truer sentiment had been uttered, if it had been said, that the greatest and best of men are never better or more usefully employed than when engaged in the high and honorable occupation of training youthful minds.

With regard to the qualifications required in him, who undertakes this office, I cannot, of course, be expected, in this place, to go into a large consideration of them. Let it suffice to say, that, in every point of view, they are such as impart high dignity and worth to the character of him who possesses them in due measure. He is first of all to be purified of everything low, selfish, narrow, dogmatizing and repulsive in his views, feelings and manners. He must have a mind well cultivated, intelligent, clear, active, largely imbued with patience and kindness, and full of the spirit of teaching. He must enter upon his business, not, as Dr. Arnold says, ek parergoi, or as a secondary, easy concern, but as a substantive and most important duty, and devote to it his best time and his best energies. He must, especially, have an ardent desire for the improvement and happiness of his pupils; and endeavor, in all his intercourse with them, to inspire them, not only with respect for others, but with respect for themselves. "Maxima debetur puero reverentia," was a maxim of education among the ancient Romans; and it is worthy to be carried out in practice in all the families and schools of the land. It is related of a German professor, in one of the first Universities of his country, "that whenever he came into the presence of his youthful

class, he used always to take off his hat in token of respect. When remonstrated with for this practice, by his compeers in office, as calculated to let down the dignity of the faculty with the students, he made this reply, 'I see in these youth the future lords, nobles, counts and literati of the land, and I bow to them now in homage to what they shall be.'"

In a word, for I must not dwell here, I know not how the character of a well-qualified teacher can be described in fewer or more expressive terms, than those used by the distinguished individual already more than once referred to "He must be a Christian and a gentleman, an active man, and one who has common sense, and understands boys." In another place he says, "the qualifications which I deem essential to the due performance of a master's duties here, may in brief be expressed, as the spirit of a Christian and a gentleman." He must be a gentleman; and this means a man of intelligence, refinement, and true benevolence. He must be a Christian; and this means a man, who is governed by the spirit and precepts of the Gospel, and performs his duties under an abiding, practical sense of responsibility to a higher Power.

What has now been said, may suffice to convey some just idea of the requisite qualifications of a teacher of youth. And what is wanting in them, which is at all essential to constitute a character of true dignity and excellence? Here is cultivated intelligence; here is Christian benevolence; here is devotion to a great and noble object; and here is a

recognition of responsibility to God, for the manner in which the duties, connected with the attainment of that object, are performed. These qualities allmeet in the character of a thoroughly accomplished teacher; not one of them is lacking when the office is duly filled; and when combined in due symmetry and proportion, as they always should be in the person of him, who devotes himself to the business of training immortal minds for duty and happiness, here and hereafter, I leave my audience to judge, whether they do not impress upon him a character of the highest excellence and worth, and which is justly entitled to the love and respect of all who behold it.

I might refer to actual results, as illustrating the importance and excellence of the teacher's office. A saying of Lord Brougham has been repeated thousands of times, as expressive of a great thought, "the, schoolmaster is abroad." He meant to express by it the fact, that popular education is on the advance; and, in connection with that, the civilization and improvement of the great mass of the people. And where, in all the world, is there any civilization or improvement among the people, except where the schoolmaster has been, and is, abroad? Who of us has not felt the powerful influence of his office? Who of us does not owe to it a debt of gratitude, which we can never repay? When we look over this favored portion of our country, and ask, whence the general intelligence, virtue, order, and happiness. that characterize the people; whence their enterprise and thrift; whence their countless privileges, their

innumerable sources of enjoyment, and the thousands of smiling, happy homes that meet you on every side as you pass through the land; the answer is, the schoolmaster is abroad. He has come down to us with his commission signed by our Pilgrim ancestors; and his influence, from the first, has been like the rain and the sunshine of heaven. The school-houses and academies, that adorn our villages, and are scattered over our hills and valleys, have sometimes been called the forts of New-England. They are so, in a far higher and better sense than would be realized, if these were demolished, and our land were filled with literal fortresses and munitions of war. And if ever our country is to be saved from anarchy and bloodshed, and made to hold on in a course of freedom, prosperity, and growing greatness, it will be only as we keep the schoolmaster abroad, and make his influence so widely and powerfully felt, that it shall reach, enlighten, and bless all the villages, hamlets and families of the land. The schoolmaster, going forth every where, with his Bible and books of elementary instruction, to enlighten and train our youth, will do more to save and bless our land, than all that can be effected, by the legislation of the greatest and best of our statesmen.

I might further magnify the teacher's office by adverting to the fact, that he stands associated in his duties with a long bright succession of many of the highest and noblest characters that have ever lived in the world. I cannot now present you an extended catalogue of names, in proof of this point. But any

one, who has even a slight acquaintance with the history of past ages, as connected with the progress of our race, in knowledge and civilization, will readily recall a long list of illustrious men, who have contributed, essentially, to that progress, by devoting their highest and best powers to the business of teaching. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Quintilian, and indeed the ancient philosophers generally, both Grecian and Roman, devoted a portion, and many of them a large portion of their time to the instruction of youth. English history is full of names, as is also the history of our own country, of persons alike distinguished for their talents and their virtues, who sought and acquired their highest honor and usefulness in this department of labor. Indeed, what else is the Christian ministry, but an office of teaching? It was ordained by the great Head of the church for this very end; and every faithful minister of his, in the performance of his appropriate duties, is a teacher; peculiarly a teacher of the young, but also of all to whom he is appointed to minister. To him indeed is assigned a higher and more sacred department of instruction. He deals, primarily and chiefly, with the revealed truth of God, in its bearing on the heart and conscience, as an instrument of repentance and salvation. Still he is a teacher; this is his highest character; a dispenser of light, a trainer of minds, a moulder of heart and character; and in this his highest and noblest office, he does but carry on and perfect the work, which was begun by the mother, teaching in the nursery, and the schoolmaster, teaching in the parish school-house.