Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-12-14

lO1l-...NJOzAN y, DlIS
down fire from heaven, may well stand
! for the first educa tor. It was for him to
!. make man, know himself and recognize
his native dignity, his divine parentages
TheLinstrum entality--an methods. tina t.
| are used to develop man and make 1educa-4
ton a familiar matter have advanced
slowly, and only IN, later years become
| common Our books may well be COM
pared to storage batteries and other sug-
sgestors Of thought to genera tors of cleo
tricity.
And now, as we are making electricity
to do so many things for us in the world
of matter. we are calculating to get from
education the same kind and amount of
service in the world of mind.
EIectricitvEis so much like life that we
are almost ready2to regard it as life ITSELF
And yet with all its power and light, it
cannot give life. Electricity is not life
And education, with it's storage batteries
Of literature does. SO quicken. and en-
tighten the mind and stir. the rcrrrutions
that we almost identify it with wisdom.
And yet a man maybe educated and not
wise. Education is not wisdom; knowl-
edge is not power. Only the educa ton
that is based upon wise principles and
that leads to the springs and source OF
wisdom is wise. And the excellency of
KNOWLEDGE is, liliE- WISttHLl, O!SllliSusltpill
it or reached by it giyeth life to them that
have. it,. Wisdom and life are gifts of
God Education and electricity are hui
man means.
Where, then shall wisdom be found
ana where is the place OF understanding:
The. wise man answers to this: The fear
Of the Lord that is wisdom and the
knowledge Of the Holy is understanding
Because books contain The records of
the acts and thoughts and observations
and experiences. and knowledge and lives
of those who have gone before us,1 and.
by strange. mysterious power, reproduce
life and communicate their contents to1us
we identify them with. education. andre
gard them as the necessary and unfsil-
ing mean and. Instruments of"it. And
vet the educa ton that uses them only
is unsatisfactory. &c. '~c
They indicate realities, but separated
from things themselves, they are the
knowledge that puffeth up; little better
than vaiI, ina inatious. And much study.
in that way, IS only WEAKNESS, or the
flesh.
The education that promises. that con-
templates the wise. useful and happy. man
| and family and nation, is helped bs. hui
man efforts and accomplished by the pro-
violence Of God by ways, agencies. events.
conditions, experiences and trials far
above our calculations and defying our
scrutiny or imitation. And yet human
| methods and means and books are very
| good and wise men use them in educat-
| ing themselves and others.
The general world makes great mistakes
| in its educational methods. and in its
| superstitious reverence for books and in.
| its.unwise use of them. They are like ull-
| wise doctors or quacks, that kill their
| patients by too much medicine and too
much doctoring. regardless of the curative
| and essential power and ready offices OF
| ma ture.
Education, after a (so-calleN, scientific
| system and undertaking, will engage to
| take the foetus from the languishing
| mother and assume the place OF nature
| with an incubator. A paidologist, that has
| never had a babe of her own, will take the
| babe from the bosom of it's mother. super
| sede nature and by u scientific treatment
| manipulate into childhood. The Kin
| dergarten, with all sorts of limitations CT
real things will force growth and teach
| and form the little phenomenon that goes
! for a child adjusted to all the requiRe-
| nents of educatioa art, systematizing
| all it's movements and regulating its tears
and smiles and froics; everything by rule
| and measure. And then the school Will
! take him into its machine put him through
| It's forms and books and exercises, and at
last he is passed on to college, to be loaded
up, furnished, finished equipped and &C
complished and polished, according to the
latest style of the educational fashion,
plate He is branded with q title, and
goes forth into the world ignorant of him.
self his felow-men and the responsible
tise of life with benumhed sensiblIles,
qualified only as a teacher or professor 10
make the like OF himself. And yet he is
called educated and cultivated, his very
self dead within him.
The world is familiar with such disas-
trously educated as these: superannuated
infants and candidates for the poorhouse
creeping into Old age.
Electricity is not life. and education IS
not wisdom. Both wait on man. and are
useful as he is wise Instruct Il wise man,
and he will be yet wiser. Electricity and
education enlarge and promote the uSeful-
ness and happiness Of their lord just ac-
cording to the wisdom that guides him IN
the exercises of his lordship.
How then shall he be made wise to
start with, that he may use his gifts and
powers and enlarge and lift his life?
We have Institutions and teachers and
books and means. If we are TO rear
broad minded, strong, enlightened, skilful,
bright and happy manhood. now shall we
begin and on what foundation shall we
build?
The wise man says: Through wisdom is
the house buided and by understanding
it is established. and by knowledge shall
the chambers thereof be filled with pre-
cious and pleasant riches
Lord Bacon says We must follow the
way of the Creator. who spent the first
day in the creation Of light. So must we
IN the making of manhood. spend our first
years in the discovery of aXioms. maXin1s
and laws and great truths These being
after them whole troops of consequences.
The ancients described knowledge rs
.treruIn cognOScere cauSaS"; to know the
causes of things-the effects of causes
And along with this they say: Know
myself; that order is from heaven.
TO know ourselves is to have the eX-
PLANTATION of mans presence here Oh
earth; his parentage, his native dignity,
his possibilities here. and the meaning OF
the profoundest mystery and the most
terrible Of all facts-death Ali that is
involved in the knowledge of ourselves.
Merely to know the operations of our
hearts and minds and bodies is not
enough. We find ourselves here, and
must know something Of the beginning,
middle and end of our existence. where
we came from and what we are and
whittier we are going what sort of be-
inss were our ancestors, and what is to
become Of our children? Indeed anthrc-
pology, including ourselves. is the first
thing for us to know, and the conditions
Of our existence. Ignorance of ourselves