Page:Hints for the improvement of village schools and the introduction of industrial work.djvu/29

21 the teacher cannot do better than try and govern the children committed to his charge, on principles as far as possible analogous with those of 's moral government of the world—the teacher will thus reward or punish without partiality and without anger—with justice but with mercy, yea ever inclining, if possible, to the side of mercy, after the example of Him Whose chosen Name is Love.

Before parting with my readers, I would ask to be allowed to say a few words on Government inspection and Government grants. There exists, I am aware, a strong feeling among some of my clerical brethren against any system of inspection or any interference in any way with local management; they fear that some day the State may step in and interfere with the teaching of those sacred truths, which they hold to be essential to salvation; they do not, I believe, generally apprehend any immediate danger, but they dread the idea of a centralized power which may eventually be exercised to the prejudice of the Church. Now, attached as I am to the Church of England and her doctrines, I cannot share in this feeling. I see no fear for the Church, if only she rises to her work. She must educate, if she would not have the State step in. Only let her educate in the true sense of the word the masses of the people, and then I have no fear but that she will hold her own either against State interference or sectarian hostility. The Church of England's power lies in the affections of the people, and so long as the rising generations are trained in her schools, and owe the knowledge of to her teaching, I have no fear for her. Why is it, I would ask, that the middle classes in our large towns have so wandered from the Church of their fathers? Is it not in a great measure, because we have neglected to direct the education of their children? Once bring a child's mind into contact with a pious and able minister, so as to impress it with the truths of the Gospel and gain its affections, and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, that child will continue a member of the Church until the day of its death. If there is some prospective danger in accepting State assistance, there seems to me to be a far more real and pressing danger in leaving large masses of people in a state of ignorance, for it is nothing but ignorance that makes them so easy a prey to the Dissenter, the Mormon, the Chartist, or the Infidel. The funds of the Committee of Council are administered I will not say on the best principle, but on the only principle which I believe is possible in a country like ours, which is so divided into religious sects. No one can deny that an immense impulse has been given to voluntary efforts by these Parliamentary grants. The principal objection to my mind against the present system is, that the poorest and most ignorant