EDITOR'S TABLE. 



127 



sufficiently notorious to be well 

 within the knowledge of normal 

 students, and therefore to tell such 

 students without qualification that 

 the Bible contained the one absolute 

 standard of right was simply casting 

 dust in their eyes. It is of prime 

 importance that the teachers of the 

 future should be taught to be hon- 

 est in their intellectual methods, but 

 here was a direct lesson — so at least 

 we regard it— in dishonesty. The 

 moral is, when a discussion threat- 

 ens to develop in a a dangerous " di- 

 rection, cut it short or shunt it on to 

 another track. We should not teach 

 that to normal students; we should 

 not teach it to anybody. We may 

 properly teach caution in dealing 

 with difficult subjects, and may 

 point out the errors to which logical 

 processes are always liable; but we 

 should never inculcate the duty of 

 closing the eyes to unwelcome facts. 

 The cause of the Bible is not served 

 by those who put forward conven- 

 tional views in regard to it and seek 

 to exempt these from criticism. Like 

 all else that is good, the Bible only 

 gains in influence and just authority 

 through being represented simply as 

 it is. 



In the same school, the subject of 

 the will being under discussion, the 

 teacher inquired how the will was 

 cultivated. The answer given — cor- 

 rect, we are informed, according to 

 the book — was as follows: " The will 

 is cultivated by cultivating the intel- 

 lect, which enables the miud to judge 

 more wisely what is the highest good ; 

 by listening to the voice of conscience 

 in regulating the natural impulses; 

 by resolving to do always what ought 

 to be done. " It seems wonderful that 

 the futility of such talk is not self- 

 evident. If the object was to teach 

 the students how to use words with- 

 out meaning anything by them we 

 should think this particular exercise 

 well chosen. We are to cultivate the 



will " by listening to the voice of con- 

 science in regulating the impulses," 

 and ''by resolving to do always what 

 ought to be done." But people who 

 can '" listen to the voice of conscience " 

 so as to control their impulses, nud 

 who are capable of " resolving to do 

 always what ought to be done," have 

 their will already cultivated : we do 

 not see what more they want. Then 

 surely the teacher who approved of 

 the statement that by cultivating the 

 intellect we enable the mind to judge 

 more wisely what is the highest good 

 must have forgotten that only a short 

 time before he had taught the class 

 that the Word of God contained the 

 one perfect standard of right action. 

 What is the use of cultivating our 

 intellects in order to find out what is 

 fully set forth for our guidance in a 

 book accessible to all ? A standard 

 once given is something to use, not 

 to dispute about. 



We must, however, quote verba- 

 tim Mr. Burk's experience in another 

 school. 



One recitation that I heard was upon the 

 formation of judgments. 



" What is a judgment ? " asked the teacher, 

 as he picked off a card from a pack con- 

 taining the names of the members of the 

 class. 



"A judgment," replied the pupil upon 

 whom the lot fell, "is a relation between 

 concepts." 



" What is the act of judging? " was asked 

 as a fresh card was turned. 



"The act of judging," said the pupil, "is 

 the act of knowing that the concept of the 

 species is included in the concept of the 

 genus." 



" Give an example." 



"In the judgment 'a dog is an animal,' 

 the act of judging is the act of knowing that 

 the concept ' dog ' is included in the concept 

 'animal.' " 



" In what two ways may concepts he com- 

 pared? " 



" Concepts may be compared in two ways 

 — as to content and as to extent." 



" What is a judgment of content ? " 



"A judgment of content is the knowing 

 that the content of one judgment is included 

 in the content of another." 



