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most, confined within a narrow circle, is easy to say, but it is not comforting to say.

Secondly, there is the truly miserable way in which Greek and Latin have been taught.

No man has any reason to be surprised, when, as matter of fact, some twelve to fifteen years of a boy's life have been spent almost exclusively about Greek and Latin, and at the end he can hardly produce anything in either, except what would properly result in a flogging if justice were done. No one, I say, can be surprised that people in general, and especially parents who have to pay very heavily for no result in this particular, should make up their minds that boys had better be taught something else.

Now this conclusion, however reasonable it may appear to be on the surface, where most of us now arrive at our conclusions, is hard upon Greek and Latin. It is not Greek and Latin at all; it is the truly miserable way of attempting to teach them which is in fault. They would have done great things for the boy, greater far than any other branch of human study, not excepting even the exact sciences, if they had been properly handled. As it is, they are made to bear a burden of obloquy, and alleged uselessness and waste of time, for which they are in no respect answerable.

I will say later what my indictment against the way of attempting to teach Greek and Latin is, and how I would have it mended. Here, I propose to go into some examination of the new system of "Instruction," which, possessing neither of the elements of the old system of “Education,”—neither, that is, definite Religious teaching as by Authority for its basis, nor knowledge of Greek and Latin for its instrument,-has, to the great and lasting unhappiness of this people, taken the place of the old system of "Education." It is no more than might have been looked for in a country where respect for authoritative religious teaching has fallen so low as it has in England; and "private judgment" of every man has been, not by Civil only, but by Ecclesiastical authority, en

couraged to usurp its place; where also the vast resources applicable to the best teaching of Greek and Latin literature have been so miserably abused, as to waste altogether, in the great majority of cases, the time and the money expended upon it. It is no more than might have. been expected, but it is not the less for that a most unhappy issue: one which, in my judgment, has laid the foundation of a perverted and corrupted system of culture of heart and mind, of decaying scholarship and degenerated taste.

I shall have to return later to details of the conflict between the system of "Education" and the system of "Instruction." Here I confine myself to some general account of both systems. I am writing to "Church-people."

The system of "Education" is that of training childhood and youth to do their duty in that station of life to which GOD has called them.

It lays, first, a sound and substantial basis of religious principle, and of the moral principles derived and issuing therefrom; a basis which is, not of man, but of GOD only. These are ingrained into, and engrafted upon, the soul, regenerated in Holy Baptism, by authority derived from GOD; and to be exercised, first by the parents, then by the school-teacher. This is done, not by appeal to the reasoning power, but to the duty of implicit obedience; and the means employed are perpetual repetition and inculcation; as the old maxim has it, inculcanda repetenda. The obedience claimed is obedience to the Book of GOD; the Holy Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament, as first sealed by the Church Catholic under the guidance of the HOLY SPIRIT; as committed to the Church to keep, and to deliver, and to interpret; a Book to which nothing may be added, nor anything diminished therefrom; and which is not to be dealt with upon the same rules which are applicable to books of man.

Thus, so far, "Education" provides, by early and steady and faithful anticipation, at least some security against the

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greatest temptation of man, sure to beset the soul in later years, the temptation of "the pride of life.”

The foundation being laid, what follows? To enshrine and convey all in the words of the Church's formularies, and, with perpetual reference to these, to exercise and sharpen the mental power, without putting undue and excessive strain upon the mind, or the body, of the young. The parents' and the school-teachers' business being to guide and encourage, but not to supersede the pupil's own intelligence; and, before assisting in any difficulty, to call for steady, honest, and repeated application on the part of the pupil. Wheresoever this rule is transgressed, teaching degenerates into "cramming."

The mind of the child and the youth thus dealt with, comes to apprehend what is its own proper work; to begin with the assumption, and to abide and rest in it, that the highest use of reason is to submit reason to Revelation, as delivered and interpreted by the Church. Feeling its ground sure under its feet, it applies itself to gather for itself greater weight and more incisive power, to be applied specially to the particular requirements of its calling; and so founded, prepared, and encouraged, proceeds to educate itself throughout this life for heaven.

This is some brief account of what is meant by "Education" in the Church of CHRIST. Let me repeat, that the education of early home, and school, and University life is the training mind and body to educate themselves in after life. The setting and the whetting of the machine, so that it may cut sharply and truly. "Instruction" duly given, is, of course, a part of "Education," but can never be substituted for it without the deepest injury, private and public.

The system of "Instruction" is not only a different, but an opposite thing. It is a thing of a lower and, almost exclusively, an earthly type. It is opposed in respect of its basis, its manner, and its end. It does not lay its basis in authority, parental or other, as derived from

ὁ ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου. I St. John ii. 16.

Holy Scripture. It does not therefore, by natural consequence, demand obedience of heart and mind to Divine authority, as committed and entrusted to man. It knows of no hearty obedience, except such as the child or youth may give of himself. For every system must have some basis; and Divine authority being, by the nature of the case, discarded from the system of "Instruction," which is, to say the least, indifferent in the matter of Creeds and Church, there remains only the authority of the individual will to fill the vacant throne. Now the authority of the individual will cannot consist together with, but excludes, humble, reverent, implicit, and unquestioning reverence for the Book of God, as committed to, and delivered, and interpreted by the Church. To such extent does the difference and the opposition between the two systems run. When it is traced to its source, it is found that the opposition lies at the root. A child and youth is "educated" for the heavenly life, through the earthly life: a child and youth is "instructed" for the earthly life only. Religion is the essence of "Education :" it is the accident of "Instruction." Religion is the beginning, the middle, and the end of "Education." It is the chance, and not very welcome, companion of "Instruction." “Education" bases itself upon the Creeds and the Catechism of the Church; "Instruction" not only neglects, but puts aside Creeds and Catechism.

In sum, "Instruction" deals with the child and the youth as bound by no authority but his own, and as not meant for obedience, except in so far as comes either of fear, or of sense of interest. And it does not concern itself with Holy Scripture any more than with the Church of CHRIST, except as one among many subjects for "free enquiry."

The democratic principle has received a new and para

• My dear brother William used to say that, as the duty and the blessing of obedience of children to parents rests, in the highest sense of both, on the authority of the Bible; and as the authority of the Bible had come to be so commonly called in question amongst us, it was nothing surprising that the obedience should be so fast disappearing as a matter of every-day experience.

mount development here in England in Century XIX., in the persons of young children. A development happily expressed by somebody as follows: "There have been priest-ridden ages, and king-ridden ages; ours is a childridden age."

Loving and tender, thoughtful and considerate care for children, is a beautiful and GODlike thing. Deference, subordination, submission to children, is, under all its aspects, a hideous thing.

Nevertheless, it is dominant now in England, thanks to the domestic "policy" of the last forty years, which has formally subjected all considerations of religious truth and religious obedience to considerations of "social requirement," "economical adjustment," and "political necessity;" has devolved the responsibility of parents upon ⚫ the schoolmaster or mistress, by whom it is feebly, if at all, discharged; has taken for its watchword "free enquiry" alike into all things; and has set up for its idol indifferentism in religion.

There is a subordinate difference between the two systems, in respect of the manner and the matter of teaching. I shall have occasion to speak of it presently. But as it belongs principally to higher-class education, it may be passed by here.

The system of "Education " is that upon which, I thank GOD always, I was brought up. I shudder to think of what might probably have become of me, if I had been brought up under the system of "Instruction," as the vast majority of English children are now. I was brought up in the habit of implicit reverence for the integrity of Holy Scripture, in humble, and dutiful, and unquestioning acceptance of Creeds and Catechism. I was taught to hold-what I have held always with tenacity of grasp, closer as life draws to its close-that implicit belief in the Ever-blessed Trinity, in the Incarnation, in the Atonement, in the holy Sacraments, and the Priesthood, as the means whereby the Atonement is applied throughout the life here to the individual soul; I was

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