LECTURE III. THE BEARINGS OF POPULAR EDUCATION UPON BY T. D. ADAMS, OF NEWTON, MASS. A SHORT time ago, a theory of government was proclaimed in the State of Georgia, quite at variance with the natural aspirations of the human heart, and which even armed despots dare not maintain. It assumes that what we call progress is wholly wrong; that the noble thoughts which have come down to us, ever brightening with age, and inspiring anew with patriotic fervor every generation which they meet, have all been delusive; that Demosthenes and Cicero were but hair-brained fanatics; that our fathers were fools, when they proclaimed the political equality of mankind. It assumes that the world has some how or other advanced backwards. If this theory be true, it may be that, as educators, we ought to stop short in our course, or at least change it. But before we throw down our arms and leave the field, let us consider some of the points which bear upon this theory. I take for my theme, " The Bearings of Popular Education upon Civilization;" meaning by the latter term, human welfare; and including education, the moral, humane, and artistic means which improve the condition of our race. I regard that nation as most civilized, which has within itself the most facilities for its own improvement. However subject these definitions may be to criticism, they will, nevertheless, answer my purpose. Fellow teachers, I shall be so bold as to rank our profession in the vanguard of civilization. The hand of the teacher is seen in everything good in the past; and to whatever heights the human mind shall attain on earth, it will be seen in everything good that is to come. The faithful teacher lives for the good of all. He labors in obedience to the first of all commands, "Let there be Light." For six thousand years has this command stood before the world, and ever indicates that there is some desired goal beyond the attainments of the present. The teacher is the guide for Humanity, as she gropes her way to the new and Elysian fields of light. This command has its figurative meaning. It did not stop when the mists rolled off from chaos, and the sun first shone upon the waters and the dry land. It comes down to us with all its original force and eloquence. It is the expression of a superhuman power. It will endure so long as there is a dark spot in the soul, or a waste place in the mind. Human enactments are passed and endure for an age, it may be for a century or more. time goes on, and changes the phase of things; old But exigences pass with it, new ones arise, and then the hand of power sweeps over the dusty page, and draws its parallel to match the change. But there is no summary process of repealing the fiat of the "Great I Am." "More light, more light," were the last and memorable words of the dying Goethe. We echo and re-echo these words, as we rejoice in the high relative position of the civilized world. There is no other such bright spot in all history. We find no time nor place in the past which we would transfer to the present if we could. The student in his researches will surely not go farther back than ancient Greece to find a parallel to these later times. Beyond that, the mystic veil of oblivion covers the old smouldering cities, which some have thought were once the shrines of almost superhuman learning. But we now read only their ruins or hieroglyphics. Their libraries are gone or unread, and it is perhaps well for their reputation that it is so. For Chaldæan and Egyptian jugglery could never have stood the test of our utilitarian inspection. And while the monuments of their industry rise eternally towards the heavens, and the proofs of their immense wealth lie scattered along the Nile, we would much prefer to be our simple selves than all the magi of the ancient East. True; But the age of Pericles was a golden one. but what though the literature of ancient Greece were perfection itself, and her temples the fairest under the sun, and the choicest models even in their ruins. These do not make up the sum of human civilization. It is needless here to point out the defects which had a contemporaneous existence. To the historian and scholar they suggest themselves. The defects in Roman civilization were still greater. Even the Muse descended from a sublime height when she left Olympus for the Alps. It is true that Rome did not forget Olympus. She was the generous patron of Grecian culture. But her love of conquest was never second to her love of learning. Her crusades for a thousand years against the rest of the world were incompatible with Athenian refinement. We read the difference to-day in their monumental ruins, which reveal more accurately than words can describe the histories of the two nations. While the Parthenon reminds us of the gods, the Colosseum reminds us equally of devils. There was surely the want of some good thing in the civilization of Rome. Darkness at length overshadowed her. But we believe that all light was not extinguished in passing from Roman to mediæval times. It was only a temporary halt in the grand march of civilization. Religion and education are the well-springs of the light which shines upon us. As time goes on we more and more gladly celebrate these occasions upon which education is the theme. The literary festival is now a prominent feature in our social life. As more light shines in upon the mind, our motives for education become exalted and purified; and in the same degree does our civilization become comprehensive, aiming at the welfare of every human soul. We prize it for its intrinsic worth, as well as for the tide of blessings which it brings in its train. We are beginning to regard education as a part of our being; for we can hardly conceive of the mind apart from its wisdom. The human soul truly lives only in proportion as it is truly wise. We value this wisdom because it is so unlike all earthly treasures. Wealth, honor, and titles, the mere appendages of life, leave us. But wisdom is abiding, ever increasing, till the wane of physical strength, - when it only sleeps, sometimes giving us such glimpses of an eternal day as neither apocalyptic vision nor prophetic tongue has revealed. This great and grand idea is taking firm hold of the minds of our people, that we educate in the present to prepare for a future. It is now a common truth,- - and the process of proof is ever the same, — that thorough mental discipline is a guide to thought. We can conceive of but one reason why we were endowed with the capacity for thought, and that is, that we might be thinkers. How then can we do more to fulfil the design of Providence, than by enlarging this power of thought? It is a manifest duty to set in motion every intellectual machine, and every spring thereof, that it may do the work which nature has assigned it. Every educated nation has its great thinkers. They are, humanly speaking, the saviours of enterprise and national glory, whatever the world may choose to think of them. For down deep in the soul of every wise man are thoughts which the world cannot comprehend; thoughts that are the nearest approximations to divinity; the golden links, if there be such, that connect the finite with the Infinite. They are not always expressed; and when they |