Evening star., 1893-12-18
Church and State.

Last Mondays Star contained the report
of a ''sermon"-discourse were a more ap-
propriate title-delIvered by DIR. HamlIn
on the subject. Church and State" in his
Church Of the Covenant on the previous
day. The tone and temper OF the discourse
are In the main admirable. DIR. HamlIn is
evidently a man whose sense OF justice
would not permit him TO appeal to the mere
prejudices Of his hearers. His intentions
are all right, no doubt. but his informa-
ton as to certain matters is a little de-
fective, and his ideas of Christian ethics
are trife confused.
There are several statements in the doc
tors discourse made. TO doubt in good
faith. some OF which are misleading. whilst
others are wholly untrue Under the form
er head may be classed, for instance the
statement that the Catholics get the lions
share OF public money used in charities"
ana. under the latter. the assertion that
the public schools are assailed by fonly1
one class of citizens;" that the 'cathoIic
parlsh schools are not as efficient educa tors
an secular studies as the public schools
ana that the pope claims the right to set
up and cast down sovereigns at his pleas
ure. Perhaps DIR. Hamlin doesn't know
that these allegations are all untrue but
there is little or no excuse for his NOT know
lag H. since they have been disproved a
thousand times over. nor shall 1 waste
time and space in replying TO them here
Ihere Is more important work before
My chief purpose in noticing Dr. Ham,
an rs discourse is to call attention 10 hin
reading proposition, which touches the very
essence of the question at issue. The pub
He schoGvs, says the doctor ARE founded
upon the conviction that. I'm a republic the
only safe citizens are Intelligent citizens"
But Is TINS true-is this conviction founded
upon fact? Is II true that intelligence is
the first requisite of citizenship? Is ~
knowledge Of the moral law or its fulhll-
ment, that the learned doctor inculcates
In his sermon? DID not St. Paul say that
only the doers Of the law shall be justi-
hed Ana is not this the dictum OF every
morallst from Plato TO Pascal from Moses
10 Montaigne? Let us hear what the dis
tinguished president OF Amherst College
mas TO say on this point: "A better gram
marian, better arlthmetlcian, a better
geographer, says Prof. Seelye, lis not as
suen. better citizen; He is the better
citlzen only as ne is the better man. and
ne Is the better man only as he is more
loyal TO truth and duty" And he clinches
DIS argument by stating the fact that
crime ana vice. pauperism and vagraacy
insanity and suicide. are all increasing in
our best educated states" Many persons"
says Montaigne, after once they become
Learned cease to be good. All other knowl-
edge is hurtful TO him who has not the
science OF honesty and truth"
When Old Lyman Beecher declared
years ago, that ''uneducated intellect is
educated vice" the sentiment was applaud
ed TO the echo by the unthinking multi
tudes A brilliant journalist of the period
denounced the famous sentiment as "epI-
grammatic only I'm sound. There is no
sense in it, he continues. He might as
wen have said that unbaked dough is baked
doughnuts. Vice is not limited 10 the un-
lettered. as the world well knows from sad
experience, nor is il arrested by education
Why a thief shoul be less A thief
when taught 20 read and write is a mys-
terry no one has yet solved Nearly two
centuries ago Addison wrote that the most
ha laoG ~fres.
lend, says Ruskin. speaking of our boast
ed civilization in the nineteenth Gentry sis
chiefly remarkable now for the multiplica-
tlon OF crimes more ghastly than ever
oIssraced nominal civilization" CHe
was probably unacquainte1 with our rec
ord- else he would have been more euardef
IN ms asseruonsD Nilkie Collins declares
that we nave become so shamelessy fa-
inillar with violence and outrage that we
recognize them as a Necessary ingredient
IN our social system"
Such quotations as these might be multi
Piled indefinitely from writers who VIM
compare favorably at least with Dr. Ham,
I'm or with any OF his sympathfzers in
TINS controversy IN point of Intelligence
We nave seen enough, however 10 know
that Dr. Hamiins position is at variance
not only with common sense. with every
days experience. but with the very nrst
principles CT Christian morality In is
virtue. and not intelligence that const1-
tutes the prime requisite of citizenship
fOf all the dispositions ard he bits saws
Washington, in his farewell address..''which
lead 10 political prosperity, religion and
morality are Indispensable supports" Were
Robespierre and the other fiends of the
French revolution not men OF ability? Are
the Leading anarchists and socialists OF
the Gay wanting in intelligence2 Are not
the bank wreckers ana fOrgers OF our times
the Harpers, the Enos and the Wards
educated gentlemen? Among the most des-
perate criminals on record many have been
men of intelligence. and not a few men
of culture. The records of human crime
from Cataline to Guiteau prove that some
OF the worst culprits have been found
among the Intelligent citizens" IL is in
the center of New England civilization
that such criminals DIR. Webster and
Isaac Sawtelle are developed. The most
dangerous desperate. perhaps, ever con-
fined within the walls of the Joliet penI-
tentiary-Frank Rand+pent the last mo-
ments OF his life i'm writing ribald rhymes
What, then. are we 10 thing OF DIR. Ham
Inns proposition that ''the public schools
are founded upon the conviction that in
a republic, the only safe citizens are intelli-
gent citizensT' We have established that
such conviction is a myth. unsubstantial
as the airy fabric Of a dream. and with its
collapse the bottom drops out OF the doc
tors whole argument IN favor of the pub-
lie schools Moreover, his proposition is. as
L have said, opposed to the first principles
OF Christianity. IL is paganism pure ana
simple.
The public schools he says. do not in
deed teach denominational Christianity in
any firm, but they do teach Christian
morals. How? BY substituting fnteili-
gence instead Of virtue. Is this DR. Ham,
Inns view Of Christian morals?
The Master taught that there IS only
one thing necessary. He commanded MS
disciples. therefore, TO seek first the king
dom of God and His Justice" He reduced
all the commandments to two. upon which
the whole law and the prophets depend"
and In this grand summary the acquisition
OF learning finds. IL any. only a secondary
and subordinate place.
The learned doctor has evidently only n
very h2zy notion of popular education.
Notwithstanding that he was once principal
In public school. Perhaps the following
quotation will enlighten him: In order 10
make popular education truly good ana
socially useful IL must be fundamentally
religious. i do not simply mean by this
that religious instruction should hold its
place in popular education and that the
practices of religion should enter Into n.
Tor nation is not religiously educated bv
such petty and mechanical devices Ii IN
necessary that national education Shot,ld
be given and received I'm the midst az a
religious atmosphere. and that religious
impressions and religious observances
should penetrate into all it's parts Re-
hgion Is not a study or an exercise TO be
restricted to a certain place and a certain
hour; IL is a faith and a law which ought
10 be felt everywhere. and which, after
this manner alone. can exercise al its bcne-
ncial influence upon our minds and our
lives"
This eminently sound view Of popular
pflnPa ION, mic hor