V.-MORAL CULTURE.

DISCOURSE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF UNITING THE MORAL WITH THE INTELLECTUAL CULTURE OF THE MIND.

BY ALEXANDER CAMPBELL.

Ir, in accordance with the philosophy of things, we could trace effects from their immediate to their remote causes, it is presumed that we would find the momentous changes, already accomplished in English society, whether in the old world or the new, to be the legitimate consequence of a single maxim, consecrated into a rule of action, both by the precept and the example of the master spirit of the Protestant Reformation. That maxim says:-man by nature is, and of right ought to be, a thinking being. Hence it is decreed, that as a matter of policy, of morality,. and of religion, he ought not only to think, but to think for himself. This, as the paramount duty, was most successfully inculcated by that illustrious Saxon, to whom more than to any other mortal being, the sons of Japhet, in Europe and America, owe their best literary, moral and political institutions. To the inculcation of this obligation, more than to any other precept in the religious or moral code, was Martin Luther indebted for that eminent success, which elevated him to the highest niche in the temple consecrated to the memory of European and American benefactors. Nor is the day far distant, in our anticipations of the approaching future, when the philosophic historian, in his attempts to trace to its proper cause, the general superiority of that portion of our race which speaks the English tongue, in whatever land, under whatever sky it may happen to have its being, will find it supremely, if not exclusively, in the single fact, that the English nation

first adopted the Lutheran creed of thinking, speaking and writing freely and without restraint, on every subject of vital interest to the individual and to society.

But to set the mind abroach, to take off every restraint, but that of moral law, to encourage free inquiry, especially in an age of comparative ignorance and superstition, both in things political, religious and literary, is always a hazardous experiment. In such a revolution as must ensue, not only the institutions of false philosophy, unequal policy, and arbitrary legislation, but also the altars, the temples, and the ordinances of reason and truth and justice, may be blended together in one promiscuous ruin. Who can arrest the progress of free inquiry? What human spirit can ride upon this whirlwind and direct this storm? What philosopher or sage can with effect say, "hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther," and here shall all your investigations cease? Experience says, it is much easier to communicate the spark, than to arrest the flame. Still, however, we have this consolation, that truth is in its own nature indestructible, and that however for a time it may be hid amongst the rubbish of human tradition, or buried in the wreck of revolutions and counter revolutions in human affairs, it will ultimately gain the ascendant, and command not only the admiration but the homage of all mankind.

To those of the most enlarged conceptions of human affairs, and of the natural tendencies of things, we imagine it will appear most evident, that it is safer and happier for society, that the mind should be permitted to rest with full assurance upon its own investigations, and that perfect freedom of inquiry should be guarantied to every man, to reason, to examine, and to judge for himself, on all subjects in the least involving his own present or future destiny, or that of society.

Happy is it then for the general interests of all science, and of all society, that when men begin to think, and reason and decide for themselves, on any one subject, unrestrained by the prescriptions, and unawed by the authority of past ages, it is not within their own power, nor within the grasp of any extrinsic authority on earth, to restrain their specula

tions, or to confine them to that one subject, whatever it may be, which happened first to arouse their minds from the repose of unthinking acquiescence, and to break the spell of implicit resignation to the reputed sages of ancient times. Hence, the impetus given to the human mind by the Protestant Reformation, extends into every science, into every art, into all the business of life, and continues with increased and increasing energy, to consume and waste the influence of every existing institution, law and custom, not founded upon eternal truth, and the immutable and invincible nature of things.

This spirit of free inquiry first seized the church, then the state, then the colleges, then the schools, and now, even now in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, it has invaded not only the penetralia of every temple, but even the inmost recesses of the nursery, the infant head, the infant brain; and in full harmony with the divining spirit of the age, are we now in solemn conclave, assembled to inquire if aught of error yet remains unscathed, or of truth undiscovered in the most useful of all human sciences and arts: that of educating man.

The philosopher, the politician, the moralist, and the Christian, regard the subject of education as of transcendant importance to the individual and social well-being of man. If in other matters they differ, in this they agree, that nothing connected with time or sense, so supremely deserves the best thoughts and most concentrated efforts of the human mind, as the proper method of training and developing the physical, intellectual and moral powers of man. For whatever may be, in the eye of the philanthropist, the chief desideratum in the future earthly destiny of man, whatever may be the measures of temporal bliss, or temporal glory to which he would exalt his species, as the ultimatum of all his aspirations, he contemplates and designs to effect it all, by a system of education in perfect unison with the whole nature of man. The Christian himself, in seeking the eternal happiness and glory of his own offspring, and of society at large, forms no scheme, can conceive of no means in human power, to further his wishes, and to secure his object, other than by an

education in perfect harmony with human nature, as it now is, under the remedial administration of heaven.

One of the most exhilarating and promising signs of a better era in human destiny, is the continued and increasing interest displayed on this very subject. Happy are we to find that not only in the East and in the West, in the North and in the South, in the length and breadth of our own happy land, but in the land of our forefathers, and in all the regions of English and American commerce, whereever the Protestant religion is known, men are awakening to the examination of how much has been done, and how much remains to be done, not only in extending the means of education, but in adapting that education according to the lights of true science, to the whole constitution and circumstances of mankind.

Much, very much indeed, remains to be accomplished, to meet the exigencies of the times, and to dispel the clouds and darkness yet resting upon various questions, either intimately connected with a rational system of education, or forming a part of it. This is true, not only of our own country, but of the most enlightened portions of the old world. Among the resolutions of the British and Foreign School Society, of March, 1831, it is repeatedly acknowledged that "ENGLAND IS YET UNEDUCATED." Lord Brougham, in 1833, in his speech at the Wilberforce meeting, at York, strongly affirms that in England, "IGNORANCE PREVAILS ΤΟ AN HORRIBLE EXTENT,' "" ignorance, too, of a proper system of education. And cer tainly this is true of large portions of our own still more happy country.

Creditable it is in the highest degree to our country, that in the estimation of all mankind, she stands foremost in the work of education, and, to the honor of the founders of the "College of Teachers" in the Valley of the Mississippi, it may yet be said that this institution has been the commencement of a new era in the literary annals of the West.

But the subject before us demands at least as preliminary, a definition not merely of the term education, but of that which is to be educated. And yet plain and hackneyed as the subject is, it is not altogether without its difficulties.

Education, as usually defined, imports no more than "the formation of manners in youth," or the cultivation of the intellectual powers. But in its true and philosophic signification, it takes a wider range, and denotes the full development and proper training of all the human powers. These are generally called physical, intellectual, and moral. But as physical powers are held by us in common with inferior animals, they are not regarded as strictly human, and, therefore, with the most accomplished thinkers, the human powers are purely intellectual and moral. Still it will be conceded, that even man's animal powers are susceptible of improvement, under a scientific education, that even his external senses, with all his physical organization, by proper exercise and discipline, can be greatly improved. .

But who has accurately defined the intellectual and moral powers? Agreed it is on all hands, that the human mind is composed of various innate and primitive powers, however they may be enumerated and defined; and that these are the proper subjects of education. But because they have never yet been defined with authority-because no two philosophers, from the days of Plato to the beginning of the present century, have agreed in any one theory of the intellectual and moral powers, every system of education hitherto patronized, is in some respects inadequate or imperfect. The words "intellect," "moral powers," and "affections," are of universal currency, and appear on many a learned and eloquent page, as the well established representatives of the most precise ideas in mental philosophy. It has been our misfortune, however, never to have met with an author of standard value, in any of the schools of English or American literature, who could make us understand what are the intellectual and moral powers, the "understanding, will, and affections," which constitute that something called the human mind or soul, and concerning the education of which so many hundred authors have written to so little purpose.

The mental and moral philosophy of the schools, especially the latter, in spite of all our efforts and predictions, yet appear to us sciences about words rather than things; sciences without a solid basis. Fine discourses have been