bestowed honor on the learned, and the learned brought honor to learning; when the highest attainments were deemed of value, not according as they gave distinction to him who had reached them, but according as they tended to improve and to bless the whole family of man. Among the Hebrews there was no monopoly of knowledge by a favored few. Intelligence was general in the degree and of the kind adapted to the various duties and pursuits of those among whom it was spread. The tongue and the pen of even learned royalty were industriously employed in giving to knowledge that condensed and practical form which might bring it within the reach, and make it available for the advantage of all, of the shepherd and vine-dresser, as well as "the Sons of the Prophets." When the learned act with this generous and dutiful spirit, they always reap according as they sow. The minds

have been "without a teaching priest" is described as the cause of the general impiety and adversity which at times overtook the nation; and the return of the Levites to their duty as teachers is more than once mentioned as among the first things enjoined by rulers and kings who arose as reformers of prevailing abuses. 2 Chron. 15: 3. 17:7-9. 30:22. 35:3. Nehemiah, 8: 7,8. The labors of the Levites may not have been precisely like those of our parish clergymen; but whether it was in the school of higher or lower degree, or in the assembly of worship, the tribe of Levi were ordinarily considered as the appropriate instructors.

the

of those who receive instruction will re-act upon minds of those who give it, imparting to them higher aspirations, and leading them to greater acquisitions. If, as geologists tell us, there are countries where. the whole land is constantly rising higher and higher above the level of the sea, the mountains must rise as well as the valleys; and in every wisely adjusted system for the intellectual education of a nation, when the mass of the people are improved in intelligence, the attainments of the more learned will be advanced in a like proportion. All will rise together.

These provisions for the diffusion of knowledge which we find among the Hebrews have been sanctioned by universal history as inseparably interwoven with national prosperity. No people can rise from civil or social degradation without education; and no ruler deserves the reputation of a public benefactor who would not give his unremitting care to this object, as of paramount importance. The "good king Alfred," as he is often called, arose at a time when nothing less than a spirit like his could have saved his country from entire subversion. He expressly attributes its worst evils to the prevalence of ignorance, and he began his measures of reform by inviting distinguished scholars from abroad, by endowing literary institutions for the cultivation of learning, at the same time establishing

schools throughout the land for the education of the people, requiring every parent to send his children to be taught, and giving public employment only to such as had made satisfactory proficiency in knowledge. He went farther still. He added the influence of his own example, not only as a diligent and successful student, but in preparing, with his own pen, books for the intellectual and moral improvement of all classes among his subjects. Before his death the whole face of affairs in the land was changed: and in a work, said to be still extant, he congratulates himself on the prosperity which had sprung from general education.

The mantle of Alfred is often said to have fallen upon Edward the Sixth. The wonderful mind of that prince would have rendered him another "admirable Crichton," if he had been simply a scholar and not a king. In wisdom he was as far beyond his own years as he was before the age of the world in which he lived. When he took counsel, as he tells us, how he should most effectually benefit the Commonwealth, he pronounced "good education, first in order, and first in dignity and degree," and declared his purpose to "show his device therein." Alas! death cut him off in the midst of his plans for the freedom and happiness of his people, removing him from a world in which, at that day, he seems to

race.

have been too wise and too good to find those who would co-operate with him for the welfare of his His death has been considered by many as the greatest calamity with which England was ever overtaken; and her philanthropists and statesmen of late have been led to feel the importance of the work he contemplated, and are making it the "question of questions" how to diffuse suitable education among the mass of the people.

The service rendered to Scotland by her parish schools is known to every one at all acquainted with her history. So deep was her degradation before she introduced them, that one of her leading patriots was led to propose the introduction of domestic servitude as a remedy for the vagrancy and low crime which had overspread the country. Since she gave her people education, she has produced a race of men known through the world for their shrewd intelligence and successful industry. If we look at the enactments of Holland for educating the children of that Republic, and which were enforced by the authority of both Church and State, we can see how she arose to the greatness that once distinguished her. To Prussia, however, belongs the credit of having recently set an example that has given a new impulse to the cause of popular education in Europe. The value of instruction de

pends on the qualifications of the teacner; and with a wise regard to this important principle, Prussia created Normal Institutions for the education of teachers, and also established schools in every district of the country, to which every parent is required by law to send his children, unless he gives satisfactory proof to the competent authority that he is educating them at home at his own expense. The effect of these regulations is that every child in the Prussian dominions receives, at a suitable age, an education in such branches as are connected with the ordinary purposes of life. Within a few years also a special ordinance has been passed directing that a Bible be placed in the hands of every teacher in the public schools, as an official acknowledgment of the truth of Christianity. The consequences which must flow from such a system of instruction can be easily foreseen. Neither civil nor religious abuses can long endure when the mind of the public becomes so effectually enlightened respecting the rights and duties of rulers and ruled. We hazard little in the prediction that Prussia will take the lead among the nations of Europe in many of the reforms which are approaching.

But to the ancestors of our own country we may turn for the best of proofs, showing the importance of general education for the welfare of the people.