Let the thousands and ten thousands of our children, who, whilst sent to school, receive a mechanical education which gives no force to the intellect, answer. Let the thousands of adults in our cities, who are unimproved in intellect, immersed in sensuality, untaught in the duties of citizens, coarse in manners, and fit tools for demagogues to work with, answer. The best fruits of free institutions are found but sparingly among us, and yet we boast of our freedom.

To meet these wants, to improve our modes of teaching, to make instruction more efficient and extensive, is the object of the "Annals of Education." Its editor perhaps understands better the state of education in this and other countries than any man among us, and his whole heart is in his work. The aim of this periodical has been, to give just ideas of the extent of a wise and good education, to show that it proposes at once the physical, intellectual, moral, and religious advancement of the human being, to show the distinction between mechanical instruction and that which quickens the mind and brings it into vigorous action, to show the importance and to teach the methods of the latter, and to recommend and teach the moral and religious care of the young, without entering into the peculiarities of any body of Christians. The work has been complained of as wanting interest, but we believe that the blame rests on the reader as much as on the author. The Editor has probably given ground for this complaint, in consequence of the supposition, very natural to an ardent mind, that the community, and especially the body of teachers, were prepared to enter into the subject with his own zeal. Returning from Europe, after a patient examination of the most approved modes of teaching, he imagined that nothing was needed to attract attention, but a simple exposition of his observations. He especially supposed, that a minute account of the school of Fellenberg, the most celebrated in the world, would be gladly received from one, who had spent months on the spot, and enjoyed every opportunity of studying its spirit and details. The experiment, however, has shown, that little disposition exists among us to study the improvements of other countries. Another obstacle to the popularity of the work may be found in the simplicity of the object. People grow weary of one subject. The repetition of one word, though that word be Education, and though it include an infinite variety of subjects, has the effect of monotony.

So serious is this difficulty, that did not education come home to the bosom of every parent and family, we should despair of its being overcome. - Another fault found with the book has been, that it is too much adapted to professed teachers, and not enough to parents. In this respect, we believe, an improvement will be made. Indeed, we are confident that the Editor, if encouraged, will spare no effort to made his work more acceptable and useful, and we trust encouragement will not be denied.

We are aware that the free disclosures we have made of the defects of our institutions, and the free strictures we have made on them, will not find favor with those, who think it every man's duty to speak well of his country. We think, on the contrary, that those best serve their country, who speak the truth, be it in praise or in blame. We care not how widely our defects are made known, for we see not how else the remedy is to be applied. We do indeed deserve the reproaches of Europe in regard to education, and let them be heaped on us, until shame, if not a better principle, shall lead us to reformation. The single fact, that a vast multitude of uneducated and poorly educated children are growing up among us, afflicts us inexpressibly more than all the calumnies, which have been forged against us by European travellers and politicians. We are indignant, indeed, when we hear, that falsehood in relation to this country is industriously propagated abroad, for the purpose of bringing reproach on free institutions. But this indignation almost passes from our minds, when we consider our own unfaithfulness to our high trust; when we consider that a generation is growing up, to which our civil and religious liberties cannot safely be committed. This people ought to be awakened to their treachery to the holy cause of freedom and humanity. Our politicians are crying Peace, when there is no peace, and our orators soothing the country with honied accents of praise. We hope, that impartial judges and fearless reprovers will arise among us, and that truth, taught by a voice more powerful than ours, will bring conviction to a people, who are violating their obligations to themselves and to their children, to freedom and to mankind.

THE

CHRISTIAN EXAMINER.

No. LX.

NEW SERIES- • No. XXX.

JANUARY, 1834.

[For the Christian Examiner.]

ART. I. The Character of Christ, the Interpretation of Christianity; with an Exposition of the Circumstances of his Resurrection.

An intimate and exact acquaintance with the facts of our Saviour's history is of the first importance. If a true knowledge of Christianity is ever to be obtained, it must be through a clear understanding of all that was said and done and endured by its author. What is Christianity? The answer of this ever-recurring question has been sought long enough in the creeds of sects, and with results sufficiently unsatisfactory. It is not the writings of Christians of one period or another, but the life, the whole life of Jesus Christ, not any disconnected words or works of his, but the whole living, speaking, doing, and suffering being, as he is exhibited in the brief and simple histories transmitted to us, that embodies and expresses his religion in its unveiled and perfect integrity. The truth as it is in Jesus is not to be found any where out of him. Be it an earth-born superstition, or a heavenly gift, of miraculous or of merely human origin, whatever Christianity is, there alone is it to be sought, and there only found.

This doctrine may seem very familiar. And so it is in some aspects, but not in all. Its application to the multitudes, who, like "the Irish gentleman in search of a religion," are looking for Christianity every where but in the Scriptures, is obvious, and is continually made. But there are those who, while they accord to the New Testament the sole authority of determining what Christianity is, are disposed to take their ideas of Christianity from separate por

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tions of the Christian records, without reference to any very well defined principle of selection. In general terms, they profess to adopt the simple moral precepts of the New Testament, and to let the rest go as matters of very little moment. They appear to think it abundantly enough to entitle a man to be denominated a believer in Christianity, that he assents to the abstract rules of duty which it prescribes. They feel no strong interest in the personal history of its Founder. How he lived, what he was, whether the wonderful works ascribed to him were really miraculous or not, or whether he actually rose from the dead, these they regard as questions of little practical value. "We have," say they, "the plain moral injunctions of the New Testament. They approve themselves to our feelings. Why should we trouble ourselves about points on which there has always been so much disagreement, and which present so many difficulties?" Thus, barely assenting to the precepts of the Christian faith, they have no actual acquaintance with its author. Possibly, they believe that such a person once existed. But they have no deep and inspiring love of his character, no conception of any high and vital relation sustained by him to the world. That this way of thinking is often resorted to as a refuge of indolence, and a protection from the arduous task of deciding upon points of greater or less difficulty, it is no violation of charity to presume. Its vagueness recommends it to those whose principles of thought, sapped and loosened by concealed skeptical tendencies, cannot sustain a positive and substantial faith. It must however be confessed, that it is sufficiently plausible to impose upon not a few intelligent and well disposed minds. Especially when we consider how naturally the errors and absurdities and controversies, with which the church has teemed, have driven men to those simple moral truths, about which there has been comparatively but little dispute, as affording the only firm resting-place. When so many conflicting answers have been returned to the question, "What think ye of Christ?" it is no wonder, that, to the host of errors already existing, this, if not the worst yet a very serious error, should be added, the error of supposing that it is no matter what is thought of Christ, or whether he be thought of at all, except in a manner the most vague, provided his moral instructions are received. I will only add in this connexion, that this

loose form of opinion seems to prevail extensively, and that even those who are far from doubting the divine origin of Christianity, or the exalted office of its author, appear sometimes to regard the particulars of the New Testament narrative as matters of inferior importance or entire indifference, and to look upon all attempts to arrive at the precise facts recorded, as only curious speculations at best, which lead to few or no practical results, and might perhaps be better let alone.

Now it is in strong opposition to all such modes of thinking, that I urge the doctrine which I commenced with stating; and I cherish a sense of its importance, which I almost despair of being able to express. It is with no ordinary conviction of truth that I repeat what I began with observing, that we know what Christianity is, only as we have a thorough and accurate knowledge of the whole moral being of Jesus Christ, as he is set forth in the accounts of him which have come down to us. It is his character, displayed in the details of the Gospel history, which gives to Christianity its profound moral significance. I do not deny, I believe that the moral precepts of Christ are unsurpassed in their way, that when collected together they form a moral system, to which all the records of human wisdom can bring no parallel. Still, if you take the abstract moral precepts of Christianity and neglect the rest, you make its excellence only comparative. Whereas if it is what I firmly believe it to be, and what the character of its author teaches me it is, to say that it is the best religion in the world is to give it its very lowest praise. In truth, it transcends all other religions as much as a living form exceeds a marble statue, or the stupendous temple of nature the frail edifices of man. Christianity is a spiritual thing. Its business is with our spiritual nature, our relations to the Invisible. This is its character, whether it is regarded as a divine revelation or not. Viewed simply as a mode of religion, it is, of course, spiritual. This is the very nature of a religion, and gives it its claim to be considered as such. Now it is not words, verbal propositions and precepts, that can adequately define moral truths, spiritual things. In fact, words, strictly speaking, cannot define any thing. They are arbitrary, artificial signs, employed to designate ideas or perceptions, already existing more or less distinctly in the mind. There is no