32 LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES, AND REVIEWS. [in. 



we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, 

 or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance. To the 

 man who plays well, the highest stakes are paid, with that 

 sort of overflowing generosity with which the strong 

 shows delight in strength. And one who plays ill is 

 checkmated — without haste, but without remorse. 



My metaphor will remind some of you of the famous 

 picture in which Eetzsch has depicted Satan playing at 

 chess with man for his soul. Substitute for the mocking 

 fiend in that picture, a calm, strong angel who is playing 

 for love, as we say, and would rather lose than win — and 

 I should accept it as an image of human life. 



Well, what I mean by Education is learning the rules 

 of this mighty game. In other words, education is the 

 instruction of the intellect in the laws of Nature, under 

 which name I include not merely things and their forces, 

 but men and their ways ; and the fashioning of the 

 affections and of the will into an earnest and loving 

 desire to move in harmony with those laws. For me, 

 education means neither more nor less than this. Any- 

 thing which professes to call itself education must be 

 tried by this standard, and if it fails to stand the test, I 

 will not call it education, whatever may be the force of 

 authority, or of numbers, upon the other side. 



It is important to remember that, in strictness, there 

 is no such thins; as an uneducated man. Take an' ex- 

 treme case. Suppose that an adult man, in the full 

 vigour of his faculties, could be suddenly placed in the 

 world, as Adam is said to have been, and then left to 

 do as he best might. How long would he be left 

 uneducated ? Not five minutes. Nature would begin 

 to teach him, through the eye, the ear, the touch, the 

 properties of objects. Pain and pleasure would be at his 

 elbow telling him to do this and avoid that; and by slow 

 degrees the man would receive an education, which, if 



