The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1873-11-23

Almost every school and college has its
peculiar mode of instruction. Many are
excellent in their way, and so far as in
tellectual culture is concerned, could not,
perhaps, be much improved. We hold,
however, that any system of instruction
that looks alone to the cultivation of the
intellectual faculties, is defective. Edu-
cation; to be effective and salutary, must
comprehend the mental ana moral anu
spiritual attributes of being, for these are
indispensable to a whole. No matter what
NAV be the literary and scholastic attain
ments of d man-no matter to what extent
the mind may haze been schooed In
science and art-unless the moral nature
and culture, the student cannot be said to
| be truly benefited. To make education
| lasting blessing, all the faculties of the
| mind, heart and soul must be disciplined
and instructed, because man is not simply
| an intellectual creation. Indeed, his pre-
sent and future ell-being depends much
more largely on his moral than mental
nature, and any system of education that
neglects the former in order to exalt the
later, is radically wrong: Every student,
on leaving school or college, eho4la nave
his mind solemnly impressed with this great
truth, and be taught to consider the ex-
tent to which his influence and exam
ple may operate, for veal or woe, upon
the best interest of society, and especially
upon the great cause of truth and virtue.
|
be prepared to enter upon life, not only
with correct conceptions of the theatre OF
human action, but with all those prlncl-
Piles engraved upon his heart, of which, as
tbey lie at the foundation of individual
excellence and social order, will be found
indispensable to the enjoyment of happi-
, ness and the acquisition of fame. His mind
, NAV be adorned and embellished with the
trophies of science and learning; he may
4 have been taught to turn his eyes inward
: upon himself; to explore the arcana OF the
u u | human understanding ; to ascertain the
origin of ideas to develop the operations
: the mental faculties, and to comprehend
,. the principles, and practice the art OF logic
. but unless, side by side with all these, he
u has been taught his duty to himself and hlt
'e obligations to hisfellow men and to society
unless he has been so morally instructed as
to comprehend the grounds upon whlct
l., Christianity rests its claims to divine orl
} ginal, and have satisfied himself of its ultl
j. mate connection with civil liberty, and o
% it's indispensable importance to his owl
q present and future welfare, his education
n will be of little avail in the building up OF 1
ia pure and enduring character. lie may b.
J. skilled in all the learning and philoso
Of ply that the best schools of earth cal
10 afford, and yet be novice in the scenes o
a. life aud destiny. He may be protoun'
at scholar, and yet drunkard ; poet, hold
ar ing converse with the deities of though
at and song, and yet q profane swearer, uS'n
IA the dialect of devils in his social lntercous
Of with men philosoher, drinking deep a
10 the fount of knowledge, and yet a gro
is yelling sensualist,. kneeling at to-
le muddy puddles of vice, and slipping of it
r. filthy waters. What is true of individual
a. is true of nations. What was Egypt, wit
o. her counselors, her libraries, her pyramids
st but a vast chamber of imagery, where tn
re- denominations of iniquity stalked amid til
le blaze of Hterature7 And Greece-Greece
of the mother of art and science, and elocutior
le Greece, where philosophy tiiumphed an
of reasoning gtlourished-fiction, treachery an
m superstition reigned predominant with
rs her learned halls. And Rome, the mistres
of of the universe and the nurse OF genius
le with all the treasures of science with whic
I'd she was enriched and adorned-voluptr
le business, intidelity and crime mingled wit
a, the triumphs of her fame. Let skepticisI
a with its boasted ingenuity, ascribe the fat
lie of these fallen empires to the capriciou
g. whims of fortune, but truth, like me-
ps seuger from the high courts of heavel
r proclaims that they fell because virtu
,ir truth and morality, had no place With
c. their learned scminaries, nor in the hear
Id of their learned sops.
ho Fota OF tbpsa nations ia sufficient