Y. 



AN ADDRESS TO STUDENTS. 



THERE is an idea regarding the nature of man which 

 modern philosophy has sought, and is still seeking, to raise 

 into clearness, the idea, namely, of secular growth. Man 

 is not a thing of yesterday ; nor do I imagine that the 

 slightest controversial tinge is imported into this address 

 when I say that he is not a thing of 6,000 years ago. 

 Whether he came originally from stocks or stones, from 

 nebulous gas or solar fire, I know not ; if he had any such 

 origin the process of his transformation is as inscrutable to 

 you and to me as that of the grand old legend, according 

 to which &quot; the Lord God formed man of the dust of the 

 ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; 

 and man became a living soul.&quot; But, however obscure 

 man s origin may be, his growth is not to be denied. Here 

 a little and there a little added through the ages have 

 slowly transformed him from what he Avas into what he is. 

 The doctrine has been held that the mind of the child is like 

 a sheet of white paper, on which by education we can write 

 what characters we please. This doctrine assuredly needs 

 qualification and correction. In physics, when an external 

 force is applied to a body with a view of affecting its inner 

 texture, if we wish to predict the result, we must know 

 whether the external force conspires with or opposes the 

 internal forces of the body itself; and in bringing the influ 

 ence of education to bear upon the new-born man his inner 

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