OF EDUCATION 51 



that to ensure obedience to laws it is extremely nec- 

 essary to know of their existence. 



True education is the greatest of all arts, and is 

 founded on the deepest of all sciences : on these sci- 

 ences it depends for direction in all its processes. 

 The objective universe is marvellous indeed ; but 

 how much more so is the mind that is to comprehend 

 it. To educate that mind properly, is the most com- 

 plex, as well as the most essential work that mortals 

 have to do. A system of culture that involves no 

 special knowledge of the being to be educated and no 

 professional training for the work, must not only be 

 futile in its efforts to educate, but a flagrant outrage 

 upon the mind of its recipients. 



Educational philosophy dictates an entire revision 

 of the present mode of culture. Directing us to the 

 primary source of all knowledge, and to its acquisi- 

 tion in Nature's own method, with all the aid that 

 science and art can furnish, it prepares the way for 

 rapid progress in every science. Captivated by a 

 succession of new ideas as he is led on by systematic 

 observation, the child soon begins to analyze and in- 

 terpret the phenomena of Nature, and to perceive the 

 beauty and the harmony that pervade the world. 

 In the volume of Nature there are no faults. It is 

 God's perfect text-book for the young and the old of 

 all nations and for all time. Its ample pages are all 



