could not even have been suspected till it was tried-a principle which has already bound together remote nations; incorporated, for the gran dest purposes, and without the smallest risk, the most opposite systems of faith; disarmed contending sects; called out the sweet songs of harmony and love amidst the din and discord of war; and is by degrees lowering the petty flags of party and intolerance, and exalting the universal banner of the Cross. Under this view of the Bible Society, his lordship will, we trust, pardon our refusal to acquiesce in his judgment. We cannot consent to lock up again this flood-gate of mercy. We cannot possibly be satisfied to endeavour to quench that sun, which has arisen so unexpectedly and gloriously to illuminate the dark horizon of a fallen world. The Bishop, next, as he proposed, turns to the subject of schools; and here also we shall allow him to speak for himself. "II. The next important point to which I would solicit your attention, is the esta blishment of schools, for the religious edu. cation of the poor. I say religious, because this is the essence of the Madras system, the main point in which it most recom. mends itself, to our countenance and adop. tion: Education, indeed, under almost any circumstances, cannot but be a blessing. It opens and expands the human faculties. It prepares the ground, and sows the seed; but still, the ultimate object is the fruit produced. With this view, the children educated on the Madras system, have no books put into their hands, but those which are on the list of our venerable society; they also regularly attend Divine service, at their parish church, on the Lord's day. And herein consists the great superiority over its rival system. Concerning their respective mechanical modes of teaching, I do not stop to make any observations whatever. They both of them are goodboth may be equally good. But the Madras plan instils sound religious principles into the tender minds of the rising generation. It makes them good men, and good citizens, whilst the other teaches them indeed to read and write, but in one particular, and that of all the most important, it is, for the most part, very lamentably deficient: It leaves them to pick up their religion as they can, any where-or no where. For strongly recommend to your support, the this reason, 1 most decidedly prefer, and as Madras system of education. The good which it has already wrought is most abun dant; that which it promises to produce in a course of years, is incalculable. To the have it in their power, to contribute a most furtherance of this great end, the Clergy important and effectual aid. Their situation enables them, their duty, I think, calls upon them, to promote plans and subscriptions in their respective neighbourhoods, for this most laudable purpose. The superintendance also of the schools, when established, devolves principally upon them For these reasons, sure am I, that the Clergy of this diocese will gladly avail themselves of so glorious an opportunity to do good, and will evince their readiness to support a measure, which has for its object, the moral improvement of mankind. If, however, which I trust will not often be the case, the means of the parishioners be altogether inadequate to the establishment of such a school, yet still, the same great end, the religious instruction of the infant poor, may be greatly promoted by the individual exertions and labour of the officiating minister. He may collect together the children of the parish, before the time of Divine service-he may familiarly instruct them in our excellent catechism-he may display to them the goodness of the Father in the creation of man, the mercy of his Son in the redemption of the world-and all this in a manner, which children will be more likely to understand, and less likely to forget, than when it is expounded to them more formally and argumentatively from the pulpit. They should afterwards accompany him to the House of God; and thus, by the Divine blessing, an impression will be made on the infant mind, which may become indelible. There is no clergyman, however confined his income, who is precluded from the adoption of such a plan. It requires little time, and no expense. The advantages, however, believe will be most abundant. I have tried and witnessed them myself. In my two places of parochial residence, I experienc me, man can accomplish a greater good." pp. 15-18 There is evidently much to com. mend in this extract; and heartily glad shall we be to know that the clergy of the diocese of Chester catch a portion of his lordship's zeal for the instruction of the young. The crisis is exceedingly important. It is the first instance in which the experiment of universal education has been tried on a very large scale: and the results of the experiment must, we conceive, under the Divine blessing, depend, to a considerable extent, on the manner in which, and the persons by whom, it is conducted. Education is power; and power an instrument which may be well or ill directed. And when fallen man is the creature with whom this instrument is to be deposited, every one must regard the consequences of the deposit with mingled feelings of fear and joy; and must, at all events, devoutly wish every security to be taken against its possible mis direction. And we know not that, on the whole, any security so good can be found, as that of allying the schools as intimately as possible with the national establishment, and employing the national clergy as their guardians and presidents. But admitting all this, we shall, perhaps, be permitted to observe, that we do not entirely concur with the statement given in the Charge before us of the comparative claims of the two systems of national education-Dr. Bell's and Mr. Lancaster's. And as it has not happened to us to see the subject stated precisely to our satisfaction, we possibly shall be pardoned for dwelling for a few moments upon it. There is more than one point in the conduct of the parties espousing these different institutions, of which we feel a disposition to complain. of " originating" the plan of tion by monitors (for in essence of the new system or of bringing it to its pres of perfection. Now, in one view, each may justly den other the praise of origina system, inasmuch as the i strictly speaking, belongs to but, thus far each party see unjust to the other, inasmu firmly believe that, without Bell and Mr. Lancaster, never have been introduce least largely established, country. Dr. Bell appears have the merit (the highest even the most acknowledge tors can usually aspire) of caught at a rude hint sup him by the natives of In working it up into a syster Lancaster, on the other h serves the praise of adopt system, at its very first ment, of discerning its cap and its adaptation to the wan own country; of perceivin defects left in it by Dr. supplying these defects; of ing a basis so wide for the of an institution upon its p as to interest men of all ra dispositions in its welfare. to Dr. Bell, it would be unjus thus soon in the enumeratio claims tu public gratitude. serves the additional praise o rapidly availed himself of M caster's improvements; of corrected many very impor fects which had sprung u them; of having added so m provements himself, as to le system, we think, capable more; and, finally, of having, aid of many good and wise m under the especial blessing of connectedthe society with the of the country as to provide best guarantee of which th admits, for the permanent safety and usefulness of the institution. Under these circumstances, both parties, we conceive, have sufficient honours of their own not to feel very jealous of the pretensions of the other. In the next place, both parties appear to us to be wrong, when they vehemently condemn the mode of edu cation (setting aside religion) adopted by the other. The Bishop of Chester says, truly and candidly, "both of them are good." In fact, now, as to discipline, and the mere machinery by which the schools are conducted, they do not materially differ: and he who has visited large numbers of both schools will gene rally find himself perplexed to say on which system the scholar's most rapidly improve; will admit that both are sufficiently powerful for their purpose; and will say, that the difference of results, as to the comparative advancement of the scholars, has arisen more from the character of the respective masters than from the difference of the systems. In the third place, it is highly unjust of either party to criminate the other on the score of expense. We know not that the friends of the National School have erred upon this point; but we have seen what we do not hesitate to call a most unfair statement, issued by Mr. Lancaster or his friends, in which it was attempted to shew that a school on the plan of Dr. Bell must cost at least four times as much as one on that of Mr. Lancaster. Now, if it were allowable to argue from solitary instances, we ourselves are acquainted with a school of Dr. Bell's, supported at the small expense of about 40%. per annum ; and, on the contrary, we know a single school.master, in Mr. Lancaster's connection, who receives a salary of 2001. per annum. Nothing,then, can be more unfair than such charges on either side. Both Christ, Observ. No. 159. systems are equally cheap and equally dear-equally dear when applied to very small numbers; equally cheap when applied to large numbers. Fourthly, both parties appear to us to have erred by magnifying the advantages of the general system, and by neglecting to state the checks essential to its safe application, and the zeal and industry necessary to its effective application.-If we lis. ten to the warm apostles of the new system of education, we must believe that it has at once put its broad foot upon the hydras of ignorance and vice, and that they are likely to be exterminated at once and for ever. But, in our humble judgment, though mere education can do something, it cannot do very much. Education, after all, is not " grace,” but a power of employing an additional means of grace: and unless those who read, also pray-unless they seek from God heavenly wisdom to direct and sanctify all their other acquirements-unless the heart share the triumphs of the head-we be. lieve that the next age may be not only a very clever, but an unusually sceptical and profligate age; and that, therefore, the only fruit of education, to some, will be the penalty of violating principles they did understand, instead of principles they did not. That there are certain checks necessary to the safe appli cation of the new system, may be collected from the papers of a valuable correspondent of our own on the subject of "emulation." Although, as we presume to think, he has, possibly by reasoning upon too small a number of cases, stated the actually resulting evils in these institutions a very little too strongly; yet no man, who has read these papers, will feel a doubt that he who neglects to apply a check at this point will possibly inflict an injury upon his pupils, for which mere education can offer no reparation. Thus 2 B also as to the efficient application of the system-its advocates forget to tell us, that much, very much depends upon its administration; that the plan is, in some hands, and some parishes, a mere caput mortuum; that when left to the master, without the superintendence of visiters, it rarely effects much; that a multitude of instances are already to be found where disorder and sleep have usurped the place of discipline and vigour; where A. B. daily fades upon the eye or dies upon the lips of the somnolent master and scholars; and where the little scholastic empire presents somewhat such a spectacle as that seen, we believe, by Sinbad, the imaginary navigator, in his celebrated voyages, of a whole city, the monarch and every one of his subjects, turned to stone. Let not this assertion be considered as a mere sentence torn from the massy tomes of defamation: for in one of our own descents from the exalted chambers do which our employment chiefly confines us, it did really happen to us to look through a schoolroom window and see its mistress in the very inglorious state to which we have referred. where." In the fifth place, we think it not strictly just to affirm of Mr. Lancaster's system, as is affirmed in the Charge before us, that it "leaves the scholars to pick up their religion as they can-any where-or no Now, surely, this can scarcely be said of schools where the great mass of the lessons are extracted from the Bible;-where catechisms are constantly used, not indeed conveying the tenets of any particular church, but where the questions and answers are couched as nearly as possible in the language of Scripture catechisms inculcating, perhaps, all those principles which are held by all Christians in common. It will be seen presently, that such a system by no means satisfies us; but, in the mean time, it does not appear to be the fact, that the mere aim of Mr. Lancaster is to qualify children only for this state of being. It is, we conceive, and so its advocates state it, to lay the broad basis of truth, and to leave the pu. pil, at a subsequent period, under the Divine blessing, to erect upon this basis what superstructure he may deem most answerable to the model of Scripture. Such a scheme may be wrong or right; but it cer. tainly appears to be the scheme of the Lancasterian schools. Sixthly, we think it ungenerous to complain of the fundamental principle of Mr. Lancaster's system, adopted by Dissenters from the Church of England. The principle is evidently that which we have stated, to fix in the mind of the child the broad general principles of religion; leaving it either to the parents at home, or to the child itself, to choose the particular church of which it shall become a member, Now, we will honestly say, that, far from thinking the Dissenters illiberal in the promotion of such a scheme, we think it highly creditable to their liberality. It is scarcely to be expected, that any body of men should so construct a system of public edu cation, as to secure their children being educated in hostility to their own opinions. The utmost, perhaps, that can be required of them (if they are sincere converts to their own principles), is, that they should wave the public inculcation of these prin. ciples, and leave their children to the general influence of scriptural lessons and the blessing of God. And with this requisition the Dissenters appear to us to comply in this new scheme of education. There are, however, one or two points of their conduct,respecting the National School, on which we differ from them. For example; many, who have dissented from the Church of England, have quitted it, not on account either of its doctrine or its discipline, but from the laxity with which both appeared to them to be 1 maintained by many of its members. That laxity is now much removed. A spirit of devotion has, we bless God, in very many instances revived among us. Why not, then, now educate their children in the principles of the Establishment?-Again, sufficient sacrifices have not, in all cases, we think, been made to peace and union. Where the difference is so small as in many instances it is where the National School admits, as it now does, of the children attending at the place of worship preferred by the parent-where great benefit was to be anticipated to the great cause of religion, by co-operation, and, on the contrary, great evils from division; we cannot but imagine, that the line of duty was to combine for the great and common cause. Finally, we think those highly unjust who condemn the members of the Establishment for most decidedly preferring the system of Dr. Bell to that of Mr. Lancaster. The distinguishing feature of Dr. Bell's system we conceive to be this, that, "deeming. it insufficient to instruct a child in the broad general principles of religion, it proceeds to teach him the fundamental principles of the Gospel according to the manner in which those principles are conceived and inter. preted in the formularies of our ancestors, and by nine-tenths of the existing population of the country." Now, assuming this as, the basis of Dr. Bell's plan, we ourselves feel no hesitation in preferring it to the other. Mr. Lancaster's plan appears to us to proceed upon this inaccurate assumption, that if we give a child certain broad general principles, he will, of himself, erect the proper superstructure upon them; that if we give him, for instance, natural religion (and in some of the schools little more is given,) he will himself follow on to revealed religion; that if we give him (which is the utmost we can suppose to be given) right doctrines, he will, of himself, adopt the best rules of discipline and mode of worship. In short, the system appears to us to assume, that, with a certain measure of light, the child is likely to choose well: whereas we deem it the part of wisdom and orthodoxy, to assume that he is likely to choose ill. We know him to be a fallen creature, and therefore prone to er. rors both of the heart and head; and having, what we deem, the truth, in our own hands, both as to doctrine and discipline, we think it wise and good to take security against the child's probable errors; to give him the benefit of our experience; and to enlist him, as far as lies in us, in the ranks of the millions of his countrymen who have lived well and died triumphantly in the faith of the Establishment. In this view, we cannot consent to leave it, either to chance or merely to the individual judgment of the child, to fix what creed he shall adopt. We wish to throw open our schools to Dissenters; we would invite them to enter in as brethren, with many of whom we have the fastest bonds of alliance, and with all the orthodox of whom we have infinitely more points of agree ment than of disagreement; and, finally, we would say to them, "we will neither compel your children to learn our catechism, nor to attend our church we will neither ridicule the creed of their parents nor lessen their authority-but, at the same time, we will strongly and zealously teach our own children the doctrines and the discipline of our ancestors, and, should yours perchance adopt them, we do venture to conclude that they will not thereby become either worse Christians or less happy men." But we are compelled to cut short this important discussion, having no space either to pursue it, or to touch upon some other less interesting points noticed in the Charge before us. His Lordship, at the conclusion of his address, is very complimentary |