The Irish standard., 1897-09-11
In THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS.
What Constitutes Real Education
Eloquently Discussed.
THE MORAL NATURE OF MAN.
Intellectual Culture Alone is Vain
and PerniciOus.

Rav. II. Slcvin, Of New Orleans, deliv-
cred a very interesting discourse at st.
Patrick church on Sunday night, says
the Catholic Journal. His subject was
"'rhr Necessity OF Christian lIlu"ation,'
and in part he said
Education. which ought to signify Il
drawing out" has come to be regarded
as the proper word to denote a process
of putting ln." School, which is de-
rived from the Greek word fer leis-
urc." is supposed rightly TO designate
no institution that does its work other
wise than under pressure and at full
speed. Our nowadays education but too
frequently consists in rramming the
brain With mathematical formula and
historical tables, without ever SO much
as IL word to cultivate the nubcr facul.
ties Of heart and soul.
Education without morality. says IL
modern socialist. is more terrible than
the sword in the hands or Il :iation or OF
men. Bacon remarked that Religion
WIS IL perfume, aI aroma necessary lo
avert the dangerous consequences Of
| science when II is left without Il guild
ing hand" II is education in the press
cnt day that cause such woeful havoc.
In Russia mental training without re-
ligion leaves the masses free thinkers,
theoretical Christians. but practical in
fidcls. OF ut least utterly Indifferent to
! amy moral law; and as it is with indi-
viduals SO II is likewise with a nation,
for the nation is but the sum total OF
, its individual members.
There are various modes of education.
| Alruin was master of nuoks. Charlie
maGnc was master of men. The great
emperor like Justin of Greece could not
read. but he possessed the power to
govern, and thus he was educated In
the highest sense Of hat vague term.
Moral training. according to Gulzot,
cannot be dispensed with for an hour
clear head and sound heart are ncccs-
sary to govern and be governed else
the nation will sing the Marseillaiso
and cover its garments with the blood
of aristOcrnts and princes until, having
| spent its fury. II will turn to its crust
and cry out. "Vive l'Impercur.' With
ont education the nation is {, silent sep
! ulrhrc where all hopes are buried, or Il
raging sea where they are quickly
| wrecked.
| What. then. must we understand to
constitute real and solid cducation2 Ask
phldias If arts saved Greece? Will it be
the polite literature Of the day? The
answer will be Let the mournful choruscs
of Sophoces ard l1uripidcs give utter
ancc to tho sad cries Of those old pagan
hearts for a higher virtue than the SUBJ
limcSL tragedy could ever teach them.
| VIII It be the elegance of the orator or
the wisdom of the legislator? The Phil
! lipics show how vainly the master of
| orators appealed to Il degenerate race,
and tho annals Of Athens and Sparta
| show how utterly the wisdom of SOlon
/ and Lycmrgns had failed to save polish-
ed and warlikc nations from the penalty
| which God has affixed to the crimes Of
nations Shall we take Il refuge in hu-
man philosophy? No, again. Socrates
i and the divine Plato had cast off the de-
/ grading superstition of paganism and
had proclaimed to their intelligent fell
| low -cnlln!rymcn the eternity and unity
, of God and the immortality of the soul
of man. They tried to make them prac-
ticc virt,Irc, live honorably and observe
the laws; but what did IT avail? TGtcrn-
! iy for the Athenian was but the ghost
Of time; Il vague prolongatiOn of the
present for better or for worse, the ely
, sian or lladc.-thc shadow cast by Il
vast material world as ii moved through
space, and SO they went down into that
night on which no sun ever again shone.
Their Roman conqucrors seized upon the
rich treasures of their earnings, and the
senate listened with rapture to the wis
dom OF the old Hellenic sages trans
lated by Cicero into the noble Latin
tongue. Virgil and Livy sought to in
spire the Roman heart with grand ideas
borrowed from the Greek masters, but
what did 1t avail. They practiced nat
ural virtues as fully as unregenerated
man is capable Of doing by the power
of vigorous and cultivated intellect. But
what did 1t avail? They went down
into the tomb of dead nations while a
few broken columns remain to mark the
seat of the worldwide empire. Rome's
heroes of elcquence are all gone and the
solitary column of Trajan Is the best
orator Of the forum today.
If intellectual culture alone sufficed
Tor the longing of the immortal soul