As to religion, _Emile_ does not yet know at fifteen that he has a soul, and Rousseau thinks that perhaps the eighteenth year is still too early for him to learn that fact; for, if he tries to learn it before the proper time, he runs the risk of never really knowing that he possesses an immortal soul. But as religion furnishes a check upon the passions, it should be taught to the boy when eighteen years of age. He is not to be instructed in the doctrines of any particular sect, but should be allowed to select that religious belief which most strongly appeals to his reason. Modern investigation has proven the utter fallacy of Rousseau's teachings in this respect. Indeed, it seems to be established that the most orthodox period of the child's life occurs before the fifteenth year, the time when Rousseau would begin his religious training. Conformable to this truth, many sects confirm children and receive them into the church at or before the fifteenth year.[126] (_f_) Having brought _Emile_ to the period of life at which he is to marry, Rousseau proceeds to create in Sophie the ideal wife. It is not the education of women as such that Rousseau discusses, but their education with reference to man. He says, "The whole education of women should be relative to men; to please them, to be useful to them, to make themselves honored and loved by them, to educate the young, to care for the older, to advise them, to console them, to make life agreeable and sweet to them,--these are the duties of women in every age." Consequently the sole instruction woman needs is in household duties, in care of children, in ways to add to the happiness of her husband. Her own happiness or development does not enter into Rousseau's scheme. This is the weakest part of his educational theory. The world is gradually awakening to the fact that woman's intellectual capacity is not inferior to that of man, and the prejudices of ages are slowly disappearing. Rousseau's pedagogical theories made a profound impression throughout Europe, and though often inconsistent, extravagant, and visionary, they set the world to thinking of the child and his psychological development. A new direction was thus given to educational theory and practice, and upon this basis Pestalozzi, Froebel, and other modern educators have built. Rousseau must, therefore, be reckoned among the greatest pedagogical writers of modern times. Karl Schmidt pronounces the "Emile" "a Platonic republic of education,--nevertheless, Rousseau's work is a great universal achievement, the importance of which Goethe recognizes when he calls the book the _nature-gospel_ of education."[127] FOOTNOTES: [122] "History of Pedagogy," p. 286. [123] "Schoolmaster in Literature," pp. 40-63. [124] "Geschichte der Paedagogik," p. 127. See also Compayre, "History of Pedagogy," p. 286. [125] "History of Pedagogy," p. 298.