I want the whole mass of American children to be American; which means freedom- enamored, intelligent and good. Let us not rest until all are led to dwell upon the high table-land of light, liberty and truth; and not, as now, be traversing to and fro in the twilight and gloom of the intervale. Look abroad over this country! Is there no need that something should be done? See how the love of money is elevated into a doctrine and preached by fathers to their sons even as a cardinal virtue. Mammon's golden wand is striking the land with spiritual impotency. Then there is infidelity which subverts nature and pulls down providence, and blots out hope; and then there is licentiousness which is fevering the blood, and intemperance which is maddening the brain, these, with their whole attendant family of ills, are threatening our blood-bought liberties, our national prosperity and our domestic altars; and where, where is the effectual remedy but the school-house?. What have competent, purposely-prepared teachers done for other places? I mention one as an example. It may be found in Madam de Stael's "Germany" and was corroborated by the learned agent from Hamburg recently sent to this country by the king of Prussia, for the purpose of learning the condition and improvements of our schools and prisons, &c. "In the city of Hamburg taxes are never assessed on individuals; but the officers announce the amount per cent. on property, which the expenses of the city require; and then each citizen goes on a certain day and deposites in the public chest what properly falls to his share. No one knows how much another pays; there is no responsibility but that which is furnished by each man's conscience and sense of honor; and yet the whole amount deposited never fails to bear the right proportion to the valuation of the city." Bremen is another instance of the same kind. I know many facts proving the same point. Is there moral principle in any of our cities or towns like this? Have we a public conscience in this country which can lift its head in the presence of these facts? Ask them the cause, and they immediately point you to the religious culture imparted in their elementary schools. I say again, that our republic needs such schools in order that we may realise such results. In one word—it is nothing but competent instruction in early life which will give every child the opportunity of mak ing the most of himself. What does this mean? A word of explanation and I am done. The laws of God are co-extensive with himself. They are about man and in man as is the atmosphere he breathes. He acts amid these laws. If he obeys them they make him hap if he breaks them he must pay the penalty. To obey these laws they must be comprehended; to comprehend them they must be studied; and how can our children study them aright except by the guidance of a teacher; and how can he teach aright except he understand? Let a child be taught understandingly what his physical constitution is; let him be shown the skilful involution of fibres, the wise entanglement of muscles; let him comprehend the action of the heart, stomach and lungs, and feel the blood rolling through the rivers of his frame; and, after this, explain to him the indigestible nature of alcohol, the poisonous action of medicine, the fire-fury of licentiousness; thus enable him clearly to see how folly and vice dislocate and derange the beauteous and healthful harmonies of his physical nature, and he will then understand that it is just as wise to run into intemperance and lasciviousness in order to promote his pleasure as to break his arm for the sake of amusement. Let him be taught, also, that the laws of mind are equally benignant and demanding in their sphere, that they too are the voice of God within. Let his imagination be taught so to embody his ideal in life and duty as to fill the humblest condition with infinite interests. Let his judgment be called to weigh questions involving the most searching analyses and the most delicate comparisons; and let conscience be enthroned to decide upon cases of moral obligation and actual conduct; in short, let the same mind be in him which was in Christ Jesus; let him come to a clear apprehension of what God wishes a human creature to be, and that in being such a one he will answer on earth the purposes of his existence, he will preserve his health and multiply his powers, he will promote his peace and extend his usefulness; and when he has finished the work that God sent him here to do, he will thus have secured the best prospect of a happy immortality: I say, let the inquisitive mind of a child be thus instructed and established in physical, intellectual and spiritual truth; let him thus understand himself, - what he is, why he is here, where he is going, — and it is not in human nature to deny that that youth will be better able to begin life's duties, to meet its trials, to enjoy its sweets and to bear its ills, than children now are under our present systems. Yes, such a child would be a well-beloved child of God; and his course may be likened to the revolving earth. His daily duties, performed in punctual obedience to the wise laws of his nature, would be like the noiseless diurnal rotation of the globe on its axis; while, at the same time, he has like the earth another motion, he is speeding his bright way to heaven in his infinite orbit round the great luminous centre of spiritual attraction THE THRONE OF GOD. |