they become not stimulants of Goodness, but substitutes for it. The man rests at the symbol and learns no more!

It was so in Judea when Christ came into the world. No nation of old time surpassed the Jews in their concern for external rites of devotion. No modern nation has equalled them in this. But they were not a good and moral nation; they were not then, and are not now. They were always hated-not without some reason. Let us do them justice for their marvellous merits, but not be blind to their faults. Christ found that in the popular faith Goodness and Religion were quite different things. Men thought that God was to be served by rites and beliefs. So the priests had taught, making Religion consist in what was useless to God and man;-a wretched science with the few, a paltry ceremony with the mass. Not so did the prophets teach, for priests and prophets are never agreed. Christ fell back on Goodness. He demanded this, he set forth its greatness, its power, in his words and in his life. He encumbered no man with creeds, nor rites. He said, "He that doeth the will of my Father shall know of the doctrine." He summed up the essentials of Religion in a few things, a right heart, and a right life, in Piety and Goodness. He knew they would extend, and that swiftly, to many things. Moses and the Law might go their way; they had authority to bind no man. His words were their own evidence and proof; moral truth is its own witness. He had authority. Whence came it? From the scribes and the priests? They hated him. From tradition, Moses, the Old Testament? Quite as little. He puts them behind him. He had authority because he conformed to God's Law, in his mind and in his heart, and in his life. So God spoke through him; inspiration came, and though his friends forsook him, and Church and State rose in tumult, clamorous for his overthrow; though the world turned against him, and he stood alone, he was not alone-better than friends, and Church, and State, and world, better than twelve legions of angels, the Father was with him, and he fell not!

Even publicans and harlots welcomed him. They did not love sin. They had been deluded into its service; they found it a hard master. Joyfully they deserted that hopeless Armada, to sail the seas with God, soon as one

came who put the heart, conscience, reason, on Religion's side, speaking with an authority they felt before they saw, showing that religion was real and dear. Humble men saw the mystery of Godliness, they felt the power of Goodness which streamed forth from their brother's heart of fire. They started to found a Church on Goodness, on absolute Religion, little knowing what they did. Alas! it was a poor Church which men founded in that great name, though the best the world ever saw; it was little compared with the ideas of Jesus; little and poor compared with the excellence of Goodness and the power of real Religion.

Some day there will be churches built in which it shall be taught that the only outward service God asks is Goodness, and Truth the only creed; that a Divine lifepiety in the heart, morality in the hand-is the only real worship. Men will use symbols or not, as they like; perhaps will still cling to such as have helped us hitherto; perhaps leave them all behind, and have communion with man in work, and word, and joyful sympathy, with God through the elements of earth, and air, and water, and the sky; or in a serener hour, without these elements, come nearer yet to Him. But in that day will men forget Jesus the son of Joseph, the carpenter, whom the priests slew, as a madman and an infidel, but whom the world has worshipped as a God? Will his thought, his sentiments, his influence pass away ? no, oh! no. What rests on the ideas of God, lasts with those ideas. Power shall vanish; glory shall pass away; England and America may become as Nineveh and Babylon. Yes, the incessant hand of Time may smooth down the ruggedness of the Alleghany and the Andes, but so long as man is man must these truths of Jesus live; religion be the love of man, the love of God. Men will not name Jesus, God; they may not call him master, but the world's teacher. They will love him as their great brother, who taught the truth, and lived the life of heaven here; who broke the fetters of the oppressed, and healed the bruises of the sick, and blessed the souls of all. Then will Goodness appear more transcendent, and he will be deemed the best Christian who is most like Christ; most excelling in Truth, Piety, and Goodness. They will not be the preachers

who bind, but they who loose mankind; who are full of truth; who live great noble lives, and walk with Goodness and with God. Worship will be fresh and natural as the rising sun-beautiful like that, and full of promise too. Truth for the creed; Goodness for the form; Love for the baptism-shall we wait for that, with folded arms? No, brothers, no. Let us live as if it were so now. Earth

shall be blessed and heaven ours.

EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE.

1. City Document, No. 40.-Reports of the Annual Visiting Committees of the Public Schools of the City of Boston, 1847. Boston: 1847. 8vo, pp. 124 and 92.

2. Eleventh Annual Report of the Board of Education; together with the Eleventh Annual Report of the Secretary of the Board. Boston: 1848. 8vo, pp. 136 and IX.

EDUCATION, in the wide sense of the word, is the harmonious development of all the natural powers of man,-of the Body, of the Mind, Conscience, Affections, Will, and Religious Sentiments. The general means to that end are twofold-the World of Matter and the World of Men. Leaving the former out of account, the latter may be considered under four several forms, as constituting so many educational forces, which influence the development of the rising generation in this country. There isI. The Political action of the the State;

People, represented by

II. The Material action of the People, represented by Business;

III. The Literary and Scientific action of the People, represented by the Press;

IV. The Ecclesiastical action of the People, represented by the Churches.

Now these four, the State, Business, the Press, and the Churches, are the Educational Forces which most powerfully affect the intellectual and moral development of the people, modifying the original tendency of each generation as it rises. This is so from the very nature of man and the constitution of society.

But subordinate to these general educational forces, there are likewise Special Institutions, whose design is to prepare the child, and put him in communication with these general influences. The more completely they do that, the more completely are they commonly thought to do their work; and for this purpose schools and colleges have mainly been established-to put the youth in connection with these forces, and thus enable him to do the duties and receive the instruction which the State, Business, the Press, and the Churches may demand or afford him. He who has learned to read, to write, and to calculate, has got possession of the three most important educational tools or helps; and by the use thereof receives the aid of these great general educators. He who learns, also, a foreign language, letting alone other advantages of that study, may thereby receive the instruction which the State, Business, Press, and Churches of another land have likewise to offer him.

Were these great and general educational forces of a higher or a lower character than now with us, their influence would be modified accordingly. It is the duty of a wise educator to appreciate the kind and degree of influence which these forces actually exert on the young, and act with or against it, as the case may require. The State, by its actions, may teach men to reverence the eternal Right, or only the power of armies and commerce. The Business of the nation may teach respect for honesty and manly usefulness, or only the omnipotence of the dollar. The Press may direct men to honour justice, truth, and manliness, may fill them with noble ideas and sentiments, or teach them to be mean and little, taking Public Opinion as their standard. The Churches may instruct men to love God and to love man, as the supreme objects of ideal or practical affection, or they may teach men to comply with public sins, to believe a lie, and for a pretence make long prayers, hypocritically affecting a be

It is

lief in all manner of absurdities and contradictions. the duty of such as direct the public education of the people to understand the character and influence of all these. It will be hard work for the teacher to make his pupil ascend, though by his proper motion, while these forces are contending to drive him down. But when these forces act in the right direction, it is difficult for the youth to go wrong. However, it is not our task at present to criticise these educational forces, and inquire what they actually teach in America at this day,-what good they promise, what ill they threaten, for the future;-we wish rather to look at the subordinate institutions for the public education of the people, whose aim is to furnish the youth of our land with the rudiments of learning.

After a nation has provided for the common material wants of protection, food, shelter, clothing, and the like, the most important work is to educate the rising generation. To do this is not merely a duty which the father owes to his own child, but which society, in virtue of its eminent paternity, owes to every child born in its bosom. The right of the State to control alike person and property, is continually set forth, till it often comes to be considered as superior to reason and conscience; but the duty of the State to watch over the culture of its children is too often forgot. But this duty is co-extensive with the right, and both grow out of the relation of sovereignty which the State holds over the individuals that compose it.

It has always been acknowledged that society owes something to each person subject to its power. In the rudest ages of social existence it is felt to be the duty of the State to protect, as far as possible, the lives of its citizens from the violence of a public enemy from abroad, or a private enemy at home. Next it becomes recognized as a natural duty to protect also the property of each man, as well as his person: then the State admits its obligation to aid all its citizens or subjects in their religious culture, and so, in some form or other, provides for the public worship of the God of the State. There is no government in Europe which does not admit all these obligations. All have established armies, jails, and churches, with their appropriate furniture, to protect the persons and property of their subjects, and do something to advance their re