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 lONAL LIBRARY FACI 
 
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 COMBE 
 
 REMARKS ON NATIONAL 
 EDUCATION 
 
 I* 

 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 REMARKS 
 
 .m. 
 
 ajc 
 
 ^ 
 
 NATIONAL EDUCATION: 
 
 AN INQUIRY INTO THE RiaHT AND DUTY OF 
 GOVERNMENT TO EDUCATE THE PEOPLE. 
 
 GEORGE COMBE. 
 
 " Sectarianism is not morality. To be zealous for a sect, and to bp conscientious in morals, 
 are widely ditt'erent. To inculcate the peculiarities of a sect, and to teach the fundamental 
 principles of religion and morality, are widely different. Indeed, schools might be named, 
 in which there is the most rigorous inculcation of an exclusive sectarianism, where there is 
 a deplorable absence of the fruits of both religion and morality." — The Rev. Egerton Byerson, 
 in his Report on a System of Public Elementary Instruction for Upper Canada. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 MACLACHLAN, STEWART, & CO.; 
 
 LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO. 
 
 DUBLIN : JAMES M'GLASHAN. 
 
 MDCCCXLVIl. 
 
 Price Fourpence.
 
 PRINTED BT NEILL ANP COMPANY, EDINBURGH.
 
 EEMAUKS ON NATIONAL EDUCATION. 
 
 The public appear to be now nearly unanimous on the 
 point, that the people should 6e er///ra^e(/; but considerable 
 differences of opinion exist as to who should be charged with 
 the duty of educating them, — the state or individuals 1 also 
 whether combined religious and secular instruction, or secu- 
 lar instruction alone, should be given by the schoolmaster, 
 leaving religious instruction to be supplied by the parent and 
 priest. To communicate my views distinctly on these points, 
 I find it advisable to begin with the very elements of the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 In the arguments generally maintained on these questions, 
 certain views of the nature of man ; of the origin and objects 
 of society ; of the powers and duties of government ; and of 
 the connection between practical morality, secular prosperity, 
 and religious belief, are assumed by the various writers as 
 settled doctrines, concerning which their own opinions are 
 unquestionably sound ; when, in point of fact, no adequate 
 consideration has been bestowed on these topics, either by 
 them or by those to whom they address themselves, and no 
 common views in regard to them are definitely assented to 
 by either. When the postulates of a discussion are thus in- 
 volved in obscurity, and apprehended differently by different 
 individuals, harmony in the conclusions is impossible. How- 
 ever widel}^ therefore, the reader may differ from some of 
 the opinions now to be stated, few persons, I hope, will 
 doubt the advantage of elucidating these fundamental points 
 of the question. 
 
 This world, then, appears to me to be a "?ast theatre con- 
 stituted for exertion ; in which enjoyment is the natural con- 
 sequence of industry, morality, and intelligence ; and suffer- 
 ing that of ignorance, vice, and sloth. The constitution of 
 tlie world, physical and moral, that of the human mind and 
 body, as well as the relations between them, are fixed and 
 determinate ; and man becomes prosperous and happy in pro- 
 portion to the degree in which his social institutions and per- 
 
 1966518
 
 4 Remark.^ on Xaficiiol Eiliicaliuii. 
 
 sonal ctMuliu't liannonize with these uncliano-eable elcment« 
 of iKitiiiv. Mach individual of the race is born ii^norant of 
 every tliinLj; Imt capm-itios are bestowed on him to learn all 
 that is essential to his welinre. The mighty machinery of 
 nature, physical and moral, is constantly revolving within 
 him (in his own mind and body), and around him ; and he 
 cannot by possibility avoid expenencing its influence. To 
 be prosperous, he must aeljust his conduct and position to its 
 action, and he cannot do so unless he know it; learn, there- 
 fore, lie must, or suffer. Education means teaching the in- 
 dividual what it concerns him to know relative to his own 
 constitution and that of the moral and physical world in 
 which he is destined to live and act ; and it includes training 
 him to habits of action suitable to that destination. 
 
 The importance of teaching knowledge is evident ; but the 
 necessity for training is less undertood. It arises from the 
 dependence of the mind, in this world, on physical organiza- 
 tion for its powers of acting. The brain is the material in- 
 strument by means of which the minds acts, and it consists 
 of a variety of parts, each connected with a special mental 
 power. It is subject to the same organic laws as the other 
 parts of the body. If we should confine a man for the first 
 twenty years of his life to a dungeon, without exercise and 
 employment, we should find, on bringing him into the active 
 world of light and life, that he could not see distinctly, could 
 not judge correctly of the distance of objects by their sounds, 
 could not walk steadily, and scarcely could make any exer- 
 tion with his arms and hands. The cause of his defects 
 would be found in the circumstance, that his organic struc- 
 tm"e had been left feeble and undeveloped through want of 
 exercise ; and that his various senses and muscles (which, 
 although distinct in themselves, are all framed to co-operate 
 and assist in prosecuting general aims) had never been ac- 
 customed to act in combination. Such a being, therefore, 
 when first introduced into active life, would be helpless, be- 
 wildered, and unhappy. 
 
 The uneducated and untrained peasant is in a similar con- 
 dition in regard to his mental organs. Not only is he ignor- 
 ant, but his mental organs are dull, feeble, and incapable of 
 continued exertion ; and he, therefore, cannot think continu- 
 ously, or act perseveringly. We may give him instruction, 
 but it does not penetrate into his inactive brain, and it is not 
 reproductive of thought and action. " I have occasionally 
 hired into my service individuals who have not learned to read 
 and write, and the effects were most conspicuous. The ears 
 heard, and the eyes saw, and the understanding appeared to
 
 Remarks on National Education. 6 
 
 comprehend ; but I soon discovered that the comprehension 
 was imperfect and inexact, that the retention was momentary, 
 and the ])ower of rcpinjiluetion, combination, and modifica- 
 tion, almost nil. I lately conversed with an engineer and 
 machine-maker who employs 120 workmen, and he told me 
 that he had repeatedly taken into his workshop uneducated 
 and untrained labourers with a view to teaching them some 
 simi)le processes in his trade, but had found that the lesson 
 of yesterday was not retained in the mind till to-day ; that 
 no spontaneous suggestion presented itself, even when cir- 
 cumstances rendered it evident to a trained understanding; 
 and tliat their labour, in consequence, was without value in 
 any department of skilled art. Their muscles had been 
 trained to act, almost without the direction of their brains ; 
 and beyond labour which muscles could execute independently 
 of intelligence, they were powerless. 
 
 Such is the intellectual condition of uneducated man. But the 
 intellect constitutes only a small, although an important por- 
 tion of the mind: Man is endowed, besides, with moral senti- 
 ments and animal propensities, depending, like his intellect, on 
 cerebral organs for their powers of manifestation. Each organ 
 is more or less capable of action in proportion to its size, tem- 
 perament, and the training which it has received. In a rude and 
 uncultivated condition of the intellect, the moral sentiments are 
 left without stimulus and direction. These sentiments pro- 
 duce the emotions of benevolence and veneration, and the love 
 of justice. Prosperous external circumstances, generally 
 speaking, are favourable to their development. A man 
 steeped in poverty and oppressed by want, finds his selfish 
 faculties excited, and lacks not only moral stimulus, but phy- 
 sical means for practising the benevolent virtues. One 
 buried in ignorance cannot exercise a well directed and en- 
 lightened veneration ; and one in whom all the higher and 
 disinterested powers of the mind are dormant, cannot be ex- 
 pected to comprehend the dictates of truth, or to practise the 
 principles of justice. 
 
 But the third class of faculties, the animal propensities, 
 are not equally quiescent in the uneducated individual ; be- 
 cause, on their prompt action, the preservation of life and the 
 supply of our bodily wants have been made by nature imme- 
 diately to depend. The external objects which act as their 
 stimulants, everywhere abound. The struggle for food, 
 raiment, and shelter, in which the uneducated man is, in tlie 
 general case, constantly engaged, calls forth his Combati\e- 
 ness and Destructiveness, his cunning and his obstinacy^
 
 6 l\\//i(trkt! un Kutiunal Education. 
 
 into ftbiJing activity ; it trains them to vigour, and renders 
 them prompt to action. 
 
 Smli, then, is uneducated man, in his general condition. 
 1 speak, of course, of average individuals, for there are per- 
 sons born in all ranks of life whose inherent superiority of 
 mind enables them triumphantly to surmount every adventi- 
 tious obstacle to their development and elevation. These, 
 however, are few in number ; and as nature has rendered 
 them, in a great measure, independent of social aid, they do 
 not form the objects of our present consideration. 
 
 Let us next consider society, and its origin and objects. I 
 regard society as the direct offspring of the inherent facul- 
 ties of man. Some species of animals are gregarious, that 
 is to say, have received from the God of Nature certain feel- 
 ings which render the presence of their kind agreeable to 
 them ; and to this category belongs man. Many of our fa- 
 culties have intelligent beings for their direct objects ; and 
 all of them are adapted to a condition of social life. Not 
 only so, but also the grand outlines of the social state of man 
 are determined by the fiat of the Creator. Individuals differ 
 naturally in bodily strength and in mental energy ; and in 
 these differences a foundation is laid for diversities of social 
 rank and condition — for the existence of the rich and the poor, 
 of the governing and the governed. In order correctly to 
 understand human nature, therefore, we must regard man as 
 an individual being, seeking his happiness in the gratification 
 of his faculties ; but high in the list of these we must place 
 his social powers, which are as certainly inherent parts of his 
 mental constitution as the most important of his selfish feel- 
 ings. 
 
 Government springs from the social faculties. Living in 
 the social state, necessarily implies that there are interests 
 and duties common to all the members of the tribe. Grega- 
 rious animals place sentinels to warn the herd or flock of 
 dangers, and choose leaders to guide them. Among men, the 
 ruling power, in its proper form, consists merely of certain 
 members of the associated mass selected by the rest to attend 
 to the common interests of the whole, and to enforce the re- 
 ciprocal duties incumbent on the individual and the commu- 
 nity. General consent of the members selects the Rulers, 
 and lends them the power of the social body to execute their 
 functions. History tells us, indeed, that, in many states, strong 
 and energetic individuals have constituted themselves masters 
 and transmitted their power to their descendants, irrespective 
 of the will of the community ; whence notions have grown 
 up of the right to govern being inherent in certain families,
 
 Remarks on National Education. 7 
 
 independently of the will of the people : but these were 
 usurpations disavowed by reason, and such claims are not 
 now made by the rulers of any constitutional state, and cer- 
 tainly not by the Government of England. 
 
 In determining what are the rights of individuals, and 
 what the powers of Government, our best guide is still the 
 nature of man. Man subsists necessanly as an individual : 
 He has received from his Maker certain powers of action and 
 enjoyment, and been placed in a world adapted to his consti- 
 tution. He has a right, therefore, derived directly from God 
 (who called him into existence, and provided the world for 
 his reception), to the full enjoyment of all his powers and 
 capacities, but under two restrictions ; 1*^, that he shall not 
 transgress the laws which Divine wisdom has established 
 in his own and in external nature for their regulation ; and, 
 2dlt/, that he shall not convert his individual enjoyments into 
 sources of annoyance to his fellow-men, who, from the neces- 
 sity of his and their being, must livewith him in society. God, 
 in his government of the world, enforces the first restriction 
 by punishing the individual with loss of health for abuse of his 
 corporeal functions, and by misfortune and misery for ne- 
 glect or abuse of his mental powers. The dutt/ and the rijht 
 of Government is to enforce the second restriction, viz., to 
 see that the individual, in pursuing his own happiness, does 
 not invade that of his neighbours. 
 
 These premises enable us to draw certain conclusions re- 
 garding the right of our Rulers to interfere in the education 
 of the people. In the first place, it follows from them, that 
 if any man chooses to renounce all connection with and de- 
 pendence on society, — to go forth from the haunts of men, 
 and neither live among them, accept their aid, nor tender 
 them his contributions, physical or mental, — he has an un- 
 doubted right, so far as society is concerned, to indulge all 
 , his faculties in his own way, because he commits no oifence 
 against society, and causes it no injury. He commits, in- 
 deed, a great oifence against his own nature, which the Cre- 
 ator expressly designed for social life ; but Nature herself, 
 without the interference of man as an avenger, has provided 
 ample punishment for that oflFence, by the deterioration of his 
 social nature, and the deprivation of all social enjoyments, 
 consequent on solitude. Betake himself to what solitude he 
 will, he cannot escape out of the presence of God, or with- 
 draw himself from the influence of His laws, which are woven 
 into the texture of his body and mind, and inscribed on every 
 breath of air, and every foot of ground. By their means, 
 the Creator will inflict on him the precise kind and degree of
 
 8 Ht'iiKuks on Kixdonal Eihiculiun. 
 
 punishnjent which his conduct merits, and which will best 
 serve to recall him to a duo estimate of the privileges which 
 he contemns. 
 
 But when an individual prefers to avail himself of the ad- 
 vantau:es of livini!; in society, of the physical protection which 
 other men's skill and courage afford, of the social pleasures 
 which their intelligence and attainments present, and above 
 all, when he claims their sympathy, support, and relief in 
 sickness and in old age — which every man living in society 
 virtually does — he becomes bound to perform his duty to it 
 in return ; and society acquires a right to enforce the per- 
 formance of that dut}', as the fundamental condition on which 
 it allows him to reap the benefit of its arrangements and in- 
 stitutions. 
 
 What, then, are the duties which the individual owes to 
 society \ His first duty, in compensation for the advantages 
 it confers on him, is obviously to acquire bodily habits cal- 
 culated, according to the laws of organization, which neither 
 he nor society can alter, to preserve himself in health, that 
 he may be fitted for his allotted sphere of action, and may 
 avoid diffusing disease by infection around him. It is on this 
 principle that society has the right to enforce the ordinary 
 regulations of police in towns. It ordains every citizen to 
 put forth from his dwelling all refuse and noxious substances, 
 and employs men to collect and carry them away. This is 
 not done in the country, because there, individuals who neglect 
 this duty, injure only themselves and their domestic depend- 
 ents. The same principle will authorise the enforcement of 
 still higher hygienic regulations in towns ; and, in point of 
 fact, the statute 9th and 10th Victoria, c. 96, recently passed, 
 authorises the magistrates of towns, on receiving a certificate 
 signed by two duly qualified medical practitioners, "of the filthy 
 and unwholesome condition of any dwelling-house or other 
 building," to compelihe person complained of to abate the nuis- 
 ance within two days. But I may go further in the same direc- 
 tion. The individual who claims the benefits afforded by an 
 advanced and intelligent state of society, is bound to qualify 
 himself, according to the endowments bestowed on him by 
 Providence, for acting well his part in that society. In a 
 society which is moral, he has no right to continue publicly 
 immoral ; because this is not only offensive, but directly in- 
 jurious to his fellow-men : he is not entitled to remain igno- 
 rant and untrained ; because in that condition he is incapable 
 of performing his due part in the grand social evolutions, the 
 beneficial results of which lie claims a right to share. Before 
 he can consistently deny the right of society to train and edu-
 
 Remarks on National Education. 9 
 
 cate his children, he must shew his own title to make the 
 following announcement, viz., " I decline to undergo the 
 fatigue and discipline necessary to render my brain active, in 
 order to fit myself for skilful labour, and for applying my 
 labour to the best advantage ; I decline to learn to read and 
 write ; I decline to be instructed in, or to conform my con- 
 duct to, those conditions in the physical and moral world, 
 which, by the ordination of God, are productive of prosperity 
 and happiness ; and I decline to regulate my conduct by what 
 you call the laws of morality and reason ; all this I decline, 
 because I am a free and independent man, and because it 
 would be irksome to me to submit to such training, instruc- 
 tion, and restraint ; — nevertheless, I claim the right to throw 
 myself with all my incapacity undiminished, all my ignorance 
 unilluminated, and all my passions unregulated and untamed, 
 upon the bosom of society : I insist that its members who 
 have cultivated their faculties and reaped the natural rewards 
 of that cultivation, in the possession of morality, intelligence, 
 and wealth, shall bear the burden of my incapacity, of my 
 recklessness, and of my follies ; that they shall minister to 
 me when sick, and feed me when my unskilled labour, in com- 
 petition with their skilled labour, does not suffice to supply 
 me with the necessaries of life ; and that they shall provide 
 for my wife and children when, through ignorance and vice, 
 I sink into a premature grave." 
 
 This embodies, not a rhetorical, but a literal statement of 
 the demand which the untrained and uneducated labourer, 
 who denies the right of society to insist that himself and his 
 children be trained and educated, makes on his fellow- 
 men ; and I leave those to defend it who abet him in that 
 denial. The man who claims Ihe benefit of a poor-law, 
 actually demands from society all that 1 have now mentioned ; 
 and, unquestionably, we are entitled to say to him, — " Before 
 .you can legitimately claim ignorance as the sacred birthright 
 of yourself and your off^spring, you must shew your emancipa- 
 tion from the laws of God, which connect want with inca- 
 pacity, misfortune with ignorance, misery with immorality, 
 and disease and premature death with habits of filth, sloth, 
 and intemperance." If the man admits that he continues a 
 subject of the Divine government (and unless he be mad he 
 will not dispute this point), he cannot, with any show of 
 reason, contest the right of society to train and instruct him 
 and his children to that degree which shall render him and 
 them moral and intelligent agents, fit to play their parts in 
 tlie society of which they claim to be members. 
 
 The question here presents itself, What kind and degree of
 
 10 Iffffiark-/! on Xafiotial Education. 
 
 knowloilo^e has society a right to insist on its members ac- 
 quirinii; i The principles already stated will enable us to 
 answer this question. The individual has a right to the most 
 perfect freedom of thought and action in regard to every thing 
 which does not directly or indirectly affect the welfare of 
 other men. To come at once to the grand point of contro- 
 versy on tlie subject of national education — society has a right 
 to insist that he shall be instructed and trained in whatever 
 is necessary to fit him for the discharge of his duties as a 
 member of the community in which he lives ; but, in all be- 
 yond this, the individual has a right to unbounded liberty of 
 self-determination as to what he shall learn and what he shall 
 not learn. He has no right to continue filthy in his habits ; 
 because this may induce disease and infect his neighbours. 
 He has no right to continue grossly ignorant ; because in this 
 state of mind he is unfit to regulate his passions, to act with 
 a rational regard to his own and the public welfare in the 
 circumstances in which he is placed, and also to apply his 
 natural powers in that kind of labour by Avhicli alone he can 
 subsist in a society composed of intelligent and skilful men, on 
 whom he has no right to throw the burden of his incapacity. 
 But he has a perfect title to decline to study poetry, or rhetoric, 
 or painting, or sculpture, if these be distasteful to him ; be- 
 cause his remaining ignorant of these accomplishments can 
 carry no direct harm to his fellow-citizens. In the former 
 category — ^that of things which he is bound to learn, because 
 his ignorance of them is injurious to society — I place a know- 
 ledge of moral duties ; and, in the latter, I rank those reli- 
 gious doctrines the foundations of which rest exclusively on 
 supernatural communications. 
 
 I recognise explicitly the importance of religion to the wel- 
 fare of society and to that of the individual. Active religious 
 feelings dispose a man to venerate and submit himself to 
 those moral and physical laws instituted by the Creator, on 
 which his own happiness and that of society depend. They 
 prompt him also to adoration and gratitude, emotions highly 
 influential in the right ordering of human conduct. But under 
 the head of Avhat is genei'ally called religion, are included 
 doctrines and precepts which God has already forced on our 
 acceptance by the clear order of nature in this world, and 
 other doctrines of which the human understanding, unenlight- 
 ened by revelation, is incapable of gaining a competent know- 
 ledge. In regard to the former, nature and Scripture coincide, 
 and speak one and the same language ; whereas nature is 
 silent, or so obscure as not to be practical, in regard to the 
 latter. It appears to me, that Government, as a secular in-
 
 Fe marks on National Education. 11 
 
 stitution, has a right to insist that its subjects shall be in- 
 structed in every species of knowledge, and trained to every 
 mode of action, which directly affects the welfare of society, 
 and which is prescribed as a duty, equally by Scripture and 
 by the natural laws of the body, of the mind, and of the ex- 
 ternal creation. 
 
 The laws of health, industry, and morality, are thus enact- 
 ed by the Creator, and are universally prevalent. In Chris- 
 tian Europe, in Mahomedan Asia, and in Pagan Africa, the 
 individual who neglects cleanliness, who lives in bad air, and 
 indulges in vicious habits, ruins his health, whereby he may 
 become a focus of infection, and incapacitate himself for the 
 discharge of his social duties ; he who is ignorant and reck- 
 less of the moral law becomes a scourge and affliction to his 
 fellow-men ; and he whose intelligence is so limited that he 
 is incapable of acting successfully a part in the social evolu- 
 tions amidst which he lives, is in constant danger of becom- 
 ing a burden on their industry, and of throwing on them the 
 evil consequences which God has attached to his ignorance 
 and incapacity. 
 
 The religious sentiments are inherent in, and important 
 elements of, the human mind : they act with great energy, 
 and lead to stupendous consequences of good or evil, accord- 
 ing as they are well or ill directed. It appears to me that 
 they may with great advantage be directed towards the sup- 
 port and enforcement of God's laws written in the book of 
 creation, as well as of those written in the Bible. This 
 opinion is entitled to the greater weight, when it is con- 
 sidered that no law is laid down to man in the Bible for his 
 guidance in temporal affairs, which is not also inscribed in 
 the book of nature ; and that, in" point of fact, it is the sup- 
 port which the scriptural precept receives from the agency 
 of nature that renders it practical. The Scripture, for ex- 
 ■ ample, commands temperance in all things ; and it can be 
 demonstrated that, according to the laws of organization, in- 
 temperance in food injures the health ; intemperance in 
 drinking incapacitates the mind ; intemperance in ambition 
 blinds the understanding and leads to ruin ; intemperance in 
 study exhausts the brain and deranges the mental functions ; 
 and so forth. In my work on " The Constitution of Man," 
 I have given illustrations of this doctrine ; and in my Lec- 
 tures on " Moral Philosophy," I have endeavoured to shew 
 that the Ten Commandments are as clearly inscribed in the 
 natural constitution of man, as they were on the tables of 
 stone delivered to Moses ; and these are only examples which
 
 12 Iin/tarks on X((((oniil Eilucdlion. 
 
 might bo multiplied to tlu' full oxtent of scripture-teaching 
 rt'Iutive to temporal jitfairs. 
 
 Tho primijiK' now stated, that scripture-precepts regard- 
 inc: tomj^oral dntios cannot become practical unless supported 
 by tho order of nature, deserves consideration. It goes deep 
 into the merits of secular and religious education. Suppose, 
 for example, that the order of nature had connected health, 
 mental energy, and tempoi'al prosperity, with intemperance, 
 and that the scri})tural injunction, " Be temperate in all 
 things," had rested solely on the authority of Scripture, 
 aiul its only sanction had been the announcement of eternal 
 punishment as the future consequence of disregarding it, — 
 what chance would the cause of temperance have had for 
 success in this world ? Obviously, very little. This conclu- 
 sion is supported by the fact, that the plainest precepts of 
 the Bible continue to this day to be utterly disregarded in 
 practice by individuals and nations who believe unhesitat- 
 ingly in their Divine authority, but whose understandings 
 have not yet discovered that they are supported also by the 
 order of nature. The precept, for example, " Love thy neigh- 
 bour as thyself," — '• all men are thy neighbours," — directly 
 involves the principles of free-trade ; but its practical appli- 
 cation in this form was resisted, and continues to be resisted, 
 by individuals and nations who admit its Divine authority, 
 but do not yet perceive how this application of it can be 
 rendered compatible with their temporal welfare. The 
 *' League" succeeded in having it carried into practical effect, 
 ordy by convincing the English people that the order of na- 
 ture was such that they might safely obey the precept, not 
 only without temporal injury to themselves, but with positive 
 advantage. Then, and not till then, they yielded obedience 
 to what the Scripture had commanded them to do for eighteen 
 hundred years, but commanded them in vain. 
 
 As a contrast, I may notice the Scriptural precepts, " I 
 say unto you, that ye resist not evil ; but whosoever shall 
 smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also ; 
 and if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy 
 coat, let him have thy cloak also" (Matthew, v. 39, 40.) 
 The constitution of the human mind does not sanction these 
 precepts when understood in their literal sense. Nature has 
 bestowed on us a love of life, and a seritiment of self-respect, 
 which render injuries and insults disagreeable ; she has added 
 sentiments of Benevolence,Veneration, and Conscientiousness, 
 vvliich proclaim that the infliction of injury and insult is 
 wrong ; but as she foresaw that some men might disregard 
 these moral restraining powers and become aggressive, she
 
 Bemarks on National Education. 13 
 
 added combative and destructive propensities to the mind, 
 one of the legitimate uses of which is to repel, by force, un- 
 just attacks on our persons and our rights. The law of na- 
 ture, therefore, is, that injury and insult must he restrained^ — 
 by moral influence if possible, but if not, by physical force ; 
 and accordingly the words of Scripture have been practically 
 thus interpreted, and those sects who have endeavoured to 
 act on their literal meaning have not succeeded in com- 
 mending their principles of non-resistance to general accep- 
 tation. 
 
 If the constitution and arrangements of nature in which 
 our secular duties are inscribed, and by means of which they 
 are enforced, were presented to the understandings of the 
 young as Divine institutions, and if their sentiments of Won- 
 der, Veneration, and Conscientiousness, were trained to ad- 
 mire, reverence, and obey them, these duties would, in their 
 minds, become principles of religion., as well as of morality 
 and prudence. Their practical efficacy would be increased 
 by the combined forces of the understanding, of the moral 
 sentiments, of the religious sentiments, and of the selfish 
 principles of our nature, all co-operating ; for, when all these 
 were satisfied in regard to their Divine authority and practi- 
 cal utility, they would naturally unite towards their enforce- 
 ment. No doctrines or precepts, relative to secular duties, 
 that rest upon and are addressed to the religious sentiments 
 exclusively, or even chiefly, can operate with an equally 
 powerful and beneficial eff"ect. If they do not satisfy the un- 
 derstanding, or the moral feelings, or the selfish elements of 
 the mind, they lose in practical efficacy in proportion to the 
 faculties which they leave uninterested. The Christian re- 
 ligion abounds in precepts which I'est on all these foundations, 
 and hence its practical power. The superstitions of the 
 ancient world, and of modern heathenism (however deeply 
 they may excite and interest the religious sentiments of their 
 votaries), fail to satisfy the understanding and the moral 
 sentiments, and to promote the temporal happiness of those 
 who believe them ; and hence their practical inefficacy for 
 good. They are disowned by nature, and cannot yield the 
 fruits of purity, prosperity, and peace. 
 
 So far, therefore, from the Divine laws in regard to secu- 
 lar rights and duties having their only foundation in Scrip- 
 ture, the proposition should be modified to the eff'ect, that 
 they have a foundation also in nature, and that it is their 
 conformity to, and enforcement by, the order of nature, which 
 renders them practical ; and this seems to authorise tlie con- 
 clusion that the State has a right to teach to all its subjects
 
 14 liemarkx on National Education. 
 
 the order of nature l»y whieli the praetical doctrines of reli- 
 gion arc supported and enforced. 
 
 Let us now consider the (|uestion, Has the State a right 
 to educate all the faculties of man 1 We have already an- 
 swered that it has a riuht to train and educate every faculty 
 to the extent to which its action is necessary to enable the 
 individual to discharo-e his social duties, and no further. It 
 is entitled to train Veneration, for example, to respect and 
 yield obedience to every scriptural precept and every natural 
 law Avhich directly aifect the welfare of the social body ; — 
 but has it a right to force men to embrace and venerate any 
 doctrine which has its issues only in a future state of exist- 
 ence \ Society, such as we see it, does not exist beyond 
 the grave. Therefore, only individuals in their individual 
 capacities are concerned in matters of eternity ; and on this 
 subject, their birthright is entire freedom of judgment and 
 opinion. 
 
 The depth and magnitude of that interest is sufficient to 
 secure an extent of teaching of this class of religious doc- 
 trines up to the full demands of the faculties ; but no amount, 
 however unlimited, of such teaching, necessarily implies or 
 secures instruction in temporal duties. Assuming that, dur- 
 ing the last century, the Roman Catholic clergy in Ireland 
 have taught their people religious truth sufficient to secure 
 their eternal welfare, it is certain that they have not instructed 
 and trained them, to an equal extent, in that knowledge of 
 this world and its laws, which produces prosperity and hap- 
 piness. It is this latter species of knowledge which it is the 
 right and the duty of the State to provide for the people ; be- 
 cause it applies directly to interests falling under the man- 
 agement of the State, and the absence of it, as we now see 
 and feel in regard to Ireland, cannot be compensated by 
 purely religious teaching. Ireland demonstrates to us that 
 the want of instruction in the order of nature aggi'avates all 
 natural calamities, and impairs all natural blessings, to the 
 great damage, not only of the individuals Avhose training has 
 been neglected, but of every member of the community who 
 has sympathies to feel for human suffering, or a purse to 
 provide for tlieir removal. 
 
 It is often argued, however, that the voluntary efforts of 
 the individual members of society afford a better means for 
 the supply of education for the whole people, than any com- 
 pulsory arrangements of the State, and hence it is denied 
 that the State has a right to educate its people. 
 
 There is a practical fallacy, however, in the manner in 
 which this question is generally submitted to our considera-
 
 Bemarks on National Education. 15 
 
 tion. In every free country the State is merely the repre- 
 sentative of the general power (physical, moral, and intellec- 
 tual) of the country. It is not a distinct and independent 
 being, that can exist and act in spite of the will of its mem- 
 bers. Any system of military defence, of police, of law, and 
 also of education, which the State can establish and main- 
 tain in this country, must be approved of by the intelligence 
 of the empire. Nobody contends that the Government has a 
 right, despite of the will of the people, to seize on public edu- 
 cation. All that is maintained is, that the Government may 
 do the work better than individuals ; and our security against 
 the abuse by Government of its delegated powers lies in the 
 control over the conduct of Parliament and the executive, 
 which the individual members of the community are capable 
 of exercising, through the elections and the press. We do 
 not leave the defence of the countr}^ and the police of our 
 great towns to the voluntary administration of individuals ; 
 because the majority of society is agreed that these objects 
 can be better accomplished by committing them to the State. 
 And the case will be the same in regard to education. Its 
 direction cannot be assumed by the Government until the ma- 
 jority of the public shall have become satisfied that it is best 
 fitted to conduct the opei'ations. The capricious or negli- 
 gent administration of the means of public defence, or of 
 police, would endanger the welfare, not only of those who 
 erected themselves into the voluntary managers of them, but 
 of those who differed from their views, and considered their 
 course of action unwise and detrimental ; and it is on this 
 principle alone that Parliament gives to the executive the 
 right to take these affairs into its own hands. In like man- 
 ner, whenever the majority of sodety shall become satisfied 
 that individual teachers, sects, and incorporations, have so 
 neglected or mismanaged public education, as to endanger 
 the welfare of the State, they will (without limiting the right 
 of individual action in so far as this is compatible with pub- 
 lic safety) provide public institutions for the better accom- 
 plishment of this important end. 
 
 Has such a case actually occurred 1 In answering this 
 question, it is necessary only to look at the mental condition 
 of the inhabitants of these islands to discover that education 
 has hitherto been grievously neglected and mismanaged. The 
 extent of ignorance, vice, helpless incapacity, crime, and suf- 
 fering, which abound, and which are more or less referrible 
 to the low physical, moral, intellectual, and religious train- 
 ing and instruction of the people, is a point of too painful 
 certainty to be disputed. This fact itself is sufficient to war-
 
 IG Bemarks on Xathmal Education. 
 
 rant men of rofloction in reciuestinijand empowering the State 
 to try whether it cannot manage education better. But other 
 and solid reasons may be discovered for the faihire of the vo- 
 hmtnry ettbrts which have hitherto been made for the educa- 
 tii>n oi' the i>eople — reasons which may tend to justify us in 
 committing it in future to the Government. 
 
 The kind of instruction whicli it is the direct interest of 
 society to communicate, is that which relates to God's laws 
 and mode of administration of man's temporal condition. 
 The statesman placed in an elevated position, and entrusted 
 with the welfai'e of all classes, sects, and individuals, has 
 natural advantages for discovering what these laws are, for 
 appreciating their social importance, and for applying them, 
 which no private individual, sect, or class, can enjoy. He is 
 in a position to discern, with a keener eye and a surer saga- 
 city, what instruction is equally beneficial to all, than the 
 man in the crowd surrounded by objects which contract his 
 vision, and invaded by interests which bias his judgment. I 
 say that, cwteris paribus, the statesman is better able than the 
 individual citizen to direct beneficially this complicated and 
 difficult branch of the public interest. Besides, his ear is 
 open at all times to the admonition of individual wisdom, and 
 his conduct is subject to the unlimited control of the parlia- 
 mentary constituencies. 
 
 I am prepared for the charge being made, that this is a 
 proposal to constitute infidelity the basis of national educa- 
 tion ; because the order of nature, even when coincident with 
 and sanctioned by Christianity, is regarded by some minds as 
 infidel. But I deny that teaching the precepts in which the 
 order of creation and Scripture coincide is infidelity. Those 
 who contend that it is so, forget that in this view God him- 
 self would be the author of a great system of infidelity ; for 
 the whole Jewish dispensation was one which had its sanc- 
 tions exclusively in its temporal consequences. No futurity 
 was revealed to the Jews : The supernatural portion of the 
 Jewish Dispensation related chiefly to the nation in its na- 
 tional capacity, and in the opinion of some Christian sects it 
 is continued to the pi'fesent day. These sects regard the ex- 
 istence of the Jews as a distinct people, unamalgamated with 
 the races among whom they are dispersed, as a standing mi- 
 racle. But we do not perceive the personal conduct of the 
 individual Jewish men and w^omen whom we know, to be now 
 regulated by supernatural acts of divine administration ; and 
 is there reason to believe that even before the dispersion, a 
 miracle was resorted to, in order to rewai'd or punish each 
 private Jew who obeyed or transgressed the commandments \
 
 Remarks on National Education. 17 
 
 If a future state was not clearly revealed to the Jews, and if 
 their personal conduct was not formerly, and is not now, re- 
 gularly rewarded or punished by supernatural acts in this 
 life, it seems to follow that, in their individual capacities 
 (when not reached by the statute law), they were, and are, 
 left under the ordinary administration of the laws of nature ; 
 and if so, on what principle can education in these laws be 
 i-alled '• godless!"' Besides, no one proposes to exclude the 
 teaching of the Scri])ture doctrines relative to eternity. All 
 that is recommended is to provide for the teaching of tliese 
 to the children of each sect according to the views and wishes 
 of their parents, at separate lioiirs, and by separate teachers 
 from those engaged by the State. Let us view the conse- 
 quences of acting on different principles. 
 
 Most churches and religious associations avowedly consti- 
 tute belief in certain religious doctrines, the chief importance 
 of which is their efficacy as means for securing happiness in 
 a future life, as the indispensable condition on which they 
 will teach that knowledge whicli relates to this world alone. 
 But as many individuals differ regarding these points, the 
 condition of believing them excludes thousands from the 
 schools, while the State cannot afford to allow any of its 
 children to be barred out from secular instruction. This is 
 one reason why the State should be entrusted with tlie charge 
 of secular education for the benefit of all. 
 
 Again, certain sects regard belief in the dogmas accredited 
 by them as the only stable foundation, not only for religious, 
 but for secular education ; and, on this account, insist on ren- 
 dering the teaching of their own dogmas paramount to all 
 other instruction ; and not only so, but, proceeding on the 
 same ground, they claim also the eKclusive control of schools. 
 If their doctrines actually formed the only sound basis of se- 
 cular education, their pretensions would be irresistible. But 
 there is an important error in this assumption, because, as 
 already maintained, there is no practical precept in the Old 
 or New Testament relating to human conduct in this life, 
 which is not contained also in the book of nature, and en- 
 forced by the natural order of Providence ; and I repeat, that 
 it is their conformity to, and enforcement by, nature, which 
 really give to scriptural precepts their practical efficacy. 
 Very few sects recognise this important truth, and we look 
 in vain, in most of their schools, for an avowed, clear, and 
 systematic teaching of the order of nature on which temporal 
 prosperity depends, as part of Divine revelation for the guid- 
 ance of human conduct. So much the contrary, that before 
 some sects will receive a child into one of their schools, his
 
 18 lie marks on National Education. 
 
 parents must i.>>nseut to thuir teaeliiiii:; liim, — tliat human 
 nature is disordered by the fall, — that all mankind are liable 
 to eternal perdition in consequence of Adam's first transgres- 
 sion, — that the Godhead consists of three i)ersons, — that 
 Jesus Christ is one of them, — and that he atoned for onr sins 
 by sutVering in his own ])erson the punishment which was 
 due to them. If the trutli and efficacy of all the precepts 
 delivered by Jesus Christ, relatini^ to those portions of hu- 
 man conduct in which society is directly interested, depended 
 exclusively on our believing these views of his character and 
 work, these sects would have reason on their side; but, on 
 the other hand, if the practical efficacy of these precepts de- 
 pends on their conformity to the constitution and order of na- 
 ture, and not on our belief or disbelief in certain interpreta- 
 tions of Scripture, the case is altered, and it becomes pure 
 tyranny in sectarian men to deny instruction in the temporal 
 order of Providence, to children whose parents do not em- 
 brace their doctrinal views in relation to eternity. 
 
 They will probably reply that they leave parents who do not 
 approve of these doctrines to open schools for their children 
 on their own principles. This, however, is just one of the 
 evils which the advocates of State education desire to avoid. 
 The powers of nature are paramount active agents, from the 
 influence of which neither prince nor peasant can escape ; 
 and hence God's natural laws relative to this world are 
 equally applicable to all sects and to all nations, in all times, 
 and they are expounded as such in the Bible. By adopting 
 them as the basis of general education, the State may suc- 
 ceed in having all its people trained in one set of practical 
 principles, resting on the common basis of the order of nature, 
 and, therefore, admitting of unanimity and co-operation. 
 While each sect founds its secular instruction on the basis 
 of its own interpretations of Scripture, this advantage can- 
 not be obtained ; and, in consequence, not only is society rent 
 by religious dissensions, but its power of co-operation for 
 practical improvement is greatly paralyzed. We see the 
 result of this state of things before us at the present time. 
 While discordant sects dispute whose doctrines shall form 
 the basis of secular education, many of the people are al- 
 lowed to grow up in heathen ignorance, and too many of 
 those Avho are educated, are fierce partisans of peculiar dog- 
 mas, contemning and reviling all propositions to teach the 
 order of nature, as rank infidelity ! Our boasted freedom of 
 religious opinion is, and must necessarily continue to be, a 
 mockery, while each sect is striving for supremacy, and there 
 is no common arena in which all can meet and recognise one
 
 Remarks on National Education. 19 
 
 God, and one order of nature. This, therefore, appears to 
 me to be another reason for committing secular education to 
 the charge of the State. 
 
 We are told, however, that this proposed separation of se- 
 cular from doctrinal religious teaching, is " a gigantic system 
 of godless education." With great deference to the excel- 
 lent individual who uttered these words, the case appears to 
 me in a diiferent light. Apparently, he and his followers who 
 have adopted this opinion, have looked so long and so in- 
 tently on the Old and New Testaments, that they have lost 
 sight of, or never attentively studied, the record of God's 
 Natural Providence. If, for instance, we comprehend the 
 structure and functions of the nervous system in man, and 
 the vast amount of enjoyment of which it is the appointed 
 vehicle when duly administered, and the extent of suffering 
 which it entails on him when its laws are neglected or trans- 
 gressed, and perceive that this is the workmanship of God, 
 and that in this structure and its laws He is addressing our 
 Wonder, calling on us to admire, — our Veneration, desiring 
 us to reverence, — our Conscientiousness, commanding us to 
 obey, — and our Intellect, inviting us to study, prove, and prac- 
 tise, what He has revealed ; and that He rewards us with 
 health, strength, and enjoyment, for obedience, and punishes 
 us with bodily and mental pain and incapacity, and often with 
 death itself, for infringement of his precepts, — this is reli- 
 gion AS WELL AS science. How any man of a serious and 
 an enlightened mind can study and comprehend God's na- 
 tural laws without having his religious sentiments vividly ex- 
 cited, I cannot comprehend. Is it not an abuse of terms to 
 call that education " godless," which refers a// that it teaches, 
 directly to the power, wisdom, and 'goodness of God himself? 
 In no sense of the words is the study of natural knowledge 
 and its practical applications, a "godless education ;" because 
 it, cultivates, trains, and enlarges, the self-same faculties, by 
 means of which the grander doctrines relative to man's fu- 
 ture destinies must be studied and apprehended. 
 
 The opinion that religion and morality are revealed only 
 in the Bible, and that science is " godless," has led to great 
 practical evils. Not only has the religious world too much 
 neglected the teaching of science as the basis of conduct, but 
 the men of science have too much overlooked the religious 
 element with which all science is imbued. One hears in many 
 pulpits God's terresti'ial creation, including man himself as 
 he naturally exists, decried and degraded ; while, in the halls 
 of science, we may study for years without hearing God re- 
 ferred to as the fountain of the truths expounded, or any
 
 20 Jximnrku on Xado/nil K(/uca/ion. 
 
 priictical iuloronoes di-awn reo^arding wliat they teach oon- 
 I'orninii; His will. INlany divines are either too intent upon 
 the truths of Scripture to study and appreciate Nature and 
 her record, or they are jealous of her. There are, indeed, 
 enliglitened exceptions to the truth of this remark, but I 
 spejik of the genei'al character of pulpit teaching. The man 
 of science, on the other hand, although not ignorant that he 
 is expounding the " doings of the Lord," is yet too little alive 
 to tlie practical nature of the truths which he unfolds, as 
 guides to human conduct ; and he is also afraid of trenching^ 
 on the domain of the divine, and perhaps of teaching some- 
 thing wliich the latter might regard as not altogether doc- 
 trinally sound. He will thrill our highest faculties by his 
 descriptions of the stupendous magnitude of creation, and 
 demonstrate to us one God, and one law, ruling in every 
 sphere. After having stretched our imaginations to their 
 utmost limits, and deeply excited our wonder and veneration 
 by these solemn gigantic truths, he will direct our attention 
 to the smallest insect, and shew us the same powei', wisdom, 
 and skill, employed in combining and regulating the minutest 
 atoms of matter to constitute a livmg and a sentient being. 
 Our souls expand and glow under such contemplations. But 
 here the man of science too generally leaves us. He either 
 does not perceive, or is afraid to announce, how^ the truths of 
 science bear a direct relation to the human mind and body, 
 and prescribe certain courses of practical action or restraint. 
 Every function of the body, and every faculty of the mind has 
 probably received from the Creator a sphere of action, as cer- 
 tainly defined and as wisely appointed as is the orbit of every 
 planet. Each is liable to aberrations by the disturbing influ- 
 ence of the other powers ; but limits are prescribed to its de- 
 viations, and counteracting forces are instituted to draw it 
 back into its normal course. Sound expositions of these laws- 
 of mind and body constitute at once science, religion, and prac- 
 tical wisdom ; yet how rarely are the teachings of science thus 
 applied ! Scientific discoveries are employed Avith prompti- 
 tude and vigour to increase wealth, to improve the arts of 
 destruction, and to auo:ment our sources of recreation and 
 amusement (all proper in due season and proportion) ; but 
 they are too much shut out from the school and the pulpit as 
 rules for human conduct, and themes for human devotion. 
 
 It is true that in interpreting the Book of Nature, as in con- 
 struing the Bible, many difficulties will present themselves 
 that are inexplicable in the present state of our knowledge. 
 They perplex our moral sentiments, and confound our under- 
 standings. But we should not on this account reject or un-
 
 liemarks on National Education. 21 
 
 dervalue such truths as are clearly revealed in either record. 
 The same Divine Intelligence which appointed the order of 
 nature, constituted tlie human fixculties ; and as we meet with 
 no discoi'dant design in those departments of the universe 
 M^ith which we are sufficiently acquainted, we may fairly be- 
 lieve that, in the scheme of creation itself, there is no real 
 incongruity ; and that the apparent instances of it which we 
 perceive, will diminish in proportion to the advance of our 
 information. At one time the aberrations of the planets 
 from their orbits were considered to be incompatible with 
 the permanence of their revolutions, and the solar system 
 was supposed to contain within itself the elements of its own 
 destruction ; but advancino; science has demonstrated that 
 these aberrations themselves are exemplifications and fulfil- 
 ments of the laws which regulate the normal movements of 
 the spheres. A profounder conviction, therefore, of harmony, 
 in the design and revolutions of the heavenly bodies, has 
 taken place of the doubts previously raised by imperfect 
 knowledge. If men could be induced to regard the mundane 
 creation in this disposition of mind, science would no longer 
 be called " godless." If they would believe that when God 
 instituted thp external world, and the human mind and body, 
 He adapted the one to the other with the same consistency 
 of design and transcendency of wisdom which we discern in 
 his arrangements of the planetary system, we should con- 
 sider the Book of Nature as replete with instruction, in re- 
 gard to the objects and employment of all our faculties ; and 
 we should call that instruction religious. 
 
 It is this unfortunate blindness to tlie essentially religious 
 and moral character of science and its applications, and the 
 fear of infidel consequences, that prompt the Church so dog- 
 gedly to keep watch over the gates of the universities, and 
 to refuse admission to every man as a teacher, who does not 
 swear to his belief in all her doctrines, not only regarding 
 man's conduct in this life, but in reference to eternity. Never- 
 theless, a law of faith and practice is written in the constitu- 
 tion of Nature which men may partially, but can never wholly, 
 overlook. Being woven into the texture of their existence, 
 it forces itself upon their attention, and exacts their obe- 
 dience. In the ordinary affairs of life, Jew and Gentile, High 
 Churchman and Low Churchman, Believer and Infidel, act 
 upon the same principles of prudence and morals ; they view 
 any practical measure as good or bad according to its influ- 
 ence on their temporal happiness, irrespective of its relations 
 to the different religious creeds which tiiey severally embrace. 
 They act on what va called the principles of " common sense ;''
 
 22 JitNtdrkf! OH yatiunal Educalion. 
 
 tlio taimliar iiaino o;iven tu the practical judgments which we 
 form from nil that we know regarding- nature, animate and 
 inanimate, and the eourse of providence by which this world 
 is governed. This knowledge, traced to its principles, and 
 systematized, is science ; and as mankind, both in their indi- 
 vidual and social capacities, practise upon it, without refer- 
 ence to its relations to their religious opinions regarding 
 eternity, it is to be regretted that certain religious sects op- 
 pose that systematic teaching of it which would render it 
 much more efficacious for good, unless it be accompanied by 
 their religious tenets which have no natural connection with 
 it. They have succeeded in impressing the public mind with 
 the belief that this science, on which, when unsystematized, 
 they themselves and everyone else act, under the name of the 
 " dictates of common sense," has no solid basis except that 
 which their religious tenets lend to it ; whereas it derives its 
 whole efficacy for good from its foundations being laid in na- 
 ture ; and it is in virtue of the power which it thence derives, 
 that it controls and gives consistency to human actions amidst 
 the wildest conflicts of religious creeds. 
 
 The extent to which science is banished from the Univer- 
 sity of Oxford (in which belief in the Thirty-nine Articles of 
 the Church of England is insisted on as an indispensable con- 
 dition before her halls can be opened to the student), may be 
 judged of from the following extract from Mr Lyell's Travels 
 in America, lately published: — '"After the year 1839," says 
 Mr Lyell, " we may consider three-fourths of the sciences 
 still nominally taught at Oxford, to have been virtually exiled 
 from the University. The class-rooms of the Professors 
 were, some of them entirely, others nearly, deserted. Che- 
 mistry and Botany attracted, between the years 1840 and 
 1844,/?-ow three to seven students; Geometry, Astronomy, and 
 Experimental Philosophy, scarcely more ; Mineralogy and 
 Geology, still taught by the same Professor who, fifteen years 
 before, had attracted crowded audiences, some ten to twelve ; 
 Political Economy still lower ; even Ancient History and 
 Poetry scarcely commanded an audience ; and, strange to 
 say, in a country with whose destinies those of India are so 
 closely bound up, the first of living Asiatic scholars gave lec- 
 tures to one or two pupils ; and these might have been absent, 
 had not the cherished hope of a Boaden scholarship for San- 
 scrit induced them to attend." It has been added, that the 
 Geological Professor lectured, during his last course, to a 
 class of three. What notions of the relative importance of 
 the Thirty-nine xVrticles of the Church of England, and of 
 Gods physical, moral, and intellectual creation, can be enter-
 
 Remarku on National Education, 23 
 
 tained by men who place the former so high above the latter 
 in I'everence and honour \ It is obvious that the idea that the 
 constitution and laws of creation are addressed to the intel- 
 lect of man as rules for his practical conduct, and stimulants 
 of his devotional feelings, can scarcely have entered into their 
 imaginations : and still less can they have formed a concep- 
 tion of the fact that the Christian precepts can become prac- 
 tical in this world only in proportion to their harmony with 
 the constitution of this, in Oxford, despised and neglected 
 nature. Well might Sir Robert Inglis, their representative 
 in Parliament, designate the study of science, apart from the 
 Thirty-nine Articles, as " a gigantic scheme of godless edu- 
 cation ;" for apparently the University considers Nature to 
 be infidel, God's works to be " godless," and only the Thirty- 
 nine Articles and certain kindred studies to constitute reli- 
 gious instruction ! 
 
 I solicit the attention of the reader to those views, because 
 the present practice is replete with grave injuries to society. 
 The notion that morality and religion rest exclusively on the 
 Bible as their basis, has produced something like a divorce, 
 not only between religion and science, but between religion 
 and literature, religion and legislation, religion and history, 
 religion and the drama ; and left religion in a kind of ideal 
 desert, from which she ever and anon issues to disturb the 
 march of human affairs. Generally speaking, a foreigner 
 might peruse the works of many of our standard authors, 
 study our statute-book, and read our plays, without disco- 
 vering that we possessed any religion at all ; except when he 
 met with enactments and controversies, directly relating to 
 the church and the dissenters. He could find no consistent 
 religious principle pervading, animating, blending with, and 
 hallowing, these productions of the human mind. This could 
 scarcely have happened if the constitution of nature and its 
 relations, of which these works are meant to be expositions 
 or applications, had been taught to the nation as of Divine 
 origin and enactment. But it is easily accounted for when 
 we attend to the fact, that, a few centuries ago, the know- 
 ledge of nature and its laws was even more imperfectly de- 
 veloped than it now is ; that at that time classical literature, 
 and theology, relating greatly to a future state of existence, 
 and resting for its evidence not on nature, but on acts of su- 
 pernatural power setting aside its established laws, consti- 
 tuted the chief learning of Europe, and took possession of 
 schools, universities, and the public mind ; and that this li- 
 terature and theology have retained their sway over these in- 
 stitutions and society ever since, without cordially inquiring
 
 '2i RtjiiaiA's on Xntional Edticatio)i. 
 
 iiiiK the moi'al and rc'liiz;i()us (.'laiius aiul eliaractcr of scu'iice ; 
 without moilityiiiii- their own teiu'ts into accordance with her 
 incrcasiuii' li<;-lits ; without tlirowini;; over her the mantle of 
 their retineuient and sanctity for her encouraoenient and pro- 
 tection; hut, on the contrary, too fret juently vilifying-, oppos- 
 iuix, and paralyzing- her by every means in their power. 
 
 The result could not be other than that which we see ; Science 
 "godless," although emanating from and teaching most elo- 
 quently and impressively the " wisdom of God ;" and Reli- 
 gion by far too powerless in the secular affairs of the earth, 
 because not acknowledging this world's constitution in its 
 own basis, but substituting in its place doctrines and tenets, 
 the grand object of which is to propitiate an interest in eter- 
 nity. Religious persons, distressed by the " godless" charac- 
 ter of our periodical and other literature, have established 
 rival works, in which they endeavour to blend their doctrinal 
 tenets with secular affairs ; but they do not succeed. In 
 point of fact, they place doctrinal disquisitions in juxtaposi- 
 tion with secular knowledge, M'ithout uniting them ; and for 
 the simple reason, that, as taught, they are incompatible. 
 The sectarian world, especially the Calvinistic sects, must 
 view nature in a light widely different from that in which 
 they now regard it, before they shall be cipable of blending 
 religion and mundane interests harmoniously together. 
 
 Another evil attending the prevailing views on this sub- 
 ject, is the very inadequate appreciation entertained by tlie 
 scientific and literary classes of the strength and importance 
 of tlie religious sentiments. Debarred by the present state of 
 theology from combining these emotions with their OAvn 
 studies and teaching, they overlook them altogether, and 
 leave them to be wielded as active powers at discretion by 
 the church and the religious sects, w ithout troubling them- 
 selves about the uses which are made of them, except when 
 they are directed against science and themselves. The con- 
 sequence is, that theology reaps small benefit from science ; 
 and that its stupendous powers are not unfrequently wielded 
 as engines of personal or sectarian aggiandizement by men 
 who retard, instead of advancing, the temporal welfare of 
 mankind. By their blind dereliction of the God of nature and 
 his teaching, they occasion a vast waste of mind and physical 
 resources, in so far as regards the reclamation of this world. 
 The men of science see this, yet stand by, timid and inac- 
 tive. They feel a want of social importance and consider- 
 ation for themselves and their pursuits ; yet so dark are their 
 p^•rcepti<,•ns of their own splendid position, that instead of
 
 Retnarks on National Education. 25 
 
 going forth in the full eontidence and panoply of natural 
 truth, to proclaim the sway of the great God of nature in 
 every department of human affairs, to teach his wisdom, and 
 to instruct men in his ways, they felicitate themselves on the 
 visit of a prince to one of their scientific meetings, as a cer- 
 tain means of commanding that public homage which they 
 are conscious that they have never yet secured by their own 
 influence over the public mind. 
 
 They must seek for consideration through other means. 
 The moral and religious sentiments are the grand levers of 
 civilized society. He who commands them is irresistible ; 
 and until Science shall discover her own character and voca- 
 tion, — that she is the messenger of God, speaking directly to 
 these sentiments in strains calculated to thrill and rouse them 
 to the most energetic action — she will never wield her proper 
 influence over society for the promotion of their moral, reli- 
 gious, and physical welfare. Never, until she does so, will 
 she take that place in social esteem and veneration which, 
 as the fountain of Divine wisdom, she is entitled to possess. 
 Let the scientific world consider the gigantic power of the 
 religious sentiments in sustaining a vast priesthood, under 
 every form of obloqviy and depression, and amidst the most 
 appalling poverty, in Ireland ; in rearing the fabrics of the 
 dissenting churches in England and Scotland, and support- 
 ing a clergy to preach in them ; in maintaining numerous 
 schools for education in their own tenets ; in rearing colleges 
 and endowing professorships ; in distributing Bibles in every 
 land and in every language ; and in sending missionaries to 
 preach in every country of the globe — and they will obtain a 
 glimpse of a truth which it concerns them to appreciate and 
 apply. I honour the men who haVe made these glorious ef- 
 forts, and who also, under the guidance of their common 
 sense, have diffused a vast amount of secular knowledge 
 through all ranks of society. Their aim has been pure and 
 elevated, and their means holy, although, through the preju- 
 dices of their education, they have too much neglected to 
 study nature in a right spirit. They have accomplished these 
 mighty ends by wielding the religious sentiments as their 
 lever ; yet these emotions, when systematically dissevered 
 from science, cannot have achieved their mightiest conquests 
 over human folly, ignorance, and suffering. What influence, 
 therefore, might not the men of science wield, and what 
 benefits might they not confer on mankind, if they only knew 
 their own position as the expounders and interpreters of the 
 language which creation is ever addressing to these emo-
 
 26 lifiiKU'ks on Salii'iutl Kilucation. 
 
 tions ! It' tlu'v saw that evei'y word which they utter in cor- 
 rect intorprotation of nature's constitution and course of ac- 
 tion carries the erticacy of Divine truth along with it for the 
 advancement of hinnan liappiness, how poor would appear 
 the condcscendini!; notice of a prince as a means of recom- 
 mending them to public consideration ! But have they not 
 done injustice to the prince \ Did he not come among them 
 merely to pay his respectful homage to the truths of nature, 
 and without an idea of gracing science by his pi'esence, or of 
 elevating its professors to a more dignified position in the 
 public estimation by his courtesies \ Rather let us believe 
 that Prince Albert came to the British Association as the 
 enlightened admirer of the Creator's wisdom revealed in 
 scientific truth, and esteemed himself honoured by being ad- 
 mitted into the temple of Nature's God, and into the society 
 of the interpreters of His will. 
 
 It may be objected that should men of science endeavour 
 to represent natvire as the workmanship of God, and to en- 
 list the moral and religious sentiments (Benevolence and 
 Conscientiousness, Wonder, Hope, and Veneration), by giv- 
 ing a living soul and a practical efl&cacy to their teaching, 
 they might in one year be under the necessity of recalling as 
 human error, views and principles which in the previous sea- 
 son they had taught as Divine truths, and that this would 
 desecrate religion and degrade science. I reply, that pene- 
 trating, well-informed, and conscientious men, in interpret- 
 ing the Book of Nature, would advance as Divine truths only 
 such facts and principles as appeared to them to be fully as- 
 certained ; and that, in interpreting the Scriptures, no other 
 or better security against erroneous and presumptuous teach- 
 ing can be found. When we contrast the conflicting views 
 of Scriptural doctrines which are every day emanating from 
 the press and the pulpit, it is certain that many professors 
 of Christianity are teaching as Divine truths, views which 
 are merely the emanations of their own misguided judgments. 
 But this is an evil inseparable from humanity. In the case 
 of teaching science as Divine truth, there would be this ad- 
 vantage, that no sect or college could claim a vested right 
 or prescriptive privilege of interpretation, and that religious 
 teaching would advance pari passu with scientific research 
 and discovery. Besides, errors would in time be detected 
 and exposed by their consequences. Difficulties may long 
 embaiTass us in natural as well as in revealed religion ; but 
 as a general principle it may be stated, that in natural reli- 
 gion every doctrine that is sound leads directly or indirectly 
 to beneficial temporal results, and every error to evil conse-
 
 lieinaiks on Naliunal Education. 27 
 
 quences. There is a test therefore in this world, by which 
 to try our interpretations of the Divine will in natural affairs ; 
 and this is a great safeguard against continuing in error. In 
 religious teaching concerning the life to come, no such test 
 exists. When one sect denounces the doctrines of another 
 as " soul-destroying errors," we cannot call in experience 
 to settle their merits until it be too late. From the other 
 world there is no return ; and instead, therefore, of God's 
 sacred name and authority being more liable to be abused in 
 teaching natural than revealed religion, the case is the re- 
 verse. In inculcating the latter, human presumption, igno- 
 rance, and folly, have a wider range of action than in teach- 
 ing the former. The Roman Catholics and Protestants, on 
 account of some trivial differences, respectively reject each 
 other's version of the Bible as spurious ; but Nature speaks 
 one language to all i 
 
 Another reason why these views may merit some con- 
 sideration is, that the Theology which is based exclusively 
 on Scripture and rejects the alliance of Nature, is actually 
 falling before the progress of science. I have travelled in 
 the United States of North America, in Germany, and Italy, 
 and held converse with men of cultivated minds in these 
 countries, as well as in the three divisions of the United 
 Kingdom ; and I venture to say that the Theology which con- 
 demns Nature and rejects her alliance, however vigorous, 
 powerful, and triuiuphant it may appear externally, is in the 
 course of its decline and fall, as no longer suited to an en- 
 lightened age. In Germany, the country in which the Re- 
 formation originated and from which it spread, and which 
 has since that epoch cultivated Theology in all its principles 
 and aspects with the deepest research and most unwearied 
 assiduity, — evangelical religion, as it is understood in this 
 country, has already fallen, and is no longer the faith of the 
 majority of the people. This decline has taken place, not 
 through reckless profanity, as in the case of the French Re- 
 volution, but in consequence of long-continued investigation 
 and discussion. This fact is known to, and its significance 
 is appreciated by, large numbers of influential men in the 
 higher, middle, and lower ranks of British society. The 
 masters of the prevalent Theology probably know or suspect 
 this to be the case, but do not correctly estimate the nature 
 and magnitude of the forces wdiich oppose them. Far from 
 receiving cordial support and encouragement from statesmen, 
 men of the world, the press, and men of science, they often 
 meet with cold indifference, plausible apologies, or direct 
 opposition ; but many of them mistake the cause of this unto-
 
 28 l>('//i(ir/is on National Kducalian. 
 
 \\M'y\ .stato of thiui;s. Is it not, that scienct' and reason have 
 jtroducLHl ill tlic niinils ol" these classes a silent conviction 
 tliat the 'riu'oloi;y in (Question is not a practical system 
 in this world's atiairs ? It is something which often em- 
 hari-asscs and obstructs the movements of society even to- 
 wui'ds secular good. It is a machinery that is out of order, 
 and cannot be made to work to the advantage of all. Nay, 
 the clergy of various sects are themselves men ; their facul- 
 ties too have been adapted to nature's laws and constitu- 
 tion ; and when light is abroad, they cannot remain in dark- 
 ness. The press is daily giving indications that a change 
 is proceeding even in their views ; and it is probable that, 
 in a few years hence, only a bold and good spirit will be 
 wanting to shake the theological fabric in this country to 
 the ground, as has already been done in Germany, — and 
 then it w ill become the duty of enlightened men to reconcile 
 the religion and morality of nature with that of Scripture, to 
 the infinite advantage of both and of the people. I cordially 
 subscribe to the pi'oposition, that "the Gates of Hell," or 
 error, will never prevail against the Church ; but the '• Gates 
 of Heaven," or higher and purer, more practical, and more 
 universal views of Divine truth, will prevail against all sects 
 and churches which set themselves in opposition to the mighty 
 march of man towards the fulfilment of his moral and social 
 destinies. 
 
 An instructive example of the practical results of teaching 
 religious doctrines irrespective of natural science and its 
 api)lications, is afforded by Ireland ; and I shall conclude 
 these remarks b}' exhibiting a brief outline of the history of 
 her educational efforts and their effects. 
 
 The Church of England long wielded the legislative powers 
 of Ireland through the medium of the Irish Parliament, which 
 was composed of Protestants alone, Roman Catholics being 
 rigidly excluded. These legislators apparently embraced 
 literally, and practically acted upon, the Church's views of 
 the nature of man, and held that there could be no beneficial 
 education except that which was based upon religious truth, 
 — and, moreover, that their own church was the sole deposi- 
 tory of that truth. They regarded the Roman Catholic faith 
 as fundamentally erroneous, and therefore incapable of af- 
 fording a sound basis for secular instruction. Under these 
 convictions, the Government of Ireland, " for nearly the whole 
 of the last century, laboured to promote Protestant education, 
 and tolerated no other. Large grants of public money were 
 voted for having children educated in the Protestant faith, 
 while it was made a transportable offence in a Roman Ca-
 
 liemarks on National Education. 29 
 
 iliolic (and if the party returned, high treason) to act as a 
 sehoohnaster, or assistant to a schoohnaster, or even as a 
 tutor in a private family.* The acts passed for this purpose 
 continued in force from 1709 to 1782. They were then re- 
 pealed, but Parliament continued to vote money for the sup- 
 port only of schools conducted on principles which were re- 
 garded by tlie great body of the Roman Catholics as ex- 
 clusively Protestant, until the present system (the Irish 
 National School system) was established in 1832."t 
 
 These words are quoted from the Sixth Report of the 
 Commissioners of National Education in Ireland, § 10, p. 
 135, and are deeply instructive. It was a fundamental error 
 in the Protestant Irish Parliament to entertain the view 
 of human nature which lies at the bottom of these en- 
 actments. Man does not possess a single power which is 
 essentially and " of its own nature inclined to evil," as the 
 Church teaches us. On the contrary, there is a legitimate 
 sphere of action for every function of the body and every 
 faculty of the mind ; and it is only the abuses of these, through 
 ignorance and unfavourable influences, that constitute error 
 and crime, and lead to misery. There was in man, there- 
 fore, from the first, and there is now in him, a capacity for 
 education, by the development and right direction of his 
 natural gifts ; and both his own constitution and that of the 
 external world are arranged with reference to that develop- 
 ment, to render him prosperous and happy in proportion as 
 he pursues it in a right direction, or miserable if he neglects 
 it, or pursues it in a wrong way. Apparently the Protestant 
 Government of Ireland, beingdisbelievers in these institutions 
 of Divine Providence, and sincerely convinced that the Protes- 
 tant religious faith afforded the ortly basis for a sound educa- 
 tion, placed the before-recited enactments on the statute-book ; 
 and the consequences are now before us. The diffusion of the 
 Roman Catholic faith in Ireland has not been checked ; be- 
 cause sectarian education being in its own nature separable 
 from secular, the priests of that religion continued to in- 
 struct their flocks in their own doctrinal tenets, and have 
 reared nearly seven millions of human beings devoted to 
 them in soul and body, and ready to sacrifice every thing that 
 is dear to humanity, including life itself, in their defence. But 
 these statutes effectually prevented the instruction of the 
 Irish people in the great laws of Providence on which social 
 order and temporal prosperity depend : They prohibited tlie 
 
 * See Sth Anne. c. .S, and 9th William 11!., c. 1. 
 
 t See Letter from Ijord Stanley to the l»uke of Jjeinster, oti X\v> oricinjii 
 forrnaiion of tlie National Board; dated London, October 18^1.
 
 30 Iif/tiari-s on XationnI Ednrntion. 
 
 cultivation of their intellectual powers, and the development 
 of thoir moral sontimonts, on wliich hang the security of per- 
 son and property, public trancpiillity, and many of the enjoy- 
 ments and amenities of private life. All this, I say, was deli- 
 bei'ately and systematically prevented by Parliament ; and we 
 now see a sincerely devotional people (for no candid observer 
 can doubt that the Irish Roman Catholic peasantry are sin- 
 cerely and deeply devotional) deplorably deficient in mental 
 energy and industry, sunk in the lowest depths of helpless po- 
 verty, and — under the sutferings engendered by want — turbu- 
 lent and murderous, false in covenants, untrue as Avitnesses, 
 and wild and impulsive in revengeful action. Truly, when 
 viewed in this light, they do seem to realize the orthodox de- 
 scription of human nature ; but this is only the dark side of 
 their character. In more favourable circumstances they are 
 kindly, cheerful, affectionate, and respectful to superiors; shew- 
 ingthat they still possess the higher feelings of our nature : But 
 how far may not their fearful aberrations and deficiencies have 
 been aggravated by the imperfections of their training and 
 education ? Their qualities as a race may present obstacles 
 to their improvement ; but this affords no apology for having 
 denied them, for so many generations, the means of secular 
 education, except at tbe price of their religious faith. By 
 prohibiting the use of the natural means for drawing forth 
 the human powers in the sphere of virtue, the law has allowed 
 them to luxuriate in that of vice ; and in the present condition 
 of Ireland, we read the consequences attached by the Author 
 of nature to the neglect and infringement of His laws. We 
 see the beau-ideal of the results of dogmatic teaching, when 
 secular instruction is dissevered from it. In England and 
 Scotland, a higher natural endowment of mind in the people, 
 and more favourable circumstances, have led to the infusion 
 of a certain amount of secular instruction into the schools 
 for religious teaching ; but among the Irish peasantry, for 
 many generations, the priest alone was the instructor. Secu- 
 lar knowledge cultivates habits of correct observation of 
 things which exist, of just appreciation of the efi'ects of their 
 qualities and modes of action, and of forethought and consider- 
 ation regarding the adaptation of our conduct to their influ- 
 ences. Purely doctrinal teaching — that is, the cultivation of 
 Wonder, Cautiousness, Hope, and Veneration, as the leading 
 emotions — fills the mind with fearful or sublime contempla- 
 tions and aspirations, having their issues chiefly in eternity ; 
 and as these doctrines appeal to faith more than to reason, 
 they do not cultivate habits of exact observation and reflec- 
 tion on this world's constitution and laws. They do not ne-
 
 Itemarks on National Education. 31 
 
 cessai'ily direct the attention of the mind to the proper ar- 
 rangement and administration of secular affairs in conformity 
 with the laws by which they are governed ; but divert it 
 away from them, and concentrate it beyond them in regions 
 of eternal misery, or of glory and bliss. Ii'eland has been 
 taught according to these principles, and her people are em- 
 bued with them ; yet, because this world is an existing reality, 
 instituted and governed by God according to laws adapted by 
 Him to its present condition, and because man has been 
 fashioned by Him in relation to it, and required by his con- 
 stitution to act in intelligent accordance with its qualities 
 and agencies, and because much of this department of Divine 
 teaching has been neglected in the education of the people of 
 Ireland, — they present the spectacle of poverty and igno- 
 rance, and of crime and misery, which now appals the world. 
 Again, therefore, I venture to repeat, that an important use 
 of the religious sentiments is to lead ?nen to study, venerate, and 
 obey, God's secular institutions; and after they have done 
 their duty in this department, they may be legitimately em- 
 ployed in expatiating in the fields of eternity. 
 
 In 1832, as already mentioned, the British Government, 
 moved, not by religious teachers of any sect, but by its own 
 secular perceptions, instituted the existing Commission for 
 aiding in a national education of Ireland on different prin- 
 ciples. Lord Stanley, then Secretary for Ireland, in his let- 
 ter to the Duke of Leinster, before referred to, says : — " The 
 Commissioners, in 1812, recommended the appointment of a 
 Board to superintend a system of education, from which 
 should be banished even the suspicion of proselytism, and 
 which, admitting children of all religious persuasions, should 
 not interfere with the religious tenets of any. The Govern- 
 ment of the day imagined that they had found a superintend- 
 ing body, acting under a system such as was recommended, 
 and entrusted the distribution of the national Grants to the 
 'care of the Kildare Street Society. His Majesty's present 
 Government are of opinion, that no private society, deriving 
 a part, however small, of their annual income from private 
 sources, and only made the channel of the munificence of the 
 Legislature, without being subject to any direct responsibility, 
 could adequately and satisfactorily accomplish the end pro- 
 posed." He proceeds to mention, that this Society, with the 
 purest motives, enforced " the reading of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, without note or comment, in all their schools ;" and 
 that their efforts to teach the Roman Catholic population 
 proved abortive, because this Church denies, " even to adults, 
 the right of unaided private interpretation of the sacred vo-
 
 32 /it'ffiarK's on National Education. 
 
 lurae with respect to articles of religious belief." The Ro- 
 man Catholic cloro'v " exerted tlicinselves with enerf>y and 
 success" aii'ainst tlie system. •' 'J'iie Oonnnissioners of Edu- 
 cation, in 1SJ4-5. sensible of the defects of the system, re- 
 comniendeil the ajtpointnient of two teachers in every school, 
 one Protestant and the other llonian Catholic, to superintend 
 separately the relii;ious education of the children ;" " hut it 
 was soon found that these schemes were impracticable,'' and, 
 in 1828, a Committee of the House of Commons " recom- 
 mended a system to be adopted, which should atlbrd, if pos- 
 sible, a combined literary, and a separate religious education, 
 and should be capable of being so far adapted to the views of 
 the religious persuasions which prevail in Ireland, as to ren- 
 der it, in truth, a system of national education for the poorer 
 classes of the community." 
 
 Accordingly, Commissioners were appointed, " composed 
 of men of high personal character, including individuals of 
 exalted station in the Church," and " of persons professing 
 different religious opinions ; and Parliament placed funds at 
 their disposal, to execute this beneficent object. The Com- 
 missioners proceeded to their task in a pure, upright, and 
 enlightened spirit ; and their first regulation is, that " the or- 
 dinary school business, during which all the children, of what- 
 ever denomination they be, are required to attend, and which 
 is expected to embrace a competent number of hours in each 
 day, is to consist exclusively of instruction in those branches of 
 knowledje whicli lelonj to literary and moral education. Such 
 extracts from the Scriptures as are prepared under the sanc- 
 ticn of the Board may be used, and are earnestly recom- 
 mended by the Board to be used, during those hours allotted 
 to this ordinary school business." The second regulation is, 
 that " one day in each week (independently of Sunday) is to 
 be set apart for religious instruction of the children ; on which 
 day, such pastors or other persons as are approved of by the 
 parents or guardians of the children, shall have access to 
 them for that purpose, whether these pastors have signed the 
 original application (placing the school under the Commis- 
 sioners; or not." There are still other liberal and judicious 
 regulations for increasing the facilities for separate religious 
 instruction which I need not quote. 
 
 Tried by the principles which I have now laid down, these 
 proceedings were essentially sound. That is to say, there is 
 a vast field of knowledge, physical, moral, religious, and in- 
 tellectual, relating to this world and its administration, which 
 is independent of all notions concerning the best means of 
 securing happiness in a future state, and which Jew, Chris-
 
 Remarks on National Education. 33 
 
 tian, and Pagan, must equally study, and on which they must 
 equally practise, before they can secure to themselves pros- 
 perity on earth ; and as the functions of Government are li- 
 mited to the present world, this field is the only one over 
 which it can legitimately exercise any control. These prin- 
 ciples were essentially recognised and acted on by the Le- 
 gislature, when it appointed the Irish Board of Education. 
 
 They did not, indeed, profess to take up this position ; but 
 they approached as near to it as circumstances would per- 
 mit. The nation consisted of the sects A, B, C, and D, each 
 of which was deeply impressed with the importance of reli- 
 gious instruction, and also of secular education, to the young; 
 but A held certain opinions on points of faith which B, C, 
 and D rejected ; B held some opinions, the soundness of 
 which A, C, and D disputed ; and so with C and D, each of 
 which had its peculiar views, — belief in which it made an in- 
 dispensable condition of admission to its schools. The con- 
 sequence of these differences was, that educational effort was 
 paralysed, and schools either did not exist, or were compara- 
 tively empty. The British Parliament solved the difficulty, 
 by leaving all sects and individuals to manage their own 
 schools, and teach their own children in secular and religi- 
 ous knowledge, in their own way ; but it proffered a helping 
 hand, in the form of pecuniary aid, to such of them as were 
 willing to open and conduct schools on the principles, secu- 
 lar and religious, in which all were agreed. This agreement 
 was secured by placing the schools under Commissioners 
 chosen from different sects, each of whom had a veto on teach- 
 ing any doctrine of which he did not approA^e. These com- 
 missioners were able, liberal, and enlightened men, and 
 speedily discovered a vast field of- solid information, both se- 
 cular and religious, respecting the truth and utility of which 
 they were unanimous ; and they followed out the instructions 
 9f Parliament by teaching this to the people. Their books 
 embrace the elements of literature, science, morals, and re- 
 ligion, the latter generally expressed in Scripture language; 
 but they contain few sectarian doctrines.* 
 
 What reception did this wise measure meet with from the 
 Church of England and many other religious sects \ It was 
 decried as infidel and godless, misrepresented, abused, and 
 opposed, in the most unscrupulous and unmeasured terms. 
 In the name of the religion of truth, the grossest misrepre- 
 -sentation was resorted to, in order to excite the public indig- 
 
 * Among their books is an oxcellent little work on the " Rvidonces" of ('liria- 
 tianity, which has obtained the approbation of all the ('ommissioners. 
 
 C
 
 34 
 
 Tkcmnrks oti Nafional Education. 
 
 nation against it. But the excellent sense, truly Christian 
 spirit, and calm temper of the Commissioners, with the Arcli- 
 bishop uf Dublin and the Ivonuin Catholic Archbisliop, Dr 
 Murray, at their head, meekly sustained and triumphed over 
 every hostile attack ; they persevered in the wise and virtu- 
 ous measures prescribed by Parliament, and their success 
 has been correspondingly great. The following Table, ex- 
 tracted from their last Reports, speaks for itself : — 
 
 Table shewing the Progressive Increase in the National Schools, 
 and the Number of Children in attendance upon them, from 
 the date of the First Report of the Commissioners of National 
 Education in Ireland, to the ^\st of December 1845. 
 
 No. 
 
 Date of Report. 
 
 No. of 
 Schools in 
 
 1 
 
 No. of Children 
 on the Rolls. 
 
 
 
 
 Operation. 
 
 
 1 
 
 Dec. 31, 
 
 1833. 
 
 789 
 
 \ 107,042 
 
 2 
 
 March 31 
 
 , 1835. 
 
 1106 
 
 i 145,521 
 
 3 
 
 
 1836. 
 
 1181 
 
 153,707 
 
 4 
 
 
 1837. 
 
 1300 
 
 166,928 
 
 5 
 
 
 1838. 
 
 1384 
 
 1 169,548 
 
 6 
 
 Dec. 31, 
 
 1839. 
 
 1581 
 
 ! 192,971 
 
 7 
 
 
 1840. 
 
 1978 
 
 232,560 
 
 8 
 
 
 1841. 
 
 2337 
 
 281,849 
 
 9 
 
 
 1842. 
 
 2721 
 
 319,792 
 
 10 
 
 
 1843. 
 
 2912 
 
 355,320 
 
 11 
 
 
 1844. 
 
 3153 
 
 395,550 
 
 12 
 
 
 1845. 
 
 3426 
 
 432,844 
 
 This is a triumphant return, and similar principles have 
 obtained similar success in the United States of North Ame- 
 rica. Although that country is characterised by a great va- 
 riety of zealous religious sects, yet it has established State 
 schools, supported by public taxation, and superintended by 
 State-appointed Boards of Education selected from all sects. 
 In these the elements of secular knoivledge and of universal mo- 
 rality and religion are taught, but all sectarian teaching is 
 excluded, this being furnished by the parents and pastors of 
 the children at separate hours ; and these schools, too, have 
 succeeded. They also have been opposed by sectarian men,
 
 Bemarks on National Education. 35 
 
 and reviled as " infidel and godless ;" but nevertheless they 
 have been successful, and are conferring invaluable blessings 
 on the rising generation. 
 
 Let us, then, briefly re-survey the history of education in 
 the sister kingdom. The Irish Government first left the Ro- 
 man Catholic population of that country for nearly a century 
 to the influence of religious teaching alone, prohibiting, un- 
 der the severest penalties, secular instruction from being 
 given to them by the only class of persons from whom they 
 would receive it. Secondly, it tried to connect secular in- 
 struction with reading of the Protestant version of the Scrip- 
 tures, as an indispensable condition ; and its efforts on these 
 two principles egregiously failed. Thirdly, the British and 
 American Legislatures have established schools, supported 
 and controlled by the State, for communicating secular and 
 religious instruction, exclusive of all peculiarities of secta- 
 rian faith ; and, in spite of violent and powerful opposition, 
 they have been successful. According to my reading of the 
 order of creation, the failure of the sectarian, and the suc- 
 cess of the universal systems, aff"ord instructive practical les- 
 sons to the statesman ; for beneficial results are at once the 
 evidence and the reward of the soundness of the principles 
 by which they are attained. 
 
 In the preceding pages, I have endeavoured to shew that 
 Government has a right even to compel its subjects to receive 
 such secular instruction as is necessary to qualify them for the 
 discharge of their social duties ; but I am satisfied that no com- 
 pulsion would be necessary, and i do not advocate it, till all 
 means of moral persuasion and voluntary influence have been 
 tried, and failed. In the United States and in Ireland, there 
 is no compulsion ; and entertaining, as I do, the fullest con- 
 fidence in the might and efficacy of moral means, when ho- 
 nestly and judiciously applied, I am no advocate for the use 
 of physical force to accomplish a moral end. But as the 
 right and the duty of the State at all to interfere in educa- 
 tion have been contested by men whose opinions are entitled 
 to great respect, I have considered it proper to grapple with 
 the objection, and sift it to the bottom, to the best of my 
 ability. 
 
 I have intentionally avoided details, and, consequently, I 
 may thereby have left my views on many points imperfectly 
 unfolded : — Still it is hoped that enough has been said to 
 start the questions, — Whether there be, or be not, in the na- 
 ture of man, and in that of the external world, and in the re- 
 lations subsisting between them, a fund of instruction ema- 
 nating from God, enforced by his secular authority, and ad-
 
 36 licinarks on Xdtioiuil Education. 
 
 (Iresseil by lliiu to the human faculties, calcuhited to lead us 
 to secuhir happiness and prosperity, irrespective of every 
 opinion eoncorninii; the liest means of seeurinc; happiness in a 
 future state i — Whether all scriptural precepts, relating to 
 this world and its ati'airs, dt) not harmonise with, sanction, 
 and su])]iort the rules tV)r lunnan conduct, dedueible from the 
 constitution and order of Nature \ — And, Whether it be not 
 possible to blend the instruction emanating from these two 
 sources, in a system of national education I If the answers be 
 in the atlirmative, then national education will be practicable 
 by omitting merely the peculiarities of religious belief; — 
 peculiarities which relate almost entirely to forms of church 
 government, and the means of securing happiness in a future 
 life : If not, national education is now, and will continue to 
 be, impracticable, until all our fellow-subjects are agreed in 
 their religious views, regarding both this world and the next. 
 If the lay members of the community, who concur essentially 
 in the atRrmative, will take courage and honestly avow their 
 opinions, they will find that their number is legion, and their 
 power irresistible ; and many of the clergy, of all sects, will 
 in their hearts rejoice in the prospect of having the glorious 
 fields of God's natural providence opened up to their people 
 as sources of practical instruction, and of elevating and puri- 
 fying emotion. All this seems to be attainable under a 
 scheme of national education such as is already in operation 
 in Ireland, and with this every welhvisher of the country may 
 be satisfied. 
 
 In conclusion, I may notice a point of much importance, 
 which has not yet been generally considered, viz., the rela- 
 tion in which science stands to the prevalent standards of re- 
 ligious belief. Although inquiry into this subject has long 
 been shunned equally by men of science and by theologians, 
 nevertheless it lies at the threshold of all sound legislation 
 on secular education, and it cannot therefore be much longer 
 avoided. The following questions present themselves to our 
 consideration. 
 
 1st, Is there an order of nature or not \ (In the Consti- 
 tution of Man and Moral Fldlosophy I have endeavoured to 
 shew that there is an order of nature, and to describe some of 
 its leading features.) 
 
 2dly, If there is an order of nature — is it adapted with in- 
 telligent design to the human constitution, physical and men- 
 tal, in such a manner as to connect temporal enjoyment with 
 conduct in harmony with that order, and suffering with ac- 
 tions done in opposition to it \ 
 
 If the true answers be in the negative, then Revelation
 
 Bemarks on National Education. 37 
 
 appears to be the only possible foundation for all sound edu- 
 cation. There will be no other. 
 
 But if the answers be in the affirmative, then the 6es; basis 
 for secular education will be instruction in the order of na- 
 ture, and in its adaptations to the human mind and body ; 
 for on the observance or neglect of these will essentially de- 
 pend the temporal wellbeing or adversity of each individual 
 in this world. 
 
 Farther, as the religious sentiments exist in man, and ex- 
 ercise a powerful influence on his actions, it becomes impor- 
 tant to inquire into the relation in which religious instruction 
 stands to the order of nature. If there be discord between 
 them, no proper wholesome development of the whole mental 
 and physical powers can be accomplished. If religious doc- 
 trines conflicting with the order of nature be taught, there 
 must be deflection from truth and consistency, in the opera- 
 tion of the intellectual, of the moral, or of the religious fa- 
 culties, to enable them to embrace inconsistencies ; and this 
 weakens the whole mind. It places it in swaddling-clothes, 
 and frightens it from advancing boldly in the career of its 
 own natural development. The doctrines of the different 
 sects differ widely from each other, and hence they cannot all 
 be in harmony with nature. But the order of nature is pa- 
 ramount and perpetual ; and it is mere weakness to shrink 
 from the inquiry here suggested. Consequences of the deepest 
 importance are involved in it ; and sooner or later it will force 
 itself on the understanding of the country — and the sooner 
 the better. 
 
 If there be an order of nature adapted by God to the con- 
 stitution of the human mind and body, the Government should 
 on no account patronise a scheme of secular education in 
 which instruction in that order is either to be omitted, or 
 made subservient or secondary to sectarian religious teach- 
 ing. Temporal happiness, either of individuals or of society, 
 cannot possibly advance except in harmony with the order of 
 nature ; and to omit it, as is at present done in many semi- 
 naries controlled by religious sects, is worse than to act the 
 tragedy of Hamlet omitting the character of its hero. It is 
 substituting human error (for the sects cannot all be teach- 
 ing truth) in the place of Divine wisdom. The compara- 
 tively limited beneficial results which have hitherto followed 
 our educational eff'orts, are, in my opinion, owing to this sub- 
 stitution. Religious teaching, in so far as it transcends oris 
 not coincident with the order of nature, should be left to the 
 parents and pastors of the children ; the Government should 
 on principle avoid it, as a source of contention, embarrass-
 
 :^8 
 
 Itt'warA's on National Education. 
 
 nuMit, and weakness, and rely on t(.'at'liin<>- the laws of nature 
 ami tlioir i-olations, supported by tlie uutliority of Scripture, 
 and entoreed by the fervour of the relig-ious sentiments, as 
 the stable foundations of secular happiness. The tendency 
 of such a course of public instruction will be to correct all 
 theoloo^ieal doctrines relative to this world which are dis- 
 covered to be at variance with the order of nature. It ap- 
 pears to me that the practical precepts of Christianity are to 
 a remarkable extent in harmony with it; and that hence a 
 system of public education, such as that adopted in Ireland, 
 will admit of the order of nature being taught, whenever the 
 dilferent sects become so enlightened as to discover its im- 
 portance — a consummation which would be the sooner reached 
 if none of them had the power of substituting their own wis- 
 dom in place of that of the Creator. 
 
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