prayers on the knees of his mother; he is taught to examine himself at the close of each day; his conduct is, without ceasing, subjected to a watchful scrutiny; there is no vacation, no recess, no occasion when he is released from this supervision. These teachers have an authority, too, which, for him, is the direct interpretation of the will of his Maker. To the child, the voice of the parent is the voice of God; for so has God commanded. And all which he hears and learns from these sources comes to him as nourishment from the bosom of an exhaustless love, to which his childhood must cling as if it were to him the whole wide universe.

This is the provision which the Church and the family, with many collateral aids, assign for religious education. Piety in the public teachers, and religious truth in the common school, would be additional aids; but are they indispensable, or could their influence be weighed in the balance against all this? Whatever may be the excellence of many professional instructors, whatever their noble enthusiasm in their calling, it is not to be disputed, that, as a body, the teachers of public schools are governed, in the choice and pursuit of their occupation, by the same motives which incite persons of respectable and worthy characters in all departments of business. They engage in it for a remuneration; they abandon it when it becomes unprofitable; or they exchange it for positions which are more lucrative or more to their taste. They are not appointed, and cannot well be, for their personal devoutness. If they should teach religion, it would be as they teach grammar, not because the task is known to be enthroned in their affections, but because it is made a

part of their business. We do not disparage the transcendent benef icence and exalted piety of many teachers; but it is an accident, so to speak, whether these mark the character of an individual teacher; they are not and cannot be the distinguishing properties of a class selected as teachers must always be under any public arrangements. Little will it avail, that a cold, dry, unfeeling, and perhaps unbelieving teacher, consent to teach catechism, or to open his school with prayers. A truly religious teacher, even without those exercises, will leave some impress of his own spirit on the minds which he has assisted in forming and replenishing. This can be attained even now; and if any would avoid this, they must make piety a ground of exclusion from the office. The most determined unbeliever would hardly desire such an issue; but neither can piety be made a condition of admission, if it were even in our power to en

force the rules, since the talents and acquisitions which make the successful teacher are dissociated from it; and since, precious as it is, it cannot, in this position, be deemed one of the chief instruments on which the cause of religion must rely.

What, then, is the power which Christianity cannot, and what is that which it can, exercise in the system of public schools of a land like our own?

It cannot teach all its doctrines and laws, as they are held by any body of Christian believers.

It cannot blend religious truth with secular instruction, to any degree which implies the attempt to communicate systematic religious knowledge.

It cannot attempt to inculcate a religious character, or, in other words, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, by precept and exhortation.

It can take for granted a general acquaintance, in the pupils, with the facts of Christianity, united with reverence for it as a Divine revelation.

It can infuse into the teacher, so far as he obeys it, a spirit which attracts to his religion, and inspires the desire to resemble its faithful followers.

It can afford a Christian view of every science and every department of knowledge, and show their connection with revealed truth in its great outlines.

It can inculcate the whole moral code of the Gospel, by rule and example.

It can exclude and counteract every influence of infidelity.

It can, in many instances, with the universal consent of the community, affix a more decidedly religious character to the school duties of each day, by the observance of daily prayers.

It can, with the same consent, introduce the Bible, and promote, by daily reading, the familiar knowledge of its contents; not as if it were a mere reading-book, though the best, but as the generally acknowledged word of God.

It can, with the same consent, which may generally be assumed, impress, as occasion is offered, all that great and priceless mass of truth in which all Christians are substantially united.

THE TRUE ORDER OF STUDIES.

BY REV. THOMAS HILL, D. D.,

PRESIDENT OF ANTIOCH COLLEGE, YELLOW SPRINGS, OHIO.

[Reprinted from Barnard's American Journal of Education.]

13

CONTENTS.

ARTICLE

I. General View of the Field of Education,.....

Mathematics, Physics, History, Psychology, Theology,.................

PAGE.

4

Tabular view of the Studies in a Course of Liberal Education, from the Sub

ARTICLE III. Natural History; or, the Study of the Material World in its natural state,....... 29