GENIUS AN ELECTION.

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and most blessed duty, and yet, are obliged, by the very consequences of their disobedience, to bear the witness which was required of them: so, likewise, must a genius, by the wildest aberrations of his mind, by the grossest profanation of his calling, necessarily become a beacon of those very ideas, which, by a life of faith and love, he might have illustrated in all the radiancy of heavenly light. The purpose of God is fixed, and unalterable; he, who is called to accomplish it, is free to turn it into a blessing, or into a curse, to himself; but still, he must fulfil the will of Him, who knoweth the balancings of the clouds. When brought to this test, how profane does the vulgar notion appear, that genius is a sort of natural eminence, which. entitles the possessor to a more extensive enjoyment of life, to the highest admiration of his fellow-creatures, and even to a sort of exemption from the common laws of morality! What an awful light does this view throw upon the baneful consequences, which that vulgar notion, and its influence upon education, has entailed upon so many a man of genius, involving him in deep ruin, and making him a sign in his generation! And how is all this to be accounted for? Is it not, by that fatal, and still unexploded mistake, of asking, on every occasion-What rights does this insure to us?—instead of inquiring, what are our duties ?

Therefore, as has been done, with a view to ascertain the relative duties of the family and of society, to provide for the education of their children, so, likewise, with reference to the present question, a new principle must be laid down. It must be acknowledged, in the first instance, as regards the natural capacities of the child, that, whatever measure of them every individual is gifted with, it is the duty of those that educate him, to develop and cultivate them; and, farther, that the degree, to which this is to be done, is not to be limited in any wise, considering that the immortal part of man is neither finite in itself, nor destined for a finite existence.

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REGARD TO CIRCUMSTANCES IN EDUCATION.

It remains then, for us to inquire, in the second instance, how far external circumstances must be permitted to affect the child's education. On the same ground of duty the answer is very simple and very easy. The question is not. "This child is possessed of such and such means to buy enjoyment and gratification: what sort of enjoyment is then to be fixed upon, as the chief object to which his education shall be directed ?"-Or, in another case: "This child is not possessed of any, or only of very small means of buying enjoyment and gratification-what mode of acquiring those means is, then, to be selected for him, and made the object of his education?" But the question is: "This child will, in all human probability, be possessed of such or such an extent of means, under such and such circumstances, what education, then, must be given to him, in order to lead, and to enable him, to employ all those means for good purposes? What must be done to preserve him from that great snare, into which the wealthy so often fall, to think too much of the outward means of doing good, and to depreciate, or, at least, not sufficiently to appreciate those more important means, which God has appointed to man in his mental faculties, and in spiritual gifts?” Or, if the individual be not possessed of outward means, "What education must he receive, in order to learn to dispense with the riches, or the power of this earth, and to pursue the labours of his calling, unimpeded by the shackles of an outwardly unfavourable position ?" These are the questions, which we must ask, to ascertain how far the education of children is to be affected by external circumstances. Accordingly as, by the order of Providence, they do or do not possess outward means, they must be taught to turn them to account, for the fulfilment of their duty, or to dispense with them.

He alone, who is so educated, is well educated for his circumstances, if they remain unchanged, and likewise well educated for a change of his circumstances, if Providence should so decree it. If the affluent man was made to feel,

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that he has no right to his possessions, but in proportion as he employs them for good purposes, how free would he be from the wish of accumulating more and more, and how free from regret, if, in consequence of his exertions, or by some contingency, his means should be diminished. At the greatest losses he could no more feel hurt, than an agent in delivering up to his employer the sums which he administered for him, and which he never considered as his own! And how powerfully would the general diffusion of such principles tend to restore that equilibrium in society, which is now entirely lost by the accumulation of immense means in the hands of a few, that know not how to use them, and the entire destitution of so many, who cannot find any way of acquiring even the little they want. If no man claimed, or endeavoured to acquire, one groat beyond what he stands immediately in need of, for the fulfilment, not of his imaginary, but of his real duties, how easy would it be for every man to acquire that much. If, by one magic stroke, this effect could be produced upon the minds of men, so that every one would give up, whatever he does not want for the accomplishment of some really good purpose, according to his peculiar calling, and according to the degree of his moral capacity to be an agent of good, what immense treasures would then, in one instant, become "res nullius." It would then become evident, that mankind, in general, have thrown their power far too much upon the acquisition or the preparation of objects of enjoyment; and the surplus, which would be found in the aggregate result of their labours for these purposes, would sufficiently account for the fearful neglect of their moral and religious cultivation. The measure, in which that disproportion exists, in every nation, would bring to light, what now is enveloped in comparative darkness, viz. how far it has walked in the path of the Lord, pursuing the true course of human culture, or how far it has departed from the right way, and, in bondage to the spirit of this world, has worked out a false and morally ruinous civilization. These

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NATIONAL TENDENCY FOR WEALTH.

remarks may appear to some to be foreign to the present purpose; but I would beg to remind them, that it is of the highest importance, that the subject of education should not only be viewed with reference to the individual who is to be educated, but likewise in a national point of view, inasmuch as it is the whole nation upon whom the duty of education devolves, and as the state of the nation, its improvement, or its ruin, depends, in a great measure, upon the education which it imparts. On the other hand, it is clear, that, whatever spirit the nation is possessed of, that spirit will be communicated to the rising generations; and if it be an evil spirit, will, in course of time, bring ruin and destruction upon the whole nation; unless, indeed, it be arrested in its course by a warning voice, and led to repent and to retrace its steps. Thus if it should be found, that, in this nation, there is a tendency for the immoderate acquisition of wealth, irrespectively of any duty, for the fulfilment of which that wealth is required, but upon the assumption of a general right to acquire, to accumulate, and to enjoy is it not evident, that this false tendency will be implanted in every individual brought up in the nation ; and is it not, if such be the case, high time that inquiry should be made, what manner of spirit it is, which the nation thus instils in the bosom of its rising members?

I need not be at any trouble to prove that such a false tendency actually exists; it is a fact, not only admitted on all hands, but even boasted of by many; nor does it seem necessary, after all that has been said, to enter into a long argument, in order to prove that it is an unchristian tendency,one which has its root in social principles of pagan origin, and its support in the corruption, the innate selfishness, of the human heart. Supposing this to be admitted, I shall now proceed to the inquiry, what are the distinctions to be made in education, upon the principle, that every individual is to be taught all that he has a duty to learn, and nothing which he has not a duty to learn, according to the measure and peculiar character of his natural capacity, as

REGARD TO THE MENTAL FACULTIES.

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well as to the outward means of action, of which he is, or will be possessed.

In the first instance, it is to be observed, that the faculties of the human mind are, in kind, common to all men, that is to say, that, in all men, the same faculties of the soul are to be found, although, in every man, in different degrees of power, and, consequently, differently combined. This being the case, and all the faculties being destined to work together, under the influence of one central power of life and harmony, it is evident, that no distinction ought to be made respecting the cultivation of some faculties in some, and of other faculties in other individuals, but that in every individual, whatever be his capacities or his station, all the faculties ought to be brought into play. But as the faculties do not exist in all individuals, in the same degrees of power, it is evident, that education ought to pay regard to this difference, and that, therefore, according to the natural capacities of every individual, or to the degree of power, in which he is possessed of each faculty, a distinction should be made, as regards the degree of cultivation, which different individuals ought to receive in different respects. Hence it follows, not only, that different individuals must be differently instructed, but also, that, in one and the same individual, different degrees of care and attention must be bestowed upon different faculties. In this, we ought entirely to follow the indications of nature, and never to attempt making any individual unlike what he is intended to be. The present plan is, to appoint a general measure of cultivation for all, and to endeavour, as much as possible, to bring every individual to that measure; as if there was a common standard of human mind, to which, as a pattern of perfection, all should be made to approach as near as possible. This is, however, as senseless a proceeding, as if a gardener were to attempt to train all his appletrees, of whatever sort they be, into one particular sort, instead of cultivating every one "after its kind," to the