This is the legend, favorably written, of the youthful character of Lord Buddha, the Light of Asia; truly, a fine portrait of a clever and generous boy. Recall now the briefer lines describing the remarkable wisdom and obedience of that youth who came to be the "Light of the World." The lines of comparison between these two teachers diverge infinitely as we follow them. The "tenderhearted" sportsman becomes a mild wanderer, sitting in moonlit solitude, pale with thought, musing on vast truths, and anon visiting the haunts of men to do acts of benevolence and mercy. No race of sturdy power and grand achievements can bow in homage to this lord of dreamers. Though Emerson says, "We run all our vessels into one mould. Our colossal theologies of Judaism, Christism, Buddhism, Mahometism, are the necessary and structural action of the human mind"; yet the fact is that men of thought and power adore the character of Christ as they adore no other, and they set him and his teaching high above the touch of all other religious teachers and systems. His character is cast in a heroic mould: his love was infinite, his sympathy unlimited, his presence majestic, his sufferings sublime, his truth eternal, his influence endless, fashioning in all ages the thought and civilization of the world, burying in its glory the simple poetry and venerable traditions of all other faiths.

The Great Teacher was the true "Light of the World." Compare " Judaism, Christism, Buddhism, Mahometism": what have they each done for the world? Single out the nations where each gives the prevailing tone to society and law: where is the greatest commerce, the purest justice, the highest morality? Which of these religions has exhibited the most shining examples of individual teachers, sacrificing every treasure and braving every hazard to spread its knowledge and extend its blessings among all the dwellings of men? Whence came that germ of faith, small in the eyes of men as a "grain of mustard-seed," and as potential in the sight of God, from which, planted in this western world, sprang the tree of liberty, among whose branches the pursued and the wearied in all lands have found rest and home? What people, tempted and proven in the wilderness, emerged at length to teach all nations the great truths of trust in God and love to men, and to work out, as this band of disciples grew and multiplied, the mighty problems of humanity, of equal rights, equal duties, and equal protection; where he that is greatest is servant of all, a leader not envied but loved, against whom the hand of violence cannot be raised but every heart feels the shock, and every soul is filled with warm and tender solicitude?

The theme of self-sacrifice is the fitting con

clusion of our study. Suffering is the refined essence of labor, death is the climax of life. So was it pre-eminently of Christ. Says Rousseau, "If the life and death of Socrates are those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus are those of a God." Wirt's blind circuit-preacher repeats it: "Socrates died like a philosopher; Jesus Christ, like a God." In his agony and glory, the Christ prays, 'Father, forgive them." Poor, ignorant, ungrateful ones, they; and yet it was because they were such that the Great Teacher came.

So we,

like him in the fact, very unlike him in the degree, suffer the ingratitude and harassments of those we seek to bless. Still the more let us, like him, bless them and forgive; let their wantonness call out our supreme endeavor; let the crosses of our labor lift us up that we may draw and save. Our selfsacrifice will be the climax of duty and merit. It stamps upon our profession the seal of our greater Teacher. It is the sign by which we conquer our unbelieving worlds, and prove to our disciples the value of the truths we teach. It will be the source of perennial life to our teachings and example, and will perpetuate our memories in the hearts of our discipled followers. So shall they in coming time pause in their remembrance of us, and exclaim, "Was not our heart burning within us, while he spake to us in the way?" (Revised Version).

We have noted the facts that Christ, by title and

by work, is the Teacher and model of teachers; that he is so by the formal excellence of his art and the intrinsic merit of his character; that he possesses the true and universal marks of power and of self-impressiveness, and that he sealed all virtue with his supreme devotion. Accustomed to exalt him religiously as the "brightest and best of the sons of the morning," we need not hesitate to make him our philosophical model, since we find that, in every aspect in which we study him,

HE DOETH ALL THINGS WELL.

LECTURE XII.

HOW FAR DOES AMERICAN EDUCATION SATISFY THE NEEDS OF AMERICAN LIFE?

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BY MRS. JULIA WARD HOWE.

MUST, at the outset, salute with profound respect this much-esteemed assemblage,

and ask its members what I, a child and a learner still, can teach to those who are critical experts in the facts and methods of education?

I remember, at this moment, that I was invited. last year to speak before the School of Philosophy in Concord. Those who gave this invitation prayed that I would not entertain them with any efforts in the direction of formal metaphysics, but that I would communicate to them, as far as possible, simple and strict views of modern society, as it would appear to one who, in observing it, should desire to apprehend the characteristics of human nature. It occurs to me that you, in like manner, have sent for me in order that I may give you impressions which bear upon education, rather than ) suggest devices for its improvement.