270 THE REV. H. J. R. MARSTON, M.A., ON 
of the child. I hold very strongly that it is the parent who is 
responsible for the education, religious, moral and social, of the 
child. Therefore, in whatever position they may be, the parent, 
the father or the mother, or both, have the right of demanding 
that their children shall be instructed in the form of Christianity 
which they themselves consider best for them. If a system could 
be inaugurated by which that principle could be carried out 
throughout our vast community, it would solve a problem which 
is now dividing class against class, party against party, and I am 
afraid is likely to do so for a long time to come; but I hold that 
if we maintain this principle, that the parent is the proper guardian, 
then he has the right to prescribe the form of Christianity, or even 
the form of religion other than Christianity, for we cannot neglect 
other religions, and the child ought to be brought up as far as it 
is possible in that form which the parent prescribes. 
I shall now ask Mr. Marston to reply. 
Rey. H. J. R. Marston.—Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, 
I thank all those who have taken part in this discussion, and 
particularly each one for the marked clemency with which they 
have dealt with my address. 
I am happy to feel that as I designed, though I hardly ventured 
to expect quite so practical an application, that my lecture has 
stirred the feeling and the thought of the Society to discuss the 
greater problem of education. 
I should like to say one or two things in reply. 
First of all, I venture to say to my friend Mr. Coxhead that I 
do not think that he has proved that I failed to grasp the essential 
principle of the Policia. I know, of course, that the object of that 
book is to ascertain what justice is, and I said so. I think I also 
said that education was the third of three of the principal topics, 
and I still retain that opinion, pace Mr. Coxhead. 
As to the nature of education, and Plato’s teaching upon it, I 
ought to add this, that Plato does say that the son of one who has 
the gold admixture may prove to be silver, or even iron. In that 
case, he must be degraded to the silver or the iron. Conversely, 
one whose parents are of the iron class may be born with gold or 
silver admixture. He then must be raised to the silver, or the 
gold class. So that although there is a very rigid division of 
classes ideally considered, he does make room for the transposition 
