t on _pure
negation_. There never has been a real, absolute unbeliever. All the
so-called unbelievers are either knaves or idiots. All the Gentile
nations of the past have been religious people; all the Pagan powers of
the present are also believers. There never has been a nation without
faith, without an altar, without a sacrifice. Man can never, even for a
single instant, escape the All-seeing Eye of God, or avoid the
obligations of duty imposed on him by his Creator. The Pantheists of
ancient as well as of modern times recognize this fact, although they do
not discharge their religious obligations conformably to the Divine
will, but make to themselves other gods instead.

As there has been a religion and a ritual among all nations, tribes and
peoples, so has there been also a "hierarchy" to teach this religion,
and make known its obligations. These religious obligations constituted
then, and constitute even now, the basis of all popular education
throughout the world--Christian, Gentile, or Pagan--there is no
exception to this fact save in these _United States_ of America.

CHAPTER III.

ORIGIN OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.

Strange as it may seem, it is a certain undeniable fact that there is
not, on the entire continent of Europe, or in the entire world, a single
country, Protestant or Catholic, that upholds the Pagan system of
education which has been adopted in this free country. In all of them
Catholic and Protestant children receive religious instruction, during
the school-hours, from their respective pastors. The present system of
the Public Schools in the United States professes to exclude all
religious exercises. We are often told that this is the American system,
and that it is very impertinent for foreigners to wish to bring religion
into schools against the American idea. Now the assertion that the
exclusion of all religion from the schools is truly American, that it is
an essential part of our national system, is utterly false. So far as
any system of public schools can be said to have an American idea, the
idea will be found to be "education based on religious instruction."

The first schools established in the Union were religious denominational
schools. These schools were supported by the churches with which they
were connected, and by their patrons. Religious exercises formed a part
of the daily duties of the class-room. The early founders of this
Republic were not able to understand how