The Education Question [pp. 504-544]

518 The Education Question. [JULY,
effectually and safely applied by individuals, by voluntary
organizations, or by the Church, than by the State, then the
latter is not bound to employ these means. But if there is no
other adequate provision for the accomplishment of the desired
end, it is clearly the right and duty of the State to interfere.
It is the universal conviction that popular education is necessary for the public good; it is a no less general conviction that
a work so vast as the education of the whole population cannot
be accomplished effectually, except by the systematical exercise
of the power of the State, and by the application of its
resources. We know no one, therefore, who ventures to deny
the right in question.
All this is confirmed by the Scriptures. God, in ordaining
civil government for the protection of men and for the promotion of the public good, did thereby invest it with all the powers
requisite for the attainment of its object. He holds magistrates
responsible for the conduct and character of the people, which
implies that they have by divine right the authority to teach, or
cause them to be taught, whatever is necessary to their well being.
The numerous commands given in Scripture to have the people
taught, are not addressed to individuals only, but to the community, i. e., they are addressed to men not only in their separate but in their organized capacity. Nations as nations are
addressed, commanded, encouraged, and threatened. Ignorance of God and of his law, is condemned and punished as
a national sin. The Bible everywhere recognizes the principle that nations, as such, should be under the control of the
law of God, and that they should not forget or allow the knowledge of that law to fail from among the people.
It may be said, and has often been assumed, however, that
though the State has authority to provide for secular education,
it has no right to interfere in teaching religion. This is the
ground taken by many advocates of the exclusion of religion
from our public schools. It is said the State has no religion;
that it has no means of determining what the true religion is;
that religious instruction in common schools is the first step
towards ecclesiastical domination, or the union of the Church
and the State.
If, however, the State is bound to educate at all, it is bound