Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1840-11-26
NUMBER 10.
rpuCATIoN. Sc,

The following extracts are from Address de-
liyered 10 the graduating class. at the last
menoemcnt at Dickinson College. Carlisle, Pa, by
Prof wmL,Aa II ALLss. They abound with sx-
eelIent sentiments happily expressed, Il i plea
SAINT 10 find such large and liberal views are here
presented, so well illusua,ed--such important
truths so imprcssiyely enforced A few passages
may serve as specimens Of production which -
admirable throughout.
at is surprising, after oil that has been
written of late on the subject OF education,
that its true object should DO so frequent
ly mistaken. Too many youth are edu-
Gated only 10 make their way in the
world; they ought to DO educated to do
good in the world. The cultivation Of
the intellect is too often regarded as an
end: il ought TO be regarded as means
to facilitate moral cultivation. We should
study things to prepare us to study men;
men to know ourselves. An acquaintance
with languages and mathematics is not
chiefly valuable, because il enables US to
read few foreign and ancient authors.
or 10 trace the steps Of a tedious analysis;
but because il assists us to translate the
wonderful volume, MIND; and to solve the
profound problem, MAN. A knowledge OF
the physical sciences possesses a nobler
utility than TO minister TO the bodily COM
forts OF mankind, to relieve their tolls and
multiply their luxuries. Its highest hen
eft is to prepare the mind by the contem-
pla,ion OF the order and harmony OF ma
ture, to study and love those moral har-
monies in which virtue consists.
ain a word, the education Of the youth
ful American should be designed not mere
" to make him a lawyer, a physician,
politician or divine; but TO make him
man. 1t should not DO contracted, but
liberal; not partial, but general. ltshould
place him in the clear air Of the mountain
top, where his eyes can survey vast
circumference and take in all tho objects
within il; not ia nook on tho hill side
where he can look IN but one direction,
and where he gazes on single landscape
until he iorgets there Is light and beauty
any where else. Narrow views result in
dangerous mistakes. A little truth, view
ed apart from its relation 10 other truths,
becomes magnied by an illusion Of men.
tai optics ill it fills the whole field Of
vision"
"Your object is to benefit mankind. To
do this you must make them wiser and
better; and to make them wiser and bet
tor, YOU must instruct them in the truo
and the good. But the fountain ofall truth
and goodness is God. lf you reject Chris
tianity, you can instruct men only by phi
losophy; and all true philosophy is but an
exposition OF that universal law OF order
which God established. God then 10 the
great central light towards which all phi
losophy looks and gravitates. Annlhilatc
this light, and she wanders darkling from
her orbit, and clascs an ignis fatuus. Ex-
anime the past, and tell me If unaided PHI
losophy has ever reformed mankind. So
crates and his disciples failed to stop the
progress Of moral degeneracy at Athens;
the precepts Of Aristotle did not save his
royal pupil from the corruptng influences
of battery and power, nor prevent him
from falling into the most infamous ex-
cesses; the sublime instructions of Cicero
fell powerless upon an age in which de-
pravty ran riot amidst her polluted orgies,
scofiing at ancient virtue, and Sin the
lowest depth" sought to plunge into still
slower deep"
"The ancient teachers Of wisdom Jailed
for wan, Of a proper sanction TO their doc
trines. Their systems Of morals contain
cd no principle Of vitality by which they
could move and act. They we're like the
man of clay, formed by the skill Of the
Titan, before il was animated with the ire
from heaven. We must therefore have
recourse to an element of which the Gro.
clan and Roman teachers were destitute.
Reason and Philosophy may teach men to
knov their duties; Christianity alone can
induce them to perform their duties. This
is the fulcrum OF our moral lever, without
which il is impossible to move the world.
The preccpts Of the Bible, coming 20 US
with an authority and power from heaven,
stamped with the signet Of the Almighty.
and sanctioned by the rctributions Of eter-
nifty, to these we must cling as the last
hope of our race. The star that rose
over Bethlehem hailed by voices OF tho
celes. al choir heard along Judeas hills,
procInming "peace on earth, good will 10
men," be that star your guide in the will
derness Of life"
Tuw MoRxoSs.--Ths sect held semi-apnnal