V.

On the other hand, the gospel welcomes and encourages science, philosophy, poetry, art, commerce; every page 9 thinker, every worker, every institution, every system, everything which makes the body healthier, which invigorates and enriches the mind, which quickens and purifies the imagination, which enlarges and strengthens faith, hope, and love, adds zest, interest, and variety to life, and brings the sunshine of heaven into the bosoms and homes of all who live on earth.

Especially the gospel encourages education. Bring out of man all the power for good that is in him; declare how fearfully and wonderfully he is made; turn all his faculties to beneficent uses; increase the values of his nature; vindicate his right to call sun, moon, and stars his ministering servants; fit him to be master of every secret from the South Pole to the North Pole, from the central fire to the rounded seas. Thus the gospel speaks rejoicingly. For it is man, who has such wealth in his being, that the gospel would endue with the best of all knowledge—how to be lord of himself, and how to love his neighbour as a brother. It is because we love men and God's message to men that we rejoice so unfeignedly in modern paidology, and in the great advance which the science of teaching has made in our day. We mark with satisfaction the advantages which our children have in elementary and superior schools, which our young men and our young women have in our colleges and universities. Because we believe, with the gospel, that manhood is truest wealth, we hopefully anticipate the day when our people and our legislators will be so deeply convinced of the essential importance of educated manhood to the prosperity of the nation that the schools, colleges, and universities shall be made open and free to every young soul, from the A B C to the highest academic distinction. We look forward to that bright, good day, when the highway of knowledge will be as open and free as the beaten track which runs from the furthest home-stead to the capital of the Commonwealth.