AS INSTRUMENTS OP EDUCATION. 25 



ought to be included amongst the matters with which Education, some- 

 where or other in its programme, concerns itself. I think History and 

 the wise and beautiful Thoughts of men in all ages should be subjects 

 of study in a system of Education. Have we not a hint of this in the 

 fact that the written Records which we accept as Holy Writ, as a Divine 

 Kevelation, consist of History — of Thoughts exalted, nay, inspired? 



I do not dream that Language is to be abandoned in a system of edu- 

 cation. That too is now seen to be a human development subject to 

 natural law, i.e., Divine law. It must continue therefore to be a study 

 as it has been in times past, but now a more intelligent study than 

 formerly, as being a positive science, far-reaching, wide-spreading. It 

 will even possibly still hold its own as one of the chief instruments in 

 the training of the very young, for is there not by a Divine arrangement 

 a special aptitude in every infant mind for language ? What is more 

 marvellous than the mastery which a little child acquires over its 

 native tongue or any tongue which it hears familiarly spoken? 



The laws of mind too, being really laws. Divine laws, brought out 

 into view by a comparison of human experiences, must continue to be 

 taken up, in their elements, in every complete course of education. 



But what we inculcate is this, that in addition to all these subjects, 

 at the present time it is expedient, it is reasonable, it is devout, to 

 assign a high place in schools to the knowledge which will help a youth 

 from the very beginning of his career to a true view of the Earth on 

 which he lives, of its constituent parts, of its relations as a member of 

 the Universe. It is expedient, it is reasonable, it is devout, to assign 

 a high place in education to the knowledge which from the beginning 

 of his career will help a youth to soundness and suppleness of body 

 and mind; which, throughout life, will render him, consciously, an 

 interested and skilled worker in his place in the great Whole; and as 

 such, a happy man, going on his way rejoicing, singing and making 

 melody in his heart. 



