turned aside from its legitimate purpose, and made subservient to a paltry spirit of partisanship, is lamentable in the extreme; and indeed, only one of the effects of that partial education of which we have been speaking.

Such being the case, there appears a strong necessity for detaching the whole business of education from its connexion with any religious or political party whatever, and making it practically manifest that it is a universal question, involving the highest interests of every individual, which can only be promoted by a just apprehension and diffusion of its own abstract principles. It is not necessary to fortify this position against the charge of irreligion in the matter of education, as a perusal of the sequel must show such an attempt to be superfluous. Religion has to do with everything in life, and of course with education too; but no less wide is the difference between the pure principles of religion itself, and those that often govern the different societies of religious men, than between the essential laws of education and those religious associations. Education is an abstract science; and when religion is also considered abstractedly, in practice the one becomes the handmaid of the other, because religion imposes an obligation upon each to advance the interests of all, and it is therefore a duty, among other means, to promote this end by diffusing the principles of education.

As most differences on any subject originate in a want of properly defined terms, so the whole of this long agitated controversy seems entirely to hinge upon the want of a clear apprehension of these two questions,What is a religious, and what is a general education? The latter of these inquiries forms the chief topics in the following pages; and the former may be answered in the first place negatively, by saying, that religion is not

confined to the "standards" of any church; and consequently, whatever any religious society, in their corporate capacity, allege, regarding a union of education with religion, must in general be received as a vague and indefinite idea. By the standards of a church, are of course meant those conventional regulations framed for its government and discipline; while the standards of natural and revealed religion, are the Bible and the works of nature. At the present moment the practical application of this union has been resolved into each separate sect having its separate schools; and while undoubtedly much good may be done in this way, it is equally certain that a disunion of feeling is perpetuated, not only among these religious bodies themselves, but a sectional bias impressed upon the minds of the children of each respective school. It is a union of certain schools to certain churches, and a conformity of school books to particular creeds; but it is no more a union of education to religion in the abstract, than the establishment of a factory school can be said to unite education to the science of cotton-spinning. It must be a purely religious feeling, calling to its aid the instrumentality of those lately developed views regarding the training of the young, which apply to the whole family of man, whatever their speculative opinions on religion, politics, or philosophy, and, regardless of these differences, promoting their practical welfare, that deserves anything like the name of a union. "Pure religion and undefiled,” was never intended as a mere theological abstraction, affording excitement to critical minds, so often tending to an alienation of the affections, but to lead those under its influence to practise its precepts. Education is thus subservient to the interests of religion, as the hand is united to the body and becomes the

servant of the mind; but this union can at the most be effected in a very partial manner, by its being made the mere instrument of a sect for sectarian purposes.

Again, as an abstract science, it is a totally different thing from religion. The latter reaches beyond the present life, and treats of mysteries connected with the immortal spirit; the former descends to the physical wants and necessities of man, even before he has been ushered into existence, and from this, as a basis, proceeds to form those moral and intellectual tempers and habits that can' alone serve as a sure foundation for a religious education. But inasmuch as two different ends are thus sought to be gained, so are the two influences in operation for those purposes two essentially different things. The founda tion of a building is prepared by other means and other instruments, than those employed in rearing the structure the earthly elements of the soil must be displaced and arranged before the compact materials that raise the edifice to the skies are called into use.

A parallel between a religious and a general education may thus be drawn. The latter comprehends certain principles deduced and generalised from an acquaintance with the constitution and character of man. In ascertaining what this character is, two sources are available -the book of nature and the book of revelation. By means of these it is found that he is a compound being, consisting of separate parts, the two great divisions of which are body and spirit. But as one tree may consist of many branches, so each of these distinct natures has a ramified and complicated existence of its own. The former exists by what are called organs; and the latter, while in the body, manifests itself by means of faculties. Again, of these faculties there are several varieties, just as the body is composed of different organs, that is, as it

appears, several modes by which the soul of man operates upon the body, and is affected by it; and the two great divisions of these, again, are his mental and moral powers. The latter are said to be passive feelings, the former, active principles; and a deduction from this is, that the whole nature of man is influenced in two ways, actively and passively.

Now, according to this description of the subject to be educated, an obvious inference arises, that a different influence must be applied to the different parts of man's nature. His bodily organs, from the largely developed limbs, to those microscopical and invisible tubes pervading the whole interior of his frame, and from which are derived such incontestable proofs of a Divine mechanism, all demand care and attention of a nature peculiar to themselves. Hence is deduced the necessity of a physical education for the complete development and healthy action of these powers. His intellect, also, requires an education peculiarly its own. It seems to subserve the spiritual nature in a manner similar to that by which the stomach administers to the body. The latter requires aliment and exercise; the former, information and reflection. To afford these in proper abundance, therefore, and of a suitable nature, is an intellectual education. The moral faculties, again, demand a still different treatment. These being feelings, and consequently passive, must be quickened and drawn out into action, or, it may be, blunted and repressed-or, in plain language, good habits formed, and bad ones reformed. And as each of these processes implies external assistance and guidance, the necessity of a moral education is equally deducible. Education, then, divides itself into three great branches, physical, intellectual, and moral, each of a different kind, adapted to the different faculties of our nature.

On the other hand, a religious education is something above and beyond all this. The enlightened Christian, however, cannot fail to perceive in the general education of a community an analogous process to that of atmospheric action upon the face of nature. The once rocky surface, by the lapse of time and the attrition of the atmosphere, becomes decomposed and pulverised into the genial and fertile soil; the dews and the rains of heaven fall upon it, and the good seed is cast abroad, bringing forth fruit more or less according to its depth and cultivation. And a moral and intellectual soil must also be spread over the ignorant and depraved masses of the people, before the seed of the word can be expected to take root and flourish and bring forth fruit.

Nor, indeed, can this happy result be expected to take place by a mere process of indoctrinating into the principles of any church, as contained in her formularies and catechisms. The logical and scriptural definition of a religious education must be had, by assuming as data the definitions already laid down regarding the human character, adding, that every spiritual influence affecting the mind and the character is part of a religious educa tion. And this influence may be communicated in two ways, each of which may be seen by an illustration. A child brought up under illiterate and mentally ignorant but pious parents, may become habituated into all the duties of Christianity, and thus be brought under the power of vital religion by a kind of practically deductive process; and another, born of Godless parents, may have his mind enlightened in the knowledge of Christ by means of Sabbath-school instruction, and thus, also, become a practical Christian. Those different influences, however, derive their efficacy from the same source, and are simply the truths of revelation, operating upon the heart