Board of National Popular Education.

IN the sixth article of the Constitution of the Board of National Popular Education, there is required from all the teachers "the daily use of the Bible in their several schools, as the basis of that sound Christian education, to the support and extension of which the Board is solemnly pledged." From the Fifth Annual Report of this Board, we select the following paragraphs from a speech by Mr. Sawtell, at the Anniversary in Cleveland, in 1852. We make this quotation, because it presents, by so happy and powerful an illustration, the necessity of a free and open Bible in our common schools, as the only possible way in which our nation can continue selfgoverned. The Bible for the masses, Mr. Sawtell truly proclaims, is God's great instru

ment for governing men and nations. Bible for the millions of the young.

The

"There is but one alternative. God will have men and nations governed; and they must be governed by one of the two instruments-AN OPEN BIBLE, with its hallowed influences, or A STANDING ARMY WITH BRISOne is the product of God's

TLING BAYONETS.

wisdom, the other, of man's folly; and that nation or people that dare discard, or will not yield to the moral power of the one, must submit to the brute force of the other. Herein do we discover the secret of our ability to govern ourselves. Just so long, and no longer, than we preserve the open Bible in our schools, shall we be capable of self-government. Let me illustrate my meaning by a single fact: During a seven years' residence in France, party politics often ran high in my native land. The whole country, on the eve of a presidential election, seemed like 'Ocean into tempest wrought.' Political editors seemed to be at swords' points; and, to the Frenchman, our ship of State appeared literally to be beating upon the shoals and quick

sands of a lee shore; and their cry was, 'She must go down-she can never out-ride the storm.' But the next arrival, perhaps, announced the result of the contest, the triumph and the defeat. The storm had died away— scarcely a ripple to be seen upon the mighty ocean of agitated mind. The farmer had returned quietly to his plough-the mechanic to his shop-the merchant to his counting-house; and those editors, who, to the Frenchman, seemed so belligerent, were playing off their jokes upon each other, as though nothing had happened. And now, the noble ship once more rights herself, obeys her helm, and, with all her canvas spread to the wind, her banners unfurled, her stars and stripes waving at mast-head, she booms onward with accelerated speed and power, to the chagrin and amazement of every despotic power in the Old World; while the Frenchman, with a shrug of the shoulder, would press my hand and exclaim You, Americans, are the queerest people in the world. How is it, that you can create such a storm, and your political editors can talk so rabidly, and lash the whole nation,

like an ocean, into mountain waves, and yet, the moment the election is over, all is quiet, all seem satisfied? Can you explain it? Why, if such a storm had been raised here in France, blood would have flown to the horse's bridles. Do tell me the secret of that power that can control the multitude, under such excitement?' Well, how did I explain it? I'll tell you in few words :

"Opening the Bible, I said to the Frenchman-From this despised and proscribed book, which God has given to illumine the path of every man, emanate the light and the power that control the American mind in such emergencies. Tens of thousands of our citizens who deposit their votes in the ballot box, have been blessed with pious mothers, who brought their infant minds early in contact with God's precious truth. They taught them to commit to memory such passages as these "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city." "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth."

"Do unto others as ye would that they should do unto you," &c., &c. These and kindred texts were taught them in the nursery, the sabbath school, public schools, by mothers and teachers, as God commands, "when they went out and when they came in, when they sat down and when they rose up," giving them "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little," thus engraving them deeply upon the tablets of their hearts, imbuing their infant spirits with the spirit of the gospel—which is "peace on earth and good will to man." Thus they grew up and matured into manhood, with this leaven working in them, both to will and to do that which is just and equal toward God and toward men ; and though multitudes there may be, who have not been blessed with this early religious training from an open Bible, yet a sufficient number have been thus trained to exert an all-pervading, controlling influence over the masses; and hence our indebtedness to an OPEN BIBLE, for our ability to govern ourselves. Take from us the open Bible, and like Sampson shorn of his locks, we should