172 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
so many operations to be performed, so many materials to operate upon, 
and so many instruments with which to operate, can we be guilty of the 
flagrant absurdity of supposing that here science is of no avail ? much ra¬ 
ther, is it not so obvious to any reasonable mind, as the light of the sun 
to any clear eye, that knowledge must be valuable and important every 
where, just in proportion to the greatness of the art to which it is to be 
applied, and the many subjects of action or use which that act involves? 
(To be continued.) 
The great objects of life, and the practicability of their attainment by 
all, are justly and beautifully portrayed in the following extract from Dr. 
Channing, the American Fenelon: 
“ The true cultivation of a human being consists in the development of 
great moral ideas ; that is, the ideas of good, of duty, of right, of justice, of 
love, of self-sacrifice ; of moral perfection as manifested in Christ, of happi¬ 
ness and immortality, of heaven. The elements or germs of these ideas, be¬ 
long to every soul, constitute its essence, and are intended for endless expan¬ 
sion. These are the chief distinctions of our nature ; they constitute our hu¬ 
manity. To unfold these, is the great work of our being. The light in which 
these ideas rise in the mind, tile love which they awaken, and the force of 
the will with which they are brought to sway the outward and inward life,_ 
here, and here only, are the measures of human cultivation. These views 
show us, that the highest culture is within the reach of the poor. It is not 
knowdedge poured on us from abroad, but the development of the elementary 
principles of the soul itself, which constitutes the true growth of a human be¬ 
ing. Undoubtedly, knowledge from abroad is essential to the awakening of 
these principles. But that, which conduces most to this end, is offered alike 
to rich and to poor. Society and experience, nature and revelation, our chief 
moral and religious teachers, and the great quickeners of the soul, do not open 
their schools to a few favorites, do not initiate a small caste into their myste¬ 
ries, but are ordained by all to be lights and blessings to all.” 
