{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_28036/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_28036","id":"gutenberg_28036","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28036","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - American","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Teaching & Education","Catholic Church -- Education -- United States","Education -- United States"],"text":"Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Josephine Paolucci and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.\n(This file was produced from images generously made\navailable by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION\n\nBY\n\nMICHAEL MUeLLER, C.S.S.R.,\n\n_Priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer._\n\nBOSTON:\nPUBLISHED BY PATRICK DONAHOE,\n19 FRANKLIN STREET.\n1872.\n\nEntered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by\nPATRICK DONAHOE,\nIn the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n                                                         PAGE\nINTRODUCTORY                                               7\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nEDUCATION--ITS OBJECT AND NECESSITY                       17\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nORIGIN OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM                        41\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nEXPOSE OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM                        75\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nEVIL CONSEQUENCES OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM\nON THE MALE PORTION OF SOCIETY                            82\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nEVIL CONSEQUENCES OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM\nON THE FEMALE PORTION OF SOCIETY                          87\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nWHAT IS IT TO BE A MOTHER?                               110\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nEVIL CONSEQUENCES OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM\nCONTINUED                                                128\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nTHE STATE.--ITS USURPATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL\nRIGHTS.--ITS INCOMPETENCY TO EDUCATE                     139\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nTHE STATE A ROBBER.--VIOLATION OF OUR CONSTITUTION\nAND COMMON LAW                                           163\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nREMEDY FOR THE DIABOLICAL SPIRIT AND THE CRIMES\nIN OUR COUNTRY                                           189\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nTHE DENOMINATIONAL SYSTEM ALONE SATISFIES THE\nWANTS OF ALL, AND CAN SAVE THE REPUBLIC                  233\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nTHE CATHOLIC PRIEST ON THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM          296\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS                                    340\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nZEAL OF THE PRIEST FOR THE CATHOLIC EDUCATION OF\nOUR CHILDREN                                             373\n\n\n\n\nPUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nINTRODUCTORY.\n\n\nAmerican fellow-citizens--America is my home! I have no other country.\nAfter my God and my religion, my country is the dearest object of my\nlife! I love my country as dearly as any one else can. It is this love\nthat makes my heart bleed when I call to mind the actual state of\nsociety in our country, and the principles that prevail everywhere. It\nis indeed but too true that we live in a most anti-Christian age;\nprinciples are disregarded, and iniquity is held in veneration. We see\nnothing but confusion in religion, in government, in the family circle.\nSects spring up and swarm like locusts, destroying not only revealed\nreligion, but rejecting even the law of nature. Fraud, theft, and\nrobbery are practised almost as a common trade. The press justifies\nrebellion, secret societies, and plots for the overthrow of established\ngovernments. The civil law, by granting divorce, has broken the family\ntie. Children are allowed to grow up in ignorance of true religious\nprinciples, and thereby become regardless of their parents. The number\nof apostates from Christianity is on the increase, at least in the\nrising generation. Current literature is penetrated with the spirit of\nlicentiousness, from the pretentious quarterly to the arrogant and\nflippant daily newspaper, and the weekly and monthly publications are\nmostly heathen or maudlin. They express and inculcate, on the one hand,\nstoical, cold, and polished pride of mere intellect, or on the other,\nempty and wretched sentimentality. Some employ the skill of the engraver\nto caricature the institutions and offices of the Christian religion,\nand others to exhibit the grossest forms of vice, and the most\ndistressing scenes of crime and suffering. The illustrated press has\nbecome to us what the amphitheatre was to the Romans when men were\nslain, women were outraged, and Christians given to the lions to please\na degenerate populace. The number of the most unnatural crimes is beyond\ncomputation. A wide-spread and deep-seated dishonesty and corruption\nhas, like some poisonous virus, inoculated the great body of our public\nmen in national, state, and municipal positions, so much so that\nrascality seems to be the rule, and honesty the exception. Real\nstatesmanship has departed from amongst us; neither the men nor the\nprinciples of the olden time exist any longer.\n\nThe shameless cynicism with which the great public plunderers of our day\nbrazen out their infamy, is only equalled by the apathy with which the\npublic permits these robberies, and condone for them by lavishing place\nand power upon the offenders. \"The way of the transgressor\" has ceased\nto be \"hard\"--unless he be a transgressor of very low degree--and\nrascality rides rampant over the land, from the halls of Congress to the\nlowest department of public plunder.\n\nThe poet has well said that Vice, once grown familiar to the view, after\nfirst exciting our hate, next succeeded in gaining our pity, and\nfinally was taken into our embrace.\n\nThe familiarity of the public mind with daily and almost hourly\ninstances of public peculation and betrayal of high trusts has created\nthis indulgent disposition, until at last the wholesome indignation,\nwhich is the best safeguard of honesty, has been diluted into a maudlin\nsympathy with the malefactors. And the rankness of the growth of this\nevil is not more startling than its rapidity. It is a new thing--a foul\nfungus, suddenly forced into fetid life, out of the corruptions\nengendered by the war. It is \"a new departure\" in a wrong\ndirection--down that smooth, broad path to the devil.\n\nWe all remember the sensation which, before the war, was ever caused by\nthe discovery of a public defaulter, and the indignation which drove him\never forth from place and country, on his detection. Punishment sure and\nswift was certain to seize upon him, if he dared linger after the facts\nwere known.\n\nA breach of trust was not then considered a joke, nor theft elevated\ninto the dignity of a fine art, whose most eminent professors were to\nbe regarded with envy and admiration.\n\nThink of the clamor which was raised over the comparatively petty\npeculations of Swartwout, Schuyler, Fowler, and other small sinners like\nthem, who even found the country too hot to hold them, and died in\nexile, as an expiation to the public sentiment they had outraged.\n\nYet their frauds were as molehills to the mountains which the busy hands\nof our public peculators have heaped up, and are daily piling higher.\nWithin the last ten years, where they stole cents, their successors\nstole by thousands and tens of thousands; and, instead of flying from\npunishment, flaunt their crimes and their ill-gotten wealth in the face\nof the community, heedless either of the arm of the law, or the more\npotent hiss of public scorn.\n\nAnd this financial dishonesty of the times is as true of commercial as\nof political circles, and as patent at Washington as at New York and\nother cities. \"Think you that those eighteen men on whom the tower of\nSiloam fell, were sinners above all others in Jerusalem? I tell you\nnay!\" Think you that those six or seven on whom the axe of the public\npress fell, are sinners above all in New York and elsewhere? If all men\nthat have been guilty of fraud in New York and elsewhere were to have a\ntower fall on them, there would be funerals enough for fifty years.\n\nOne of the saddest symptoms of degeneracy in a people is evinced by a\ndesperate levity--a scoffing spirit such as that which inspired the\nFrench people when they denied even God, and substituted a prostitute to\nbe their \"Goddess of Reason.\" Much of that spirit is unhappily\nmanifesting itself in our country.\n\nThat most fearful picture of a corrupt community drawn by Curran in his\ndescription of the public pests of his day--\"remaining at the bottom\nlike drowned bodies while soundness remained in them, but rising only as\nthey rotted, and floating only from the buoyancy of corruption\"--seems,\nunhappily, destined to find its parallel here, unless public virtue and\npublic indignation should awake to condemn and chastise the corruption\nwhich is tainting and poisoning the air around us.\n\nThe judgment which overtook the men of Siloam was visited on them for\nsins not unlike those which seem to invite a similar judgment from\noffended Heaven upon our modern Siloams, and is no jesting matter. Nay,\nin view of the many recent terrible visitations which have fallen upon\ndifferent parts of our country, many voices have already been raised\nproclaiming them as marks of Divine wrath against national sins,\nperpetrated by a people who should, by their lives, testify their sense\nof the blessings showered upon them in more prodigal profusion than on\nany other nation in the annals of mankind.\n\nThat the great body of our people are corrupt, or that they at heart\napprove of corruption, no one will be mad enough to maintain. But they\nare responsible before Heaven and to posterity for the criminal apathy\nthey manifest in their silent sanction of the corruption and crime which\nare fast making the American name a synonyme for theft, for brazen\nimpudence and unblushing rascality.\n\nIn the life of a nation, as in that of an individual, there are periods\nwhich are critical; and a restoration to health, or the certainty of\nspeedy death, depends on the way this malady is met. The crisis which\nnow menaces the life and health of the United States cannot be far\ndistant; for private virtue cannot long survive the death of public\nhonor and honesty, nor private morality fail to catch the contagion of\npublic profligacy. If the representative men of a country, those in whom\nits high trusts are reposed, be corrupt and shameless, they will drag\ndown into the same mire the morals of the people they plunder and\nmisrepresent. Indeed we want no prophet, nor one raised from the dead,\nto tell us the awfully fatal results. What can be done to stem the\nfearful torrent of evils that flood the land? We all know that when, in\n1765, the famous Stamp Act was passed in the British Parliament, on the\nnews reaching Boston the bells were muffled, and rang a funeral peal. In\nNew York the \"Act\" was carried through the streets with a death's head\nbearing this inscription: \"The Folly of England and the Ruin of\nAmerica.\" So great was the opposition to the \"Act,\" that it was repealed\nduring the spring of 1766. This shows how quickly the evils of society\ncan be put down if people set to work in earnest.\n\nNow we cannot expect the people to set to work in earnest about stemming\nthe torrent of the great evils of the land, unless they are well\nenlightened as to the source from which they flow. This source is\nprincipally that wrong system of education introduced into this country\nabout fifty years ago. At that time very few, perhaps, could foresee\nwhat effects it was calculated to produce. After a long trial, we can\nnow pronounce on it with certainty by its results. The tree, no longer a\nsapling, can be judged by its fruits. These fruits have been so bad that\nit is high time to call the attention of the public to the tree.\n\nNow in calling attention to this tree, I wish it to be once for all\ndistinctly understood, that whatever of a seemingly or even really harsh\nnature I may say in this discussion on the Public Schools, is intended\nand directed _solely against the system_. For those who manage or\nofficiate in them, as teachers or otherwise, I have, I trust, all the\ncourtesy, charity, and respect due from one citizen to another. If I\noffend the prejudices, convictions, or susceptibilities of any on this\nstrangely misrepresented subject, no one can more regret it than myself;\nI can truly say it is not intended. All I ask of my fellow-citizens is a\nfair discussion on this great question of education, to look at it\nwithout prejudice, without bigotry; for if prejudice and bigotry stand\nin our way, they will stand in the way of the glory and stability of\nthis country, whose future God only knows. It is the duty of all\ncitizens to labor with a good heart, a clear mind, an earnest soul, to\ndo all they can in building up, and strengthening, and making still more\nglorious this great American people.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nEDUCATION--ITS OBJECT AND NECESSITY.\n\n\nThe question of Education is, of all others, the most important. It has\nfor some time back received a good deal of attention in public meetings,\nin newspapers, and in the pulpit. In fact it has become a question of\nthe day. On this question, however, there is unfortunately such an\namount of ignorance, prejudice, and confusion of ideas, that it is\nalmost impossible to make the public understand it. The reason of this\nis, because so many follow the vague views expressed on this subject in\nnewspapers. Many a paper is undoubtedly political, and so far partisan;\nand as such its editor will defend and advance what he believes to be\nthe principles of his party. But the question of education rises above\nparty politics; yet when you read many a paper you will find that the\neditor appeals to the prejudice and passions of party in a way quite\nunworthy of an independent journalist, and of the grave subject under\nconsideration. He advances principles which, at first sight, seem to be\nquite true; for instance: \"Public School Education is necessary for our\nrepublican form of government, for the very life of the Republic.\" \"It\nis an admitted axiom, that our form of government, more than all others,\ndepends on the intelligence of the people.\" \"The framers of our\nConstitution firmly believed that a republic form of government could\nnot endure without intelligence and education generally diffused among\nthe people. The State must, therefore, take all means within its power\nto promote and encourage popular education, and furnish this\nintelligence of the people through her public schools.\"\n\nAt first sight such principles seem to be true, and the people in\ngeneral will accept them. Experience teaches that the public will\naccept, without question, almost any maxim or problem, provided it be\nformulated in such a manner as to convey some specific meaning that does\nnot demand reflection or complex examination. For the same reason no\nsmall portion of the public will reject anything that at first sight\nseems to exceed the measure of their understanding. Knaves and\ncharlatans, knowing this, impose on the public by flattering their\nintelligence, that they may accomplish their own ambitious and selfish\nends. In this way a multitude of pernicious religious, social, and\npolitical maxims have come into vogue, especially in reference to the\nquestion of public instruction. Yet on the sound principles concerning\nthis question of education, and on the right understanding of them,\ndepend not only the temporal and eternal happiness of the people, but\nalso the future maintenance and freedom, nay, even the material\nprosperity, of the Republic.\n\nIn the discussion of the system of education it will no longer do to use\nvague, unmeaning expressions, or to advance some general puzzling\nprinciples to keep the public in the dark on this important point. It is\nhigh time that the public should be thoroughly enlightened on the\nsubject of education. Everybody is talking about education,--the\nadvantages of education, the necessity of education; and yet almost all\nhave come to use the word in its narrowest and most imperfect meaning,\nas implying mere cultivation of the intellectual faculties, and even\nthis is done in the most superficial manner, by cramming the mind with\nfacts, instead of making it reflect and reason. The great majority even\nof those who write upon the subject take no higher view.\n\nThe term _education_ comprehends something more than mere instruction.\nOne may be instructed without being educated; but he cannot be educated\nwithout being instructed. The one has a partial or limited, the other a\ncomplete or general, meaning. What, then, is the meaning of Education?\nEducation comes from the Latin \"educo,\" and means, according to Plato,\n\"to give to the body and soul all the perfection of which they are\nsusceptible\"; in other words, the object of education is to render the\nyouth of both sexes beautiful, healthful, strong, intelligent and\nvirtuous. It is doubtless the will of the Creator that man--the\nmasterpiece of the visible world--should be raised to that perfection of\nwhich he is capable, and for the acquisition of which he is offered the\nproper means. It is the soul of man which constitutes the dignity of his\nbeing, and makes him the king of the universe. Now the body is the\ndwelling of the soul--the palace of this noble king; the nobility of the\nsoul must induce us to attend to its palace--to the health and strength\nand beauty of the body;--health, strength and beauty are the noble\nqualities of the body.\n\nThe noble qualities of the soul are virtue and learning. Virtue and\nlearning are the two trees planted by God in Paradise; they are the two\ngreat luminaries created by God to give light to the world; they are the\ntwo Testaments, the Old and the New; they are the two sisters, Martha\nand Mary, living under one roof in great union and harmony, and mutually\nsupporting each other.\n\nLearning is, next to virtue, the most noble ornament and the highest\nimprovement of the human mind. It is by learning that all the natural\nfaculties of the mind obtain an eminent degree of perfection. The memory\nis exceedingly improved by appropriate exercise, and becomes, as it\nwere, a storehouse of names, facts, entire discourses, etc., according\nto every one's exigency or purposes. The understanding--the light of the\nsoul--is exceedingly improved by exercise, and by the acquisition of\nsolid science and useful knowledge. Judgment, the most valuable of all\nthe properties of the mind, and by which the other faculties are poised,\ngoverned and directed, is formed and perfected by experience, and\nregular well-digested studies and reflection; and by them it attains to\ntrue justness and taste. The mind, by the same means, acquires a\nsteadiness, and conquers the aversion which sloth raises against the\nserious employments of its talents.\n\nHow much the perfection of the mind depends upon culture, appears in the\ndifference of understanding between the savages (who, except in\ntreachery, cunning and shape, scarce seem to differ from the apes which\ninhabit their forests) and the most elegant and civilized nations. A\npiece of ground left wild produces nothing but weeds and briers, which\nby culture would be covered with corn, flowers and fruit. The difference\nis not less between a rough mind and one that is well cultivated.\n\nThe same natural culture, indeed, suits not all persons. Geniuses must\nbe explored, and the manner of instructing proportioned to them. But\nthere is one thing which suits all persons, and without which knowledge\nis nothing but \"a sounding brass and tinkling cymbal\": this is the\nsupernatural culture of the soul, or the habitual endeavor of man of\nrendering himself more pleasing in the sight of God by the acquisition\nof solid Christian virtues, in order thus to reach his last end--his\neternal happiness. It is for this reason that our Saviour tells us:\n\"What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own\nsoul? For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?\"--(Matt. xvi.\n26.) It is, then, the _supernatural culture_, or the perfection of the\nsoul, that is to be principally attended to in education.\n\nNow what is the perfection of soul? The perfection of each being in\ngeneral, is that which renders the being better and more perfect. It is\nclear that inferior beings cannot make superior ones better and more\nperfect. Now the soul, being immortal, is superior to all earthly or\nperishable things. These, then, cannot make the soul better and more\nperfect, but rather worse than she is; for he who seeks what is worse\nthan himself, makes himself worse than he was before. Therefore the good\nof the soul can be only that which is better and more excellent than the\nsoul herself is. Now God alone is this Good--He being Goodness Itself.\nHe who possesses God may be said to possess the goodness of all other\nthings; for whatever goodness they possess, they have from God. In the\nsun, for instance, you admire the light; in a flower, beauty; in bread,\nthe savor; in the earth, its fertility; all these have their being from\nGod. No doubt God has reserved to Himself far more than He has bestowed\nupon creatures; this truth admitted, it necessarily follows that he who\nenjoys God possesses in him all other things; and consequently the very\nsame delight which he would have taken in other things, had he enjoyed\nthem separately, he enjoys in God, in a far greater measure, and in a\nmore elevated manner. For this reason, St. Francis of Assisium often\nused to exclaim: \"My God and my All\"--a saying to which he was so\naccustomed that he could scarcely think of anything else, and often\nspent whole nights in meditating on this truth.\n\nCertainly true contentment is only that which is taken in the Creator,\nand not that which is taken in the creature; a contentment which no man\ncan take from the soul, and in comparison with which all other joy is\nsadness, all pleasure sorrow, all sweetness bitter, all beauty ugliness,\nall delight affliction. It is most certain that \"when face to face we\nshall see God as He is,\" we shall have most perfect joy and happiness.\nIt follows, then, most clearly, that the nearer we approach to God in\nthis life, the more contentment of mind and the greater happiness of\nsoul we shall enjoy; and this contentment and joy is of the self-same\nnature as that which we shall have in heaven; the only difference is,\nthat here our joy and happiness is in an incipient state, whilst there\nit will be brought to perfection. He, then, is a truly wise and learned,\na truly well-educated, man, who here below has learned how to seek God,\nand to be united as much as possible with the Supreme Good of his soul.\nHe therefore imparts a good education to the soul, who teaches her how\nto seek and to find her own Good.\n\nNow what is it to teach the soul to find her own Supreme Good? It is to\ntrain, to teach, to lead the child in the way he should go, leading him\nin the paths of duty, first to God, and secondly to his neighbor. All\nnot professed infidels, it appears to me, must admit this definition.\nBut as very many believe in \"Webster,\" or \"Worcester,\" I give the\nformer's definition of education: \"Educate\"--To instill into the mind\nprinciples of art, science, _morals_, _religion_, and behavior.\nAccording to this definition of education, morals and religion\nconstitute essential parts of education. Indeed, the first and most\nimportant of all duties which the child must learn are his moral and\nreligious duties; for it will, I hope, be universally admitted that man\nis not born into this world merely to \"propagate his species, make\nmoney, enjoy the pleasures of this world, and die.\" If he is not born\nfor that end, then it is most important that he be taught for what end\nhe was born, and the way appointed by his Creator to attain that end.\n\nEvery child born into this world is given a body and soul. This soul,\nfor which the body was created, and which will rise with it at the last\nday, be judged with it for the acts done in life, and be happy or\nunhappy with it for all eternity, is, in consequence of the \"fall,\"\nturned away from God, and the body, no longer acting in obedience to\nright reason, seeks its own gratification, like any irrational animal.\nReligion (from _religio_) is the means provided by a merciful God to\nreunite the chain broken by the sin of our first parents, and bridge\nover the chasm opened between man and his divine destiny. To give this\nknowledge of religion is the principal purpose of education. Without\nthis it is mere natural _instruction_, but no education at all. It would\nbe worse than giving, as we say, \"the play of Hamlet with the part of\nthe Prince of Denmark left out.\"\n\nReligion, then, forms the spirit and essence of all true education. As\nleaven must be diffused throughout the entire mass in order to produce\nits effects, so religion must be thoroughly diffused throughout the\nchild's entire education, in order to be solid and effective. Not a\nmoment of the hours of school should be left without religious\ninfluence. It is the constant breathing of the air that preserves our\nbodily life, and it is the constant dwelling in a religious atmosphere\nthat preserves the life of the youthful soul. Here are laid the\nprimitive principles of future character and conduct. These religious\nprinciples may be forgotten, or partially effaced, in the journey of\nlife, but they will nevertheless endure, because they are engraved by\nthe finger of God Himself. The poor wanderer, when the world has turned\nits back upon him, after having trusted to its promises only to be\ndeceived, after having yielded to its temptations and blandishments only\nto be cruelly injured and mocked, may, at last, in the bitterness of his\nheart, \"remember the days of his youth,\" and \"return to his father's\nhouse.\" So long as faith remains, however great the vice or the crime,\nthere is something to build on, and room to hope for repentance, for\nreformation, and final salvation. Faith or religion once gone, all is\ngone. Religion is the crystal vase in which education is contained, or\nrather the spirit which infuses and vitalizes it. Religion is the very\nlife of society, the very soul of a Christian State.\n\nAll nations and governments know and understand that to exclude\nChristian education from the schools is to exclude it from their law,\nlegislature, courts, and public and private manners. It should, then,\never be borne in mind that religion, though distinguishable, is never\nseparable from true civil and political science and philosophy.\nEnlightened statesmanship will always accept and recognize religious\neducation as a most valuable and powerful ally in the government of the\nState, or political society. The great Washington clearly asserts this\nin his farewell address to the American people: \"Of the dispositions,\"\nhe says, \"which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are\nindispensable supports. Where is the security for property or for life,\nif the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are\nadministered in our courts of justice? And let it not be supposed that\nmorality can be maintained without religion.\" Accordingly our\nlegislatures are opened with prayer, the Bible is on the benches of our\ncourts; it is put into the hands of jurymen, voters, and even\ntax-payers; indeed, from its late use and abuse, one might think that we\nwere living under the Pentateuch, and that the whole moral law and Ten\nCommandments were bound to the brows of the public or State\nphylacteries.\n\nIndeed, the politics of every tribe, nation, or people, will reflect in\nan exact degree their moral and religious convictions and education. If\nthese are false, the political society will be violent, disorderly, and\nabnormal; if true, the State is calm, prosperous, strong and happy. If\nthese propositions be true, and I claim they are as axiomatic and\nundeniable as any proposition in Euclid--yea more so, for they are the\nmaxims of inspired wisdom--how immeasurably important is a true\nChristian education!\n\nAnd if its influence is so great in determining even the political\nconduct of men, it is still more necessary and powerful in forming the\ncharacter of true woman--the Christian wife, mother, and daughter. The\ninfluence of Christian woman on society is incalculable. Admitting it\npossible, for a moment, that irreligious men might construct or direct\nan atheistical State, yet it would be utterly vain to build up the\nfamily, the groundwork of all organized communities, without the aid of\nthe Christian woman. She it is who, in the deep and silent recesses of\nthe household, puts together those primitive and enduring materials,\neach in its place and order, on which will rest and grow, to full beauty\nand development, the fair proportion of every well-ordained State. This\nfoundation is laid in the care and rearing of good and dutiful children.\nThe task of the Christian mother may indeed be slow, and unobserved;\nbut God makes use of the weak to confound the strong, and this is\nbeautifully illustrated in the Christian woman, who is strong because\nshe is weak, most influential when she is most retired, and most happy,\nhonored, cherished and respected when she is doing the work assigned her\nby Divine Providence, in the bosom of her household.\n\nIt will be admitted, then, that the education of girls demands a special\nculture. Generally upon mothers the domestic instruction of the\nchildren, in their infancy, mainly depends. They ought, therefore, to be\nwell instructed in the motives of religion, articles of faith, and all\nthe practical duties and maxims of piety. Then history, geography, and\nsome tincture of works of genius and spirit, may be joined with suitable\narts and other accomplishments of their sex and condition, provided they\nbe guided by and referred to religion, and provided books of piety and\nexercises of devotion always have the first place, both in their hearts\nand in their time.\n\nThey should, then, from their earliest years, if possible, be separated\nin their studies, their plays, and their going and returning from\nschool, from children of the opposite sex. They should be placed under\nthe _surveillance and instruction_ of mature and pious women. Every\npossible occasion and influence should be used to instil into their\nyoung and plastic minds, by lesson and example, principles of religion\nand morality. Their studies should be grave and practical. Their nervous\norganization is naturally acute, and should be strengthened, but not\nstimulated, as it too often is, thereby laying the foundation for that\nterrible and tormenting train of neuralgic affections of after-life,\ndebilitating mind and body.\n\nA thorough Christian education, then, is the basis of all happiness and\npeace, for the family as well as for the State itself; for every State\nis but the union of several families. It is for this reason that we find\ngood parents so willing to make every sacrifice for the Christian\neducation of their children, and that all true statesmen, and all true\nlovers of their country, have always encouraged and advocated that kind\nof education which is based upon Christian principles.\n\nGood, dutiful children are the greatest blessing for parents and for the\nState, whilst children without religion are the greatest misfortune,\nthe greatest curse that can come upon parents and upon the State.\n\nHistory informs us that Dion the philosopher gave a sharp reproof to\nDionysius the tyrant, on account of his cruelty. Dionysius felt highly\noffended, and resolved to avenge himself on Dion; so he took the son of\nDion prisoner, not, indeed, for the purpose of killing him, but of\ngiving him up into the hands of a godless teacher. After the young man\nhad been long enough under this teacher to learn from him everything\nthat was bad and impious, Dionysius sent him back to his father. Now\nwhat object had the tyrant in acting thus? He foresaw that this\ncorrupted son, by his impious conduct during his whole lifetime, would\ncause his father constant grief and sorrow, so much so that he would be\nfor him a lifelong affliction and curse. This, the tyrant thought, was\nthe longest and greatest revenge he could take on Dion for having\ncensured his conduct.\n\nPlato, a heathen philosopher, relates that when the sons of the Persian\nkings had reached the age of fourteen, they were given to four teachers.\nThe first of these teachers had to instruct them in their duties towards\nGod; the second, to be truthful under all circumstances; the third, to\novercome their passions; and the fourth teacher taught them how to be\nvaliant and intrepid men.\n\nThis truth, that good children are the greatest blessing and that bad\nchildren are the greatest affliction that can befall parents and the\nState, needs no further illustration. There is no father, there is no\nmother, there is no statesman, who is not thoroughly convinced of this\ntruth. Can we, then, wonder that the Catholic Church has always\nencouraged a truly Christian education?\n\nThere is nothing in history better established than the fact that the\nCatholic Church has been at all times, and under the most trying\ncircumstances, the generous fostering-mother of education. She has\nlabored especially, with untiring care, to educate the poor, who are her\nfavorite children. It was the Catholic Church that founded, and endowed\nliberally, almost all the great universities of Europe. Protestants and\ninfidels are very apt to overlook the incalculable benefits which the\nChurch has conferred on mankind, and yet without her agency civilization\nwould have been simply impossible.\n\nThe Catholic Church was, moreover, the first to establish common\nschools for the free education of the people. As early as A.D. 529, we\nfind the Council of Vaison recommending the establishment of public\nschools. In 800, a synod at Mentz ordered that the parochial priests\nshould have schools in the towns and villages, that \"the little children\nof all the faithful should learn letters from them. Let them receive and\nteach these with the utmost charity, that they themselves may shine as\nthe stars forever. Let them receive no remuneration from their scholars,\nunless what the parents, through charity, may voluntarily offer.\" A\nCouncil at Rome, in 836, ordained that there should be three kinds of\nschools throughout Christendom: episcopal, parochial in towns and\nvillages, and others wherever there could be found place and\nopportunity. The Council of Lateran, in 1179, ordained the establishment\nof a grammar school in every cathedral for the gratuitous instruction of\nthe poor. This ordinance was enlarged and enforced by the Council of\nLyons, in 1245. In a word, from the days of Charlemagne, in the ninth\ncentury, down to those of Leo X., in the sixteenth century, free schools\nsprang up in rapid succession over the greater part of Europe; and,\nmark well, it was almost always under the shadow of her churches and her\nmonasteries! Throughout the entire period, called, by ignorant bigotry,\nthe \"dark ages,\" Roman Pontiffs and Catholic Bishops assembled in\ncouncil and enacted laws requiring the establishment of free schools in\nconnection with all the cathedral and parochial churches. This is a fact\nso clearly proven by Catholic and Protestant historians, that to deny it\nwould be to betray a gross ignorance of history. Even at the present\nday, the Papal States, with a population of only about 2,000,000,\ncontain seven universities, with an average attendance of 660 students,\nwhilst Prussia, with a population of 14,000,000, and so renowned for her\neducation, has only seven! Again, in every street in Rome there are, at\nshort distances, public primary schools for the education of the\nchildren of the middle and lower classes. Rome, with a population of\nonly about 158,000 souls, has 372 public primary schools, with 482\nteachers, and over 14,000 children attending them, whilst Berlin, with a\npopulation more than double that of Rome, has only 264 schools. Thus\noriginated the popular or common schools, or the free education of the\npeople, as an outgrowth of the Catholic Church.\n\nEvery one knows that to the Catholic Church is due the preservation of\nliterature after the downfall of the Roman Empire; and all those who are\nversed in history must admit that the Popes, the rulers of the Church,\nhave been the greatest promoters and protectors of literature and\nlearned men in every age. They collected and preserved the writings of\nthe great historians, poets, and philosophers of Greece and Rome, and\nthey encouraged and rewarded the learned men who, by their labors, made\nthose fountains of classical literature easily accessible to all\nstudents. What shall I say of the patronage which they accorded to\npainting, sculpture, architecture, music, and the other arts which raise\nup and refine the human soul? Even the present glorious Pontiff, Pius\nIX., in the midst of troubles and persecutions, has done more for\neducation than the richest and most powerful sovereigns of the world.\nYou will unite with me, I am sure, in praying that he may soon recover\nthe sovereignty of Rome and the Papal States, and that he may live many\nyears to defend, as he has done in the past, the cause of religion,\ntruth, Christian education, and civilization in the world. But it would\ntake a whole day to refer even briefly to all that the Catholic Church\nand her Supreme Pontiffs have done to dissipate ignorance, and to\nimprove and enlighten the mind of man. I shall merely add that a\nProtestant writer, and an open enemy of our religion, does not hesitate\nto state that, acting under the guidance and protection of the Holy See,\nsome of our religious orders, which are so often assailed and\ncalumniated, have done more for the promotion of philosophy, theology,\nhistory, archaeology, and learning in general, than all the great\nuniversities of the world, with all their wealth and patronage.\n\nMoreover, it is a well-known fact that the Catholic Church has always\nfought for the liberty to educate her children not only in the necessary\nbranches of science, but also, and above all, to teach them, at the same\ntime, their religious duties towards God and their fellow-men. And who\nbut an infidel can blame her for that?\n\nEvery one must know that by the united efforts of the Catholic clergy\nand laity, schools, colleges, seminaries, boarding-schools for ladies\nand boys, and other educational establishments, have been erected in\nalmost every part of the world, and erected without a cent of public\nmoney, which was so plentifully lavished on Protestant institutions.\nBut, without leaving this country, do we not find in the various States\nof the Union magnificent proofs of generous Catholic zeal in promoting\neverything connected with education? And have not the parochial and\nreligious clergy in so many places made the noblest exertions to erect\ninstitutions for the instruction of their flocks? and have not the laity\nassisted them in a most munificent manner? All this shows their great\ndesire to promote the growth of knowledge.\n\nMan is born a believing creature, and cannot, if he would, destroy\naltogether this noble attribute of his nature. If he is not taught, or\nwill not accept, a belief in the living and uncreated God, he will\ncreate and worship some other god in His stead. He cannot rest on _pure\nnegation_. There never has been a real, absolute unbeliever. All the\nso-called unbelievers are either knaves or idiots. All the Gentile\nnations of the past have been religious people; all the Pagan powers of\nthe present are also believers. There never has been a nation without\nfaith, without an altar, without a sacrifice. Man can never, even for a\nsingle instant, escape the All-seeing Eye of God, or avoid the\nobligations of duty imposed on him by his Creator. The Pantheists of\nancient as well as of modern times recognize this fact, although they do\nnot discharge their religious obligations conformably to the Divine\nwill, but make to themselves other gods instead.\n\nAs there has been a religion and a ritual among all nations, tribes and\npeoples, so has there been also a \"hierarchy\" to teach this religion,\nand make known its obligations. These religious obligations constituted\nthen, and constitute even now, the basis of all popular education\nthroughout the world--Christian, Gentile, or Pagan--there is no\nexception to this fact save in these _United States_ of America.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nORIGIN OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.\n\n\nStrange as it may seem, it is a certain undeniable fact that there is\nnot, on the entire continent of Europe, or in the entire world, a single\ncountry, Protestant or Catholic, that upholds the Pagan system of\neducation which has been adopted in this free country. In all of them\nCatholic and Protestant children receive religious instruction, during\nthe school-hours, from their respective pastors. The present system of\nthe Public Schools in the United States professes to exclude all\nreligious exercises. We are often told that this is the American system,\nand that it is very impertinent for foreigners to wish to bring religion\ninto schools against the American idea. Now the assertion that the\nexclusion of all religion from the schools is truly American, that it is\nan essential part of our national system, is utterly false. So far as\nany system of public schools can be said to have an American idea, the\nidea will be found to be \"education based on religious instruction.\"\n\nThe first schools established in the Union were religious denominational\nschools. These schools were supported by the churches with which they\nwere connected, and by their patrons. Religious exercises formed a part\nof the daily duties of the class-room. The early founders of this\nRepublic were not able to understand how they could bring up their\nchildren in the knowledge, love, and service of God by banishing the\nBible, prayer, and religious exercises of every kind from the school.\nHence religion was reverenced, and its duties attended to in all\ninstitutions of learning in the country. The American system of\neducation, in its incipiency, and for a long while, was one founded on\nBible-teaching and religious exercises. The present system is\nun-American, anti-American.\n\nNow how did it happen that the primitive Christian system of education\nbecame unchristian and anti-American? To make you understand more\nclearly the origin of the present system of the Public Schools, I must\nfirst show you how _Secret Societies seek to spread Irreligious\nEducation in Europe_.\n\nThese societies profess the most irreligious and anti-social doctrines.\nAmong the chief means employed by them for pushing forward their\ndiabolical principles is _Education without Religion_. The\n\"International,\" one of the most powerful of these organizations, has\nlately put forward a programme, in which the following points are laid\ndown as most necessary to be insisted upon in the agitation conducted by\nthe socialist democratic party in Switzerland:\n\n     \"... _Compulsory and gratuitous education_ up to the completion\n     of the fourteenth year of each child's age.... Separation of\n     the Church from the State, _and also of the schools from the\n     Church_.\"\n\nAbout three short years ago a pamphlet was published in which we find\ndetailed the efforts made in France to spread irreligion by means of bad\neducation. The letters of eighty of the Prelates of France are appended\nto the pamphlet. Alas! the sad forebodings of that noble episcopate\nhave been too soon and too terribly fulfilled!\n\nThe following lengthy extracts are taken from the late Pastoral of the\nBishops of Ireland on Christian Education:\n\n     \"EFFORTS TO SPREAD IRRELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN FRANCE--DISASTROUS\n     RESULTS IN FRANCE.\n\n     \"'I see,' says the most reverend author, 'that for some time\n     past the most extraordinary efforts are made in France to\n     spread impiety, immorality, the most anti-social theories,\n     under the pretext of spreading education. No longer as\n     formerly, it is in newspapers and books that religion,\n     morality, and the eternal principles of good order are attacked\n     with the most deceitful and formidable weapon of a corrupt\n     system of education. Under cover of an excellent object--and\n     here is the great danger, for we are deluded by this\n     pretext--under the pretext of spreading education and waging\n     war against ignorance, infidelity is spread, war is waged\n     against religion; and thus, whether we will or no, we rush on\n     to the ruin of all order, moral and social. And we, the\n     Bishops, who are as desirous as others, and perhaps more\n     desirous than others, to see spread far and wide the blessings\n     of education, the education of children, female education, the\n     education of our whole people, for this is by excellence a\n     Christian work, we are accused of being enemies of education,\n     because we oppose anti-Christian and anti-social education.'\"\n\nThe first fact mentioned by the learned writer is the existence of\nschools, which are called \"_professional schools for females_,\" into\nwhich young girls are received at twelve years of age and upwards, for\nthe purpose of continuing their education and learning a profession.\nThese schools have been founded by women, free-thinkers, who formally\nand expressly declare it to be their object to train the youth of their\nown sex in rationalism and infidelity. The following incident shows the\nimpious end for which these schools have been founded: One of the\nprincipal teachers died, and over her grave her husband pronounced these\nwords,--\"I will tell you, for it is my duty to tell you, that if this\nfuneral is that of a free-thinker\" [unaccompanied by any religious\nceremony], \"it is so not only by my wish, but also and chiefly because\nsuch was the desire of my dear wife.\" He adds that she had devoted\nherself to \"the great work of spreading education and _morality without\nreligion_, because she had no faith except in _learning and in\njustice_; she was of those who, having once seen and comprehended these\ntruths, can have no other beacon to guide them _in life, or at the hour\nof death_.\" Round that grave, whose occupant had rejected religion and\nits ministrations in life and in death, stood three hundred girls,\npupils of those \"_professional schools_,\" holding bouquets in their\nhands, and throwing flowers on the coffin of their mistress. The schools\nare of a piece with the teachers. Ten hours are spent in them, but all\nreligious instruction is strictly forbidden, under the pretext that they\nare free schools, \"_open to children of all persuasions, without\nreligious distinction_.\" The founders of these schools propose to give\nto the girls intrusted to them _a moral education without ever speaking\nto them of religion!_ And this is the system of education which people\nare anxious to spread throughout France, and even in this country also.\nBut, though we hope they will not succeed, can we feel fully confident\nthat we shall escape the contagion, when we remember that this system is\nno other than the \"_mixed system_,\" and when we bear in mind the\nuntiring efforts which are made to develop and consolidate that system\nin Ireland in every branch of education, from the university, through\nthe model-school, down to the humblest village-school? Read the\ndescription of the schools in France, of which we are speaking, and say,\ndoes it not apply to every school, even in Ireland, where the mixed\nprinciple is thoroughly carried out?\n\n     \"The printed prospectus of these schools\" [continues the most\n     reverend writer] \"clearly explains the advantages of\n     professional education, while it hides the religious danger\n     under vague expressions of an apparent liberality, such as the\n     following: '_The school is open to children of all persuasions,\n     without religious distinction_.' The meaning of which words is\n     no other than that in these schools, where children are kept\n     from the twelfth to the eighteenth year of their age, and for\n     ten hours every day (from eight A.M. to six P.M.), God and the\n     Gospel shall be treated as if they never existed; not only\n     religion shall never be mentioned, but these girls shall be\n     taught morality independent of any dogmatic faith, any\n     religion....\n\n     \"The second engine used by the enemies of religion in France\n     for the maintenance and spread of infidelity, is the\n     Educational League. This League has been introduced from\n     Belgium into France by the Freemasons and the\n     'Solidaires'--the members of an impious association, the avowed\n     object of which is to prevent persons from receiving the\n     sacraments, or any of the sacred rites of the Church, in life\n     or in death. The Educational League, with a wonderful spirit of\n     propagandism, has established throughout France libraries and\n     courses of instruction for men and for women, and even for\n     girls and young children. On their banner is inscribed 'Spread\n     of Education'; but under this device is hidden the scheme of\n     propagating irreligion. The founder of the 'League' in\n     France[A] was a Freemason, and both his declarations and those\n     of the organs of Freemasonry leave no doubt of the Masonic\n     origin of the scheme, and of the spirit which animates it. Now\n     the third article of the statutes of the 'League' declares,\n     when speaking of the education to be given by their\n     association, that 'neither politics nor _religion_ shall have\n     any part in it.' And lest there should be any mistake as to the\n     meaning of this article, one of the leading Masonic journals\n     declares that religion is 'useless as an instrument for forming\n     the minds of children, and that from a certain point of view it\n     is _capable of leading them to abandon all moral principles_.\n     It is incumbent on us, therefore,' concludes this journal, 'to\n     _exclude_ all religion. We will teach you its rights and duties\n     in the name of liberty, of conscience, of reason, and, in\n     fine, in the name of our society.'[B] And again: 'Freemasons\n     must give in their adhesion _en masse_ to the excellent\n     Educational League, and the lodges must in the peace of their\n     temples seek out the best means of making it effectual. Their\n     influence in this way will be most useful. _The principles we\n     profess are precisely in accord with those which inspired that\n     project._'[C] In April of the same year, the same organ of\n     Freemasonry contained the following paragraph: 'We are happy to\n     announce that the Educational League and the statue of _our\n     brother_ Voltaire meet with the greatest support in all the\n     lodges. There could not be two subscription-lists more in\n     harmony with each other: Voltaire, the representative of the\n     destruction of prejudices and superstition; the Educational\n     League, the engine for building up a new society based _solely\n     upon learning and instruction_. Our brethren understood it so.'\n     In fine, that there may not remain upon our minds the least\n     doubt as to the identity of the principles of this League with\n     those of Voltaire, we find its founder in France proposing, at\n     a great Masonic dinner, a toast to the memory of that\n     arch-infidel; while the newspaper from which we have quoted so\n     largely, informs its readers that at one of the 'professional\n     schools,' described above, the prize for good conduct (_le prix\n     de morale_) was awarded to '_the daughters of a free-thinker,\n     who have never attended any place of religious worship_.'\"\n\nWe cannot better conclude our remarks on the efforts made in France to\ndestroy religion in the masses by means of education, than in the\nfollowing words of warning, not less applicable to good and sincere\nCatholics in Ireland nowadays, than to those to whom they were specially\naddressed:\n\n     \"Good and sincere Catholics (continues the author of the\n     pamphlet already quoted), who, deceived by the motto of the\n     association, have given their names to this _Educational\n     League_, take part, without knowing it, in a Masonic\n     institution, and in building up this new state of society, from\n     which religion is to be banished. Well may the Bishop of Metz\n     say: 'These persons forget that, like Proteus in the fable,\n     Freemasonry knows how to multiply _ad infinitum_ its\n     transformations and its names. Yesterday it called itself '_Les\n     Solidaires_,' or 'morality independent of religion,' or\n     'freedom of thought'; to-day it takes the title of an\n     'Educational League'; to-morrow it will find some other name by\n     which to deceive the simple.\"\n\nThe efforts to corrupt the youth of unhappy France by means of bad\neducation in its higher branches, have been not less energetic and\nwide-spread. The lectures of the School of Medicine of Paris were\ninaugurated in 1865, amid shouts of \"_Materialism forever_,\"[D] and on\nthe thirtieth of December a candidate for degrees was permitted by the\nMedical Faculty to advance the following revolutionary doctrine,\ngrounded on the materialistic principles he had been taught: \"Who still\nspeaks to us of free-will? As the stone which falls to the ground obeys\nthe laws of weight, man obeys the laws which are proper to him....\nResponsibility is the same for all, that is to say, _none_.\" And again:\n\"Physicians must not be accomplices of the magistrates and judges, who\npunish men for acts for which they are not responsible\"--pp. 32, 33.\nHere we have a sample of the teaching of the School of Medicine of\nParis, not only the first medical school of France, but among the first\nschools of Europe. And this sample is, unfortunately, not a solitary\none. The Medical Faculty of the University of Paris gave medals in 1866\nfor two dissertations, in one of which we find a denial of the act of\ncreation and of God the Creator, and a rejection of every metaphysical\nidea, _as useless and dangerous_; while human thought is set down as\nproduced _by heat!_ In the other we read the following propositions:\n\"Matter is eternal.\" \"The action of a _First Cause_ is useless and\nirrational--_it is chimerical!_\" Again: \"It is absolutely impossible to\nexplain the existence of a creative power\"; and \"an immaterial being is\nnot necessary for the production of life.\" And, \"to attribute the\nphenomena of life to an immaterial soul, is to substitute a chimerical\nbeing for the hypothesis of machinists.\" \"Materialists have done good\nservice to physiology by eliminating metaphysical entities from this\nstudy. The idea of the soul, as an immaterial power, is a mere\nabstraction; in fact, nothing of the kind exists.\"\n\nUnhappily these principles, subversive of all morality, are not advanced\nby the aspirants only to academical distinctions; most certainly the\nstudents would not advance these theories had they not learned them from\ntheir masters. Hence we find one of the Professors of the University of\nFrance, in Bordeaux, asserting, that \"even among civilized nations moral\nideas are so relative, contradictory, and dependent on exterior and\nindividual relations, that it is impossible, and will always be\nimpossible, to find an absolute definition of goodness.\"--p. 38, _note_.\nAnd the \"Medical Review\" published the discourse pronounced by one of\nthe physicians of the Faculty of Paris, M. Verneuil, over the grave of a\nmember of their learned body, Dr. Foucher, in which we find the\nfollowing:\n\n     \"'We are reproached with believing with the sages of old, that\n     Fate is blind, and as such presides over our lot. And why\n     should we not believe it?... Humbling and sad as is this\n     admission, still we must make it: imperceptible elements of the\n     great social organization appearing upon this earth as living\n     beings, fragments of matter agitated by a spirit, we are born,\n     we live, and we die, unconscious of our destiny, playing our\n     part without any precise notion of the end, and in the midst of\n     the darkness which covers our origin and our end, having only\n     one consolation--the love of our fellow-man.\n\n     \"'This simple philosophy alone,' M. Verneuil continues,\n     'assuages our grief and ends by drying our tears. By the side\n     of the half-open tomb we ask, whether he whom it contains\n     served the good cause without deceit.... If, by his\n     intelligence or his kindness of heart, he labored in the great\n     work, we say he has paid his part of the common debt, and\n     whether he returns to his original nothing or not, whether he\n     is destroyed or merely changes his form, whether he hears our\n     words or not, we thank him in the name of the past and of the\n     future.'\"\n\nAnother distinguished Professor published, in 1866, _Lectures on the\nPhysiology of the Nervous System_, in which we find the following\npassage:\n\n     \"We admit,' he says, '_without any restriction_, that\n     intellectual phenomena in animals are of the same order as in\n     man....' 'As for _free-will_, we comprehend a certain kind of\n     free-will in the more intelligent animals; and, on the other\n     hand, we may add, that perhaps man is not so free as he would\n     fain persuade himself he is.' And '_as to feeling the\n     distinction between good and evil_, it is a grave question,\n     _which we must first study in man himself!_'\"\n\nLet it not be supposed that these principles are merely announced as\nabstractions; conclusions are drawn from them which must fill every\nthinking mind with horror. Eighty students of the Normal School, the\ngreat training institution of teachers for the North of France,\napplauded such conclusions in a public letter. Several of the infidel\nProfessors of the Faculty of Medicine received ovations from crowded\nclass-rooms; millions of immoral and irreligious books were scattered\nthroughout the country. Thus Freemasonry, under the pretext of combating\nignorance, wages a deceitful and implacable war against religion. \"We\ntoo,\" says the organ of Freemasons,[E] \"we too expect our Messiah, the\ntrue Messiah, of the mind and reason--universal education!\"\n\n     \"It is scarcely necessary for us to remind you, dearly beloved\n     brethren, that the seeds of irreligion and anarchy thus sown\n     broadcast over the fair face of France, have already produced a\n     too abundant harvest of evils, perhaps the most disastrous\n     recorded on the page of history. All Europe has been horrified\n     by the atrocities perpetrated within the last few months in the\n     name of liberty in that city, which was looked on as the centre\n     of the civilization of the world. National monuments have been\n     destroyed, peaceable citizens robbed and murdered, the\n     venerable Archbishop, many of the clergy, and leading members\n     of the civil and military authorities, massacred in cold blood.\n     In other cities of France, too, we have seen anarchy and\n     irreligion proclaimed--miscreants in arms against the property,\n     and liberty, and lives of their fellow-citizens, often of the\n     helpless and unprotected; and all this at a moment when the\n     country was invaded, and a part of it occupied, by its enemies.\n     The storm had been sown, and in very truth unfortunate France\n     has reaped the whirlwind.\n\n\"SPREAD OF INFIDELITY THROUGH BAD EDUCATION NOT CONFINED TO FRANCE.\n\n\"And unhappily, dearly beloved brethren, the spread of infidel\nprinciples by means of bad education is not confined to France. A few\nyears ago a congress of students was held in Liege, in Belgium, where\ninfidel and anti-social principles in their worst form were proclaimed\namidst the plaudits of the assembly. In England irreligion and socialism\nare publicly taught. Even in our own country it is a matter of\nnotoriety, that a Chair in one of the Queen's Colleges has been occupied\nsince their foundation by a gentleman, who, in a published work,\nextolled the first French revolution, and, in another place of the same\nbook, compared our Saviour, whose name be praised forever, to Luther and\nto Mahomet! Again: In Trinity College one of the Fellows denies the\nfundamental truth of Christianity respecting the eternity of the\npunishment of sin; and others call in question the inspiration of the\nHoly Scriptures, or of portions of them, and impugn many truths which\nconstitute the foundation of all revealed religion. In the same\nUniversity, too, the doctrines of Positivism, a late form of infidel\nphilosophy, have a large number of followers. The nature of that\nphilosophy may be gathered from the following passages in the 'Catechism\nof Positivism, or Summary Exposition of the Universal Religion,'\ntranslated from the French of Auguste Comte. The preface begins thus:\n\n     \"'In the name of the past and of the future, the servants of\n     humanity--both its philosophical and practical servants--come\n     forward to claim, as their due, the general direction of this\n     world. Their object is to constitute at length a real\n     Providence in all departments--moral, intellectual, and\n     material. Consequently they exclude, once for all, from\n     political supremacy, all the different servants of\n     God--Catholic, Protestant, or Deist--as being at once\n     behind-hand and a cause of disturbance.'\n\n\"The work consists of 'Thirteen Systematic Conversations between a Woman\nand a Priest of Humanity,' and the doctrines contained in it are\nepitomized in the following blasphemous lines:\n\n\"_'In a word, Humanity definitely occupies the place of God, but she\ndoes not forget the services which the idea of God provisionally\nrendered.'_\n\n\"TESTIMONY OF REV. PROFESSOR LIDDON.\n\n\"Again, during the last two sessions of Parliament, a Select Committee\nof the House of Lords sat to inquire into the condition of the English\nUniversities. The Marquis of Salisbury was the chairman. The evidence\ntaken before that committee reveals the appalling fact that infidelity,\nor doubt as to the first principles of the Christian religion, nay, of\nbelief in God, is wide-spread in the Universities of England, and\nespecially among the most intellectual of the students; and that this\nsad result is due in a great measure to the teaching and examinations.\nIn the first report for the session 1871, pp. 67, 69, and 70, in the\nevidence of the Rev. Professor Liddon, D.D., Canon of St. Paul's,\nLondon, and Professor of Exegesis in the University of Oxford, we find\nthe following passages:\n\n     _\"Quest._ 695. _Chairman._--'Very strong evidence has been\n     given to us upon the influence of the Final School' (the\n     examination for degrees with honors) 'upon Oxford thought, as\n     tending to produce at least momentary disbelief.'\n\n     \"_Witness._--'I have no doubt whatever it is one of the main\n     causes of our present embarrassments.'\n\n     \"696.--'That, I suppose, is a comparatively new phenomenon?'\n\n     \"'Yes; it dates from the last great modification in the system\n     pursued in the Honors School of _literae humaniores_. It is\n     mainly the one-sided system, as I should venture to call it, of\n     modern philosophical writers.'\n\n     \"697.--'Is there any special defect in the management which\n     produces this state of things, or is it essential to the nature\n     of the school?'\n\n     \"'I fear it is to a great extent essential to the nature of the\n     school, as its subjects are at present distributed.'\n\n\"Again, in answer to Question 706, the same witness says:\n\n     \"'I ought to have stated to the noble Chairman just now that\n     cases have come within my own experience of men who have come\n     up from school as Christians, and have been earnest Christians\n     up to the time of beginning to read philosophy for the Final\n     School, but who, during the year and a half or two years\n     employed in this study, have surrendered first their\n     Christianity, and next their belief in God, and have left the\n     University not believing in a Supreme Being.'\"\n\nNow what kind of a being is the infidel, or the man without religion? To\nhave no religion is a crime, and to boast of having none is the height\nof folly. He that has no religion must necessarily lose the esteem and\nconfidence of his friends. What confidence, I ask, can be placed in a\nman who has no religion, and, consequently, no knowledge of his duties?\nWhat confidence can you place in a man who never feels himself bound by\nany obligation of conscience, who has no higher motive to direct him\nthan his self-love, his own interests? The pagan Roman, though\nenlightened only by reason, had yet virtue enough to say: \"I live not\nfor _myself_, but for the Republic\"; but the infidel's motto is: \"I live\nonly for myself; I care for no one but myself.\" Oh, what a monster would\nsuch a man be in society were he really to think as he speaks, and to\nact as he thinks!\n\nA man who has no religion, must first prove that he is honest before we\ncan believe him to be so. It is said of kings and rulers, they must\nprove that they have a heart, and it may also be said of the man who has\nno religion, that _he must prove_ that he has a _conscience._ And I fear\nhe would not find it so easy a task.\n\nA man without religion is a man without reason, a man without principle,\na man sunk in the grossest ignorance of what religion is. He blasphemes\nwhat he does not understand. He rails at the doctrines of Christianity,\nwithout really knowing what these doctrines are. He sneers at the\ndoctrines and practices of religion, because he cannot refute them. He\nspeaks with the utmost gravity of the fine arts, the fashions, and even\nmatters the most trivial, and he turns into ridicule the most sacred\nsubjects. In the midst of his own circle of fops and silly women, he\nutters his shallow conceits with all the pompous assurance of a pedant.\n\nThe man without religion is a dishonest plagiarist, who copies from\nChristian writers all the objections made against the Church by the\ninfidels of former and modern times; but he takes good care to omit all\nthe excellent answers and complete refutations which are contained in\nthese very same writings. His object is not to seek the truth, but to\npropagate falsehood.\n\nThe man without religion is a slave of the most degrading superstition.\nInstead of worshipping the true, free, living God, who governs all\nthings by His Providence, he bows before the horrid phantom of blind\nchance or inexorable destiny. He is a man who obstinately refuses to\nbelieve the most solidly-established facts in favor of religion, and\nyet, with blind credulity, greedily swallows the most absurd falsehoods\nuttered _against religion_. He is a man whose reason has fled, and whose\npassions speak, object and decide in the name of reason.\n\nThe man without religion often pretends to be an infidel merely in order\nto appear fashionable. He is usually conceited, obstinate, puffed up\nwith pride, a great talker, always shallow and fickle, skipping from one\nsubject to another without even thoroughly examining a single one. At\none moment he is a Deist, at another a Materialist, then he is a\nSceptic, and again an Atheist; always changing his views, but always a\nslave of his passions, always an enemy of Christ.\n\nThe man without religion is a slave of the most shameful passions. He\ntries to prove to the world that man is a brute, in order that he might\nhave the gratification of leading the life of a brute. I ask you, what\nvirtue can that man have who believes that whatever he desires is\nlawful, who designates the most shameful crimes by the refined name of\ninnocent pleasures? What virtue can that man have who knows no other law\nthan his passions; who believes that God regards with equal eye truth\nand falsehood, vice and virtue? He may indeed practise some natural\nvirtues, but these virtues are in general only _exterior_. They are\npractised merely out of human respect; they do not come from the heart.\nNow the seat of true virtue is in the heart, and not in the exterior. He\nthat acts merely to please man and not to please God, has no real\nvirtue.\n\nThe man without religion often praises all religions; he is a true\nknave. He says: \"If I were to choose my religion, I would become a\nCatholic, for it is the most reasonable of all religions.\" But in his\nheart he despises all religion. He is a man who scrapes together all the\nwicked and absurd calumnies he can find against the Church. He falsely\naccuses her of teaching monstrous doctrines which she has always\nabhorred and condemned, and he displays his ingenuity by combating those\nmonstrous doctrines which he himself has invented, or copied from\nauthors as dishonest as himself. The infidel is a monster without faith,\nwithout law, without religion, without God.\n\nThere are many who call themselves \"free-thinkers,\" many who reject all\nrevealed religion, merely out of silly puerile vanity. They affect\nsingularity in order to attract notice, in order to make people believe\nthat they are strong-minded, that they are independent. Poor deluded\nslaves of human respect! They affect singularity in order to attract\nnotice, and they forget that there is another class of people in the\nworld also noted for singularity. In fact they are so singular that they\nhave to be shut up for safe keeping in a mad-house.\n\nWhat is the difference between an infidel and a madman? The only\ndifference is, that the madness of the infidel is wilful, while the\nmadness of the poor lunatic is entirely involuntary. The one arouses our\ncompassion, while the other excites our contempt and just indignation.\n\nFinally, the man without religion says: \"There is no God.\" He says so\n\"_in his heart_\", says Holy Writ; he says not so in his head, because he\nknows better. Let him be in imminent danger of death, or of a\nconsiderable loss of fortune, and you will see how quick, on such\noccasions, he lays aside the mask of infidelity; he makes his profession\nof faith in an Almighty God; he cries out: \"Lord save me, I am\nperishing! Lord have mercy on me!\" and the like.\n\nThere is still another proof to show that the infidel does not believe\nwhat he says: why is it that he makes his impious doctrines the subject\nof conversation on every occasion? It is, of course, first to\ncommunicate his devilish principles to others, and make them as bad as\nhe himself is; but this is not the only reason. The good Catholic seldom\nspeaks of his religion; he feels assured, by the grace of God, that his\nreligion is the only true one, and that he will be saved if he lives up\nto his religion. This, however, is not the case with the infidel. He is\nconstantly tormented in his soul. \"There is no peace, no happiness for\nthe impious,\" says Holy Scripture.--(Isa. xlviii. 22.) He tries to quiet\nthe fears of his soul, the remorse of his conscience. So he communicates\nto others, on every occasion, his perverse principles, hoping that he\nmay meet with some of his fellow-men who may approve of his impious\nviews, and that thus he may find some relief for his interior torments.\nHe resembles a timid night-traveller. A timid man, who is obliged to\ntravel during a dark night, begins to sing and to cry in order to keep\naway too great fear. The infidel is a sort of night-traveller; he\ncertainly travels in the horrible darkness of his impiety. His interior\nconviction tells him that there is a God, who will certainly punish him\nin the most frightful manner. This fills him with great fear, and makes\nhim extremely unhappy every moment of his life. He cannot bear the sight\nof a Catholic church, of a Catholic procession, of an image of our Lord,\nof a picture of a saint, of a prayer-book, of a good Catholic, of a\npriest; in a word, he cannot bear anything that reminds him of God, of\nreligion, of his guilt, and of his impiety. So he cries, on every\noccasion, against faith in God, in all that God has revealed and\nproposes to us for our belief by the Holy Church. What is the object of\nhis impious cries? It is to deafen, to keep down in some measure, the\nclamors of his bad conscience. Our hand will involuntarily touch that\npart of the body where we feel pain. So, in like manner, the tongue of\nthe infidel touches, on all occasions, involuntarily as it were, upon\nall those truths of our holy religion which inspire him with fear of the\njudgments of Almighty God. He feels but too keenly that he cannot do\naway with God and His sacred religion, by denying His existence.\n\nI have given you the true portrait--the true likeness--of the man\nwithout religion. Were you given to see a devil and the soul of an\ninfidel at the same time, you would find the sight of the devil more\nbearable than that of the infidel. For St. James the Apostle tells us,\nthat \"the devil believes and trembles.\"--(Chap. ii. 19.) Now the Public\nSchool system was invented and introduced into this country to turn the\nrising generations into men of the above description.\n\n\n_Spread of Infidelity through Bad Education in America; or, The Object\nof the Public School System._\n\nMr. O. A. Brownson, in his book \"The Convert,\" Chaps. VII. and VIII.,\ngives us the following information on the origin of the Public Schools\nin this country:\n\n     \"Frances Wright was born in Scotland, and inherited a\n     considerable property. She had been highly educated, and was a\n     woman of rare original powers, and extensive and varied\n     information. She was brought up in the utilitarian principles\n     of Jeremy Bentham. She visited this country in 1824. Returning\n     to England in 1825, she wrote a book in a strain of almost\n     unbounded eulogy of the American people and their institutions.\n     She saw only one stain upon the American character, one thing\n     in the condition of the American people to censure or to\n     deplore--that was negro-slavery.\n\n     \"When, in the next year, Mr. Owen came, with his friends, to\n     commence his experiment of creating a new moral world at New\n     Harmony, Frances Wright came with him, not as a full believer\n     in his crotchets, but to try an experiment, devised with\n     Jefferson, Lafayette, and others, for the emancipation of the\n     negro-slave.\n\n     \"Fanny Wright, however, failed in her negro experiment. She\n     soon discovered that the American people were not, as yet,\n     prepared to engage in earnest for the abolition of slavery. On\n     more mature reflection she came to the conclusion that slavery\n     must be abolished only as the result of a general emancipation,\n     and a radical reform of the American people themselves.\n\n     \"The first step to be taken for this purpose was to rouse the\n     American mind to a sense of its rights and dignity, to\n     emancipate it from superstition, from its subjection to the\n     clergy, and its fear of unseen powers, to withdraw it from the\n     contemplation of the stars or an imaginary heaven after death,\n     and fix it on the great and glorious work of promoting _man's\n     earthly well-being_.\n\n     \"The second step was, by political action, to get adopted, at\n     the earliest practical moment, a system of State schools, in\n     which all the children from two years old and upward should be\n     fed, clothed, in a word, maintained, instructed, and educated\n     at the public expense.\n\n     \"In furtherance of the first object, Fanny prepared a course of\n     Lectures on _Knowledge_, which she delivered in the principal\n     cities of the Union. She thought that she possessed advantages\n     in the fact that she was a woman; for there would, for that\n     reason, be a greater curiosity to hear her, and she would be\n     permitted to speak with greater boldness and directness against\n     the clergy and superstition than would be one of the other sex.\n\n     \"The great measure, however, on which Fanny and her friends\n     relied for ultimate success, was the system of public schools.\n     These schools were intended to deprive, as well as to relieve,\n     parents of all care and responsibility of their children after\n     a year or two years of age. It was assumed that parents were,\n     in general, incompetent to train up their children, provide\n     proper establishments, teachers and governors for them, till\n     they should reach the age of majority.\n\n     \"The _aim_ was, on the one hand, to relieve marriage of its\n     burdens, and to remove the principal reasons for making it\n     _indissoluble_; and, on the other hand, to provide for bringing\n     up all children, in a rational manner, to be reasonable men and\n     women, that is, _free from superstition, free from all belief\n     in God and immortality_, free from all regard for the\n     invisible, and make them look _upon this life_ as _their only\n     life_, this earth as their only home, and _the promotion of\n     their earthly interests and enjoyments as their only end_. The\n     three great enemies to earthly happiness were held to be\n     religion, marriage, or family and private property. Once get\n     rid of these three institutions, and we may hope soon to\n     realize our earthly paradise. For religion is to be substituted\n     science, that is, science of the world, of the five senses\n     only; for private property, a community of goods; and for\n     private families, a community of wives.\n\n     \"Fanny Wright and her school saw clearly that their principles\n     could not be carried into practice in the present state of\n     society. So they proposed them to be adopted only by a future\n     generation, trained and prepared in a system of schools founded\n     and sustained by the Public. They placed their dependence on\n     education in a system of _Public Schools_, managed after a plan\n     of William Phiquepal, a Frenchman, and subsequently the husband\n     of Fanny Wright.\n\n     \"In order to get their system of schools adopted, they proposed\n     to organize the whole Union, secretly, very much on the plan of\n     the Carbonari of Europe. The members of this secret society\n     were to avail themselves of all the means in their power, each\n     in his own locality, to form public opinion in favor of\n     education by the State at the public expense, and to get such\n     men elected to the Legislatures as would be likely to favor\n     their purposes. This secret organization commenced in the State\n     of New York, and was to extend over the whole Union. Mr. O. A.\n     Brownson was one of the agents for organizing the State of New\n     York. He, however, became tired of the work, and abandoned it\n     after a few months.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n     \"The attention of so-called philanthropic men in all parts of\n     the country, was directed to the subject. In 1817, and the\n     following years, commenced what has been improperly termed a\n     revival of education. To form public opinion in favor of Public\n     Schools, the following means were employed: Public School\n     societies and organizations were established in New York,\n     Philadelphia, Boston, Portland, Lancaster, Pittsburgh,\n     Worcester, Hartford, Lowell, Providence, Cincinnati, etc.;\n     Thomas H. Gallaudet, James G. Carter, and Walter R. Johnson,\n     made great efforts through the press; there were established\n     the 'American Journal of Education,' in January, 1826, and the\n     'American Annals of Education.' Conventions were held\n     throughout New England from 1826 to 1830, in behalf of Public\n     Schools; lectures were delivered in every precinct in the\n     States, on the subject of education; there were also\n     established local school periodicals, as well as others of a\n     more general character, to contribute towards forming public\n     opinion in favor of Public Schools, in every corner of the\n     country. All these means, and the zealous and unwearied efforts\n     of Horace Mann, Henry Barnard, and others, have contributed\n     towards the success in establishing the Public Schools in our\n     country.\"--_American Encyclopaedia_.\n\nThis is a brief history of the Public Schools. It tells, in clear terms,\nall that they are, and all that they are to bring about, namely: a\ngeneration without belief in God and immortality, free from all regard\nfor the invisible--a generation that looks upon this life as their only\nlife, this earth as their only home, and the promotion of their earthly\ninterests and enjoyments as their only end--a generation that looks\nupon religion, marriage, or family and private property as the greatest\nenemies to worldly happiness--a generation that substitutes science of\nthis world for religion, a community of goods for private property, a\ncommunity of wives for private family; in other words, a generation that\nsubstitutes the devil for God, hell for heaven, sin and vice for virtue\nand holiness of life.\n\nWe may, then, confidently assert that the defenders and upholders of\n_Public Schools without religion_ seek in America, as well as in Europe,\nto turn the people into refined Pagans. They recently betrayed\nthemselves. They wish, as Dr. Wehrenphennig and Dr. Wirgow openly said,\nfor an equalization of religious contradictories, a religion and an\neducation which stands above creeds, and knows nothing about dogmas; in\nother words, they wish for a religion of which a certain poet says: \"My\nreligion is to have no religion.\" The object, then, of these godless,\nirreligious _Public Schools_ is to spread among the people the worst of\nreligions, the _no religion_, the religion which pleases most hardened\nadulterers and criminals--the religion of irrational animals. How far\nthis diabolical scheme has succeeded is well known, for there are at\npresent from twenty to twenty-five millions of people in the United\nStates who profess no distinct religious belief. Everywhere the same\neffects have been observed. Licentiousness, cruelty, and\nvice--\"Positivism,\" or the substitution of the harlotry of the passions\nfor the calm and elevating influences of reason and religion. How can it\nbe otherwise?\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[A] Jean Mace.\n\n[B] \"_La Solidarite.\" _(Le Monde Maconnique, October, 5866 [1866], p.\n472.)\n\n[C] \"_La Solidarite.\" _(Le Monde Maconnique, February, 5867 [1867].)\n\n[D] Vive le Materialisme.\n\n[E] Le Monde Maconnique, June, 1866.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nEXPOSE OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.\n\n\nIt is a fundamental principle of Christianity, admitted even by\nProtestants, that man cannot reach his destiny without a knowledge of\nthe religion which Jesus Christ taught, and which He sealed with His\nprecious Blood. Now this fundamental principle is virtually ignored in\nour present school system, which proposes to educate without religion.\nThe whole course of instruction is imparted without any reference to\nreligion, without any of those occasional observations that are so\nnecessary in our days, and especially in this country, in order to\nexplain the seeming inconsistencies between scientific facts and the\ndoctrines of faith. Instruction, to be useful, must show that the\ndiscoveries of science are, as is really the case, evidences of\nreligion. It must show the harmony that exists between history and\nphilosophy and the truths of faith. Secular knowledge should be the\nhandmaid of religion; but no religion, no knowledge of God, is permitted\nto be taught in these schools.\n\nLet a stranger, say an educated Pagan, enter one of our public schools;\nwill he discover sign, symbol or token of any kind to indicate that\neither the teacher or children are Christians? Or suppose this Pagan, or\na Turk, or Atheist sends children there to be educated, they can do so\nwith perfect safety to their Pagan, Mohammedan, or infidel superstitions\nor opinions. They will not, through the whole course of instruction,\nhear a prayer, a lecture, or a single advice, lesson, or precept of the\nChurch; they will, as far as the State plan of teaching extends, remain\nignorant of the \"holy name of God,\" or the Blessed Trinity, or the\nLord's Prayer, or the Ten Commandments, or the Gospels, or the death and\nsufferings of our Lord, or the resurrection of the body, or a future\nstate of reward and punishment. _No prayer_ is offered up or even\npermitted to be taught to those little ones whom our Lord loves so\ntenderly. The teacher is not even permitted by law to explain what is\nmeant by the term \"our Saviour,\" \"our Redeemer\"!\n\nShould a child ask, in a reading-lesson, what \"our Lord and Saviour\"\nmeant, the teacher must tell him: \"Hush! if you want to know that you\nmust ask somebody out of school! We don't teach anything about religion\nhere! We have no Lord, or God, or Saviour here!\"\n\nIn reference to this manner of educating the youth of America, the\nProtestant Bishop of Tennessee said some time ago:\n\n     \"The secular system took no notice of God or of Christ, or of\n     the Church of the Living God, or, except in the most incidental\n     way, of God's Holy Word. The intellect was stimulated to the\n     highest degree, but the heart and the affections were left\n     uncultivated. It was a system which trained for the business of\n     life, not for the duties of life. As there were differences of\n     opinion about Christianity, it was not allowed to be spoken of,\n     and a knowledge of it was not one of the qualifications for a\n     teacher. A man might be a Mohammedan or a Hindoo if he were\n     only a proficient in geography, arithmetic, or the exact\n     sciences. The teachers in the normal schools might be infidels\n     provided they did not openly inculcate their scepticism; and,\n     in point of fact, in the schools which were designed to train\n     teachers only, a vast majority were not Christians.\"\n\nThe school-books must be made unchristian lest they give offence to the\ncountless sects of Protestantism. Voltaire, Paine, or Renan may be read\nin the Public Schools, but nothing of God.\n\nIf our Public Schools differ in any degree from the ancient heathen, it\nis to our greater shame and confusion, and to their advantage. They\ntaught piety to \"_their gods_;\" we ignore the _true God altogether_, and\nbring the false gods of the heathens down to earth to be made the slaves\nand instruments of our sensual gratifications. Thus the mind of the\nchild is, and remains, a religious void; at least, there is but a\nreligious mist in his intellect. The child even unlearns, in the society\nof the school, whatever principles of religion he may have learned from\nhis parents.\n\nThe present common school system of education necessarily begets\ncontempt of religion. Men trained under such a system learn to look upon\nreligion as a dress which is to be worn only on Sunday, and to be laid\naside during the rest of the week; they look upon religion as something\nwhich may do very well in the church, or in the meeting-house, but which\nis entirely out of place in business, in society, and in the daily\ntransactions of life. The child has logic enough to think that he is\ntaught whatever is necessary for his future career, and that religion\nmust not be necessary, otherwise it would be taught in school.\n\nAnd what will the child learn, in this Pagan system of education, to\npress down his rising passions? What precept of positive virtue does he\nlearn? What principle of self-restraint? What does he learn in such a\nschool to make him obedient, honest, chaste, a good citizen, a good\nChristian? The common school system proceeds on the principle of\nsuffering the passions of youth to take any development which fallen\nnature may bring about, and then trusting to a riper age for a change\nfor the better, just as if it were possible \"to gather grapes of briars,\nor figs of thorns.\"\n\nIn these Public Schools the whole education of children is directed to\nthe cultivation of their heads or intellectual faculties alone. The\nheart, with all its moral and mysterious emotions, is entirely\nneglected. Every mental power and acquirement is intended and directed\nto promote their prosperity, success, and happiness in this life; at\nleast this is what is sought and promised as the reward of study and\napplication. They are constantly presented with the bright side of the\nworld. Scientific knowledge, they are taught, will do away with the old\ndrudgery of labor, and bring the acquirement of wealth and honor within\nthe reach of all, no matter how poor or humble the condition of their\nfathers or mothers. They have all, no doubt, read the Declaration of\nIndependence, and learned that all men are created free and equal. They\nhave shared the equal bounty of the State in the way of education, and\nhave, in the language of the day, \"an equal right on the world for a\nliving.\"\n\nI ask if this is not a pretty fair and not overdrawn statement of the\ncase? You will bear in mind that all this time the free-and-easy social\nintercourse of the sexes is going on; that while their studies and\nexercises are strictly confined to dry, secular knowledge, or such other\npursuits as might excite their vanity, pride, or imagination, not one\nline or lesson, caution or command, as stated before, is used or\nadministered to curb or control the natural, I might say inevitable, cry\nof the youthful passions clamoring for their gratification.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nEVIL CONSEQUENCES OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM ON THE MALE PORTION OF\nSOCIETY.\n\n\nLet us now suppose the young men educated under the present Public\nSchool system fairly launched into the world, and, for the first time,\nthrown on their own resources. They are all well, indeed\n_over-educated._ The greater part of their families are necessarily in\npoor or moderate circumstances. Will their learned and accomplished sons\ntake the humble and laborious trades or occupations of their fathers? I\nfear not. We should not expect more from human nature than there is in\nit. All these fine young public school graduates cannot get nice\nsituations as clerks, professors, editors, teachers, etc., etc., and the\nprofessions are all full to overflowing.\n\nYou must remember that, as I have said, not one of the boys have ever\nbeen taught the first principle, prayer, or moral duty. They are, as far\nas the Public School-training went, perfectly ignorant of the Divine law\nas rule of our life; they are, in fact, but educated apes or animals.\nHow can this young man reconcile \"poverty and wealth,\" \"labor and ease,\"\n\"sickness and health,\" \"adversity and prosperity,\" \"rich and poor,\"\n\"obedience and authority,\" \"liberty and law,\" etc., etc. All these are\nenigmas to him, or, if he affects to understand them at all, he thinks\nthey arise from bad management or bad government, and can and ought to\nbe remedied by repression or sumptuary legislation. He will be a tyrant\nor slave, a glutton or miser, a fanatic or libertine, a sneak-thief or\nhighway robber, as circumstances may influence him. Think you that the\ncommon \"fall back\" on principle of self-interest--well or ill\nunderstood--will ever restrain such a one from doing any act of impulse\nor indulgence, provided he thinks it can be safely done? He will look on\nlife as a game of address or force, in which the best man is he who\ncarries off the prize.\n\nHe will look upon power as belonging of right to the strongest; the\nweak, or those who differ from him in opinion, he will treat with\ncontempt and cruelty, and will think they have no rights he is bound to\nrespect. In power, such a man will be arbitrary and cruel; out of power,\nhe will be faithless, hypocritical and subservient. Trust him with\nauthority, he will abuse it; trust him with money, he will steal it;\ntrust him with your confidence, and he will betray it. Such a man--Pagan\nand unprincipled as he is--may nevertheless affect, when it suits his\npurpose, great religious zeal and purity. He will talk of\n\"_Philanthropy_\" and the \"_Humanities_,\" have great compassion, perhaps,\nfor \"a dray-horse,\" and give the cold shoulder to the houseless pauper\nor orphan.\n\nThe heart of such a man is cold, insincere, destitute of every tender\nchord for a tender vibration, of every particle of right or just feeling\nor principle that can be touched; on the contrary, it is roused to rage,\nrevenge and falsehood if interfered with. How is such a heart to be\ntouched or moved, or placed under such influences as could move it?\nIndeed, it would require a miracle! Nay, even a miracle would fail to\nmake a salutary impression upon such a heart. A French infidel declared\nthat, should he be told that the most remarkable miracle was occurring\nclose by his house, he would not take a step out of his way to see it.\nPride never surrenders; it prefers rather to take an illogical position\nthan to bow even to the authority of reason. Furious, beside itself, and\nabsurd, it revolts against evidence. To all reasoning, to undeniable\nevidence, the infidel--the man without religion--opposes his own will:\n\"Such is my determination.\" It is sweet to him to be stronger,\nsingle-handed, than common sense, stronger than miracles, than even the\nGod who manifests Himself by them.\n\nSuch a man is always in favor of _strong government_, provided he can\nget to run it. He will talk loudly of loyalty and the \"_life of the\nnation_.\" He worships the _State_, because, to his gross animal\nunderstanding, it represents _power_, and makes money his God, because\nit gives him this power. Such a man may be called civilized, but he is\nonly an _accomplished barbarian_. His head and hands are instructed, his\nheart, and low passions and appetites, unbridled and untamed. Such a man\ncan never be made to understand the beautiful and benign principles of\nour republican form of government. Like all brutes, he relies on force,\nand tries and judges every issue by success. What he calls \"_the final\narbitrament of arms_\" is to such a one a righteous decision, provided\nalways it be in his favor. He may affect the demagogue, and talk loudly\nabout the power of the people, but you will observe that this refers to\nthem _en masse_, in the whole or concrete. He cannot understand the\nindividual man as entitled to any consideration or rights (unless he\nhappened to be made rich) independently of the State. Indeed, he looks\nupon poor men as made for the State, and it can be only on this ground\nthat he claims the children as its property--\"children of the State\"!!\nHe insists on educating them by the _State_, and for the State, and not\nfor the comfort and support of their fathers and mothers, nor that they\nshould thereby fulfil the immortal destiny for which they were created.\nHe holds the life, the dignity, the comfort or happiness of the family\nor individual as nought in the balance against \"_the life, the power,\nthe wealth and glory of the nation_.\" \"_Perish the People_--live the\nState\"; this is his motto, and such have ever been the principles and\nmotto of all Pagans from the beginning.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nEVIL CONSEQUENCES OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM ON THE FEMALE PORTION OF\nSOCIETY.\n\n\nWhat I have said in the preceding chapter is but a faint picture of the\nbad effects of what is called _polite education_, as given in the Public\nSchools, on the male portion of society. It is with some reluctance that\nI am now going to trace the same evil influence in its still more\ninjurious consequences on the female portion. It is very difficult to\ntreat this part of the subject with the necessary freedom, not only on\naccount of its intrinsic delicacy, but also because of that false (and\nindeed to themselves injurious) idea that there is nothing wanting to\nthe absolute perfection of our women.\n\nLet it not be said, that in calling public attention to these evil\nconsequences on the female portion of the community, we are\noverstepping the boundaries of propriety or decency. There is a license\nfor the poet; a license for the stage; a license for the bar; a license\nfor the writer of fiction; a license for the press, and why should there\nnot be a license for a Christian writer? It is high time for _true_\nmodesty to take the place of that _false modesty_ which has driven\nvirtue, like an exile, out of the land, and peopled it largely with\nFourrierites, Owenites, and other socialists and free-lovers.\n\nNow, whatever success a \"godless system of education\" may have on boys,\nI think all must admit that it must prove not only a failure, but a\npositive injury, to girls. It is not that moral and religious education\nis not equally required by both, in a spiritual sense, but that women,\nin an especial manner, have certain duties assigned them, in the Order\nof Providence, of so high and holy a character, that it requires, in\nsome sense, a special education to fit them for the faithful discharge\nof these duties.\n\nLet us remember that the Public School-girls of to-day will be the\nmothers of to-morrow. Mothers are called by God to take particular care\nof the bodily and spiritual life of their children. This care is a\nheavy, a very heavy burden indeed, and mothers cannot carry this burden\nwithout a tender love for their children. Now God has made the love of\nmothers for their children a necessary love. It is for this reason that\nthere is no command in the Divine Law for parents to love their\nchildren, whilst, on the contrary, children are commanded to love their\nparents. Love towards one's own offspring is a love so deeply planted in\nthe heart by Nature herself, that the wild beasts never fail to love\ntheir young. It is said that even tigers, hearing the cry of their\nwhelps when they are taken by the hunters, will plunge into the sea to\nswim after the vessels where they are confined.\n\nA mother's love is proverbial. Indeed, there is no love so pure and so\nthoroughly disinterested as the love of a good mother for her child. Her\nlove knows no change; brothers and sisters have forgotten each other;\nfathers have proved unforgiving to their children; husbands have been\nfalse to their wives, and wives to their husbands, and children too\noften forget their parents; but you rarely hear of a mother forgetting\neven her ungrateful, disobedient children, whose actions have lacerated\nher heart, and caused dark shadows to glide before her eyes, and enter\nher very soul. Still there are moments when her faithful heart yearns\ntowards them; there are moments when the reminiscences of the happy\n_past_ obliterate the _present_ sorrow, and the poor wounded spirit is\ncheered for a while, because there is still one of the fibres of the\nroot of hope left in her forlorn breast, and a languid smile will flit\nover her wan and prematurely faded face. Yes, she forgives, though there\nis no River Lethe for her to drink from in this life; showing that her\nlove is the most pure in this world, and the nearest approach to the\nlove that God has so graciously bestowed upon her.\n\nSome years ago a vessel sailed from the coast of Ireland. It was filled\nwith passengers who were coming to this country to better their future.\nThe vessel set sail with a favorable wind. The sky was clear, and the\nsun shone gayly upon the sparkling sea. But suddenly the heavens grew\ndark. A fierce storm arose. The winds howled madly around the vessel.\nThe ship was hurried on--on, till it was dashed against the rocks. The\nwild, surging waves dashed over it. The vessel split in twain. Part\nremained hanging amid the rocks, and the rest sank, with those on board,\nbeneath the waves, far down into the depth of the sea. The storm\ncontinued to rage for several days. At last, when the wind had died\naway, some hardy fishermen, who lived on the coast, took a skiff and\nrowed out to the wreck. They entered the part of the vessel that\nremained hanging amid the rocks. They broke open the cabin door. They\nheard distinctly the feeble wail of a child. They rushed in. They found\na little babe lying upon the breast of its dead mother. The child was\neagerly sucking the blood which oozed from a large wound in its mother's\nbreast. The mother had died of cold and hunger; but, even amid her\nfearful sufferings, she did not forget her child. She took a sharp\nknife, and, with the wonderful love of a mother's heart, she made a deep\ngash in her breast, in order that her child might preserve its life by\ndrinking her own heart's blood!\n\nAnd when the darling child of the Christian mother is on the point of\ndeath, ah! how tender is not her prayer to the Author of Life that He\nspare the child.\n\n\"Oh, God of mercy,\" she prays, \"spare my child! Heaven is already full\nof light and gladness. Do not then take to heaven the light and joy of\nmy heart. Thou art ever happy, O my God! do not then deprive me of my\nonly happiness. God of compassion, O leave me the sweet babe whom Thou\nhast given me! my love, and all my happiness, is centred in him. Since\nhe has come to me, the earth, and sea, and sky, the whole world around\nhas grown doubly beautiful. The air seems filled with light, and song,\nand sweetness. Ah, do not take my child away, for when his tender body\nlies beneath the sod, my heart and life shall lie there with it, and\nthis whole world shall grow dark and dreary as one vast gloomy\ngraveyard. O God! remember I am yet so young. I am not used to tears.\nDeal gently with my poor weak heart! I have never yet known what it is\nto lose a friend, a relative, or beloved one. O God! shall, then, the\nfirst that teaches me the dread meaning of grave and shroud be my own,\nmy first-born child? O Jesus, I conjure Thee, by Thy wounded\nHeart--wounded for love of me--do not crush my tender heart, for Thou\nhast made it tender. Thou hast made me a mother; oh, spare my darling\nchild!\"\n\nAh! who can measure the depth of the wonderful love of a mother's heart!\nBut this natural love of a mother for her offspring, in order to be\npersevering and untiring, must be cultivated--must be ennobled and\nsupernaturalized by religious education; otherwise this love will\ndecrease, and be lost in the end, and with the loss of this love the\nChristian woman has lost her divine calling. Now as no religious\neducation is imparted to the girls in the Public Schools, can we wonder\nto see thousands and thousands of them who have lost their divine\ncalling--can we wonder that we hear of a countless number of unnatural\ncrimes, committed under the veil of marriage, that are becoming so\ncommon at the present day? Dr. Storer, of Massachusetts, declares that\nincrease of children in Massachusetts is limited almost wholly to the\nforeign population. Mr. Warren Johnson, State Superintendent of Common\nSchools in Maine, reports to the Legislature a decrease of 16,683,\nbetween the ages of four and twenty-one years, from the census of 1858.\nTotal decrease from maximum of 1860 is nearly 20,000. Mr. Johnson asks:\n\"Are the modern fashionable criminalities of infanticide creeping into\nour State community?\" Dr. H. R. Storer, of Massachusetts, in 1859,\ndeclared that forced abortions in America were of frequent occurrence,\nand that this frequency was increasing so, that from 1 in 1,633 of the\npopulation in 1805, it had risen to 1 in 340 in 1849; and Dr. Kyle, of\nXenia, Ohio, asserted that abortions occurred most frequently among\nthose who are known as the better class; among church members, and those\ngenerally who pretend to be the most polite, virtuous, moral and\nreligious. And, without mincing matters at all, this eminent physician\nboldly declares that \"a venal press, a demoralized clergy, and the\nprevalence of medical charlatanism, are the principal causes of the\nfearful increase of this abominable crime.\" The paucity of children in\nthe families of wealthy and well-to-do Americans has been publicly\nnoticed and commented upon time and again; but the true cause thereof,\nif known, was carefully concealed. And can we wonder that the crime has\ndescended from the highest to the lowest, and now pervades all classes\nof society? Statistics have been frequently published to show that in\ncertain States of the Union, and in certain districts of those States,\nthe births did not, and do not, equal the deaths; and were it not for\nthe foreign population among us many of those districts, and not a few\nof those States, would be depopulated in a few years. Massachusetts and\nNew York lead the van in this criminal record. Dr. T. A. Reamy, of\nZanesville, Ohio, in 1867, wrote, that after a careful survey of the\nfield he was ready to say that \"to-day no sin approaches with such\nstealth and dangerous power the altars of the Church as foeticide;\nand, unless it can be stayed, not only will it work its legitimate moral\ndepravity and social ruin, but (he believed) God will visit dreadful\njudgment upon us no less severe, perhaps, than He did upon the Cities of\nthe Plain.\"\n\nIn 1865, Dr. Morse Stewart, of Detroit, Michigan, declared that few of\neither sex entered the marital relation without full information as to\nthe ways and means of destroying the legitimate results of matrimony.\nAnd among married persons so extensive has this practice become, that\npeople of high repute not only commit this crime, but do not even blush\nto speak boastingly among their intimates of the deed, and the means of\naccomplishing it.\n\nDr. Nathan Allen, of Lowell, Mass., at a meeting of the Social Science\nAssociation, Boston, entitled \"Wanted--More Mothers,\" remarked \"that the\nincrease of population for twenty-five years has been mainly in cities\nand towns, and it will be found to be largely made up of foreign\nelement; and in the smaller villages, chiefly American, the stock has\nhardly increased at all.\n\n\"We find there are absolutely more deaths than births among the strictly\nAmerican children; so that, aside from immigration, and births of\nchildren of foreign parentage, the population of Massachusetts is really\ndecreasing.\n\n\"Another fact developed by report is, that whereas, in 1765, nearly\none-half of the population of Massachusetts was under fifteen years of\nage, it is believed that, at the _present_ time, _not_ more than\n_one-fifth_ of the purely American population is under that age. In an\nequal number of American and foreign families, the births will be nearly\nthree times as many in the latter as in the former. In some of the old\ntowns, the records of a hundred years do not show a single instance of\na married couple without children. The New York census of 1865 shows\nthat, out of nine hundred and ninety-three thousand two hundred and\nthirty-six married women, one hundred and thirty-seven thousand seven\nhundred and forty-five had no children, and three hundred and\nthirty-three thousand only had one or two.\n\n\"In the small town of Billerica, there are ninety families with ten or\nmore children; five of these had fourteen, and one twenty-one: the total\nin the ninety families is ten hundred and ninety-three. The birth-rates\nshow that American families _do not_ increase at _all_, and the\ninspection of the registration in other States shows that the same\nremark applies to all.\"\n\nMany parts of Vermont are undergoing a gradual depopulation. Sandgate\nhad a population of 1,187 in 1810, and 805 in 1860.\n\nThe town of Rupert had a population of 1,848 in 1800, which had\ndiminished to 1,103 in 1860.\n\nThe town of Arlington was settled in the year 1762. In the year 1800 all\nthe arable and pasturage land was occupied, and the inhabitants\nnumbered 1,569. In 1830 the number had decreased to 1,207, and in 1860\nto 1,146.\n\nMrs. A. B. Boone says, in her book \"The Increase of Crime,\" \"I have\nfrequently heard women say 'I don't mind having one or two children, but\nno more for me.' When I first heard these expressions I thought it\nmerely a joke, but eventually I found out they _meant_ what they said,\nand I was amazed. And when these women do condescend to have one or two\nchildren, what sort of a lifelong inheritance are they giving their\noffspring? ill-health even unto death. Frequently I come in contact with\nwomen of thirty, and even twenty-five, so debilitated that they are far\nmore fit for hospitals than to fill the sacred office of either wife or\nmother.\n\n\"I am sorry to add that the crime of _child-murder_ is carried on to the\ngreatest extent among the wealthy. In Cambridgeport, a medical lady\ninformed me that she was continually applied to for this purpose, and\nalways refused in the most decided manner; but, to her knowledge, one\nwoman performed, on an average, from a hundred to a hundred and fifty\ncases in a week. And yet churches abound in this place.\n\n\"The Rev. Dr. Todd has written two most truthful lectures, one entitled\n'Fashionable Murders,' and the other 'A Cloud with a Dark Lining.' His\nrevelations with regard to the determination that the Americans evince\nnot to have children, is fearfully true, more especially among the\nwomen.\n\n\"Speaking of having children, reminds me of a circumstance that happened\nsome fifteen years ago. I had a letter of introduction to a lady who\nwished to engage my children to read at a party she was about to give.\nShe received me with an air of melancholy politeness, at the same time\ninforming me that the gathering was postponed, as dear little Fanny was\n'real sick.' I saw a wine-glass and teaspoon on the table by the side of\nthe sofa, which had a small blanket on it bound with sky-blue ribbon,\ncovering up something that I supposed to be a sick child. I approached,\nand gently drew aside the blanket. I jumped back--it was a poodle-dog,\nwhose black eyes winked at me as if about to cry: a sort of appeal for\nsympathy shone in its glowing orbs. I was almost convulsed with\nlaughter, it was so unexpected. When able to speak, I said, 'Pardon me,\nmadam, for laughing; but I thought it was a baby.' She replied\nindignantly, 'Oh, dear, no! I never had a baby; nor I don't want one\neither!' And it would be a blessing, I say, if such women as these\n_never_ became mothers. When I was a young girl, and heard people say\nthey hated children, and saw them fondling dogs, and feeding kittens\nwith a spoon because the _old cat_ was too weak to attend to so many,\nand knew, at the same time, that poor _human mothers_ were compelled\n(just as _slaves once_ were) to separate from their husbands and\nchildren when _poverty_ demanded that they should go into the '_Union_,'\nor, rather, _Dis_union--I say, when I pondered on these things, thoughts\nwould flit through my mind, whether, when death severed the body from\nthe _souls_ of these people, that their spirits were not instantly\ninfused into cats and dogs, and that they came back in those shapes as a\npenance for their _brutality_ to mankind, and their _loving-kindness_ to\n_brutes_. However, we never went to the party. The woman remarked to a\nfriend that she thought me devoid of all feeling, to laugh at a little,\nsick, _innocent_ dog!\n\n\"Three doors from the rooms I lived in is the stylish house of Dr. and\nMrs. Grindle, where there are hundreds of 'fashionable murders'\ncommitted yearly. And twice the papers have teemed with accounts of the\nunhappy mothers dying, and on the last occasion the child was not to be\nfound, although born alive--and nothing done to either the doctor or his\nlady!\"\n\nA gentleman of one of the smaller towns of Connecticut writes to the\n_Independent_ as follows: \"I have just read, with great interest, your\neditorial on the 'Murder of Helplessness.' The paper will go into\nhundreds of families where the crime is practised, to bear witness\nagainst it; for, thank God, it is fashionable to take the _Independent_.\nFor more than a year it has been on my mind to write to you upon this\nquestion. You will have the thanks of every well-wisher of the human\nrace. But you make a great mistake when you speak of the crime of\nfoeticide as being confined to the large cities. It prevails all over\nthe country. I dare not tell you what I know--and the information has\nbeen given me unsolicited--in reference to this horrid practice in the\nland. I do not believe there is a village in the New England States but\nthis crime is practised more or less. There are men who make it their\nbusiness, with medicine and instruments, to carry on this slaughter. And\neven M.D.'s (physicians) in good and regular standing in the church have\npractised it. Men are making here, in this highly moral State, $3,000\nand $4,000 a year in the small towns alone, at this business. Their\npatients are from the highly religious and fashionable to the low and\nvicious. Their scale of charges is according to the cupidity and size of\npurse of the victims. Delicate females go, in the dead of night, dressed\nin masculine attire, to avoid detection, to obtain the means to hide\ntheir shame. The cause of the evil lies in 'lust, which is as near to\nthe murder as fire to smoke.' The demoralization of the people at large,\nin the practice of licentiousness, furnishes a topic of the greatest\nanxiety to the philanthropist. When American women lose their shame, the\nrace is lost--church-membership is no bar. The continence of man and the\nchastity of woman is the only hope.\"\n\nTrustworthy physicians assure us there are not less than sixty ghouls\n(gules) in New York City, who grow rich by killing infants. We have\nseen the number stated at six times sixty. Those who have passed\nthrough Fifth Avenue, New York, must have noticed a magnificent\ndwelling, or rather palace, in the neighborhood of the Central Park. It\nwas built by a certain doctress who has acquired her wealth by the\nmurder of helpless innocents.\n\nThe unhappy victims of these ghouls are not generally of the low and\ndebased sort. Most of these illegitimate mothers are of the educated\nclasses, many of them, shocking to say, under the age of fifteen; many\nof them delicate, sensitive females, who make use of these unhallowed\nmeans to hide their shame from the eyes of their friends and relatives.\n\nThe number of marriages (outside the Catholic Church) has largely\ndecreased within the past few years. The crime of infanticide is largely\nincreasing. A certain species of it is practised in the first families,\nand the drugs and implements for committing such murders are publicly\nsold everywhere. Physicians advertise publicly, offering their services\nto enable people, as they say, \"to enjoy the pleasures of marriage\nwithout the burden.\" At least 25,000 foeticides are annually\ncommitted. How to preserve their looks, and how to avoid having\nchildren, seem to be the chief aim of many women nowadays. In the upper\nclasses of society, in some of our large cities, a lady who is the\nmother of more than two children is looked upon as unfashionable.\n\nThe author of the book \"Satan in Society\" writes, on page 130-131, as\nfollows: \"A medical writer of some note published, in 1861, a pamphlet,\nin which he declared himself the hero of three hundred abortions.\" He\nadmits, in a work of his, that he only found abortion necessary to save\nthe life of the mother in four instances, thus publicly confessing that\nin an immense number of cases he has performed the operation on other\ngrounds; and yet, in the face of all this self-accusation, several\nattempts at his expulsion from his county medical society have been\ndefeated, and he is accounted \"a brother in good standing\" of several\nlearned bodies, and holds an enviable position in a fashionable church\nand fashionable society. This rascal walks unhung; for this the \"Medical\nCode\" is primarily responsible, and after that the \"ministers of the\nGospel,\" the \"worshippers\" in the churches, the dwellers in \"south\nfronts.\"\n\nI have said above that the love of children has always been deemed a\nsign of superior intelligence--of noble manhood. Affection for its\noffspring is a quality possessed alike by all animals, with scarcely an\nexception; and few indeed of the millions of the animal creation seek to\ndestroy their own offspring after birth, or to so neglect them as to\nleave them liable to destruction by other bodies or forces. It was left\nfor human intelligences to encompass the death of their children, both\nbefore birth and after, and it was left to the anti-Christian\ncivilization of this nineteenth century also to discover and adopt the\nmost revolting and barbarous means to accomplish this end. The crime of\nfoeticide, or infanticide, is not of recent growth. Like every other\ncrime, it has had a venerable existence, but its beastly development\namong us has been mainly the work of a few years. Thirteen years ago its\nprevalence attracted the attention of medical jurists in all parts of\nour country, and essays, tracts, and bound volumes were issued against\nit. But the crime grew apace, and its deadly and dastardly fruits appear\nbefore us to-day, sickening to the moral conscience and religious\nsentiments of the nation.\n\nAnd in view of the alarming increase of this crime of child-murder, the\nprediction of Dr. M. B. Wright to the Medical Society of Ohio, in 1860,\nwill soon be fulfilled, namely: \"The time is not far distant when\nchildren will be sacrificed among us with as little hesitation as among\nthe Hindoos, unless we stop it here and now.\"\n\nThe frightful increase of immorality, of unnatural crimes, in these\nlatter years, and especially in those very States where the common\nschool system of education is fully carried out, as in New England,\nproves, beyond doubt, that there is something essentially wrong in this\nsystem. Some years ago the public were startled by the shocking\ndevelopments of depravity in one of the female Public Schools of Boston;\nso shocking, indeed, as almost to stagger belief. The Boston _Times_\npublished the whole occurrence at the time, but after creating great\nexcitement for a few weeks, the matter was quietly hushed up, for fear\nof injuring the character of the common schools.\n\nOnly a few years ago other startling transactions came to light in New\nYork, involving the character of some of the leading school\ncommissioners, and some of the principal female teachers in the common\nschools. These scandals became so notorious, that they could be no\nlonger blinked at or smothered, and several of the leading papers came\nout openly, to lash vice in high places. The Chicago papers assert\nopenly that the Public Schools there are _assignation houses_, for boys\nand girls above a certain age.\n\n\"It is but six or seven years ago that Mr. Wilbur H. Storey, who owns\nthe _Chicago Times_--the paper, at that time, of largest circulation in\nChicago--published in his paper, and sustained the assertion, that the\nPublic School system in Chicago had become so corrupt, that any\nschool-boy attending, who had reached fourteen years of age, was\nwhistled at by his companions as a _spooney_, if he had not a _liaison_\nwith some one or more of the Public School-girls!\n\n\"The Daily _Sentinel_, of Indianapolis, quoted Mr. Storey's articles,\nand said, with great regret, that it was only too true of Indianapolis\nalso, judging by the wanton manners of troops of the girls attending\nPublic Schools in Indianapolis.\"\n\nAnd there are but too many cities to which the same order of remark\napplies. Far be it from me to say that _all_ the children of the Public\nSchools of any of these cities are corrupted. It is marvellous how some\nare protected from even the _knowledge_ of vice, in these hot-beds of\npollution. But the _system_ of schools without the control of positive\nreligious teaching and discipline, tends only to one vile end. We are\nassured, as to the City of New York, that smart girls, even of most\nimmature years, show their discontent at their neglected fate, from\nhearing girls only a few years older tell what \"_nice_\" acquaintances\nthey have made on the streets, or in the cars, going or coming, and what\ndelicious lunches they have taken with these \"gentlemen\" at restaurants\nof most unquestionably bad repute. These things I have learned from a\nfriend who heard them from members of the City Police, and from others\nthat could not avoid the unhappy knowledge of the facts indicated.\n\nThe moral character of the Public Schools in many of our cities has sunk\nso low, that even courtesans have disguised themselves as school-girls,\nin order the more surely to ply their foul avocation.\n\nDoes any one wonder, then, that we hear and read of \"Trunk Horrors\"?\nDoes any one wonder that we have divorces, despair, infanticides,\nfoeticides, suicides, bagnios, etc., and that other class, I fear not\nless numerous, but certainly more dangerous, \"_the assignation houses_\"?\nThese you cannot \"police,\" or \"localize.\" They, like a subtle poison,\ncirculate through all the veins and arteries of that society called in\nfashionable phrase \"genteel,\" penetrating the vital tissues of the\nsocial body, and corrupting, too often, the very fountains of life.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nWHAT IS IT TO BE A MOTHER?\n\n\nLet us again bear in mind that the Public School-girls of to-day will be\nthe mothers of to-morrow. Mothers are destined, by God, to bring up\nchildren for heaven. This is their grand mission. What a happiness, what\nan honor for a mother to give angels to heaven! Would to God she only\nknew the real dignity and importance of her mission, and comprehended\nthe qualifications in the moral and religious order that best prepare\nher for the duties of her sublime calling! What mission can be more\nsublime, more sacred, what mission can be more meritorious before God\nthan that of giving to the young child the primary lessons of religion?\n\nThere is indeed nothing more honorable, nothing more meritorious,\nnothing which conducts to higher perfection, than to instruct children\nin their religious duties. This instruction of children is a royal,\napostolic, angelic, and divine function. _Royal_, because the office of\na king is to protect his people from danger. _Apostolic_, because our\nLord commissioned apostles to instruct the nations, and, as St. Jerome\nsays, thus made them the saviours of men. _Angelic_, because the\nangelical spirits in heaven enlighten, purify, and perfect each other\naccording to their spheres, and their earthly mission is to labor\nwithout ceasing for the salvation of man. St. Peter Chrysologus calls\nthose who instruct others in the way of salvation, \"the substitutes of\nangels.\" Indeed this mission of mothers is divine; they are called to\ncarry on the very work of God Himself. Everything that Almighty God has\ndone from the creation of the world, and which He will continue to do to\nthe end, has been, and will be, for the salvation of mankind. For this\nHe sent His Son from heaven, who enlightened the world by His doctrine,\nand who still continues to instruct His people by His chosen disciples.\nThose mothers, then, who direct their children in the paths to heaven,\nwho allure them from vice, who form them to virtue, may fitly be termed\napostles, angels, and saviours. Oh! what glory awaits those mothers who\nperform the office of angels, and even of God Himself, in laboring for\nthe salvation of the souls of their children. If this employment is\nhonorable for mothers, it is also not less meritorious for them. What is\nthe religious instruction of children, but conferring on a class of our\nrace, the weakest and most helpless, with inconceivable labor and\nfatigue, the greatest of all blessings? For while the physical\ndevelopment of the child advances with age, it is not so with the\nmental; for religious instruction only can develop the noble faculties\nof the soul. The soul of a child, so to speak, would continue to live\nenshrouded in Pagan darkness, if the mother did not impart and infuse\nthe light of truth. All the gold in the world is but dross in comparison\nwith true religious knowledge.\n\nOur Saviour says: \"Whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little\nones, even a cup of cold water, shall not lose his reward.\"--(Matt. x.\n42.) May we not infer that those mothers who bestow upon children the\ntreasures of divine knowledge will receive an exceedingly great reward?\nIf God denounces so severely those who scandalize little children: \"But\nhe that shall scandalize one of these little ones, it were better for\nhim that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and he were drowned in\nthe depth of the sea\" (Matt. xviii. 6), what recompense will mothers not\nreceive who instruct and sanctify them?\n\nMothers who give their efforts and means to this object, choose the\nsurest way to appease the anger of God, and to insure their own\nsalvation. They choose the best means of attaining a high degree of\nperfection. Almighty God gives to each one the graces proper to his\nvocation. Mothers, therefore, who are devoted to the religious\ninstruction of their children, must rest assured that God will give them\nextraordinary graces to arrive at perfection. \"Whoever,\" says our Lord,\n\"shall receive one such little child in My name, receiveth Me.\"--(Matt.\nxviii. 5.) Whosoever, then, believes that our Saviour will not allow\nHimself to be surpassed in liberality, must also believe that He will\nbestow His choicest blessings on those mothers who instruct their\nchildren in the knowledge of God and the love of virtue.\n\nWhat obligations have not the \"angels\" of children \"who always see the\nface of the Father who is in heaven\" (Matt. xviii. 10), to pray for\nthese mothers--their dear colleagues and charitable substitutes, who\nperform their office and hold their place on earth. The children will\npray for their mothers, and God can refuse nothing to the prayers of\nchildren, and their supplications will ascend with the prayers of the\nangels.\n\nDo you desire, O Christian mother, to be saved? Do you wish to acquire\ngreat treasures in heaven, and to attain great perfection in this\nlife?--Employ yourself diligently in the religious instruction of your\nchildren. Do you wish to gain the love of our Lord, and to deserve His\nprotection?--Teach your children to fear and love God; you cannot do\nanything more pleasing to His Divine Heart.\n\nIt is related in the Gospel that mothers brought to Him little children,\nthat He might touch them. And the disciples rebuked them that brought\nthem. And when Jesus saw it, He was much displeased, and said to them:\n\"Suffer little children to come to me, and forbid them not: for of such\nis the kingdom of God; and embracing them, and laying His hands on them,\nHe blessed them.\" If Jesus was displeased with those who prevented\nlittle children from coming to Him, what love and tenderness will He not\nhave for those mothers by whose means they come to Him?\n\nOh! how consoled will they not be in their last hour, when they shall\nsee the souls of those whom they prepared for heaven, accompanied by\ntheir good angels, surrounding their bed of death, forming, as it were,\na guard to protect them from the snares and assaults of the enemy!\n\nThis is a happiness which those mothers may confidently expect who labor\nassiduously to give their children a good religious education. Ah! would\nto God, I say once more, that mothers would understand their sublime\nmission on earth!\n\nBut it is just here that the difficulty lies: how can a mother give the\nchild these early lessons of piety and devotion, if she has never\nlearned them herself? How can she train it to raise its young heart to\nthat Heavenly Father, and ask Him for His continued mercy and blessings,\nof whose name or law she has never been informed or instructed in the\nPublic Schools? How can she impart to her child that knowledge which\nshe herself has never learned in the Public Schools, and which she has\nalways been taught to look upon as unnecessary? Can she teach the child\nto love God and keep His commandments, to hate sin, and avoid it for the\nlove of God?--To love, honor, and obey its parents, not from natural\nmotives alone, but because, in so doing, it would love, honor, and obey\nGod in the person of its father and mother, and have thus not only a\ngreat reward, and length of days here below, but also the joys of heaven\nabove? This lesson the poor mother was never taught in the Public\nSchools. How can she teach her sweet child that it has an immortal soul,\nthat God sees even the inmost thoughts of the soul, that it is this soul\nthat sins by consenting to the evil inclinations of the heart; that when\nthe child is tempted to pride, gluttony, anger, disobedience, theft,\nlies, or any manner of uncleanness, even in thought as well as deed,\nthat it must call on God and its good guardian angel to come to its\nassistance, and keep its soul from consenting, and its body from doing,\nany of those things that might offend its good God? All this the poor\nmother has not been taught in the Public Schools. The State claims the\nright to educate her, and it did not regard this kind of knowledge\nnecessary, else it would have provided it.\n\nLet us again bear in mind that the Public School-girls of to-day will be\nthe women of to-morrow.\n\nThe most majestic kingdom for woman to reign in is home. A woman nowhere\nlooks more lovely, more truly great, more fascinating, and more really\nbeautiful and useful, than when in her own house, surrounded by her\nchildren, giving them what instruction she is capable of, or devising\nsome plan of intellectual entertainment. Depend on it that this is the\ngrandest position in this world for a woman, and this home-audience is\nnearer and sweeter to the affectionate heart of a mother whose brain is\nproperly developed, than all the applause and flatteries that the outer\nworld can bestow. It is not in the court-room, the pulpit, and rostrum,\nbut it is among the household congregation that woman's influence can\nachieve so much, and reign paramount. This, however, is not easily\nunderstood and practised by women who have been educated without\nreligion. And it is for this reason that such women cannot make\nfaithful wives and tender mothers.\n\nYoung ladies whose education has been devoid of moral and religious\ninstruction, whose imagination, always over-ardent and vivacious, has\nbeen still more stimulated by a class of exercises, public examinations,\nand studies better calculated to give them an unreal than a sober view\nof life, are not prepared to fulfil their divine mission on earth. An\nillustration of this truth is the fact that quite recently over six\nhundred personal applications--mostly made by girls of from fifteen to\ntwenty--were made in one day at the Grand Opera House in New York to\nfill places in the ballet and Oriental marches of the spectacle of Lalla\nRookh. Assuredly this fact is evidence that the women in New York, like\nso many women in all quarters of the land, are unwilling to do the work\nwhich properly belongs to them to do, and prefer any shift, even the\ndegrading one mentioned above, to honest household labor. There are\nthousands of ladies to whom the following description, written by a lady\nherself, may well be applied:\n\n\"How is it that there is not more nature in the present age, and less\nsophistication in society, and that mothers do not teach their daughters\nto fit themselves for wives and mothers? For they all seem to be setting\ntraps to get husbands. Why, the young ladies of the present day are\nquite ashamed should they be ignorant of the name of the last new opera\nand its composer, but would feel quite indignant if they were asked\nwhether they knew how to make good soup, or broil a beefsteak, or mend\nstockings.\n\n\"Above all, you can notice in the young ladies of the present day a\nmadness beyond description for dress, for balls, theatres,\nwatering-places, and all kinds of worldly amusements; you can see in\nthem the greatest desire to appear ladies. They go and spend the whole\nday at the perfumer's, where they purchase their complexion; at the\ngoldsmith's and the milliner's, where they get their figures. A few days\nago, the father of one of these ladies had to pay a bill of forty-nine\nhundred dollars at the milliner's, for his daughter. The chief mental\nagony of the masses of the young women of the present day seems to be,\nwho shall have the largest possible waterfall, the smallest bonnet, and\nmake themselves the greatest fright. They do nothing from morning till\nnight but read novels, and look at their white hands, or the passers-by\nin the street. They all seem to be senseless creatures, for their\ncapacious brain soars no higher than dress, fashion, pleasure, comfort\nof life. Were it not for their vain daughters, hundreds of parents at\nthis moment would have a happier countenance, and not that careworn,\nwretched look that we so frequently see when honest people get in debt,\nincurred by living beyond their _means_. Were it not for the\nextravagancy of young women, young men would not be afraid to marry,\nconsequently would not be led into the temptations that they are in the\nsingle state, for marriage is one sure step towards morality, and\nconsequently tends to the decrease of crime.\n\n\"Very many young ladies act as catch-traps, with their painted faces and\naffected sweetness, to lure young men into the swamps of iniquity.\n\n\"I frequently read comments about servants not knowing and performing\ntheir proper duties; in fact, of their incompetency to fill the office\nthey apply for: _and it is true_.\n\n\"In Boston, a short time ago, one hundred and eighty unfortunate girls\nwere arrested in _one night_; and I doubt not that the greater portion\nof them could have _once_ been respectable servants, but considered the\noffice and _name too low_! Men think it no disgrace to become carpenters\nand masons, and it is certainly as respectable to clean a house, and\nkeep it in order, as it is to build it. And what kind of a name have\nthese girls now? What future have these women to look forward to?\nGenerally the world's cold, nipping scorn, combined with ill-health and\ndestitution. A girl would much rather work in a factory, or a 'saloon,'\nbecause she can be called 'Miss,' dress finer, and imagine she will be\nthought a _lady_! Poor girl! It is this delusion, this false pride, that\ncrowds the streets nightly with pretty young girls, some of whom count\nonly twelve short summers. With Hamlet, I exclaim, 'Oh, horrible! most\nhorrible!' I lived in a house in which there was a girl, Annie C., not\nseventeen, and she attended in a restaurant. I once said to her, 'Why do\nyou not take the situation of a seamstress, or a nurse in a gentleman's\nfamily?' She turned upon me in the most insolent way, saying, 'Me be a\nservant! That will do very well for Irish, or Dutch, or English girls,\nbut I am an _American_, and feel myself as _good as anybody_.'\n\n\"However, this girl afterwards went as a ballet-girl at one of the\nlowest places in Boston; and the last account I heard of her was, she\nwas travelling with an Ethiopian troop _alone_. Poor young creature!\nwhat will be her end? The truth is, that after a girl is fifteen years\nold, in this country, she considers herself a person of _sound\njudgment_, and the parents look up to these sprites with a sort of\ndeferential fear. These girls are simply living pictures walking about\nthe earth, deriding everything they are incapable of understanding. And\nwho could be charmed with such women? with such 'Grecian Bends,' Grecian\nnoses? The genuine well-bred woman will shine out from beneath the\nplainest garb; and shoddy vulgarity, even should it be incased in rubies\nand diamonds, will only be rendered the more obvious and conspicuous to\nthose who at a glance can discover the difference--to those who cannot\nbe deceived, even by the radiant sparkling of these richest of gems.\"\n\nThis sort of women wish to have the \"women's rights.\" They would like,\nif they knew how, to turn the world upside down, and inside out. This\ngreat desire among a certain class of women, to have the world think\nthat they possess masculine power, generally proceeds from persons who\nwish to create a sensation, and fail to do so in the station they belong\nto. When a woman wishes to go out of her natural element, she shows that\nher intellect is shallow, and she is desirous of being thought greater\nthan her sex generally; while, in reality, she discovers to us her own\nlittleness. These people seem to wish to be what it is impossible for\nthem ever to become--\"men.\"\n\n\"When God created man in his own image, He said, 'It is not good that\nman should live alone: I will make him a helpmeet.' Now, had God meant\nto create merely a companion capable of following the same pursuits, and\ncapable of the same herculean labors that evidently is meant to be man's\ndestiny, why, He would have made _another man_. But no! When God caused\na deep sleep to fall upon Adam, he took out one of his ribs, and made a\n_woman_--a being in EVERY WAY THE COMPLEMENT OF MAN. And, after they ate\nof the tree of knowledge, God said to the woman, 'Thy desire shall be to\nthy husband, and he shall RULE _over thee_.' And unto Adam he said,\n'Because thou hast _hearkened_ unto the voice of thy wife, and hast\neaten of the tree which I commanded thee, saying, _Thou shalt_ not eat\nof it, cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it\nall the days of thy life;' thus plainly demonstrating to us, that MAN\nwas meant to _rule_. Bear in mind that God was _angry_ because Adam\nHEARKENED unto the voice of his WIFE; and Adam called his wife Eve\nbecause she was the mother of all living. So it is clear to be seen,\nthat woman was meant to attend to the duties of a mother in caring for\nher offspring, and man was intended to labor as the provider for her\nwhom he chose as a helpmeet, as well as for the entire household. Woman\nhas natural nourishment sent to her for the babe long before she is able\nto leave her couch. Does not all this prove to every thinking person\nthat woman's sphere and calling are _widely different_?\"\n\nThe good and perfection of women consist in remaining contentedly in the\nplace which God has assigned them, and in performing well the duties of\ntheir divine calling. If the hand wishes to be in the place of the eye,\nand the eye wishes to be where the hand is, they become burdensome, and\ndisturb the good order and harmony of the body. Now it is the same with\nthe members of the social body. If women are in the place, or engaged in\nthe occupation which God has chosen for them, they enjoy a profound\npeace; they rest under His protection; they are nourished by His grace;\nthey are enriched by His blessings, and work out their eternal happiness\nwith but little pain.\n\nThis truth, however, is considered by many women as one of trifling\nimportance; they seem not to care as to whether they live up to their\ndivine calling or not. The Holy Ghost, however, admonishes every one\nthus: \"Let every man abide in the vocation to which he was called\" (1\nCor. vii. 20); for, \"Blessed is the man that shall continue in\nwisdom--and that considereth her ways in his heart.\"--(Eccles. xiv. 22,\n23.) Blessed that woman who well considers her divine calling,\npenetrates into, and admires its greatness, and endeavors, with all her\nstrength and heart, to comply with all its duties. One of the most usual\ntemptations which the arch-enemy of mankind makes use of to shake\nwomen's happiness, in the present day, is to excite in them disgust and\ndissatisfaction for their divine calling. Hence it is that we so often\nhear them complain of their state of life; they fancy that, by changing\ntheir condition of life, they shall fare better: yes, provided they\nchanged themselves. Would to God they were sworn enemies of these\nuseless, dangerous, and bad desires! God wills to speak to them amidst\nthe thorns, and out of the midst of the bush (Exod. iii. 2), and they\nwill Him to speak to them in \"_the whistling of a gentle air_.\"--(III\nKings, xix. 12.) They ought, then, to remain on board the ship in which\nthey are, in order to cross from this life to the other; and they ought\nto remain there willingly, and with affection. Let them not think of\nanything else; let them not wish for that which they are not, but let\nthem earnestly desire to be the very best of what they are. Let them\nendeavor to do their best to perfect themselves where they are, and bear\ncourageously all the crosses, light or heavy, that they may encounter.\nLet them _believe that this is the leading principle, and yet the one\nleast understood in the Christian life_. Every one follows his own\ntaste; very few place their happiness in fulfilling their duty according\nto the pleasure of our Lord. What is the use of building castles in\nSpain, when we are obliged to live in America? \"As a bird that wandereth\nfrom her nest, so is a man that leaveth his place\" (Prov. xxvii. 8), his\noccupation, or station of life. Let every woman remain firm in her\ncalling, if she wishes to insure her tranquillity of mind, her peace of\nheart, her temporal and eternal happiness.\n\nTo become unfaithful to their vocation is for women to suffer as many\npangs as a limb which, through some accident, has been wrenched out of\nplace. They are continually tormented by evil spirits, who have power\nover a soul that is out of its proper sphere. They are no longer under\nthe protection of God, since they have withdrawn from His guidance, and\nvoluntarily abandoned His watchful Providence. They fall often into\ngrievous sins, because they are not sustained by the grace which belongs\nto the state in which God desires them to be. A woman, therefore, can\nnever show her superior intellectual powers better than by cheerfully\naccepting the calling for which the Creator evidently intended her; that\nis, for _woman, wife, and mother_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nEVIL CONSEQUENCES OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM CONTINUED.\n\n\nFew questions affect so directly the welfare and interests of the people\nas the question of education; and assuredly, in this country, there is\nnone of more moment as regards the well-being and permanence of our\nnational institutions. These, our institutions, our prosperity and\ncivilization, depend for their permanence and perpetuity, not so much on\nthe culture of the arts, sciences, literature, or philosophy, as on the\ngeneral diffusion of the salutary and vivifying principles of religion.\nHistory tells us in its every page, that the decline and downfall of\nnations have ever been caused by irreligion and immorality.\n\nIndeed, it is not the State that has made men free, nor can it, on its\nown professed origin, keep _itself_ or _them_ free. It has no mission\nto reform men or manners; its boasted material civilization is no\ncivilization at all. For steam, railroads, telegraphs, printing, and in\nfact all the arts and natural sciences, have never civilized or\nconverted one man, not even a naked savage, and never will. They are the\nresults of civilization, and even then the least part. Nor are they\nadequate to maintain or preserve the State. What is called _material\ncivilization_ is nothing else than _polished barbarism_,--a kind of\nmonster, with the intelligence of a man, and the cruelty and instincts\nof a beast. It may flatter the vanity of modern nations to think they\nare superior to the ancients in scientific and industrial developments,\nbut if they rely on this alone, they are greatly mistaken. I admit the\nsuperiority of the moderns, but not on this account. In the first place,\nmany arts and products of head and hands have been lost, but even those\nthat remain are the envy and despair of modern competitors. Besides,\nevery age must be judged by comparison with its contemporaries. Yet they\nhave fallen; and antiquarian travellers search in vain for the ruins of\nthe proudest and greatest cities of the past. The nation and\npeople--the most gallant and accomplished of all antiquity--who engraved\ntheir names on the imperishable fields of Plataea and Marathon, who\nconquered at Salamis, or died at Thermopylae--that carried eloquence,\nheroism, and art to a pitch never since attained--the age which boasted\nof Pericles and Praxitelles, of Plato and Aristides--perished from\nexcess of its material civilization, deprived, as it was, of the vital\nelement of true religion. Without this no nation can live, nor exhibit\nin its actions true grandeur, or nobility of character. There is among\nsuch a cruelty, a perfidy, and a beastly lust, which sooner or later\nbring on their decay and ruin.\n\nLook at ancient Rome, the once proud mistress of the world. In her\npalmiest days, amidst her thousands of marble palaces and triumphal\narches, amidst her innumerable temples and altars, there was _not one to\nMercy_. Nor was there, amidst all this barbaric display, a single\n_hospital_ for the poor of any age or condition. The Roman eagle was\ncarried at the head of victorious legions to the \"_Hither Inde_,\" and\nfar beyond the depths of \"_Hercynian forests_.\" Conquered kings marched\nat the head of subjugated nations to swell her triumphs; the wealth and\nstrength of the then known world lay at her feet.\n\nHere was exhibited on a scale--the grandest the world ever saw or will\nsee--the triumphs of \"_material civilization_.\" Yet all this crumbled\nand fell before the rude hatchets of the long-haired \"_barbarian\nhordes_,\" coming they knew not from whence, and going they knew not\nwhither, only able to give the single answer, that they were \"_the\nscourge of God_.\" Where, then, was the power to save? It was not in\ntheir material civilization, nor in their impotent and terrified\nlegions. What all these could not do was accomplished by an unarmed\nman--Pope Leo the Great, speaking in the name of that mighty God,\nunknown alike to Attila and to Roman wisdom. That God still reigns, and\nHim it is the State would exclude from the Public Schools! thereby\ndenying alike the lessons of history and its Christian duty. These\nUnited States, or no existing nation (relatively to the age), has never\nattained the point of artistic, aesthetic, social or material perfection\nof the Greco-Roman States; yet they fell, as I have just said, to\nslavery and ruin, not so much from the blows of the barbarians, as from\nthe dissolving influence of a _material civilization_, resulting\ninevitably in public and private impotence and demoralization.\n\nOnly keep up the present godless system of State education, and depend\non it, as sure as effect follows cause, every species of villany and\ndefilement will flood the land. It is certain that all education which\nis not based on religion is heathenish, and must prove destructive in\nthe end. It will destroy the very people whom it was expected to save.\nIt will consume them as a fire.\n\nNor can it be otherwise; for what brought on the \"Cities of the Plain\"\nthe material fires of heaven? Or what were the sins and crimes of the\nGentile nations that called forth the terrible chastisements predicted\nby the prophets? Why, the self-same pride, worldly-mindedness, ambition,\nsensuality, and _disregard of God and His laws_ which is at this hour\ntaught in the Public Schools. This, I am aware, is a grave charge, but\nit is made with all deliberation and sense of responsibility. Indeed,\nthe ancients were in many respects more excusable than we are. They had\nbut the Old Law, always incomplete and obscure, whilst we live under the\nfulfilment of the new law, with all its aids and graces. Now, if God did\nnot spare the \"Cities of the Plain,\" if He destroyed the ancient nations\nin punishment for their wicked lives and disregard of Himself and His\nlaw, what reason have our modern heathens and infidels to escape God's\nvengeance--they who in every respect are more guilty in His sight? Let\nthe measure of the evil consequences of the Public School system become\nfull, and rest assured the wrath of God will not fail to come down upon\nthe American people. The late American war was a great punishment for\nthe whole country. Thousands of men were launched into eternity\nunprepared to appear before their Eternal Judge. Yet this punishment is\nonly a forerunner of a far more terrible one. The Lord is patient, and\nslow in punishing a whole nation, which He may spare for many years for\nthe sake of His just. Yet for all that He will not fail to punish\nprivate families, fathers, and mothers, and children, if they have no\nregard for Him and His law--if they are practical infidels, and give\nthemselves up to their beastly passions. Let me give you some\ninstances, taken from the little book \"Fate of Infidelity,\" by a\nConverted Infidel.\n\n\"You all have, undoubtedly, heard of Blind Palmer, a professed infidel.\nAfter he had tried to lecture against Christ he lost his sight, and died\nsuddenly in Philadelphia, in the forty-second year of his age. You will\nalso have heard of the so-called Orange County Infidel Society. They\nheld, among other tenets, that it was right to indulge in\nlasciviousness, and that it was right to regulate their conduct as their\npropensities and appetites should dictate; and as these principles were\ncarried into practical operation by some families belonging to the\nassociation, in one instance a son held criminal intercourse with his\nmother, and publicly justified his conduct. The step-father, and husband\nto the mother who thus debased herself, boldly avowed that, in his\nopinion, it was morally right to hold such intercourse. The members of\nthis impious society were visited by God in a remarkable manner. They\nall died, within five years, in some strange or unnatural manner. One of\nthese was seized with a sudden and violent illness, and in his agony\nexclaimed: 'My bowels are on fire--die I must,' and his spirit passed\naway.\n\n\"Dr. H., another of the party, was found dead in his bed the next\nmorning.\n\n\"D. D., a printer, fell in a fit and died immediately, and three others\nwere drowned within a few days.\n\n\"B. A., a lawyer, came to his death by starvation, and C. C., also\neducated for the bar, and a man of superior intellectual endowments,\ndied of want, hunger, and filth.\n\n\"Another one, who had studied to be a preacher, suddenly disappeared,\nbut at length his remains were found fast in the ice, where he evidently\nhad been for a long time, as the fowls of the air, and the inhabitants\nof the deep, had consumed the most of his flesh.\n\n\"Joshua Miller, notorious as a teacher of infidelity, was found upon a\nstolen horse, and was shot by Col. J. Woodhull; N. Miller, his brother,\nwho was discovered one Sunday morning seated upon a log playing cards,\nwas also shot.\n\n\"Benjamin Kelly was shot off his horse by a boy, the son of one Clark,\nwho had been murdered by Kelly; his body remained upon the ground until\nhis flesh had been consumed by birds.\n\n\"I. Smith committed suicide by stabbing himself, while he was in prison\nfor crime.\n\n\"W. Smith was shot by B. Thorpe and others, for robbery.\n\n\"S. T. betrayed his own confidential friend for a few dollars; his\nfriend was hung, and he was afterwards shot by D. Lancaster.\n\n\"I. V. was shot by a company of militia. I. D., in a drunken fit, was\nfrozen to death.\n\n\"I. B., and I. Smith, and J. Vervellen, B. R., and one other individual,\nwere hung for heinous crimes they had committed. N. B., W. T., and W.\nH., were drowned. C. C. hung himself. A. S. was struck with an axe, and\nbled to death.\n\n\"F. S. fell from his horse and was killed. W. Clark drank himself to\ndeath; he was eaten by the hogs before his bones were found, which were\nrecognized by his clothing. J. A., sen., died in the woods, his rum-jug\nby his side; he was not found until a dog brought home one of his legs,\nwhich was identified by his stocking; his bones had been picked by\nanimals.\n\n\"S. C. hung himself, and another destroyed himself by taking laudanum.\nD. D. was hired for ten dollars to shoot a man, for which offence he\ndied upon the gallows.\n\n\"The most of those who survived were either sent to the State Prison, or\nwere publicly whipped for crimes committed against the peace and dignity\nof the State.\"\n\nThis is a brief history of the Orange County \"Liberals,\" as they called\nthemselves. To the infidel and evil-doer, it presents matter worthy of\nserious reflection, while the believer will recognize in each event the\nspecial judgment of God, which is too clearly indicated to be doubted by\nany honest mind. I ask, will the Lord fail to visit with similar\njudgments all those who are guilty of the same crimes? Will the Lord\nfail to visit with similar judgments all those who, by keeping up and\ndefending a godless system of education, prepare the young for\ninfidelity, and all kinds of crimes and iniquities? If the Lord punished\nso severely the King Antiochus for carrying away the sacred vessels from\nthe temple of Jerusalem; if He sent so many plagues upon the Egyptians,\nand drowned, at last, the King Pharaoh and his whole army in the Red\nSea, for refusing to let the people of God offer sacrifices where and\nin the manner the Lord desired it, what will be the punishments for\nthose who, by a godless system of education, abolish religion? If God\nslew twenty-four thousand men of the Israelites for having fallen into\nfornication (Numb. xxv.), with what punishments will He visit those who\nadd, to the sin of fornication and adultery, even the crime of\nchild-murder! Numberless child-murders are committed daily in the land.\nAssuredly the voice of these innocent victims will cry to heaven for\nvengeance, and the Lord will not deafen His ear to their voice. If the\nAmerican people will not soon put an end to the godless system of\neducation, if they permit any longer the rising generation to be raised\nto infidelity, the wrath of the Lord, enkindled against them ever since\nthe introduction of the godless system of education, will fall upon\nthem. In former times, when the Lord threatened the people with His\nchastisements, they entered into themselves, and did penance, because\nthey had faith, and the Lord was appeased. But our modern heathens laugh\nat the very idea of doing penance. So the wrath of the Lord will surely\novertake them when they least expect it.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nTHE STATE.--ITS USURPATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS.--ITS INCOMPETENCY\nTO EDUCATE.\n\n\nIt is certain and undeniable that two orders of things actually exist in\nthis world, the natural order and the supernatural--nature and grace.\nThese two orders have the same ultimate end, though, in themselves, they\nare distinct. Nature is, and must be, always subordinate to grace; the\nnatural must be always subservient to the supernatural. This is God's\nimmutable decree. Hence religion must always hold the first place in\neverything. A system of education that places the natural and the\nsupernatural on the same level is absurd, and must be condemned; but a\nsystem of education that ignores the supernatural altogether, is, if\npossible, even more wicked and detestable. Yet this wicked, detestable,\nirreligious system, diabolical in its origin, and subversive of all\npolitical, social, and religious order, is imposed by the State upon all\nChristian denominations, whether they approve of it or not. Now the\nState has no right whatever to force such a godless system upon its\nsubjects.\n\nFor the right understanding of this most important point, I attach great\nimportance to a clear understanding of what is commonly called the\nState.\n\n_What is the State?_\n\nPeople in general have a vague and confused conception of this matter.\nYou will hear the people talk of the \"sovereignty of the State,\" \"the\nlife of the State,\" \"the power of the State,\" \"the absolute authority of\nthe State,\" \"the paramount allegiance due to the State,\" etc., etc. Not\nonly the Public at large, but even those who assume to lead and direct\npublic opinion, are constantly blundering on this subject.\n\nThere is nothing so _fertile_ as an idea; it will, like every other germ\nor seed, bring forth in time according to its kind. If it be a good one,\nit will bring forth good fruit; if it be a false or bad one, it will\nspread its evil fruits over society. Be it one or the other, it is never\nbarren; sooner or later, the idea or maxim takes form and substance in\nan _Institution_; then it operates, in a material manner, for good or\nevil.\n\nTo illustrate: a false conception of the nature and authority, of the\nlegitimate functions, rights and duties of what is called the \"State,\"\nhas led, and will, if not corrected, ever lead to the most deplorable\npolitical, social, and religious disorder and oppression. As diverging\nlines in mathematics can never approximate, but must continue to widen\nas they are extended, so a false departure from a political \"standpoint\"\ncan never be rectified unless by a return to correct first principles.\nThis is what is meant by the democratic maxim, \"that a frequent return\nto first principles is necessary to secure the ends of public liberty.\"\n\nIndeed, this error, this diverging point in constitutional\ninterpretation, has been the real cause--the \"causa causarum\"--of the\nlate war; and not the \"negro,\" or \"cotton,\" or the \"spirit of\ndomination,\" or \"difference of race,\" or what not, might serve as the\n\"_proximate cause_,\" but the real cause lay far back of them. I am\nwilling to admit that political events do not always proceed on a\nstrictly logical order, but nevertheless there is a sequence, indeed an\ninevitable chain of cause and effect in the progress of public affairs,\nsuch as we see in individual conduct, but only on a broader scale.\n\nNow what is the _civil power_, or _State_; what its origin, its\nauthority, its legitimate functions, its rights and duties? Here I must,\nof necessity, be very brief. The State originated from the natural\ndesire which men experience to obtain certain goods, such as peace,\nsecurity of life and property, of personal rights and privileges, etc.,\netc. These are goods which neither individuals, nor families, nor\nprivate corporations can procure for themselves satisfactorily. People\ntherefore unite to establish a State, in order to attain, through the\nState, what they cannot do by their own private exertions. The State,\nthen, is made by the people and for the people. In our form of\ngovernment it is a mere corporate agency. Its duty is to see that\njustice is administered, and personal rights and property protected. It\nholds the sword of justice not for _itself_, but for _others_; it is the\n_servant_, and not the _master_. The people were not made for the State,\nor given to the State, but the State is posterior to the people; it was,\nas I said before, established by the people and for the people. In\nthem, under God, resides the sovereignty and ultimate permanent\nauthority. The right of the State is to discharge the duties assigned it\nwithin the sphere of its delegated authority--that is all.\n\nThat sphere of action of the State in this country is clearly defined in\nthe written Constitution. The State, then, must scrupulously abstain\nfrom violating any of the rights it was organized to protect.\n\nThere never has been, and never will be, but two forms of\ngovernment--one seeking to restrain, the other to enlarge, the liberties\nof the people. To the former belong the centralized and despotic\ngovernments of the past and present; to the latter, the limited and\nrepresentative ones.\n\nRussia, without doubt, is the highest type of that despotism so common\namong Pagan nations. The Czar is the successor of the Gentile Caesar; he\nunites in himself the civil and spiritual power; the inevitable result\nis social oppression, denial of the rights of conscience, of the family,\nand of the political society. Our government has already made gigantic\nsteps in the same direction. Many of the political minds of this country\nhave been drawn within the circle of _monarchial_ ideas. They are\nunconsciously, as it were, adopting their forms of thought, and applying\ntheir forms of expression to our government, and claiming for it the\nprerogatives and supremacy appertaining to the feudal institutions of\nAsia and Europe. Our simple democratic form of government seems to be\ngetting ashamed of its plebeian origin, and ambitious to ape the\nlanguage and pretensions of its former masters. This decadence was made\napparent not long ago, in the discussions \"for the removal of the United\nStates Capitol.\" In a two-hours' discussion, the word \"Republic,\" or\n\"Federal Government,\" or \"United States,\" was not once mentioned!! It\nwas \"_Nation_,\" \"Empire,\" etc., etc., _usque ad nauseam_, from beginning\nto end. To a reflecting mind, this language has an ominous significance.\nIt smacks strongly of monarchy.\n\nBut some one will perhaps say, \"Sir, what has all this dissertation to\ndo with your subject? You commence by disclaiming against the _Public\nSchool System_, and here you are giving a grave lecture on the nation\nrelapsing into imperialism or monarchy.\"\n\nIt has a great deal to do; it is an attempt to trace effects to their\ncauses. This government of ours, both in its Federal and State capacity,\nis growing ambitious to play the _King_. It is setting itself up as\nmaster. It is using the language of all tyrants: \"_Sic volo, sic\njubeo_,\" etc., etc. It claims, after the example of Prussia or Russia,\nor some other despotism, _to direct the education of the children_ of\nthe people. It even claims them as belonging to itself. It is the great\nfeudal master. It takes upon itself the old duty of providing\ninstruction for the sons and daughters of its dependents. It takes upon\nitself the discharge of duties imposed on parents by Divine Law, just as\nif fathers and mothers had lost their natural instincts as well as sense\nof duty; just as if the State had all the intelligence, virtue, and\nforethought of the public in her keeping. It dispenses parents from a\nduty from which God will never dispense them. It has usurped the office\nof teacher; it will, if not checked, set itself up as preacher. It makes\nSunday laws, temperance laws; it places marriage on the footing of\nsimple contracts, facilitates divorce; it is constantly, in all these\nthings and many others, repeating the \"mot\" ascribed to a King of\nFrance: \"_L'etat c'est moi_.\" In fine, it makes, as it has been aptly,\nbut not very reverently, said, God a little man, and itself and the\nState a little god, not in love and charity, indeed, but in power and\nauthority.\n\nHere is where the danger comes from, and it is against this that the\npeople must provide. The people must see to it that the State, or those\nwho are charged with its authority, keep within their proper place. The\npeople can never be too vigilant or jealous of their constituted\nauthority, never permit themselves to be the victims of misplaced\nconfidence. The State is not seldom the usurper--the rebel that should\nbe watched. The allegiance is not to it, but from it to the people--its\nmaster. \"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.\"\n\nThe people have been greatly deceived and wronged by the State on the\nestablishment of the Public School system. The better to understand\nthis, let us see again, in a few words, what are the _principles_ on\nwhich the establishment of public schools is based. How did men arrive\nat the idea that the State should be a school-master? If we consult\nhistory, we shall find that this idea rests upon most objectionable\ngrounds. In Europe--in Protestant countries--the education of youth was\nheld to belong to the church. But as the Protestant prince was also the\nchief bishop of his church, he had the care of schools, as well as the\nadministration of other religious matters. According to this principle\nof the _State-church_, all the schools were _State-schools_. At the\npresent day, Protestant princes and princesses are not looked upon as\nchief bishops, but the consequence of this objectionable system does\nstill remain, and has gained a foothold even in this free country.\n\nThe French Revolution, among other things, diffused communistic and\nsocialistic theories. Nay, communism and socialism seemed to have, for a\nmoment, the fullest sway in those revolutionary proceedings. It is from\nsuch socialistic revolutionists that came the idea, or rather principle,\nwhich was made a law, that the State should educate the children of its\nsubjects. Accordingly the school-system was arranged, which Napoleon I.\nhighly welcomed and retained, as he saw in it a welcome instrument of\nhis despotism. In fact, nothing pleases State-absolutism or despotism so\nmuch as the complete control of education through the system of\nState-schools. As the result of impartial history, then, we see that the\nfoundation of the State-school system is nothing else than the\nobjectionable Protestant State-church, and especially revolutionary\nsocialism.\n\nBut most absurd did the State-school system appear after it had been\ntransplanted into free America. Here this \"State system of education\"\nwas at first applied to the poor, and other unprovided-for \"waifs of\nsociety.\" But not long after, the State claimed to have a paramount\ninterest in the children of all classes; it made no distinction, it knew\nnot the rich from the poor, but opened its scholastic treasures alike,\nand it was thought to be all right.\n\nWhat an absurdity! The State, as I have remarked, must scrupulously\nabstain from violating any of those rights which it was organized to\nprotect. It must not paralyze or take away the industry of the\nindividual, family, or private institutions by substituting for it its\nown industry. The State should rather protect and promote the industry\nof its subjects, as well as other rights and liberties. Let me speak\nmore plainly: the State, for instance, should protect trade, but it\nshould not be itself a tradesman; the State should encourage\nagriculture, but it should not be itself a farmer; the State should\nsustain honest handicraft, but it should not work at shoe-making or\ntailoring, and bread-baking. So, in the same manner, the State should\npromote and protect education, but it should not be itself a\nschool-master, and give instruction.\n\nWhat a cry would be raised if the State erected State workshops, and\nthereby ruined all other similar trades! Now the State does the same\nthing, as far as possible, in regard to education. What an absurdity! In\nour free country, State education has no more foundation in good sense\nthan the old sumptuary laws, that regulated the length of a boot or the\ndimensions of a skirt.\n\nIf the State claims the right to educate our children, why does it not\njust as well claim the right to nurse, feed, clothe, doctor, and lodge\nthem? Indeed these necessities are more indispensable, and must be\nsupplied to a considerable extent before education can be given at all.\nWhy should the State throw all these burdens on the parents, and assume\nthat of instruction? It cannot claim to know more of grammar than of\nthe art of nursing and cooking. It is even said that the tailor and\nbarber have more to do in fashioning the man than the school-master.\n\nAgain, how absurd is it not for the State to undertake to teach all\nalike, without regard to their circumstances or prospects in life, the\nsame business. This scholastic equality soon ends, if it ever had a\nreality. They cannot all expect to be Newtons, Humboldts, or La Places.\nThey cannot be all, nay, not one in ten thousand, \"professors,\" or\n\"editors,\" or what not. We cannot, if we would, escape the sentence\nimposed on our forefather in the garden: \"Thou shalt eat thy bread in\nthe sweat of thy face.\" As well might the State claim that all the\nchildren from seven to seventeen years of age should sit at the same\ntable, provided at public expense, and be served with the same food and\nthe same number of dishes. If the State (in order to prepare the rising\ngeneration to make citizens, which must be its reason, if any) thinks it\nnecessary to prescribe a State education, it is equally important that\ntheir food, and even their clothing, should be of the approved State\nquality and pattern!!! All know that this was the old Lacaedemonian plan,\nand how it ended history tells;--in ferocity, avarice, dishonesty and\ndisruption. All admit the folly and wickedness of forcing a people into\nuniformity in matter of religion. Now it is just as unreasonable, just\nas absurd, just as wicked to force the people into uniformity in the\nmatter of education. One species of tyranny as well as the other\ndisregards the just claims of conscience, tramples on the most vital\nrights of individuals, and usurps the most sacred right of the family.\n\nThe State may, indeed, require that the children should be educated, in\norder that they may one day become worthy members of society, and fit\nsubjects for the State; but claim, and give, and control their\neducation, the State cannot. There is in all this matter a feature not\nalways clearly represented. It is this: any provision made by the\n\"State\" for education, must refer _to the poor and otherwise\nunprovided_, and be justified on the grounds of the State standing to\nthese classes _in loco parentis_; beyond this, though the State, as to\n\"charitable uses,\" may be defined _parens patria_, yet, as to the people\nat large, _it has nothing to do with their education whatever_. If this\nsimple though undeniable fact were properly understood, it would save a\nworld of trouble and confusion.\n\nI am speaking of a \"_Christian State_,\" and the State in America is\nChristian. The very graves, if necessary, would open and give up their\ndead to bear testimony to its Christian origin. Its civilization is\nChristian, and is the product of the principles of the \"_New Law_\" as\ntaught and promulgated by the Church. The distinguishing feature of this\ncivilization is, that it has asserted the dignity of freedom of the\n_individual man_, while the ancient, or Gentile, civilization, _sunk_\nthe _individual man_ in the composite society called the State. In that\ncase it was but reasonable that the _State_ should, _as owner_, take\nupon itself the burden of providing, not only for his government, but\nalso for the education of his offspring. These, too, belonged to it, on\nthe maxim of Roman or Pagan law, that _partus sequitur ventrem_, or the\noffspring follows the parent. This is the origin of the Pagan doctrine,\n\"_the children of the State_\"--a miserable relic of barbarism. It is\nimportant to keep this fact in mind, when we deny the _supremacy of the\nState_ in the matter of education.\n\nOur children, then, are not the _children of the State_. The State has\nno children, and never had, nor will. The State does not own them, nor\ntheir fathers nor mothers, nor anybody else in this country, thank God!\nWe have not got that far yet on the road to civil slavery, and I hope we\nnever shall. We are not Pagans, nor Mahometans, nor Russians. We have\nnot sold out, and don't intend to! We are free, for with a great price\nour forefathers have bought this freedom; and better still, we are made,\nthrough the mercy of our Divine Author, Christians, and heirs to a\nheavenly kingdom. Our children, too, are free; they belong by the order\nof nature to their parents, and by the order of grace to our Lord Jesus\nChrist. They are children of God and heirs to His heavenly kingdom. It\nis not on the State, but on parents, that God imposed the duty to\neducate their children, a duty from which no State can dispense, nor can\nfathers and mothers relieve themselves of this duty by the vicarious\nassumption of the State. They have to give a severe account of their\nchildren on the Day of Judgment, and they cannot allow any power to\ndisturb them in insisting upon their rights and making free use of them.\nThe State has no more authority or control rightfully over our\nchildren, than over a man's wife. The right to educate our children is a\nright of conscience, and a right of the family. Now these rights do not\nbelong to the temporal order at all; and outside of this the State has\nno claim, no right, no authority. When the State has children, it will\nbe time enough to teach them. How long will it take our enlightened age\nto learn this simple but important truth?\n\nNothing shows better the absurdity of the State in claiming the right of\neducation, than its incompetency for the task. The State is forbidden\nany interference with religion.\n\nI have shown that the whole system is infidel in principle. The State\nsays we want no religion taught in the Public Schools, because, as we\ncannot teach you religion without inculcating some form or other\nprofessed by some sect or other, and as we do not wish to give offence,\nwe will teach you none. Let the child believe anything or nothing, so as\nit is not some form of \"sectarianism.\" I worship in the \"Pantheon;\" all\nare alike to me, of course. In all this the State is perfectly\nconsistent, and cannot do otherwise. It has undertaken a part _it is not\ncompetent to perform_. The State, as State, professes no form of\nbelief. Its gods, its worships, its altars, its victims, its rewards,\nits punishments, its heaven, its hell--are here. It teaches no religion,\nbecause it don't profess any. It was not born, it will not die, it has\nno soul, it was not created, it will not be judged in the world to come,\nlike men.\n\nBut let me not be misunderstood as concluding that states, nations, or\nkingdoms are not moral persons, and are not responsible for their acts\nand conduct to Almighty God. They have no right to do wrong more than an\nindividual. \"States\" have their lives, their mission, their destiny;\nthey have their sphere here below. They represent the temporal, or the\nthings which belong to Caesar.\n\nThe State, then, is a moral person, and _a fortiori_, a religious\nperson, _for there can be no morality without religion_. But though\nreligion, in a general sense, be recognized by the State, it has no\nauthority to control or direct it. It must respect the conscience of an\nindividual. This is his birthright, and cannot be voted away, whether to\nsupport Public Schools or Public Churches.\n\nIf there be amongst us any number, great or small, who deny the common\nfaith, it is the duty of the State to tolerate them. A greater\npower--God--does this. But the State itself cannot profess or _play\ninfidel_, or, under pretence of avoiding sectarian partiality, strike at\nthe root of all Christianity. I admit the State is of the \"temporal\norder,\" and cannot discriminate between the various modes of belief; but\nnot for that can it place itself _outside_ of them. It is\n_distinguishable_, but not _separable_, from the spiritual order. It is\nsimply a means to a greater end. It is a mischievous error to say that\nthe State has nothing to do with religion, and may act outside of its\nobligations. If by this it is meant that the State cannot establish or\nmaintain any special form of religion, or interfere with its profession,\nor even denial by others, I admit the proposition; but if, on the other\nhand, it is meant that it regards Christianity and infidelity, God or no\nGod, truth and error, either as equal or unimportant, then I utterly\ndeny and condemn it. To bear with and tolerate error is its duty; to\nfoster or provide for its support or propagation, or place it on the\nsame footing with revealed truth, is another and very different thing.\n\nThe constitutions of the State guarantee to every citizen the right to\nworship God according to the dictates of his own conscience; but this is\nnot guaranteeing to every one the liberty of not worshipping God at all,\nto deny His existence, His revelation, or to worship a false god. The\nfreedom guaranteed is the freedom of religion, not the freedom of\ninfidelity. The American Constitution grants to the infidel the right of\nprotection in his civil and political equality, but it grants him no\nright to protection and support in his infidelity; for infidelity is not\na religion, but the denial of all religion. The American State is\nChristian, and under the Christian law, and is based upon Christian\nprinciples. It is bound to protect and enforce Christian morals and its\nlaws, whether assailed by Mormonism, Spiritism, Freelovism, Pantheism,\nor Atheism. But the State does the contrary. For, I ask, is not the\nState indirectly prohibiting the profession of Christianity by\nestablishing a system of education which prohibits all religious\ninstruction? The State forbids the teacher to speak a word on the\nsubject of religion.\n\nThe State says that \"it is an admitted axiom that our form of\ngovernment, more than all others, depends on the _virtue and\nintelligence of the people_. The State proposes to furnish this _virtue_\nand _intelligence_ through the _Public Schools_.\" That is, the safety of\nthe State depends on the virtue and intelligence of the people, and the\nlatter is derived from the virtue and intelligence of the \"State.\" But\nwhere does the virtue and intelligence of the State come from? The only\nanswer on this theory is, from the people. So the \"State\" enlightens and\npurifies the people, and the people enlighten and purify the \"State.\"\nThe people support the State, the State supports the Public Schools, and\nthey support the State. If this is not what logicians call a \"vicious\ncircle,\" it looks very much like it. It puts me in mind of the Brahmin's\ntheory of the support of the earth. The Hindoo says, \"The world rests on\nthe back of an elephant--the elephant rests on the back of a turtle.\"\nBut what does the turtle rest on? So it is with our \"_Public School\nBrahmins_.\" They will tell you, with all the coolness of Hindoo\nhypocrisy and pretension, that the \"State depends on the schools--the\nschools on the State or people,\" but they do not say what the turtle\nstands on. This is the dilemma that all who rest society on the State,\nor on an atheistical basis, get into. They would cut the world loose\nfrom its assigned order of dependence on Divine Law, and \"set it a-going\non its own hook.\" But the trouble is, they have no support for this\nturtle; they have an earth without axis. The Public School savans would\nhave a self-supporting, a self-adjusting, and a self-created State,\nbalanced on nothing, resting on nothing, responsible to nothing, and\nbelieving in nothing but in its own perfection and immortality. They\npretend, \"through godless schools,\" to give virtue without morality,\nmorality without religion, and religion without God; thereby sinking\nbelow the level of the poor Indian, whose untutored mind sees God in the\nclouds, and hears Him in the wind.\n\nThe nameless abominations of the Communists, Fourrierists, and other\nsuch vile and degraded fraternities; the cold-blooded murders and\nfrightful suicides that fill so many domestic hearths with grief and\nshame; the scarcely-concealed corruption of public and professional men;\nthe adroit peculation and wilful embezzlement of the public money; those\nmonopolizing speculations and voluntary insolvencies so ruinous to the\ncommunity at large; and, above all, those shocking atrocities so common\nin our country of unbelief--the legal dissolution of the matrimonial\ntie, and the wanton tampering with life in its very bud; all these are\nhumiliating facts sufficient to convince any impartial mind that there\ncan be no social virtue, no morality, no true and lasting greatness,\nwithout religion.\n\n\"Religion,\" says Lord Derby, \"is not a thing apart from education, but\nis interwoven with its whole system; it is a principle which controls\nand regulates the whole mind and happiness of the people.\" And, \"Popular\neducation,\" says Guizot, \"to be truly good and socially useful, must be\nfundamentally religious.\"\n\nThe essential element of education--its pith and marrow, so to speak--is\nthe religious element. By excluding it from the school-room the State\nhas committed a crying injustice to the rising generation, and one of\nthe worst--if not the very worst--of crimes against society. It is not\none portion of the \"triple man,\" but the whole--the physical,\nintellectual, and moral being--the body, the mind, the head, as stated\nin a previous chapter--that must be cultivated and \"brought up.\"\nNeglect any one part of man's nature, and you at once disturb the\nequilibrium of the whole, and produce disorder; educate the body at the\nexpense of the mind and soul, and you will have only animated clay;\neducate the intelligence at the expense of the moral and religious\nfeelings, and you but fearfully increase a man's power to effect evil.\nYou store the arsenal of his mind with weapons to sap alike the altar\nand the throne, to carry on a war of extermination against every holy\nprinciple, against the welfare and the very existence of society.\n\nScience, without religion, is more destructive than the sword in the\nhands of unprincipled men; it will prove more of a demon than a god. It\nis these upholders of the present Public School system that arrest the\nprogress of true happiness in our country, and prepare terrible\ncatastrophes, which may deluge the land with blood.\n\nWho were the leaders in the work of destruction and wholesale butchery\nin the Reign of Terror? The nurslings of lyceums in which the chaotic\nprinciples of the \"philosophers\" were proclaimed as _oracles of truth_.\n\nWho are those turbulent revolutionists who now long to erect the\nguillotine by the Tuilleries? And who are those secret conspirators and\ntheir myrmidon partisans who have sworn to unify Italy or lay it in\nruins? Men who were taught to scout the idea of a God and rail at\nreligion, to consider Christianity as a thing of the past; men who revel\nin wild chimeras by night, and seek to realize their mad dreams by day.\n\nLet us, then, dear American fellow-citizens, rest assured that\nintellectual discipline, without the cooeperation of any religious\nelement, will not, and cannot, produce the greatness of a nation, nor\ncan it maintain its life and splendor and prevent its decay; let us, on\nthe contrary, be persuaded that the only safety for a commonwealth, the\nonly source of greatness and prosperity for a nation, as well as of\ntranquillity and happiness for the individual, is the true religion of\nJesus Christ; it is this religion alone that is the safeguard of\nmorality, and morality is the best security of law, as well as the\nsurest pledge of freedom.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nTHE STATE A ROBBER.--VIOLATION OF OUR CONSTITUTION AND COMMON LAW.\n\n\nWe have seen, so far, that the irreligious, godless system of the Public\nSchools tends directly to turn the youth of both sexes into the worst\nkind of infidels; to make them disregard good principles, and hold\niniquity in veneration; to do away, not only with all revealed religion,\nbut even with the law of nature; to make them practise fraud, theft, and\nrobbery almost as a common trade; to make them regardless of their\nparents and of all divinely constituted authority; we have seen that\nthis godless system of education is the most powerful means to create\nconfusion, not only in religion, but also in government and in the\nfamily circle; to increase the number of apostates, and make of these\napostates members of such secret societies as aim at the overthrow of\ngovernments and all good order, and Christian religion itself.\n\nTruly, this godless system of education, if carried out to its logical\nconsequences, will disrupt society, destroy the right of the Christian\nfamily entirely, bring back on the world the barbarism, tyranny and\nbrutality of Pagan antiquity, and make slaves and victims of its\nchildren and their posterity forever!\n\nWho does not feel most indignant at the State for having introduced such\na godless system of education? And for the support of this system of\neducation--of this _prolific mother of children of anti-Christ_--we are\nenormously tithed and taxed! Horrible!\n\nI have shown that the State in America is Christian; that it cannot\nprofess or play infidel. What right, then, has a Christian State to\ncompel Christians to support infidel schools? Is not this compulsory\nsupport most violative of constitutional and religious rights? According\nto the Constitution of the State, \"no human authority can control or\ninterfere with the rights of conscience.\" Now, the direction and control\nof the education of our children is clearly not only a duty, but a\n\"right of conscience.\" This right, of course, belongs to all\ndenominations, whether few or many. By what authority, then, does the\nState impose _an established system_ of education at our expense against\nthis constitutionally guaranteed right of conscience? I would like to\nknow wherein this differs from an established church, such as has been\nlately removed, after having been imposed for centuries by State\nsupremacy on the Irish people, without their consent.\n\n_It is, in fact, much worse_; for though the Episcopal Church was not in\naccordance with the religious belief of a majority, yet it was,\nnevertheless, a Christian Church of a sect of high orthodox pretensions.\nBut these \"_Public Schools_,\" for whose support we and all other\nChristian denominations are taxed, are, by their own confession, utterly\n_irreligious_. The early Christians refused to burn even a little\ngum-rosin (incense) before the Pagan idols, and preferred rather to go\nto the lions; but we Christians, in this late day, and in what is\nboastingly called \"Free America,\" are forced to pay taxes to support\nwhat is worse than heathen idols--schools from which the name of God is\nexcluded, and, to our shame, we submit.\n\nReferring to the wrong done to Catholics who cannot, in conscience, send\ntheir children to these schools, Judge Taft, of Ohio, said not long ago:\n\n\"This is too large a circumstance to be covered by the Latin phrase, 'De\nminimis non curat lex.' These Catholics (paying their proportion of the\ntaxes) are constrained, every year, on conscientious grounds, to yield\nto others their right to one-third of the school-money, a sum averaging,\nat the present time, about $200,000 every year. That is to say, these\npeople are _punished_ every year, for believing as they do, to the\nextent of $200,000; and to that extent those of us who send our children\nto these excellent common schools _become beneficiaries of the Catholic\nmoney_. What a shame for Protestants to have their children educated for\nmoney robbed from Catholics! Mercantile life is supposed to cultivate,\nin some, a relish for hard bargains. But if it were a business matter,\nand not a matter of religious concern, could business men be found\nwilling to exact such a pecuniary advantage as this? I think it would\nshock the secular conscience!\"\n\nThe State, in creating _free schools_, is like the Turkish Bashaw's mode\nof making pork cheap. He first compelled the Jews to buy it at a rate\nfixed by himself; but the Jews had no use for it, so it was left for\nevery one to pick up at will. Indeed, what is a school worth when a man\nwill pay a premium to be exempt from sending his children to it? The\nState, boasting of its splendid Public Schools, is also like that poor\nfellow who wore a gold watch and boasted of it. \"Where did you get it?\"\nhe was asked. \"I got it as a present,\" he answered. Then he related how\none day he met with a rich man: \"I knocked him down,\" he said, \"put my\nfoot on his throat, and said: 'Give me your watch, or I kill you.' So he\ngave it to me.\" \"Pay your taxes for the erection and support of our\nPublic Schools,\" says the lord State to the poor and to the rich, \"or I\nsell your property.\" What a shame! The Catholics ask no favor, but they\ninsist on their rights. In this country, whose discoverer was a\nCatholic--in this country, where the principle of religious toleration\nwas first established by a Catholic nobleman, the famous and chivalric\nCalvert, Earl of Baltimore--in this country, whose people are largely\nindebted for their freedom to the armed cooeperation and generous aid of\nCatholic France--in this country, whose constitutional freedom has been\nstruck down by the malevolent Puritanism _which in one breath declares\nthat Catholics are opposed to education, and in the next insists that\nthey shall be deprived of the means necessary for its maintenance_--in\nthis country, I say, we Catholics are entitled to equal rights, and to a\nfair share, to a just apportionment of the annual amount raised by\ntaxation for the support of our charitable and educational institutions.\nWe ask only what is fair, what is just, what is right; and we base our\ndemand upon principle, and not upon the ground of favors granted or\nreceived.\n\nIf the State taxes us, as a religious and Christian people, for the\neducation of our children, it must give us a Christian education. If it\ncannot, or will not do that, it must cease to tax us, and leave the\neducation of our children to ourselves. If the Christian gives to Caesar\nwhat belongs to Caesar, he has a right to demand of Caesar that he allow\nhim to give to God what belongs to God.\n\nAgain, the Constitution says, \"That no person shall be compelled to\nerect, support, or attend any place of public worship, nor support any\nminister of the gospel, or teacher of religion,\" etc.; and it says,\n\"That no private property ought to be taken or applied to public use\nwithout just compensation.\" Now let us apply these constitutional\nprinciples to State-schools, and see if our compulsory support of them\nis not violative of our constitution as well as common law. Why is it\n\"that no person shall be compelled to erect, support, or attend any\nplace of public worship, nor support any minister of religion\"? Simply\nbecause he \"don't want to\"; and he don't want to, \"because it is against\nhis conscience\"; and \"no human authority,\" says the Constitution, \"can\ncontrol or interfere with the rights of conscience\"; that is all the\nreason, and no other. The State believes that all places of worship, and\nministers of the gospel, are good; but, knowing that there is a\ndifference of opinion among the people on that subject, wisely leaves\nsuch matters to their choice, and will not take private property for\npublic use without compensation. Why, then, is private property taken\nfor Public Schools without compensation? We cannot use them in\nconscience, and we have seen there is no lawful power or authority to\n\"control or interfere with conscience.\" I ask, then, if I am not right\nin stating that our compulsory support of an odious and infidel system\nof Public Schools, against our conscience and against our consent, is\nnot far worse than the support of any form of church establishment?\n\nMoreover, according to the Constitution, \"No preference can ever be\ngiven by law to any church, sect, or mode of worship.\" This section is\noften quoted as the authority and reason for excluding religious\nteachings from the Public Schools; but, strange enough, it is flagrantly\nviolated by the present system, giving a _preference by law_ to the\n_unbelievers_, and thereby discriminating against the believers of all\nsects and denominations. For, after all, there can be but two churches,\nor, if you please, sects, in the eye of the State--the believers and\nunbelievers. To the former belong the various Christian denominations,\nand to the latter those who deny and _protest_ against all religious\nfaith and belief. Those certainly are the last, and for that reason, if\nfor no other, are the _best or worst_ (as people may choose to view\nthem) sect. It is, then, this last product, this \"_caput mortuum_\" of\nall sects and believers of every shade and kind, that is favored by the\nno-belief system of education.\n\n\"Though the State may not give any preference to any church or sect,\" it\nis not, on that account, authorized to ignore and reject all; but, on\nthe contrary, is obliged in justice to assist all or none, as, by this\ncourse alone, it avoids giving preference to any. This is what the law\ncontemplates, and the only course that comports with reason and justice.\nIf it suits the _last sect_--the _unbelievers or no-believers_--to\nexclude morals or religion from schools, all right; let them keep on as\nat present. But if it suits the various other churches or sects to\nmodify the system to suit their conscientious views and beliefs, to\napply their own proportion of the school tax for that purpose, it is\ntheir undeniable and lawful right.\n\nThere is one view in which the public will agree in regard to the Public\nSchools: it is that they cost too much money. For the management of the\ngodless Public Schools there is a costly array of \"Commissioners,\" and\n\"Inspectors,\" and \"Trustees,\" and \"Superintendents,\" and \"Secretaries of\nBoards,\" and \"Central Officers,\" all in league with \"Contractors,\" to\nmake \"a good thing\"--so-called--out of the plan. We have, now,\ncontractors for buildings and repairs, contractors for furniture,\ncontractors for books, contractors for furnaces, contractors for fuel,\ncontractors even for pianos, and all making money out of it. The\n\"Boards\" that give the contracts do not make any money by way of\ncommissions, do they? Ah! you know full well that hundreds of thousands\nof dollars are annually spent or squandered in running these Public\nSchools, and which are recommended, in a particular manner, for their\n_economy_!\n\nBut aside, for a moment, from these _Public Schools_, so numerous, so\ncostly, so grand and imposing in their exterior, managed by a little\narmy of high-paid professors, teachers, superintendents and assistants,\ncosting the people of every city and State hundreds of thousands of\ndollars annually, there is another army, yea, a volunteer army, not\ncommissioned or paid by the State, but by a greater power--God--who, for\nHis love, and that uncomparable reward which only God bestows, devote\nthemselves to teaching, instructing, training and educating the poor,\nthe needy, the orphan, the houseless, the homeless, the forlorn, the\ndespised, as well as the more favored of the earth. These make no\ngrandiloquent printed reports in costly binding; they have no official\nstenographers or reporters to noise their proceedings in \"morning\npapers\"; they have no \"Polytechnic Halls,\" fitted up with pretentious\nlibraries, and all the surroundings of upholstery, and heating and\ncooling apparatus; but winter and summer, early and late, they keep the\neven tenor of their way with an \"_eye single_\" to their humble and\nlaborious duties.\n\nIn nearly all the cities of America, in those busy and worldly centres\nof traffic and trade, of luxury and wealth, with their average of good\nand evil, virtue and crime, this \"_volunteer army_\" distributes itself\nnoiselessly, quietly, and as it were obscurely, not heralded nor\npreceded by the emblems of pomp or worldly power, but nevertheless\nmaking its conquests and asserting its quiet influence in lanes and\nalleys, gathering up the little children, taking them to its camps, and\ninstructing and educating them in the service of God and society.\n\nYou may have seen, in some of those cities, that long line of little\nboys or girls, two by two, extending to the length of a block or more;\nyou may have observed how regularly they are assorted, the tallest in\nfirst, and ranging down to the little ones, whose busy feet are trying\nto keep up with the column. You may also have noted the order and\nsilence (so unusual among children), and your attention was arrested,\nand perhaps you know not how all this order in this beautiful panorama\nwas brought about. Well, with these boys you may have observed two men,\none at the head, the other at the foot of this long line. If you saw\nthis for the first time you may have wondered, and I suppose been even\namused, at the figure and costume of those men;--the broad-brimmed hat,\nthe long, strange-fashioned robe, the white collar, the collected air\nand mien, all bespeak the _Christian Brother_. These men, nevertheless,\nare \"profoundly learned in all the sciences of the schools.\" They have\nabandoned home, family, friends, and have devoted themselves, merely for\na scant support, to the education of the young.\n\nIf, on the other hand, the long line are girls, you may have observed\ntwo ladies; one at the head, the other at the foot. You will at a glance\nconclude they are not of the world. Their costume is of the homeliest\ncut and quality, but scrupulously clean; there is a something about\ntheir very presence that impresses you with reverence and respect, and\nyou must be a very hardened sinner indeed if you did not feel the better\nof having even their shadow fall upon you. These silent, collected, but\nimpressive women are \"_Nuns_\" of one order or another. They, too, have\nleft all to serve God in the persons of these little children. They have\nmade sacrifices greater than the world can appreciate or understand, and\nwhich only the Divine Master can reward. Their whole life is a silent\nbut an eloquent sermon, their whole conduct the gospel in action. You\nwill remember they are women like others of their sex, and mayhap have\nbeen flattered and petted, and once filled with the natural vanity and\nexpectations of their sex; but all these they have put _behind_ them,\nand henceforth and forever their walk, and life, and conversation is\nwith God, and in the service of His little ones. Now it will be easily\nseen that the personal influence of such men and women over the life and\nmanners of children, must be immensely beneficial. It is granted that\nthe influence of father and mother is potential for good or evil. So it\nis with teachers. Children are shrewd observers, and are apt to take\nsome one as a prototype and exemplar. This one they copy as near as may\nbe. These \"Christian Brothers,\" and \"Nuns, or Sisters,\" are good models;\nthey teach the children to pray in the best of all ways--by praying\nthemselves first; they try to impress on these tender souls sentiments\nof love, obedience, and respect to their fathers and mothers, and, above\nall, their duties to our dear Lord. They accompany them to His altar on\nSundays and holy days, beginning and ending all their daily lessons with\na little prayer or devotion. For the rest, they give them, in their\nschools, a plain, practical education.\n\nEvery day (we are told) there are instances of men slipping from the\nhigh rounds to the lowest one in the ladder of wealth. Business men find\nthemselves engulphed in the sea of financial embarrassment, from which\nthey emerge with nothing but their personal resources to depend upon for\na living. Clerks, salesmen, and others find themselves thrown out of\nemployment, with no prospect of speedily obtaining places which they are\ncompetent to fill, and with no other means of gaining a livelihood. How\nmany men are there in every city to-day, some of whom have families\ndependent on them for support, who bewail the mistake they made in not\nlearning useful trades in their younger days? There are hundreds of\nthem. There are men in every city who have seen better days, men of\neducation and business ability, who envy the mechanic, who has a sure\nsupport for himself and family in his handicraft. Parents make a great\nmistake when they impose upon the brain of their boy the task of\nsupporting him, without preparing his hands for emergencies.\n\nNo matter how favorable a boy's circumstances may be, he should enter\nthe battle of life as every prudent general enters the battle of armies:\nwith a reliable reserve to fall back upon in case of disaster. Every man\nis liable to be reduced to the lowest pecuniary point at some stage of\nhis life, and it is hardly necessary to refer to the large proportion of\nmen who reach that point. No man is poor who is the master of a trade.\nIt is a kind of capital that defies the storm of financial reverse, and\nthat clings to a man when all else has been swept away. It consoles him,\nin the hour of adversity, with the assurance that, let whatever may\nbefall him, he need have no fear for the support of himself and his\nfamily.\n\nUnfortunately a silly notion--the offspring of a sham aristocracy--has,\nof late years, led many parents to regard a trade as something\ndisreputable, with which their children should not be tainted. Labor\ndisreputable! What would the world be without it? It is the very power\nthat moves the world. A Power higher than the throne of the aristocracy\nhas ennobled labor, and he who would disparage it must set himself above\nthe Divine principle, \"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread!\" A\ntrade is a \"friend in need\"; it is independence and wealth--a rich\nlegacy which the poorest father may give to his son, and which the\nrichest should regard as more valuable than gold.\n\nNow what kind of education is necessary for a tradesman to carry on\nbusiness successfully? Only a plain, practical education; that is to\nsay, that kind and amount of knowledge of daily ordinary use and\nappreciation. It is reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, and\ngeography, and possibly a knowledge of the German language, sufficient\nto speak it.\n\nIf we look around we will see that all the important and every-day\nduties of life are carried on by the use of industry, common sense,\nreading, writing, and arithmetic.\n\nAnd it might almost be said that the failures are to be ascribed, in\npart, if not to over-education, at least to the common misdirection of\nacquirements, accompanied with the vague ambition and desires which they\ninvariably excite, but rarely serve to satisfy. Why, I could find, for\ninstance, in the history, management, and success of every newspaper\neditor, a living proof of my proposition. Not that I leave it to be\ninferred that there is not, in these newspapers, the evidences of every\nkind of acquirements and ability; but that the founders within my\nknowledge, and those who have made it the _power_ and _success_ that it\nis, have worked with these ordinary instruments. But why give one\ninstance when there are so many on every side--so much so that the\nsuccess of what is called the learned class is so rare, that it must be\nput among the exceptions.\n\nAs to those who are able, and desire further information, they can have\nit to any extent at the colleges, convents, academies and higher\nschools.\n\nMany of our \"dissenting brethren,\" of the various denominations, are\nequally diligent, according to the measure of grace and light given\nthem, to bring their children up in Christian morals and education. They\nhave their own schools, and support them, or they send their children to\nCatholic institutions, and will not have them tempted or corrupted by\nthe evil influences, moral, social, and intellectual, that emanate and\nsurround those \"_whited sepulchres_\"--the godless schools--as the miasm\nemanates and surrounds the pestilent marsh. In all these schools the\nchildren are carefully trained in Christian practices, prayers, and\nreligious duties, as well as taught a good, plain, practical course of\nstudies. In fact, they are truly _educated_; while in the Public Schools\nthey are simply instructed, as you might irrational animals, according\nto their instinct. The Jews also teach and bring up their children in\nthe religion of their fathers, at their own expense; so that more than\none-half are, fortunately for themselves, and fortunately for society,\nthe good order and well-being of the State, educated outside of immoral\nand dangerous pest-houses. It is on this element of our population that\nthe future of the State depends; for if we are to have a sound public\nconscience and a controlling conservative influence in public or private\naffairs, we must, under God and His Church, obtain it from a true\nChristian education.\n\nAt these parish schools, supported by voluntary aid, the expenses of\npupils per year is under seven dollars; at the Public Schools, it is, I\nam informed, about thirty-two dollars; so that it costs about four times\nas much to give the poor, miserable, shallow, infidel instruction in the\nPublic Schools, as it does to give a good Christian education in the\ndenominational ones; or, in plainer language, to educate 20,000 children\nin denominational schools saves to tax-payers not less than the _small\nsum_! of $500,000.\n\n\"If thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off and cast it from thee;\nfor it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish,\nrather than thy whole body be cast into hell.\"--(Matt. v. 30.) By the\npresent Public School system, the State scandalizes the family, because\nit usurps the rights and duties that belong alone to parents; it\nscandalizes the tax-payer, because it takes money from him which it has\nno right to take; it scandalizes society, because, instead of teaching\nvirtue, it teaches vice; it scandalizes the young men and the young\nwomen, because, instead of inspiring them with love for Christianity and\ntheir religious duties, it inspires them rather with contempt for\nreligion, and turns them into actual unbelievers, and thus destroys the\nvery life of society and the basis of every government; it scandalizes\nall nations, because there is not, and there has never been, any nation\ninculcating education without religion.\n\nBy its present system of education, the State has weakened, and will\nfinally break up and destroy, the Christian family. The social unit is\nthe family, not the individual; and the greatest danger to American\nsociety is, that we are rapidly becoming a nation of isolated\nindividuals, without family ties or affections. The family has already\nbeen much weakened, and is fast disappearing. We have broken away from\nthe old homestead, have lost the restraining and purifying associations\nthat gathered round it, and live away from home in hotels and\nboarding-houses. A large and influential class of women not only\nneglect, but disdain, the retired and simple domestic virtues, and scorn\nto be tied down to the modest but essential duties--the drudgery, they\ncall it--of wives and mothers. We are daily losing the faith, the\nvirtues, the habits, and the manners, without which the family cannot be\nsustained. This, coupled with the separate pecuniary interests of\nhusband and wife secured, make the family, to a fearful extent, the mere\nshadow of what it was and of what it should be. What remains of the\nfamily is only held together by the graces and virtue of women. But even\nthis last hope is fast breaking down, by the great facility of obtaining\na divorce _a vinculo matrimonii_--a facility by which the laws of most\nof the States of the Union grant to lust the widest margin of license,\nand legalize concubinage and adultery. Now when the family goes, the\nnation goes too, or ceases to be worth preserving. God made the family\nthe type and basis of society; \"male and female made he them.\"\n\nBy its present system of education, the State makes war on God and His\nChrist, and says, with Lucifer, \"Non servio\"; and this is the daring\nrebel against God and His law, that would claim the innocent children\nof the Christian family as its own; teach them its false maxims,\npromising them, as Satan, its master, did the Saviour, riches, and\nhonors, and power, if they will but fall down and worship it. How\nincomprehensibly strange it is, that good men and women who profess\nChristianity, and acknowledge the obligations of its commandments,\nshould give ear to this tempter, instead of saying, \"Get behind me,\nSatan,\" and, \"Thou art a liar and a cheat from the beginning.\" The\nState, in this subject of education, represents the world; and religion,\nas well as experience, teaches us its folly, its wickedness, its\ntreachery and its ambition. \"The State promises bread and gives a\nstone.\" It promises wealth, and honor, and gives taxes, slavery, and\ndegradation. It is blind, and it attempts to lead; it is ignorant, and\nit offers to teach and direct the young. It will not receive the law,\nand it claims the right to give it. It arrogates the \"_higher law_,\" and\n\"_would be as God_.\" There is the danger; and it is against this the\nfight must be made, if we would not surrender our civil and religious\nfreedom, our temporal and eternal happiness.\n\nSurely it is time for all good Christians of America to cry out to our\nrulers, \"And now, O ye rulers, understand; receive instruction, you that\njudge the earth.\"--(Ps. ii. x.) Do not force any longer upon a Christian\nnation an educational system which produces such results; do not train\nany longer our children without religion--to infidelity, and\nconsequently to revolution. Do not teach the youth of America any longer\nto reject God and His religion; they will not be long faithful to you if\nyou make them unfaithful to the faith of their fathers. You, and all the\nclasses in society who delight in seeing the influence of religion\nweakened or destroyed, never seem to realize, until it is too late, that\nyou are sure to be the especial victims of your own success. The man who\nscorns to love God and His law, how shall he continue to love his\nneighbor? The man who has said \"there is no God,\" is he not on the point\nof also saying \"lust is lawful,\" \"property is robbery\"? If you raise\ninstruments to deny God and to do away with all religious principles,\nGod will use these very instruments to do away with you also.\n\nYour Pagan system of education will ultimately overturn all order in\nthe land. Among ancient Pagan nations, where the poor were comparatively\nignorant--where they did not know their rights--it was easy to hold them\nin bondage; but now things have changed. Discontent in the lower order\nof society can no longer be smothered. Education has become general;\nand, unfortunately, the very element, without which education is often a\ncurse, is omitted. Religious education has been separated from secular\ninstruction. Without religion, the poor are unable to control their\npassions, or to bear their hard lot. They see wealth around them, and,\nunless taught by religion, they see no reason why that wealth should not\nbe divided amongst them. Why should they starve, while their neighbors\nroll in splendor and luxury? If the poor were ignorant, they would not,\nperhaps, notice all the sad privations of their state; they would not,\nperhaps, feel them so keenly. But they are partially educated, and \"a\nlittle learning is a dangerous thing.\"\n\nThey know their power, and, not having the soothing influence of\nreligion to restrain them, they use their power. They have done so in\nFrance and elsewhere, and if they do not always succeed in producing\nrevolution, and anarchy, it is only the bayonet that prevents them. Such\nis the abyss that yawns beneath the feet of our country, and into which\nthe advocates of _education without religion_--perhaps some of them\nunconsciously--seek to precipitate us, by continuing to force upon this\nChristian nation an anti-Christian, an anti-American system of\neducation.\n\nSurely the grievance is not simply an affair of taxes, or so much money\nunjustly levied and collected. This we might bear, as we have to do in\nother cases of injustice, for righteousness' sake. But we have a duty to\nGod, ourselves, and our children. We recognize the office and\nobligations of the State as _temporal ruler_, but we do not acknowledge\nin it an absolute and _unconditional_ authority. We do not admit the\ndoctrine of _passive obedience_. We will not and cannot surrender the\neducation of our children to its dictation and control, for that is a\ntrust placed in our hands by a higher power, and for which we will have\nto answer, at the last day, on our salvation. I ask--am I right in all\nthat I have said upon the State and its godless system of education? If\nI am, then I think I have a right to ask for a verdict of \"Guilty.\" If\nthere are still some who cannot see that I am right, then let them,\nwithout delay, be operated upon for _amaurosis_. But then, in God's\nname, is it not high time to inquire what should be done to correct the\nsystem, and stop the torrent of its evil influences? This is a great\nquestion; it demands a speedy and satisfactory solution. The interests\nit involves are commensurate with time and eternity.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nREMEDY FOR THE DIABOLICAL SPIRIT AND THE CRIMES IN OUR COUNTRY.\n\n\nMen look around, and ask, Where is the remedy for the so wide-spread\ncorruption of all classes of society? This is a most important question.\nIt is not difficult for a Christian to answer it. A skilful physician,\nwho wishes to cure his patient, endeavors first to remove the cause of\nthe disease. So, in like manner, if we wish to stem the torrent of the\nevils that flood the land, we must stop the source from which they flow.\n\nNow the leading men and the most prominent journals of New York and New\nEngland, confess that the greater part of the wide-spread immorality in\nour day and country is to be traced to the separation of religion from\nthe instruction in our Public Schools.\n\nGovernor Brown, addressing the Seventh National Teachers' Convention in\nSt. Louis, in August last, said: \"It is a very customary declaration to\npronounce that education is the great safeguard of republics against the\ndecay of virtue and the reign of immorality. Yet the facts can scarcely\nbear out the proposition. The highest civilizations, both ancient and\nmodern, have sometimes been the most flagitious. Nowadays, certainly,\nyour prime rascals have been educated rascals.\"\n\nAnd indeed if we go to Auburn, Sing Sing, and other prisons, and examine\nsome of the criminals confined there, we will find that there is truth\nin the Governor's words.\n\nDo the managers of the Erie Railway lack any kind of intelligence that\ncould be communicated in a common school? Are not those pests, the\nWashington and Albany lobbies, rather _too_ knowing? Had not those\nblood-suckers, the shoddy-ites and army contractors, an average common\nschool education? Do not the \"gold rings\" and the \"whiskey rings\" know\nhow to read and write? Were not Catiline of old, and Aaron Burr and\nBenedict Arnold of more recent times, men of intelligence? Were not the\nparties to the recent tragedy, two of whom Mr. Beecher united in unholy\nwedlock, passable enough in point of merely intellectual cultivation?\nMephistopheles was a person of surprising accomplishments, and the\nablest debates in literature are those which Milton puts in the mouths\nof the grand synod of devils in Pandemonium. Byron was a prodigy of\nintelligence; but, whether Mrs. Stowe's revolting accusation be true or\nnot, he was certainly a profligate.\n\nNo one, certainly, gifted with ordinary power of observation, will\nascribe crime solely to ignorance, nor will such a one fail to see that\na large class of the most audacious and dangerous offenders of both\nsexes are educated, nay, over-educated, according to the Public School\nstandard.\n\nThe Boston Daily _Herald_, of October 20th, published the following as\nan editorial article:\n\n\"Year after year the Chief of Police publishes his statistics of\nprostitution in this city, but how few of the citizens bestow more than\na passing thought upon the misery that they represent! Although these\nfigures are large enough to make every lover of humanity hang his head\nwith feelings of sorrow and shame at the picture, we are assured that\nthey represent but a little, as it were, of the actual licentiousness\nthat prevails among all classes of society. Within a few months, a\ngentleman[F] whose scientific attainments have made his name a household\nword in all lands, has personally investigated the subject, and the\nresult has filled him with dismay; when he sees the depths of\ndegradation to which men and women have fallen, he has almost lost faith\nin the boasted civilization of the nineteenth century. In the course of\nhis inquiries he has visited both the well-known 'houses of pleasure'\nand the 'private establishments' scattered all over the city. He states\nthat he has a list of both, with the street and number, the number of\ninmates, and many other facts that would perfectly astonish the people\nif made public. He freely conversed with the inmates, and the\nlife-histories that were revealed were sad indeed. To his utter\nsurprise, a large proportion of the 'soiled doves' _traced their fall to\ninfluences that met them in the Public Schools_; and although Boston is\njustly proud of its schools, it would seem, from his story, that they\nneed a thorough purification. In too many of them the most obscene and\nsoul-polluting books and pictures circulate among both sexes. The very\nsecrecy with which it is done throws an almost irresistible charm about\nit; and to such an extent has the evil gone, that we fear a large\nproportion of both boys and girls possess some of the articles, which\nthey kindly (?) lend to each other. The natural result follows, and\nfrequently the most debasing and revolting practises are indulged in.\nAnd the evil is not confined alone to Boston. Other cities suffer in the\nsame way. It is but a few years since the second city in the\nCommonwealth was stirred almost to its foundations by the discovery of\nan association of boys and girls who were wont to indulge their passions\nin one of the school-houses of the city; and not long ago another\nsomewhat similar affair was discovered by the authorities, but hushed up\nfor fear of depopulating the schools.\"\n\n\"That the devil is in the _Public Schools_, raging and rampant there\namong the _pupils_ as well as among the _teachers_, no one can well\ndoubt who has sent a little child into them, as guiltless of evil or\nunclean thoughts as a newly fallen snowflake, and had him come home, in\na short time, contaminated almost beyond belief by the vileness and\nfilth which he has seen, and heard, and learned _there_.\"--(Hathe Tyng\nGriswold, in _Old and New_, for March; or _Boston Pilot_, April 6,\n1872.)\n\nA celebrated physician of this country says in his book, \"Satan in\nSociety,\" as follows:\n\n\"The evils and dangers of the present system of educating and bringing\nup the boys and girls of our country, are too obvious to require minute\ndescription. Irreligion and infidelity are progressing _pari passu_ with\nthe advance guards of immorality and crime, and all are _fostered_, if\n_not engendered_, by the _materialistic system of school instruction_,\nand the consequent wretched training at home and on the play-ground. The\nentire absence of all religious instruction from the school-room is fast\nbearing fruit in a generation of infidels, and we are becoming worse\neven than the Pagans of old, who had at least their positive sciences of\nphilosophy, and their religion, such as it was, to oppose which was a\ncriminal offence. To those who would dispute this somewhat horrible\nassertion, the author would point to the published statistics of church\nattendance, from which it appears that of the entire population but a\nvery small proportion are habitual church-goers. Deducting from these,\nagain, those who attend church simply as a matter of fashion, or from\nother than religious motives, and there remains a minimum almost too\nsmall to be considered, abundantly sustaining our charge. The\ndisintegration of the prevalent forms of religious belief, the rapid\nmultiplication of sects, the increase in the ranks of intellectual\nsceptics, the fashionable detractions from, and perversions of, the Holy\nScriptures, acting with the influences already mentioned, may well cause\nalarm.\n\n\"But we have not only the removal of the salutary restraints of\nreligious influence from our popular system of education; we have the\npromiscuous intermingling of the sexes in our Public Schools, which,\nhowever much we may theorize to the contrary, is, to say the least,\nsubversive of that modest reserve and shyness which in all ages have\nproved the true aegis of virtue. We are bound to accept human nature as\nit is, and not as we would wish it to be, and both Christian and Pagan\nphilosophy agree in detecting therein certain very dangerous elements.\nAmong the most dangerous and inevitable is the sexual instinct, which,\nimplanted by the Creator for the wisest purposes, is, perhaps, the most\npotent of all evils when not properly restrained, retarded, and\ndirected. This mysterious instinct develops earlier in proportion as the\neye and the imagination are soonest furnished the materials upon which\nit thrives; and, long before the age of puberty, it is strong, and\nwell-nigh ungovernable, in those who have been allowed these unfortunate\noccasions. The boy of the present generation has more practical\nknowledge of this instinct at the age of fifteen, than, under proper\ntraining, he should be entitled to at the time of his marriage; and the\nboy of eleven or twelve boastfully announces to his companions the\nevidences of his approaching virility. Nourished by languishing glances\nduring the hours passed in the school-room, fanned by more intimate\nassociation on the journey to and from school, fed by stolen interviews\nand openly-arranged festivities--picnics, excursions, parties and the\nlike--stimulated by the prurient gossip of the newspaper, the flash\nnovels, sentimental weeklies, and magazines, the gallant of twelve years\nis the libertine of fourteen. That this picture is not overdrawn, every\nexperienced physician will bear witness.\n\n\"And as for the Public School-girls, they return from their '_polishing\nschools_'--these demoiselles--cursed with a superficial smattering of\neverything but what they ought to have learned--physical and moral\nwrecks, whom we physicians are expected to _wind up_ in the morning for\nthe husband-hunting excitements of the evening. And these creatures are\nintended for wives! But _wives_ only, for it is fast going out of\nfashion to intend them for _mothers_--an 'accident' of the kind being\nregarded as'_foolish_'!\n\n\"We assert, then, that the present system of education, by its faults of\nomission and commission, is directly responsible, not, it is true, for\nthe bare existence, but for the enormous prevalence of vices and crimes\nwhich we deplore; and we call upon the civil authorities to so modify\nthe obnoxious arrangements of our schools, and upon parents and\nguardians to so instruct and govern their charges, that the evils may be\nsuppressed, if not extinguished.\"\n\nThe attempt to prepare man for his duties in social life with morals and\nreligion left out, is not only a failure, but a crime. Yes, it is not\nonly a failure, but a crime of such magnitude, that society has already\nbegun to suffer its consequences in a demoralization and _general\nlibertinage_ of the most shameful kind. This education without religion\nand morals is the poisoned fountain from which flows, and will flow, if\nnot purified by adding the essential elements now omitted, the impure\nstreams of all kinds of vice. If God is despised, governments will be\ntrampled on; if God's law is hated, the laws of men will be violated;\nman will see only his own interest, his neighbor's property will only\nwhet his appetite; his neighbor's life will be only a secondary\nconsideration; he would, according to his creed, be a fool not to shed\nblood when his interest requires it; his fellow-men become imbued with\nhis principles--anarchy succeeds subordination--vice takes the place of\nvirtue--what was sacred is profaned--what was honorable becomes\ndisgraceful--might becomes right--treatises are waste paper--honor is an\nempty name--the most sacred obligations dwindle down into mere optional\npractices--youth despises age--wisdom is folly--subjection to authority\nis laughed at as a foolish dream--the moral code itself soon becomes\nlittle more than the bugbear of the weak-minded--crowns are trampled\nunder foot--thrones are overturned--nations steeped in blood, and\nrepublics swept from the face of the earth.\n\nYes, continue a little longer to educate the greater part of the\ncommunity according to the present system of the Public Schools, and\nrest assured we shall soon have a hell upon earth--society will be\nstabbed to the heart by the ruffian assassin called _godless Public\nSchool education_--it will reel, stagger, and sink a bleeding victim to\nthe ground, expiring, like the suicide, by the wound itself has\ninflicted. I truly believe that if Satan was presented with a blank\nsheet of paper, and bade to write on it the most fatal gift to man, he\nwould simply write one word--\"godless schools.\" He might then turn his\nattention from this planet; \"godless Public Schools\" would do the rest.\n\nNow what is to be done to stop the poisoned source from which the\ndiabolical spirit and the crimes of our country flow? A certain class\ncome forward and say, \"Let the Bible be read in our Public Schools. The\nBible is the grand source of religion and morality. The Bible alone,\nwithout note or comment, is the grand source of life and civilization.\"\n\nVery well, let the Bible be admitted, but with the Bible you must send\nthe key--the interpreter. And then, which of all the Bibles, and whom\namong the numerous sects, shall be sent?\n\nTo read the Bible, without note or comment, to young children, is to\nabandon them to dangerous speculation, or to leave them dry and barren\nof all Christian knowledge. In mixed schools there is no other resource,\nbecause it is impossible to make any comment upon any doctrinal teaching\nof Christ and His Apostles, without trenching upon the conscientious\nopinions of some one or other of the listeners. \"The Father and I are\nOne.\" \"The Father is greater than I.\" Here at once we have the Unitarian\nand the Trinitarian at a dead-lock! \"This is My Body.\" \"It is the spirit\nwhich quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.\" Here we have\nthe primitive Lutheran, who believed in the real presence\n(consubstantially), and his Calvinistic coadjutor in reform, squarely at\nissue! \"Unless you be born again of water and the Holy Ghost,\" etc. Here\nwe have the Baptist and the Quaker very seriously divided in opinion.\nNevertheless, widely as they differ the one from the other, there is a\nfundamental assimilation between all the Protestant sects which may\nrender it possible for them to unite in one educational organization;\nand yet we find many of the most enlightened and earnest among the\nProtestant clergy of America now zealously advocating the denominational\nsystem, such as we find it in the European countries. They believe that\neducation should be distinctly based upon doctrinal religion, and they\nare liberal enough to insist that, by natural right as well as by the\nconstitutional guarantees of our free country, no doctrine adverse to\nthe faith of a parent may lawfully be forced or surreptitiously imposed\nupon his child. It is well known, however, that between the Catholic\nfaith and all Protestant creeds, there is a gulf which cannot be bridged\nover. It would, therefore, be simply impossible to adopt any religious\nteaching whatever in mixed schools, without at once interfering with\nCatholic conscience. No such teaching is attempted, as a general rule,\nwe believe, in the Public Schools of the United States, and hence we\nhave only a vague announcement of moral precepts, the utter futility\nand barrenness of which must be evident to every one. Catholics,\nagreeing with very many enlightened and zealous Protestants, believe\nthat secular education, administered without religion, is not only vain,\nbut exceedingly pernicious; that it is fast undermining the Christian\nfaith of this nation; that it is rapidly filling the land with\nrationalism; that it is destroying the authority of the Holy Scriptures;\nthat it is educating men who prefix \"Reverend\" and affix \"D.D.\" to their\nnames, the more effectually to preach covert infidelity and immorality\nto Christian congregations; that, instead of the saving morality of the\nGospel of Christ, which rests upon revealed mysteries and supernatural\ngifts, it is offering us that same old array of the natural virtues or\nqualities which helped, for a while, like rotten pillars, to prop up the\nheathen nations of old. It must, then, be evident to every man of common\nsense that the reading of the Bible alone, though it be the Word of God,\nwill _not_ counterbalance the results of Pagan education. Indeed the\nreading of the Bible alone is by no means an adequate remedy to stem the\ntorrent of the evils in our country. What impurities have not been\ncommitted under the sanction of those words of the Lord, \"Increase and\nmultiply\"! A host of sectarians, following in the wake of the\nAnabaptists of Munster, in Germany, have, on the authority of those\nwords, dared to legitimate polygamy. On such misapplication of a text\nfrom the Gospel, Luther, Bucerus, and Melanchthon have permitted Philip,\nthe Landgrave of Hesse, to have two wives.\n\nIn the name of the Bible, of the Word of God, Luther at first incited\nthe German peasantry to revolt against their rulers, and then,\nfrightened at his own work, he persuaded the princes to massacre the\npeasants. John of Leyden found, in his studies of the Bible, that he\nshould marry eleven women at once. Herman felt himself clearly\ndesignated, in the Bible, as the Envoy of the Lord. Nicholas learned\nfrom it that there was no necessity of anything connected with faith,\nand that we must live in sin in order that grace may abound. Sympson\npretends to find in the Scriptures an ordination that men should walk in\nthe streets stark naked, to teach the rich a lesson that they must\ndivest themselves of everything. Richard Hill justified, with the Bible\nin hand, adultery and manslaughter as deeds never failing to work out\nsome good purpose, especially when joined to incest, in which case more\nsaints are added to the earth and more blessed to the heavens. Even on\nthe avowal of honest Protestants, no crime or abomination has ever\nfailed to find its pretended justification in some scriptural text.\n\nWhat, then, must we think of the reading of the Bible, when its reading,\nwithout note or comment, leads to such consequences? Indeed what has\nbeen said on the evil consequences of the Public School system on\nsociety proves sufficiently that the reading of the Bible is no adequate\nmeans at all to stem the torrent of crimes in our country. Nowhere has\nthe Bible been read more frequently, during school-hours, than in the\nPublic Schools of the New England States, and yet nowhere have the\nresults of these schools proved more fatal than in these very States.\nThe reading of the Bible alone, therefore, though it be the Word of God,\nwill _not_ counterbalance the results of Pagan education.\n\nThere are others who maintain \"that religious instruction should be left\nto parents.\"\n\nNow it is not only idle, but cruel, to say that the place and provision\nfor such Christian instruction and formation is under the roof of the\nparents' home; that the best school is the family. This is indeed true\nof the early formation by affection, influence, example, by which\nfathers and mothers fashion the first outlines of character, and mature\nthem while the education of their children is advancing. None have\nreminded parents of this more faithfully than the Pastors of the Church.\nBut to say that fathers and mothers are to educate their children, and\nthat their home is to be the school of Christian instruction,\ncatechetical teaching, formation of conscience, preparation for\nsacraments, and the like, is either the shallow talk of men who know\nnothing of Christian education, or care nothing for it, or a heartless\nmockery of our poor. The rich, the refined, the educated, whose time is\ntheir own, do not educate their own children. They systematically send\nthem to schools and colleges, or pay for tutors or governesses under\ntheir own roof. They wisely shrink from a work for which, if they have\nthe time, they seldom have the acquirements or the gift, or the method\nof the perseverance or the patience. And if this be, as it is,\nuniversally true of those who are the most competent, and the most\nprovided with all the means and opportunities for the work, now is it\nnot hardness of heart, or want of common sense, to say that the children\nof the poor are to learn reading, and writing, and summing, indeed, at\nschool, but that their Christian teaching and formation must be provided\nat home? The workingmen of these countries are at labor from twilight to\ntwilight. Their wives have the burden of the whole family; the poor\nmother is alone both the head and the servant of the whole house. When\nis she to teach, and train, and shape, and fashion the characters,\nhearts, consciences, intellects of the children? Is it to be done in the\nmidst of a day's work, or in the weariness after the day's work is done?\nAnd are they competent to do what the mother of the rich cannot do?\nBroken with cares, wearied by work, suffering from poverty, often\nfainting from sickness because worn out with all these burdens, how\nshall the father or mother of a family, huddled into a single room, do\nwhat the rich and the educated, in their spacious houses, and with\nabundant leisure, never dream of attempting?\n\nMoreover, as I have shown in a preceding chapter, it must be admitted\nthat a mother not educated in religious and moral principles cannot\ninform the mind and heart of the young child; this fully disposes of the\nargument that domestic teaching alone will supply what is acknowledged\nto be wanting in the \"Public Schools.\" It is to be hoped that we shall\nhear no more of this heartless talk.\n\n\"Well, then,\" some will say, \"let our children receive, _in\nSunday-schools_, that amount of religious culture and instruction which\nthe State says shall not be given in the school, and which is believed\nto be so essential in the education of the young.\"\n\nNow it is in vain to open our Sunday-schools and expect to cure, on one\nday of the week, or rather a few hours of that day (when this even\ndepends, in a great part, on the weather), the work not only of the\nother six, but the fruits of years of an ill-directed and godless State\neducation. The Sunday-schools are nothing but so many \"_Poor-man's\nsoothing plasters_\" on Christian consciences. The want of religious\ntraining for six days in the week, added to the positive knowledge of\nerror on all religious subjects which youths may acquire during that\ntime, will more than counterbalance the best-directed efforts of parents\nand the clergy to give any definite knowledge on the truths of\nrevelation. The question whether or not religious education is\ncompatible with Public School education, has been tried in all\nEnglish-speaking countries, and in parts of Germany, with this result:\nthat, a class, the Public School children are without any adequate\nreligious knowledge or training. The clergy may have Sunday-schools, as\nthey have, in all their churches; but what can children learn, in a few\nhours, of a subject which took three years from the Saviour of man to\nteach even to the apostles? And then the apostles, after three years of\ninstruction from the lips of Christ, did not understand the Christian\nreligion; they were slow to understand, and, after His resurrection,\nChrist upbraided them with incredulity and hardness of heart. Even the\nchildren of the Public Schools, as far as experience goes, lose all\ntaste for the study of religion, which is developed among the children\nof Christian schools without any effort. Sunday-schools, at best, may\ntrain children to be Christians _one day_ in the week, and Pagans six\ndays. School-days over, the usual result will be _Pagans_ all the seven\ndays of the week.\n\nIf it is in vain to say, \"Let the Bible be read in our Public Schools,\"\nor \"let our children receive religious instruction from their parents,\nor in Sunday-schools, in order to arrest the fast-spreading crimes of\nthe land,\" it is still more in vain to say, \"Let the Legislature be\ncalled upon.\"\n\nIt cannot be denied that the higher culture of America has, from the\ntime of the introduction of the present Public School system, ceased to\nbe Christian. What is the natural harvest of this sowing? It is that we\nhave already a generation of men, thousands of whom are not fit to be\nthe heads and fathers of families. But this is not all; we have also\never so many guides of public opinion, ever so many ministers of public\naffairs, and ever so many lawgivers of the United States, who are\ninfidels and profligates; who see _only themselves_ in all they do, who\ndesire only to fret out their little hour on the political stage _with\na sharp eye to their own interests_, without the smallest desire to\nsecure the Republic against future disasters--who cannot, or _will_ not,\nsee the disastrous storms the ship of the Republic will soon have to\nencounter. What good, then, could be expected from calling upon the\nLegislature? It would only show its impotency, or, what is more, its own\ncorruption. The executive is unable, suspected, or often found in the\n\"_ring_,\" or, to use a common expression, \"Justice stinks.\" The\njudiciary, by its very nature, always timid, and too often time-serving,\ncan do nothing. Well, then, the press: what shall be said of it? Only\nthis: that it would be unreasonable to expect it to possess the\nsupernatural powers of healing such a multitude of foul lepers, or to be\nable at any time to lift itself far above the level of the general\naverage of the age and country.\n\nWhat, then, must be done to save society from the perils that menace\nit--to stem the tide that bids fair to sweep away, eventually, even\ncivilization itself? We must proceed on a true principle. When we\nproceed on a true principle, the more logically and completely we carry\nit out the better; but when we start with a false principle, the more\nlogical we are, and the farther we push it, the worse. Our consistency\nincreases, instead of diminishing, the evils we would cure. The\nreformers started wrong. They would reform the Church by placing her\nunder human control. Their successors have in each generation found they\ndid not go far enough, and have, each in its turn, struggled to push it\nfarther and farther, till they find themselves without any church life,\nwithout faith, without religion, and beginning to doubt if there be even\na God. So, in the question of education, the upholders of the Public\nSchool system have pushed the false principle \"that all individual,\ndomestic, social, and political evils are due to ignorance, and can only\nbe prevented by high intellectual culture,\" till they have nearly taught\naway all religious belief and morality, have well-nigh abolished the\nfamily which is the social unit, and find that the evils they pretended\nto prevent, and the wrongs they sought to redress, are fast increasing.\n\nWe must, then, proceed on a true principle in trying to remedy the\nprofligacy that disgraces so many of our crowded centres, and the\ndemoralization that is fast gangrening even our rural districts.\n\nOne thousand eight hundred and forty-odd years ago, you might have\nobserved a poor, meanly-clad wanderer, wending his steps on the Appian\nway to the Capitol of the world,--the wealthy, magnificent, and ungodly\ncity of Rome. He has passed its gates, and threads his way unobserved\nthrough its populous streets. On every side he beholds gorgeous palaces\nraised at the expense of downtrodden nationalities; stately temples\ndedicated to as many false gods as nations were congregated in Rome;\npublic baths and amphitheatres devoted to pleasure and to cruelty;\nstatues, monuments, and triumphal arches raised to the memory of\nblood-thirsty tyrants. He passes warriors and senators, beggars and\ncripples, effeminate and dissolute women, gladiators and slaves,\nmerchants and statesmen, orators and philosophers;--all classes, all\nranks, all conditions of men of every language and color under the sun.\nEverywhere he sees a maddening race for pleasure; everywhere the impress\nof luxury, everywhere the full growth of crime, side by side with\nindescribable suffering, diabolical cruelty and barbarity. And this\npoor, meanly-clad wanderer was St. Peter. Oh! how the noble heart of the\nfisherman of Galilee must have bled, when he observed the empire of\nSatan so supreme--when he witnessed the shocking licentiousness of the\ntemple and the homestead; when he saw the fearful degradation of woman\ngroaning under the load of her own infamy; when he saw the heart-rending\ninhumanity which slew the innocent babes and threw them into the Tiber;\nwhen he saw how prisoners of war, slaves, and soldiers were trained for\nbloody fights, and entered the arena of the amphitheatre, and strove\nwhole days to strangle one another, for the special entertainment of the\nRoman people. When Peter came to Rome, that city was the condensation of\nall the idolatry, all the oppression, all the injustice, all the\nimmoralities of the world; for the world was centred in Rome.\n\nHere, then, were evils to be remedied similar to those of our day and\ncountry. Pagan philosophers, poets and orators, had tried their best to\ncure these evils and to elevate mankind, but they had tried in vain.\nWhat they were unable to bring about, St. Peter accomplished by\npreaching to the Roman people Christianity--the religion of Jesus\nChrist--which imparts to the mind infallibly the light of truth, and\nlays down for the will authoritatively the unchangeable principles of\nsupernatural morality, true prosperity, true happiness, and peace on\nearth and for eternity. Indeed, it is a well-known fact that the\nCapitoline temple, and with it the many shrines of idolatry, the golden\nhouse of Nero, and with it Roman excess and Roman cruelty, the throne of\nthe Caesars, and with it Roman oppression and Roman injustice, gave way\nand disappeared in proportion as the light of Christianity was infused\ninto that foul mass, into that rotten society, centred in Rome. It was\nthis Christian religion that changed a sinful people into saints, and so\nmany holy inhabitants of heaven. And what the blessings of the religion\nof Christ brought about in Rome, they bring about wherever they are\ndiffused. Hence all true lovers of the country tell us that there is but\none remedy for the cure of the diabolical spirit and the crimes of our\ncountry--it is to teach our children the truth and blessings of the\nChristian religion. It is the Christian religion that infallibly and\nauthoritatively teaches the duties of civil authorities towards their\nsubjects, of husbands towards their wives, of parents towards their\nchildren, of masters towards their servants, of pastors towards their\nflocks, of the faithful towards their pastors, of servants towards their\nmasters, of wives towards their husbands, of children towards their\nparents, of subjects towards their lawfully constituted civil\nauthorities, of all men towards God, their Supreme Master, and just\nRewarder of good and evil. Moreover, it is the Christian religion alone\nthat affords men the means to obtain God's grace, which enlightens the\nmind to see the beauty of virtue, inflames the heart with love for it,\nand inclines the will to practise it with perseverance. If we then wish\nto be sure of having a virtuous and virile people, we must Christianize\nour youth, especially during their school hours; we must bring up our\nchildren in a religious atmosphere. I have already remarked that\nreligion may be compared to leaven. As leaven must be diffused\nthroughout the entire mass in order to produce its effects, so the\nChristian religion must be thoroughly diffused throughout the child's\nentire education, in order to be solid and effective.\n\nNot a moment of the hours of school should be left without religious\ninfluence. It is the constant breathing of the air that preserves our\nbodily life, and it is the constant dwelling in a religious atmosphere\nthat preserves the life of the youthful soul. Religion is not a study,\nor an exercise that may be restricted to a certain place, or a certain\nhour. It is a faith and a law which ought to be felt everywhere, and\nwhich in this manner alone can exercise all its beneficent influence\nupon our minds and lives. It will never do to suffer the child to devote\nsix days in the week to worldly science, and to depend on Sunday for a\nreligious training. This would be like reserving the salt which should\nseason our food during the week, and taking it all in a dose on Sunday.\nBy such a system we may make expert shop-boys, first-rate accountants,\nshrewd and thriving \"earth-worms\"; but it would be presumption to think\nof thus making good citizens, still less virtuous Christians.\n\nLet us be assured that our young men know their duties to God, to their\nneighbors, and to themselves, and they will then, but not till then, be\ntrue Christians. In being true Christians they will be dutiful sons,\nfaithful husbands, affectionate fathers, gentle masters, honest\nservants, law-loving and law-abiding citizens, true statesmen, good\nsoldiers, and valiant defenders of the country, chaste and sober\ncompanions, the joy of God and of society.\n\nBut, above all, let us be assured that our daughters are educated as\nwomen, not as men. Women are not needed as men; they are needed as\nwomen: to do, not what men can do as well as they, but what men cannot\ndo. Woman was created to be a wife and a mother; that is her destiny. To\nthat destiny all her instincts point, and for it nature has specially\nqualified her. Her proper sphere is home, and her proper function is the\ncare of the household, to manage a family, to take care of children, and\nattend to their early training. For this she is endowed with patience,\nendurance, passive courage, quick sensibilities, a sympathetic nature,\nand great executive and administrative ability. She was born to be a\nqueen in her own household, and make home cheerful, bright, and happy.\nThere it is that she is really great, noble, almost divine.\n\nNow the general complaint is that the greater part of our Public\nSchool-girls are not fit to be good wives, mothers and housekeepers. As\nwives, they forget what they owe to their husbands, are capricious and\nvain, often light and frivolous, extravagant and foolish, bent on having\ntheir own way, though ruinous to the family, and generally contriving,\nby coaxings, blandishments, or poutings, to get it. They hold obedience\nin horror, and seek only to govern their husbands and all around them.\n\nAs mothers, they not only neglect, but disdain, the retired and simple\ndomestic virtues, and scorn to be tied down to the modest but essential\nduties--the drudgery, they call it--of mothers; they manage to be\nrelieved of household cares, especially of child-bearing, and of the\nduty of bringing up children. They repress their maternal instincts, and\nthe horrible crime of infanticide before birth now becomes so fearfully\nprevalent, that the American nation is actually threatened with\nextinction. If they condescend to have one or two children, they set\nthem an ill example; for if children see that their mother, as a wife,\nforgets to honor and obey her husband, and always wants to have her own\nway with him, they soon lose all respect for her, and insist on having\ntheir own way with her, and usually succeed.\n\nAs housekeepers they devote their time to pleasure or amusement, wasting\ntheir life in luxurious ease, in reading sentimental or sensational\nnovels, or in following the caprices of fashion; thus they let the\nhousehold go to ruin, and the honest earnings of the husband becomes\nspeedily insufficient for the family expenses, and he is sorely tempted\nto provide for them by rash speculation or by fraud, which, though it\nmay be carried on for a while without detection, is sure to end in\ndisgrace and ruin at last.\n\nThere is indeed nothing which more grieves the wise and good, or makes\nthem tremble for the future of the country, than the way in which our\ndaughters are educated in the Public Schools. When they become wives and\nmothers, they have none of the habits or character necessary to govern\ntheir household and to train their children properly. Hence arise that\ngrowing neglect or laxity of family discipline; that insubordination,\nthat lawlessness, and precocious depravity of Young America; that almost\ntotal lack of filial reverence and obedience with the children of this\ngeneration. Exceptions there happily are; but the number of children\nthat grow up without any proper training or discipline at home is\nfearfully large, and their evil example corrupts not a few of those who\nare well brought up. The country is no better than the town. As a rule,\nchildren are no longer subjected to a steady and firm, but mild and\njudicious, discipline, or trained to habits of filial love, respect and\nobedience. These habits are acquired only in a school of obedience, made\npleasant and cheerful by a mother's playful smile and a mother's love.\nThe care and management of children during their early years belong\nspecially to the mother. The education of children may be said to\ncommence from the moment they open their eyes and ears to the sights and\nsounds of the world about them; and of these sights and sounds the words\nand example of the mother are the most impressive and the most enduring.\nOf all lessons, those learned at the knees of a good mother sink the\ndeepest into the mind and heart, and last the longest. Many of the\nnoblest and best men that ever lived, and adorned and benefited the\nworld, have declared that, under God, they owed everything that was good\nand useful in their lives to the love of virtue, and truthfulness, and\npiety, and the fear of God instilled into their hearts by the lips of a\npious mother. It is her special function to plant and develop in their\nyoung and impressible minds the seeds of virtue, love, reverence, and\nobedience, and to train her daughters, by precept and example, not to\ncatch husbands that will give them splendid establishments, but to be,\nin due time, modest and affectionate wives, tender and judicious\nmothers, and prudent and careful housekeepers. This the father cannot\ndo; and his interference, except by wise counsel, and to honor and\nsustain the mother, will generally be worse than nothing. The task\ndevolves specially on the mother; for it demands the sympathy with\nchildren which is peculiar to the female heart, the strong maternal\ninstinct implanted by nature, and directed by a judicious education,\nthat blending of love and authority, sentiment and reason, sweetness and\npower, so characteristic of the noble and true-hearted woman, and which\nso admirably fit her to be loved and honored, only less than adored, in\nher own household. But though the duties and responsibilities of mothers\nin this matter are the heaviest and most important for themselves, and\nfor the society of all others, yet there are none which are more\nneglected.\n\nNow wives and mothers, by neglecting their domestic duties and the\nproper family discipline, fail to offer the necessary resistance to\ngrowing lawlessness and crime, aggravated, if not generated, by the\nfalse notions of freedom and equality so widely entertained. It is only\nby home discipline, and the early habits of reverence and obedience to\nwhich our children are trained, that the license the government\ntolerates, and the courts hardly dare attempt to restrain, can be\ncounteracted, and the community made a law-loving and a law-abiding\ncommunity.\n\nWhy is it that the very bases of society have been sapped, and the\nconditions of good government despised, or denounced under the name of\ndespotism? Why is it that social and political life is poisoned in its\nsource, and the blood of the nation corrupted? It is because wives and\nmothers have failed in their domestic duties, and the discipline of\ntheir families. And they have failed in this, because the State did not,\nand could not, bring them up to it.\n\nThe evils we have to cure cannot be reached by the reading of the\nBible, by Sunday-school training, nor by any possible political or\nlegislative action. Men or women cannot be legislated into virtue. That\nthe remedy, to a great extent, must be supplied by woman's action and\ninfluence, we not only concede, but claim. But it is only as woman, as\nwife, as mother, that she must do the work: as woman, to soften\nasperities, and to refine what else were coarse and brutal; as wife, to\nsustain with her affection the resolutions and just aspirations of her\nhusband, and render home bright and cheerful--\"the sweetest place on\nearth\"; as mother, to direct and inspire the noble and righteous\naspirations of her sons--to train and form her children to early habits\nof piety, filial love and reverence, of obedience to God's law, and\nrespect for authority.\n\nThere are, in our day, comparatively few mothers who are qualified to do\nthis. But what they can and should do is to see that they have a better\nand more thorough system of education for their sons, but especially for\ntheir daughters--a system of education that specially adapts them to the\ndestiny of their sex, and prepares them to find their happiness in their\nhomes, and the satisfaction of their highest ambition in discharging\nits manifold duties, so much higher, nobler, and more essential to the\nvirtue and well-being of the community, the nation, the society, and to\nthe life and progress of the human race, than any which devolve on king\nor emperor, magistrate or legislator. We would not have their generous\ninstincts repressed, their quick sensibilities blunted, or their warm,\nsympathetic nature chilled, nor even the lighter graces and\naccomplishments neglected; but we would have them all directed and\nharmonized by solid intellectual instruction, and moral and religious\nculture. We would have them, whether rich or poor, trained to find the\ncentre of their affections in their home; their chief ambition in making\nit cheerful, bright, radiant and happy. Whether destined to grace a\nmagnificent palace, or to adorn the humble cottage of poverty, this\nshould be the ideal aimed at in their education. They should be trained\nto love home, and to find their pleasure in sharing its cares and\nperforming its duties, however arduous or painful.\n\nThere are, as I have said, comparatively few mothers qualified to give\ntheir daughters such an education, especially in our own country; for\ncomparatively few have received such an education themselves, or are\nable fully to appreciate its importance. They can find little help in\nthe fashionable boarding-schools for finishing young ladies; and, in\ngeneral, these schools only aggravate the evils to be cured. The best\nand the only respectable schools for daughters that we have in the\ncountry are the conventual schools taught by women consecrated to God,\nand specially devoted to the work of education. These schools, indeed,\nare not always all that might be wished. The religious cannot,\ncertainly, supply the place of the mother in giving their pupils that\npractical home-training so necessary, and which can be given only by\nmothers who have themselves been properly educated; but they go as far\nas is possible in remedying the defects of the present generation of\nmothers, and in counteracting their follies and vain ambitions. With all\nthe faults that can be alleged against any of them, the conventual\nschools, even as they are, it must be conceded, are infinitely the best\nschools for daughters in the land, and, upon the whole, worthy of the\nhigh praise and liberal patronage their devotedness and\ndisinterestedness secure them. We have seldom found their graduates\nweak and sickly sentimentalists. They develop in their pupils a cheerful\nand healthy tone, and a high sense of duty; give them solid moral,\nreligious instruction; cultivate successfully their moral and religious\naffections; refine their manners, purify their tastes, and send them out\nfeeling that life is serious, life is earnest, and resolved always to\nact under a deep sense of their personal responsibilities; meet whatever\nmay be their lot with brave hearts, and without murmuring and repining.\n\nThe editor of the _New York Herald_ prefaces an account of a Catholic\nacademy with the following remarks:\n\n\"However divided public opinion may be as to secular and religious\nschools--no matter what differences in opinion may exist in the\ncommunity as to the policy of aiding or discouraging purely sectarian\nsystems of education--there can be but little opposition from any\nquarter to the verdict of experience given by many thousand families,\nthat these devoted women--the Sisters of the Catholic Church--are the\nbest teachers of young girls, the safest instructors in this age of\nloose, worldly, and rampant New Englandism. Those matters of education\nwhich make the lady, in their hands, subordinate to the great object of\nmaking every girl committed to their care a true woman, are imbued with\nthose principles which have made our mothers our pride and boast. Those\nof us who cavil at Catholic pretensions, sneer at their assumption, and\nridicule their observances, must acknowledge that the Sisters are far\nahead and above any organization of the sort of which Protestantism can\nboast. The self-sacrifice, the devotion, the single-mindedness, the calm\ntrust in a Power unseen, the humility of manner and rare unselfishness\nwhich characterize the Sisters, has no parallel in any organization of\nthe reformed faith. The war placed the claims of the Sisters of Charity\nfairly before the country; but these Sisters of the different branches\nhave, in peace, 'victories no less renowned than in war.' Educating the\npoor children, directing the untutored mind of the youthful alien savage\nin our midst, or holding the beacon of intellectual advancement bright\nand burning before the female youth of the country, and beckoning them\nto advance, they are ever doing a good and noble work.\"\n\nWe do not disguise the fact that our hopes for the future, in great\nmeasure, rest on these conventual schools; if they are multiplied, and\nthe number of their graduates increase, and enter upon the serious\nduties of life, the ideal of female education will become higher and\nbroader; a nobler class of wives and mothers will exert a healthy and\npurifying influence; religion will become a real power in the Republic;\nthe moral tone of the community, and the standard of private and public\nmorality, will be elevated; and thus may gradually be acquired the\nvirtues that will enable us, as a people, to escape the dangers that now\nthreaten us, and to save the Republic as well as our own souls.\n\nSectarians, indeed, declaim against these schools, and denounce them as\na subtle device of Satan to make their daughters \"Romanists\"; but Satan\nprobably dislikes \"Romanism\" even more than sectarians do, and is much\nmore in earnest to suppress or ruin our conventual schools, in which he\nis not held in much honor, than he is to sustain and encourage them. At\nany rate, our countrymen who have such a horror of the religion it is\nour glory to profess, that they cannot call it by its true name, would\ndo well, before denouncing these schools, to establish better schools\nfor daughters of their own. These modest, retiring Sisters and Nuns, who\nhave no new theories and schemes of social reform, and upon whom a\ncertain class of women look down with haughty contempt, as weak,\nspiritless, and narrow-minded, have chosen the better part, and are\ndoing infinitely more to raise woman to her true dignity, and for the\npolitical and social, as well as for the moral and religious, progress\nof the country, than the Woman's Rights party, with all their grand\nconventions, brilliant speeches, stirring lectures and spirited\njournals. By way of parenthesis, we dare tell these women who are\nwasting so much time, energy, philanthropy, and brilliant eloquence in\nagitating for female suffrage and eligibility, which, if conceded, would\nonly make matters worse, that, if they have the real interest of their\nsex or of the community at heart, they should turn their attention to\nthe education of daughters for their special functions, not as men, but\nas women, who are one day to be wives and mothers--woman's true destiny.\n\nUndoubtedly the special destiny of women is to be wives and mothers; but\nwe are told that there are thousands of women who are not and cannot be\nwives and mothers. In the older and more densely settled States of the\nUnion, there is an excess of females over males, and all cannot get\nhusbands if they would. Yet, we repeat, woman was created to be a wife\nand a mother, and the woman that is not fails of her special destiny.\nUnder the Christian dispensation honorable provision has been made for\nthat large class of women who, either from preference, or from any other\ncause, do not marry. Virginity, which was regarded as a reproach, became\nan honor under the Christian law. Those women who do not wish, or cannot\nbe wives and mothers in the natural order, may be both, in the spiritual\norder, if they will, and are properly educated for it. They can be\nwedded to the Holy Spirit, and be the mothers of minds and hearts. The\nholy virgins and devout widows who consecrated themselves to God, in or\nout of religious orders, are both, and fulfil in the spiritual order\ntheir proper destiny. We hold them in high honor, because they become\nmothers to the motherless, to the poor, to the forsaken, to the\nhomeless. They instruct the ignorant, nurse the sick, help the helpless,\ntend the aged, catch the last breath of the dying, pray for the\nunbelieving and the cold-hearted, and elevate the moral tone of society,\nand shed a cheering radiance along the pathway of life. They have no\nneed to be idle or useless. In a world of so much sin and sorrow,\nsickness and suffering, there is always work enough for them to do; it\nis on the poor and motherless, the destitute and the downtrodden, the\nsinful and the sorrowful, the aged and infirm, the ignorant and the\nneglected, that, under proper direction, they can lavish the wealth of\ntheir affections, the tenderness of their hearts, and the ardor of their\ncharity, and find true joy and happiness in so doing, ample scope for\nwoman's noblest ambition, and chances enough to acquire merit in the\nsight of heaven, and true glory, that will shine brighter and brighter\nforever. They thus are dear to God, dear to the Church, and dear to\nChristian society. They are to be envied, not pitied. It is only because\nyou have lost faith in Christ, faith in the holy Catholic Church, and\nhave become gross in your minds, of \"earth earthy,\" that you deplore the\nlot of the women who cannot, in the natural order, find husbands, and\ncall them, contemptuously, \"old maids\"--a miserable relic of heathenism\nor Protestantism, neither of which have anything to hold out to old\nmaids. But Jesus Christ has provided for them better than you are able\nto understand.\n\nThe Father of our country, then, was right when he said, in his farewell\naddress to the American nation, that religion and morality are the\n\"props\" of society, and the \"pillars\" of the State. Let us, then, rest\nassured that the best way to check the torrent of infidelity and\nimmorality, to avert impending evils, to prepare the golden age of our\nRepublic, is to infuse good morals by the most powerful of all\nmeans--_Christian Education_.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[F] Prof. Aggassiz.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nTHE DENOMINATIONAL SYSTEM ALONE SATISFIES THE WANTS OF ALL, AND CAN SAVE\nTHE REPUBLIC.\n\n\nWe live in a time of great activity and change, and intense worldliness.\n\"Men run to and fro and knowledge is increased.\" Would that we could\nfeel that there is an increase also in integrity and virtue, and respect\nfor Religion. We all know that it is not so. So far as we can form\naccurate ideas of the social and religious condition of men at any\nparticular period in the world's history, we may doubt whether the words\nof the Apostle St. Paul, describing what shall come to pass in what he\ncalls \"the last days,\" ever touched any people so closely as they do\nthose of our times and country. \"Men,\" he says, \"shall be lovers of\nthemselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemous, disobedient to\nparents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace,\nslanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors,\nstubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God.\"\nWell may the Apostle speak of such times as \"dangerous times.\" When the\nmoral atmosphere we breathe is so full of what the Scriptures call \"the\nspirit of this world,\" we can only hope to escape its corrupting\ninfluences by doing all in our power to diffuse Christian principles\namong the rising generation, by means of truly Christian schools.\n\nThe arrangements can be made without disturbing the general system. It\nis this: \"Let the State aid, but not direct, a system of plain English\neducation, confined to all those whose circumstances are limited, or who\nare left destitute, or orphans. Let all religious denominations, when\nthey desire it, have the privilege of conducting their own schools,\nsubject only to general uniform inspection and examination on the part\nof the State, and have their proportion of the school-moneys.\" The\nwealthy classes will know how to take care of the education of their\nown children, as they do of their family affairs in other matters.\n\nThe advocates of this \"Denominational System\" yield to none in their\nendeavors to secure to _all_ the children within the State a good,\nsolid, and practical education, according to the religious convictions\nand circumstances of all. This, they claim, is not, and cannot be\nfurnished on the present plan. They do not, as falsely charged, desire\nto distract or divide, or introduce sectarianism into the Public\nSchools; on the contrary, they _wish_ to satisfy conscience by yielding\n_to all others what they claim for themselves_, and cannot help\ndenouncing the present system as practically resulting in a form of\nsectarianism worse than any yet professed: to wit, \"Indifferentism.\"\n\nIf the \"Denominational System\" was adopted, it would satisfy and do\njustice to all, and, at the same time, excite such rivalry and\ncompetition among teachers as to advance education, whilst it diminishes\nits cost in the same ratio. We have seen that it costs about four times\nas much to give the miserable infidel instruction in the Public Schools,\nas it does to give a good Christian education in the denominational\nschools. What possible objection, then, can there be to adopt the\ndenominational, or separate system, when it costs four times less, and\nimparts, to say the least, as good an education to the greatest number\nof children? It is no argument to urge that schools would be sectarian.\nWe have sectarian churches, and various shades and differences of\nbelief, already. This would not alter one or the other a particle. The\nState cannot impose uniformity on churches; why force it on schools?\nIndeed it is worse, inasmuch as this scholastic conformity or uniformity\nis against all religions, and in favor of infidelity, or the\nno-religious sect, if there be such a one. It discriminates against the\nbelievers, and is in favor of the unbelievers.\n\nBut it is easy to see what the matter is. It is not religion these men\nfear so much as _competition_. One session's trial of the separate\nsystem would so clearly demonstrate to the public the economy and\nadvantages of this plan, that the troop of paid teachers, officers,\nmusicians, and others, who are fattening at the expense of a credulous\npeople, would be exposed, and have to take their \"carpet-bags\" and\ntramp. However, I have no cause of quarrel with the employes, male or\nfemale, of the Public Schools. They do not elect themselves, nor make\ntheir salaries, and they are not to be blamed for taking them. If the\nclever gentleman who draws (in one State, at least) $2,750 for ten\nmonths, four hours' a day work, or the accomplished lady who gets $2,000\nfor the same time and labor, or the three musicians at $2,000 each, or\nthe humble, but perhaps not less useful, corps of \"school-sweepers\"\n(janitors), who are rewarded with $16,886.50, or the officers (three),\nwho pocket $14,457.90 salary, and $20,771.96 office-expenses!! are so\nhandsomely rewarded, it is their good fortune, and not their fault.\nThere is, doubtless, a great deal of human nature in their composition,\nas well as others.\n\nThere is no earthly way of giving satisfaction to all, except by\ngranting the denominational system, thereby leaving to all sects and\ndenominations, as well as to those who do not range themselves under any\nspecific form at all, to apply a fair proportion of the school-money.\nAll those who prefer the present plan would have no change to make, and\nall those who desire the separate plan would have the right to select\ntheir own class-books and teachers; in other words, would have the\ninterior management of their own schools. This is the way church matters\nare managed to the satisfaction of all. Peoples' views and convictions\non education are just as conscientious and distinct as on religion, and\nthey have just as good a right to them. If any man denies this truth, I\nwould like him to give his reasons.\n\nThere is one other thing to be taken into consideration here: if, as is\nclaimed, all, from the highest to the lowest, have a right to an\neducation at the hands of the State, and if, as is admitted, all should\nbe instructed in their moral and religious duties, if not by the State,\nat least by their parents and pastors, who will instruct the poor little\norphans, the very class for whose benefit the public provide an\neducation--who, I say, will instruct them in the way they should go? who\nwill answer for these little \"waifs of society\"? They ask for bread, and\nthe State gives them a stone; it has, with the best intentions in the\nworld, no better to give them. These considerations have compelled most\nof the European States, as well as our neighbors--the Canadians--to\nabandon the _godless system_, and establish separate schools, when\nasked to do so by the members of any denomination.[G]\n\nThere _is no exception to this rule, except here!_ With all our boasted\nprogress, we are behind all civilized nations in this important\nparticular.\n\nNow by adopting this fair method, the poor orphans and ragged children,\nwho have the first and best claim of all, would be educated. As it is,\nit is a notorious fact, that as far as Public Schools are concerned,\nthey are left out in the cold. This fact is capable of being\ndemonstrated to any lady or gentleman who will visit the Catholic\norphanages and poor schools of any city. If any one doubts this, and\ndoes me the honor of putting himself at my disposal, I will show him or\nher thousands of such poor ragged little ones in one evening. Now is it\nnot drawing largely upon public credulity, as well as on the public\npurse, to ask for thousands for high schools, and normal schools, etc.,\nto educate the children, in great part, of the rich, or, at best,\ncomparatively well to do, and turn their backs on the poor fatherless\norphans and the ragged children of the poor widow or laboring man? Will\nanybody who has his eyesight doubt or deny this? If so, he can be\nconvinced, any day of the week, by looking at the class and style of\nboys and girls who go to the upper Public Schools, and observing the\nboys and girls (several hundreds in number) who go to the poor schools\nof the Sisters of Mercy, or, in fact, to any other charity convent\nschool.\n\nThe Bible, or religious education in schools, will ever come up to vex\nand torment the public, especially the Catholic portion of the\ncommunity, until the right of separate schools is granted. It is\nespecially the Catholics that do and must insist upon having separate\nschools, for it is the Catholics that have always done all in their\npower to establish and maintain the republican form of government, and\nit is through the influence of Catholicity alone that our Republic can\nbe maintained, and increased in power and glory.\n\nA body which has lost the principle of its animation becomes dust. Hence\nit is an axiom that the change or perversion of the principles by which\nanything was produced, is the destruction of that very thing; if you can\nchange or pervert the principles from which anything springs, you\ndestroy it. For instance, one single foreign element introduced into the\nblood produces death; one false assumption admitted into science,\ndestroys its certainty; one false principle admitted into morals, is\nfatal. Now our American nation is departing from the principles which\ncreated their civilization, and upon which their grand Republic is\nbased. Their civilization is becoming every day more and more material,\nand this material civilization, while more and more material, is\nbecoming less moral; society is becoming less solid, less safe, less\nstable; individuals are becoming more anarchical, the intellect more\nlicentious, the wills of men more stubborn, and this self-will expresses\nitself in their actions, so that it is true to say that, by means of\ngodless education, the principles of Christianity upon which the\nAmerican Republic was founded, and by which it has hitherto been\npreserved, have been rejected, and are being violated on every side. Our\nRepublic, therefore is no more progressing, but is going back.\n\nAbout fifteen years ago a number of leading politicians and statesmen of\nAmerica, of highest name and note, met together to consider the\ncondition of the United States. It was before the war, when there were\nalready many causes of anxiety. It was said that there was a universal\nand growing license of the individual will, and that law and government\nwere powerless to restrain it; that if the will of the multitude became\nlicentious, it would seriously threaten the public welfare and liberty\nof the country. The conclusion they came to was, that, _unless there\ncould be found some power which could restrain the individual will_,\nthis danger would at last _seriously menace the United States_.\n\nNow it is easy to say what that power is. It is the power which created\nthe Christian society--it is the power which drew the world out of the\ndarkness of heathenism, abolished slavery, restored woman to her true\ndignity--it is the power which established and maintained republican\ngovernments, and that power is the power of Catholicity. Whensoever this\npower is weakened or lost, immediately all political society decays.\nThere will be a bright future for America if this power will be\nmaintained and preserved.\n\nThe Catholic Church is the grandest Republic that was ever established.\nBut it is a Republic of a supernatural order. It has for its Founder\nJesus Christ, the Son of God Himself. He chose St. Peter for its first\nPresident. This grand Republic is divided, as it were, into as many\nStates as there are dioceses; each diocese has a Bishop--a true\nsuccessor of the Apostles--for Governor, and each Bishop has priests to\nassist him in the spiritual government of the diocese. The Constitution\nof this Republic was made by Jesus Christ. It cannot be changed or\naltered at all, either by the President, or by the votes of its\ncitizens. St. Peter and the other Apostles, and their lawful successors,\nwere bound in conscience, by Jesus Christ, to keep His Constitution--His\ndoctrine--and teach others to keep it, under pain of forfeiture of\neternal life. The President and the Governors of this Republic--the\nPope and the Catholic Bishops--are not at liberty to govern its\ncitizens, the Catholics, as they please; they have to govern them\naccording to the Constitution--the Doctrine of Jesus Christ. Now\nAlmighty God governs men in accordance with the nature with which He has\ncreated them, as beings endowed with reason and free-will. God adapts\nHis government to our rational and voluntary faculties, and governs us\nwithout violence to either, and by really satisfying both. The rulers of\nthe Catholic Church have to do the same; they must govern men as\nfreemen. Hence the Catholic Church leaves to every people its own\nnationality, and to every State its own independence; she ameliorates\nthe political and social order, only by infusing into the hearts of the\npeople and their rulers the principles of justice and love, and a sense\nof accountability to God. The action of the Church in political and\nsocial matters is indirect, not direct, and in strict accordance with\nthe free-will of individuals and the autonomy of states. Servile fear\ndoes not rank very high among Catholic theologians. The Church, when she\ncan, resorts to coercive measures only to repress disorders in the\npublic body. Hence her rulers are called shepherds, not lords, and\nshepherds of their Master's flock, not of their own, and are to feed,\ntend, protect the flock, and take care of its increase for Him, with\nsole reference to His will, and His honor and glory. The Catholic Church\nproffers to all every assistance necessary for the attainment of the\nmost heroic sanctity, but she forces no man to accept that assistance.\nCatholics believe the doctrines of the Church, because they believe the\nCatholic Church the Church of God--they believe that Jesus Christ\ncommissioned St. Peter and the Apostles, and their lawful successors, to\nteach all men in His name--to teach them infallibly and authoritatively\nHis divine doctrine--they believe that this Church is the medium through\nwhich God manifests His will and dispenses His grace to man, and through\nwhich alone we can hope for heaven; they believe that nothing can be\nmore reasonable than to believe God at His word, and that, above all,\nthey must seek the kingdom of God and secure their eternal salvation.\n\nBeing governed by the Church, as freemen, in the spirit of a republican\ngovernment, and enjoying, as they do, the freedom of the children of\nGod, Catholics feel nowhere more at home than under a republican form of\ngovernment. If a great pope could say in truth that he was nowhere more\npope than in America, every Catholic can, and does, also, say in truth,\n\"Nowhere can I be a better Christian than in the United States.\" Hence\nit is that Catholics are very generally attached to the republican\ninstitutions of the country--no class of our citizens more so--and would\ndefend them at the sacrifice of their lives. Catholics far more readily\nadjust themselves to our institutions than non-Catholics, and among\nCatholics it must be observed that _they_ succeed best who best\nunderstand and best practise their religion. They who are least truly\nAmerican, and yield most to demagogues, are those who have very little\nof Catholicity, except the accident of being born of Catholic parents,\nwho had them baptized in infancy.\n\nPractical Catholics are the best Republicans! If we consult history, we\nfind that they were always foremost in establishing and maintaining the\nrepublican form of government. Who originated all the free principles\nwhich lie at the basis of our own noble Constitution? Who gave us trial\nby jury, _habeas corpus_, stationary courts, and the principle--for\nwhich we fought and conquered in our revolutionary struggle against\nProtestant England--that taxes are not to be levied without the free\nconsent of those who pay them? All these cardinal elements of free\ngovernment date back to the good old Catholic times, in the middle\nages--some three hundred years before the dawn of the Reformation! Our\nCatholic forefathers gave them all to us.\n\nAgain, we are indebted to Catholics for all the republics which ever\nexisted in Christian times, down to the year 1776: for those of\nSwitzerland, Venice, Genoa, Andorra, San Marino, and a host of minor\nfree Commonwealths, which sprang up in the \"dark ages.\" Some of these\nrepublics still exist, proud monuments and unanswerable evidences of\nCatholic devotion to freedom. They are acknowledged by Protestants, no\nless than by Catholics. I subjoin the testimony of an able writer in the\nNew York _Tribune_, believed to be Bayard Taylor. This distinguished\ntraveller--a staunch Protestant--appeals to history, and speaks from\npersonal observation. He writes:\n\n\"Truth compels us to add that the oldest republic now existing is that\nof San Marino, not only Catholic, but wholly surrounded by the especial\ndominion of the popes, who might have crushed it like an egg-shell at\nany time these last thousand years--but they didn't. The only republic\nwe ever travelled in besides our own is Switzerland, half of its cantons\nor states entirely Catholic, yet never, that we have heard of,\nunfaithful to the cause of freedom. We never heard the Catholics of\nHungary accused of backwardness in the late glorious struggle of their\ncountry for freedom, though its leaders were Protestants, fighting\nagainst a leading Catholic power avowedly in favor of religious as well\nas civil liberty. And chivalric, unhappy Poland, almost wholly Catholic,\nhas made as gallant struggles for freedom as any other nation; while of\nthe three despotisms that crushed her, but one was Catholic.\"\n\nLet us bring the subject home to our own times and country. Who, I would\nask, first reared in triumph the broad banner of universal freedom on\nthis North American Continent? Who first proclaimed in this new world a\ntruth too wide and expansive to enter into the head of, or to be\ncomprehended by, a narrow-minded bigot--a truth that every man should\nbe free to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience? Who\n_first_ proclaimed, on this broad continent, the glorious principles of\nuniversal freedom? Read Bancroft, read Goodrich, read Frost, read every\nProtestant historian of our country, and you will see there inscribed,\non the historic page, a _fact_ which reflects immortal honor on our\nAmerican Catholic ancestry--that Lord Baltimore and his Catholic\ncolonists of Maryland were the _first_ to proclaim universal liberty,\ncivil and religious; the _first_ to announce, as the basis of their\nlegislation, the great and noble principle that no man's faith and\nconscience should be a bar to his holding any office, or enjoying any\n_civil privilege_ of the community.\n\nWhat American can forget the names of Rochambeau, De Grasse, De Kalb,\nPulaski, La Fayette, Kosciusko? Without the aid of these noble Catholic\nheroes, and of the brave troops whom they led on to victory, would we\nhave succeeded at all in our great revolutionary contest? Men of the\nclearest heads, and of the greatest political forecast, living at that\ntime, thought not; at least they deemed the result exceedingly\ndoubtful.\n\nAnd during the whole war of the Revolution, who ever heard of a Catholic\ncoward, or of a Catholic traitor? When the Protestant General, Gates,\nfled from the battle-field of Camden with the Protestant militia of\nNorth Carolina and Virginia, who but Catholics stood firm at their\nposts, and fought and died with the brave old Catholic hero, De Kalb?\nthe veteran who, when others ingloriously fled, seized his good sword,\nand cried out to the brave old Maryland and Pennsylvania lines, \"Stand\nfirm, for I am too old to fly!\" Who ever heard of a Catholic Arnold? And\nwho has not heard of the brave Irish and German soldiers who, at a\nsomewhat later period, mainly composed the invincible army of the\nimpetuous \"Mad Anthony\" Wayne, and constituted the great bulwark of our\ndefence against the savage invasions which threatened our whole\nnorthwestern frontier with devastation and ruin?\n\nAll these facts, and many more of a similar kind which might be alleged,\ncannot have passed away, as yet, from the memory of our American\ncitizens. Americans cannot have forgotten, as yet, that the man who\nperilled most in signing the Declaration of Independence was a Roman\nCatholic, and that when Charles Carroll, of Carrolton, put his name to\nthat instrument, Benjamin Franklin observed, \"There goes a cool million\nin support of the cause!\"\n\nAnd when our energies were exhausted, and the stoutest hearts\nentertained the most gloomy forebodings as to the final issue, Catholic\nFrance stepped gallantly forth to the rescue of our infant freedom,\nalmost crushed by an overwhelming English tyranny! Catholic Spain also\nsubsequently lent us her aid against England. Many of our most sagacious\nstatesmen have believed that, but for this timely aid, our Declaration\nof Independence could scarcely have been made good.\n\nThese facts, which are but a few of those which might be adduced, prove\nconclusively that Catholicity is still what she was in the middle\nages--the steadfast friend and support of free institutions.\n\nThe great roots of all the evils that press upon society, and make man\nunhappy, are--\n\n\n\"THE IGNORANCE OF THE MIND, AND THE DEPRAVITY OF THE WILL.\"\n\nHence he who wishes to civilize the world, and thus assist in executing\nthe plans of God's providence, must remove these two great roots of evil\nby imparting to the mind infallibly the light of truth, and by laying\ndown for the will authoritatively the unchangeable principles of\nmorality. It is the Catholic Church that has accomplished in society\nthis twofold task, by means of education.\n\nIn the Pagan world, education was an edifice built up on the principles\nof slavery. The motto was, \"Odi profanum vulgus et arceo.\" Education was\nthe privilege of the aristocracy. The great mass of people was\nstudiously kept in ignorance of the treasures of the mind. This state of\nthings was done away with by the Roman Catholic Church, when she\nestablished the monastic institutions of the West. The whole of Europe\nwas soon covered with schools, not only for the wealthy, but for the\npoorest even of the poor. Yes, education was systematized, and an\nemulation was created for learning, such as the world had never seen\nbefore. Italy, Germany, France, England, and Spain, had their\nuniversities; but side by side with these, their colleges, gymnasiums,\nparish and village schools, as numerous as the churches and monasteries,\nwhich the efforts of the Holy See had scattered with lavish hand over\nthe length and breadth of the land.\n\nAnd where was the source of all this light? I answer, at _Rome_. For\nwhen the barbarian hordes poured down upon Europe from the Caspian\nMountains, it was the Popes who saved civilization. They collected, in\nthe Vatican, the manuscripts of the ancient authors, gathered from all\nparts of the earth at enormous expense. The barbarians, who destroyed\neverything by fire and sword, had already advanced as far as Rome.\nAttila, who called himself the scourge of God, stood before its walls;\nthere was no emperor, no praetorian guard, no legions present to save\nthe ancient Capital of the world. But there was a Pope--Leo I. And Leo\nwent forth, and by entreaties, and threats of God's displeasure, induced\nthe dreaded king of the Huns to retire. Scarcely had Attila retired,\nbefore Genseric, king of the Vandals, made his appearance, invited by\nEudoxia, the empress, to the plunder of Rome. Leo met him, and obtained\nfrom him the lives and the honor of the Romans, and the sparing of the\npublic monuments which adorned the city in such numbers. Thus Leo the\nGreat saved Europe from barbarism. To the name of Leo, I might add those\nof Gregory I., Sylvester II., Gregory XIII., Benedict XIV., Julius III.,\nPaul III., Leo X., Clement VIII., John XX., and a host of others, who\nmust be looked upon as the preservers of science and the arts, even amid\nthe very fearful torrent of barbarism that was spreading itself, like an\ninundation, over the whole of Europe. The principle of the Catholic\nChurch has ever been this: \"By the knowledge of Divine things, and the\nguidance of an infallible teacher, the human mind must gain certainty in\nregard to the sublimest problems, the great questions of life: by them\nthe origin, the end, the norm and limit of man's activity must be made\nknown, for then alone can he venture fearlessly upon the sphere of human\nefforts, and human developments, and human science.\" And, truly, never\nhas science gained the ascendancy outside of the Church that it has\nalways held in the Church. And what I say of science I say also of the\narts. I say it of architecture, of sculpture, and of painting. I need\nonly point to the Basilica of Peter, to the museums and libraries of\nRome. It is to Rome the youthful artist always turns his steps, in order\nto drink in, at the monuments of art and of science, the genius and\ninspiration he seeks for in vain in his own country. He feels, only too\nkeenly, that railroads and telegraphs, steamships and power-looms,\nbanking-houses and stock companies, though good and useful institutions,\nare not the mothers of genius, nor the schools of inspiration; and\ntherefore he leaves his country, and goes to Rome, and there feasts on\nthe fruits gathered by the hands of St. Peter's successors, and then\nreturns home with a name which will live for ages in the memory of those\nwho have learned to appreciate the true and the beautiful.\n\nIt is thus that the Catholic Church has accomplished the great work of\nenlightening society. She has shed the light of Faith over the East and\nthe West, over the North and the South, and with the faith she has\nestablished the principles of true science on their natural bases. She\nhas imparted education to the masses, wherever she was left free to\nadopt her own, and untrammelled by civil interference. She has fostered\nand protected the arts and the sciences, and to-day, if all the\nlibraries, and all the museums, and all the galleries of art in the\nworld were destroyed, Rome alone would possess quite enough to supply\nthe want, as it did in former ages, when others supplied themselves by\nplundering Rome.\n\nThe depravity of man shows itself in the constant endeavor to shake off\nthe restraint placed by law and duty upon his will; and to this we must\nascribe the licentiousness which has at all times afflicted society.\nPassion acknowledges no law, and spares neither rights nor conventions;\nwhere it has the power, it exercises it to the advantage of self, and to\nthe detriment of social order. The Church is by its very constitution\nCatholic, and hence looks upon all men as brothers of the same family.\nShe acknowledges not the natural right of one man over another, and\nhence her Catholicity lays a heavy restraint upon all the efforts of\nself-love, and curbs with a mighty hand the temerity of those who would\ndestroy the harmony of life implied in the idea of Catholicity.\n\nOne of the first principles of all social happiness is, that before the\nlaw of nature, and before the face of God, all men are equal. This\nprinciple is based on the unity of the human race, the origin of all men\nfrom one common father. If we study the History of Paganism, we find\nthat all heathen nations overturned this great principle, since we find\namong all heathen nations the evil of _Slavery_. Prior to the coming of\nChrist, the great majority of men were looked upon as a higher\ndevelopment of the animal, as animated instruments which might be bought\nand sold, given away and pawned; which might be tormented, maltreated,\nor murdered; as beings, in a word, for whom the idea of right, duty,\npity, mercy, and law had no existence. Who can read, without a feeling\nof intense horror, the accounts left us of the treatment of their slaves\nby the Romans? There was no law that could restrain in the least the\nwantonness, the cruelty, the licentious excess of the master, who, as\nmaster, possessed the absolute right to do with his slaves whatsoever he\npleased. To remove this stain of slavery has ever been the aim of the\nCatholic Church. \"Since the Saviour and Creator of the world,\" says Pope\nGregory I., in his celebrated decree, \"wished to become man, in order,\nby grace and liberty, to break the chains of our slavery, it is right\nand good to bestow again upon man, whom nature has permitted to be born\nfree, but whom the law of nations has brought under the yoke of slavery,\nthe blessing of their original liberty.\" Through all the middle\nages--called by Protestants the _dark ages of the world_--the echo of\nthese words of Gregory I. is heard; and in the thirteenth century Pope\nPius II. could say, \"Thanks to God, and the Apostolic See, the yoke of\nslavery does no longer disgrace any European nation.\" Since then slavery\nwas again introduced into Africa, and the newly-discovered regions of\nAmerica, and again the Popes raised their voices in the interests of\nliberty,--from Pius II. to Pius VII., who, even at the time Napoleon had\nrobbed him of his liberty, and held him captive in a foreign land,\nbecame the defender of the negro, to Gregory XVI., who, on the third of\nNovember, 1839, insisted in a special Bull on the abolition of the slave\ntrade, and who spoke in a strain as if he had lived and sat side by side\nwith Gregory I., thirteen hundred years before. But here let us observe,\nthat not only the vindication of liberty for all, not only the\nabolition of slavery, but the very mode of action followed in this\nmatter by the Popes, has gained for them immortal honor, and the esteem\nof all good men. When the Church abolished slavery in any country where\nit existed, the Popes did not compel masters, by harshness or threats,\nto manumit their slaves; they did not bring into action the base\nintrigues, the low chicanery, the canting hypocrisy of modern statesmen;\nthey did not raise armies, and send them into the lands of their masters\nto burn and to pillage, to lay waste and to destroy; they did not\nslaughter, by their schemes, over a million of free men and another\nmillion of slaves; they did not make widows and orphans without numbers;\nthey did not impoverish the land, and lay upon their subjects burdens\nwhich would crush them into very dust. Nothing of all this. That is not\nthe way in which the Church abolished slavery. The Popes sent bishops\nand priests into those countries where slavery existed, to enlighten the\nminds of the masters, and convince them that slaves were men, and\nconsequently had souls, like other people, too. The Popes, bishops and\npriests infused into the hearts of masters a deep love for Jesus Christ,\nand consequently a deep love for souls. The Popes, bishops and priests\ntaught masters to look upon their slaves as created by the same God,\nredeemed by the same Jesus Christ, destined for the same glory. The\nconsequence was, that the relations of slave and master became the\nrelations of brother to brother; the master began to love his slave, and\nto ameliorate his condition, till at last, forced by his own\nacknowledged principles, he granted to him his liberty. Thus it was that\nslavery was abolished by the preaching of the Popes, bishops and\npriests. The great barrier to all the healthy, permanent, and free\ndevelopment of nations was thus broken down; the blessings, the\nprivileges of society, were made equally attainable by the masses, and\nceased to be the special monopoly of a few, who, for the most part, had\nnothing to recommend them except their wealth.\n\nIf any doubt remain as to the favorable influence of Catholicity on\ncivil liberty, it would be dispelled by the express teaching of the\ntheologians, writing in accordance with the principles and the spirit of\nthe Church. Not to extend this point too much, I will confine myself to\nthe authority of the great St. Thomas Aquinas, who, as a theologian,\nhas perhaps had greater weight in the Catholic Church than any other\nman. His testimony may also show us what were the general sentiments of\nthe school-men in the thirteenth century, when he wrote.\n\nSpeaking of the origin of civil power and the objects of law, he lays\ndown these principles: \"The law, strictly speaking, is directed\nprimarily and principally to the common good; and to decree anything for\nthe common benefit _belongs either to the whole body of the people, or\nto some one acting in their place_.\" (Summa Theologiae, i. 2, I. Quaest.\nArt. iii., Resp.) He pronounces the following opinion as to the best\nform of government: \"Wherefore the choice of rulers in any state or\nkingdom is best, when one is _chosen for his merit to preside over all_,\nand under him are other rulers _chosen for their merit; and the\ngovernment belongs to all, because the rulers may be chosen from any\nclass of society; and the choice is made by all_.\" (Ibid, Quaest. cv.\nArt. 1.) One would think that he is hearing a Democrat of the modern\nstamp, and yet it is a monk of the dark ages! Many other testimonies of\nsimilar import might be cited, but these will suffice.\n\nAnd what has Protestantism done for human freedom? The Reformation\ndawned on the world in the year 1517. What did it do for the cause of\nfreedom from that date down to 1776--when our Republic arose? Did it\nstrike one blow for liberty during these two centuries and a half? Did\nit originate one republican principle, or found one solitary republic?\nNot one. In Germany, where it had full sway, it ruthlessly trampled in\nthe dust all the noble franchises of the Catholic middle ages; it\nestablished political despotism everywhere; it united church and state;\nin a word, it brought about that very state of things which continues to\nexist, with but slight amelioration, even down to the present day. In\nEngland, it did the same; it broke down the bulwarks of the British\nConstitution, derived from the Catholic Magna Charta; it set at naught\npopular rights, and gave to the king or queen unlimited power in church\nand state; and it required a bloody struggle and a revolution, one\nhundred and fifty years afterwards, to restore to something of their\nformer integrity the old chartered rights of the British people.\n\nProtestantism has always boasted much, but it has really done little for\nthe cause of human freedom. As to the liberties which we enjoy in our\ncountry, we cheerfully award to our Protestant fellow-citizens the\npraise which is so justly due them for _their_ share in the glorious\nstruggle.\n\nBut as to the power of Protestantism to maintain the Republic by\nchecking the great evils that have already sapped its foundations, it\nhas not any at all. How could Protestantism check infidelity, since it\nleads to it? There are two causes of infidelity that have existed from\nthe beginning of the world. But about three centuries ago Protestantism\nopened a very wide avenue to infidelity. Protestantism introduced the\nprinciple, \"There is no divinely-commissioned authority to teach\ninfallibly.\" Now infidelity exists in this principle of Protestantism,\nas the oak exists in the acorn, as the consequence is in the premise. On\nthe claim of private judgment, Protestants reject the authority of St.\nPeter, the Vicar of Christ. The Calvinists, going, as they do, by the\nsame principle, reject the Real Presence of our Lord in the Blessed\nSacrament.\n\nThe Socinians, following the same principle, reject, to-day, the\nDivinity of Christ, and therefore abjure Christianity, and fall back\ninto utter incredulity.\n\nThe German and French philosophers, rationalists, and pantheists, of all\ndegrees, do not even stop at that; they go farther, and deny the\nexistence of a God Creator, and all by the privilege of free and private\njudgment.\n\nThe individual reason taking, as it does, the place of faith, the\nProtestant, whether he believes it or not, is an infidel in germ, and\nthe infidel is a Protestant in full bloom; in other words, infidelity is\nnothing but Protestantism in the highest degree. Hence it is that Edgar\nQuinet, a great herald of Protestantism, is right in styling the\nProtestant sects _the thousand gates open to get out of Christianity_.\nNo wonder, then, that thousands of Protestants have ended, and continue\nto end, in framing their formula of faith thus: \"I believe in nothing.\"\n\nBut let us bring this subject home to our country. The disastrous issue\nof the revolutionary movements which convulsed all Europe in 1848-9,\nhas thrown upon our shores masses of foreign political refugees, most of\nwhom are infidels in religion, and red republicans, or destructionists\nof all social order in politics. They are men of desperate character and\nfortune--outlaws from society, with the brand of infidelity upon their\nbrow. It is by this fast-increasing class of men that \"Young America\" is\nattracted, and learn from them their anarchical principles. The\ngreatest, and, in fact, the only real danger to the permanency of our\nrepublican institutions, is to be apprehended from this class of\ninfidels in our community.\n\nNow what has contributed most towards the enormous increase of these\nenemies of our republic? It is the godless education given in the Public\nSchools. And who established these schools, and who robbed the money\nfrom the people to support them--to make this source of infidelity flow\nso abundantly all over the land? You find the answer to this question in\nChapter III.\n\nProtestantism was a separation from the source and current of the\nDivine-human life which exists in the Catholic Church, and which\nredeems and saves the world; and Protestants are therefore thrown back\nupon nature, and able to live only the natural life of the race--saving\nthe portion of Christian life they brought away with them at the time of\nseparation, and which, as not renewed from its source, must, in time, be\nexhausted.\n\nIt is therefore evident that Protestantism cannot fight infidelity. It\nis only the Catholic Church that can take open ground against these men\nso hostile to our country, and she feels honored by their bitter\nhostility. It could not be otherwise. Her principles are eminently\nconservative in all questions of religion and of civil policy; theirs\nare radical and destructive in both. Theirs is the old war of Satan\nagainst Christ; of the sons of Belial against the keepers of the law; of\nfalse and anti-social against true and rational liberty--\"the liberty of\nthe glory of the children of God.\"\n\nLet these enemies of the country unfold their banners of \"Infidelity,\"\n\"Socialism,\" \"Free Thought,\" \"Scepticism,\" \"Communism,\" \"No God,\" \"No\nChrist,\" \"No Pope,\" \"No Church,\" and a thousand others; let them grind\ntheir teeth, let them froth and foam at the mouth, let them tremble\nwith rage, let them shake their heads with an air of majesty, as if they\nwould say to the Church, \"We bury you to-morrow, we write your epitaph\nand chant your De Profundis; our league is mighty, our forces are\nmultitudinous, our weapons are powerful, our bravery is desperate.\"\n\nThe Catholic Church calmly answers, \"I know you hate me because I am the\npalladium of truth and of public and private morality; I am the root and\nbond of charity and faith; I love justice and hate iniquity. But it is\nfor this very reason that I will remain forever; for truth and justice\nbeing, in the end, always victorious, I will not cease to bless and to\ntriumph. All the works of the earth have perished; time has obliterated\nthem. But I remain, because Christ remains, and I will endure until I\npass from my earthly exile to my country in heaven.\n\n\"Human theories and systems have flitted across my path like birds of\nnight, but they have vanished; numberless sects have, like so many\nwaves, dashed themselves to froth against me, this rock, or, recoiling,\nhave been lost in the vast ocean of forgetfulness. Kingdoms and empires\nthat once existed in inimitable worldly grandeur are no more; dynasties\nhave died out, and have been replaced by others.\n\n\"Thrones and sceptres and crowns have withstood me; but, immutable, like\nGod, who laid my foundation, I am the firm, unshaken centre round which\nthe weal and woe of nations move--weal if they adhere to it--woe if they\nseparate from it. If the world takes from me the cross of gold, I will\nbless the world with one of wood.\n\n\"Tear down my Banner of the Cross if you can! Touch a single fold of it\nif you dare! Sound your battle-cry; rally your hosts--marshal your\nranks! Storm these lofty summits. They never yet have been surrendered.\nThe flag that waves above them has never trailed in defeat, and the\nhearts that guard that flag have never flinched before the foe, and the\nbravery that shoots through every film of these hearts has never\nfaltered. On with the conflict! Let it rage! Our line of battle reaches\nback to Calvary. That line has never been broken by wildest onset! These\nsoldiers have never fled! We are the sons of veterans who have marched\nthrough a campaign of eighteen hundred years--marched and never\nhalted--marched and always triumphed! We belong to the old Imperial\nGuard of Faith! We never yet have met a Waterloo!\n\n\"I am a queen--but a warrior-queen. You will never find me on a throne\nhere below. Banner in hand, I am ever in the midst of battle. I have\nnever granted a day of truce to my enemies. War against all who war\nagainst God--war against all who war against Christ--war against all who\nwar against man--war against all who war against truth--this is my\ndestiny.\n\n\"Peace here below, I have never known. Rest here below, I have never\nfound. I am always on the march--my banner ever unfurled--my war-cry\never sounding!\n\n\"Therefore, in the storm and shock of my battle of to-day with my\nenemies, my soldier-children fear not. Around my old chieftain they\nrally. What though some may desert and leave the lines? The lines close\nup again--and the deserters are not missed. What though a Judas Iscariot\nmay betray? A brave Matthias takes his place. What though a few of\ncraven spirit may flee? The ranks they left are filled by brave men and\ntrue.\n\n\"From the hill of Calvary to the hill of the Vatican, from Peter before\nthe Council to Pius before the Sardinian, my history has been one long,\nuninterrupted battle--and my battle one long and glorious victory.\"\n\nWe cannot but smile when we hear infidels talk of the downfall of the\nChurch. What could hell and its agents do more than they have already\ndone for her destruction? They have employed tortures for the body, but\nthey could not reach the spirit; they have tried heresy, or the denial\nof revealed truth, to such an extent that we cannot see room for any new\nheresy; they have, by the hand of schism, torn whole countries from the\nunity of the Church; but what she lost on one side of the globe, she\ngained tenfold on the other. All these have ignominiously failed to\nverify the prophecies of hell, that \"the Church shall fall.\"\n\nLook, for instance, at the tremendous effort of the so-called glorious\nReformation, together with its twin sister--the unbelief of the\nnineteenth century. Whole legions of church reformers, together with\narmies of philosophers armed with negation, and a thousand and one\nsystems of Paganism, rushed on against the Chair of Peter, and swore\nthat the Papacy would fall, and with it the whole Church. Three hundred\nyears are over, and the Catholic Church is still alive, and, to all\nappearances, more vigorous than ever. The nations have proved that they\ncan get along very well without reformers, but not without the Catholic\nChurch. Men are foolish enough to dream of the destruction of the\nPapacy. Napoleon tried the game, and, from the summit of his empire,\nwalked into exile, whilst his victim, Pius VII., leaving his prison,\nentered Rome in triumph. A great statesman of France said, not long ago,\nthat those who tried to swallow the Papacy, and with it the whole\nChurch, always died of indigestion. Let the enemies of the Catholic\nChurch beware! If they dash their heads against this rock, they must not\nbe astonished to find them broken.\n\nAnd what power has Protestantism to check the National Crime--the murder\nof helpless innocents? Everybody knows, who knows anything about the\nsubject, that among the Roman Catholic population this crime is hardly\nknown. The reason for the rare occurrence of this crime among Catholics,\nis their religion. The doctrine of the Catholic Church, her canons, her\npontifical constitutions, her theologians, without exception, teach,\nand always have taught, that even the intention of preventing or\ndestroying human life, at any period from the first instant of\nconception, is a heinous crime, equal at least in guilt to the crime of\nmurder.\n\nNow as to the power of Protestantism to check this crime, Dr. Storer,\nthe distinguished Protestant physician of Boston, says: \"We are\ncompelled to admit that _Protestantism_ has failed to check the increase\nof criminal abortion.\" (Criminal Abortion, p. 55.) \"There can be no\ndoubt that the Romish ordinance, flanked, on the one hand, by the\nconfessional, and by denouncement and excommunications on the other, has\nsaved to the world _thousands of infant lives_.\" (Ibid. p. 74.) \"During\nthe ten years which have passed since the preceding sentence was\nwritten, we have had ample verification of its truth. _Several hundreds\nof Protestant women_ have personally acknowledged to us their guilt,\nagainst whom only seven Catholics, and of these we found, upon further\ninquiry, that all but two were only nominally so, not going to the\nconfession.\"--(Ibid.)\n\nIt is, then, not Protestantism, it is the Catholic Church alone that\nhas the power to oppose herself to the propagation of so heinous a\ncrime, and prevent her children from shedding the blood of helpless\ninnocents.\n\nThe third great evil which has made the most fearful inroad among us, so\nas already to have extorted many a warning cry, is _the contempt of the\nmarriage tie_.\n\nThe family, as I have said in a previous chapter, is the groundwork of\ncivil society. If the family be Christian, the State will also be\nChristian; and if the family be corrupt, the State cannot remain long\nuntarnished. It is the holy sacrament of marriage that gives sanctity to\nthe family, and strength to civil society. To reject that sacrament is\nto sow the seeds of revolution. Revolution in the family begets\nrevolution in the State. When a government, which, by its very nature,\nshould restrain immorality, allows the separation of man and wife, it\nsanctions the right of revolution in the family, and sooner or later\nthat government will feel the dire effects of its own corrupt doctrine.\nNow it is a matter of fact that the contempt of the marriage tie, so\nprevalent in our country, is owing to Protestantism. If any one wishes\nto learn how the Continental Reformers regarded the Sacrament of\nMatrimony, let him read Luther's sermon on Marriage (if he can do so\nwithout a blush), or, better still, the dogmatical judgment of Luther,\nMelanchthon, Bucer, and the rest, giving permission! to the innocent\nLandgrave of Hesse to commit bigamy, pure and simple.\n\nIt is the Catholic Church alone, again, that has always regarded the\nChristian marriage as the corner-stone of society; and at that\ncorner-stone have the Popes stood guard for eighteen centuries, by\ninsisting that Christian marriage is one, holy, and indissoluble. Woman,\nweak and unprotected, has, as the history of the Church abundantly\nproves, found at Rome that guaranty which was refused her by him who had\nsworn at the altar of God to love her and to cherish her till death.\nWhilst, in the nations whom the Reformation of the sixteenth century\ntore from the bosom of the Church, the sacred laws of matrimony are\ntrampled in the dust, whilst the statistics of these nations hold up to\nthe world the sad spectacle of divorces as numerous as marriages, of\nseparations of husband from wife, and wife from husband, for the most\ntrivial causes, thus granting to lust the widest margin of license, and\nlegalizing concubinage and adultery; whilst the nineteenth century\nrecords in its annals the existence of a community of licentious\npolygamists within the borders of one of the most civilized countries of\nthe earth, we must yet see the decree emanating from Rome that would\npermit even a beggar to repudiate his lawful wife, in order to give his\naffections to an adulteress.\n\nThe female portion of our race would always have sunk back into a new\nslavery, had not the Popes entered the breach for the protection of the\nUnity, the sanctity, the Indissolubility of matrimony. In the midst of\nthe barbarous ages, during which the conqueror and warrior swayed the\nsceptre of empire, and kings and petty tyrants acknowledged no other\nright but that of force, it was the Popes that opposed their authority,\nlike a wall of brass, to the sensuality and the passions of the mighty\nones of the earth, and stood forth as the protectors of innocence and\noutraged virtue, as the champions of the rights of women, against the\nwanton excesses of tyrannical husbands, by enforcing, in their full\nseverity, the laws of Christian marriage. If Christian Europe is not\ncovered with harems, if polygamy has never gained a foothold in Europe,\nif, with the indissolubility and sanctity of matrimony, the palladium of\nEuropean civilization has been saved from destruction, it is all owing\nto the Popes. \"If the Popes\"--says the Protestant Von Mueller--\"if the\nPopes could hold up no other merit than that which they gained by\nprotecting monogamy against the brutal lusts of those in power,\nnotwithstanding bribes, threats, and persecutions, that alone would\nrender them immortal for all future ages.\"\n\nAnd how had they to battle till they had gained this merit? What\nsufferings had they to endure, what trials to undergo? When King\nLothair, in the ninth century, repudiated his lawful wife in order to\nlive with a concubine, Pope Nicholas I. at once took upon himself the\ndefence of the rights and of the honor of the unhappy wife. All the arts\nof an intriguing policy were plied, but Nicholas remained unshaken;\nthreats were used, but Nicholas remained firm. At last the king's\nbrother, Louis II., appears with an army before the walls of Rome, in\norder to compel the Pope to yield. It is useless--Nicholas swerves not\nfrom the line of duty. Rome is besieged; the priests and people are\nmaltreated and plundered; sanctuaries are desecrated; the cross is torn\ndown and trampled under foot, and, in the midst of these scenes of blood\nand sacrilege, Nicholas flies to the Church of St. Peter; there he is\nbesieged by the army of the Emperor for two days and two nights; left\nwithout food or drink, he is willing to die of starvation on the tomb of\nSt. Peter, rather than yield to a brutal tyrant, and sacrifice the\nsanctity of Christian marriage, the law of life of Christian society.\nAnd the perseverance of Nicholas I. was crowned with victory. He had to\ncontend against a licentious king, who was tired of restraint; against\nan emperor, who, with an army at his heels, came to enforce his\nbrother's unjust demands; against two councils of venal bishops, the one\nat Metz, the other at Aix-la-Chapelle, who had sanctioned the scandals\nof the adulterous monarch. Yet, with all this opposition, and the\nsuffering it cost him, the Pope succeeded in procuring the\nacknowledgment of the rights of an injured woman. And during succeeding\nages we find Gregory V. carrying on a similar combat against King\nRobert, and Urban II. against King Philip of France. In the thirteenth\ncentury, Philip Augustus, mightier than his predecessors, set to work\nall the levers of power, in order to move the Pope to divorce him from\nhis wife Ingelburgis. Hear the noble answer of the great Innocent III.:\n\n\"Since, by the grace of God, we have the firm and unshaken will never to\nseparate ourselves from Justice and Truth, neither moved by petitions,\nnor bribed by presents, neither induced by love, nor intimidated by\nhate, we will continue to go on in the royal path, turning neither to\nthe right nor to the left; and we judge without any respect to persons,\nsince God Himself does not respect persons.\"\n\nAfter the death of his first wife, Isabella, Philip Augustus wished to\ngain the favor of Denmark by marrying Ingelburgis. The union had hardly\nbeen solemnized, when he wished to be divorced from her. A council of\nvenal bishops assembled at Compiegne, and annulled his lawful marriage.\nThe queen, poor woman, was summoned before her Judges, and the sentence\nwas read and translated to her. She could not speak the language of\nFrance, so her only cry was \"Rome!\" And Rome heard her cry of distress,\nand came to her rescue. Innocent III. needed the alliance of France in\nthe troubles in which he was engaged with Germany; Innocent III. needed\nthe assistance of France for the Crusade; yet Innocent III. sent Peter\nof Capua as Legate to France; a Council is convoked by the Legate of the\nPope; Philip refuses to appear, in spite of the summons, and the whole\nof the kingdom of Philip is placed under interdict. Philip's rage knows\nno bounds: bishops are banished, his lawful wife is imprisoned, and the\nking vents his rage on the clergy of France. The barons, at last, appeal\nagainst Philip to the sword. The king complains to the Pope of the\nharshness of the Legate, and when Innocent only confirms the sentence of\nthe Legate, the king exclaims, \"Happy Saladin; he had no Pope!\" Yet the\nking was forced to obey. When he asked the barons assembled in council,\n\"What must I do?\" their answer was: \"Obey the Pope; put away Agnes and\nrestore Ingelburgis.\" And, thanks to the severity of Innocent III.,\nPhilip repudiated the concubine, and restored Ingelburgis to her rights,\nas wife and queen. Hear what the Protestant Hurter says, in his life of\nInnocent: \"If Christianity has not been thrown aside, as a worthless\ncreed, into some isolated corner of the world; if it has not, like the\nsects of India, been reduced to a mere theory; if its European vitality\nhas outlived the voluptuous effeminacy of the East, it is due to the\nwatchful severity of the Roman Pontiffs--to their increasing care to\nmaintain the principles of authority in the Church.\"\n\nAs often as we look to England, that land of perfidy and deceit, we are\nreminded of the words of Innocent III. to Philip Augustus. We see\nClement using them as his principles in his conduct towards the royal\nbrute Henry VIII. Catherine of Aragon, the lawful wife of Henry, had\nbeen repudiated by her disgraceful husband, and it was again to Rome she\nappealed for protection. Clement remonstrates with Henry. The monarch\ncalls the Pope hard names. Clement repeats, \"Thou shalt not commit\nadultery!\" Henry threatens to tear England from the Church; he does it;\nstill Clement insists, \"Thou shalt not commit adultery!\" Fisher and More\ngo to bleed out their life at Tyburn; still the Pope repeats, \"Thou\nshalt not commit adultery!\" Henry had two wives at the same time, and,\nafter _them_, took a new wife, and killed off his old wife, whenever his\nbeastly passion prompted. The enslavement of the people followed. Henry\nmade himself head of the Church, and bade the English nation recognize\nhim as such. The penalty of disobeying the tyrant was death. The mass of\nthe English yielded. This adulterous beast--this ferocious monster--they\naccepted as their pope; and their children, following in their steps,\naccepted his bastard brood--of either sex--as their popes; while the\nonly and true Pope, the successor of St. Peter, the Vicar of Jesus\nChrist, was rejected by them. To such depths of servility and\ndegradation do apostate nations fall. The firmness of the Pope cost\nEngland's loss to the Church. It cost the Pope bitter tears, and he\nprayed to Heaven not to visit on the people of England the crimes of the\ndespot; he prayed for the conversion of the nation; but sacrifice the\nsanctity, the indissolubility of matrimony, that he could never\ndo--abandon helpless women to the brutality of men who were tired of the\nrestraints of morality--no, that the Pope could never permit. If the\nCourt, if the palace of the domestic hearth refused a shelter, Rome was\nalways open, a refuge to injured and downtrodden innocence.\n\n\"One must obey God more than man.\" This has ever been the language of\nthe Popes, whenever there was question of defending the laws of God\nagainst the powers of the earth; and in thus defending the laws of God,\nthey protected against outrage the personal dignity, the moral liberty\nand the intellectual freedom of man. \"Because there was a Pope,\" says a\nProtestant historian, \"there could not any longer be a Tiberius in\nEurope, and the direction of the religious and spiritual welfare of man\nwas withdrawn from the hands of royalty.\" Because there were Popes, the\nwill of Caesar could not any longer be substituted for law; for the Popes\nmade the Gospel the law-book of the nations. Now the Gospel teaches that\nall power comes from God; that from God the sovereign derives his power,\nto rule in justice and equity for the welfare of his subjects, and that\nthe subjects are bound to obey their rules, for conscience sake. Hence,\nadopting the great principal of action, the Popes have at all times\ncondemned the spirit of rebellion, and have anathematized those\nprinciples, those factions, those organizations whose aim is, and has\nalways been, to overturn lawful authority and to substitute anarchy in\nthe place of the harmony of legitimate government. In conformity with\nthis rule of action the Popes Clement XII., Benedict XIV., Pius VII.,\nLeo XII., Gregory XVI., and Pius IX. have condemned secret societies,\nwhose object is the overthrow of civil and religious government. But at\nthe same time that the Popes required from subjects obedience to their\nlawful governments, they have ever defended subjects against the abuse\nof power, or against the tyranny of unjust rulers. In Pagan times it had\nthe appearance as if the people existed for the sovereign, and not the\nsovereign for the people; but in the days and in the countries where the\nspiritual supremacy of the Pope was acknowledged by rulers, the Pagan\nidea had necessarily to disappear, for the Popes gave the princes to\nunderstand that they existed for the people, and not the people for\nthem.\n\nViewed in this light, what a magnificent spectacle does the Catholic\nChurch present to our admiration, and how does the honest heart of\ndowntrodden nationality yearn that these happy days may once more\nreturn! Taken mostly from the middle classes, sometimes even from the\nmost humble ranks of society, the Popes ascended the Chair of Peter; and\nthese men, who had been the sons of artisans and mechanics, but who had,\nby their virtue and talent, gained a merit which neither wealth nor a\nnoble pedigree could bestow, became the arbiters between nation and\nnation, between prince and people, always prepared to weld together the\nchain of broken friendship, and to protect, by their power and\nauthority, the rights of subjects oppressed by tyrannical rulers. It was\nindeed a blessing for Europe that Nicholas I. could curb, with an iron\nhand, the tyranny of kings and nobles. It was indeed a blessing, not for\nEurope alone, but for the world, that there lived a genius on earth in\nthe person of Gregory VII., who knew how to protect the Saxons against\nthe wanton lawlessness of Henry, King of Germany, a monster who ground\nhis subjects remorselessly in the dust, and respected neither the\nsanctity of virginity nor the sacredness of marriage; neither the rights\nof the Church, nor those of the State; whose very existence seemed to\nhave no other aim but that of the leech, to draw out the blood from the\nhearts of his unhappy subjects. What would have become of Germany had\nthere not been a power superior to that of this godless prince? It was\nGregory VII. who hurled him from his throne, and restored to the noble\nSaxons and Thuringians their independence, not by the power of the\nsword, but by the scathing power of his anathema. The same I may say of\nBoniface VIII., and of Innocent III. There was, happily for Europe, a\nCourt of Appeal, to which even monarchs were forced to bow; and that\ncourt was Rome. It was to Rome that the nations appealed, when their\nindependence was at stake or their rights were trampled upon. And Rome\nwas never deaf to the cry of distress, whether it came from Germany or\nfrom France, from England or from Poland, from Spain or from the shores\nof the Bosphorus.\n\nAnd when the liberty of a nation was on the verge of destruction, and\nwhen emperors, and kings, and barons rode rough-shod over the rights,\nnatural and vested, of their subjects, forgetting the sacred trust\nconfided to them, became tyrants, when neither prosperity nor undivided\nliberty were secure from that rapacious grasp; when even the rights of\nconscience were set aside with impunity; it was the Popes of Rome who\nbuckled on the armor of Justice, and humbled the pride of princes--even\nif, as a consequence, they had to say, with a Gregory VII., \"Dilexi\nJustitiam et odivi iniquitatem; ideo morior in exilio\"--\"I die in exile\nbecause I have loved justice and hated iniquity.\"\n\nThe influence of Catholicity tends strongly to break down all barriers\nof separate nationalities, and to bring about a brotherhood of citizens,\nin which the love of our common country and of one another would absorb\nevery sectional feeling. Catholicity is of no nation, of no language, of\nno people; she knows no geographical bounds; she breaks down all the\nwalls of separation between race and race, and she looks alike upon\nevery people, and tribe, and caste. Her views are as enlarged as the\nterritory which she inhabits; and this is as wide as the world. Jew and\nGentile, Greek and barbarian, Irish, German, French, English, and\nAmerican, are all alike to her. The evident tendency of this principle\nis to level all sectional feelings and local prejudices, by enlarging\nthe views of mankind, and thus to bring about harmony in society, based\nupon mutual forbearance and charity. And, in fact, so far as the\ninfluence of the Catholic Church could be brought to bear upon the\nanomalous condition of society in America, it has been exercised for\nsecuring the desirable result of causing all its heterogeneous elements\nto be merged in the one variegated but homogeneous nationality.\nProtestantism isolates and divides; Catholicity brings together and\nunites.\n\nThe Catholic Church is a grand fact in history--a fact so great that\nthere would be no history without it--a fact permanent, repeating itself\nperpetually, entering into the concerns of all the nations on the face\nof the earth, appearing again and again on the records of time, and\nbenefiting, perceived or unperceived, directly or indirectly, socially,\nmorally, and supernaturally, every individual who forms part of the\ngreat organism of human society.\n\nAround this Church human society moves like a wheel around its axle; it\nis on this Church that society depends for its support, its life, its\nenergy, like the planetary system on the sun. Show me an age, a\ncountry, a nation deprived of the influence of Catholicity, and I will\nshow you an age, a country, a nation without morals, without virtue.\nYes, if \"Religion and Science, Liberty and Justice, Principle and\nRight,\" are not empty sounds--if they have a meaning--they owe their\nenergetic existence in the world to the Catholic Church.\n\nSuch is the power and such is the influence of Catholicity. Yet I do not\npretend that our Catholic population is perfect, or that in them you\nwill find no shortcomings, nothing to be censured or regretted.\nCertainly in our cities and large towns may be found, I am sorry to say,\nmany so-called liberal or _nominal_ Catholics, who are no credit to\ntheir religion, to the land of their birth, or to that of their\nadoption. Subjected at home, as they were, to the restraints imposed by\nProtestant or quasi-Protestant governments, they feel, on coming here,\nthat they are loosed from all restraints, and forgetting the obedience\nthey owe to their pastors, to the prelates whom the Holy Ghost has\nplaced over them, they become insubordinate, and live more as\nnon-Catholics than as Catholics. The children of these are, to a great\nextent, shamefully neglected, and suffered to grow up without the\nsimplest moral and religious instruction, and to become recruits to our\nvicious population, our rowdies and our criminals. This is certainly to\nbe deplored, but can easily be explained without prejudice to the\ninfluence of Catholicity, by adverting to the condition to which those\nindividuals were reduced before coming here; to their disappointments\nand discouragements in a strange land; to their exposure to new and\nunlooked-for temptations; to the fact that they were by no means the\nbest of Catholics even in their native countries; to their poverty,\ndestitution, ignorance, insufficient culture, and a certain natural\nshiftlessness and recklessness, and to our _great lack of schools,\nchurches, and priests_. The proportion, however, that these bear to our\nwhole Catholic population, is far less than is commonly supposed, and\nthey are not so habitually depraved as they appear, for they seldom or\nnever consult appearances, and have little skill in concealing their\nvices. As low and degraded as this class of our Catholic population may\nbe, they never are so low or so vicious as the corresponding class of\nnon-Catholics in every nation. A non-Catholic vicious class is always\nworse than it appears; a Catholic vicious class is less bad. In the\nworst there is always some germ that, with proper care, may be nursed\ninto life, that may blossom and bear fruit. Yet, if we look at the\nCatholic population as it is, and is every year becoming, we cannot but\nbe struck with its marvellous energy and progress. We will find that\npopulation more intellectual, more cultivated, more moral, more active,\nliving, and energetic than any other.\n\nThe Catholic population of this country, taken as a body, have a\npersonal freedom, an independence, a self-respect, a conscientiousness,\na love of truth, and a devotion to principle, not to be found in any\nother class of American citizens. Their moral tone, as well as their\nmoral standard, is far higher, and they act more uniformly under a sense\nof deep responsibility to God and their country. They are the most\nlaw-loving and law-abiding people. The men of that population are the\nmost vigorous, and the hardiest; their virgins are the chastest; their\nmatrons the most faithful. Catholics do, as to the great majority, act\nfrom honest principle, from sincere and earnest conviction, and are\nprepared to die sooner than in any grave matters swerve from what they\nregard as truth and justice. They have the principle and the firmness to\nstand by what they believe true and just, in good report and evil\nreport, whether the world be with them or be against them. Among\nCatholics you will not find the flunkeyism which Carlyle so unmercifully\nridicules in the middling classes of Great Britain, or that respect to\nmere wealth, that worship of the money-bag, or that base servility to\nthe mob, or public opinion, so common and so ruinous to public and\nprivate virtue in the United States.\n\nThe mental activity of Catholics, all things considered, is far more\nremarkable than that of our non-Catholic countrymen; and, in proportion\nto their numbers and means, they contribute far more than any other\nclass of American citizens to the purposes of education, both common and\nliberal, for they receive little or nothing from the public treasury;\nand in addition to supporting numerous schools of their own, they are\nforced to contribute their quota to the support of those of the State.\nThus, to take a single illustration, the public school-tax in Cincinnati\nfor last year amounted to $810,000. Of this the Catholics--such is\ntheir proportion in that community--contributed $230,000, or more than\none-third of the whole rate. This large sum--L162,000--goes to the\nmanagement and formation of schools which the Catholics of Cincinnati\nare debarred, by their consciences, from entering. They have therefore\ntheir own schools, which they have built, and support entirely at their\nown expense, without any assistance whatever from the State. The\neducation which they give is known to be excellent; but it is based on\nreligion, and is not controlled by the State and paid officials. The\nconsequence is, that not only are they not encouraged, but they are\nactually taxed by the State.\n\nThus, for instance, the Cathedral School is obliged to pay to the State\nan annual tax of L120, and the schools of another parish L200. The\nCatholics of the Cathedral Parish have not only to pay the State\nschool-tax, and the heavy tax laid on their school-buildings, but they\nhave to find $3,500 annually to meet the current school expenses. All\nthis has to be collected by the clergy as best they can.\n\nThe non-Catholic has no conception of the treasure the Union possesses\nin these thirteen millions of Catholics, humble in their outward\ncircumstances as the majority of them may be. A true, high-toned,\nchivalric national character will be formed, and a true, generous, and\nlofty patriotism will be generated and sustained in proportion as the\nforce of Catholicity is brought to bear upon our American people, and\nthe life of practical Catholics falls into the current of American life.\nCatholics have their faults and shortcomings, yet they are the salt of\nthe American community, and the really conservative element in the\nAmerican population. In a few years they will be the Americans of the\nAmericans, and on them will rest the performance of the glorious work of\nsustaining American civilization, and realizing the hopes of the\nfounders of our great and growing Republic.\n\nIt must, then, be evident to every true lover of the Republic, that the\nState, were it at liberty to favor any particular portion of the\ncommunity, should favor its conservative element--the Catholics--instead\nof robbing Catholics of millions of dollars, to continue, by godless\neducation, the impious work for the increase of the number of enemies of\nthe Republic; it should rather supply Catholics with the means to bring\nup their children in the spirit of true freedom--in the spirit of\ndevotedness to republican institutions. But as the State is neither\nCatholic nor Protestant, it should at least act justly and impartially;\nit should not favor its own enemies; it should not make a lie or a farce\nof our glorious Constitution; it should no longer play the usurper and\nthe robber; it should no longer continue digging its own grave;\nit should not tax Catholics any longer to support infidel\ninstitutions--nurseries of all kinds of crimes--and thus continue to\nviolate most atrociously the very letter and spirit of the Constitution,\nand to commit a direct outrage on the most sacred convictions of\nCatholics.\n\nIt is the well-instructed practical Catholic that is alone capable of\nappreciating and realizing true freedom. Ever foremost to concede the\nrights of God, ever careful to trench on the rights of his\nfellow-creatures, he is, for all this (and precisely _because_ of this),\nwell aware of his own rights and dignity as a man, as a citizen, and as\na baptized Christian--a regenerated son of God--and, knowing his rights\nand dignity, he dares maintain them! He protests against godless\neducation as a volcano that is destined to bury law and authority, and\nbring about universal anarchy, and prepare and establish the reign of\nantichrist. We must, then, have separate schools to educate our rising\ngeneration in a religious atmosphere, and imbue them with the principles\nof Christianity. All those who oppose any longer the denominational\nsystem, in any manner whatsoever, are traitors to the Republic and the\nworst enemies of the country, and from henceforth the vengeance of God\nwill not be slow to overtake them. On the contrary, he who will be first\nand foremost in promoting this noblest of objects--the establishment of\ndenominational schools--may truly be called the _saviour_ of the\nRepublic,--the _father of his country_; he will be as great, nay, even\ngreater, than Washington himself. Upon him the blessings of heaven will\ndescend in superabundance, and his name will be blessed from generation\nto generation.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[G] By \"An Act to restore to Roman Catholics in Upper Canada certain\nrights in respect to Separate Schools,\" passed May 5, 1863, they\nprovided that \"the Roman Catholic separate schools shall be entitled to\na share in the fund annually granted by the legislature of the province\nfor the support of common schools, and shall be entitled also to a share\nin all other public grants, investments, and allotments for common\nschool purposes now made or hereafter to be made by the municipal\nauthorities, according to the average number of pupils attending such\nschool, as compared with the whole average number of pupils attending\nschools in the same city, town, village or township.\"--Cap. 5, sec. 20.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nTHE CATHOLIC PRIEST ON THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.\n\n\nSo far I have spoken as an American citizen. I have shown to all my\nfellow-citizens the tree with its fruits--the Public School system in\nbroad daylight. All who call themselves Christians, or who consider\nthemselves men of common sense, and warm promoters of the happiness of\ntheir fellow-citizens, will agree with me in saying that the Public\nSchool system is a tree of which we must say what God said to Adam of\nthe tree standing in the middle of paradise: \"Of the tree of knowledge\nof good and evil thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou _shalt\neat of it thou shalt die the death_.\"--(Gen ii. 17.) It is now time for\nme to speak as a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. It is the duty of\nthe Catholic priest to teach the children of the Catholic Church the\nlanguage of their spiritual Mother--the Church. This language is no\nother than that of the Supreme Head of the Church--the Pope. Now the\nlanguage of the Vicar of Christ in regard to godless education is very\nplain and unmistakable.\n\nJesus Christ, our Divine Saviour, has said: \"What doth it profit a man\nif he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own\nsoul?\"--(Matt. xvi. 26.) What will it profit you or your children to\ngain all knowledge, and to attain the greatest success in this world,\nif, through your fault, and through your exposing them to the danger of\nevil education, they suffer the loss of that faith, without which \"it is\nimpossible to please God\"?--(Heb. xi.)\n\n\n_Teaching of the Syllabus._\n\nGuided by this principle, our Holy Father, Pope Pius IX., has declared\nthat Catholics cannot \"_approve of a system of educating youth\nunconnected with the Catholic Faith and the power of the Church, and\nwhich regards the knowledge of merely natural things, and only, or at\nleast primarily, the ends of earthly social life_.\"[H] Catholic parents\ncannot approve of an education which fits their children only for this\nlife, and ignores that life in which the soul is to live forever. As\nfaith is the foundation of all our hopes for eternity, and as faith\nwithout good works is dead, we cannot choose for our children an\neducation which would endanger their faith and morals, and consequently\nimperil their eternal welfare.\n\n\n_Teaching of Pope Pius VII._\n\nThis is no novel doctrine, as some assert. In the beginning of the\ncentury, the illustrious Pius VII., in an Encyclical letter addressed to\nthe Bishops of the Catholic world, July 10th, 1800, thus writes:--\n\n\"It is your duty to take care of the whole flock over which the Holy\nGhost has placed you as Bishops, but in particular to watch over\nchildren and young men. They ought to be the special object of your\npaternal love, of your vigilant solicitude, of your zeal, of all your\ncare. They who have tried to subvert society and families, to destroy\nauthority, divine and human, have spared no pains to infect and corrupt\nyouth, hoping thus the more easily to execute their infamous projects.\nThey know that the mind and heart of young persons, like soft wax, to\nwhich one may give what form he pleases, are very susceptible of every\nsort of impression; that they keep tenaciously, when age has now\nhardened them, those which they had early received, and reject others.\nThence the well-known proverb taken from the Scripture, 'A young man\naccording to his way, even when he is old he will not depart from it.'\nSuffer not, then, venerable brethren, the children of this world to be\nmore prudent in this respect than the children of light. Examine,\ntherefore, with the greatest attention, to what manner of persons is\nconfided the education of children, and of young men in the colleges and\nseminaries; of what sort are the instructions given them; what sort of\nschools exist among you; of what sort are the teachers in the lyceums.\nExamine into all this with the greatest care, sound everything, let\nnothing escape your vigilant eye; keep off, repulse the ravening wolves\nthat seek to devour these innocent lambs; drive out of the sheepfold\nthose which have gotten in; remove them as soon as can be, for such is\nthe power which has been given to you by the Lord for the edification of\nyour sheep.\"\n\n\n_Rescripts of His Present Holiness Condemning the Queen's Colleges of\nEngland._\n\nOur Holy Father Pope Pius IX., consulting for the special wants of the\nCatholics of Ireland, has not ceased, almost from the very beginning of\nhis glorious pontificate, to repeat similar instructions in his\napostolic letters to the Irish Bishops. Hence, by his rescripts of\nOctober 1847, and October 1848, he condemned, from their first\ninstitution, the Queen's Colleges, on account of their \"grievous and\nintrinsic dangers to faith and morals\"; and since then he has frequently\nrepeated his sacred admonitions, warning the bishops and the faithful\npeople to beware of evil systems of public instruction; and to secure,\nby every means in their power, the blessings of Catholic education for\nthe rising generation.\n\n\n_Resolutions of Irish Bishops in 1824 and 1826._\n\nNor have the Irish prelates been unmindful of their duty in this\nrespect. In 1824, that is to say, five years before Catholic\nemancipation, and in the midst of the struggle for that recognition of\nthe existence of their people as citizens, they presented to Parliament\na petition, from which I make the following extract, which clearly shows\ntheir conviction of the necessity of religious education:\n\n\"That in the Roman Catholic Church the literary and religious\ninstruction of youth are universally combined, and that no system of\neducation which separates them can be acceptable to the members of her\ncommunion; that the religious instruction of youth in Catholic schools\nis always conveyed by means of catachetical instruction, daily prayer,\nand the reading of religious books, wherein the Gospel morality is\nexplained and inculcated; that Roman Catholics have ever considered the\nreading of the Sacred Scriptures by children as an inadequate means of\nimparting to them religious instruction, as a usage whereby the Word of\nGod is made liable to irreverence, youth exposed to misunderstand its\nmeaning, and thereby not unfrequently to receive in early life\nimpressions which may afterwards prove injurious to their own best\ninterests, as well as to those of the society which they are destined to\nform. That schools whereof the master professes a religion different\nfrom that of his pupils, or from which such religious instruction as the\nCatholic Church prescribes for youth is excluded, or in which books and\ntracts not sanctioned by it are read or commented on, cannot be resorted\nto by the children of Roman Catholics; and that threats and rewards have\nbeen found equally unavailing as a means of inducing Catholic parents to\nprocure education for their children from such persons or in such\nschools; that any system of education incompatible with the discipline\nof the Catholic Church, or superintended exclusively by persons\nprofessing a religion different from that of the vast majority of the\npoor of Ireland, cannot possibly be acceptable to the latter, and must,\nin its progress, be slow and embarrassed, generating often distrust and\ndiscord as well as a want of that mutual good faith and perfect\nconfidence which should prevail between those who receive benefits and\nthose who dispense them.\"\n\nThe Irish Bishops again expressed the like sentiments in 1826.\n\n\n_Address of the National Synod of Thurles._\n\nA National Synod met in Thurles in August, 1860, and again the Prelates\nspoke words of instruction, of which recent sad events in France have\nfurnished a new and most melancholy confirmation.\n\n\"As rulers of the Church of Christ, chief pastors of His flock,\nreligiously responsible to the Prince of Pastors for every soul\ncommitted to our charge, it forms, as is obvious, our first and\nparamount duty to attend to the pastures in which they feed--the\ndoctrines with which they are nourished. And surely if ever there was a\nperiod which called for the unsleeping vigilance, the prudent foresight,\nthe intrepid and self-sacrificing zeal of our august ministry--that\nperiod is the present. The alarming spectacle which the Christian world\nexhibits at the present day, the novel but formidable forms in which\nerror presents itself, and the manifold evils and perils by which the\nChurch is encompassed, must be evident to the most superficial observer.\nIt is no longer a single heresy or an eccentric fanaticism, the denial\nof some revealed truth, or the excesses of some extravagant error, but a\ncomprehensive, all-pervading, well-digested system of unbelief, suited\nto every capacity and reaching every intellect, that corrupts and\ndesolates the moral world. Is not such the calamitous spectacle which\nthe continent of Europe offers to us at this moment? Education, the\nsource of all intellectual life, by which the mind of man is nurtured\nand disciplined, his principles determined, his feelings regulated, his\njudgments fixed, his character formed, has been forcibly dissevered from\nevery connection with religion, and made the vehicle of that cold\nscepticism and heartless indifferentism which have seduced and corrupted\nyouth, and by a necessary consequence shaken to its centre the whole\nfabric of social life. Separated from her heavenly monitor, learning is\nno longer the organ of that wisdom which cometh from above, which,\naccording to St. James, is 'chaste, peaceable, modest, easy to be\npersuaded, consenting to the good, full of mercy and good fruits,\nwithout judging, without dissimulation,' but rather of that wisdom which\nhe describes as 'earthly, sensual, and devilish.'--(James iii. 15-17.)\n\n\"It is, we feel assured, unnecessary to observe to you, that of all\nmodes of propagating error, education is the most subtle and dangerous,\nfurnishing, as it does, the aliment by which the social body is\nsustained, which circulates through every vein, and reaches every\nmember; and that if this aliment should prove to be corrupt or\ndeleterious, it will not fail to carry moral disease and death to the\nentire system. Hence the awful obligations we are under, at the peril of\nour souls, of watching over the education of the people whom God has\nintrusted to our charge.\n\n\"Listen to the emphatic words in which the present illustrious Pontiff\nsets forth the dangers to which youth is exposed at the present time,\nand the duties which are placed upon the pastors of the people in this\nregard. 'It is incumbent upon you,' he says, 'and upon ourselves, to\nlabor with all diligence and energy, and with great firmness of purpose,\nand to be vigilant in everything that regards schools, and the\ninstruction and education of children and youths of both sexes. For you\nwell know that the modern enemies of religion and human society, with a\nmost diabolical spirit, direct all their artifices to pervert the minds\nand hearts of youth from their earliest years. Wherefore, they leave\nnothing untried; they shrink from no attempt to withdraw schools, and\nevery institution destined for the education of youth, from\nthe authority of the Church and the vigilance of her holy\npastors.'--_Encycl. Letter of Pius IX., eighth December, 1849._\n\n\"Such are the words of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, which show the\nresponsibility under which we are placed, and point out our duty to\nprotect from the insidious snares laid for their destruction the lambs\nof the fold--that most helpless but precious portion of the flock of\nJesus Christ which the prophet represents as carried in His bosom.\"\n\n\n_Mixed System again Condemned._\n\nAgain, in 1859, 1862, 1863, 1867, and 1869, the Irish Bishops renewed\ntheir condemnation of the godless system, and demanded for their\nchildren the advantage of truly Catholic education.\n\n\n_Unanimity of Catholic Bishops throughout the World on this Point._\n\nThe Bishops of Prussia, of Austria, of Belgium, of Holland, of Canada,\nand of the United States, in their pastorals, their synodical addresses,\nand in their other publications, condemn with one accord the mixed\nsystem, and declare that education based upon our holy religion is alone\nsuitable for Catholic children. Not to multiply quotations, it will\nsuffice to cite the following extract from the address of the Plenary\nSynod of the Church of the United States, held at Baltimore, in the year\n1866. That Council was one of the most numerous assemblies held after\nthe Council of Trent, until the meeting of the General Council of the\nVatican. Its decrees were signed by seven Archbishops, thirty-seven\nBishops, two procurators of absent Bishops, and two Abbots.\n\n\n\"ADDRESS OF THE PLENARY SYNOD OF BALTIMORE, UNITED STATES.\n\n\"The experience of every day shows more and more plainly what serious\nevils and great dangers are entailed upon Catholic youth by their\nfrequentation of Public Schools in this country. Such is the nature of\nthe system of teaching therein employed, that it is not possible to\nprevent young Catholics from incurring, through its influence, danger to\ntheir faith and morals; nor can we ascribe to any other cause that\ndestructive spirit of indifferentism which has made, and is now making,\nsuch rapid strides in this country, and that corruption of morals which\nwe have to deplore in those of tender years. Familiar intercourse with\nthose of false religions, or of no religion; the daily use of authors\nwho assail with calumny and sarcasm our holy religion, its practices,\nand even its saints--these gradually impair, in the minds of Catholic\nchildren, the vigor and influence of the true religion. Besides, the\nmorals and examples of their fellow-scholars are generally so corrupt,\nand so great their license in word and deed, that through continual\ncontact with them the modesty and piety of our children, even of those\nwho have been best trained at home, disappear like wax before the fire.\nThese evils and dangers did not escape the knowledge of our\npredecessors, as we learn from the following decrees:\n\n\"'(_a_) Whereas many Catholic children, especially those born of poor\nparents, have been, and are still, exposed in several places of this\nprovince, to great danger of losing their faith and morals, owing to the\nwant of good masters to whom their education may safely be intrusted, we\nconsider it absolutely necessary that schools should be established in\nwhich the young may be imbued with the principles of faith and morality,\nand at the same receive instruction in letters.'\"--_Council of\nBaltimore, No. 33._\n\n\n_Teachings of the Supreme Pontiff, Pius IX._\n\nIn fine, to show the union of the Bishops throughout the world with the\nApostolic See in their teaching respecting education, I add the words of\nthe Supreme Pontiff Pope Pius IX., in which, replying to the Archbishop\nof Freiburg, in Germany, His Holiness clearly expounds, as the\nInfallible Teacher of the faithful, the truth I am now developing for\nthe instruction of Catholics:\n\n\"It is not wonderful that these unhappy efforts (to spread irreligious\nand revolutionary principles) should be directed chiefly to corrupt the\ntraining and education of youth; and there is no doubt that the greatest\ninjury is inflicted on society, when the directing authority and\nsalutary power of the Church are withdrawn from public and private\neducation, on which the happiness of the Church and of the Commonwealth\ndepends so much. For thus society is, little by little, deprived of that\ntruly Christian spirit which alone can permanently secure the foundation\nof peace and public order, and promote and direct the true and useful\nprogress of civilization, and give man those helps which are necessary\nfor him in order to attain, after this life, his last end\nhereafter--eternal happiness. And in truth a system of teaching, which\nnot only is limited to the knowledge of natural things, and does not\npass beyond the bounds of our life on earth, but also departs from the\ntruth revealed by God, must necessarily be guided by the spirit of error\nand lies; and education, which, without the aid of the Christian\ndoctrine and of its salutary moral precepts, instructs the minds and\nmoulds the tender heart of youth, which is so prone to evil, must\ninfallibly produce a generation which will have no guide but its own\nwicked passions and wild conceits, and which will be a source of the\ngreatest misfortunes to the Commonwealth and their own families.\n\n\"But if this detestable system of education, so far removed from\nCatholic faith and ecclesiastical authority, becomes a source of evils,\nboth to individuals and to society, when it is employed in the higher\nteaching, and in schools frequented by the better class, who does not\nsee that the same system will give rise to still greater evils, if it be\nintroduced into primary schools? For it is in these schools, above all,\nthat the children of the people ought to be carefully taught from their\ntender years the mysteries and precepts of our holy religion, and to be\ntrained with diligence to piety, good morals, religion and civilization.\nIn such schools religious teaching ought to have so leading a place in\nall that concerns education and instruction, that whatever else the\nchildren may learn should appear subsidiary to it. The young,\ntherefore, are exposed to the greatest perils whenever, in the schools,\neducation is not closely united with religious teaching. Wherefore,\nsince primary schools are established chiefly to give the people a\nreligious education, and to lead them to piety and Christian morality,\nthey have justly attracted to themselves, in a greater degree than other\neducational institutions, all the care, solicitude, and vigilance of the\nChurch. The design of withdrawing primary schools from the control of\nthe Church, and the exertions made to carry this design into effect, are\ntherefore inspired by a spirit of hostility towards her, and by the\ndesire of extinguishing among the people the divine light of our holy\nfaith. The Church, which has founded these schools, has ever regarded\nthem with the greatest care and interest, and looked upon them as the\nchief object of her ecclesiastical authority and government; and\nwhatsoever removed them from her, inflicted serious injury both on her\nand on the schools. Those who pretend that the Church ought to abdicate\nor suspend her control and her salutary action upon the primary\nschools, in reality ask her to disobey the commands of her Divine\nAuthor, and to be false to the charge she has received from God, of\nguiding all men to salvation; and in whatever country this pernicious\ndesign of removing the schools from the ecclesiastical authority should\nbe entertained and carried into execution, and the young thereby exposed\nto the danger of losing their faith, there the Church would be in duty\nbound not only to use her best efforts, and to employ every means to\nsecure for them the necessary Christian education and instruction, but,\nmoreover, would feel herself obliged to warn all the faithful, and to\ndeclare that no one can in conscience frequent such schools, as being\nadverse to the Catholic Church.\"\n\nI exclaim with the great St. Augustine: \"Securus judicat orbis\nterrarum.\" The Bishops of the universal world, united to the Vicar of\nChrist, speak with authority; their judgment cannot be gainsaid. Peter\nhas spoken through Pius; the question is settled; would that the error,\ntoo, were at an end!\n\n\n_Testimonies of Enemies of the Catholic Church._\n\nHowever, it is not from the Bishops alone that we learn the dangers of\nbad education. Our opponents, too, the enemies of our holy religion,\ndeem no other means more efficacious for alienating our children from\nour mother, the Catholic Church.\n\nOne of the greatest enemies of the Catholic faith in the first half of\nthe last century, Primate Boulter, who took a chief part in founding the\nnotorious \"Charter Schools,\" writing to the Bishop of London on the\nfifteenth of May, 1730, said:\n\n\"I can assure you the Papists here are so numerous, that it highly\nconcerns us in point of interest, as well as out of concern for the\nsalvation of these poor creatures who are our fellow-subjects, to try\nall possible means to bring them and theirs to the true religion; and\none of the most likely methods we can think of is, if possible,\n_instructing and converting the young generation_; for instead of\nconverting these that are adults, we are daily losing many of our meaner\npeople, who go off to Popery.\"\n\nAnd with respect to mixed education in particular, we have the opinion\nof another Anglican prelate, who, in despite of his professions of\nliberality, may be fittingly classed with Primate Boulter in his\ncontempt for our people, and desire to subvert our holy religion by the\nmeans of education--the late Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, Dr.\nWhately. We are informed by his daughter, that on one occasion he said:\n\"The education supplied by the National Board is gradually undermining\nthe vast fabric of the Irish Roman Catholic Church.\". (_Life of Dr.\nWhately_, pp. 244, first edition.) Again: \"I believe, as I said the\nother day, that _mixed education_ is gradually enlightening the mass of\nthe people, and that if we give it up, we give the only hope of weaning\nthe Irish from the abuses of Popery. But I cannot venture openly to\nprofess this opinion, I cannot openly support the Educational Board as\nan instrument of conversion. I have to fight its battles with one hand,\nand that my best, tied behind me.\" (p. 246.)\n\nThe language of the Church, then, and even that of the enemies of our\nreligion, is quite plain on the subject of godless education. The good\nCatholic understands this language of his spiritual mother; he listens\nto it; he repeats it to himself and others, and he goes by it. Not long\nago the Catholics of Ireland presented a requisition to the English\nGovernment to show their unanimity, and their determination to secure a\nCatholic education for Catholic children. What a glorious array of\nsignatures is attached to it! There we find the honored names of the\nonly Catholic lords that the operation of penal laws has left in that\nland ever faithful to the Church. There we read the names of the Lord\nMayor, and the aldermen and town councillors of the great City of\nDublin, of many baronets and deputy lieutenants, of several members of\nParliament, magistrates, high sheriffs, clergymen, wealthy merchants,\nand land-owners; of men distinguished in the various scientific and\nliterary professions or pursuits; of country gentlemen, traders,\nartisans, and of all the classes that constitute the bone and sinew of\nthe country. In a word, the requisition is signed by more than 30,000\nCatholics of every degree. May it not be considered as a great\nplebiscite? Is it not a proof that the laity and clergy are all of one\nmind? Is it not a solid refutation of the foolish assertion of some\nPresbyterians, that the Catholic laity take no interest in the\neducation question, and that, were it not for the priests, the laity\nwould be perfectly satisfied to accept godless instruction for their\nchildren? Those who attribute this baneful indifference to the laity,\nmisrepresent and calumniate them, and show their ignorance of their real\nfeelings, and of the efforts which Catholics in Ireland, in Belgium, in\nGermany, and in other countries, have made to have and to preserve a\ngood Christian education for their children. The principal Catholic\ngentlemen in Ireland some time ago published an important declaration,\npresented afterwards to Parliament, in which they proclaimed their\nadhesion to the principles held by the true Church in regard to\neducation.\n\nAs for the Catholic laity of Ireland in general, feeling, as they do in\na special manner, the signal blessing they enjoy in possessing the true\nfaith, and knowing that it is a priceless treasure with which, far more\nprecious than worldly substance, they can enrich their children, their\nlove for Catholic education is proved to evidence by the multitudes of\ntheir sons and daughters who throng every Catholic school, and\nespecially every school in which the presence of Christian Brothers or\nof Nuns gives a guarantee that religion shall have the first place, and\nshall impregnate the whole atmosphere which their little ones are to\nbreathe for so many hours of the day. They have proved, also, their\ndislike and fear of mixed education, by turning their faces away from\nschools in which no expense had been spared, on which thousands of\npounds of the public money had been squandered, but against which their\nBishops deemed it their duty to warn them. Hence, in several Model\nSchools erected in populous cities and towns, where the great majority\nof the inhabitants are Catholics, sometimes not ten, sometimes not two\nof their children are found within the unhallowed precincts of those\nmixed institutions.\n\nIn fine, the opinion of all the Irish Catholics on this subject of\neducation is so well known, that nearly all of the Liberal candidates\nwho sought their votes at the last elections for the House of Commons,\ndeclared in their electioneering addresses their adhesion to the\nprinciple of denominational education, and their determination to uphold\nit, and push it forward in Parliament.\n\nAnd with good reason are they steadfast in those principles, for they\nknow the necessary connection between good education and the\nmaintenance of religion in their country. And they are determined to\nstruggle for the establishment, in Ireland, of a sound Catholic system\nof public education, and never to relax their efforts till they obtain\nthe recognition of this, their own and their children's right, even as\nthey wrung Catholic emancipation from a hostile Parliament.\n\nThus the Catholic laity practise what their pastors teach; and in\nIreland and other countries, both pastors and people are united in\nholding that nothing so effectually destroys religion in a country as a\ngodless system of instruction, whilst they believe, at the same time,\nthat a good Christian education contributes to preserve true religion,\nand to spread the practice of every virtue and of good works through the\nland.\n\nThough the Catholic Church and her children are so anxious for the\nprogress of knowledge, and have made such sacrifices for the\ncivilization and enlightenment of the world, yet they do not\nindiscriminately approve of every system of education. Every one knows\nhow much is done in our days, by the enemies of religion, to poison the\nsources of knowledge, and to undermine religion, under the pretext of\npromoting the liberal arts and sciences. In order to give a proper\nimpulse to study, by securing protection for it, some insist that the\nfull control of public instruction should be given to the government of\neach country, to be carried on by Ministers of State, or public boards;\nothers attach so much importance to the development of the intellectual\nfaculties, that they call for compulsory and gratuitous education, in\norder to give a great degree of culture to all classes; and others, in\nfine, demand an unsectarian education, pretending that God should be\nbanished from the school, and children brought up without being\nsubjected to any religious influences. The Catholic Church and her\npastors, being charged to feed the flock of Christ with the food of\ntruth and life, and to preserve the lambs of the fold from the contagion\nof error, cannot approve such systems, which seem to have been invented\nby the fashion of the day, a desire of innovation, or a spirit of\nhostility to religion.\n\nIt was to His Church, and not to the State, that Jesus Christ gave the\ncommand, \"Go and teach all nations.\"--(Matt. xxviii.) \"As the Father\nhath sent Me, so do I send you also.\"--(John xx.) \"Feed My lambs, feed\nMy sheep.\"--(John xxi.)\n\nThe office of the Church is to teach and sanctify all men. She receives\nthe child on its first entrance into the world, and, by means of holy\nbaptism, makes it a child of God. Like her Divine Bridegroom, she says:\n\"Suffer the little children to come to me.\"\n\nNow the Christian school is the place and the provision made for the\ntraining of those who are baptized into the Christian faith. They have\nbeen made children of God, and as such they have a right to four things\nbelonging to them by a right of inheritance, to which all other rights\nare secondary. They have a right to the knowledge of their faith; to the\ntraining of their conscience by the knowledge of God's commandments; to\nthe Sacraments of grace; and to a moral formation, founded on the\nprecepts and example of our Divine Saviour. These four things belong, by\na Divine right, to the child of the poorest working man; by a right more\nsacred than that which guards the inheritance of lands and titles to the\nchild of the rich. A child of God, and an heir to the kingdom of heaven,\nholds these four things by a higher title; and his claim is under the\njurisdiction of a Divine Judge. But the school is the place and the\nprovision for the insuring of these four vital parts of his right to the\nChristian child. They cannot be taught or learned elsewhere; there is no\nother place of systematic and sufficient formation. And if so, then the\nschool becomes the depository of the rights of parents, and of the\ninheritance of their children. The school is strictly a court of the\nTemple, a porch outside the Sanctuary. It cannot be separated from the\nChurch. It was created by the Church, and the Church created it for its\nown mission to its children. As the Church cannot surrender to any power\non earth the formation of its own children, so it cannot surrender to\nany the direction of its own schools.\n\nIt was the Church, as I have shown in the second chapter, that gave life\nand being to Christian education; and education must remain under the\nguardianship of the Church, if it will not cease to be Christian.\nHistory shows us that it is the Church that has civilized the nations,\nand it is the Church that keeps them from falling back into their former\ndegradation. Learning was not diffused among mankind until the Church\nremoved the veil of sin and ignorance, made man really free, and widened\nthe narrow limits of human thought by showing to man the infinite, the\neternal destiny that awaited him. This supernatural light--this \"freedom\nof the children of God\"--is the very foundation, the very lifespring of\ncivilization. The Catholic Church, then, far from being opposed to\neducation, is its great and most zealous promoter. But she cannot help\nbeing opposed to the Pagan system of education adopted in the Public\nSchools of this country.\n\nIt is clear that this plan takes away the right of parents, whom God has\ncharged with the care of their children, and it must necessarily\ninterfere with the proper management of families. In the second place,\nit ignores the rights of the Church, to whom Christ gave the commission\nto teach all nations. In the third place, since governments, as\nconstituted at present, have no religion, the teaching they give must\ntend to infidelity. In the fourth place, if governments take into their\nhands the management of things which do not appertain to them, the\nprobability is that they will neglect, or carry on badly, the great\ntemporal affairs which it is their duty to attend to. In the last\nplace, experience shows that education carried on by the State is most\nexpensive, and that it opens the way to intrigues and frauds. To confirm\nall these observations, it is sufficient to refer to France, where State\ninfluence has been supreme for the last seventy years in university\neducation, and where the Government has exercised an exorbitant control\nover every branch of public instruction. What has been the result?\nLiterature has fallen away, the number of schools has decreased, the\nFrench language has decayed, whilst moral corruption has penetrated the\nheart of the country, and infidelity of the worst kind has been\npatronized and encouraged among the teachers of youth, and the highest\nhonors have been decreed to Littres and Renans, and other decided\nenemies of Jesus Christ. May we not read the condemnation of all such\nproceedings in the lurid flames of the burning Capital of modern\ncivilization? Now, is it not clear that the primary object of education\nmust be frustrated in the mixed system which proposes to unite children\nof all religions in the same school, and to treat of nothing in the\nclass hours that could offend any of these discordant elements? If\nthere be a Jew in the school, you cannot speak of the Gospel; if there\nbe a Mahometan, nothing could be said against polygamy, and other\ndegrading doctrines of the Koran; due respect must also be paid to the\nteaching of Arians and Socinians, who deny the Trinity of persons in\nGod, and the Divinity of Christ; and to the opinions of Calvinists and\nLutherans, of Methodists and other sectaries, who assail almost every\npoint of revealed religion. In this case, how can the atmosphere of the\nschool be religious; and must not children living in it grow up in\nignorance both of the dogmas and practices of religion?\n\nThis result may not be unacceptable to those who are outside the\nCatholic Church, because, not acknowledging any Divine authority to\nguide or rule them, they have no certainty in doctrinal matters, and\nthey do not attach any importance to external discipline. But how\ndifferent is the case with Catholics! We have many distinctive\ndoctrines, such as the Real Presence in the Blessed Eucharist, the power\nof remitting sin, the Divine origin of the Church, and the primacy and\ninfallibity of the Pope, all which it is our duty to learn and to\nbelieve. We are also bound to observe many precepts, to hear Mass, to\npray and make the sign of the Cross, to go to confession, to fast and\nabstain, and to obey other commandments of the Church. If these\ndoctrines, so sublime, and so far above the intelligence of man, be not\ncontinually inculcated on the mind of a child, how can he know them, or\nbelieve them as he ought? And if the practices referred to be not\nfrequently urged on his attention, will he not ignore or neglect them\nbecause they are hard to flesh and blood? And what will be the case\nwhere the Protestant pupils in a school are in a considerable majority,\nand the teacher of the same religion? Will not the Protestant children\nturn the doctrines and practices of the Catholics into ridicule? And\nwill not the example, and the words, and the gestures of the heterodox\nmaster, especially if he be kind and friendly, produce impressions\ndangerous to belief on the youthful Catholic mind? Is it not probable\nthat a Catholic boy, observing how his master, to whom he looks up with\nrespect, is accustomed to act, will easily persuade himself that there\nis no necessity of going to confession, or fasting, or making the sign\nof the cross, or performing works of mortification? Indeed, the\nprobability is that Catholics educated in such circumstances, if they do\nnot abandon their religion altogether, will be only lukewarm,\nindifferent, or dangerous members of the Church.\n\nAnd here let me direct your attention to another dangerous tendency of\ngodless education. In this system all religions, true or false, are\ntreated with equal respect; not only Anglicans and Presbyterians, but\nWesleyans and Plymouth Brothers, and the followers of every other small\nand miserable sect that has started into existence in modern times, are\nput on a footing of equality with the true Catholic Church, which traces\nits origin back to its Divine Founder, has existed in every age, defied\nthe fury of persecution and the ravages of time, and numbers under its\nsceptre two hundred millions of faithful children spread over the world.\nAnd is not this to proclaim that there is no difference between light\nand darkness, no preference to be given to Christ over Belial, to truth\nover heresy, and error and infidelity? In a word, is not this to teach\nindifference to religion, or, what is equivalent, that no religion is\nnecessary? What shall I now say of books so compiled as to meet the\nexigencies of godless education? Have they not the same tendency to\npromote ignorance of, or indifference to, religion? No religious\ndogmatical teaching, no inculcation of pious practices, no mention of\nthe great and sublime mysteries of Catholicity can be admitted in them,\nlest some things should be said offensive to any sect that sends\nchildren to the school. This suppression of Catholic truth is most\ndetrimental to our poor Catholic children, many of whom never read any\nbooks except those which they use in school, and learn nothing except\nwhat they meet with in those books, or hear from their master. Is not\nthis a serious loss? Is it not a great evil for Catholics to be brought\nup in ignorance, not only of the doctrines, but also of the history of\nthe Church to which they belong, and of the life and deeds of so many\nChristian heroes whose virtues illustrated the world?\n\nHow far superior is the system of the Christian Brothers, and other\nCatholic educational institutions! Their books make continual reference\nto the mysteries of religion, they depict the glories of the Church, the\nmajesties of the Apostolic See, and continually inflame the youthful\nmind to the practice of good works, by proposing to them the lives and\nvirtues of holy men, and by continually reminding them of their\nreligious duties, of the end of man, and of other great motives\ncalculated to induce them to serve God. In regard to this matter, I\nshall merely add that the common school-books have been generally\ncompiled by Protestants, that scarcely any extract from Catholic authors\nis admitted in them, that they contain many Methodistical stories, that\ntheir language is that of the Protestant Bible, and that they contain\nmany things offensive to our love of religion.\n\nDo you want to see what man without God--without religion--can do? Read\nthe history of the last eighty years in Paris. You have there one simple\nphenomenon--generation rising after generation, without God in the\nworld. And why? Because, without Christian education. First, an\natheistical revolution; next, an empire penetrated through with a\nmasking philosophy and a reckless indifferentism; afterwards came\ngovernments changed in name and in form, but not in practice, nor in\nspirit. The Church, trammelled by protection, her spiritual action faint\nand paralyzed, could not penetrate the masses of the people, and bring\nher salutary influence to bear upon them. She labored fervently; her\nsons fought nobly for Christian freedom; thousands were saved; but for\neighty years the mass of men has grown up without God and without Christ\nin the world. These outbursts of horror, strife, outrage, sacrilege,\nbloodshed, are the harvest reaped from the rank soil in which such seed\nwas cast. All this is true. But how did souls created to the image of\nGod grow up in such a state? They were robbed: robbed before they were\nborn; robbed of their inheritance, and reared up in an education without\nChristianity. Let this be a warning to ourselves! We are told that a\nchild may be taught to read, and to write, and to spell, and to sum,\nwithout Christianity. Who denies it? But what does this make of them? To\nwhat do they grow up? The formation of the will and heart and character,\nthe formation of a man, is education, and not the reading, and the\nwriting, and the spelling, and the summing. Physiology, astronomy,\nchemistry, anatomy, and all other sciences with sounding names, and of\nGreek etymology, will not teach our children the respect, love, and\nobedience due to parents. They will not teach them modesty, which is the\nbrightest ornament of woman, and renders the relation of man with his\nfellow-man harmonious and pleasant. They will not teach them industry\nand purity, which insure peace and happiness in the family circle. They\nwill not teach them the fidelity which the espoused owe to each other,\nnor the obligations contracted by parents towards their children, nor\nwill they teach them to know, love, and serve God in this world, in\norder to be happy with Him forever in the next.\n\nFor fifteen hundred years Christians served God and loved man, before,\nas yet, they received this cultivation of our age; and we, because we\nhave it so profusely, are forgetting the deeper and diviner lessons. The\ntradition of Christian education in this country is, as yet, unbroken.\nIt has, however, been greatly undermined. It will be completely broken\nif we Catholics do not strive, to the best of our power, to preserve it.\nWe Catholics, therefore, believe that it is our most sacred duty to\nbring up our children in \"the discipline and correction of the Lord.\" We\nhold that it is our most conscientious obligation to bequeath to our\nchildren the most valuable of all legacies--good religious impressions,\nand a sound religious education. We hold that religious education is\nthe most essential part of instruction.\n\nNow we know that religious education _is not_, and cannot, be given in\nour present school system. Our present system of common-school education\neither ignores religion altogether, or teaches principles which are\nfalse and dangerous; and if it gives any religious education, it\nconsists merely in certain vague, unmeaning generalities, and is often\nworse than no education at all. Instruction without religion, is like a\nship without a compass. Ignorance is, indeed, a great evil; but of the\ntwo evils, it is even better, in some respects, for our children to\nremain ignorant, than to acquire mere worldly knowledge without any\nreligious training; for without religion they grow up a burden to\nthemselves, and a pest to society.\n\nHuman nature is prone to evil; and the rising passions, especially in\nyouth, need religious influence to check them. There is a vast\ndifference between teaching the child's _head_ and forming his _heart_.\nMere instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic will never teach a\nyoung man to control his passions, and to practise virtue. Such\ninstruction may do for Pagans, but it will never do for Catholics.\n\nWe can say that, so far as our Catholic children are concerned, the\nworkings of our Public School system have proved, and do prove, highly\ndetrimental to their faith and morals. So strongly has the conviction of\nthis been impressed upon the minds both of the pastors and parents, that\nmost strenuous efforts, and even enormous sacrifices have been made, and\ncontinue to be made, in order to establish and support Catholic\nparochial schools. In many cities of the Union there is, at the present\nmoment, in daily attendance at these schools, an average number of\nbetween eighteen and twenty thousand children. The annual expense for\nthe maintenance of these schools does not fall short of one hundred\nthousand dollars; while the amount expended for the purchase of lots,\nand the erection of proper school buildings, etc., considerably exceeds\na million.\n\nThe Catholics of New York subscribed, in 1868, $132,000 for the support\nof their own school, and, besides, they had contributed a million and a\nquarter of dollars for the sites and the buildings of Catholic schools.\n\nNothing but the deepest sense of the many dangers to which the religious\nand moral principles of the children are exposed, could prompt Catholic\nparents to make such pecuniary sacrifices, or assume such onerous\nburdens; for it has to be borne in mind that, while they are thus\nobliged, through conscientious motives, to support their own schools,\nthey have, at the same time, to bear their share of the taxation imposed\nfor the support of the Public Schools.\n\nAll this is true; yet I can scarcely refrain from expressing my surprise\nat the extremely abnormal lethargy manifested by so many Catholics, both\nin high and low places, regarding a duty, the chief one incumbent upon\nthem as members of the family, as citizens, as Christians and as\nCatholics.\n\nNow the cause for the indifference existing among our people on the\nquestion of Catholic education, may be attributed to a false process of\nreasoning. They argue: it will cost money. True; but it is not by\n_State_ aid, or _City_ aid, that the work of Catholic daily instruction\nand education in parochial schools is to be carried on. These schools\nare to be supported, as our _churches_ are, by the alms of the\nfaithful.\n\nThe Catholics of other countries have their duties to perform,\ndifferent, in part, from ours, but demanding great self-sacrifice. We,\ntoo, except we be \"bastards, and not sons,\" must make our great\nsacrifices. The first, the most pressing, is that of supporting a good\nCatholic education. In neglecting Catholic education, we lose that which\nmoney cannot buy. Can we conceive of a parent, a Catholic parent, so\ncruel, so depraved, and so God-forsaken as to sacrifice his child, both\nbody and soul, and devote him to eternal destruction, through eagerness\nto spare the paltry pence that a proper education might cost? It seems\nquite certain that if we wait for just appropriations from the State\nbefore we shoulder the burden ourselves, wait for it to compel us to\naccept of Catholic education, we shall find ourselves in a very unfit\ncondition to appreciate the favor; and from present indications, this\ngeneration, at least, is likely to pass away before such interest will\nbe manifested in our behalf.\n\nNow we must be persuaded that if we allow one generation to be brought\nup in unbelief, and the course of tradition to be once interrupted, the\nfollowing generations will fall into a darkness and ignorance worse\nthan that of Paganism; living here without a God, and quitting this\nworld without any consoling hope of a blessed immortality.\n\nSo it proved, not long ago, with an unhappy wretch, the child of parents\nthat had forgotten the law of their God, and sent her to one of the\nPublic Schools in a town on the North River. She played the harlot, when\nshe grew old enough, and then sought to add to this the crime of a\nhorrible _murder_--the murder of the child that was of her own flesh and\nblood. In procuring its murder, she lost her own life. In the den of the\nmonster-abortionist, and finding herself dying, one of the vile\nattendants now declares that she shrieked and begged for a Catholic\npriest. The Jew into whose murderous gripe she had put herself, found\nsome means to quiet her cry, and she died without seeing a priest. God\nwill keep His word! He has said, \"Because _thou_ hast forgotten the law\nof thy God, I will _forget thy children_!\"\n\nI do not say that Catholic parents are obliged, under the pain of mortal\nsin, to have _any_ secular education given to their children. But I do\nsay that they _are forbidden_, by the law of the Catholic Church, to\nsend their children to _any_ schools where the Catholic religion is not\n_practised and taught_.\n\nIf neglect to comply with the law of God and of His Church, neglect to\nreceive the sacraments at certain times, and under certain\ncircumstances, is a mortal sin, is it much less a sin to neglect the\nproper education of our youth, upon which, to a great extent, their\nentire future depends? And if the sacraments are refused to persons\npersisting in sin, should not a sin of this great character be also\nconsidered in the conditions requisite for the worthy reception of the\nsacraments? I hesitate not to pronounce this matter of education a\nmatter of conscience, and it should be treated accordingly by those who\nhave the charge of souls. We see ecclesiastical edifices of great\nmagnitude, splendor, and expense, erected everywhere by Catholics, but\nfor what purpose? To attract non-Catholics? Bosh! A Catholic can hear\nMass in caverns, in catacombs, or under hedges, as they have often been\nobliged to do; but if we lose our children there will be none to hear it\nanywhere, nor any to offer the Holy Sacrifice, even in our most\ngorgeous cathedrals. Where will be our Catholics? Scandal and disgrace\nwill be the order of the day.\n\nI do not wish it to be understood here that I entertain any, even the\nleast, doubt of the indefectibility of the Church, or of the faithful\nfulfilment of the promises of Christ; for the Church will exist in spite\nof man. But again I say that Catholics are violating a most sacred duty\nin not providing facilities for Catholic education.\n\nThis, O Catholics! is what the money you are making so rapidly ought, in\ngenerous part, to be devoted to. So _you_ will think, at a day fast\ncoming, when your bodies will be buried sumptuously, your souls\nforgotten by the living, and the estates you have hoarded with so much\nindustry shall have become, perhaps, the objects of disgraceful\nlaw-suits among your heirs.\n\nDear Catholics, let us cast off our lethargy; let us be unitedly active\nin this matter; let us discard the flimsy arguments of \"_liberal_\"\nCatholics who would discourage the enterprise, regarding every such as\nour most dangerous foe. Let us make our voice heard and our actions\nfelt, and bring up our children in a manner creditable to ourselves, an\nhonor and consolation to their parents, a blessing to society, worthy\nmembers of the Church of God, and candidates for the kingdom of heaven.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[H] \"Hant propositionem auctoritate Nostra Apostolica reprobamus,\nproscribimus atque damnamus eamque ab omnibus Catholicae Ecclesiae filiis\nveluti reprobatam, proscriptam atque damnatam omnino haberi volumus et\nmandamus.\"--Syllabus, Prop. xlviii.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS.\n\n\nThere are some who assert that \"there is no sectarian teaching in the\nPublic Schools, and consequently a Catholic may send his children to\nthem without exposing them to any danger.\" Now even supposing there\nreally were no sectarian teaching in the common schools, even then a\nCatholic parent cannot send his children to such a school without\nexposing them to the greatest danger. Those who approve of the Public\nSchools because nothing sectarian is taught there, act like a certain\nhusbandman who wished to transplant a fine young tree to a certain part\nof his garden. On examining the new place, however, he found that the\nground was filled with poisonous ingredients, which would greatly\nendanger the life of the tree. He therefore transplanted the tree to a\nsandy hill, where there were, indeed, no poisonous ingredients, but\nwhere there was also no nourishment for the tree. Now will any one\nassert that the young tree was not in danger of perishing in this new\nplace? And will any one assert that the faith and soul of a child are\nnot in danger of being ruined in those godless common schools? Even if\nProtestantism is not taught there, infidelity is taught and practised\nthere, and infidelity is even worse than Protestantism.\n\nBut is it really true that Protestantism is not taught in many of our\nPublic Schools? This is unfortunately far from being the case. Napoleon\nI. introduced the Public School system into France, in order, as he\nhonestly declared, \"to possess the means of controlling political and\nmoral opinions.\" Puritans and Freemasons, in this country, have clearly\nthe same end in view in upholding the present system of Public Schools.\n\nIn the early days of New England, and even of several of the other\nAmerican States, the Puritans always used the Public Schools as a\npowerful means of spreading their peculiar doctrines. When they were\nstripped of this power by the liberal founders of American\nindependence, they still struggled for many years to accomplish, by\nindirect means, the injustice which they dared not _maintain_ openly. We\nall remember how the poor Catholic boys and girls of the Public Schools\nwere harassed by colporteurs and proselytizers, who carried baskets\nfilled, not with bread for the poor hungry children, no, but with oily\ntracts, cunningly devised to weaken, or even destroy, the religious\nfaith of those poor little ones. In some schools even, Catholic children\nwere urged and enticed to go to the sectarian Sunday-schools, and\npictures, cakes, and sweetmeats were liberally promised, in order to\ninduce them to go. Teachers were selected with special regard to their\nbitter hatred of the Catholic Church, and their zeal for \"evangelical\"\npropagandism. Some years ago, in New Orleans, when the school-board was\ncomposed of bigoted sectarians, many of them sectarian preachers, all\nthe Catholic teachers, male and female, were turned out of the schools,\nmerely because they were Catholics.\n\nAnd even if Catholic children are not always expressly taught doctrines\nopposed to their religion, nevertheless the school-books which they use\nare, as I have said, frequently tainted with anti-Catholic prejudices\nand misrepresentations. Nothing can be more evident than the decidedly\nanti-Catholic spirit of English literature in all its departments. It\nhas grown up, ever since England's apostasy, in an anti-Catholic soil,\nin an anti-Catholic atmosphere, and from an anti-Catholic stem. It is\nessentially anti-Catholic, and tends, wherever it comes in contact with\nCatholic feelings and principles, to sully, infect, and utterly corrupt\nthem. _Sound knowledge_, a _sound head_, _strong faith_, and _great\ngrace_--all these combined--may indeed preserve one whom the necessity\nof his position may lead into un-Catholic schools; but no one will deny\nthat this anti-Catholic literature must exercise a most baneful\ninfluence over all those who, without sufficient preparation from nature\nor grace, plunge into it, in the pursuit of amusement or knowledge.\nProtestant ideas will not make the Catholic turn Protestant, there is\nnot much danger of that, but they will tend to make him an infidel; they\nwill destroy his principles without putting others in their place; they\nwill relax and deaden the whole spiritual man.\n\nIn these schools, Catholic children are taught that the Catholic Church\nis the nursery of ignorance and vice; they are taught that all the\nknowledge, civilization, and virtue which the world now possesses, are\nthe offspring of the so-called \"Reformation.\" They learn nothing of the\ntrue history of Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Ireland, Austria, and\nthe other Catholic countries of Europe; they learn nothing of the true\nhistory of Mexico, and the various Catholic countries of North and South\nAmerica. They never hear of the vast libraries of Catholic learning, the\nrich endowments of Catholic education all over the world, for ages; they\nnever hear of the countless universities, colleges, academies, and free\nschools established by the Catholic Church, and by Catholic governments,\nthroughout Christendom. Where is the common school book whose author has\nmanly honesty enough to acknowledge that even the famous universities of\nOxford and Cambridge were founded by Catholics, and plundered from their\nlawful possessors by an apostate government?\n\nMoreover, Catholic children are often singled out by their\nschool-companions, and sometimes even by their teachers, as objects of\nridicule. Now what is the result of all this training? The consequence\nis, that either the Catholic children become ashamed of their holy\nreligion, and despise their parents, or, if they have the courage to\nhold out, their tender minds are subject to numberless petty annoyances;\nthey must endure a species of martyrdom. This is no exaggeration; I have\nit from good authority. Practically speaking, the present common school\nsystem is but a gigantic scheme for proselytism and for infidelity.\n\nNow we intend that our children shall be taught to love and revere their\nholy Church. We wish to teach them that that Church has been, for over\neighteen hundred years, the faithful guardian of that very Bible of\nwhich Protestants prate so loudly, and which they dishonor so much. We\nwish our children to learn that the Catholic Church has been, in all\nages, the friend and supporter of true liberty; _i.e._, liberty united\nto order and justice. We wish them to know that the Catholic Church has\never been the jealous guardian of the sanctity of marriage; that she has\nalways defended it against brutal lust, and heathen divorce courts. We\nwish our children to know, moreover, that the Catholic Church holds the\nsword of vengeance uplifted above the heads of the child-murderers, and\nthe perpetrators of unnatural crimes. We wish our children, in fine, to\nregard the Church as the only hope of society, the only salvation of\ntheir country, the only means of preserving intact all the blessings of\nfreedom.\n\nThe Public Schools are not only seminaries of infidelity, they are,\nmoreover, in many cases, hot-beds of immorality. In these schools every\nchild is received, no matter how vicious or corrupt he or his parents\nmay be. \"One mangy sheep,\" as the homely proverb says, \"infects the\nwhole flock.\" So one corrupt child in a school is capable of corrupting\nand ruining all the others. And, in fact, where have our young people\nlearned the shameful habit of self-abuse, and many other foul, unnatural\ncrimes, that are bringing so many thousands to an early grave? Ask those\nunhappy victims, ask our physicians throughout the country, and they\nwill tell you that, in almost every instance, it was from the evil\ncompanions with whom they associated in the common schools. Ah! you will\nsee, only on the Day of Judgment, how many unnatural crimes have been\ntaught and propagated, from generation to generation, in these very\nhot-beds of iniquity.\n\n\"But, Father,\" some one will say, \"what harm can there be in sending\nchildren to Public Schools? for many of the teachers are professing\nChristians, and exert a continual Christian influence.\"\n\nBut many more are non-professors, and exert an anti-Christian influence.\nGo and visit those schools, and you will soon be able to tell the\nreligious _status_ of the teachers in charge, by the general tone of the\nexercises. One presided over by a zealous Methodist resembles a\nMethodist Sunday-school, or conference meeting. Another, under the care\nof a \"smart young man,\" delighting in love songs, boating songs, etc.,\nhas the general tone of a young folks' glee-club. In another, in which\none of the professors is an atheist, it is a matter of common remark\namong the boys that Prof. ---- said there was no God. In another, one of\nthe teachers is overheard sneering at a child because she believes in\nour Lord Jesus Christ, and has a reverence for religious things.\n\nWhat I have just said is true. I have it from good authority. It is\ntherefore no recommendation at all for the Public School system to say\nthat many of the teachers are professing Christians. Even the very fact\nthat many of the teachers in the Public Schools are good Catholics, is\nno recommendation whatever for these schools, for it matters nothing,\nabsolutely nothing, whether the teacher be Catholic or not; according to\n_law_, no teacher is allowed to explain a single dogma of Catholic\nfaith. Now the dogmas of our holy faith have been _revealed_, and, in\norder to be known, _they must be taught_. Ordinarily speaking, education\nis necessary to learn and preserve the faith. The Catholics of Ireland,\nindeed, by the special assistance of God, preserved their holy faith,\nthough they were not permitted, by a bigoted government, to receive the\neducation they needed and desired. But in this country, where there is\nno such prohibition, where parents are free to send their children to\nCatholic schools, it is presumption in them, it is a rash defiance to\nthe ordinary laws of God's providence, to neglect the daily systematic\ntraining of the minds and hearts of their children, in conformity with\nCatholic discipline. Julian the Apostate forbade Catholics to be\neducated in their holy faith, for he knew very well that there is no\nmore certain means of destroying the faith than by not suffering it to\nbe taught.\n\nIt is almost certain that wherever there are no Catholic schools,\nwherever the Catholic religion is not taught and practised in school,\nthere the Catholic religion will practically die out, as soon as\nimmigration from Catholic countries ceases.\n\nBishop England has asserted that the Catholic Church loses more, in this\ncountry, by apostasy, than it gains by conversions. Archbishop Spalding,\nof Baltimore, asserted one day that, in one body of Methodist ministers,\nhe observed seven or eight who were children of Catholics, and they were\nthe smartest preachers among them.\n\nNeglected children of Catholic parents become the worst enemies of the\nCatholic Church. The young man who set fire to St. Augustine's Church,\nin Philadelphia, Pa., was a Catholic, and he gloried in being able to\nburn his name out of the baptismal record. By a just punishment of God,\nthese neglected Catholic children will become our persecutors.\n\nIt is not sufficient to teach the Catechism in church or at home. No!\nit is not the _knowledge_ of the faith, but the _daily practice_ of it,\nthat produces Catholic life. Nothing but the constant practice of our\nholy religion can train our youth to withstand the dangers of this age,\nand this country. It is not necessary to argue this point. Look at the\ntens of thousands of Catholics who never think of going to Mass on a\nweek-day, and who often neglect it even on Sundays and holy days. Look\nat all those who never think of visiting our Lord in the Blessed\nSacrament; who never go to confession more than once or twice a year,\nand sometimes not even that. Do they not prove, beyond a doubt, that the\npractical _habit_ of devotion was not taught them in their youth?\n\nLook, on the other hand, at those congregations who, in the tender,\nsusceptible time of youth, were in the habit of going to Mass every day\nbefore the opening of the school. See how, when the bell rings, a goodly\nnumber of them find time, even on week-days, to assist at the most holy\nSacrifice of the Mass. In such congregations there is indeed Catholic\nlife. These pious Catholics carry the blessing of heaven with them\nwherever they go. Amid all the cares and troubles of life they are gay\nand cheerful, whilst others grumble and are sad. The religious doctrines\nand practices learned in youth, can seldom or never be blotted out. The\nquestion of Catholic schools is a question of making the country\nCatholic. If this means be neglected, all other means will avail but\nlittle.\n\nThere are others, again, who assert \"that the discussion of the\neducation question should be put off for the present as yet, under the\npretence that our adversaries are as yet too numerous, and that it is\nwell for us to do nothing until their feelings are more in our favor.\"\nIf we are to wait until it will please them to say that our claims are\njust, the day will never dawn when our rights shall be admitted;\ndarkness cannot coalesce with light, vice with virtue, or Belial with\nChrist. Will those who deny the Divine authority of the Church, assail\nher doctrines, and seek her destruction, ever cordially assist us in\nobtaining from our rulers a system of public instruction not dangerous\nor destructive to our faith? If we consent to defer the education\nquestion until the torrent of bigotry will be dried up, we shall be\nlaughed at, and compared to the simple peasant who determined to sit on\nthe bank of a great river and not to attempt to pass it until all its\nwaters should have rolled by; or we shall be compared to the careless\nfarmer who allows rank weeds to grow up in his garden, together with the\ngood plants, till at last the good plants are dwarfed and smothered by\nthe noxious weeds. In my opinion, our own policy with those in authority\nshould be to insist on our rights in season and out of season; and even\nwhen our claims may have been slighted or rejected, to continue our\ndemands until every grievance shall be removed.\n\nWe must make great exertions to obtain the object of our desires, and\ndisplay great energy in our proceedings. We have numerous and active\nenemies to contend with--men as enthusiastic in a bad cause as the\nPharisees of the Gospel, who compassed earth and sea to make a\nproselyte, but who cared very little for his moral progress, once they\nhad secured his adherence to their views. However, we are not left alone\nin our struggle for religious education. With us we have the sympathy of\nthe Catholics of the world, who are fighting the same battle as we\nourselves, and cheer us on by their example. We have with us the\nblessing of the successor of St. Peter, who has repeatedly approved of\nthe justice of our cause, and we have the sanction of Christ Himself for\nthe safety of the lambs of whose folds we are laboring. But omitting all\nthis, I believe that the most influential and distinguished members, lay\nand clerical, of the Anglican body, are with us, and that the principal\nliberal and enlightened Protestants of the Union wish us success.\n\nThe State does not interfere with the free exercise of our religion,\nneither should it interfere with our system of education;--two measures\nof great importance, well calculated gradually to promote the public\nwelfare of the country. If the State seriously wishes to check the\ngrowth of revolution, or to stem the growing torrent of communism and\ninfidelity, they ought to discountenance infidel institutions, and give\nschools to Catholics, in which they may uphold the true principles of\nauthority, human and Divine, in accordance with the traditions of the\nCatholic Church of America, and thus strengthen the foundations not only\nof religion, but of society in general.\n\nAgain, some will say, \"I do not see why people can object so much to\nPublic Schools; I myself went there, and I think I am as good a\nCatholic as any one of those who were educated at Catholic schools and\ninstitutions.\"\n\nIf you really have tried to be a good Catholic, if you have complied\nfaithfully with all your religious duties, you will have to avow that it\nis all owing to the beneficial Catholic influence under which you were\nplaced during the time of your scholarship, and afterwards. If you\nescaped the general contagion of unbelief and vice, remember that it is\nowing to a kind of miracle of Divine Protection. But what I have said in\nreference to Public Schools shows sufficiently that such a protection is\nextended to but few children--it is an exception to the ordinary course\nof Divine Providence, and God is not bound to grant it to any one.\n\nA certain friend of mine--a man of great learning and experience--wrote\nto me one day, that \"he himself had been, in his youth, subjected to\ncollege training; that, be it by nature or by grace, or both combined,\nhe resisted and escaped. But,\" he adds, \"from my observation and\nexperience, I would say it did require a miracle for Catholic youth to\nescape the damnable effects of a non-Catholic school education.\" I have\nhad opportunities, in this line, that many a priest has never had. I\nassert that a Catholic boy of tender years, and perhaps careless\ntraining, can be preserved from moral contamination, in public and mixed\nschools, by nothing less than a miracle. I will not chop logic with any\none about it. It is a matter of fact. I therefore assert it as of\nascertained result, that in _most_ cases--_especially_ in those cases\nwhere there are enough of Catholics together to have a school of their\nown--their frequenting a school without religion will land _most_ of\nthem in utter carelessness of their religion.\n\nGrace does not destroy _nature_. And it is _nature_ that--\n\n     \"... as the twig is bent, the tree inclines.\"\n\nBut let me ask you, How can you think that you are as good a Catholic as\nothers; you who object to the teaching of the Church, to the persuasion\nof all sensible men? Indeed, your language betrays you. Your very\nlanguage convinces me still more of the necessity of having Catholic\nschools where our children learn the language and imbibe the spirit of\ntheir spiritual mother--the Catholic Church. The Public Schools are none\nthe better for your having frequented them. Let us suppose a father\nwishes to send his children across the ocean. Now he knows for certain\nthat the vessel which is about to leave for the old country will be\nwrecked; he also knows that a few of the passengers will be saved, as it\nwere, by a miracle, but he knows not who they are. Will he send his\nchildren by that vessel?\n\nNow the Public Schools are like a large vessel. The greater part of\nthose who have embarked in it have suffered shipwreck in their faith and\ngood morals. What father, then, will be mad enough to send his children\nby this vessel, across the ocean of time, to their heavenly fatherland?\n\nThere are others, again, who assert \"that we must not attempt to have\nCatholic schools until we can afford to conduct them so as to compete\nwith the Public Schools.\"\n\nThe point in question is godless schools, which are condemned on account\nof being infidel in principle. Even with all their faults, our schools\nare, it must be conceded, not infidel, but Christian schools. We are at\nliberty, there, to teach our children our holy religion whenever we\nwish. We can give them good books, and bring them up in a religious\natmosphere. If we do for the establishment and organization of Catholic\nschools what we can, God will not hold us responsible for the loss of\nthose of our children who did not profit by their religious education,\nwhile, on the contrary, we remain accountable to God for those who, for\nwant of a Catholic education, suffer shipwreck in their faith and\nmorals, and are lost forever. In the sight of God, the above excuse will\navail us nothing.\n\nSome, even most of our schools, may have been more or less defective in\nthe beginning. Well, what was the Church at the time of the Apostles?\nThere were then no gorgeous cathedrals as nowadays. The Christians were\ninstructed and sanctified in the Catacombs, and in poor private\ndwellings. So, in a country like ours, the kingdom of heaven is compared\nto a mustard seed. Churches and schools are insignificant in the\nbeginning; but, by degrees, more life and splendor is infused into them,\nand they grow up to perfection.\n\nWe honor and venerate the Apostles as the corner-stones of Christianity.\nHappy, thrice happy, those pastors who lay solid foundations for future\nCatholic life by establishing nurseries--Catholic schools--for its\nmaintenance and propagation. Their reward will be like unto that of the\nApostles. Our successors will bring our feeble beginnings to perfection.\nThis is the natural course of things. We may not have the happiness to\nwitness a plentiful harvest from the seed that we have sown with so much\ntoil and labor; but we should nevertheless bear in mind that those\nbishops and priests who have the happiness of laying the foundations of\nfuture Catholic life in our country, resemble our Lord Jesus Christ, Who\nsuffered His Apostles to perform even greater miracles than He Himself\nhad wrought.\n\nI know the above objection is more frequently made in the New England\nStates than anywhere else. Now it is a well-known fact that the Yankee\nrace is fast dying out. They have either no children at all, or only one\nor two. Hence it is that the larger portion of the Public School\nchildren are the children of Catholic parents. These States foresee that\nwere the Catholic children to leave their schools, their Public School\nbuildings would soon be empty, and stand there as eloquent monuments to\ntell on the folly of the States for having erected them. Now in order to\nkeep the Catholic children at their schools, and thus keep up their fine\nlucrative establishments, they have, in several places, taken in the\nCatholic priests as members of the School Boards. Truly, \"the children\nof this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.\"\nThese priests, by accepting the honor! of membership! of the School\nBoard, give, thereby, at least a _tacit approbation_ of the godless\nPublic Schools. Thus the State, by conferring this privilege! throws\ndust into the eyes of the people. It is, therefore, quite evident that\nwere this _tacit approbation_ of the Catholic clergy withdrawn, were\nthey to erect Catholic schools, the godless schools would soon be\nemptied and suspended, and there would hardly be other but Catholic\nschools. The Catholic teachers of the Public Schools would follow our\nchildren, and would be too happy in teaching on Catholic ground, and\naccording to Catholic principles.\n\nShould a sufficient number of children be left for the Public Schools,\nthis would be no reason whatever to fear that our Catholic schools\ncould not compete with the Public Schools; for, generally speaking,\nCatholic children are more talented than those of Protestants or\ninfidels. The reason of this is easily to be seen: they have been\nbaptized; the veil of sin has been raised from their souls, and the\nCatholic life which they lead makes their minds brighter, more quick to\nperceive, and to understand what is difficult. About six months ago the\npriests of St. James's Church, in New York, exhorted the parents to take\ntheir children out of the Public Schools, and send them to Catholic\nschools. What happened? Three of the Public School teachers came and\ncomplained to the priests that the brightest gems of their school had\nleft, and that, on that account, they could not have the exhibition\nwhich they intended soon to give. A short time ago, at an exhibition in\nBoston, it was a Catholic young lady that took the prize medal.\n\nAnd after all, the principal object for getting up Catholic schools is\nnot to show off their superiority to, or their equality with, infidel\nschools--this is not even a secondary end--we want Catholic schools to\npreserve our Catholic religion, our Catholic traditions, our Catholic\nspirit and morals; we want them to raise in them children for heaven,\nnot for hell; children for God, not for the devil; children for a happy\neternity, not for everlasting damnation. That's all. Hence Jesus Christ,\non the Day of Judgment, will not ask parents and pastors of souls\nwhether their schools could compete with infidel schools, but whether\nthey did all in their power to secure the eternal welfare of their\nchildren by a good Catholic education.\n\nFather John de Starchia, Provincial of the Friars Minor, made\nregulations more favorable to worldly science than to the spirit of\npiety and religion, attaching, as he did, more importance to the\neducation of the mind than to that of the heart. St. Francis of Assisium\nupbraided him for it, but in vain. So the great servant of God cursed\nthe Provincial, and deposed him at the ensuing chapter. The saint was\nentreated, by some of his brethren in religion, to withdraw this curse\nfrom the Provincial, a learned noble man, and to give him his blessing.\nBut neither the learning nor the noble extraction of the Provincial\ncould prevail upon St. Francis to comply with their request. \"I cannot,\"\nsaid he, \"bless him whom the Lord has cursed\"--a dreadful reply, which\nsoon after was verified. This unfortunate man died exclaiming: \"I am\ndamned and cursed for all eternity!\" Some frightful circumstances which\nfollowed after his death, confirmed his awful prediction. (Life of St.\nFrancis of Assisium.) Such a malediction should strike terror into the\nhearts of all those who attach more importance to the cultivation of the\nmind than to that of the heart, and on that account prefer godless\nPublic Schools to Catholic schools.\n\nAgain, one may object: \"The religious development does not necessarily\nsuppose a literary development too. A person may be illiterate, and yet\nlearned in the science of the saints, and a man may be learned in\nscience, and ignorant of his duty towards God and his fellow-creatures.\nThere were, are, and will be members of the Catholic Church, who,\nignorant of science, of book-learning, did not become infidels, but\nexhibited a practical faith throughout life, and died in the odor of\nsanctity. Divine faith does not require as a companion, in the\nindividual Catholic, a knowledge of profane literature, but humility,\ncompunction, self-denial, and a contempt of the world. Schools are\ntherefore not absolutely necessary for our children.\"\n\nAs far as the little profit is concerned that mere book-learning does\ntowards enabling the masses of mankind to accomplish the great end of\ntheir being--the salvation of their souls--I am disposed to go all\nlengths with him in this. But he and I must both acknowledge that the\nwhole current of Catholic influence and practice has set in favor of\nbook-learning and of schools. The Popes have been constant in this line,\nand Catholic Bishops have acted in the same direction.\n\nBut grant that _school learning_ is of little account. Something even\nharder is said of _riches_. There is no _woe_ on those that spend their\ntime on book-learning; there _is_ a \"woe to them that are rich\"!\nNevertheless, Catholics, as others, strive to acquire wealth. So that\nthey do it honestly, the Catholic Church does not condemn it. Book\neducation, like riches, is a means of advancement in the world. The\ninstructed are, on the whole, of greater consideration than the\nuninstructed. The business of the Catholic Church is to see that this\nsource of power is not turned to the destruction of those that acquire\nit.\n\nBesides, I fully agree that, as a universal proposition,\nschool-learning, or book-learning, is not necessary to the salvation of\nsouls--which is the _great_ end of human life. So far, the objection is\ncorrect in saying that _Catholic_ schools are not, as a universal\nproposition, necessary for Catholics.\n\nBut, _in hac providentia_; in a condition in which Catholics, like\nothers, are striving that their children may obtain the mastery,\n_book_-learning is, like money, a grand element of strength and of\nconsideration. This is what those in care of souls must look to.\nBook-learning and wealth are neither of them against faith. They are\nsimple elements of power--_physical paraphernalia_. The great thing is,\nhow they may be _used_!\n\nAgain mark! I do not say that it is of strict obligation for Catholics\nto send their children to _any_ school. For the comparatively few that\nhave at once the means and the disposition, I hold that there is _no_\neducation like that received under the parental roof. _There_ is the\ntrue home of sturdy independence in men, and of affectionate and chaste\ndevotion in women. Moreover, it is a great good fortune for\nconscientious parents, with growing childhood around them, to have the\ncharge and responsibility of these children. It is education for parents\nas well as children. It brings the strong element of parental affection,\nin aid of all other motives for living a good life, as an example to\nbeloved young ones. We mourn that Catholics, at least, so seldom, when\nthey have the means, make their own houses the schools for their own\nchildren. But this can be done by few, comparatively. Nor can select and\nprivate schools, with few scholars, and those picked ones, be had. As a\nmatter of fact, the children of most Catholics must receive whatever\n_school_ instruction they get, in large and general schools.\n\nGod may, by a miracle, preserve the faith in a whole nation, as He\nreally did in the Irish, because they were _forbidden_ to use the\nordinary means whereby Catholics bring up their offspring in the faith.\nBut, when Irish men and women come to this country, where there is _no_\nprohibition of their having Catholic schools, and having their children\neducated in them, it is, as I have said, a rash defiance of the ordinary\nlaws of God's Providence, to neglect the daily and systematic training\nof the intellects of their children in conformity with Catholic\ndiscipline.\n\nThere are some who say \"they pay taxes, and they, of course, would like\nto profit as well as others by their contribution to the school fund.\"\nIt is nothing but right that they should; but they cannot, and ought\nnot, to do so upon the conditions imposed on them. The Christians of the\nfirst centuries paid taxes to the Roman Empire, for they had been taught\nby their Divine Master to render unto Caesar what belonged to Caesar; but\nrather than refuse to render to God what belonged to God, rather than\ngive up their faith, or expose themselves to the danger of losing it,\nthey went to the lions.\n\nAt a later period, the Irish, so much taunted for their ignorance in\nreading and writing, paid heavy taxes to the British Government, and, be\nit said to their honor, they, for a time, deprived themselves of the\nmost useful knowledge, not on account of their opposition to schools,\nbut because when the teachers of their choice were hunted down by\ngovernment officials, and shot like wild beasts, if caught in the act of\nteaching, they refused to go to the State schools, which they could not\nattend without betraying the faith of their ancestors.\n\nWe also pay taxes, and will continue to do so in submission to a most\nunjust law; but, thanks be to God! we are at liberty to seek legal\nredress, and our exertions should increase until it is obtained by those\nvery means which were used to establish godless schools, viz.: the\npress, lecturing, preaching, etc., to form, again, _public opinion_ in\nfavor of Christian schools, and electing such men to legislatures as are\ndown upon godless schools, and advocate the establishment of Christian\nschools for the well-being of our country. In the meantime, in order to\npreserve the true faith, and save the world from the deadly indifference\ninto which it is falling, Catholic schools must be got up, and kept up,\nat any cost.\n\nFinally, there are some of the clergy who say, \"It is so much trouble to\nget up schools, and to support them--where to get the teachers, and the\nmoney to pay them.\" True, it is troublesome to establish schools; but we\nhave to live on troubles. Our very troubles become our ladder to heaven,\nif borne for the sake of Jesus Christ. If we do not wish to undergo\ntroubles and trials of every kind for the sake of Jesus, and for the\nsalvation of those for whom He shed His heart's blood, we should not\nhave become priests. Our right and claim to heaven can be established\nonly by following our Lord, and by carrying our cross after Him.\n\nAs to the fear of not getting money for building and supporting schools,\nlet us look at those magnificent school-buildings in every city and town\nof the country. Where did those priests who built them get the money? It\nwas no angel from heaven that brought it. The parents of the children\nthat are educated in these schools gave it. Let us rest assured that\nmoney will not be wanting to a priest if his zeal is great enough to\nshow to parents the absolute necessity of Catholic schools, in order to\nsave their children from becoming scourges for society in this life, and\nfrom becoming victims of hell in the next. Let a priest unite great\ncharity and affection for children, and he will at once lay hold on the\nhearts and money of their parents. Those parents who have no money to\noffer, will most willingly offer their labor for so noble a work. This\nhas been our experience for years in every place where we took charge\nof a congregation. Let every child--the poor excepted--pay from thirty\nto forty cents a month. The money thus collected will cover all the\nexpenses for teachers, and for the books of the poor children. Parents\nare but too happy to have a priest who takes a lively interest in the\ntemporal and eternal happiness of their children. For the promotion of\nthis happiness, parents will give to the priest the last cent they have\ngot--nay, their own hearts' blood, if necessary. This we have witnessed\nmany times. We have established schools in country places, where the\npeople made very little money; yet they were but too happy to give us\nmoney for the building and support of schools. There are hundreds of\npriests who can say the same of themselves. And should there be\nrefractory characters who do not care about a good Catholic education,\nlet us refuse them absolution, as penitents who are not disposed for the\nworthy reception of the sacraments. We cannot scruple to do this.\n\nThe voice of common sense, the voice of sad experience, the voice of\nCatholic bishops, and especially the voice of the Holy Father, is raised\nagainst, and condemns, the Public School system as a huge humbug,\ninjuring, not promoting, personal virtue and good citizenship, and as\nbeing most pernicious to Catholic faith, and life, and all good morals.\nA pastor, therefore, cannot maintain the contrary opinion without\nincurring great guilt before God and the Church. He cannot allow parents\nto send their children to such schools of infidelity and immorality. He\ncannot give them absolution, and say, \"Innocens sum!\" For he must know\nand understand that parents are bound before the Almighty to raise their\nchildren good Catholics, to plant in their hearts the seed of godliness\nand parental obedience; this was their promise at the baptismal font.\nThey are bound in conscience to redeem this promise; but they cannot do\nthis, so long as their children go to the Public Schools; for it must be\nconceded that children attending these godless Public Schools are in\n_proximate occasion of sin_, and this occasion is in esse for them. This\nbeing so, parents cannot receive absolution unless they remove from\ntheir children this occasion of sin. \"I do not see,\" says the Archbishop\nof Cincinnati--and many other bishops say the same--\"I do not see how\nparents can be absolved, if they are not disposed to support Catholic\nschools, and send their children thereto.\"\n\n\"Duty compels us\"--says the Bishop of Vincennes, Ind., in his Pastoral\nLetter of 1872--\"duty compels us to instruct the pastors of our churches\nto refuse absolution to parents who, having the facilities and means of\neducating their children in a Christian manner, do, from worldly\nmotives, expose them to the danger of losing their faith. This measure,\nhowever, being very rigorous, we intend that it shall be recurred to in\nextreme cases only, and when all means of persuasion have been\nexhausted.\"\n\nAs for teachers, there are everywhere many young ladies who have\nreceived a splendid education, and who would feel but too happy to\nbecome teachers for our children, and bring them up in such a manner as\nto fit them for business in this life, and for heaven hereafter.\n\nBut why so many objections? It was in the following manner that two\nbishops silenced all such objections, and made Catholic schools spring\nup all over their dioceses in a short time: they told their priests\n\"that, were they not to have schools within a certain limited time, they\nwould dismiss them from their dioceses; and that, should their\nparishioners not be willing to provide the means for establishing and\nsupporting Catholic schools, they would withdraw from them their\npriests.\" This looks like believing in the Catholic Church. From the\nmoment that the priests saw this determination of their bishop--the\npeople were overjoyed at it--_Catholic schools_, and, with them,\n_Catholic life_, sprang up, and diffused itself at once all over the two\ndioceses.\n\nLet, then, everyone of our clergy take courage, and the Lord will\ndispose the hearts of the rich and the poor in his favor;--the hearts of\nthe rich to provide him with means, the hearts of the poor to aid him,\nby their prayers, in the promotion of so noble a work as is the\nestablishment of good Catholic schools.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nZEAL OF THE PRIEST FOR THE CATHOLIC EDUCATION OF OUR CHILDREN.\n\n\nIt is a matter of fact that the Protestant movement was chiefly directed\nagainst the Papacy, and that it involved a hundred years of so-called\nreligious wars. This movement gave the princes who took the side of the\nChurch an opportunity, of which they were not slow to avail themselves,\nto extend and consolidate their power over their Catholic subjects, and\nto establish in their dominions monarchical absolutism, or what we may\nchoose to call modern Caesarism.\n\nUnder plea of serving religion, they extended their power over matters\nwhich had hitherto either been left free, or subject only to the\njurisdiction of the spiritual authority. They were defenders of the\nfaith against armed heretics; and they pretended that this excess of\npower was necessary, in order to succeed in their undertaking. A habit\nof depending on them as the external defenders of religion and her\naltars, of the freedom of conscience, and of the Catholic civilization\nitself, was generated; the king took the place in the thoughts and\naffections of the people that was due to the Soverign Pontiff, and by\ngiving the direction to the schools and universities in all things not\nabsolutely of faith, they gradually became the lords of men's minds as\nwell as bodies. In France, Spain, Portugal, and a large part of Italy,\nall through the seventeenth century, the youth were trained in the\nmaxim--the Prince is the State, and his pleasure is law. Bossuet, in his\npolitics, did only faithfully express the political sentiments and\nconvictions of his age, shared by the great body of Catholics as well as\nof non-Catholics. Rational liberty had few defenders, and they were\nexcluded, like Fenelon, from the Court. The politics of Philip II. of\nSpain, of Richelieu, Mazarin, and Louis XIV. in France, which were the\npolitics of Catholic Europe, scarcely opposed by any one, except by the\nPopes, through the greater part of the sixteenth and the whole of the\nseventeenth centuries, tended directly to enslave the people, and to\nrestrict the freedom and influence of the Church.\n\nTrained under despotic influences by the skilful hand of despotism,\nextending to all matters not absolutely of the sanctuary, and sometimes\ndaring, with sacrilegious foot, to invade the sanctuary itself, the\npeople were gradually formed interiorly, as well as exteriorly, to the\npurposes of the despot. They grew up with the habits and beliefs which\nCaesarism, when not resisted, is sure to generate.\n\nThe clergy, sympathizing, as is the case with every national clergy,\nwith the sentiments of their age and nation in all things not strictly\nof faith, had little disposition to labor to keep alive the spirit of\nfreedom in the hearts of the people, and would not have been permitted\nto do it, even if they had been so disposed. Schools were sustained,\nbut, affected by the prevailing despotism, education declined; free\nthought was prohibited; and it is hard to find a literature tamer, less\noriginal and living, than that of Catholic Europe all through the\neighteenth century, down almost to our own times.\n\nAs the Catholic religion was professedly patronized by the sovereigns,\nthe Church, in superficial minds, seemed to sanction the prevailing\nCaesarism. The clergy, because they preached peace, and thought to fulfil\ntheir mission without disturbing the State, came, for the first time in\nhistory, to be regarded as the chief supporters of the despot.\n\nThey who retained some reminiscences of the liberties once enjoyed by\nCatholic Europe, and the noble principles of freedom, asserted in the\nMiddle Ages by the monks in their cells, and the most eminent Doctors of\nthe Church from their chairs, became alienated from Catholicity in\nproportion as they cherished the spirit of resistance, and, unhappily,\nimbibed the fatal conviction that to overthrow the despot's throne they\nmust break down the altar. Rightly interpreted, the old French\nRevolution, although bitterly anti-Catholic and infidel, was not so much\nhatred of religion, and impatience of her salutary restraints, as the\nindignant uprising of a misgoverned people against a civil despotism\nthat affected injuriously all orders, ranks and conditions of society.\nThe sovereigns had taken good care that an attack on them should involve\nan attack on religion, and to have it deeply impressed on their subjects\nthat resistance to them was rebellion against God. The priest, who\nshould have labored publicly to correct the issue made up by the\nsovereigns in accord with unbelievers, would have promoted sedition, and\ndone more harm than good; besides, he would have been at once reduced to\nsilence, in some one of the many ways despotism has usually at its\ncommand.\n\nThe horrors of the French Revolution, the universal breaking up of\nsociety it involved, the persecution of the Church and of her clergy,\nand her religious, which it shamelessly introduced in the name of\nliberty, the ruthless war it waged upon religion, virtue, all that wise\nand good men hold sacred, not unnaturally, to say the least, tended to\ncreate in the minds of the clergy and the people, who remained firm in\ntheir faith, and justly regarded religion as the first want of man and\nsociety, a deeper distrust of the practicability of liberty, and a\ndeeper horror of all movements attempted in its name. This, again, as\nnaturally tended to alienate the party clamoring for political and\nsocial reform still more from Catholicity; which, in its turn, has\nreacted with new force on the Catholic party, and made them still more\ndetermined in their anti-liberal convictions and efforts. These\ntendencies, on both sides, have been aggravated by the European\nrevolutions and repressions, till now almost everywhere the lines are\nwell defined, and the so-called Liberals are, almost to a man, bitterly\nanti-Catholic, and the sovereigns seem to have succeeded in forcing the\nissue: The Church and Caesarism, or Liberty and Infidelity.\n\nCertainly, as religion is of the highest necessity to man and society,\ninfinitely more important than political freedom and social well-being,\nI am unable to conceive how the Catholic party, under the circumstances,\ncould well have acted differently. Their error was in their want of\nvigilance and sagacity in the beginning, in suffering the political\nCaesarism to revive and consolidate itself in the State, or the\nsovereigns, in the outset, to force upon the Catholic world so false an\nissue, or to place them in so unnatural and so embarrassing a position.\nThe truth is, the Catholic party, yielding to the sovereigns, lost, to\nsome extent, for the eighteenth century, the control of the mind of the\nage, and failed to lead its intelligence--they who should always be\nfirst and foremost in every department of human thought and activity.\n\nThat the struggles in Europe have an influence on the Catholic clergy\nand laity in this country, cannot be denied. As yet many of our\nCatholics, whether foreign-born or native-born, seem scarcely to realize\nthe fact that they are freemen, and possess, in this land of freedom,\nequal rights with their fellow-citizens of every other denomination.\nThey have so long been an oppressed people, that their freedom here\nseems hardly real. And unhappily even some of the clergy seem to be too\ntimid and backward in defending boldly and publicly those doctrines of\nour holy faith which are opposed to the popular errors of our infidel\nage. So far we have, thank God, been enjoying full religious liberty;\nbut it will depend mainly on the Catholic clergy to maintain this\nliberty, by upholding the religious principles upon which all true\nliberty is based. In order to maintain these principles they must defend\nliberty of education to the utmost, and must not cease to remind the\nState that it is its solemn duty to govern a free Christian people in a\nChristian manner, and according to the Constitution of the Republic; and\nthat, under no pretence whatever, can it violate this Constitution in so\nvital a point as is the education of our children; and that it is a\nconstant and crying injustice to tax Catholics for the support of\ngodless schools. We must not yield any of our constitutional rights; if\nwe do, the Church will be implicated, by degrees, in the same kind of\nstruggle which is now becoming so serious in Europe.\n\nNow in order to meet with success, let us take up the press. In our\ncountry, unfortunately, an unchristian press is guaranteed the fullest\nliberty, and the evils that flow from that liberty are widely spread. It\nis certain that this unrestricted freedom of the press, which every one\nis ready to abuse, and which allows every one to constitute himself a\nteacher of the public, can be defended neither on principles of reason\nnor of faith. It becomes, therefore, not only our privilege, but our\nsolemn duty, to combat the unchristian by a really Christian press--a\nmatter on which the Church, and the Head of the Church, have spoken in\nan unmistakable manner. If Catholics have not thorough Catholic papers,\nthey will take periodicals which are not Catholic. To have even one good\npaper, through which we can give expression to our thoughts, is a great\nblessing and a great gain; but that certainly does not enable us to give\nour voice that weight in the questions of the day to which it is\nentitled. A great deal has, of late years, been done for the\nestablishment of Catholic journals, and much good has been accomplished\nby them. But far more might have been done had the Catholic press\nreceived more support both from the clergy and laity. It is so easy for\nthe clergy to give this support by encouraging the Catholics in general,\nbut especially the members of so many excellent Catholic associations,\nto subscribe to such periodicals. One word from the priest on the\nusefulness of having a good Catholic paper and magazine in the family,\nwill induce a hundred times more Catholics to become subscribers, than\nthe longest appeal of a newspaper editor. The stronger the Catholic\npress becomes, the more the attention of the nation is called to it, the\nmore shall we secure their respect for us and our religion. Yes, it is\nabsolutely necessary in a country like ours, where religious tracts\nfrom Protestant societies, and pamphlets and periodicals of the most\nobscene character, are flying over the land like leaves before the\nautumn wind, that Catholic journals should be called into existence on\nevery hand, and that no sacrifice should be spared to do so, and to\nencourage those already in existence. If the clergy only take the matter\nin hand, they will find those willing and able to carry the matter\nthrough. Let us use our talents, as God shall grant us grace and\nability, that we may, by so powerful a means as is the press,\ndisseminate the principles of truth, in order to contend with error. The\nlight of truth is far more calculated to dispel the darkness of error,\nthan the light of the sun is to disperse the darkness of the night. Why\nare there so many talents lying idle among us? Why so many pens that\nmove not, when they should be burning with love for God, and for the\nwelfare of their fellow-men? Why so many tongues that are ever silent,\nwhen they might, day after day, preach the good tidings of the Gospel of\nChrist? Let us rest assured God has given to us, to every man his\nvocation, his sphere of action and holy influence, wherein he can\nproclaim to those around him that faith which maketh wise unto\nsalvation. Let us not be cowards,--let us show as much determination and\ncourage, let us sacrifice as much for the propagation of truth as its\nenemies do for the dissemination of error; bearing, however, always in\nmind that the manner in which we must combat error ought to be\ncharitable; for otherwise it is not calculated to command respect, and\nmake a salutary impression. It is thus that our fellow-citizens of other\ndenominations will come to understand that we appreciate our liberty,\nand know how to use it for the benefit of the public.\n\nBut all rights and liberties avail nothing, in the end, if Catholic\neducation itself is not what it ought to be. And the great battle that\nis waging, that education may not be deprived of its Christian\ncharacter, can be won by us only on condition that teachers, and\neducators themselves, as well as parents and the clergy, understand\nprecisely the full bearing of the question.\n\nTo-day, more than ever, we need a thorough Catholic education. The\nenemies of our religion are now making war upon its dogmas more\ngenerally and craftily than at any former period. Their attacks, for\nbeing wily and concealed, are all the more pernicious. The impious rage\nof a Voltaire, or the \"solemn sneer\" of a Gibbon, would be less\ndangerous than this insidious warfare. They disguise their designs under\nthe appearance of devotion to progressive ideas, and hatred of\nsuperstition and intolerance, all the better to instil the slow but\ndeadly poison. By honeyed words, a studied candor, a dazzle of\nerudition, they have spread their \"gossamer nets of seduction\" over the\nworld. The press teems with books and journals in which doctrines\nsubversive of religion and morality are so elegantly set forth, that the\nunguarded reader is very apt to be deceived by the fascination of false\ncharms, and to mistake a most hideous and dangerous object for the very\ntype of beauty. The serpent stealthily glides under the silken verdure\nof a polished style. Nothing is omitted. The passions are fed, and the\nmorbid sensibilities pandered to; firmness in the cause of truth or\nvirtue is called obstinacy; and strength of soul, a refractory\nblindness. The bases of morality are sapped in the name of liberty; the\ndiscipline of the Church, when not branded as sheer \"mummery,\" is held\nup as hostile to personal freedom; and her dogmas, with one or two\nexceptions, are treated as opinions which may be received or rejected\nwith like indifference.\n\nNor is this irreligious tendency confined to literary publications; it\nfinds numerous and powerful advocates in men of scientific pursuits, who\nstrive to make the worse appear the better cause. The chemist has never\nfound in his crucible that intangible something which men call spirit;\nso, in the name of science, he pronounces it a myth. The anatomist has\ndissected the human frame; but, failing to meet the immaterial\nsubstance--the soul--he denies its existence. The physicist has weighed\nthe conflicting theories of his predecessors in the scale of criticism,\nand finally decides that bodies are nothing more than the accidental\nassemblage of atoms, and rejects the very idea of a Creator. The\ngeologist, after investigating the secrets of the earth, triumphantly\ntells us that he has accumulated an overwhelming mass of facts to refute\nthe biblical cosmogony, and thus subvert the authority of the inspired\nrecord. The astronomer flatters himself that he has discovered natural\nand necessary laws, which do away with the necessity of admitting that a\nDivine Hand once launched the heavenly bodies into space, and still\nguides them in their courses; the stenographer has studied the\npeculiarities of the races; he has met with widely-different\nconformations, and believes himself sufficiently authorized to deny the\nunity of the human family; in a word, they conclude that nothing exists\nbut matter, that God is a myth, and the soul \"the dream of a dream.\"\n\nThus do men attack these sacred truths, which cannot be shaken without\ngreatly injuring, and finally destroying, the social edifice.\n\nNow, when we see the snares so cunningly laid to entrap our youth, can\nwe wonder that so many of our Catholic young men, even after they have\nbeen educated at Catholic colleges, are caught in them, and fall into\ninfidelity? A short time ago, a gentleman of great learning, and a\ncelebrated convert to our Church, told me that he had the greatest\ntrouble to keep his son from falling into infidelity, though he was\nnaturally inclined to piety. He said that he had him educated at one of\nthe best colleges in the country, and that he felt surprised at the fact\nthat so many of the young men educated there had become infidels. \"I\ncannot,\" he said, \"account for this, otherwise than by presuming that\nthe religious training there is not solid enough; that the heathen world\nis too much read and studied; that principles somewhat too lax are in\nvogue; that the truths of our religion are taught too superficially;\nthat the principles which underlie the dogmas are not sufficiently\nexplained, inculcated, and impressed upon the minds of the young men,\nand that their educators fail in giving them a correct idea of the\nspirit and essence of our religion, which is based on divine revelation,\nand invested in a Body divinely commissioned to teach all men,\nauthoritatively and infallibly, all its sacred and immutable\ntruths--truths which we are consequently bound in conscience to receive\nwithout hesitation.\n\n\"Now what I have said of certain colleges applies also, unhappily, to\nmany of our female academies; they are by no means what they should be,\naccording to the spirit of the Church; they conform too much to the\nspirit of the world; they have too many human considerations; they make\ntoo many allowances for Protestant pupils at the expense of the Catholic\nspirit and training of our young Catholic ladies; they yield too much to\nthe spirit of the age; in a word, they attend more to the intellectual\nthan to the spiritual culture of their pupils.\n\n\"But what is even more surprising than all this is, that some of our\nCatholic clergy, and among them some even of those who should be first\nand foremost in fighting for sound religious principles, and seeing that\nour youth are carefully brought up in them, are too much inclined to\nyield to the godless spirit of the age--to the so-called liberal views\non Catholic education, which have been clearly and solemnly condemned by\nthe Holy See. They tell us poor people in the world, that, if we are\ncareless in bringing up our children as good Catholics, we are worse\nthan heathens, and have denied our faith! that, if our children are lost\nthrough our neglect, we also shall be lost. I would like to know whether\nGod will show Himself more merciful to those of our clergy who take so\nlittle interest in the religious instruction of our youth; who make\nlittle or no exertions to establish Catholic schools, where we could\nhave our children properly educated; who, when they condescend to\ninstruct them, do so in bombastic language, in scholastic terms which\nthe poor children cannot understand, taking no pains to give their\ninstructions in plain words, and in a manner attractive for children.\n\n\"As the pastor is, so is the flock. We enjoy full religious liberty in\nour country. All we need is good, courageous pastors--standard-bearers\nin the cause of God and the people. We would be only too happy to follow\nthem, and to support and encourage them by every means in our power.\nWhat an immense amount of good could thus be achieved in a short time!\nOur religion never loses anything of its efficacy upon the minds and\nhearts of men; it can only lose in as far as it is not brought to bear\nupon them. What is most wanted is not argument, but instruction and\nexplanation.\n\n\"I can hardly account for this want of zeal for true Catholic education\nin so many of our clergy, who are otherwise models of every virtue, than\nby supposing the fact that their ecclesiastical training must have been\ndeficient in many respects, or that they must have spent their youth in\nour godless Public Schools, where they were never thoroughly imbued with\nthe true spirit of the Catholic Church--the spirit of God.\n\n\"I have quietly, for some time, studied, as far as I was able, the\nprevailing spirit of our people; noted the remarks and efforts of a few\necclesiastics, laics, and Catholic periodicals (and, alas! how very few)\nmade in behalf of the sacred obligation of education, and endeavored to\ncompare the results with the efforts, and the observation _made_ is\nsadly disheartening.\n\n\"Examine the Catholic almanacs, the census of the various States, or\nthose of the United States, and ascertain, first, the number of\nCatholics in the country; second, the number of those between the ages\nof six and twenty-one years; then divide this last number by the number\nof Catholic schools, including colleges, academies, convents, parochial\nand private schools, and the _quotient_ will be what? _Indifference to\nCatholic education!_ In other words, this simple operation in vulgar\narithmetic demonstrates that in no country claiming to be enlightened\ncan be found _thirteen millions_ of Catholics with such an inadequate\nnumber of schools as we have, or are likely to have, if a policy widely\ndifferent from that which prevails at present be not _early_ inaugurated\nand steadily pursued. It is, indeed, true--and I willingly, cheerfully\nadmit the fact--that most of our priests, and nearly all our bishops,\nare exerting themselves zealously, strenuously, and with marked success,\nin the cause of education. But _not all_ the priests; _not all_ the\nbishops are enlisted in the cause; nor are all in _positive_ sympathy\nwith it. All may be, perhaps are, agreed in believing that Catholic\neducation is necessary; but _all are not_ agreed as to the necessity of\nCatholic schools in which it may be secured. Unanimity exists as to the\n_end_, but not as to the _means_ to that end. And this lack or absence\nof unanimity, especially among those whose peculiar province it is to\nshape and direct Catholic sentiment, has produced, and continues to\nproduce, the most injurious consequences.\n\n\"Many of the clergy are _not_ opposed to the Public Schools, nor do they\nfeel reluctant to publicly make known the \"faith which is in them,\" when\nan opportunity presents itself. Many are opposed to these schools, but\ntheirs is a _negative_ opposition; that is, they are not in favor of\nthem. They believe that Catholic schools are better and safer, but they\ndo not consider it a duty incumbent on themselves to undertake the labor\nand trouble inseparable from the establishment and direction of\nparochial schools. These reverend gentlemen are simply neutrals; that\nis, _if men may, or can, be neutral on such a subject_.\n\n\"Thought is free, and it may, perhaps, be impossible to have entire\nunanimity in matters of opinion only; but if one of the ends sought to\nbe attained by the Church be the securing to each child a Catholic\neducation, it is very evident that the establishment of schools should\nnot be left to the discretion or whim of the several pastors. Upon\nsubjects far less important than that of schools, the statutes in many\ndioceses are clear, explicit, binding. Is there any reason for their\nsilence on the subject of education? Our bishops have not only the\npower, but the will, to enforce such matters of discipline as they deem\nnecessary. This granted--because too clear to be denied--does it not\nfollow that the establishment of schools maybe made obligatory upon\npastors? Let discipline be made uniform, and we will not witness such an\nanomalous condition of things as exist at present. Duties are never in\ncollision; obligations never clash. There is but one right thing to be\ndone, but one right cause to pursue, all things considered; and whatever\nis in conflict with this cannot be a duty, whatever may seem to be its\nclaim. In some parts of this country, the sacraments are refused to\nthose who decline to have their children attend Catholic schools where\nsuch are convenient; but there is not, so far as I am informed, in those\nparts, any _rule_ making it obligatory upon pastors to establish such\nschools. In other sections, to withhold the sacraments for such a cause\nis unthought of. The consequence is that many Catholics are at a loss to\nunderstand why it is that an act which subjects them to such severe\npunishment in one diocese should in another not call forth even a mild\nreproof--pass unnoticed. In actions indifferent in themselves, it may be\nwise, \"when in Rome, to do as the Romans do\"; but where _principle_ is\ninvolved, such an easy adaptability cannot be encouraged.\n\n\"In this laxity of discipline, and in this want of uniformity, in this\nwide difference of opinion among those who give direction to Catholic\nsentiment, and who speak, as it were, _ex cathedra_, may be found some\nof the causes for the indifference existing among our people on the\nquestion of Catholic education.\n\n\"But it is so convenient to allow things to go on in the old way, and\nso hard to establish anything new. Yet a thing which, in the great\nstruggle between the Church and antichrist, is one of the most powerful\nmeans of victory, is really worth the highest sacrifice. Indeed, the\nestablishment of thorough Catholic schools is the most important step\nthat can be taken by our clergy to solve certain social questions, and\nwhich can be solved only on Catholic principles. The greatest social\ndanger of the age, is the dechristianization and demoralization of the\nrising generation. This dechristianization and demoralization are, to a\ngreat extent, the cause of the wretchedness of society, and make that\nwretchedness almost incurable. What enormous dimensions has this evil\nassumed under the present godless system of education in the Public\nSchools! But even the evils resulting from this system might, to a great\nextent, be healed, if the clergy labor, with the zeal and fire of\napostolic times, to have good schools, and imbue our children therein\nwith thorough Christian knowledge, with fervent piety and earnest\ndevotion. Oh! if the children of light were only as wise as the children\nof the world, we should witness wonders. It is true that evil makes its\nway in this world better than goodness does, but it is also true that\ngoodness does not prosper, because those who represent it take the\nmatter too lightly, or do not go about it as they should. More is often\ndone for the worst cause than men are willing to do or to sacrifice for\nthe best. A great deal has of late years been done for the establishment\nand maintenance of Catholic schools. Let us sincerely hope that a great\ndeal more will be done, and more universally; and need requires us not\nonly to pray, but to work with all our strength, with inexhaustible\npatience and devotion, at the establishment of Catholic schools, and\nmake, for this noblest of objects, sacrifices not less generous than\nthose made by infidels in behalf of godless education.\"\n\nIt was thus that the good old gentleman spoke to me. He uttered great\ntruths. His language is that of all good Catholics in the country. I\nhave often heard it. It is no exaggeration to assert that the salvation\nof those of our clergy who have charge of congregations depends, in a\ngreat measure, on the solicitude with which they promote the thorough\nCatholic education of those children who are confided to their care.\n\n\"Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord\nGod: Behold I Myself come upon the shepherds, I will require My flock at\ntheir hand.\"--(Ezek. xxxiv. 9, 10.)\n\nIf our Lord will require His flock at the hands of their pastors, He\nwill undoubtedly require from them a stricter account of that part of\nhis flock for which he has always shown a particular predilection, that\nis, for children. It was to children that He gave the special honor of\nbeing the first to shed their blood for His name's sake. He has given\nthem to us as a model of humility, which we should imitate: \"Unless you\nbecome like little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.\"\nHe wishes that every one should hold them in great honor: \"See that you\ndespise not one of these little ones.\" Why not? \"For I say to you, that\ntheir angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.\"--(Matt.\nxviii. 10.)\n\nHe wishes every one to be on his guard, lest he should scandalize a\nlittle child: \"It were better for him that a mill-stone were put about\nhis neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should scandalize one\nof these little ones.\"--(Matt. xviii. 6.)\n\nHe says that the love, attention, and respect paid to a child, is paid\nto Himself. \"And Jesus took a child and said to them: Whosoever shall\nreceive this child in My name, receiveth Me.\"--(Luke ix. 48.)\n\nHe rebuked those who tried to prevent little children from being\npresented to Him, that He might bless them: \"And they brought to Him\nyoung children, that he might touch them. And the disciples rebuked\nthose who brought them; whom, when Jesus saw, He was much displeased,\nand saith to them: Suffer the little ones to come unto Me, and forbid\nthem not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Amen I say to you,\nwhosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a _little child_,\nshall not enter into it. And embracing them, and laying His hands upon\nthem, He blessed them.\"--(Mark x. 13-16.)\n\nThe motives, then, that should induce every priest to devote himself\nzealously to the spiritual welfare of youth, are: First, the great\ninterest which Jesus Christ takes in children; and second, the more\nabundant fruits reaped from the care bestowed upon the young.\n\nThe Son of God came into the world to redeem all who were lost. But do\nchildren profit by His abundant redemption? Do they draw from the source\nof graces that are open to all? Will they be marked with the seal of\nDivine Adoption, and be nourished with His own Flesh in the Sacrament of\nHis love? Will they be counted, in the course of their career, among the\nnumber of His faithful disciples, or among the enemies of His law? Will\nthey one day be admitted into His kingdom? Will they be excluded? Is it\nheaven or hell that will be their lot for all eternity? It is we\npriests, and almost we only, that are expected to solve these problems.\nChildren are the noblest portion of the flock that is confided to our\ncare. Their fate is in our hands. If our zeal is not active in their\nsalvation, Jesus will lose, in them, the fruit of His sufferings and\ndeath. How many are deprived forever of the sight and possession of God,\nbecause they have not received a good Catholic education. Who is to\nblame? Has the pastor sufficiently instructed, warned, and watched over\nthem? How many lose their baptismal innocence almost as soon as they\nare capable of losing it, grow up in vicious habits, grow old in sin,\nand die impenitent at last, because they were neglected in early youth,\nwere not subjected to the amiable yoke of virtue! \"Bonum est viro, cum\nportaverit jugum ab adolescentia sua.\"--(Thren. iii. 27.) If the first\nyears of life are pure, they often sanctify all the after life; but if\nthe roots of the tree are rotten and dead, the branches will not be more\nhealthy. \"Adolescentes, cum semel a malitia fuerint occupati, quasi\nincaptivitatem essent adducti, quoquo diabolus jusserit eunt.\"--(S.\nChrys. Hom. 19 in Gen.) Education is the mould in which a man's moral,\nintellectual, and religious character is formed. Man will become, in his\nold age, what education made him in his youth. \"Adolescens juxta viam\nsuam, etiam cum senuerit, non recedet ab ea.\"--(Prov. xxii. 6.) All is a\nsnare and seduction for youth. If the fear of God, the horror of evil,\nthe maxims of religion, are not profoundly engraven in the soul, what is\nto protect young people from their passions? What can be expected of a\nyoung man who has never heard of the happiness of virtue, the hopes of\nthe future life, and the blessings or the woes of eternity? Now who\nwill give the Christian education, if not the pastor? Can we rely on the\nparents? on Sunday-school teachers? Oh, priests! we are almost the only\nresource of these poor children. Can we, knowing, as we do, how much\nJesus Christ loves them, can we, I say, resign ourselves to leaving them\nin their misery? \"The kings of the earth have their favorites,\" said St.\nAugustine. The favorites of Jesus Christ are innocent souls. What is\nmore innocent than the heart of a child whom baptism has purified from\noriginal stain, and who has not, as yet, contracted the stain of actual\nsin? This heart is the sanctuary of the Holy Ghost. Who can tell with\nwhat delight He makes of it His abode? Deliciae meae esse cum filiis\nhominum. Look at the mothers who penetrated the crowd that surrounded\nthe Saviour, in order to beg Him to bless their children.... They are at\nfirst repulsed; but soon after, what is their joy when they hear the\ngood Master approve their desires, and justify what a zeal, little\nenlightened, taxed with indiscretion! Ah! let us understand the desires\nof the Son of God. \"Suffer,\" says He to us, \"suffer little children to\ncome to me.\" What! You banish those who are dearest to Me? They who\nresemble them belong to the kingdom of heaven. If you love Me, take care\nof My sheep, but neglect not My lambs. Pasce agnos meos. Despise not one\nof My little ones. \"Videte ne contemnatis unum ex his pusillis.\"--(Matt.\nxviii. 10.) I regard as done to Myself, all that is done to them. \"Qui\nsusceperit unum parvulum talem, in nomine meo, me suscipit.\"--(Ibid. 5.)\nO Saviour of the world! the desire to be beloved by Thee, and to prove\nmy love for Thee, urges me to devote myself to the Catholic education of\nour children.\n\nHow great and consoling are not the fruits of zeal, when it has youth\nfor its object! The good pastor never despairs of the salvation of his\nsheep, whatever may be their wanderings; he knows the power of grace,\nand the infinite mercy of the Lord. But what difficulties does he not\nencounter when he undertakes to bring back to God persons advanced in\nage! Children, on the contrary, oppose but one obstacle to his\nzeal--levity. All he needs with them is patience. Their souls are like\nnew earth, which waits only culture to produce a quadruple. They are\nflexible plants, which take the form and direction given to them. Their\nhearts, pure from criminal affections, are susceptible of happy\nimpressions and tendencies. They believe in authority. A religious\ninstinct leads them to the priest. They adopt with confidence the faith\nand the sentiments of those who instruct them. Oh, how easy to soften\nthat age, in speaking of a God Who has made Himself a child, and Who\ndied for us! to awaken the fear of the Lord, compassion for those who\nsuffer, gratitude, divine love, in souls predisposed, by the grace of\nbaptism, to all the Christian virtues! Ask the most zealous pastors, and\nall will tell you that no part of their ministry is more consoling than\nthat which is exercised for youth, because the fruits are incomparably\nmore abundant. Although all my efforts for the sanctification of an old\nman, ever unfaithful to his duties, should be crowned with success, they\ncould not help his long life being frightfully void of merits, and a\npermanent revolt against heaven. But if there be a child in question, my\nzeal sanctifies his whole life; I deposit in his soul the germ of all\nthe good that he will do, and I shall participate in all the good works\nwith which his career will be filled. All believers have come out of one\nsingle Abraham. From one child, well brought up, a whole generation of\ntrue Christians can proceed. In this little flock that surrounds me, God\nsees, perhaps, elect souls on whom His Providence has formed great\ndesigns--pious instructors, holy priests, who will carry far the\nknowledge of His name, and aid Him in saving millions of souls. In what\nastonishment would the first catechists of a St. Vincent de Paul, of a\nFrancis Xavier, be thrown, had they been told what would become of those\nchildren, and what they would one day accomplish! But even supposing\nthat all those confided to me follow the common way, I have in them the\nsurest means of renewing my parish. To-day they receive the movement, in\nfifteen years they will give it. They will transmit good principles,\nhappy inclinations to their own children, who will transmit them in\ntheir turn. Behold, it is thus that holy traditions are established, and\na chain of solid virtues perpetuated; ages will reap what I have sown in\na few days. It is by these considerations that the greatest saints, and\nthe finest geniuses of Christianity, became so much attached to the\neducation of youth. St. Jerome, St. Gregory Pope, St. Augustine, St.\nVincent Ferrier, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Francis de Sales, St. Joseph\nCalasanctius, Gerson, Bellarmin, Bossuet, Fenelon, M. Olier, etc.,\nbelieved they could never better employ their time and talents than in\nconsecrating them to the education of the young. \"It is considered\nhonorable and useful to educate the son of a monarch, presumptive heir\nto his crown.... But the child that I form to virtue, is he not the\nchild of God, inheritor of the kingdom of heaven?\"--(Gerson.) \"Believe\nme,\" said St. Francis de Sales, \"the angels of little children love\nthose with a particular love who bring them up in the fear of God, and\nwho plant in their tender souls holy devotion.\" Have we always\ncomprehended all the good that we can do to children by our humble\nfunctions?\n\nBut if we wish for the end, we must also wish for the means--for\nCatholic schools. They are the nurseries of the Church, as novitiates\nare the nurseries of religious orders. The chief pastoral work of the\nChurch is to be done in the school. The school must be the chief\nsolicitude of the priest. He must consider no trouble too great, no\nsacrifice of time and convenience too much, in order to secure good\nattendance and efficiency in the school. Neither sick calls, nor any\nother ecclesiastical duties, should be allowed to interfere with the\nschool. He must be the life and character of the school, and it is\nprincipally he who must administer correction. The authority of the\npriest, his interest in the school, and his relation towards the\nparents, are far more persuasive and effectual as corrections, than\nscoldings and penances inflicted by the master and mistress.\n\nIt seems to me that we cannot insist too much upon the vital importance\nof the Catholic school. A priest's time is never better employed than\nwhen three or four hours of it are daily spent in school--and that so\nregularly, that his presence in the school is looked for alike by\nteachers, children, and parents--and when he then occupies another\nportion of his day in looking after the defaulters, and in talking with\nparents over the school duties, and the future prospects of their\nchildren. Thus the parents feel that in sending their children to be\neducated there, they are not turning them over to a number of paid\nteachers, nor even to Brothers and Sisters, but to the clergy\nthemselves, for their education. This personal interest and solicitude\nof the priest reacts upon the parents as well as upon the children.\n\nA pastor, then, wishing to secure the salvation of the best part of the\nflock of Jesus Christ, must do all in his power to establish good\nCatholic schools, and oblige parents to send their children to them, and\nnot to Public Schools--to the grave of Catholicity. It is _then_, also,\nand not till then, that we shall see more young people called to the\npriesthood, and to such religious orders as devote themselves especially\nto the education of youth. In Europe, the bishops and priests, together\nwith the laity, fight for the liberty of educating the children\naccording to Catholic principles and customs. In this country, our\nreligious liberty is as great as it possibly can be. Now not to profit\nby this liberty, is for the shepherds of the flock of Jesus Christ to\nincur the greatest guilt; it is to be like that ungodly Bishop of\nBurgos, who, on being told by Las Casas that seven thousand children had\nperished in three months, said: \"Look you, what a queer fool! what is\nthis to me, and what is that to the King?\" To which Las Casas replied:\n\"Is it nothing to your Lordship that all these souls should perish? Oh,\ngreat and eternal God! And to whom, then, is it of any concern?\"--(Life\nof Las Casas, by Arthur Helps.)\n\nTo be destitute of ardent zeal for the spiritual welfare of children, is\nto see, with indifferent eyes, the Blood of Jesus Christ trodden under\nfoot; it is to see the image and likeness of God lie in the mire, and\nnot care for it; it is to despise the Blessed Trinity; the Father, who\ncreated them; the Son, who redeemed them; the Holy Ghost, who sanctified\nthem; it is to belong to that class of shepherds, of whom the Lord\ncommanded Ezekiel to prophesy as follows: \"Son of man, prophesy\nconcerning the shepherds of Israel: prophesy and say to the shepherds:\nThus saith the Lord God: Wo to the shepherds of Israel.... My flock you\ndid not feed. The weak you have not strengthened; and that which was\nsick, you have not healed: that which was broken, you have not bound up;\nand that which was driven away, you have not brought again; neither have\nyou sought that which was lost:... and My sheep were scattered, because\nthere was no shepherd: and they became the prey of all the beasts of the\nfield, and were scattered. My sheep have wandered in every mountain,\nand in every high hill: and there was none, I say, that sought them.\nTherefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Behold, I Myself\ncome upon the shepherds. I will require My flock at their\nhands.\"--(Ezek. xxxiv. 2-10.) To be destitute of this zeal for the\nCatholic education of our children, is to hide the five talents which\nthe Lord has given us, instead of gaining other five talents. Surely the\nLord will say: \"And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the\nexterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of\nteeth.\"--(Matt. xxv. 30.)\n\nWhat a shame for pastors of souls to know that the devil, in alliance\nwith the wicked, is at work, day and night, for the ruin and destruction\nof youth, and to be so little concerned about their eternal loss; just\nas if it was not true what the holy Fathers say, that the salvation of\none soul is worth more than the whole visible world! Since when is it,\nthen, that the price of the souls of little children has been lessened?\nAh, as long as the price of the Blood of Jesus Christ remains of an\ninfinite value, so long the price of souls will remain the same also!\nHeaven and earth will pass away, but this truth will not. The devil\nknows and understands it but too well. Oh! how he delights in a priest\nwho is called, by Jesus Christ, \"the hireling, because he has no care\nfor the sheep, and who seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and\nflieth.\"--(John x. 12.)\n\nOn the Day of Judgment, such a priest will be confounded by that poor\nman of whom we read, in the life of St. Francis de Sales, as follows:\nOne day this holy and zealous pastor, on a visit of his diocese, had\nreached the top of one of those dreadful mountains, overwhelmed with\nfatigue and cold, his hands and feet completely benumbed, in order to\nvisit a single parish in that dreary situation; while he was viewing,\nwith astonishment, those immense blocks of ice of an uncommon thickness,\nthe inhabitants, who had approached to meet him, related that some days\nbefore a shepherd, running after a strayed sheep, had fallen into one of\nthese tremendous precipices. They added that his fate would never have\nbeen known if his companion, who was in search of him, had not\ndiscovered his hat on the edge of the precipice. The poor man,\ntherefore, imagined that the shepherd might be still relieved, or, if\nhe should have perished, that he might be honored with a Christian\nburial.\n\nWith this view he descended, by the means of ropes, this icy precipice,\nwhence he was drawn up, pierced through with cold, and holding in his\narms his companion, who was dead, and almost frozen into a block of ice.\nFrancis, hearing this account, turned to his attendants, who were\ndisheartened with the extreme fatigues which they had every day to\nencounter, and availing himself of this circumstance to encourage them,\nhe said: \"Some persons imagine that we do too much, and we certainly do\nfar less than these poor people. You have heard in what manner one has\nlost his life in an attempt to find a strayed animal; and how another\nhas exposed himself to the danger of perishing, in order to procure for\nhis friend a burial, which, under these circumstances, might have been\ndispensed with. These examples speak to us in forcible language; by this\ncharity we are confounded, we who perform much less for the salvation of\nsouls intrusted to our care, than those poor people do for the security\nof animals confided to their charge.\" Then the holy Prelate heaved a\ndeep sigh, saying: \"My God, what a beautiful lesson for bishops and\npastors! This poor shepherd has sacrificed his life to save a strayed\nsheep, and I, alas! have so little zeal for the salvation of souls. The\nleast obstacle suffices to deter me, and make me calculate my every step\nand trouble. Great God, give me true zeal, and the genuine spirit of a\ngood shepherd! Ah, how many shepherds of souls will not this herdsman\njudge!\" Alas! how just and how true is this remark. If we saw our very\nenemies surrounded by fire, we would think of means to rescue them from\nthe danger; and now we see thousands of little children, redeemed at the\nprice of the blood of Jesus Christ, on the point of losing their faith,\nand with it their souls; and shall we be less concerned and less active\nfor these images and likenesses of God than for their frames, their\nbodies?\n\nWe hear a little child weeping, and we at once try to console it; we\nhear a little dog whining at the door, and we open it; a poor beggar\nasks for a piece of bread, and we give it; and we hear the Mother of our\nCatholic children--the Catholic Church--cry in lamentable accents: \"Let\nmy little ones have the bread of life--a good Christian education\"--and\nwe do not heed her voice. We hear Jesus Christ cry, \"Suffer the little\nones to come unto Me,\" by means of a Catholic education; we hear him\nsay: \"Woe to him who scandalizes a little child\"--who makes it lose his\ninnocence--his faith--his soul, by sending it to godless schools; we see\nHim weep over Jerusalem, over the loss of so many Catholic children, and\nwe hear Him say: \"Weep not over me, but for _your children_\"; and\nneither His voice nor His tears make any impression. We say with the man\nin the Gospel, \"Trouble me not, the door (of our heart) is now shut, I\ncannot rise and give thee.\"--(Luke xi.) If an ass, says our Lord, falls\ninto a pit, you will pull him out even on a Sabbath-day; and an innocent\nsoul, nay, thousands of innocent children, fall away from Me and pass\nover to the army of the apostate angels, and become My and your\nadversaries, and you do not care. Oh, what great cruelty, what hardness\nof heart, nay, what great impiety! If we were blind, we should not have\nsin; but as Jesus Christ has spoken to us on the subject of education\nthrough His Vicar on earth, through so many zealous bishops, through\nsad experience, nay, even through many of those who are outside the\nChurch, we have no excuse for our sin of suffering devilish wolves to\ndevour our youth in our country. \"My watchmen,\" says the Lord, \"are all\n_dumb dogs_, not able to bark, seeing vain things, _sleeping_, and\nloving dreams.\"--(Isa. lvi. 10.) Truly the curses and maledictions of\nall those who led a bad life, and were damned for want of a good\nChristian education, which we neglected to give them, will come down\nupon us! What shall we answer? \"And he was silent.\"--Matt. xxii.\n\nMarvellous, indeed, have been God's gracious dealings with this poor\nland of ours, so very far above what we could have dreamed or hoped for\nsome years ago, that we may say in all truth that the finger of God has\ntouched us. That touch has quickened Catholic life in our land to a\nwonderful extent; not, indeed, as yet, with the great exuberance of\nCatholic European countries, but nevertheless with almost exulting\ngladness; for to-day there are few indeed of our cities and towns in\nwhich at least the pulse of Catholic life does not beat strongly.\n\nBut why have these great things been done for us? Why has our Catholic\nlife been increased and strengthened so wonderfully, except to win more\nsouls to Christ, to bring more of the American people into closer union\nwith God? If this be so, then we must not leave our Lord to work alone;\nwe must be fellow-workers with Him, by helping forward the growth of\nholiness, the progress of the spiritual life, the poverty of the Cross,\nthe spreading of His Spirit in opposition to the formal and\nself-indulgent spirit of the age, and this by every means in our power;\nand, above all, by multiplying amongst us Catholic schools and\ninstitutions. What the future may have in store for the Church in\nAmerica we cannot tell; whether, when more of God's Spirit has been\npoured out upon us, our sons and our daughters shall prophesy, and our\nyoung men shall see visions, and our old men shall dream dreams, as in\nthe days of old; but of this we may be sure, that in exact proportion as\nour clergy exert that mighty energy which springs from the living faith\nthat overcomes the world, in order to leaven the mass of the American\npeople, and to build up, throughout the length and breadth of the land,\ntemples and schools to God's holy name, and altars to His honor, will\nbe the manifestation of the kingdom of God with power and majesty in the\nmidst of this American land, and the grasp of God's Church upon the\nhearts and minds of this American people!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nI have now only to add that I submit this, and whatever else I have\nwritten, to the better judgment of our Bishops, but especially to the\nHoly See, anxiously desirous to think nothing, to say nothing, to teach\nnothing but what is approved of by those to whom the sacred deposit of\nFaith has been committed--those who watch over us as being _to render an\naccount to God for our souls_.\n\nNow, should the Prelates of the Church deem this publication ever so\nlittle calculated to promote the great cause for which it has been\nwritten, the compiler will believe himself amply rewarded for his labor,\nand he will feel extremely grateful if they encourage its circulation by\ngiving it their special approbation and recommendation.\n\n\n\n\nFather Michael Mueller's Books,\n\nFOR SALE BY\n\nPATRICK DONAHOE,\n\nAND ALL CATHOLIC BOOKSELLERS.\n\n\nTHE BLESSED EUCHARIST OUR GREATEST TREASURE. Price, $1.50.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[_Letter from Archbishop Spalding._]\n\n\"We have read with much pleasure and with great edification this\nvaluable work, composed by one of our Redemptorist Fathers in Baltimore.\nWe have found the matter solid, well digested, and instructive, and the\nstyle simple, earnest, and full of unction. The examples are, in\ngeneral, appropriately selected as illustrations of the text; and many\nof them are very edifying, and even touching. These are, of course, to\nbe received, according to the author's timely protest in the beginning,\nwith the wise reserve expressly ordered by the Church in regard to such\nmatters, in the well-known Bull of Urban VIII.; but, with this necessary\nprecaution, such legends are profitable unto edification, as the way of\nteaching by example is much more compendious, as well as much more\nimpressive, than that by word or writing. It is refreshing to find, in\nthis cold utilitarian age, a work issued from the press so full of\nCatholic life, and so glowing with the fire of Catholic love. Believing\nthat its extensive circulation and diligent perusal will be promotive of\npiety, and will be useful to all classes both within and without the\nChurch, we earnestly recommend the work to the faithful people under our\ncharge.\n\n     \"MARTIN JOHN SPALDING, _Archbishop of Baltimore_.\n\n     \"_Baltimore_, Feast of St. Francis de Sales, 1868.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[_Letter from Bishop Luers._]\n\n\"Rev. and Dear Sir:--'The Blessed Eucharist,' of which you have kindly\nsent me a copy, is truly a charming work. It should be in every Catholic\nfamily.\n\n     Yours truly in Christ,\n\n     \"J. H. LUERS, _Bishop of Fort Wayne_.\n\n     \"_Fort Wayne_, January 23, 1868.\"\n\n[_From the \"Banner of the South,\" Augusta, Georgia._]\n\n\"We have read this beautiful book; we have tasted the sweetness of its\nthoughts, and we are reading it again. There is a humility about its\nstyle so like His humility who dwells with us in the Holy Sacrament:\ndeep thoughts in plain words--doctrinal sublimities in language so\nsimple, that a child, without effort, may understand. It is indeed a\nbook of piety, and it will fill many a heart with love for the Great\nMystery of the Altar.\n\n     \"REV. FATHER RYAN, _of Augusta, Ga._\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[_Letter to the Editors of the \"Baltimore Mirror.\"_]\n\n\"Messrs. Editors of the _Baltimore Mirror_:--If you have room in your\ncolumns, permit me, through them, to say a word or two about Father\nMueller's book, 'The Blessed Eucharist.' But how shall I begin? To say it\nis great, good, or grand, is not enough. The nearest I can come to\nexpressing what I feel about it, is to say, next to receiving the\nBlessed Eucharist, is the perusal of this inestimable book. I wish to\nsay to every reader of the _Mirror_, buy the book. No matter how great a\nsinner you are, the hope of speedy relief is pointed out to you here; no\nmatter how weak and discouraged you are, the way to strengthen you is\nshown here; no matter how dear the privilege is to you of receiving the\nBlessed Sacrament, it will become doubly dear after reading this book.\nTo the rich I would say, buy two copies and give one to your poor\nbrother; his prayers and blessings will well repay you for the trifling\nexpenditure. To the ladies I would say, spare yourself a bit of ribbon\nand buy the book. To the gentlemen, a few less cigars or drinks, and buy\nthe book. Every single page of it is worth the price of the volume.\nCould dear Father Mueller have heard the prayers and seen the tears of a\npoor old lady who is crippled, and cannot go to church, when it was\nbeing read to her this morning, he would be rewarded as I know he wishes\nto be. To one and all I say, buy the book.\n\n     \"CECELIA.\n\n     \"_Harrisburg, Pa., 1868._\"\n\n\nPRAYER THE KEY OF SALVATION. Price, $1.50.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[_Letter from Archbishop Spalding._]\n\n\"The Book on Prayer, Key of Salvation, is a collection of beautiful\njewels. It is a truly admirable book. In point of intrinsic merit, it is\nsuperior to its predecessor--the golden book on the Holy\nEucharist--making due allowance for the difference of subject. It is\nreplete with interest and solid instruction, and is specially well\nadapted for spiritual reading in religious communities and in families.\nWe take much pleasure in recommending to our diocesans this excellent\nwork of Rev. M. Mueller, C.S.S.R., which appears in a second revised\nedition.\n\n     \"M. J. SPALDING, _Archbishop of Baltimore._\n\n     \"_Baltimore_, Ash Wednesday, 1869.\"\n\n\nOUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP, IN THE WORK OF OUR REDEMPTION AND\nSANCTIFICATION. With an Historical Account of the Origin and Effects of\nthe Miraculous Picture. Price, 40 cents.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[_Letter from James A. McMaster, Editor and Proprietor of \"New York\nFreeman's Journal.\"_]\n\n\"MY DEAR FATHER MUeLLER,--I have read the manuscript you were so kind as\nto leave with me, on 'Our Lady of Perpetual Help.'\n\n\"I will say, sincerely, that I think it even more valuable, and more\ninteresting, than your book on the Blessed Eucharist, that has done so\nmuch good, and is liked so much by pious souls. More than this it cannot\nbe needed to say; but I will add that, in my poor judgment at least, it\nis so desirable to have it _speedily_ published, that I wish the angels\nmay _tickle the lungs_ of any one that, beyond what is necessary, delays\nits production.\n\n     \"Affectionately and humbly yours,\n\n     \"JAMES A. McMASTER.\n\n     \"_New York_, May 19, 1871.\"\n\n\nTHE GOLDEN RULE; OR, THE BOOK FOR ALL. Price, $2.00.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[_From the \"Boston Pilot,\" Nov. 25, 1871._]\n\n\"The author of this excellent work is the Rev. Michael Mueller,\nC.S.S.R.--a name deservedly held in great esteem in the Catholic\ncommunity. We shall not praise the author for his eminent qualities, for\nwe do not wish to give him pain. But of his work, which we have\ncarefully examined, we must say that it will compare favorably with\nRodriguez, Nigronius, and Cassian. True, it is written for Superiors of\nReligious Communities, yet it will prove eminently useful to Pastors and\nDirectors of Souls. Father Mueller exhibits a knowledge of Religious and\nAscetic Economy truly wonderful. We bespeak for this work a wide\ncirculation. It is a book of that enticing class that, once taken up, it\nwill not be laid down until read through, from A to Z. Dry as the\nsubject may appear, it is so handled that the _Utile Dulci_ must needs\nbe felt by all readers. Again we thank Father Mueller for this new\naddition he has given to the stock of our American Catholic Literature\nand profitable reading.\n\n     \"REV. FATHER FINOTTI.\"\n\n[_From the \"New York Freeman's Journal.\"_]\n\n\"This book will be very valuable to Superiors of Religious Houses, for\nwhom it is primarily intended. But it is the book, also, for a great\nmany others. It is a book for Catholic Pastors of parishes--for they\nhave governmental responsibility of souls. It is a book for priests who\nsit in the Confessional, for these, too, have to deal with all sorts of\ntemperaments and of characters. But it is a book, also, for _Catholic\nparents_--for these, by Divine order, have the care and responsibility\nfor the right training of their children.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[_From the \"Pittsburgh Catholic.\"_]\n\n\"This is a work which will be very acceptable to the Superiors of\nReligious Orders. In a clear and forcible manner the reverend author has\nlaid before us the awful responsibility, with its trials and\nconsolations, which rests on the shoulders of all those who are called\nto rule and direct the various characters that enter the religious\nstate.\n\n\"The art of arts, and the science of sciences, is to rule--to govern\nmen. With this beautiful as well as profound saying of St. Gregory, the\nreverend author opens his first chapter. Around it he hangs all the\nwisdom which many years of study and experience have enabled him to\ncollect.\n\n\"We have every hope that the work will meet with a well-merited\nreception. It may truly be called the 'Golden Rule,' since it embraces\nall the duties of Superiors.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[_From the \"Baltimore Mirror,\" Nov. 4, 1871._]\n\n\"This excellent work, by a talented and respected clergyman of this\ncity, although written principally for the instruction of those who have\ncharge of religious communities, will prove of immense benefit to all in\nauthority, whether clerical or lay; and while the director of souls will\nfind in it much sound advice, the parent, the teacher, will treasure it\nas a safe guide in the performance of duties too often little\nunderstood. If it is hard to learn to obey, still harder is it to learn\nhow to govern. The perusal of 'THE GOLDEN RULE' will do much towards\navoiding the misuse of the 'brief authority' with which one is clothed.\n\n\"The book bears the 'Imprimatur' of the Most Rev. Archbishop of\nBaltimore, and its typographical execution does credit to the\npublishers.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[_From the \"New York Tablet,\" Nov. 11, 1871._]\n\n\"This is truly a golden book, full of sublime instruction for the\ngoverning and the governed, not only in religious communities, for whom\nit seems specially intended, but amongst Christians in the world. It is\na work of the highest importance, and ought to find a place in the\nlibrary of every religious house.\"\n\n\nTRIUMPH OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT; OR, HISTORY OF NICOLA AUBRY. Price, 50\ncents.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[_From the \"Boston Pilot.\"_]\n\n\"This is a valuable work. Father Mueller is a writer well-known to the\nCatholics: his writings have proved most acceptable for their solidity\nand practicalness. This is a timely production, when, by an inexplicable\ninconsistency, the agency of spirits is asserted, and their existence\ndenied. The history of Nicola cannot be contradicted; and page 114\ncontains the clearest exposition of the nature of Spiritualism\n(spiritism), and the conclusive proofs of its agency.\n\n     \"FATHER FINOTTI.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[_From the \"New York Tablet.\"_]\n\n\"This little book is full, from beginning to end, of extraordinary and\nintense interest. The narrative contained in the first part of it is one\nthat shows in a remarkable manner the dread power of Our Lord in His\nSacrament of the Altar, a power which the infernal legions recognize,\nand before which they tremble. The second part gives a short but deeply\ninteresting account of modern spiritualism, as the form which\ndivination, sorcery, and devil-worship has assumed in our days. It is\nwritten in a simple, agreeable style, that makes it pleasant to read.\"\n\n\nTHE RELIGIOUS STATE. Price, 75 cents.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[_From the \"Pittsburgh Catholic.\"_]\n\n\"This is an excellent little work--one which should be read by all. It\nshows the origin of the religious state, and the advantages to be\nderived by a life solely devoted to the service of God. The many\nobjections that are frequently put forward against religious orders are\nanswered in a clear and brief manner.\"\n\n\nTHE CATHOLIC PRIEST. Price, 50 cents.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[_From the \"New York Tablet.\"_]\n\n\"The priest is measured in every light which the various obligations and\nphases of his sacred character throw around him. His mighty proportions\non the world's stage are drawn with power, and thorough appreciation.\nNot a single grade in his ministry but is educed with a fine\ndistinctness, from the position in which he is the dear friend and\nadviser of his flock, up to that awful height in which he is permitted\nto touch, with his consecrated hands, the Body and Blood of his Lord and\nGod. Written in a strain of fervent enthusiasm, it is, for Catholics, a\nbook to be read and cherished.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[_From the \"Pittsburgh Catholic.\"_]\n\n\"This is a small volume of 163 pages. In it the learned author shows us\nhow, by the institution of the Sacred Priesthood by our Divine Lord, the\npriest is constituted the light of the world, the salt of the earth, the\nguide, father and friend of the people, and the obligations the faithful\nare under to hearken to his counsels. We wish the volume an extensive\nsale.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nTHE OUR FATHER. Vol. I. Price, 50 cents.\n\n\nPUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION. Price, $1.50.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[_IN PRESS._]\n\n\nCHARITY TO SOULS IN PURGATORY.\n\n\n\n_DEVOTIONAL, INSTRUCTIVE, &c._\n\n_The Instruments of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ._ Paper, 75\ncts. Cloth. $1 50\n\n_Catechism of the Christian Religion._ By Rev. S. Keenan. 1 50\n\n_Instruction of Youth._ By Gobinet. 1 50\n\n_Preparation for Death._ By St. Liguori. 0 75\n\n_Instructions on the Commandments._ By St. Liguori. 0 50\n\n_Reflections on Spiritual Subjects._ By St. Liguori. 0 75\n\n_Discourses Addressed to Mixed Congregations._ By Rev. J. H. Newman. 1 00\n\n_Wiseman's Sermons on the Devotion to the Holy Eucharist._ 0 25\n\n_The Golden Treasury._ 0 75\n\n_The Imitation of Christ._ By Thomas A'Kempis. From 30 cts. to 1 50\n\n_Treatise on Prayer._ By St. Liguori. 0 30\n\n_The Spiritual Combat._ 0 30\n\n_Familiar Instructions._ 0 30\n\n_River's Manual._ 0 75\n\n_The Rosary and Scapular Book._ 0 50\n\n_Epistles and Gospels for the Festivals throughout the Year._ 0 30\n\n_The Forty Hours._ Paper, 10 cts. Flexible cloth. 0 15\n\n_The Immaculate Conception._ By J. D. Bryant, M. D. 1 00\n\n_The Month of Mary; or, Devout Meditations._ By Ferran. 0 60\n\n_The Month of Mary._ By Muzzarelli 0 30\n\n_A Manual of Instructions and Prayers for the Jubilee._ 0 05\n\n_The Child's Month of Mary._ Flexible cloth, 20 cts. Paper. 0 12\n\n_The Glories of the Virgin Mother._ From the Latin of St. Bernard. 0 60\n\n_Introduction to a Devout Life._ By St. Francis de Sales. 0 75\n\n_The Holy Communion._ By Dalgairns. 2 00\n\n_Questions of the Soul._ By Rev. I. T. Hecker. 1 50\n\n_Aspirations of Nature._ By Rev. I. T. Hecker. $1 50\n\n_An Epistle of Jesus Christ to the Faithful Soul._ 1 00\n\n_The Apostleship of Prayer._ By Rev. H. Ramiere. 1 50\n\n_Manual of the Apostleship of Prayer._ By Rev. H. Ramiere. 0 35\n\n_Love of Religious Perfection._ By Rev. Joseph Bayma, S. J. 0 75\n\n_A Pilgrimage to the Shrine of St. Theresa._ By Rev. Canon Dalton. 0 15\n\n_All for Jesus._ By Faber. 1 50\n\n_The Blessed Sacrament._ By Faber. 1 50\n\n_Growth in Holiness._ By Faber. 1 50\n\n_The Creator and the Creature._ By Faber. 1 50\n\n_The Foot of the Cross._ By Faber. 1 50\n\n_Bethlehem._ By Faber. 1 50\n\n_Spiritual Conferences._ By Faber. 1 50\n\n_The Precious Blood._ By Faber. 1 50\n\n_Ullathorne on the Immaculate Conception._ 0 60\n\n_An Explanation of the Devotion to the Immaculate Conception._ By Faber. 0 10\n\n_The Means of Acquiring Perfection._ By St. Liguori. 0 25\n\n_Memorial to Preserve the Fruits of First Communion._ 0 10\n\n_Via Crucis; or, Holy Way of the Cross._ From 5 cts to 0 15\n\n_Little Testament of Our Lord and Blessed Virgin._ 0 15\n\n_Devotion to the Pope._ By Faber. 0 15\n\n_Good Thoughts for Priest and People._ By Rev. T. Noethen. 2 00\n\n_The Garden of Roses and Valley of Lilies._ By Thomas A'Kempis. 0 50\n\n_Christian Catechism of an Interior Life._ By Rev. J. J. Olier. 0 50\n\n_Think Well On't._ By Challoner. 0 31\n\n_Manual of the Sodality of B. V. Mary._ 0 45\n\n \"      \"       \"        \"      \"       0 90\n\n_Manual of the Sodality of B. V. Mary, and Sacred Wreath._ 1 25\n\n_Manual of Devotion to the Arch-Confraternity of the Most Holy and\nImmaculate Heart of Mary._ 0 30\n\n_A Treatise on General Confession._ 0 45\n\n_The official Documents Connected with the Definition of the Dogma of\nthe Immaculate Conception._ 2 50\n\n_A Treatise on the Love of God._ By St. Francis of Sales. 1 75\n\n_The Manual of the Children of Mary._ From 50 cts. to 1 50\n\n_The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales._ $2 00\n\n_Crasset's Meditations for every Day in the Year._ 1 80\n\n_The Sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ._ By Father Thomas of Jesus 2 00\n\n_The Knowledge and Love of Jesus Christ._ 3 vols. 7 50\n\n_The Spirit of St. Vincent de Paul._ 2 00\n\n_The Sufferings of Jesus._ By Catherine Emmerich. 0 60\n\n_Spiritual Progress._ By Rev. J. W. Cummings, D.D. 1 50\n\n_Selections from the Writings of Fenelon._ 1 25\n\n_The Ark of the Covenant._ By Rev. Thomas S. Preston. 0 60\n\n_Scenes in the Life of the Blessed Virgin._ 0 38\n\n_The Little Month of the Holy Infancy._ 0 63\n\n_The Confraternity Manual._ 0 45\n\n_The Difference Between Temporal and Eternal._ 2 00\n\n_The Practice of Christian and Religious Perfection._ By Rodriguez. 3\nvols. 4 00\n\n_The Christian Virtues._ By St. Liguori. 1 00\n\n_Meditations on the Incarnation._ By St. Liguori. 0 75\n\n_The Visits and Spirit of St. Liguori._ 0 75\n\n_Visits to the Blessed Sacrament._ By St. Liguori. 0 38\n\n_Eternal Truths._ By St. Liguori. 0 75\n\n_Glories of Mary._ By St. Liguori. 1 25\n\n_Saintly Characters._ By Dr. Nelegan. 1 00\n\n_The Elevation of the Soul to God._ 0 75\n\n_Spiritual Maxims of St. Vincent de Paul._ 0 38\n\n_The Spirit of Christianity._ 0 75\n\n_Hay on Miracles._ 1 00\n\n_Butler's Feasts and Fasts._ 1 25\n\n_The Youth's Director._ 0 50\n\n_Sancta Sophia._ 1 25\n\n_On Prayer._ By St. Liguori. 0 50\n\n_Hours Before the Altar._ 0 50\n\n_Manual of Prayers for those Seeking the True Church._ 0 75\n\n_Month of November._ 0 38\n\n_The Seraphic Staff._ 0 25\n\n_The Rosary of the Blessed Virgin._ 0 10\n\n_The Scapular Book._ 0 10\n\n_Devout Instructions._ By Goffine. 2 25\n\n_Month of the Sacred Heart._ 0 50\n\n_The Love of Mary._ 0 50\n\n_Love of Christ._ By St. Liguori. 0 50\n\n_The Rule of Life._ By St. Liguori. 0 50\n\n_Mater Admirabilis._ 1 50\n\n_Seven Words of Jesus Christ on the Cross._ 0 10\n\n_Instructions and Stations for the Holy Season of Lent._ 0 10\n\n_A General Introduction to the Sacred Scriptures._ By Dixon. $4 00\n\n_A Treatise on Baptism._ By Most Rev. F. P. Kenrick. 1 00\n\n_Banquet of Theodulus._ 1 00\n\n_The Blessed Eucharist our Greatest Treasure._ By Mueller. 1 50\n\n_Lectures on the Eucharist._ By Wiseman. 1 50\n\n_Lectures on Holy Week._ By Wiseman. 1 00\n\n_Lectures on the Doctrines of the Church._ By Wiseman. 2 00\n\n_Catholic Christian Instructed._ By Challoner. Flexible. 0 25\n\n_Considerations on the World._ By Rev. B. S. Piot. 0 50\n\n_Catechism of the Vows._ By Father Cotel, S. J. 0 50\n\n_Devotion to the Holy Guardian Angels._ 0 50\n\n_Devotion to the Heart of Jesus._ By Dalgairns. 0 75\n\n_Furniss' Tracts._ 1 00\n\n_Glimpses of Heaven._ 0 15\n\n_Grounds of Faith._ By Manning. 0 40\n\n_Devout Christian._ By Hay. 1 25\n\n_Sincere Christian._ By Hay. 2 00\n\n_Joy of the Christian Soul._ By Damphoux. 0 40\n\n_Lacordaire's Letters to Young Men._ 1 50\n\n_Little Month of St. Joseph._ 25 cts. and 0 40\n\n_Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius._ 1 75\n\n_Meditations for a Retreat of one Day in each Month._ 0 60\n\n_Panegyric of the Blessed Aloysius._ Flexible. 0 25\n\n_Poor Man's Catechism._ Flexible. 0 50\n\n_Prayer, the Key of our Salvation._ By Mueller. 1 50\n\n_Pious Exercises and Practices in Honor of the Sacred Heart of Mary._ 0 12\n\n_Pious Exercises and Practices in Honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus._ 0 12\n\n_Reflections on the Passion._ By Hearne. 0 75\n\n_The Soul on Calvary._ 0 75\n\n_The Mission and Duties of Young Women._ 0 60\n\n_The Month of Mary._ By Gratrey. 0 50\n\n_Anima Devota._ 0 60\n\n_Bona Mors._ Flexible. 0 25\n\n_Christian Perfection._ By Damphoux. 1 00\n\n_Christian Sanctified by the Lord's Prayer._ 0 30\n\n_Confidence in the Mercy of God._ 0 50\n\n_Devout Communicant._ 0 60\n\n_Hornihold on the Commandments and Sacraments_ 2 00\n\n_Hours of the Passion._ By St. Liguori. 0 60\n\n_Love of Christ._ By St. Liguori. 0 60\n\n_Spirit of St. Liguori._ $0 60\n\n_Visits to the Blessed Sacrament._ By St. Liguori. 0 75\n\n_Way of Salvation._ By St. Liguori. 0 75\n\n_Homilies on the Book of Tobias._ 0 75\n\n_Interior Christian._ 0 60\n\n_Lenten Monitor._ 0 60\n\n_Little Treatise on the Little Virtues._ 0 45\n\n_Manual of St. Augustine._ 0 38\n\n_Meditations of St. Augustine._ 0 50\n\n_Soliloquies of St. Augustine._ 0 50\n\n_Confessions of St. Augustine._ 0 75\n\n_Month of Mary._ 0 40\n\n_Memorials of a Christian Life._ 0 75\n\n_Borgo's Meditations on the Sacred Heart._ Flexible. 0 50\n\n_Net for the Fishers of Men._ 0 06\n\n_Nouet's Meditations for every Day in the Year._ 2 50\n\n_Oratory of the Faithful Soul._ 0 50\n\n_Office of Holy Week._ 60 cts. and 1 00\n\n_Portraiture of True Devotion._ 0 30\n\n_Reeve's Practical Discourses._ 1 75\n\n_Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary._ By Lanzi. 0 60\n\n_Sincere Christian's Guide._ By Gother. 0 50\n\n_Sunday Monitor._ 0 50\n\n_Spiritual Director._ By St. Francis de Sales. 0 50\n\n_Spiritual Consoler._ 0 50\n\n_Challoner's Meditations for every Day in the Year._ 2 00\n\n_The Month of Mary._ By Kenrick. 0 55\n\n_Rules of Christian Life._ 1 75\n\n_St. Liguori's Spiritual Works._ Thick. 0 80\n\n_The Catholic Pocket Library._ By St. Liguori, 13 vols. comprising:\n  _Divine Love and the Means of Acquiring It._ 0 20\n  _Consolation and Encouragement of a Soul._ 0 20\n  _Means of Acquiring Perfection._ 0 20\n  _Conformity with the Will of God._ 0 20\n  _Conversing Continually and Familiarly with God._ 0 20\n  _Practice of Meditation, and Practice of Perfection._ 0 20\n  _Rules of a Christian Life._ 0 20\n  _Practice of Christian Virtue._ 0 20\n  _Obligation of Children and Parents._ 0 20\n  _Explanation of the Sacrament of Penance._ 0 20\n  _Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus._ 0 20\n  _The Virtue of Chastity, and the Enormity of the Sin of Impurity._ 0 20\n  _The Injuries done to our Neighbor, &c._ 0 20\n    In Paper covers, 10 cts. each\n\n_Devotions to the Heart of Jesus._$0 90\n\n_Hell Opened._ 0 30\n\n_Instructions on Matrimony._ 0 60\n\n_Mary, the Morning Star._ 0 50\n\n_Griffet's Meditations._ 0 50\n\n_Novena of St. Anthony._ 0 15\n\n_Path of Perfection._ 0 80\n\n_Sinner's Guide._ 1 25\n\n_Sinner's Conversion._ 0 45\n\n_The Ursuline Month of Mary._ 0 50\n\n_The Glories of Mary._ 0 50\n\n_The Glories of Jesus._ 0 50\n\n_The Glories of St. Joseph._ 0 50\n\n_The Glories of the Holy Angels._ 0 50\n\n_Young Catholic's Guide in the Preparation for Confession._ 0 08\n\n_The Year of Mary._ 1 50\n\n_Meditations of St. Ignatius._ 1 50\n\n_Sacerdos Sanctificatus._ By St. Liguori. 0 80\n\n_Sodalist's Friend._ 0 80\n\n_The Religious Soul Elevated to Perfection._ 0 60\n\n_Month of St. Joseph._ 0 50\n\n_The Little Offices._ 0 50\n\n_Mere de Dieu._ 0 50\n\n_Man's Contract with God in Baptism._ 0 50\n\n_Guide to Salvation._ 0 40\n\n_Sacred Heart Mission Book._ O 75\n\n_The Little Manual of Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus._ 0 40\n\n_Despondency in the Pursuit of Piety._ 0 60\n\n_A Treatise on the Catechism._ By Hamon. 0 60\n\n_Marriage and Family Duties._ By Abp. Purcell. 0 25\n\n_Stations of the Cross._ Prepared by the Jesuits. 0 20\n\n_Devout Manual of the Holy Family._ 0 38\n\n_Shadows of the Rood._ By Bonus. 0 75\n\n_The Hidden Treasure, or the Holy Mass._ 0 50\n\n_The Sacramentals of the Holy Catholic Church._ By Barry. 0 75\n\n_The Imitation of the Sacred Heart._ By Arnoudt. 2 50\n\n_A Manual of the Catholic Religion._ By Weninger. 1 25\n\n_The Four Gospels Examined and Vindicated._ By Bishop Heiss. 1 25\n\n_The Day of First Communion._ 0 10\n\n_A Treatise on the Scapular._ By Colgan. Half bound 0 50\n\n_The Month of the Holy Angels._ 0 50\n\n_Bishop David's Retreat._ 1 25\n\n_Practical Piety._ By St. Francis de Sales. $1 25\n\n_Easter in Heaven._ By Weninger. 1 00\n\n_The Christian Armed._ 0 50\n\n_Roothan's Meditations._ 0 50\n\n_Following of Christ._ From 60 cts. to 2 50\n\n_The Graces of Mary._ O 60\n\n_The Christian Instructed._ By Father Quadrupani. 0 38\n\n_The Little Testaments of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph._ 0 25\n\n_Novena of St. Patrick._ 0 25\n\n_Cardinal Lambruschini, on the Immaculate Conception._ 1 00\n\n_The Art of Suffering._ O 38\n\n_Perry's Instructions for the Use of Catechists._ 0 90\n\n_Revelations of St. Bridget._ 0 50\n\n_The Clock of the Passion._ By St. Liguori. 0 45\n\n_True Spiritual Conferences._ By St. Francis de Sales. 1 50\n\n_Office of the Blessed Virgin._ (In Latin and English) 0 38\n\n_A Short Treatise on the Rosary._ By Heaney. 0 50\n\n_The Complete Sodality Manual and Hymn Book._ By Young. 1 00\n\n_Guide for Catholic Young Women._ By Deshon. 0 90\n\n_The Great Day._ 0 50\n\n_The School of Jesus Crucified._ 0 75\n\n_Appeal to Christian Young Women._ 0 50\n\n_Life Pictures of the Passion._ 1 50\n\n_Particular Examen._ By Brother Philippe. 2 00\n\n_Difference between Temporal and Eternal._ 2 00\n\n_Paradise of the Earth._ 1 50\n\n_Devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus._ By Franco S.J. 0 90\n\n_In Heaven we know our own._ 0 60\n\n_Segur on Holy Communion._ 0 35\n\n_Choice of a State of Life._ 0 90\n\n_The Our Father._ By Veith. 1 50\n\n_Jesus and Jerusalem._ By Sister M. F. Clare. 1 50\n\n_The Catechism Illustrated._ 0 75\n\n_Familiar Discourses to the Young._ 0 75\n\n_Memoirs of a Guardian Angel._ 1 00\n\n_The Happiness of Heaven._ 1 00\n\n_The Holy Communion, It is my Life, &c._ 1 00\n\n_The Love of Jesus, or Visits to the Blessed Sacrament._ 0 50\n\n_Devotions to St. Joseph._ 1 00\n\n_Instructions on the Mass._ By Sullivan. 1 50\n\n_The Vatican Council and its Definitions._ By Manning. 1 25\n\n_Meditations on St. Joseph._ 1 50\n\n_The Attributes of Christ._ 1 50\n\n_Meditations on our Last End._ 1 50\n\n_Resume of Meditation._ 2 00\n\n_Meditations on the Litany of the Blessed Virgin._ 1 50\n\n_Beauties of the Sanctuary._ 0 75\n\n\n_CONTROVERSIAL._\n\n_Plain Talk about the Protestantism of To-day._ By Segur. Paper 25 cts.\nCloth. $0 60\n\n_Short and Familiar Answers to the Various Objections Commonly urged\nAgainst Religion._ By Segur. Paper 25 cts. Cloth. 0 60\n\n_Trials of a Mind in its Progress to Catholicity._ By Dr. Ives. 1 00\n\n_The Bible Against Protestantism and for Catholicity._ By Dr. Shiel. 1 00\n\n_Five Lectures on Catholicity and Protestantism._ By Dr. Nichols. 0 75\n\n_Manning's Shortest Way to End Disputes About Religion._ 1 00\n\n_Sure Way to Find Out the True Religion._ 0 25\n\n_Grounds of the Catholic Doctrine._ 0 25\n\n_The Bible Weighed in the Balance and Found Wanting._ By Dr. Blake. 0 40\n\n_Works of Rev. D. W. Cahill, D. D._ 1 00\n\n_An Exposition of the Apocalypse of St. John, the Apostle._ By Rev. E.\nPutnam. 2 00\n\n_An Exposition of the Principles of the Catholic Religion._ 0 10\n\n_Gropings after Truth._ By Huntington. Paper 25 cts. Cloth. 0 75\n\n_Problems of the Age._ By Rev. A. F. Hewitt. 2 00\n\n_Apologia Pro Vita Sua._ By Dr. Newman. 2 00\n\n_Reason and Revelation._ By Rev. T. S. Preston. 1 50\n\n_Dr. Newman's Answer to Dr. Pusey's Eirenicon._ 0 75\n\n_Moehler's Symbolism._ 4 00\n\n_The See of St. Peter._ By Allies. 0 75\n\n_The Comedy of Convocation._ Paper 25 cts. Cloth, large edition. 1 00\n\n_Spalding's Lectures on the Evidences of Catholicity._ 2 00\n\n_The Primacy of the Apostolic See Vindicated._ By Kenrick. 3 00\n\n_A Vindication of the Catholic Church._ By Kenrick. 1 25\n\n_Protestantism and Catholicity Compared._ By Balmes. 3 00\n\n_The Genius of Christianity._ By Chateaubriand. 2 50\n\n_Hughes and Breckenridge's Oral Discussion._ 2 50\n\n_The Bible Question Fairly Tested._ 0 75\n\n_Divine Faith, and Natural Reason._ By Baine. 1 50\n\n_The Gentle Skeptic._ 1 50\n\n_Kirwan Unmasked._ By Abp. Hughes. 0 12\n\n_Travels of an Irish Gentleman in Search of Religion._ By Moore. $1 50\n\n_Law and Wilberforce's Reasons for Submitting to the Catholic Church._ 0 30\n\n_Manual of Controversy._ O 88\n\n_Milner's End of Controversy._ 0 75\n\n_The Clifton Tracts._ 4 vols. 3 00\n\n_The Convert._ By Brownson. 1 25\n\n_Principles of Church Authority._ By Wilberforce. 1 25\n\n_Letters to an Episcopalian on the Book of Common Prayer._ 1 00\n\n_Our Faith the Victory._ By Bishop McGill. 2 50\n\n_The Protesting Christian._ 0 15\n\n_An Amicable Discussion on the Church of England._ By Trevern. 2 00\n\n_Answer to Rev. G. S. Faber's Difficulties of Romanism._ 1 00\n\n_Defence of Catholic Principles._ By Gallitzin. 0 60\n\n_Letters to a Protestant Friend._ By Gallitzin. 0 60\n\n_Difficulties of Protestantism._ By Fletcher. 1 00\n\n_Exposition of the Doctrines of the Catholic Church._ By Bossuet. 0 60\n\n_Letters to a Prebendary._ By Milner. 0 60\n\n_Letters Concerning the Roman Chancery._ 0 75\n\n_Notes on a Protestant Catechism._ 0 06\n\n_Poor Man's Controversy._ 0 50\n\n_Short History of the Protestant Religion._ By Challoner. 0 50\n\n_Spirit of Religious Controversy._ By Fletcher. 0 50\n\n_Tracts._ By Dr. Lingard. 1 00\n\n_Hughes' and Breckenridge's Controversy._ 2 00\n\n_A Vindication of the End of Controversy._ By Milner. 1 00\n\n_Baxter's Most Important Tenets of the Catholic Church._ 0 30\n\n_A Protestant's Objections._ 0 60\n\n_Unity of the Episcopate._ 0 80\n\n_White's Confutation of the Church of Englandism._ 1 25\n\n_Charity and Truth._ 1 25\n\n_A Catholic's Apology, &c._ 0 50\n\n_Galileo and the Roman Inquisition._ 0 30\n\n_The Touchstone of the New Religion._ Flexible. 0 15\n\n_Italy and the Papal States._ By Cardinal Wiseman. 0 25\n\n_Fifty Reasons._ 0 25\n\n_Papist Misrepresented._ 0 25\n\n_Campbell and Purcell's Debate._ 1 50\n\n_Development of Protestantism._ 0 50\n\n_On the Apostolical and Infallible Authority of the Pope._ By Weninger. 1 50\n\n_Catholicity, Protestantism, and Infidelity._ By Weninger. 1 25\n\n_Why Men do not Believe._ By Laforet. Paper, 30 cents. Cloth. 1 00\n\n_Vicker and Purcell's Debate._ 1 00\n\n_Christianity and its Conflicts._ By Marcy. 2 00\n\n_Conversations of a Catholic Missionary with Americans._ 1 25\n\n_Bossuet's Variations._ 3 00\n\n_Religion in Society._ 1 50\n\n_Pope and Maguire's Discussion._ 1 25\n\n_Cobbett's Legacies._ 0 60\n\n_Ward's Errata of the Protestant Bible._ 0 75\n\n_His Holiness, Pius Ninth, &c._ By Rhodes. 0 38\n\n_Liberalism and the Church._ By Brownson. 1 00\n\n_Catholic Doctrine, as defined by the Council of Trent._ 3 50\n\n_Newman's Grammar of Assent._ 2 50\n\n_The Invitation Heeded._ By Dr. Stone. 1 50\n\n_The Question Solved._ By Dr. Hannan. 1 25\n\n_The Visible Unity of the Catholic Church._ 5 00\n\n_A Catholic Servant's Apology._ Paper. 0 05\n\n_McGuire's Lenten Lectures._ 0 50\n\n_Letters to a Protestant Friend._ 1 25\n\n_Points of Controversy._ By Father Smarius. 1 50\n\n_Order and Chaos._ By Marshall. 0 25\n\n_Rome and Geneva._ 0 25\n\n_Anti-Janus._ 2 50","title":"Public School Education","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":85262}