Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1852-03-17

ing 5hould be able to read the laws Of
God, and to obey that sacred injunction
search the Scri ptures daily" What a
pdogy can Christian Legislature make
to God or to liberty, fer allowing its pop
ulation TO grow up nlgnorance To the
I kingdom of Prussia, this law of compul-
sion has been in force ever since 1919;
and in that kingdom there is not human
being who does not receive education,
intellectual and moral. sufficient for all |
the wants of common life. The law was
violently opposed at first, but SO benig-
nant have been It's effects, that now not
a family in the realm would wish its re-
peal. 1t had been in operation but four
teen years, when panperism and crime
had diminished thirty-eight per cent. AT
a time like the present, when legal in
Iquiries have traced back adult crime to
infantile neglect and puerile ignorance,
when craft and outrage are round about
US, like water round diving-bell, and
when these violations Of justice and order
are indeasing in faster ratio than popu-
lation pr even wealth-at such time,
when legislatures come together and de-
bate for months how to punish, have they
no right to say word about preOenta-
tion In the name of humanity, ask, if
Legislatures have right to hang, and
; have no right to educate2 Ought they not
! to wake up and look sharply around them,
} to see how the sources of an evil torrent
t may best be dried up, where the strong
est dam may be thrown across its impet-
: uous course, and into what side-channels
its blind strength may be diverted?
A law compelling every parent to see
] that his children are educated, is deman-
e ded by enlightened patriotism and Chris
r tian philanthropy. If a parent be so
weak or wicked as to refuse to his child
? the daily bread of knowledge, let the
I Legislature stand in the place of parent
# to that child, and do for him what his
e nature demands and the public safety re-
n Iquires. To enforce the law, let the Sc
: lectmen of town be empowered to i'm
e |pose, on a delinquent parent, fine not
5, less than one dollar and not more than
= five dollars. This fine would not need
D to be imposed in any town more than
half-a-doz times, because public SEN
It timent would so heartily approve its
k benevolent aim, that it would silently
ot change all objections, as was the case
3 in Prussia. 1t is my firm conviction tina
lie if proper law should be passed, it woulc
d not take more than five years to bring i
t. into general popularity. But to remove
l. all objections to such law, let towns bt
le left free to enforce the law or not.
Many other laws would be required r
IN the new era of Christian legislation bu
O. [ have space to mention only one NOR,
g, "a lGW to secure moral instruction to eUera
ch child in the State Why should not Legis
n. latures recognise the highest attribute
m, of humanity? A child's moral nature
n by which he loves God and man and VII
Id tue, is as much fact in this vast crea
he ton as is his intellectual, by which h
ed studies mathematics or invents a mach
inc; and moreover, 1t IS as capable Of ca
,e- ture Its culture is more important t
at society than that of the intellect, becaus
bic moral teaching produces all other teact
EN- ing, andis reproduced an all others. Th
'us moral nature of man is, therefore, to b
an recognised as fact, positive fact, a
ed indestructible fact and furthermore, q
ow the fact which underlies allreal improve
lis ment and all permanent happiness.
his wise Creator has bestowed the sovereig g
Id. ty on the moral, and not on the intellec
e. nal part of our mixed constitution. II
man legislation should therefore secou
the divine; thereby securing to socle
ure the sovereignty of conscience.
llr- How can this be done | answer-t
me choosing for legislators those who a
the in advance of the public in all the gre
on, ideas of life, trade. and Improvements
- They should be Legislators who are,
IAN the highest political sense, fathers in Il
cen commonwealth; men who, in quiet al
In mature reflection, have elected and {
nor tablished great yet simple principle
ing men of forecast and experience, who c
les throw fertile and needed truths into t
go fountains of public thought, without da
1elr gerously troubling them. Such legiS
ton tors. who represent not only the ply
ent- ical and metaphysical, but also the mo-
cen attributes and capabilities OF their cons
Pc tuents, would see and feel that the
the man soul-that God egotten thing 81
= into this world to act and suffer the all
at ments of humanity has right to mo
ents expansion through the instrumentalit
omy which It's Creator has furnished. Su
sons legislators would see and feel that t
has world is our school house, that God
e, a our teacher, and the Bible is our ella
w, book. They would see and feel that
de- ucation is the natural continuation of
has process of creation, taking up that r
llnst cess lust where the Deity left it. tt
SCE! would see and feel the propriety of b
an ing short portions of the Bible read
alast explained every morning in the sch
IN Such legislators would not interfere v
call any sectarian prejudices; but rising alb
Z, III them all, would fix on the two cen
COM principles of the universe, JUSTICE
on IS Love, and would so embody them in
ev- educational codes of the State, as to
'ause lence noisy demagoguss and intole
con- bigots.