of subjecting feeling and impulse to a higher law. The parent's authority represents both love and power, and the child's obedience has its abiding spring in reverence, which Coleridge calls "the synthesis of love and fear." This gives the parent's will ascendency over both the heart and will of the child, and imparts to it a touch of the Absolute. Some one has said that the first deities which a child worships and obeys are his parents.

This discipline of the will in obedience is next taken up by the school, whose authority is both personal and institutional. Here the pupil is not only trained in obedience to authority in this new form, but is prepared for obedience to civil or governmental authority, which is institutional, and not personal. To this end both the authority of the school and of the State should be enthroned in the pupil's reverence; and this can only be secured by training the will under a deep sense of that Supreme Authority that is back of family, school and State. We must not be too slow to learn that an essential condition of willing obedience to law is a reverence for its authority, and that this involves a reverence for its source. Human law has surest and easiest ascendency over the heart and the will when it speaks, not simply by the authority of the people, but also in the name of the King of kings

It is believed that history will fully sustain the statement that every wide attempt to ground moral obligation, solely on human authority, has resulted in the weakening of the conscience, the enfeebling of the will, and the lowering of the moral life of the people. It may be true that a basis of right and wrong can be found in man's moral nature; but the pregnant fact of human experience is, that their authority over the will is weak when unsupported by religious sanctions and influence. In the murky atmosphere of carnal and selfish appetites and desires moral distinctions become obscure and confused. Virtue comes to be regarded as mere self-restraint; temperance as moral cowardice, and theft as the secret redistribution of wrong accumulations. This is sad history.

The deep truth of both reason and human experience is, that the religious motives transcend all others in their influence on the will. It is the high sense of obligation which they alone furnish that can free the will from self-bondage to the lower impulses and desires, and make its high purposes imperative and abiding in conduct.

In the clear light of these truths I cannot avoid the conclusion that effective moral training in school demands the vitalizing influence of religious truth and sanctions; and I cannot suppress the fear that any system of moral training that ignores the Supreme Source of

right and duty, that shuts out from obligation all ideas of God and immortality, will not bear the test of character and life.

Take as an illustration the effect on the will that would result were all consciousness of God's omniscience excluded from school training as a motive. What a help and inspiration to a wayward pupil is the consciousness that the eye of a loving and just teacher rests upon him! What courage and heroism in battle have been inspired by the eye of the great soldier in command! What an incentive to right conduct, and what a restraint to wrong-doing is the eye of the wise and good! Evil doing hides from sight. Men love darkness rather than light, not only because, but when, their deeds are evil. These are but weak illustrations of the inspiring and restraining influence on human conduct that flows from a clear consciousness that there is in this universe an All-seeing Eye that is never closed; that He who has said, with infinite authority, "Thou shalt not," sees! There is no such vanquisher of temptation as the consciousness, "Thou, God, seest me!" The exclusion of all thought of that Omniscient Eye from school-training would be like shutting out the light of the sun and substituting the glimmer of candles!

The consideration of one more question is necessary to complete this discussion-viz: To what extent can religious motives and influence be used in the public school? And here it will be assumed that if effective moral training be the central duty of the public school, whatever is an essential means to such training should have due place in its instruction and discipline.

There are two extreme and opposite views on the relation of religion to moral training in the public school. The one asserts that public school training must be completely divorced from religion, it being assumed that the denial of the right of the public school to give sectarian religious instruction shuts out all religious truth and sanctions. The other extreme view claims that formal religious instruction must be made the basis of all moral training, it being assumed that the absence of the catechism and other technical instruction in religion from the school necessitates the absence of all vital religious influence.

The truths which we have considered clearly indicate that there is a practical mean between these two extreme views. They show that what is needed to give efficiency to moral training in school is not formal religious instruction, so much as the quickening of the conscience and the influencing of the will by the wise use of religious motives and sanctions. When a witness appears in court to give testimony he is not formally instructed in religious doctrines, but his

conscience is quickened, and its authority reinforced by an oath that appeals to the Omniscient Searcher of hearts and the Supreme Source of truth and obligation. A similar but less formal use of the common sanctions of religion is needed to quicken the moral sense and reinforce the lower motives in the moral training of the young; and whatever may be true of the necessity of the religious oath, in the administration of justice, there can be no question respecting the importance of religious sanctions and motives in school-training. In view of the imperative need of the most vital moral training possible in our schools, this necessary use of religious influence should receive universal approval.

The writer is aware that theoretical objections can be urged against the practicability of the "golden mean" above suggested; but, happily, there is no such difficulty or confusion in the practice of thousands of teachers. The great majority of American schools are religious without being sectarian, and it is high time that this fact was more universally recognized. It is doubtless true that the most impressive forms of presenting religious sanctions to the mind and heart of the young are prayer, silent or spoken, and the reverent reading of the Bible, especially those portions that present human duty in its relations to the Divine Will-forms still permitted and widely used in four fifths of American schools. I share Mr. Huxley's serious perplexity in seeing how the needed measure of religious influence in our schools can be secured without the presence of a Bible; and yet, to this end, its formal and stated reading may not be essential since there are other ways in which its vitalizing truths may be brought home to the conscience and the life.

At least three avenues are open for the introduction of religious ideas and sanctions into all our schools. These are sacred song, the literature of Christendom, and, best of all, faithful and fearless Christian teachers, the living epistles of the Truth. Against these there is no law. Education.

Value of Educational Journals.

All teachers, to insure success, ought to become acquainted with the leading principles of education, which lie at the root of correct practice in the art of teaching. The true end of education is to give mental power. This is worth more than knowledge. It is gained by the right development of the mental faculties. The laws that govern this growth, and the methods of teaching most effectual in

securing this development must be understood by the successful Now educational journals treat chiefly of these subjects. In spite of some inferior matter found in them, we find much of sterling worth. In them we find the best thoughts of leading educators. We are foolish if we fail to profit by their thought, experience, culture. We cannot well over-estimate the value of pondering the views of superior minds, especially when they speak directly to us, and discuss those questions that we must understand. All cannot have the advantage of training-schools, or of personal contact with leading educators; but can, at least, come in contact with their thoughts through the columns of educational journals.

The approved methods of teaching are not experimental, but have been tested, and are based upon fixed principles. They represent the thought and experience of centuries. These methods are set forth in educational works and journals. The wise teacher gleans from all, and takes for his own what is best. The physician reads his medical journal to learn the latest truths in the science or practice of medicine. The teacher should read his educational journal to learn the latest methods in his profession. The methods of to-day are not what they were twenty five years ago. He who does not keep up with the times by reading educational journals and works, does more to degrade than to elevate his profession. Even the most learned progressive teacher can find something of value in them. They ordinarily reflect what is best in the profession, advocate the improved methods of teaching, are imbued with true professional spirit, and mark every advance in the art of teaching. They give a history of successes and failures. Though our skill as teachers will largely depend upon our own experience, yet an acquaintance with the experience of others may save us from many a defeat. Many a teacher acquires from experience, at the pupil's expense, what he might have easily learned from a hint found in some educational paper.

Another use of school journals is that they assist in building up the profession. Like Teachers's Institutes, they bring us together. They contend for the rights of the profession and uphold its dignity and importance. They assist in moulding public opinion, relating to the needs of school. They teach the public the nobility and im portance of the teacher's work. They are the champions of the cause of education.

Again, educational journals enable the teacher to give as well as receive. Teachers, like members of other professions, find it to their advantage to write as well as to read. It greatly aids the elevation

of teaching if those who originate successful plans communicate them to their fellow-teachers through the columns of educational journals. To do this is the duty of the successful teacher. The teacher who reads educational journals does not feel insulated. He feels that he is part of the great body of teachers, with whom he has common tasks, trials, pleasures, hopes, purposes. He feels a sympathy for all those who, like himself, exert a governing spirit in the realms of child-land, and prepare with tender care the happy dwellers to go forth into the great life beyond.

Of most marked value is the inspiration gained by reading educational journals. Enthusiasm is a vital quality in a teacher. The non-progressive teacher loses this. Young teachers for this reason are sometimes thought the best. But the teacher who keeps the mind active, the heart warm, and maintains lofty purposes, need not grow indifferent to his work. Inspiration is the thing in the schoolroom. It is gained by different means, potent among which is the communion with fellow-teachers.

It may be well to add a few words on how to use educational jour nals. All reading should stimulate thought. Reflection should follow reading. We urge our pupils to think, and train them to think logically. Educational journals should set us to thinking. One drop of reading to two of reflection is an excellent recipe. Educational papers should be read with discrimination. Let the reader consider well what he reads, and appropriate only the true. Let him remember that he is the judge before whom what he reads is on trial. Let him be open to conviction, but weigh carefully every thought, and accept only the good. He must not try every plan or method suggested in educational papers. Some of them are wild fancies. But let him immediately appropriate whatever he finds to be useful to him and make it his own. Oftentimes a hint from others solves troublsome problems. Educational journals are filled with helpful hints.

Above all, in reading, preserve your individuality, that fundamental principle of character, that which gives man his power. Educational works are helps, not masters. Used judiciously, they nourish, invigorate, inspire. Read carelessly and indiscriminately, they are almost worthless.

Some teachers are distracted by contradictory methods as set forth in educational journals. Some urge this system, others that. Criticism and counter criticism—all methods are assailed. It is true that there is a great deal that is absurd found in current educational litera