Year: 1873

, Who educate American youth 7 Teachers
of various grades inculcate certain branches
of study during small portion Of each day
These often do their best, by dint o.
ambitious examining, force utterly indigesteo
and sometimes indigestible compilations o.


facts and data upon the memory. But, SIDE
by side with these, great and really educa
tioual process is going on. 1t is managed


in part. BY an order Of literature, so-calied


Of which We forbear to speak now in the on


To terms in which we can speak oft, 30 false
~ noverstricken and diluted thought as it is
50 immoral in the sense Of wanting the true
principles Of moral guidance. 1t is also
managed by daily press, which, IN its
absorbing passion for gossip, falsely called
news. utterly forgets the classic canon,
"Marin,a debetur pseris," and describes with
revolving minuteness the incidents OF crime
and the horrors of casualty. It is, further.
more developed by the household talk and
the culture Of the street. What the former
is. must vary with the character OF each
household but one great law perVades near,
" all tho sentiment Of business activity and
vor}dly success on one side, and Of emulous
display on the on the other.


We do not speak without book. We
know what the ordinary strain OF conversa-
i between men whom one may overhear
talking en- railway journeys and in the streets
and we feel but too sadly certain that one
may listen long without catching a. single
ennobling sentiment, or an idea which rises
above hard, practical, business facts. The
great pecuniary standard is the one to
Which both boys and girls are habituated
to refer all subjects. What thing will cost,
what It will produce, are the leading CUES
tions for the young life to be trainsd IN; m
We do not deny that there is q great deal OF
sound morality yet let in the land but 1t Is
the wasting though yet uaspent, legacy OF
the past 1t is wasting capital which is not
being increased. Against these Influences
are. in brief, the power Of the high-ciass
lterature-neverer widely readTthe teach
ines Of the pulpit and the Sunday-school.
The power Of high-class literature is lessen
ing, because the demand for it does not IN
crease in proportion to the increase OF read.
ers. and. at its best, it is strangely mixed
With doubtful elements. Very few of the
best writer's can afford to do their best,
irrespective of immediate popularity, because
yery few can rise aboys the sevltude IN


s eI9 - ~ ~
upon tie Hlbitual feeling Of the pews toward
tie ministry. The constant effort Is 70 make
preaching only mercantile business, to esti-
mate the preacher according to his money
value in the sermon market; and this is by
all those bodies who have put worship out
of sight, or who regardit merely from the
objective standpoint. There is very lit
tie preaching to tho masses who do not come 70
hear it. The temptation to every educatea
minister is to utter his thoughts In that sort
of rhetorical shorthand, as one may say,
which is understood by those at his own level
Of culture. It is easier and pleasanter TO 90
this lust as it is easier for scientific man
talking to men of science to use the familiar
technology which to the unlearned conveys
no ideas. but which to his own coterie saves
all need of explanation. TO translate really
high and important thought into plain words
which all can take in, is far harder matter
than one may think, and it is inevitably at
tended by the exposure Of sophisms and the
showing up of failscies, which men not sure
Of their ground inevitably shrink from


Now. when it is remembered that accurate
theological thought is not the rule ola great
deal Of seminary teaching, but, instead, the
loosest eclecticism it will be seen why great
pulpit success may not be inconsistent with
blatant nonsense or Aimsy sentimentality


Especially is this true where the preacher Is
,st 10 utter. not facts Of Christianity, but
secondary impressions obtained from those
facts. 90 VII


What. then, of the sunday school? What
mt out of the question the manifold abuses
rh;ch have crept iuto it the clap-trap, the
br;berv. the surface work Of which there II


40 much. We take the plain fact that, Just
At this point where there is hope for it to dc
something, the boy and the gil slip away
from its influence. They learn to be frs'
ashmed Of, and then TO ridicule, the Prin


ciples taught there. These do not square
v,th the pleasures for which they long, and
tbe practical lessons Of the home. They see
and children are very quick to see-tha,
their parents have outgrown the laws laid
down for them. Take habitual disregard
for the Lords Day, the absence Of all rever
epce, in worship or for worship, the Jack OF
snv incubation Of respect for those who
minister about holy things, and even OF the
things themselves on the parents side, and
the ehiId's mind will soon 60 over to the
stronger party.
Just in proportion as its laity awake 70 na ~
meaning and needs, it is enabled to MAKE
successful headway. But around it is con
slant influence to hold il back. A vast pro
portion of Church people are those led 70
y.rd Il bv martial conviction, who appreciate