nal inventions in art and science. It was the
christian Copernicus who gave us the true system
of the universe ; it was the christian Gutenburg
who gave us the art of printing; it was the christ
ian Watt who gave us steam as a motive. power ;
it was the christian Morse who gave us the tele
graph ; and a christian Lincoln who broke the
shackles from 3,000,000 of God's creatures.
And what shall we say in regard to the achieve
ments of the church, in bettering. the condition of
the race? It has promoted public virtue ;it has
averted cruel wars,liberated slaves,reclaimed drunk
ards, redeemed the fallen, cheered the heart brok
en, stripped death of its terrors, and still points
the soul, by the index finger of faith, to a home
beyond the tomb.
This age of realities, how it teems with oppor
tunities 1 opportunities to dignify patriotism by
the exaltation of citizenship, to purify science by
washing it in the laver of regeneration, and to
make religion the panacea for the
,woes of life.
The day is coming when the patriot shall light
his torch at the sun of righteousness ; the scientist
pursue his studies in the atmosphere of heaven's
own day; and religion, taking them by the hand,
shall bring them into the presence of the King of
Kings. Then shall this three fold cord of patriot
ism, science and religion be united forever, in
a union characterizing the greatest reality of all
the ages.
P. S. C., May i 6, 1893
THE RELATION OF HIGHER EDUCA
-7 lON TO THE NATION.
In order to understand this question rightly,
it is necessary to knOw the objects of education,
the intellectual condition of an educated man, and .
the manner in which a state is benefitted by edu-
cating her citizens.
What the fundamental object of education is,
one may infer from the derivation of the word—
to draw out or develop. To educate, then, is,
considered its most liberal sense, to expand or de-
THE FREE LANCE.
Louis MAII'ERN.
velop the mind , to render a man capable of think
ing and of knowing in an intelligent and compre
hensive manner.
There are other motives, however, which
prompt men to seek instruction. They wish to
become skilled in the arts, proficient in the
practical applications of the sciences, or the acquir
ing of a technical knowledge necessary to a chos
en profession. But these may be regarded as
secondary objects compared to the great primal
function which we have mentioned.
The position of an educated man, on account
of his thoroughly disciplined mind, is intel
lectually, more elevated than that of his less fa
vored brother. From such a position he can
make intelligent and comprehensive observations,
and form judicious, unbiased decisions concern
ing all questions which come within the
scope of his horizon. He does not vote the
Democratic ticket simply because his father, and
possibly his grandfather have voted that ticket,
but because he, himself, has carefully examined
the respective party platforms, and then deliber
ately decided that the principles advocated by
the Democratic party were the most conducive to
the welfare of the American people. He is not a
member of the Presbyterian church simply be
cause he has descended from a line of Presbyterian
ancestry, but because he has, after a careful study
of the different doctrines, decided that the pre
cepts of that church conformed best to his concep
tion of a true religion. This then is one of the
ways in which an educated man differs from an
uneducated man.
In the pursuance of a trade or in the practice of
a profession, this difference is still more obvious.
The educated man of whatever trade or profession
has the experiences and deductions of generations
of men of like vocations, who have lived before
him to found his experiments upon, while the
uneducated man—however intelligent he may be
—has nothing but the verbal instructions of a pe
dantic "boss," and in consequence of this, we al
ways find him "an age behind the age."