y importance."

After calling attention to the "absolute necessity of suitable
qualifications on the part of the master," the report continues in
regard to the Bible, as one of the books to be used:

"Connected with the introduction of suitable books, the commissioners
take the liberty of suggesting that some observations and advice,
touching the reading of the Bible in the schools, might be salutary. In
order to render the sacred volume productive of the greatest advantage,
it should be held in a very different light, from that of a common
school book. It should be regarded not merely as a book for literary
improvement, but as inculcating great and indispensable moral truths.
With these impressions, the commissioners are induced to recommend the
practice, introduced into the New York Free School, of having select
chapters read at the opening of the school in the morning and the like
at the close in the afternoon. This is deemed the best mode of
preserving the religious regard, which is due to the sacred writings."

This admirable report closes with these significant words: "The
American empire is founded, on the virtue and intelligence of the
people. The commissioners cannot but hope that Being, who rules the
universe in justice and mercy, who rewards virtue and punishes vice,
will graciously deign to smile benignly, on the humble efforts of a
people in a cause purely his own; and that he will manifest this
pleasure, in the lasting prosperity of our country."

The public school system of New York, with the Bible as its corner
stone, was established the next year, 1812. Ten years later, Governor
DeWitt Clinton, encouraging their liberal support, said, "The first duty
of a state is to render its citizens virtuous, by intellectual
instruction and moral discipline, by enlightening their minds, purifying
their hearts and teaching them their rights and obligations."

STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

The status of the Bible, in the early schools of Pennsylvania, may be
gathered from the following extract from a report, approved by the
National Convention of the friends of public education, that met in
Philadelphia in 1850.

"In the common schools, which are open for the instruction of the
children of all denominations there are many whose religious education
is neglected by their parents, and who will grow up in vice and
irreligion, unless they receive it from the common school teacher. It
seems to us to be the duty of the st