an amount of benefit society has derived from this single instrumentality.

2. The character of the instruction.

The object of all this education must ever be kept in view, if we would not err. Education as such is not prosecuted for itself, but as a necessary means to be employed in the culture of the spirit, the divine in us. It is in this part of our nature that is found whatever makes us good or bad, happy or miserable. All teaching must then look to this, and contribute to this end. The first and great business of education is the development of the moral powers and the teaching of those great ideas of God and creation, of man and duty, so essential to a harmonious development of our moral nature, and for the correct formation of our moral judgments. These two subjects lie at the beginning and end of all education and teaching; it should begin in the family and be kept up through the school, so that the youthful mind may go forth into life's active scenes with a mind well trained, and furnished with all truth, well fitted to encounter its temptations, and to discharge its duties. These truths need give origin to no controversy; they are recognized by the great mass of every community. God has committed to the community a knowledge of Himself, of His character, and of His laws so far that the earnest enquirer need not fail in his work of self-culture and right doing. The community is made a depository of this knowledge not only for the present generation, but for all future generations. The coming must ever derive its science, and knowledge, and education, and moral culture from the retiring generation. Society never dies out; it is a perpetual, living entity into which is thrown every child that is born, there to receive his education and instruction. The community, then, are bound to supply this instruction up to the full measure of its knowledge, so that progress may be made by each generation as it is passing along from

the cloud out of which it comes to the cloud behind which it dis

appears.

Subordinate to this teaching is that which regards the nature and the works of the divine architect. This study must begin with the earth, the first object of human attention, and the source from which labor draws all that is necessary for our material wants. The eye first rests upon its variety of mountain and valley, hill and dale, ocean and river; and hence the eye and soul should be taught to appreciate and enjoy all this beauty and sublimity. Man here derives his subsistence; hence the capabilities of the soil are matters of deep interest, in a knowledge of which all should be taught, so that the product of labor may be increased from year to year, and labor itself be economized. Then comes a study of the composition and structure of the earth itself, with its soils, and rocks, and minerals, and the science which is imbedded there. Next the earth is to be studied in its relations in space and to other bodies which with it fill the infinity around and above us; hence the science of astronomy, with the telescope and all its wonderful revelations. In a word, the teaching should embrace all knowledge, but only such portions of it should be taught as are adapted to meet the special wants of the pupil taught, and fit him best to discharge the duties of his station in life; but the whole encyclopedia of knowledge should constantly be taught in the community. There should be minds who can grasp its whole circle so that there should be no loss, but rather an advance from generation to generation. Man, the worker, should be ever reaping something new, and that which he has done should be but an earnest of things which he shall do; his thoughts should widen with the process of the sun. He should be able, with the poet, to say:

"For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could sec,

Saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be."

Still science has also its divine aspects. It is but the expression of those thoughts and laws by which the Creator wrought in the shaping of this universe of matter and mind. In science man is engaged in gathering up the ideas of the divine mind, and making these his own, and thus in thought assimilating himself to Deity. Unless science is thus taught, it is not truly taught, a portion of its truth is lost to the mind, and it becomes unfruitful. It is this divine aspect of science, which raises man's conception of the sublimity of teaching, and renders it influential in developing his moral nature. God is in science teaching man His own laws and plans and ideas; we here see the laws, by which God wrought when he laid the foundations of this universe, and endowed the mind with its powers and susceptibilities. When so regarded, science is ever speaking of God, His thoughts, and His laws, thereby calling up in the soul feelings of reverence toward Him, who is the beginning and the end, the first and last of all things. Our ideas of God's government are elevated and enlarged, and vivified so that we everywhere see evidence of His workmanship and presence.

In a knowledge of mental science this is especially true; in human consciousness we study the image of God, for we are created in His image. When, therefore, we study our own minds, we are in some slight degree studying the divine mind, catching a faint reflection of it, and learning wherein we come short of the perfect activity which God designed for the mind. The child should be made to understand his own moral being, and its mode of development; otherwise he may lose sight of his moral being The young should know

in the urgent importunities of nature. the necessity of taking up truth, moral truth and law into the reason, in order to secure a complete development and culture of the spiritual in man. This knowledge, along with proper training, will place the young on high and advantageous ground at the start of life, and thus render success all but certain.

Fidelity in the application of all this education and teaching, is

necessary to give it success. The teacher must himself be inspired with the divinity of his mission; his soul must be on fire with the thoughts he would communicate, so that his soul may fuse into that of his pupil, so that he may rouse up in the taught the thoughts that burn within himself, and call forth an enthusiastic ardor in the pursuit of truth of every nature, which nothing but earnest study can gratify. This can only be done by a teacher who believes in something divine, who sees in nature something more than mere nature, in science something more than mere human generalizations, who sees thought, and wisdom, a divinity and the divine every where around and above him, in the wild weed that simply blows, as well as in the worlds that float in infinite space. Dead, lifeless nature is a melancholy vision; but nature alive with the divine presence, instinct with the creating divinity, will rouse the most sluggish soul to thought and enthusiasm, to reverence and worship. In his vision nature is one vast mirror, reflecting from all her myriad faces thoughts and ideas of the great conceiving mind and shaping spirit of the universe. As the teacher is, so will the pupil be; if the one is dull and cold, so will the other be. When rightly brought to bear on the opening mind, the power of this reforming instrumentality upon humanity is prodigious, incalculable, so great that we are assured that the mind, trained up in the right way, started right at first, shall never depart from it, but rush onward in the way it has been taught to run, until the spirit shall be shaped to every noble work, and fully prepared for that higher companionship amid the light and purity of a sinless world.

CHAPTER XXIII.

REST AND WORSHIP.

FROM the family and the school, the child goes into the rush and whirl of life. The demands of business, the exactions of life, the wants of the body, absorb his attention, and confine his thoughts to material interests. He becomes embedded in the world of matter, which tends powerfully to turn thought from within, from man's spiritual wants and culture. The spirit finds no favor at the hands of nature; it is dwarfed amid the whirl of business, crushed by the accumulations of material supplies for the body. The mind is wholly conversant with matter, with nature, with calculations of expediency and inexpediency, with profit and loss, advantage and disadvantage. Morality is liable to degenerate into cash balances, and profits realized; if these are right, the mind comes to regard the morality sound, and the mind is at ease; if these are wrong, the morality is wrong, and the mind is in distress. Success becomes the test of rectitude, and failure is damnation. The terrible power of mere business to drag the mind down into the dust, may be seen on all sides of us, and especially among those who are found where men most do congregate, in our large cities and on our marts of trade. Converse with them, and you hear nothing but of prices, rises and falls, and losing or gaining, trades and markets. There can be no doubt of the terrible power of business to stifle