less than 200 seminaries erected to supply adequate instruction for such a town. Of these, 50 would be requisite for infant instruction, and 150 for the instruction of children from the age of six to the age of fifteen, in the higher branches of education specified in the preceding part of this work. According to a statement made in Parliament, by Mr. Colquhoun, in June, 1834, there is only one-fifteenth of the population of this town at present receiv ing the rudiments of a common education; so that, instead of 16,000 receiving instruction, there are only 3200, and instead of 200 schools, averaging 80 children in each, there are only 40 schools on an average, containing the same number, which is only one-fifth of the number of schools which require to be established. In order to supply Dundee with proper education, a large building has lately been erected at an expense of about £10,000, which is called "The Dundee Seminaries," where about 200 or 300 children receive education. The expense was supplied partly by subscriptions, and partly by funds belonging to the town; and the whole of this sum has been expended merely to afford accomodation for the children of 100 or 150 genteel families! while the great mass of the population has been entirely overlooked. There is no law against the children of the middling and lower classes attending that seminary; but the fees demanded amount, in their case, to an absolute prohibition. With the same sum of money, ten commodious seminaries, capable of containing accommodation for 200 pupils each, or 2000 in all, might have beer established. It has never yet been stated to the public, on what principle education is to be conducted in these seminarieswhether it is to be conducted on the old system, or whether a plan of intellectual instruction is to be prosecuted-a most important matter, which ought to have been determined before a stone of the building was laid, or even before a plan of it was selected. For the plan and arrangements of any building intended for intellectual instruction ought to be materially different from those of others, and to have conveniences and arrangements peculiar to itself. But the erection of an expensive and splendid building, as an ornament to a commercial town, seems to have been an object of far greater importance in the view of the Committee of Fducation, than the arrangement of an efficient plan of moral and intellectual tuition. Such are the principles and views of many in this country who profess to be the patrons of education!

Let us now consider the number of seminaries which the whole

*There is a greater number of schools in Dundee than the number here stated, but the average attendance of scholars is only 43 in each school.

of Scotland would require. The population of Scotland, according to the census of 1831, is nearly 2,400,000, the one-third of which is 800,000. Supposing, as before, 80 children at an aver age in every school, there would be no less than 10,000 schools required for the efficient instruction of all the youth from two to fifteen years of age-of these 2500 would be infant schools. According to Mr. Colquhoun's statement, "the number of parishes in Scotland is 907, and the parochial schools of Scotland at this moment, 1005;" so that, in Scotland it would be requisite to establish ten times the number of schools that presently exist, in order to the efficient instruction of the whole population. On the supposition that there are about 1000 private schools, besides the parochial, or two schools, at an average, for every parish, there would still be required 8000 additional schools, or five times the number presently existing. Taking the population of England at 14,000,000, the number of children to be educated will be 4,666,666, and the number of schools, allowing 80 for each, 58,333, or nearly six times the number of schools required for Scotland; so that in the whole island of Great Britain there would require to be established sixty-eight thousand three hundred and thirty-three schools.*

Let us now consider the expenses which would be incurred in the erection of such schools. Estimating the expense of each school at £1000, that is, about £700 for the building and play. ground, and £300 for maps, views, library, apparatus, museum, &c. the neat cost of the schools for Scotland would be ten millions sterling. But, if infant schools, wherever they are required, were to be connected with the other schools, so as to be under the same roof, the former on the ground flat and the latter on the upper,a building consisting of two stories, with suitable accomodation for both departments, could, I presume, be erected for the sum of £700. In this case, the number of erections would be reduced to 7500; and the whole expense would amount to £7,500,000 On the same plan, the number of school-houses required for England would be reduced to 43,750, and the expense would be £43,750,000; that is, about fifty-one millions for the whole of Great Britain. If we suppose, what is not improbable, that the number of infant schools, instead of bearing a proportion to the other schools as one to three, as here supposed, would require to bear a proportion of one to two, or half the number of the other schools, the number of school-houses would be reduced to 6666

*On the same data, the number of schools required for the United States of America would be above 54,000.

for Scotland, and the expense to £6,666,000; and for England, to 38,889 schools, and the expense to £38,889,000; so that the whole amount of expenditure for both divisions of the island would be about 45 millions.

This will appear, in the eyes of many, a most prodigious sum -a sum which we can never hope to realize. It is admitted that the sum is great; but nothing in proportion to the magnitude and importance of the object intended to be accomplished-which is nothing less than to raise the great mass of our population from degradation and misery-to irradiate their minds with knowledge to inspire them with moral principle and holy affections to render them happy in this world-and to prepare them for the noble enjoyments of the life to come;-in short, to strike at the foundation of every moral evil-to counteract the principles of vice and criminality of every kind-and to make the moral world, in all its departments, move onward in harmony and order. Surely, if such objects could be accomplished, we need not grudge the expenditure even of a hundred millions of pounds. And such objects will never be accomplished, nor will the moral world be ever thoroughly improved, till such a system of moral and mental tuition as we have faintly sketched, be universally established. We sometimes talk about the approaching Millennium, and look forward to it as if it were to be introduced by some astonishing miracle, similar to that which caused the chaotic mass at the Mosaic creation to be enlightened, and reduced to beauty and order. But such views are evidently fallacious, and contrary to what we know of the general plan and tenor of the Divine government; and they have no other tendency but to unnerve our energies, and to damp our exertions in the cause of human improvement. Throughout the whole range of the Divine dispensations recorded in Scripture, we can point out no miracle that was ever performed, where the operation of the established laws of nature, and the ordinary powers of human agents, were adequate to accomplish the end intended. Man, under the present dispensation, is" a worker together with God,"-in accomplishing his purposes; and, under the agency of that Almighty Spirit which "moved upon the face of the waters" at the first creation, is able to accomplish all that is predicted respecting the Millennium,-provided his rebellious will were subdued, and his moral energies thoroughly directed to this grand object. It is owing to the sin and rebellion of man that this world has undergone such a melancholy derangement, both in its physical and moral aspect; and it will be by the moral and mental energies of man, when proDerly directed by the Divine Spirit, that the chaotic mass of the

moral world will be reduced to harmony and order, and the wastes and barren deserts of the physical world adorned with fertility and rural and architectural beauty, so that "the wilderness and the solitary place will rejoice and blossom as the rose." It is one chief ingredient in the happiness of man, and an honour conferred on him, that he is selected as an agent, under God, for bringing about such a glorious consummation; and there is no man that ought to assume the name of a Christian, who is not ready to exert his activities, and to sacrifice a considerable portion of his wealth in this service.

Under the Old Testament economy, the pious Jews brought forward to the service of God their tithes and free-will offerings, their bullocks and rams, and "the first fruits of their increase." When Solomon had dedicated the temple, he offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen, and of 120,000 sheep; and when Hezekiah set himself to purify the worship of God, and to promote reformation in Israel, he gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks, and seven thousand sheep-the princes gave a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep-and the common people "brought in abun dance, the first fruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey; and of all the increase of the field, the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly, and laid them in heaps upon heaps," for four months in succession, so that Hezekiah was astonished at the voluntary liberality of the people, "and blessed the Lord and his people Israel." When the tabernacle in the wilderness was about to be reared, "both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, brought bracelets and ear-rings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold; and every man that offered, offered an offering of gold unto the Lord. Every man with whom was found blue and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and red skins of rams, and badgers' skins, brought them. Every one that had silver and brass and shittim-wood for any work of service, brought them. All the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue and purple, and scarlet, and of fine linen. And the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod and for the breastplate. Every man and woman brought a willing offering to the Lord, till they had much more than enough for the service of the work which the Lord commanded to make."* These offerings were, doubtless, emblematical of the exertions which would be made, and of the costly offerings which would be brought forward for rearing the fabric of the New Testament church. But wnat

*See Exod. xxxv. 21-30, &c.—2 Chron. vii. 5, xxx. 24, and xxx. 5-8

are all the offerings which have been hitherto received for this purpose, compared with the offerings now stated, or with what is requisite to accomplish this grand object! One of the offerings above stated as made by Solomon is equivalent to more than five hundred thousand pounds of British money, which is more than the amount of the funds of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and all its auxiliaries, during the first ten years of their operation. Christians do not seem to have yet recognised their duty, to de 1 vote a certain portion of their substance to the service of God and the improvement of man. The pitiful sums hitherto devoted to these objects, compared with what is expended in gratifying pride, and ambition, and luxury, is a libel on the Christian world. If we had right views of the grandeur and importance of such objects, instead of contributing sixpences, shillings, and guineas, we should behold wealthy Christians devoting hundreds, and even thousands a year, to the improvement of society and the advancement of the interests of religion; and all this could be done by thousands in our country, without depriving themselves of a single comfort or sensitive enjoyment.

Let us consider, for a moment, the sums we have expended in madness and folly, in the pursuits of ambition and the desolations of war-and we shall then be able to determine whether it be not in our power to raise 40 millions of pounds for the improvement of society. It has been calculated, that, out of 127 years, commencing with 1688, and terminating in 1815, England spent 65 years in war, and 62 in peace. The war of 1688, after lasting nine years, and raising our expenditure in that period 26 millions, was ended by the treaty of Ryswick, in 1697. Then came the war of the Spanish succession, which began in 1702, was concluded in 1713, and absorbed 62 millions of British money. Without noticing the wars of the Pretender in 1715 and 1745, the next was the Spanish war of 1739, settled for at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, after costing 54 millions. Then came the seven years' war of 1756, which terminated with the treaty of Paris, in 1763, in the course of which we spent 112 millions. The next was the American war of 1775, which lasted eight years, in which crusade against the liberties of mankind, we expended no less than 186 millions. The French revolutionary war began 1793, lasted nine years, and exhibited an expenditure of 464 millions. The war against Buonaparte began in 1803, and ended in 1815. During those twelve years of extravagance and cartage, we spent the enormous sum of 1159 millions!! 771 of which were raised by taxes, and 388 by loans. In the war of 1688 we borrowed 20 millions; in the war of the Span