unworthy and refused the unfit, when the Church was so weak in number
and assailed by hordes of enemies? Yet during the first seven years of
this Book of Discipline, the General Assembly grew from 6 to 252
ministers, and the Church in the same marvelous proportion. Behold
God's seal placed on strict discipline. There is power in purity;
vitality depends much on sanitation.


THE FIRST SCHOOLS--1561.

The Public School system is the offspring of Protestantism. The human
mind, when liberated by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, aspires after
education, as the eagle soars into the upper air when set free from its
cage. Freedom in Christ Jesus awakens consciousness of rights, powers,
privileges, obligations, and the immeasurable boundaries of mind and
spirit. With such breathings and aspirations these Presbyterian fathers
planted free schools over their country and set the example for the
world. The General Assembly authorized a school for every "parish", and
made attendance imperative. The children of the poor were instructed
free, the rich contributed support. The studies covered "religion,
grammar, and Latin." Also in every "notable town, a college was to be
erected for instruction in logic, rhetoric, and the learned languages."
Such was the work of the General Assembly in the year of our Lord 1561.
Our system of Public Schools is but the extension of the orchard these
fathers planted, in their far-reaching plans and great-hearted purposes.

Such were some of the steps taken by the fathers, in the Church of
Scotland, at the dawn of the First Reformation. They were master
builders in laying foundation stones. They were preparing for the
onward movement, which gave to the world the most brilliant example of