to be most conscious of his need of Divine aid.

Having

exerted his strength, he knows exactly its limits, and he feels how hopeless all his efforts are beyond a certain point, outside of which, if true to himself, he can scarcely fail to feel and to recognize the presence of a power different from and higher than his own. Thus it is that almost all great men have been fatalists. Those who have effected most in the world, who have carried the bounds of human knowledge farthest, have had the clearest conviction of a mysterious power, apart from and beyond themselves, that was working in them and through them, and without which they could not have done what they had done. It is not the man who does least, but he that does most, that manifests the greatest faith it is the man that most earnestly strives to work out his own salvation that is most conscious of his need of a Saviour. Thus we learn by reason what the Scriptures plainly teach that God's benefits are conferred as the reward of human exertion.

Our thoughts and feelings, unless they are put forth into activities, are worse than useless, because, like noxious weeds, they abstract nourishment from other parts of the system; and the man who frequently indulges in day-dreams of a future life soon becomes unfitted for his proper place in this. Our thoughts, in order to be of value to ourselves or others, must put themselves into action. Thus, we are able to test them so as to bring out their true nature; and from being dreamy, misty, and indefinite, they become clear, distinct, and well defined. Much of the sin and evil and error in the world may be traced to a want of harmony between our thoughts or our intentions and our actions. Men think and purpose and intend much that is good and right, but they fail in the power to carry it out into action. They resolve and re-resolve, and yet their conduct remains the same. The great business of education is to mould and fashion our conduct, and to bring our actions into exact accordance with our wills, so that the body may, in all respects, be a ready, willing, and efficient servant of the mind.

In consequence of the very limited nature of his faculties, man can only take a narrow and one-sided view of things.

He cannot contemplate a number of different objects at once, but, while intently regarding one, the others sink into insignificance or disappear. Thus, many are so taken up with the wonders of revelation that they have no eye for those of nature; they regard faith till works vanish from their sphere of vision; they are entranced with the righteousness of Christ, and become lax in the matter of their own personal righteousness. In like manner, there are many who are so taken up with the beauties of nature, the harmony of its laws, the discoveries of reason, that they entirely lose sight of revelation, of faith, of a Divine Providence. In both cases they fail to see the "higher unity" by which these things are brought together and their apparent discrepancies reconciled. To this may be traced the distaste and jealousy with which many religious persons look upon the study of nature, or the exercise of our natural powers and faculties upon matters of religion. They imagine that by disparaging all human effort they are magnifying the power and wisdom of God; that by taking away all personal righteousness from the believer they are the more highly extolling the imputed righteousness of Christ. Hence, we have things sacred and things profane; we have God's work and man's work; the works of nature and those of Divine Providence. God's presence is regarded as confined to particular times and certain places, which are considered holy, while He is rarely or ever looked for or expected in others. But religion is designed for all times and all places, and is intended to elevate and ennoble every duty and every business of life.

We may, perhaps, appear to some to have dealt too exclusively with the practical part of religion, and not to have taken sufficient account of that which is spiritual; but our purpose was not to treat of religion as a whole, but only in so far as it was connected with education, nor have we taken up education farther than as connected with religion. Hence, while holding up education as the natural and appointed means of bringing men to Christ, we would not be understood as denying that sometimes the Holy Spirit works upon the mind of a man so that, as it were in a moment, his whole thought, feeling, and conduct become changed, and he

now loathes what he formerly loved and shuns what he formerly sought after.1 But these instances are rare, and are not to be looked for or expected in the ordinary course of things; and even in such cases the defects of education cannot fail to manifest themselves in a variety of ways.2 It may be that some of the religious views which we have sought to controvert are not so generally held or so much insisted upon now as they once were, but they are still very far from uncommon, and there are many, we believe, who do not profess them in words but yet allow them to influence their conduct very largely in the matter of education.

The Educator ought to be an Optimist. He should believe that the present order and disposition of things is the best possible for man in his present condition, and that everything is, through Divine Providence, working for the final good of mankind. To him the world should appear as a place of education, and everything therein as intended for our instruction or benefit. From a careful study of the past he will draw conclusions with regard to the future, and confidently look forward to the time when the evils that at present afflict humanity will cease from the earth. He should have faith in his pupils 3; should see in them boundless capacities for good, and strive to develop them. The child is no mere bundle of evil habits and evil principles to be overcome and rooted out, but is a being tender and plastic, capable of

1 "Here and there an instance occurs, to the delight of the Christian philanthropist, of a person brought up in utter ignorance and barbarian rudeness, and so continuing till late in life, and then at last, after such a length of time, and habit has completed its petrifying effect, suddenly seized upon by a mysterious power, and taken with an alarming and irresistible force out of the dark hold in which the spirit has lain imprisoned and torpid, into the sphere of thought and feeling."-(FOSTER: Popular Ignorance.)

2 But, continues Mr. Foster, "It would be no less than plain miracle or inspiration, a more entire and specific superseding of ordinary laws than that" of which we have just spoken, "if a mind left uncultivated all up through the earlier age, and, perhaps, far on in life, should not come to its new employment on a most important subject with a sadly defective capacity for judgment and discrimination."-(Popular Ignorance.)

3 Dr. Arnold manifested such faith in his pupils that they were wont to say that "it was a shame to tell Arnold a lie: he always believes one." -(Life, by DEAN STANLEY.)

being moulded and fashioned either to good or evil; and none of his powers or faculties are in themselves evil, but only become so when they acquire undue strength and prominence. He should have faith in the means within his power for the accomplishment of his ends, and nothing should appear too great or too difficult to be effected by a proper use of means. He should have unbounded faith in the laws and operations of nature to effect the most unlooked-for results, and learn to trust in her frequently when he cannot trace the course of her operations. He will thu's have a high idea of the importance of education and unwavering faith in its power2; and will see it to be, as in truth it is, the great means put by God into the hands of man for the improvement and elevation of the race,-man being thus, as it were, raised to the high honour of a co-worker with the Almighty in the restoration and perfection of humanity.3

He will draw hope for the future, and encouragement from the fact that the habits formed and the tendencies developed in the parents are communicated by descent to the children. He will mark here a conservative power in nature working

"The passions are not to be rooted up, for they are of nature's planting; but care is to be taken that they grow not to that enormous tallness, as to overtop a man's intellectual stature, and cast a dark shadow over his soul."-(Rev. JOHN HOWE.) "Let it be a law that, as every faculty is holy, none must be weakened by itself, but only have its opposing one roused, by which means it is added harmoniously to the whole."(RICHTER.)

66

2 "What a boundless outlook, that of schools and improvement in school methods and school purposes, which in these ages lie hitherto all superannuated, and to a frightful degree inapplicable."--(T. CARLYLE.) The subject of education, instead of being exhausted, has as yet attracted but little of the attention which it must have before the world can be enlightened and saved."-(Rev. B. PARSONS.) We may well apply to education the terms used by Dr. Chalmers in speaking of moral philosophy, that "surely it is not possible to be deluded by an overweening estimate of a theme which reaches upwards to the high authority of heaven, and forward to the destinies of our immortal nature." "Like a river into which as it flows new currents are continually discharging themselves, it must increase till it becomes a wide-spread stream, fertilizing and enriching all countries, and covering the earth as the waters cover the sea."-(Dr. R. PRICE: Sermons.)

3" Remember in your endeavours to enlighten and reform mankind, that you are co-operating with Providence."-(Dr. RICHARD PRICE.) "We look at national education as a sacred task, a high and holy work, a mission from God."—(W. J. Fox.)

for him, by which the acquirements and the culture of one generation or of one individual are not lost, but are transmitted to those that come after them. Thus each generation is not only educated and trained by that which preceded it, but has incorporated in its very nature the training and culture of that and many preceding generations. In like manner a man's children are not distinct from, but intimately connected with himself. Physically, morally, and intellectually they partake of his nature; and in them he may be said to live his life over again.1 Conscious of much that is wrong in his own nature, and feeling the comparatively little success that attends his efforts at self-improvement having to contend against confirmed habits with, perhaps, enfeebled energies the thoughtful parent will rejoice to know that by means of right education he has the power of effecting these reformations in his children, where the habits are not confirmed, and where the energies are fresh and vigorous.

In conclusion, the author has only to say that his object has not been so much to present his own opinions as to bring forward those of others whose words may be considered to carry weight. In questions of this kind arguments in general go for little, and the voice of authority is more likely to prevail. Hence he has sought to support his opinions by the wise and thoughtful sayings of great and good men rather than by arguments,-confining himself in the text to the simplest statements, even at the risk sometimes of being misunderstood. In many cases he has left his exact meaning to be gathered from the notes which, beyond supporting or confirming the views advanced in the text, will frequently be found to explain or amplify them, and present them in different lights; thus giving, it is to be hoped,

1 Prince Albert "observed that it was always said that parents live their lives over again in their children; which," adds her Majesty, "is a very pleasant feeling." (The Queen's Diary.) "When we are decaying and withering away, we shall have the pleasure to see our youth, as it were, renewed, and ourselves flourishing again in our children. The son of Sirach, speaking of the comfort which a good father hath in a welleducated son, 'Though he die (says he), yet he is as though he were not dead, for he hath left one behind him that is like himself." "-(TILLOTSON: Sermons.)