churches, or to one or more churches agreed upon, but an appeal to the most perfect scriptural knowledge; and, consequently, to the most enlightened judgment and the most competent tribunal within reach. But the congregation first judging may be more intelligent and possessed of more scriptural knowledge than all the other churches put together. That it may be so really is possible. That it will be so in its own eyes is probable. In no case can it deny to others the privi lege it claims for itself-of judging others.

There is such a thing as carrying the independence of the churches to a most unwarrantable length. They are not independent of one another. They owe their very existence, and often their subsistence, to one another. They are collectively, and not individually, the church of Christ. They are all subjects in common of King Messiah. They are related to each other; they mutually affect each other, and have consequently mutual obligations and responsibilities to each other. Each church has to sustain its own character for justice, intelligence, and devotion to the scriptures in the view of its sister churches, and will be most justly condemned by these, if she prove guilty of an unfaithful or blundering administration of the laws of the kingdom. Were these things properly understood, the churches would be more upon their guard. They would be more careful of committing themselves by rash and precipitate measures. They would pause, consider, ask counsel, and weigh the matter well; so that they might, if possible, secure the confidence of their sister churches in their ability and integrity, and their co-operation in carrying out the disciplinary measures adopted, without which all such acts must prove nugatory and vain. Were they to do this, appeals would never be made to other churches; or, if made, they would be found unworthy of regard. Such complaints would never be listened to by other churches, unless there were strong evidence of disorderly proceedings and unjust decisions. Thus would the peace of the churches be promoted, and there would be a harmonious action in every thing relating to the affairs of the kingdom. If, however, each congregation be regarded as a supreme and infallible tribunal, there would be no limit to its tyranny and oppression. Persons unjustly censured, or unlawfully excluded, would not cease to appeal to the sympathies of the members of other churches, exciting disaffection. controversy, and schism. The very unconverted themselves, who have often as correct views of what is just and becoming as any in the church, would be disposed to revolt against the high-handed proceedings of the church, and condemn both them and their religion.

That the right of appeal may be abused there is no question, and 11*

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the same may be said of every other right. I should say, however, that the church is far more likely to abuse her authority. There is nothing which men are more disposed to abuse than power. And although the greater part of a congregation may be well-disposed, it is well known how easily one or two self-willed and designing men may impose their own views and measures upon an unsuspicious and confiding people. The right of appeal springs from the abuse of power, and is its proper corrective. The abuse of power itself, however, may arise from ignorance of the law, or want of judgment in the application of it. In such cases it may be more readily excused, when good intentions are evident and a Christian spirit of forbearance and teachableness is manifested along with it. But the difficulty in most cases will be found to arise from self-will on the part of one or two members, who, on account of this defect of character, are utterly disqualified, in view of both scripture and reason, for the station of pre-eminence they are often so forward to occupy.

U.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS

OF

JAMES SHANNON, President of Bacm College, Kentucky. Whether we consider the perspicuity of the style, the force of the reasoning, or the soundness of the views expressed in this excellent address, it is worthy of the attentive perusal of the friends of reform in general, and especially of the friends of education in particular. We are sorry that we are compelled to divide it. A. C.

Friends and Brethren

I am happy that I have it in my power to meet you on this interesting occasion, and to present you with a few thoughts on education-a subject which all enlightened minds admit to be one of paramount importance.

To give a correct answer to the question, What is education? requires at the same time a knowledge of that which is to be educated, and of the object which that education is designed to promote. So far as we are concerned at present, the subject to be educated is man; and however various may be the intermediate and minor objects, the grand and ultimate design is man's happiness.

But what is man? Here is presented to view an unbounded field, in which the loftiest created intellect, human or angelic, might expatiate for ages, absorbed in constant admiration by the ceaseless discoveries of wisdom and goodness evinced in organizing man so as to qualify him for his high station in the universe, as creation's lord, the heir of all things.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

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Our time, however, as well as the occasion, prohibits us from doing more than to take a passing glance at the general outlines of this field; or, to drop the figure, at the leading features of man's organization.

The most hasty glance is sufficient to show that man possesses physical, intellectual, and moral faculties; all of which are necessary, and, in their respective spheres, equally necessary to the perfectien and felicity of his being. The physical, or purely animal faculties, unite him immediately with earthly objects. The moral and religious faculties fit him for the higher duties and enjoyments of social life; but are mainly designed to prepare him for a future and better state of existence. The intellectual powers are intended to serve as a guide for the animal and moral faculties, so as to conduct them safely and wisely to their appropriate exercise and gratification.

Now, in the education of human beings it is requisite that each faculty, and class of faculties, be developed according to its true nature and relative importance.

l'he animal faculties must be developed in harmony with their true design, so as to secure a good physical constitution, in which no part may be defective, and none be trained to an improper or excessive activity.

The moral sentiments must be trained so as to control the animal propensities, and impel the man to a faithful performance of his highest duties as a moral, intelligent, and social being-to an active and vigorous pursuit of "whatsoever things are lovely and of good report."

The intellect must be educated so as to develope the perceptive and reflective faculties, that the feelings, which are all blind impulses, may thus be furnished with a competent guide in the path of truth, duty, and lasting enjoyment.

As regards physical education it is well that Nature has taken the work. in a good degree, into her own hands. Like a kind mother, provident for the best interest of her offspring, she has implanted in the constitution of children an almost irrepressible desire for muscular activity, which all the sage folly of fashionable but misguided parents cannot wholly subdue.

Children, then, if permitted to do so, will in general be found sufficiently disposed to take as much exercise as is necessary to develope the physical system and impart a good constitution. Hence, nearly all that is requisite for parents and nurses, on whom this part of education devolves almost exclusively, is to preserve their tender charge from such exercise of their physical powers as is dangerous, excessive, or otherwise improper. It will very rarely be necessary to stimulate youth to a greater exertion of the physical powers than they will be disposed to make, under the promptings of natural impulse, if they are not improperly restricted.

However, should cases occur in which youth might not be disposed to take the necessary amount of physical exercise, it should never be fogotten by those to whose charge they are entrusted, that the condition of the mind is identified with that of the body; and, consequently, that unless they induce or compel the objects of their care to exert their physical powers, the inevitable result will be a corresponding decrease of bodily health and mental vigor. The saying of the old Roman, "Mens sano in corpore suno,??- A SOUND MIND IN A SOUND BODY, contains

an amount of practical wisdom altogether worthy of a more advanced age than that in which he lived. Let the visionary theorist say what he please to the contrary, cæleris paribus, the vigor of the mind is in exact proportion to that of the physical system.

But though volumes replete with matter vastly important and interesting might be written on the subject of physical education, to enlarge on this point would be foreign from our present purpose. The education of the moral and intellectual faculties is that with which, at present, we are more immediately concerned.

On the subject of intellectual education much has been said and written, and considerable diversity of opinion prevails to the present day. With many, if I mistake not, it is a favorite sentiment that children should be educated mainly, if not exclusively, in those departments of knowledge in which they are by nature fitted to excel.

That this sentiment, by far too popular, is altogether erroneous, and of a tendency mischievous in the extreme, I hesitate not to affirm. What would be thought of a man who should take no care of his lungs, and assign as the reason, that by nature they were weak, and predisposed to consumption; whilst, at the same time, he was lavish in his attention to other parts of the system naturally vigorous? What would you think of a mother who expended all her care in efforts to improve the health and strength of those children that were by nature strong and healthy, and who, meanwhile, utterly neglected such as were feeble, and consequently stood more in need of the kind attention and assiduities of a parent? Would not such conduct be universally pronounced insane and monstrous? And yet to my mind it appears not a whit more unnatural and absurd, than to devote all our energies to the development of those faculties in our children, which are naturally strong, to the entire neglect of such as are weak. A course of conduct directly opposite to this is that which nature would dictate, and reason sanction.

Its

But I have still a stronger objection to this unnatural course. tendency is extremely mischievous. That character is the most per fect in which all the faculties, whether physical, intellectual, or moral, are developed harmoniously and in due proportion. Every deviation from this balance and harmony of all the faculties is a blemish, and tends directly either to partial idiocy or partial madness. Hence it will be found that maniacs, among the educated, consist chiefly of those whose lives have been devoted to the cultivation of a few PROMINENT ORGANS, whilst the others have been mainly neglected. Dr. Conolly states that in the Bicetre, "maniacs of the more educated classes consist almost entirely of priests, artists, painters, sculptors, poets, and musicians; while no instance, it is said, occurs of the disease in naturalists, physicians, geometricians, or chymists.'

Now, when we add to the foregoing considerations the well estabJished truth of the hereditary transmission of qualities, we will see that the course in question is well calculated to produce, at least in a few generations, a race of idiots and maniacs. A practice so absurd in itself, and so mischievous in its tendency, never could have obtained currency among rational beings had they not been immersed in gross ignorance in relation to the true philosophy of mind, and its manifestations, as connected with material organs.

The Creator has given to man no redundant faculty-none that is not indispensable to the perfection of his nature, and to the attainment of his highest dignity and enjoyment. Hence, when from any cause whatever, the harmony and balance between man's various powers is destroyed, the deformity is increased still more by strengthening those faculties which relatively are already too strong, and neglecting to cultivate those that are too weak. On this point time will not permit me to enlarge.

The design of education may be regarded as two-fold:

First, and mainly, to develope and strengthen the faculties educated; so that the individual may thereby be prepared to think and act for himself.

Secondly, to store the memory with useful knowledge for the purpose of practical application in the business of life.

The latter abject seems to be regarded by many as the main, if not the only business of education. The former, however, is by far the most important. We may suppose a man to have treasured up in the storehouse of memory all the knowledge of the universe, and yet be in a high degree uneducated. He may neither be able to form correct opinions of his own, nor to turn to any valuable account the borrowed opinions of other men. In short, he may be one who, in common phrase, possesses "every sense but common sense." Lacking this, he is comparatively of little use in society; and, although he may be regarded by the unthinking multitude as possessing a good education, by the wise he must ever be viewed as in reality badly educated.

A store of knowledge is unquestionably good, if the possessor can make it valuable by turning it to good account. But the well-balanced and thoroughly disciplined mind, which can form correct opinions of its own, and discern clearly between what is true and false in the opinions of others, is undoubtedly far better.

To strengthen the mind, then, should be the primary, and to store it with useful knowledge the secondary object of intellectual education; a due regard meanwhile being had to the preservation of a proper balance throughout the system, by laboring MOST to strengthen those faculties that MOST NEED to be strengthened.

With respect to the particular subjects of study that should find place in a liberal course of collegiate education, there is among the learned as general an agreement as could reasonably be anticipated. The study of languages, (especially the English, Greek, and Latin,) the various branches of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Chemistry; History, Rhetoric, and Belles Lettres; Mental and Moral Philosophy; Evidences of Christianity, Constitutional Law, and Political Economy, or the Science of Wealth, are very generally regarded as worthy of a prominent place in American Colleges. The circumstances of a student may sometimes render it expedient, or even necessary, to omit one or more of the foregoing branches. But the favored youth who has it in his power to receive a full and regular course of instruction in them all, is greatly to blame, if, through sloth, caprice, or prejudice, he neglects to improve the golden opportunity.

With a certain class, however, it has become fashionable to decry the study of Latin and Greek, as unimportant; and to represent the time thus occupied as little better than thrown away. Perhaps we