ar
as guilt is concerned; he must have an eagle eye and an efficient hand,
so far as relates to arresting the evil and stopping the consequences.
He may slowly and cautiously, and even tenderly, approach a delinquent.
He may be several days in gathering around him the circumstances of
which he is ultimately to avail himself in bringing him to submission;
but, while he proceeds thus slowly and tenderly, he must come with the
air of authority and power. The fact that the teacher bases all his
plans on the idea of his ultimate authority in every case may be
perfectly evident to all the pupils, while he proceeds with moderation
and gentleness in all his specific measures. Let it be seen, then, that
the constitution of your school is a monarchy, absolute and unlimited;
but let it also be seen that the one who holds the power is himself
under the control of moral principle in all that he does, and that he
endeavors to make the same moral principle which guides him go as far as
it is possible to make it go in the government of his subjects.

CHAPTER V.

RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE.

[Illustration]

In consequence of the unexampled religious freedom possessed in this
country, for which it is happily distinguished above all other countries
on the face of the earth, there necessarily results a vast variety of
religious sentiment and action. We can not enjoy the blessings without
the inconveniences of freedom. Where every man is allowed to believe as
he pleases, some will, undoubtedly, believe wrong, and others will be
divided, by embracing views of a subject which are different, though
perhaps equally consistent with truth. Hence we have among us every
shade and every variety of religious opinion, and, in many cases,
contention and strife, resulting from hopeless efforts to produce
uniformity.

A stranger who should come among us would suppose, from the tone of our
religious journals, and from the general aspect of society on the
subject of religion, that the whole community was divided into a
thousand contending sects, who hold nothing in common, and whose sole
objects are the annoyance and destruction of each other. But if we leave
out of view some hundreds, or, if you please, some thousands of
theological controversialists who manage the public discussions, and say
and do all that really comes before the public on this subject, it will
be found that there is vastly more religious truth admitted by common
consent among t