, as on every other, he
ought to do nothing directly or indirectly which would be displeasing to
those who have intrusted children to his care.

So much ground, it seems, the teacher may occupy, by common consent, in
this country, and it certainly is a great deal. It may be doubted
whether, after all our disputes, there is a country in the world whose
inhabitants have so much in common in regard to religious belief. There
is, perhaps, no country in the world where the teacher may be allowed to
do so much toward leading his pupils to fear God and to obey his
commands, with the cordial consent of parents, as he can here.[3]

[Footnote 3: In speaking of this common ground, and in commenting upon
it, I wish not to be understood that I consider these truths as
comprising all that is essential in Christianity. Very far from it. A
full expression of the Christian faith would go far in advance of all
here presented. We must not confound, however, what is essential to
prepare the way for the forgiveness of sin with what is essential that a
child should understand in order to secure his penitence and
forgiveness. The former is a great deal, the latter very little.]

The ground which I have been laying out is common all over our country;
in particular places there will be even much more that is common. Of
course the teacher, in such cases, will be at much greater liberty. If a
Roman Catholic community establish a school, and appoint a Roman
Catholic teacher, he may properly, in his intercourse with his scholars,
allude, with commendation, to the opinions and practices of that church.
If a college is established by the Methodist denomination, the teacher
of that institution may, of course, explain and enforce there the views
of that society. Each teacher is confined only to _those views which are
common to the founders and supporters of the particular institution to
which he is attached._

I trust the principle which I have been attempting to enforce is fully
before the reader's mind, namely, that moral and religious instruction
in a school being in a great degree extra-official in its nature, must
be carried no farther than the teacher can go with the common consent,
either expressed or implied, of those who have founded, and who support
his school. Of course, if those founders forbid it altogether, they have
a right to do so, and the teacher must submit. The only question that
can justly arise is whether he will remain in such