education, was fixed; and the mistakes and one-sidedness of educational effort have remained for our instruction.

It is proper to say a word here in reference to the Teutonic race, which received the precious boon of civilization and Christianity from falling Rome, in order to purify, preserve, and disseminate it throughout the world. The Teutonic tribes, the noblest branch of the great Aryan family, possessed at the beginning of our era certain characteristics that brought them into sympathy with Christianity, and prepared them for its hearty adoption.

As compared with the Romans in point of culture, those brave German tribes ranked as barbarous; but, in force of character, purity of morals, and nobility of feeling, they were far above the Romans. They recognized, in a high degree, the worth of the individual, and were warm defenders of personal freedom. They possessed a deep religious nature, and great reverence and love for the truth. Women were held in high esteem. Their respect for marriage and their purity of morals were portrayed by Tacitus, in order to shame the licentiousness of Rome. In addition to all this, the Teutonic races possessed great physical and intellectual vigor, which fitted them to take up the world's development at the point where antiquity, with strength exhausted, had left it. They became the leaders in art, science, commerce, government, religion, and culture, in all which they made new and extended conquests. It is the Teutonic nations that are chiefly to claim our attention hereafter. They are the great leaders in education, as they are in every other weighty human in

terest.

4. EDUCATION IN THE EARLY CHURCH.

After these general remarks, we proceed to trace the history of education during the period under consideration more in detail. Education in the early Church is first to be considered. We shall discover We shall discover among the primitive Christians an unmistakable incompleteness in educational training; but, at the same time, we shall find the highest purity of life and the most self-sacrificing devotion that have been manifested, perhaps, in the history of our race. After contemplating the vicious society of heathen countries, and turning even from our own more cultured civilization, it is delightful to consider the beautiful characteristics of the primitive Christian life. With the early Christians, the adoption of Christianity meant the complete exemplification of its precepts in the life. Says Justin Martyr, who was born about the end of the first century, himself one of the most distinguished Christians: "We who once delighted in lewdness now embrace chastity; we who once embraced magical arts have consecrated ourselves to the good and unbegotten God; we who loved above all things the gain of money and possessions now bring all that we have into one common stock, and give a portion to every one that needs; we who once hated and killed one another now pray for our enemies, and endeavor to conciliate those who unjustly hate us. Now, whosoever are found not to live as Christ taught, let it be publicly known that they are not Christians, though they should profess with their tongues the doctrines of Christ."

The marriage relation was almost ideal in its beauty. According to apostolic injunction, marriage between believers only was allowed. Again we let one of the Church fathers speak. Tertullian, who lived in the second century, says: "How intimate the union between believers! Their hopes, their aspirations, their desires, all the same. They are one in faith and in the service of their Lord, as they are also in flesh and in heart. In mutual concord they read the Scriptures, and fast and pray together, aiding and sustaining each other by mutual instruction and encouragement. They go in company to the house of the Lord; they sit together at his table. In persecution and in want, they bear their mutual burdens, and participate in each other's joys. They live together in mutual confidence, and in the enjoyment of each other's society. In the freedom of mutual confidence they administer to the sick, relieve the needy, distribute their alms, and each freely engages in his religious services without concealment from the other. Unitedly they offer their prayers to God, and sing his praise, knowing no rivalry but in these acts of devotion. In such scenes of domestic bliss, Christ rejoices and adds his peace. To two so united he grants his presence; and where he is no evil can abide."

Education among the early Christians has been beautifully portrayed by Coleman. "The tender solicitude of these early Christians for the religious instruction of their children," he says, "is one of their most beautiful characteristics. They taught them even at the earliest dawn of intelligence the sacred names of God and the Saviour. They sought to lead the infant minds of their children up to God, by familiar narratives from Script

ure, of Joseph, of young Samuel, of Josiah, and of the holy child Jesus. The history of the patriarchs and prophets, apostles and holy men, whose lives are narrated in the sacred volume, were the nursery-tales with which they sought to form the tender minds of their children. As the mind of the child expanded, the parents made it their sacred duty and delightful task daily to exercise him in the recital of select passages of Scripture relating to the doctrines and duties of religion. The Bible was the entertainment of the fireside. It was the first, the last, the only school-book almost, of the child; and sacred psalmody, the only song with which his infant cry was hushed as he was lulled to rest on his mother's The sacred song and the rude melody of its music were, from the earliest periods of Christian antiquity, an important means of impressing the infant heart with sentiments of piety, and of imbuing the susceptible minds of the young with the knowledge and the faith of the Scriptures. Even in the earliest period of Christianity, there were those who, like our divine Watts in modern times, 'condescended to lay aside the scholar, the philosopher, and the wit, to write little poems of devotion adapted to the wants and capacities of children."

arm.

The purpose of these early Christian parents, as of the ancient Jews, was to train up their children in the fear of God. In order that the children might be exposed as little as possible to the corrupting influence of heathen associations, their education was conducted within the healthful precincts of home. As a result, they grew up without a taste for debasing pleasures; they acquired simple domestic tastes; and, when the

time came, they took their place as consistent and earnest workers in the Church.

Such was the character of education among the primitive Christians. It is defective, indeed, subordinating and even sacrificing the intellectual to the moral and religious elements of our nature; but the type of character it produced was truly admirable. The beauty of this character made its impression upon an age notorious for its vice. It extorted unwilling praises from the enemies of Christianity. A celebrated heathen orator exclaimed, "What wives these Christians have!" "A noble testimony," says a writer of note, "to the refining power of woman, and the most beautiful tribute to the gentle, persuasive influence of her piety which all antiquity, heathen or Christian, furnishes."

(A.) CATECHETICAL SCHOOLS.

The catechetical schools, which sprang up naturally in this primitive period, were designed to prepare candidates for Christian baptism. In the apostolic period, new converts to Christianity were received into the church by baptism after a very brief course of instruction and upon a very simple profession of faith. The Ethiopian eunuch, for example, received at most only a few hours' instruction as he rode along in his chariot, and was baptized upon the confession, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." But as Christianity spread, and converts from among the Jews and heathen became more numerous, it was found advisable, for the sake of greater unity, purity, and intelligence in the Church, to give candidates for baptism more extended