152 ORIGINAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



forward in the warfare to protect the helpless. This he resolves, 

 and this he courageously avows, that the enemy of our faith shall 

 not have the advantage. Christianity does not forbid or deter its 

 ministers from engaging in any cause of public usefulness : it pro- 

 hibits no attainment, quenches no talent which, in its lawful exer- 

 cise, may bring glory to the Creator and benefit to man : never will 

 he consent to leave the mighty armour of literature in the sole 

 possession, to the base distortions and ignorant pollutions, of the 

 unbeliever. This is evident, he concludes, that the mighty mind of 

 a free nation is not to be controlled ; it may be encouraged ; it may 

 be sanctified ; but it cannot be bent to bondage. Say what we 

 will and do what we please, the impetus after knowledge will ga- 

 ther strength. Resist it ; deride it ; and you have a giant to en- 

 counter. On the contrary, meet its wants ; graciously administer 

 to its requirements and ambitions ; prove that you are generously, 

 ardently, unsuspiciously intent upon its growth and welfare ; and 

 the fierce passions shall then be tamed and hallowed ; the stubborn 

 proud temper shall yield to your intellect, your sympathy, and your 

 mercy. 



To the question, " do your institutions effect this mighty con- 

 quest ?" the doctor's reply comes in the spirit of the warmest and 

 purest benevolence. Many there be who are blind, though basking 

 in the sun's ray. Shew me a man, he exclaims, in a palace or a 

 cottage, who prizes and cultivates the intellects which God has 

 given him, who is gratefully alive to the precious gift of Mind, 

 with all its privileges and responsibilities, and you shew me a man 

 surely nearer to the great source of all wisdom and knowledge, 

 nearer to the Deity himself, more active in the duties assigned him, 

 than is the fool who scorneth knowledge, who merely eats and 

 drinks, thinks and hopes, and dies like the beast that perishes. 

 Certain it is, and bitterly to be lamented, that talents and attain- 

 ments are often perverted ; but, this too is equally certain, that 

 ignorance is sin and desolation. Certain it is, that education marks 

 out the great difference among men ; and this also is too certain, that 

 ignorance has its bigots as well as wisdom and religion. Let the 

 bigots of ignorance cleave to their narrow and gloomy notions : we 

 advocate, encourage and espouse scientific, moral and religious 

 enlightenment : we say, with kind and honest intentions, leave 

 not a parish in this noble empire without a school conducted 

 by a competent mister : let every school be supported — not 

 by casual and uncertain bounty — but by the State itself, not 

 superseding individual munificence, but aiding and perfecting 

 its exercise. Let elementary knowledge be as cheap, cheering, 

 and needful as the light of the sun : nothing troublesome or 

 dangerous is to be apprehended from the educated man, brought 

 up in the fear of God : no, no ; it is the European savage with a 

 seared conscience, with a perverted and contracted mind, with a cold 

 and cruel heart ; it is he who tramples upon divine and human 



