114 



THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION. 



Every genuine lover of science must deeply regret that the dif- 

 ferences existing among men, with regard to political government 

 and religious discipline, should so frequently interrupt and destroy 

 that general harmony which ought to exist in a civilized communi- 

 ty. This contrariety of sentiment too often, hy circumscribing the 

 bounds of social intercourse, checks the extension of intellectual 

 improvement and the dissemination of the most valuable knowledge. 

 Thus it is, that party spirit, like a chilling blight, withers the pro- 

 mising bud of science and engenders a canker worm in the fairest 

 blossom of the tree of knowledge. All classes of society, even the 

 most talented individuals of the land, seem occasionally to be subject 

 to the domination of this false and misguiding prejudice. All such 

 discrepancies would be reconciled if human wisdom could attain 

 perfection and become universal. But however powerfully this de- 

 sirable consummation may have been exhibited in theory, it is utter- 

 ly impossible to be practically exemplified so long as the passions 

 and infirmities which now sway the human mind remain in full 

 action. And what power of man can exterminate evil from the 

 world ; or what golden dream of purity and bliss will not the wak- 

 ing stern reality of misery and degradation dispel ? 



The thraldom of the dark ages is now passed away ; the light of 

 knowledge has dawned upon the world, and continues to shine with 

 increasing splendour ; the stream of wisdom has spread far and wide 

 through distant lands, and enriched with its jewelled sand the 

 remotest shores. The amelioration of the moral and physical condi- 

 tion of men, with the consequent improvement of their social and 

 intellectual capabilities has been the result. All great and exten- 

 sive changes in the mental economy of man, are universally acknow- 

 ledged to be best effected by slow and gradual means. There is no 

 golden way to wisdom — no enchanter's wand by which the rude 

 and primitive barbarian of some insulated spot could be at. once 

 changed into the civilized member of polished society. The light of 

 knowledge makes a much surer progress when it shines with a 

 steady and unchanging lustre, gently pervading the cheerless gloom 

 and dispersing almost imperceptibly the clouds of error, than when 

 it is forced into a vivid but fitful blaze which, for a time perhaps, 

 may shed around the brightest flashes, serving to shew more palpa- 

 bly the darkness of ignorance, but too evanescent to dispel its 

 shades. 



