The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-12-05

conscience. Its tendency is only TO make men
capable rascals. The elimination of Greek and
Roman civilization in the days of Pericles and
Augustus, showed what culture destitute of
moral and religious convictions can do for
humanity.
It demonstrated that goddess and conscience
less intellect, highly refined by art and letters,
will always lit its possessors as much above the
savage in wickedness as In culture. Intellectual
refinement and power are only used, IN such
case to increase the productive force OF the pas
sions, to Intensity and prOong the rage OF animal
enjoyment. Its language is:-"Let us eat and
drink, for tomorrow we die" The Church
would wed morality, sprouting out of religion,
TO the refining influence of scholastic training.
Nay, Christianity, according to the theory of the
Church, Is an essential part OF education. II
stands first and must lead, permeate, purge
and elevate the culture of the mere intellect
How blind is mere secular learnIngl How it
ignores, in its pride, the highest part OF our
nature pamperng the servant and starving the
master i-elylng It's pupils the microscope
through which to inspect the mere gnats
aud animalcul@ OF speculation, without letting
them know syllable about the splendid
telescope with which they have been provided
Tor examining the glory of the heavens. The
purblind wretch, falsely called scholar AMI
philosopher, says to his disciple:-''Never mind
that old telescopes: it's entirely out of fashion;
the visions seen through it are mere illusions
or rather, they are not in the heavens at all,
but only painted on one OF the lenses of the
instrument" But the Church says:-"Gve
the highest training to both departments of the
soul Sharpen aud clarity the intellectua
powers to the highest point Dive into meta
physics Don't fear science; don't turn your
back on art; but be careful not 10 go to sea
without ballast !" Morality, the spiritua
nature, is the very weight and substance o.
being. To cultivate the intellect, and forget
the so uPs relation to the Divine, is 10 set the
table splendidly and forget the dinner. 1t is
to make splendid frame, and put in it no pic
ture, or else coarse, blank daub.
1t Is to find on 6esolate island q splendid
palace, and then TO insist that it was not in
tended Opcunipd hat I'd h,tIf
planned 1t. 1t Is to be like the fool In the Greek
story, who wished to teach his horse to live
without eating, ana succeeded; but when the
animal had acquired the art, he died. We
neglect our moral nature, ana the immortal
perishes.
Here is the great evil of our system of public
school instruction, valuable as il Is on the
whole. We hold, and rightly, that all the
children of The people should have an English
education. Without this they will oe unit for
their place in the body polite, and some cum
ming despot might soon snatch away our liber-
ties. We know that the teaching in these
schools is almost exclusively intellectual and
the suppostion is that every chlld's parents
will give the moral and spiritual training at
home. And yet what vast proportion of
them have parents who have neither the will
nor the power to perform such a task With
these unhappy children, therefore, education
does not touch the conscience; that is left to be
occupied and filled as accident may determine
Happily, in u Christian city, they pick up the
current notions OF right; but in mulitudes of
instances these come SO late and so completely
without authority, as to be of no use Thev
live in the sharpened brain, mere joke, or a
convenient blind Crowds of those, both men
and women, who fill our jails, our brothels,
and our thousands of drinking and gambling
houses, have had precisely this mere hard
mental training in the public schools. Does
not every Christian heart earnestly CRY out
us there no remedy for this sad and r0inous
defect'"
The Church, then, is organization for the
specific purposes of moral and spiritual renova.
IL 70
foundation. In a great city, this organization
atta'ns its highest power and efficiency. It's
members, in great masses brought near to each
other, can come together frequently, and at a
moments warning thus melting each other to
llveler zeal, and making their organization
more and more compact. Their vast accumula-
tions of individual and combined wealth give
them command OF all needful material resources.
More and larger churches, more Christian
people, more sunday Schools, more wealth in
pious hands than are contained in half State
are here crowded into an area of four or Eve
miles square. When we think of the vast re-
sources OF persons and money at the disposal of
the Church in large Christian city, it looks, at
first view, as though the Church ought to be
able to have everything Its own way, and estab-
llsh reign of universal purity.
But we must remember that if the Church
organizes with special power IN large city, SO
does its great enemy. l am not aware that men
have ever organized themselves specifically to
promote sin, as sin; and yet they have often
united for purposes manifestly sinful. What is
piracy on the high seas, or band of robbers or
burglars on the land? What is brothel, with
It's proprietor reducing crime to rule? What is
q society of liquor sellers, such as exists in New
York, with Its officers, It's tull treasury, and its
regular meetings to prevent legislation IN favor
OF temperance, and to'keep open the flood-gates
OF dissipation? What are all these but sin
becomic organic? 1t would sound, not oddly
but monstrously, if a society should start up
under the title of "The Association for the
Promotion of Vice and immortality" and
should boldly issue its prospectus stating
that ii had organized for the purpose of giving
encouragement to all the various forms of sin;
that 1t was about to set up university with
great many subordinate schools, for the purpose
of teaching all the various branches of wicked
ness. 1t should have professors OF gambling,
of seduction, OF drunkenness, larceny, counter
teitne, burelary, ,garroting, pocket-picklug,
| poisoning, and stabbing; with minor schools of
profanity aud obscenity and pilfermg, for small
chldlen. That one OF the great aims of the
society would be to secure the abandonment of
all Sunday Schools, the demolition of all
churches, and TO select eligible locations for
gloggeries, gambling bells, theatres, and bawdy
houses. That they would exert themselves to
the utmost to discourage the publication of
good books and newspapers and would estab-
lish book depository in Chestnut street, where
| all the most corrupt books would be offered for
! sale at a low price, and in the finest bindings;
! ana whence should be Issued newspaper, the
| organ OF the Association, containing indecent
! wood-cuts and advertisements, set off with cor
! responding songs and editorials to match.
! Such a society would indeed be monster, and
yet, ii it existed, it would be the faithful repre-
sentative OF thousand OF places and people in
| this city.
II the houses in this city devoted formally to
| the various forms OF corrupt life we're all
| brought together in one quarter doubt not
| they would cover square mile. If all the pro-
ianity OF the city for a single week could be
| written In an ordinary hand, it would cover
| roll of paper yard wide, and eaching from the
Schuylkill to the Delaware. Half the men aud