to view the nature of that education
which is needful for man, considered as a candidate for immortality, we
would by no means overlook those subordinate aims which have reference
to his present condition, and the relations he sustains in this life.
The two are so intimately connected, and sustain such a reciprocal
relation to each other, that each is best secured by that system of
training and in the use of those appliances by which the other is most
successfully promoted. In training the rising generation for the proper
discharge of their duty to themselves and to one another--as children,
and subsequently as parents; as members of society and citizens of free
and independent states--we at the same time best promote their
interests as candidates for immortality. It is equally true that any
system of education which omits to provide for man's highest and
enduring wants as an immortal being, in a proportionate degree falls
short of providing for his dearest interests and best good in this life.

The system of education which we should promote comprehends whatever may
have any good influence in developing the mind, by giving direction to
thought, or bias the motives of action. To lead infancy in the path of
duty, to give direction to an immortal spirit, and to teach it to aspire
by well-doing to the rewards of virtue, is the first step of
instruction. To youth, education imparts that knowledge whose ways are
usefulness and honor, and by due restraint and subordination, makes
individual to intwine with public good in a just observance of laws,
comprehending the path of duty. To manhood, it "leads him to reflect on
the ties that unite him with friends, with kindred, and with the great
family of mankind, and makes his bosom glow with social tenderness; it
confirms the emotions of sympathy into habitual benevolence, imparts to
him the elating delight of rejoicing with those who rejoice, and, if his
means are not always adequate to the suggestions of his charity, soothes
him at last with the melancholy pleasure of weeping with those who
weep." To age, it gives consolation, by remembrance of the past, and
anticipation of the future. Wisdom is drawn from experience, to give
constancy to virtue; and amid all the vicissitudes of life, it enables
him to repose unshaken confidence in that goodness which, by the
arrangement of the universe, constantly incites him to perpetual
progress in excellence and felicity. Education is the grow