The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1873-02-12
Fos THE Central PREsBrrER1AS.
Mr.. BEECHER ON COMPULSORY
EDUCATION.
BY TIE REV. JOHN A. TODD, D. D.

BY TIE REV. JOHN A. TODD, D. D.
For several years pas. the subject of Com
pulsOry Education has been steadily growing
in interest as one of the important questions
Of the day. According to the last census
the number Of persons in the United States
over ten years of age who could not write
was 5,66O,O74. A National Bureau of Ed
ucatiOn has been organized by Congress,
and provision has been made by that body
to advance in some degree the cause of edu,
cation in the States. Some Of the States
indeed have already passed laws compelling
parents and guardians to see to it that the
children are sent either to public or private
schools.
Mr.. B7echer has at length taken occasion
to express his views on the subject. He lee
tured on it some weeks ago in Portland,
Maine, and he repeated the lecture in Asso-
citation Hall, New York, on Thursday even
ing, January 9th. Ga the question of max
ing education obligatory by law, be advocates
the common view, and thinks the Legislatures
Of the States should take action in regard to
it. There are two things in his lecture,
however, that strike the reader as character
istic of the author.
One is that peculiar serio-cOmic style some.
what in the vein of the Hsralds Monday
morning editorials on the religious services
Of the previous day. 1t is difficult to tell
Just where to find the line of separation be
tween the serious and the comic, or at least
what he intends to be viewed in that light.
In this case, as in so many others, his utter
ances viii make but little impression, for the
reason that people cannot always be entirely
sure as to whether he is in earnest or is only
perpetrating joke. This is more particu
larly true, as there is nothing Of consequence
in the lecture that had not already been
quite as clearly and connectedly presented
by others through the press. Suill, it is but
Justice to Mr.. Beecher to say, that notwith-
standing the objections that may be taken to
his style, he is entitled to the praise of lend
ing bis advocacy to the pursuit Of frugal,
industrious and honest course of life. So
far as this is concerned he will have the
thanks Of every one who loves his country
The same thing is true in regard to his Op-
position to sustaining denominational schools
with the resources of the State. If Roman
Catholic parents desire that their children
may be under lay teachers of their own faith
and be permitted to read the Douay Bible
in the public schools, instead of the common
King James version, we see no reasonable
objection. But to inculcate in those schools
the peculiar tenets of the Romish Church j,
another and very different thing. There
is as much objection to that as there is to
allowing the same privilege to Baptist, Meth
odist, or any other denominadonal teachers
Mr. Beecher is right in wishing to Keep sec,
tarianism out Of the schools, and if be had
stopped there, he would have commanded al
most universal approval. But he did not,
and therein lies his fatal mistake.
The other thing is the peculiar way in
which he speaks of religion, and the strong
desire he manifests to keep that also out Of
the public schools. Either accidentally or
else very adroitly he manages to confuse the
mind Of the reader, as he did of the hearer,
doubtless, BY representing religion and sec
tqrianism as meaning, according to ''the or
dinary aceeptation, the same thing. And
so, as mere sectarianism is hateful and as
religion is the same thing, it follows that re
ligion must be hateful too, and ought to be
banished from the schools. Morality, says
Mr.. Beecher, may be taught, but as for reli-
gion, that is about the worst thing for a
school that could well be imagined. 1t leads
to the most fearful consequences. "Sys.
tsnlatjc Theology, he tells US, &" in the hand:
Of the State and Church has shed more blood
fomented more quarrels, and burned more
men at the stake than all the Vqrs and cru
elites since the 'gorl3 began" The absurdity
Of this statement is simply laughable, anc
yet it was received with applause; a fac
which certainly argues but little for the dis
crimination Of bis audience. lie ought t.
know that the great prosecutions of Pagar
and of papal Rome, as well as most Others
that have led to bloOdshed and cruelty in ii
various forms, had no more connection viii