteor, cast upon the earth, at random, for the vain glory of its own splendour, or for the amazement of the spectator; it is a light of God, imparted for a specific purpose, for the pose of carrying on his work, in a peculiar manner, by peculiar means, according to the peculiar wants of the nation, and of the age in which the genius appears. The geniuses which have risen up, at different periods, in the history of mankind, fill the same place in the progress of

H

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GENIUS AN ELECTION.

human civilization, which is nothing else than the divine guidance of our species, veiled and hidden, as the prophets of old did in the history of the Jewish Church, which is the divine guidance of man, explained and revealed; both are, in their appointed spheres, the privileged diviners, whose sight is illumined; the chosen instruments, whose hand is armed with the strength of the Lord. Hence, as the prophets rose up in the critical days of the Jewish history, so have geniuses always risen up at those great epochs in human history, when, upon the dying stem of the past, a new life was ingraffed; in every such spiritual revelation, some eminent genius has been instrumental; nor was he suffered to stand solitary, but he was always supported by the simultaneous influence of kindred minds upon the mass, although, perhaps, the connexion between them might not be outwardly perceptible, nay, they might even stand in apparent opposition to each other. As a gift of God, destined for the accomplishment of his purposes, genius partakes of the nature of election, and is subject to its laws Thus, for instance, the popular feeling with regard to the strayings of men of genius, makes good, although in an abusive sense, the Apostle's word: "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ?" And, on the other hand, the effect which a lawless course of life in men of genius, produces, renders the parallel not only more true, more close, but also, for those that are so gifted, more awful. Take the history of any man of genius, and you will find, that the office for which he was called, was fulfilled by him, whether obedient or disobedient to his calling. The ideas which he is destined to make manifest to the world, of the promulgation of which, he may, if he choose to acknowledge his election, and to fulfil its duties, make himself the successful and blessed instrument, will, if he choose to strive against them, be made manifest upon him, as an exemplification of their truth. As the Jews, the elect witnesses of God for the truth of his revelation, rejected their election, at the moment, when they were called upon to fulfil its highest

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