LECTURE I.

DIGNITY OF THE TEACHER'S PROFESSION.

VERY man should regard his profession with

EVER

pride. He should see in it something to challenge his admiration and win his affections.

He

should seek to view it on its sunny side and in its fairest aspects. He should feel that love and regard for it that inspires him with energy and enthusiasm in its pursuit, that enables him to triumph over its difficulties, and to glory and revel in its charms.

He who looks upon his profession with disfavor, who thinks meanly of its labors, and speaks disparagingly of those who belong to it, will inevitably be a drone. His labor will press upon him as drudgery. The action of all his powers will be sluggish, and in despising the pleasures of professional pride, he misses the finest enjoyment of active life. There is no feeling more degrading to a man, than the thought that he is engaged in a business of which he is ashamed; than to feel that other men look upon him with contempt because he labors in it. It stifles every attempt to excel. It obscures

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Remark of Milton.

Members of the body.

every spark of genius and sinks him to the rank of a slave.

In one sense there is no calling that possesses claims to dignity above another. The man who is engaged in the most menial occupation that is honest, may possess as pure a heart, as he who has won for himself the greatest earthly fame. The humblest laborer, that lugs bricks upon his back the day long, may possess the spirit and honor of a nobleman. "If two angels," says John Milton, "were to be sent from heaven, the one to be monarch of an empire, and the other to be a chimney sweeper, the difference in their minds would not be the value of a straw." Earthly and outward distinctions would have no weight. To do the will of Him who sent them would be their only care. To perform with fidelity the duties of the occupation to which, for the time, Providence has called us, should indeed be the object of our solicitude.

But when we compare the results which the different callings in life are capable of producing, we discover that there are different degrees of dignity to which each is entitled. Aside from the purity of a man's heart, and the fidelity with which he discharges his duties, there are the effects which his labors may produce upon those about him and upon society. The members of the human body are all

Ignorance a source of ills.

Teachings of Providence.

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equally necessary to its life and symmetry, but in the results of their action we readily admit the superiority of some in dignity and importance. The callings of life also have their comparative value, and exert their respective influences in the economy of the world's progress. Beyond the claims of the personal dignity of the individual, and of integrity and honor which should be cultivated in every profession, there are grounds of distinction in the results of his labors. It makes very little difference with the progress of humanity, whether a shoemaker displays great skill in his craft, or whether he be an awkward fellow. The result in either case will be the commendation or curses of a few dozen pimps and dandies. But the man on whose skill and energy the permanent improvement, the mental growth of large numbers of human beings depends, has a higher destiny.

The noblest object for which any man can live is, without doubt, the cultivation of that part of him which is imperishable. It is the mind that governs and directs us in all things, and if we would have our lives well ordered, and would be wisely governed, we should seek first of all, generous mental culture. The many ills to which we are subject, and the troubles and vexations with which our lives are beset, result principally from ignorance. If we look

Man created for improvement. Mental development only begun in this life.

abroad in the world, we see those classes of society enjoying least of the rational pleasures of life who have least knowledge. Those nations and tribes are most barbarous and brutish who are the most ignorant. Self interest and present gratification, if these only were consulted, would confirm us in this opinion.

The teachings of Providence point us to the same conclusion. We are created with the special design of improving our gifts. Had this not been the purpose of our existence, the Creator would have endowed us with instinct, and thus have put us for ever under the control of an iron necessity, like the beast of the field, the bird of the air, and the insect that flutters in the sunbeam. These can not improve their gifts, and they have no need of improvement. The cattle of to-day know no more than the cattle in the time of Abraham. The bird builds her nest, and the bee fashions its cell, as they did at creation's dawn. Were these to live a thousand years they would develop no new faculties, they would make no improvement. Their knowledge is just sufficient for their needs. They eat, and sleep, and then lie down to die. But not so with the soul of man. It is endowed with faculties susceptible of indefinite expansion and improvement. At the earliest dawn of existence development begins, and from infancy to trembling age, he may by diligence and judicious

Obstacles to universal culture.

Lord Bacon.

culture, add strength and knowledge to his increasing stores. The accumulations of the fathers may be handed down to the sons, and thus from generation to generation, and from age to age, the soul of man, profiting by all that has been before it, may go on growing in strength and increasing in knowledge to the last syllable of recorded time.

Nor does development cease here. more exalted view that opens beyond.

There is a

The teachings of Nature and the direct testimony of Revelation unite in proof, that the mortal life of man is but the beginning of his mental training. It is only the childhood to that more perfect development which shall succeed. It will be the business of eternity to unfold the height and depth of that knowledge which we can here see but dimly, and with a vision obscured by all those weaknesses to which flesh is heir. Our best acquirements are comparatively infantile and weak. The farther we advance in knowl. edge only makes our weakness and folly more apparent; for the light which we gain, serves to show the boundless extent of that which remains to be learned, and leads us to that which it is not possible for us to know with our present light. The shortness of life prevents us from prosecuting at length those subjects even which our present powers and helps fit us to pursue. The great majority of mankind are pre