o clearly and correctly.
He is right when he speaks of it as an emanation from the Christian
religion. He is right when he says that it has its origin in the word of
God. He is right when he says that it was unknown throughout all the
world till the first dawn of Christianity. He is right, pre-eminently
right, in all this, as he was pre-eminently happy in his power of
clothing his thoughts and feelings in appropriate forms of speech. And I
maintain, that, in any institution for the instruction of youth, where
the authority of God is disowned, and the duties of Christianity derided
and despised, and its ministers shut out from all participation in its
proceedings, there can no more be charity, true charity, found to exist,
than evil can spring out of the Bible, error out of truth, or hatred and
animosity come forth from the bosom of perfect love. No, Sir! No, Sir!
If charity denies its birth and parentage, if it turns infidel to the
great doctrines of the Christian religion, if it turns unbeliever, it is
no longer charity! There is no longer charity, either in a Christian
sense or in the sense of jurisprudence; for it separates itself from the
fountain of its own creation.

There is nothing in the history of the Christian religion; there is
nothing in the history of English law, either before or after the
Conquest; there can be found no such thing as a school of instruction in
a Christian land, from which the Christian religion has been, of intent
and purpose, rigorously and opprobriously excluded, and yet such school
regarded as a charitable trust or foundation. This is the first instance
on record. I do not say that there may not be charity schools in which
religious instruction is not provided. I need not go that length,
although I take that to be the rule of the English law. But what I do
say, and repeat, is, that a school for the instruction of the young,
which sedulously and reproachfully excludes Christian knowledge, is no
charity, either on principle or authority, and is not, therefore,
entitled to the character of a charity in a court of equity. I have
considered this proposition, and am ready to stand by it.

I will not say that there may not be a charity for instruction, in which
there is no positive provision for the Christian religion. But I do say,
and do insist, that there is no such thing in the history of religion,
no such thing in the history of human law, as a charity, a school of
instruction for chil