e must work out his destiny, and to make this possible in
the broadest and best sense from the Christian standpoint both mind and
heart must be developed. As a member of the State he must assume duties
in public affairs which require the possession of superior intelligence.
This is particularly true in free governments which are the logical
product of the spirit of Christianity. While the idea of universal
education had its beginning with the Christian era, we shall see that
many centuries elapsed before it reached its fulfillment. There were
many serious and almost insurmountable obstacles against which the early
Christians had to contend, and these made progress necessarily slow. Let
us look at some of these obstacles.

=Their Poverty.=--The early Christians were almost without exception
poor. Christ appealed to the poor and lowly, and chose his disciples
from among them. The acknowledged followers of the Nazarene had to face
confiscation of property, persecution, death. Homeless and without
protection they wandered about, and had neither the opportunity nor the
right to acquire property. They, therefore, had little means to apply to
the education of their children. They could neither establish schools
nor employ teachers; they could give only such instruction as the
limitations of their poverty, their misery, and their fear permitted.
Consequently, only the most meager training could be secured, and that
almost wholly in religious matters.

=Their Own Ignorance.=--Chosen as they were from the lowly ranks of
life, many of the early Christians were ignorant. Most of them were
servants and slaves, who had been converted from paganism, and who did
not possess even the rudiments of education. They had to be instructed
in the rites and ceremonies of the Church, and in the practices and
requirements of their new belief. Unlettered as they were themselves,
they could scarcely undertake to educate their children. It is marvelous
that under these conditions any attempt was made to do it; yet we find
that great pains were taken even in the early centuries of the Christian
era to perform this duty toward those who were regarded as gifts of God
and heirs of salvation.

=Their Small Number.=--Even when free from persecution and under
comparatively happy conditions, they were so scattered and so few in
number, as well as so poor, that to maintain schools was almost an
impossibility. They would not permit their children to attend