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Literary Notices.

Boat-Life in Egypt and Nubia, by W. C. PRIME. | revealed." The three days of creation which espe(Published by Harper and Brothers.) The author cially fall within the sphere of geology, namely, of this volume left America for Egypt in the sum- the third, fifth, and sixth, may be held to have mer of 1855, with the view of prosecuting certain extended over those carboniferous periods during favorite studies in the land of the East. His work, which the great plants were created-over those however, for the most part, consists of a record of oolic and cretacious periods during which the great his travels, without reference to the peculiar ob- sea-monsters and birds were created-and over ject by which they were prompted. The voyage those tertiary periods during which the great terup the Nile presents the usual variety of incidents, restrial mammals were created. For the intervenwhich have now become familiar from the pictur- ing fourth day, we have the wide space represented esqué descriptions of previous travelers. Mr. by the periods which were marked by the decline Prime colors them with the vivid hues of his own and ultimate extinction of the palæozoic forms, and fancy, imparting to them an air of originality by the first partially developed beginnings of the sechis quaint and highly characteristic modes of ex- ondary ones. For the first and second days there pression and illustration. Egypt appears to have remains the great azoic period, during which the left a singularly agreeable impression upon his primary clay slates were deposited, and the two mind. Travel in that romantic and beautiful land extended periods represented by the Silurian and he regards as the very perfection of life. For the Old Red Sandstone Systems. With regard to the invalid, especially, Egypt surpasses any country periods designated by the term "days," Mr. Miller in the world. The climate is serene and uniform. argues that they must have been prophetic days, Day and night the atmosphere is the same. There symbolic of that series of successive periods, each are no changes from heat to cold, or from cold to characterized by its own productions and events, heat. As your boat floats along on the ancient in which creation itself was comprised. It is probNile, opening successive glimpses of temple and able, however, that Moses was not aware of the palace, pyramid and tomb, the day becomes one extent of the periods represented in the vision, and long dream of enchantment, and the delight there- he may even have been ignorant of the actual exof never fades from the memory. If the glowing tent of the seeming days by which they were sympictures which the author has drawn of the attrac-bolized. tions of an Egyptian tour should tempt any American traveler to turn his face in that direction, he will find many valuable practical suggestions with regard to the journey in the appendix to this vol

ume.

The " days of creation," in relation to what they typify, seem to have been "the mere modules of a graduated scale." Mr. Miller, accordingly, concludes "that for many long ages ere man was ushered into being, not a few of his humbler contemporaries of the fields and woods en

The Testimony of the Rocks. By HUGH MIL-joyed life in their present haunts, and that for LER. (Published by Gould and Lincoln.) The purpose of this work is to show the bearings of geological science on natural and revealed religion. Apart from the intrinsic importance of its contents, it derives a mournful interest from its connection with the untimely and lamented death of its eminent author. It was the work to which he had almost exclusively devoted the latter portion of his life, and the preface was completed only the day before its termination. According to the views set forth by Mr. Miller in this volume, the leading characteristic of geologic history, or, in other words, of the history of creation, is progress. In both alike there is a gradual transition from dead matter to the humblest forms of vitality, and thence onward to the highest. Inanimate plants, sea-monsters, and moving creatures with life, are succeeded by the cattle and beasts of the earth. Man next enters upon the scene. Previous to his appearance upon the earth, each step in the series had been the result of creation. The process, as described in Genesis, was revealed by a vision. "It seems at least eminently probable that such was the mode or form of the revelation in this case, and that he who saw by vision on the Mount the pattern of the Tabernacle and its sacred furniture, and in the wilderness of Horeb the bush burning but not consumed, saw also by vision the pattern of those successive pre-Adamic creations, animal and vegetable, through which our world was fitted up as a place of human habitation. The reason why the drama of creation has been optically described seems to be that it was in reality visionally

thousands of years anterior even to their appearance many of the existing molluscs lived in our seas." The day during which the present creation came into being, and in which God, when he had made "the beast of the earth after his kind, and the cattle after their kind," at length terminated the work by moulding a creature in his own image, was not a brief period of a few hours' duration, but extended perhaps over millenniums of centuries. It was not a natural day, but a prophetic day, stretching far back into the by-gone eternity. In the support of his scientific convictions Mr. Miller employs great fertility of illustration, the fruits of extensive personal research, and masculine energy of argument. His style is too diffuse for the highest effect of didactic composition, and by a more severe compression would have gained both in clearness and point. In spite of the interest of the subject, his volume is not easy reading. We do not, indeed, demand a popular character in discussions like those to which this work is devoted, but the most profound reasonings may be set forth with lucidity of arrangement, simplicity of expression, and a smooth and graceful flow of language. The want of these qualities greatly impairs the excellence which, in many respects, characterizes Hugh Miller's writings. He often, also, attempts too much. With the consciousness of a defective early education, he indulges in an elaborate, scholastic style, in which he is evidently ill at ease, and which is far less forcible than the unaffected simplicity of nature. The eloquent flights in which he loves to try his wing are not seldom grandiloquent. The

value of the work is greatly enhanced to students by its copious illustrations of fossil remains.

pied nearly a twelvemonth of time, extended over a thousand miles. It was mostly performed on muleback. Before it was completed, the writer had visited some thirty-eight towns and settlements

Regulations for the Army of the United States (Harper and Brothers), published by authority of the Secretary of War, contains a complete state-in Central America, and collected whatever seemed ment of the rules in every department of the service, as approved by the President at the commencement of the current year.

The Satires of Juvenal and Perseus, edited by CHARLES ANTHON, LL.D. (Published by Harper and Brothers.) In this edition of Juvenal, the text of Jahn has been generally followed, and whatever might tend to make the volume less readable in a recitation-room has been scrupulously removed. Appropriate explanatory notes from a variety of sources, especially from Mayor, Heinrich, and Madan, have been appended by the editor. The text of Perseus is given without comment. "This part of the volume," Professor Anthon dryly remarks, "will meet with the undivided approbation of those critical friends of his who have uniformly condemned his commentaries as exuberant, if not useless."

Among their recent reprints, Ticknor and Fields have issued Guy Mannering and The Antiquary, in two volumes each, of their " Household Edition" of the Waverley Novels, and the Characteristics of Women, by Mrs. JAMESON. The edition of Scott is admirable in form and arrangement, and, with the exception of the superfluous flourishes between the chapters, is a model of excellent typographical taste. It is embellished with original designs by Faed, one of which is a "prodigiously" natural portrait of the immortal Dominie Sampson. Mrs. Jameson's "Women of Shakspeare" is brought out in blue and gold, to match the pleasant pocket editions of Tennyson and Longfellow.

Life-Pictures from a Pastor's Note-Book, by ROBERT TURNBULL, is a collection of narratives, conversations, and letters, intended to represent the influence of the religious sentiment on the spiritual life. In the preparation of the volume the author had special regard to those minds which are in a state of struggle and anxiety from the influence of skepticism. The experience of several reclaimed skeptics, within the immediate knowledge of the author, is given in the course of the work. Other sketches are added, showing the various phases of Christian experience from its commencement to its consummation. The style of the author is vivid, always earnest, and often singularly impressive. (Sheldon, Blakeman, and Co.)

likely to throw any light on the history or natural resources of the country. He has discovered many errors in the usual statements concerning the topography of Honduras, which, previously to the valuable work of Mr. Squier on the subject, was scarcely better known to Europeans and Americans than the interior of Japan. No source of information has escaped his attention; with an active curiosity he combines intelligent judgment, and with his rare opportunities of observation, he has been able to produce a work of no less importance for its copious illustration, of the condition and character of the people among whom he sojourned, than of interest as a narrative of varied and exciting adventure. It is one of the few books of which the greater part has been written from personal knowledge, forming a truly original contribution to ethnological science.

Germany: its Universities, Theology, and Religion, by PHILIP SCHAFF. (Published by Lindsay and Blakiston.) In this volume, a popular, and necessarily superficial, account is given of the profound theological movement which distinguished the intellectual history of Germany during the first half of the present century. It presents a general outline of the development of thought, from Herder to Hegel, brief notices of the various schools of philosophy, and a detailed view of the later systematic operations for the diffusion of practical religion. The most interesting portions of the volume consist of the author's personal reminiscences of several of the most celebrated German divines-Neander, Tholuck, Hengstenberg, Twesten, Nitzsch, Julius Müller, Ullmann, Wichern, and others. The last-named person is remarkable for his zeal and devotion in the cause of Christian philanthropy. His name is identified with what is called the Inner Mission, an organized system for the regeneration of German Protestantism. He is classed by the author with Vincent de Paul, Hermann Francke, Wilberforce, and other practical reformers, whose lives were devoted to the welfare of their race. His noble institution in the vicinity of Hamburg, for the restoration of vagrant children, has been made known here by Mr. Brace, in his work on the "Home Life of Germany." Dr. Schaff handles the English language with considerable vigor, although certain peculiar turns of expression show that it is not his native tongue.

Annals of Southern Methodism in 1856, by the Rev. CHARLES F. DEEMS, D.D. (Published by Stevenson and Owen.) An extended account of The Sultan and his People, by C. OSCANYAN. the condition and operations of the Methodist de- (Published by Derby and Jackson.) The author nomination in the Southern States during the past of this volume is a native of Constantinople, of year is presented in this comprehensive volume. Armenian parentage, but educated at the universIt not only contains a variety of statistical inform-ity of this city, of which he has been a resident for ation for general reference, but a great amount of personal anecdote and illustration.

Explorations and Adventures in Honduras, by WILLIAM V. WELLS. (Published by Harper and Brothers.) The extensive travels in Central America, of which an account is given in this volume, were undertaken with a view to the reconnoissance of the gold regions in Olancho, which were supposed to rival California in deposits of the precious metal.

several years past. His work is devoted to sketches of the present condition, national customs, and peculiar institutions of the Turkish people. It abounds in information, with much of which the public is familiar from the descriptions of various travelers; but coming from one who is to "the manner born," it has a certain freshness of flavor, though not the attraction of absolute novelty. Mr. Oscanyan writes the English language with perfect facility and with general correctness; but his style often betrays an Oriental luxuriance which needs to be toned down in order to meet the pro

In the course of his wanderings, the author became deeply interested in the romantic country of which so few authentic reports have been given to the public. His tour, which occu-prieties of Western taste.

Editor's Cable.

[OW OUGHT AMERICAN MIND TO BE | purpose, an end in every thing. The first tree

the

instincts, traditions, and sentiments. Whatever erected, the first church dedicated to worship, bemay be its share in the common life of the world, longed to a plan. Puritan, Cavalier, Huguenot, there is always a point at which its peculiar char- Quaker, each and all had an object standing boldacteristics begin. Not more distinctly are the ge- ly out before the eye. And this was ever present ographical latitudes of the earth marked than its with them. It went into all their efforts. It was national divisions, each having the elements of an in their sufferings, defeats, triumphs. It attended individual history within itself, each fulfilling its them through the Revolution. It converted men purpose in the grand economy of Providence. The of peace into men of war, and tender women into interests of the race require this diversity, and noble heroines. Out of this same high conscioushence the hand of creative wisdom has not only ness grew the Confederacy, then the Federal Govmapped out the globe for the different tribes of ernment; men all the while feeling that they were mankind, but it has ordained that language, insti- executing a great task, not, indeed, fully revealed, tutions, and pursuits should contribute to the same but clearly enough to inspire their confidence and end. Men are not left in doubt as to the unity of challenge their devotion. Our later history has their origin and nature. Sufficient proof of this abounded in illustrations of the same fact. There fact having been presented both to the eye and to is scarcely a school-book in the land that does not the mind, a wide scope has been given for various advert to it, and all our popular oratory gives it forms of national development. prominence. Indeed, it is the most general, pervasive, ineradicable feeling in the hearts of our countrymen. Demagogues and patriots render it homage. Statesmen and divines derive the materials for their best eloquence from its inspiring truths. It is sometimes shamefully abused; its significance perverted; its import falsified in the language of lust and licentiousness; its benevolence sacrificed to intensify a plea for piracy; its religion degraded into a superstition that talks of destiny as a Turk talks of fate or a Hindoo of relentless sovereignty, and whets a filibustering appetite for carnage and conquest. And yet, amidst these violations of its sanctity, we see the tremendous power it exerts over our national mind by the facility with which it is used for evil. Yes! "destiny" is a word of mighty magic, but let the heart of truth and love sway its potent enchantment. Yes! "destiny" is a prophetic sound, trembling with the burden of a strange meaning, but let God's providence evolve its mystery and fulfill its decree.

Such views have a practical value. If we are indebted to the instructions of abstract philosophy for their introduction into the social science of the age, let us not forget that Christianity first taught these truths. But for it men could never have generalized with any satisfactory results. It alone has lifted them above the narrow horizon of the senses, and, by faith, extended their intellectual vision over the whole human family. There is, consequently, a moral power in these principles that appeals to industry and commerce as well as to statesmanship. Nor is any one of their aspects more interesting and important than the bearing which they have on the formation of national character. If every nation has a separate existence, and, at the same time, is vitally related to the other portions of the vast social fabric; if it is to be faithful to its own instinctive laws, and yet equally loyal to the divine brotherhood of race; if it is to cherish this two-fold reverence, and never sacrifice the dictates of sympathy to the tyrannical demands of selfishness; if it is to yield full liberty to its own The "mission" of our country-disgusting as genius, make the utmost of its opportunities, and the word sometimes becomes by the cant that uses enjoy the revenue of its resources, while, with just it-the "mission" of our country is a patriotic, and generous feelings, it recognizes every obliga- Christian idea that is worthy of philosophic reflection to the world, there is certainly a profoundly tion and earnest sympathy. It is no idle phrase. practical meaning in national character that ought One of those words that are most eloquent to the to be studied, and to which we ought to conform in imagination when the imagination is most alive to our ideas of growth and means of progress. It is images of sublimity and grandeur; one of those not, then, a mere beautiful ideal. It is not a topic words that stir the heart after it has mused over for splendid declamation—a pompous nothing for the martyrdom of virtue or the fall of freedom; it rhetorical show, but a living truth to affect judg- can not do more than outline its import among the ment and action-a reality of providential law, shadows that curtain futurity. Nor can we adopt speaking to the conscience by the authority of God. it into our logic—a weighed and measured thing, It addresses all of us. It addresses the farmer, that stands for so much sense and soul. Words the mechanic, the merchant, the lawyer, the di- are sometimes more than dictionary terms, transvine. Every plow, every work-shop, every steam-cending science with its nice, exact limitations, engine and factory, every party movement, is something more than a private national interest. It is a part of the great system which binds us all to gether, and, after executing its province in this connection, it spreads its influence abroad, and acts on every tie that unites mankind.

Our national mind has not been insensible to the force of these sentiments. Thanks to the wisdom of our fathers, following the guidance of Providence, we had no chance-work in the original colonization of the country. There was a motive, a

and escaping from lips not fully conscious of the messages they bear to such as are ready to receive them. And yet, in the light of its meaning, we can see both our duty and policy; see the great principles that ought to direct our expansion and regulate our prosperity; see where ambition is a crime and a curse, and where it is an honor and a glory; see how self-love and home love are to be harmonized with universal love, and patriotism and philanthropy, baptized into the same spirit, are to go forth side by side and step with step, to

be mutual helpers in advancing the welfare of men. Providence teaches nations as well as individuals. Revelation is both a rule for sovereigns and subjects; and hence we are as fully informed as to the means and manner of making our country a blessing to ourselves and the world as we are instructed in the art of subduing our passions and acquiring the rewards of virtue. It is in view of these responsibilities that we have asked, "How ought American mind to be cultivated ?"

and the glory of Providence, she has multiplied here these majestic evidences of her kindly forethought and provident love, and placed us in the presence of a "cloud of witnesses," that bear testimony to the tasks we have to perform, to the achievements to be won, to the sovereignty we have been called to attain. "Have dominion over the earth and subdue it," is God's command: "have dominion," and receive a full, ready, abounding obedience in return; "have dominion," until all the necessities and all the luxuries of life are secured in rich utility and rare enjoyment; "have dominion," until body, soul, and spirit are served to the extent of natural resources, until creation teaches you all its wisdom, clothes you with all its power, and honors you in all its offices;

complished, and the whole material world is recovered to the moral interests of mankind.

The first po worthy of notice is, that our physical position suggests an idea of culture corresponding with its facts and circumstances. If the reader will open a map of the Western Hemisphere he will observe that it has certain peculiarities of form, and that these contrast strikingly with the figure of the Eastern Continent. Avail-"have dominion," until the destiny of labor is acing himself of the aid of physical geography in the prosecution of this train of thought, he will learn that while the Old World is marked by variety in the disposition of its surface, by dryness of climate and adaptation to animal life, the New World is characterized by much greater simplicity of form, by moistness of climate and prevalence of vegetation. He will see how our mountain chains follow the oceanic line, opening the country north and south, allowing a free circulation of wind and vapor, and inviting emigration, elsewhere impeded by natural barriers, to expand itself in easy channels of movement. Starting, in imagination, at Mackenzie's River and moving southwardly, he may trace on a landscape of about twenty-five hundred miles in extent, as on a vast dial-plate, all the wonders of vegetation in a beautiful order of succession. The changing features of the scenery, like the shadows marking the hours, would indicate his progress toward the Gulf of Mexico; and passing through the regions of mosses and lichens; of the forests of Lake Superior; of the oaklands of Wisconsin; of the walnut, chestnut, and hickory of Kentucky; of the magnolia and water-oaks farther south, he would travel for months along a panorama that in the Eastern Hemisphere is often unrolled on the gigantic side of a mountain-chain. Resting on two immense oceans, that form its eastern and western boundaries, with the Gulf of the Tropic on its southern border, and a far-stretching line of lakes on the north, he would behold his country occupying a position singularly favorable to domestic and foreign commerce. If to these facts he added the fertility of the soil and the natural facilities for internal communication; if he studied the geology and mineralogy of its various sections; if he pursued his investigations far enough to comprehend what a scope industry here had, what a premium was put on inventive skill and intelligent art, what a continental garden lay outspread over some twenty degrees of latitude, what a more than variegated and epitomized world was contained in the Valley of the Mississippi alone, he would then be amply furnished with data on which to found a judgment as to the relations subsisting between American mind and its material connections. Taken in its simplest aspects, in its means of physical civilization, where shall we find any thing approaching a parallel on the globe? If nature ever puts a prophecy in rivers, plains, and mountains; if her mighty chemistry works on through silent centuries for the future uses of man; if she does stamp the rock with the symbols of a language that the science of distant years may converse and write in for the good of the world

Here, then, is a magnificent field for the cultivation of our national mind. Man's relation to physical nature; man's agricultural, mining, mechanical skill; man's science and art for enriching his circumstances, elevating his condition, augmenting his strength-these are studies to engage deep thought, and enterprises to arouse a mighty activity. It is industry in its simplicity and grandeur; more than this, it is philosophy in its profound applications to practical ends. Whoever thinks that a bare utilitarianism is the sum and substance of all this close contact with material agencies, reads only the surface, and loses the truth dwelling in the heart of things around him. Men sometimes argue that this devotion to physical science and pursuits tends necessarily to lower the tone of the mind, and finally, to enslave it to the senses. The world is kindly put on its guard against steamengines and factory-machines. But facts dissipate this elegant sophistry. Society was much more gross and beastly, more cruel and vindictive, when they were unknown; and though the improvement is not abstractly due to them, yet the spirit of a Christian civilization, operating through them, has advanced all social interests. It may do for Hindoos to believe that spirit is defiled and degraded by connection with the "world of Sansard"-the bonds of matter; or for dirty, unwashed disciples of the old Gnosticism to assail the earth as the main cause of all corruption; but St. Paul warns us against those who "have a show of wisdom in neglecting the body," and his idea, fairly interpreted, teaches us to appreciate these material relations as designed by God to discipline both intellect and heart. Literature has enervated and corrupted far more men than physical science. Where shall we search for nobler examples of a truthful spirit, of heroic perseverance, of greater reverence and lofty devotion than one finds in the history of Palissy the potter, in Columbus, in Newton, in Ledyard, and Davy, and Bowditch? And if the materialism of this age is censured and condemned as so fraught with evils, where shall we look for so many illustrations of the honorable and praiseworthy use of money in all the enterprises of a humane and spiritual philanthropy? Never would a benevolent Creator have given matter so many available and useful forms, such variety of shape, color, and position, such minuteness and magnitude, such subtlety and tangibleness, so many attractive and commanding features, if it had not been capable of furnishing man with a most suitable and efficient instrument for the development of

condition; take the man of this continent-where the very contour of physical nature, laws of climate and material phenomena, point to him as the man of the future, and especially view him in the two

his faculties and the exaltation of his nature; and surely we may believe that the visible universe, which has afforded us such a magnificent demonstration of God's infinite attributes, is most admirably calculated to awaken thought, inspire sen-fold freedom that ennobles his mind and his pertiment, and quicken devout feeling.

son-and tell us, is there nothing to awaken the hope that he is destined to be an anointed co-worker with Providence in the regeneration of the earth? On these accounts, we urge on our countrymen a broader, fuller sympathy with physical science, considered as the exponent of a Divine meaning in our physical relations. There is much more wisdom in eye, and ear, and hand, than we have yet learned; soil and sky, wood and iron, seasons and circumstances, have wealth and grandeur above our dreaming. The finger of Providence seems to point our mind in this direction as the field for study and the theatre for action; and hence it appears to us that the moral of painting, sculpture, architecture-all that he enjoys from Art and all that is received from Science-now seeks a final expression here in man's position toward Nature,

But this is an incomplete view. It is incomplete because one-sided. Man is much more than a creature of the atmosphere and sunshine. To define him as an organized clod is simply to put him a little above the brutes, whereas Scripture places him only a little lower than the angels. We should like to see him a better animal because, if he choose, he can then be a better Christian. Our demand is for better homes, for the reason that they may be better temples for the indwelling of divine beauty. Yet this does not cover the whole subject of human relations. It is muchnot all. The finger of Providence points fartherhigher.

It is not sufficient, in the improvement of our physical advantages, that we sow and reap, quarry the firm rock and sink shafts in the mine, spin hemp and cotton, export ice and manufacture india-rubber goods. It is not enough to build model ships. Reaping-machines and electric telegraphs, steam for work and steam for inusic, are far from exhausting the immense resources that await intelligence and ingenuity. What we now need is a broader, deeper faith in our ability, under Providence, to make physical science minister to higher ends than it has yet attained. We want a conviction, as sacred and intense as a religious sentiment, that physical science, rightly understood, rests on a principle as yet but dimly apprehended and feebly felt; viz., civilized, Christian men are to labor for the abatement of the curse which Justice pro-and in Nature's attitude toward man. nounced upon the globe as a part of the penalty of sin, and to prepare the way for Christianity to occupy it as a theatre for the display of heavenly goodness. Are there any tokens that we are specially called to this task? Perhaps it would be extravagant to indulge such a belief; and yet indications are not wanting that our country does possess some signal advantages for this work. A knowledge of natural laws ought to be worth more to an American than to any other man, because so large a part of our industry and capital is so much more directly connected with Nature than with what is technically termed Art; and furthermore, because our opportunities of benefit from this source are greater than can be elsewhere found. If we have any particular aptitude for literature and the fine arts, it has not yet been revealed; but we have shown, considering our circumstances, an extraordinary genius for the adaptation of science to the objects of life. Then, too, the best kind of patron-country, we can not be insensible to the fact, that, age for practical science and art is here. The masses not a select class-are interested in whatever improves the outward condition, and, with a keen instinct, they are prompt to adopt any new means that may mitigate the hardships of labor by substituting intelligence for force. Our social in-office to put human beings on the right path of stitutions no less than our political organization are exceedingly favorable to growth, and hence the majority of our people are intent on making the world something more than a habitable spot. Industry has a domestic motive and reward. The humblest apprentice, the poorest day-laborer, may look to a home of his own; and thousands among them struggle for independence, that they may realize the leisure and refinements of social life. There is a wide-spread taste for the best things that the world can give a deep, popular feeling that man is the lawful heir of an earthly inheritance of which he has been too long deprived. Above all, Christianity, as the inspirer of every true, noble, generous sentiment, the restorer of human dignity, the life of labor and enterprise as well as of prayer and praise, is free from false restrictions. Authority can not dictate here the terms of its communion with men, nor political power measure the degree of influence which, consistently with its pretensions, the creed of Calvary may be allowed to exert. And now, combine these various elements, both in relation to character and

We need a more thorough, expansive, genial education. It ought to be different in degree as well as in kind from what is now the prevailing fashion. Admitting with glad thankfulness that education has done a great and good work for our

tried by a correct standard, it has not attained its end to the extent it should have done. If education is God's institution as every one must admit, if it is charged with the sacred responsibility of moulding mind and character, if it is its glorious

progress and supply no small share of those impulses which are both to stimulate and control its future movements, if such is the acknowledged and accepted theory of education, why does it so often fail in executing its purpose? The nature of the materials on which it works, the infirmities and vices rooted within us, must, of course, be taken into the account. Giving these a due weight in our estimate of practical results, and sympathizing heartily with the many earnest and devoted spirits toiling in this department of philanthropic service, we can not resist the conclusion that our systems of education fall far short of meeting the demands enlightened reason and Christian revelation have on them. Do what they may, education must be, to a large extent, the individual's own act in after years. This is providential law, and can not be set aside. Nevertheless, education, as popularly considered in connection with schools and colleges, has a most important province to fill. It is supplied with instruments to accomplish its task. It has time and opportunity to employ its agencies. Yet it frequently misses its aim, and

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