The times., 1901-03-11
A SERMON ON EDUCATION.
The Rev. Edward Everett Hale
breaches Mt All souls Church.


Of Boston Mass. who = occupying the
pulpit at ALI souls Church, Fourteenth
and L Streets. until the arrival of the
newly appointed pastor of that church,
which will be two weeks hence took for
the text of his sermon at yesterday morn
! ing's sermon. John X: 10; 4 am come that
they might have life-and that they
might have it more abundantly.'
The Rev. Dr. Hale said in the course
of his sermon:
1t will help us in our affairs this morn
| ing if we compare one line of education
against another. Compare two children.
As modern life goes I might place a boy
or girl of eight years Old in a needle fac
tory. Here is statement of what he
would have TO do The dattened heads of
the needle have been annealed. and then
| they are handed TO the piercer. \ child
! lays it upon block and applying
the point of a small punch, pierces the
| eye with a small tap Of the hammer. An
! other child trims the eyes. The operation
! of piercing ana trimming the eyes is per
/ formed by clever children with astonish
/ ing rapidity They become 50 deXterous
! as 20 pierce with their punch one human
/ hair. and thread it with another, for the
| amusement of visitors. one child can
I trim the eyes of 1000 needles per hour.
! The writer from whom | take these facts
says blandiy that thus to attach one
! operative exclusively to one process is
to render him much more economical and
! productive.
ON the other hand. l may place this
child at eight years Of age, for three or
I four hours per day under the care of an
intelligent teacher The school may be
50 managed that when the days are fine
this teacher shall take the children to
walk, shall show them the buds, or the
/ flowers, or the fruit in the public gar
dens Or she shall teach them to know
the blue birds, or the cedar birds, or the
other flying fowls When they are shut
up in their school rooms, the lessons may
be arranged that they shall look out
side of Washington to Maryland, outside
of Maryland to America. outside of Amer
lea, to the world outside of the world
to Orion and Acturious. And they may
be so trained that they shall ask that
question of questions; What is there be
yond the farthest stars? They may be
so trained that they may ask the other
question, what was there before the be-
| ginning of things, and what Will there be
when things are no more? They may be
! trained that they may converse with
john Milton, with Francis. the saint; with
Paul. the civlizer: with Isaiah. the
prophet with David, the singer They
may be at home with Agamemnon and
AndrOmache. They may ascend into
! heaven; they may descend into the
! depths. At fourteen years of age, 1 shall
! have these two children whom ! have
! subjected 10 these two lines Of training.
one of them can pierce 1, ,090 needle eyes
/ in an hour, and the other can walk with
angels and archangels.
rs IL not worth our while with the
! lessons Of Lent to refresh our memories
as to the chances of a higher life, or for
more abundant life Of the pale, sallOw
eager-lOoking hoy, who sells me my news
paper Sunday mOrning2 l ought go
so far afield TO enquire who made
the match with which / lighted my gas
last night, and how many years she
could live in that business, in that at
mosphere. Not leaving home we cannot
! help asking how far the week day stud
les, which occupy thirty hours in every
week il our childrens lives give them
the life, mora abundantly, which we pre-
tend We are seeking. | must not go into
detail, but / viii repeat what you have
heaTu me say before that IN the annual
report Of our school board a few years
ago IN 100 pages, book as big as the
New Testament, there were not more
than thirty lines which had any refer
ence TO the children ; moral character.
All the rest was smoke and dust and
ashes and things-or looked that way.
Now, Life more abundantIy means
something better than that. 1t is as
Jacob seized that stalwart giant in the
desert and held him in his iron grip,
ned him to the ground, where he had
thrown him, and said TO him, / will not
let thee go. except thou bless me. Les
sons in arithmetic in algebra, in art,
in history, in physics, and metaphysics
must be made to inspire our children with
more abundant life, or books and black
boards, ana schedules, and pens, and
paper, shall 20 out Of the window to-
gether, and be burned In one great hOl-
ocaust before the door. Do not abuse
the day schools. they are badly handicap
ped. There are jealous critics watching
the public school all the time. lest by any
accident any teacher say Cod or Jesus,
or heaven; almost if they say right or
wrong. The whole drift of the public
school is thus toward things and the
physical relations. Now, ask you to
let us inspire this body with the week 5
work, with a living soul We want to give
life more abundantly to symbols and
methods We want to turn on the heav
emily dynamo and send an electric fash
through all this tangle of wires. And all
this is true of the larger education of
life 1t is true Of the forge the loom,
the trolley, the Pullman, Of the court
room, of the custom house, Of the fac
tory. You must not say any longer that
the routine Of daily duty fetters you or
impriSons you. You and / know that
laws and processes and methods may all
be named by one name. the name of Cod
We know that il was little better than
dolatry when this man selected one law
and that man selected another, as the
ruler Of daily life Better than this, you
Of this method or Of that: but that are
partners of the God. who is, who sends
the meteor on its flight, who gives per-
fume to the rose. This reality OF my life |
hidden in his life; his life hidden in ours
this is the abundant life. which the Saw
iour promises II Is not that he teaches
me as a fact that ! am TO live through
more years; il is that he lifts me TO com
panIOnship with the Being Of Beings. In !
such partnership with the Lord of Lords |
and King of Kings. | am no longer hamp- !
cred by this or that, earthly condition. |
When he opened my eyes to see, and my
ears TO hear. and my heart to compre-
hend: the Saviour of Men gave me this |
infinite life. He gave me life more abund- !
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