103 



AN ESSAY ON THE EXPEDIENCY AND MEANS OF 

 ELEVATING THE PROFESSION OF THE EDU- 

 CATOR IN THE ESTIMATION OF THE PUBLIC. 



" Wie kommts ? 1st etwa der Bildung der Menschennatur an sich selbst 

 eine geringere Kunst, als die Tanz — die Schauspiel — die Gesang — die Reit- 

 kunst, und die Kenntniss der Modenartikel ? 1st etwa wirklich die Fertig- 

 keit des Tanzers, die Bildung des Schauspielers, die Kunst eines Sangers, die 

 Sattelfestigkeit des Reuters, und das Wissen eines Modehandlers raehr 

 werth, als der Umfang der Erfordernisse der Menschenbildung im Ganzen ? 



" So viel ist gewiss : der Mensch, das MeisterstUck der Schopfung, sollte 

 auch das Meisterstiick seiner selbst, das Meisterstlick seiner kunst seyn. 



" Aber ist er*s, nachdem er Jahrtausende gelebt hat, ist er's. Kann er 

 jeztauf seinen Lorbeeren ruhen, und es aussprechen : ich bin was ich seyn 

 soil ?" — Wocchenschript fur Menschenbildung.* 



PART I— "THE EXPEDIENCY." 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



Intelligence is the sublimest characteristic of God, for it is that 

 which actuates all the divine attributes, pervades the universe, and 

 reflects through creation the visible similitude of the divine wisdom. 



Intelligence is the high prerogative of man, created first with all 

 his appetences eager for a pleasurable existence, his nature had yet 

 to receive a nobler distinction in the approachable likeness to God, 

 who shed over him the lustrous beatitude of his own image, and 

 man became the reflective intelligence of his maker. 



Intelligence therefore is the connective affinity between God and 

 man, and though the original excellence of the soul be lost, and her 

 brightness obscured, into the spiritual Eden kept and cultivated to 



• How ! Is, then, the education of human nature in itself less important 

 than the knowledge of dancing, of the drama, of singing, of horsemanship, 

 and the fashionable accomplishment of the day — is then, indeed, the expert- 

 ness of the dancer, the science of the actor, the art of the singer, the skill of 

 the horseman, or the wisdom of the fashionist, of more worth than the com- 

 pass of the necessary education of human nature in the whole ? 



So much is certain : man, the masterpiece of creation, should also be the 

 masterpiece of himself, and the masterpiece of his art. 



But is it so ? After the experience of a thousand years, is he perfected ? 

 Can he now repose upon his laurels and exclaim, < I am what I should be ?* 



