ON THE

MENTAL ILLUMINATION

AND

MORAL IMPROVEMENT OF MANKIND

INTRODUCTION.

BEFORE We attempt to accomplish any great and extensive enterprise, it is requisite to ascertain, in the first place, whether the object we propose be attainable, and, in the next place, whether, if attained, it would be productive of beneficent effects. If these points are not ascertained, previous to our engaging in any undertaking, we may exert our intellectual faculties, and active powers, and spend our time, our wealth, and our labour, to no purpose, and in the end meet with nothing but disappointed expectations. The history of the world, and even the annals of science, would furnish hundreds of facts to corroborate this position. The object of the Alchemists was to transmute earthy substances and the baser metals into gold, and, by the fortunate labour of some happy day, when the stars were propitious, to realize vast treasures of wealth, to enable them to live in splendour and opulence during the remaining period of their lives. In this visionary pursuit, which, for several centuries, occupied the attention of princes, statesmen, ecclesiastics, physicians, and experimenters of various descriptions, thousands of fortunes were irretrievably wasted, and the dupes of this fallacious science kept in perpetual anxiety, and amused with vain and unfounded expectations. Even although such schemes had been practicable-which experience proves they are not-it would not be difficult to show, that, had they been successful, they would have produced more misery than happiness among man. kind. The study of the heavens, with the view of foretelling future events, and the destinies of men, from the different aspects of the planets and the signs of the Zodiac, was another scheme which, for many ages, absorbed the attention of kings, legislators, popes, cardinals, and even men of science, as well as that of the illiterate vulgar,—and, in numerous instances, no public affair of any importance was undertaken, without first consulting the stare

This fallacious art has likewise been proved impracticable, and inconsistent with the peace and happiness of mankind. The researches which were long made after the panacea, or universal remedy for all disorders-the search for an universal menstruum and ferment-the search for a medicine which will confer immortality even in this world-the attempts to discover mines by means of divining-rods—and to cure palsies, inflammations, obstructions, and other disorders, by animal magnetism and metallic tractors—and, above all, the attempt to conduct mankind to happiness by discarding the idea of a Divine Being and every species of religion from the plans proposed with hundreds of similar schemes,—may be regarded nearly in the same light as the foolish arts of astrologers and alchemists, and could easily be shown to be equally unprofitable and vain.

In endeavouring to promote a general diffusion of knowledge among the various ranks of society, it becomes us likewise to inquire, whether the attempt would be accompanied with such beneficial effects as to warrant the labour and expense which must necessarily attend such an enterprise-and, whether any insurmountable difficulties stand in the way of its accomplishment. There are not wanting, even amidst the light of science which is now shining around us, many individuals in the higher classes of society who are bold enough to insinuate, that an increase of knowledge would be injurious to the lower ranks of the community that its accomplishment is both undesirable and impracti cable that the moral world will proceed onward as it has hitherto done that there is no possibility of meliorating the condition of the great mass of mankind,—and that it is altogether Utopian to attempt to direct the moral and intellectual energies of the human race into any other channel than that in which they have hitherto been accustomed to flow. Such insinuations evidently flow from a spirit of misanthropy, and are intended, if possible, to fix the moral world in a quiescent state, as the material world was supposed to be in former times, and to damp every exertion that is now making to promote the improvement and the happiness of our species. They are likewise inconsistent with the dictates of Divine Revelation, which plainly declare that "the knowledge of Jehovah shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the channels of the seas," and that "all shall know him, from the least to the greatest."

In a work lately published, I have endeavoured to illustrate, at considerable length, some of the advantages which would result from a general diffusion of knowledge, which, I presume, will tend to substantiate the position, that an increase of knowledge

among all ranks would be productive of an increase of enjoyment. If a more extensive diffusion of knowledge would have a tendency to dissipate those superstitious notions and false alarms which have so long enslaved the minds of men-to prevent numerous diseases and fatal accidents-to accelerate the improvement of the physical sciences-to increase the pleasures and enjoyments of mankind-to promote the progress of the liberal and mechanical arts-to administer to the comforts of general society-to prepare the way for new inventions and discoveries to expand our views of the attributes and moral government of the Deity-to advance the interests of morality-to prepare the mind for the pleasures and employments of the future world-to promote a more extensive acquaintance with the evidences, facts, and doctrines, of Revelation to prepare the way for the establishment of peace and harmony among the nations, and to promote the union and the extension of the Christian church;-if such posi tions can be fairly proved, every philanthropist and every rational and well-directed mind will readily admit, that a more general cultivation of the human intellect, and a more extensive diffusion of rational information, are highly desirable, and would be productive of the most auspicious and beneficial results, in reference both to the present interests and the future prospects of mankind.

With regard to the practicability of this object, no rational doubt can be entertained, if the moral machinery requisite for its accomplishment were once thoroughly set in motion. Whatever Man has hitherto achieved, Man may still accomplish. If minds, once feeble and benighted, and ignorant as the wild ass's colt, have, by proper training, been raised near the highest pitch of moral and intellectual attainments, other minds, by similar training, may be elevated to the same degree of perfection. If nations, once rude and ignorant, as the Britons formerly were, have been raised to a state of civilization and refinement, and excited to cultivated the arts and sciences, the same means by which this object was accomplished, may still be employed in other cases to produce the same effect. If several portions, however small, of any civilized community, have been brought to a high state of intellectual improvement, it is evident, that the greater part, if not the whole, may be advanced into a similar state. It only requires that the means of instruction be simplified and extended, and brought within the reach of every one whose faculties are capable of cultivation. That this object has never yet been effected, is not owing to its impracticability, or to any insuperable obstacles which lie in the way of its accomplishment; but because the attention of mankind has never yet been thoroughly directed to it:

and because the means requisite for promoting it have never been employed on a scale proportionate to the extent and magnitude of the enterprise. The influential classes of society, in every country, have been more absorbed in the pursuits of avarice, ambition, war, devastation, and sensual gratifications, than in meliorating the physical and moral condition of their species. The tenth part of the treasures which have been wasted in the prosecution of such mad and immoral pursuits, had it been properly directed, would have been more than sufficient to have brought the means of instruction within the reach of every individual of the human race, and to have transformed the barren wastes of every country into the appearance of a terrestrial paradise. There is no Government under heaven, so far as we are acquainted, (if Prussia and the United States of America be not excepted,) where the instruction of the great mass of the people forms a prominent and specific object in its administration. On the contrary, in several instances, even within the limits of Europe, it is well known, that the intellectual instruction of the lower orders is prohibited by a law.* Even in Great Britain, where the light of science shines with peculiar effulgence, the exertions of philantropists have been damped in their attempts to diffuse knowledge among the people; heavy taxes have been imposed on the means of its diffusion; men of knowledge have been persecuted and neglected, while men devoted to war and bloodshed have been loaded with wealth, and exalted to the highest stations of dignity and honour; no national scheme, supported by the state, has ever yet been devised for its universal propagation among all ranks, and no sums set apart for this purpose, while the treasures of the nation have been wasted in extravagance, and, in too many instances, devoted to the support of vice, tyranny, and intolerance.

But we trust that the breath of a new spirit is now beginning to animate the councils of the nation and the great body of the people; and when the means within our power of extending the blessings of knowledge shall be employed with energy and judg. ment, we may expect, ere long, to behold a generation rising up, in intelligence and moral action, superior to all the generations that have gone before it-improving the soil, adorning the landscape, promoting the progress of the useful arts, enlarging the

* For example,-A royal Sardinian Edict, published in 1825, enjoins, "that henceforth no person shall learn to read or write who cannot prove the possession of property above the value of 1500 livres," or about £62 10s. sterling. And it is well known, that the greater part of the lower classes in Russia, Austria, and Poland, are, from their situation, debarred from the benefits of instruction.

boundaries of science, diffusing the blessings of Christianity over the globe, giving an impulse to every philanthropic movement, counteracting the spirit of war, ambition, and licentiousness, cultivating peace and friendly correspondence with surrounding nations, and forming an impregnable bulwark around every government where the throne is established in truth and in righteousness. To state and illustrate the various means by which a more extensive diffusion of knowledge may be effected, and the genera! improvement of society promoted, is the main object of the following pages, in which the state of education in our country, and the principles on which it ought to be conducted, shall occupy our first, and our chief attention.