Christianity and Education, Second Paper [pp. 297-301]

CHRISTIA4NITY AND EDUC,TION.
respecter of persons, as they stand in the naked
dignity of human nature before him, she has
diffused the idea of equality, and has taught
Christianized humanity that every poor man, as
well as every rich one, has the undoubted birth right to religious instruction and the elements
of knowledge. Touching the springs of human
charity, she has opened up to education the
fountains of benevolence, and is crowning the
hills and adorning the valleys with universities,
and colleges, and seminaries. Revealing clearer
views of human society, she teaches man to
purify the moral atmosphere about him, "to
keep good sentiments uppermost, to turn the
strong current of feeling and opinion against
ignorance, immorality, and crime, and to expect
more from the prevalence of enlightened and
well-principled moral sentiment than from the
censures of law or the punishments of crime."
Hence she is planting on every square of our
cities and towns, and embowering in the groves
about our villages and farmhouses, the public
school-house. She has taught us the lesson
that enlightened virtue is the source and guardian of human happiness, but that she herself
is the source and palladium of that virtue.
But Christianity also comes to us as an agent
in the investigation of truth; thus enlarging
and perfecting the sphere of our knowledge.
Human science has made great and rapid
strides in modern times, but it has only been in
Christian countries-it has been where God's
own Revelation has been shedding its light
over his own works. Christianity has cleared
the intellectual vision of the world; has moved
old errors out of the way; has given right
direction to human thought and scientific investigation; has furnished wholesome boundaries to philosophy, beyond which she has
shown to lie the useless regions of superstition;
she has discarded speculation, and taught us to
look for facts, to reason from these alone, and
avoid profitless hypothesis. She has-given us
the Baconian methods of searching for truth,
instead of the ancient guesses, which only led
to error. Science has consented to lay aside
'some of her ancient pride and to accept helpto take with her as guide and interpreter the
volume of inspiration, and to read in the light
of the Creator's revelation the mysteries and
problems of his creation.
What results may be expected to follow from
such a union? Rather what results have already followed? The co-operation of science
and Revelation, the harmonious mingling of
God's wisdom and man's science, is the secret
of the mighty impetus which moves modern
society, and which gives to modern science its
great power and astonishing success. By this
union man has been freed from the dominion
of imagination working without facts, of speculation moving without data, of hypothesis built
iwithout foundations. He is safely conducted
over the chasm of fancy and superstition, and is
furnished with the true instruments of investigation and with great fundamental principles,
true and fixed, from which to start on his explorations of the vast field of God's works.
Under these new circumstances Nature freely
yields her secrets; the origin, design, and destiny of the world unfold themselves before our
investigations; the mysteries and problems of
human life and history arrange themselves in
order and harmony; and the very elements of
Nature become subservient to human science
and art. "The day is coming when science,
literature, and religion, already daughters of
one family, shall be dwellers in one home.
Science shall shade her torch and stoop her
telescope before the throne of the Eternal.
Literature shall pursue her studies, and dream
her dreams in the magic atmosphere of heaven's
own day; and religion shall take her two sisters
by the hand, smile on them with the serene and
majestic love of a superior nature, introduce
them to the presence chamber of the King of
Kings, and in a threefold cord shall be united
with them forever."
Again, Christianity has exerted its powerful
influence on human society, placing it in the
most favorable attitude for the highest achievements of education, giving it a civilization which
only springs from her benign influence, characterized by elevation of sentiment, refinement
of manners, activity in every department of
life, wide-spread charities, equality of sexes,
and liberality of government. These are the
circumstances most favorable to imparting and
acquiring education. It is in such an atmosphlere the mind works most freely; it is here
she has made her loftiest flights and achieved
her sublimest triumphs. But these circumstances are the products of Christianity. "We
are compelled to admit, as a fact of hist6ry,"
said Coleridge, "that we owe the largest part
of our present knoaledge, directly or indirectly,
to the Bible; and that Christianity, however
much we may neglect it, and turn aside to quote
other guides and authorities in morals, politics,
and history, has been the main lever by which
the moral and intellectual character of Europe
has been raised to its present comparative
height." And how Christianity accomplishes
this result is naively told us by an old English
divine: "Were a man designed only like a fly,
to buzz about here for a time, sucking in the air,
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