Under those circumstances it is not surprising that in 1837, Horace Mann, president of the Massachusetts Senate, interested himself in the subject of education. Of this man it is said, “Rarely have great ability, unselfish devotion, and brilliant success been so united in the course of a single life.” This man became the father of the public-school system of the United States, and began a work which long before should have been started by the popular churches of America. But it was neglected by them, and it will be profitable for us to watch the development of the grandest system of schools ever organized,—a system which, if the subject of Christian education could be dropped, and it be viewed alone from the standpoint of the politician, has brought the United States into prominence as an educational center among the nations of the world. However, since _republicanism rests in the bosom of Protestantism, and Protestantism is cradled in Christian education_, the moment the feature of Christian education is laid aside, and the system purports to be civil (but in fact it is never really that), that moment it loses its real vitality and genuine strength. But to return to Mr. Mann and his wonderful work. [Sidenote: The churches and public schools] Boone says: “The gnarls of a century’s growth were to be smoothed; not all of the large number of private schools were in accord with the new movement, and the churches were naturally watchful of the encroachments of unsectarian education.”[164] This expression describes the sectarian schools as in much the same attitude as that assumed by the weakening Christian church about the days of Constantine; and as the church of those days held out its hands to a stronger power for aid, and because it had lost its individual supply of strength,—the Spirit of God,—so now these sectarian schools watched with a jealous eye the progress of unsectarian schools, and, unable to hold their former and their allotted position by virtue of inherent strength, they reached out their hands to the state coffers, and received aid. Yale did it before the days of Horace Mann; many others have done it since. [Sidenote: Improvements made by Horace Mann]