ther; the absence of civilization is considered as an additional impediment to their exertions, and progress even in secular studies, is considered as a cheering symptom of future success.

Secular instruction will accomplish for us in a civilized state, effects analogous to, and akin to those which civilization works for nations in an uncivilized state.

Education is but the carrying forward of civilization, and is a mighty engine of moral and social benefit. Even if moral advantages are implanted without leading the individual himself to spiritual good, yet society is the better.

From want of instruction we find that large numbers of our peasantry seem to have no power to attend to religion. They have no idea of thinking: they are altogether unused to exercise their minds on points which do not forcibly affect their senses. Though no amount of human instruction can supersede the all-important necessity for divine influence, still secular instruction may remove many of the passive disadvantages under which the poorest classes suffer.

It cannot be doubted that Great Britain enjoys some advantages for the growth of true religion, resulting from the secular instruction which is at present diffused either directly or indirectly. Do these advantages, arising from general intelligence or from equity of laws, exist among us in their highest possible extent. Have we been brought to such a pitch in civilization and the spread of knowledge, that though the inward movement hitherto has been favourable, a more advanced stage will be unfavourable to religion. No one will assert this directly, yet many allow that the increased knowledge on secular subjects, which exists at present, compared with former dates, is favourable to spiritual good, who yet look with conster

nation on a more general diffusion, and greater amount of that. knowledge, as pregnant with the worst consequences to all that is holy in our religion, or venerable in our institutions.

It seems, Sir, to me, after giving the closest attention to this important question, that a calm and dispassionate consideration of the effects likely to result from a general course of secular instruction, would lead to the opinion, that such diffusion of knowledge would be attended with great moral and spiritual benefits. And that this being so, we are not wise in rejecting the benefits which secular instruction might give, because Bible education would confer blessings incalculably greater. In penning these observations, let it not be imagined that my purpose is to justify or recommend the ministerial schemes. I have no feeling of attachment to the men or their measures; still every one must regret, if ever the right cause is supported by wrong views, and such I think to be the case with those who have advocated the transcendant excellence of religious education by denying or disparaging the benefits of secular instruction.

I am afraid there are still some among us who think it a pity that we cannot avoid instructing the poorer classes. There are others who, if they were not concerned for the eternal welfare of souls, would never approve of education as a means for the promotion of temporal welfare, and perhaps a large majority of those who take an interest in the subject are afraid lest the people should be educated too much.

I trust that the race of those who would only hold forth an extorted education, will soon be extinct; but the opinion that the poorer classes may be too highly educated, is almost universal, and in my view is altogether an idle fear.

If real and sound instruction be given, no one can have too much of education; if the instruction be unsound, i. e. be false of its kind, any education is too much.

Some may ask where shall we find the labourer to plough, to dig, to thrash, &c. and how will the mechanic submit to the drudgeries of his manufactory? To this objection a ready answer may be given; the appetite for bread will always be stronger than the appetite for knowledge; it is ridiculous to suppose that the thirst for instruction will be ever so strong as to overcome the calls of nature for the necessaries, or the usages of society for the conveniences of life. If the class of servants and workmen make any advance in knowledge, their employers cannot remain stationary, but must press forward, lest they be surpassed by their inferiors in station.

But is there no fear of raising people above their station? This objection goes on the assumption that every one is to continue to the end of life in the station in which he was born; that it is contrary to the spirit of our constitution for the son of a ploughman to aspire to the position of a farmer, or for the farmer's son to aspire to the weight and influence of the magis

not to seek for any higher lot; or that instruction should be withheld from them for fear they should aspire to rise.

The success of our national schools would be far greater if their conductors were not apprehensive of educating the people too much. Many promoters of national schools have failed in their intentions, from a fear of exceeding them. In proposing a low standard they have been affected with a dread of attaining a higher.

Is not the honour of religion implicated in the acknowledgment made by many of the evils which result from the spread of instruction. Do they not virtually sur render to the infidel one of his most effectual arguments against Christianity? I am well aware that unsanctified learning produces a pride of intellect which is hateful to the Lord. But still this pride draws its nourishment from the prevailing ignorance of the many, and the unrebuked shallowness and parade of science falsely so called.

Feeling that the subject is one of vital importance to the cause of truth and righteousness, to the well being of our institutions in church and state, I wish that it were fully examined, and if you consider the foregoing remarks likely to interest your readers, I shall hope for their insertion in your pages, to have my own views corrected if I am wrong, or to relieve the minds of some from the forebodings with which they view the diffusion of secular instruction. SYLVESTER.

IT is sweet when troubles find us in the way of our duty. The best posture we can wrestle with afflictions in, is to engage them upon our knees. The naturalist tells us, if a lion find a man prostrate, he will do him no harm, Christ hast

ened to the garden to pray, when Judas and the soldiers were hasting thither to apprehend him. Oh, when we are nigh to danger, it is good for us to draw nigh to our God. Woe be to him whom death or trouble finds afar off from God. FLAVEL.

THE following extract from a Sermon recently preached before the Philadelphian Board of Missions, by the Right Rev. JAMES H. OTEY, D. D. Bishop of Tennesse, may well occupy our attention at the commencement of another year. The text is Rom. xv. 29. The fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.

The gospel is a blessing, because it delivers from the dominion of sin. Man is every where and every way a guilty and polluted sinner before God! It is deliverance from the condemnation of guilt, and cleansing from his pollution, which he longs for with all the desire of a soul swelling with the hope of immortality. Had the gospel contained no provision to remedy this, his actual condition, all its other discoveries, however transcendant the displays which they make of the divine character and glory, had been to no purpose. Without strength to do works pleasing and acceptable to God, the knowledge of the perfections of deity would have rendered man but the more miserable, in the view thus afforded him of the happiness (possible to pure beings) of communion with God, but to him unattainable. He had beheld holiness, justice, unerring rectitude, Almighty power, stamped as prominent lineaments upon the face of deity, but all of them pledged to execute vengeance upon him, a wretched and helpless offender. But very different from this is "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ! While the gospel uncovers to man the guilt of his own character, it reveals to him the provision of mercy, through which he may escape condemnation. It addresses him in tones soothing and gentle as the

whispers of an angel, saying,

"there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit"- that "being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." While it discloses to him the knowledge of his weakness, that of and by himself he can do nothing, but sin, it at the same time, tells him where he may find strength and grace to help in every time of need," such strength and grace as will deliver him from the bondage of corruption into the

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glorious liberty of the sons of God." It directs him to apply to God, who " giveth to all who ask liberally and upbraideth not; to seek by fervent, humble prayer the aid and influences of that Holy Spirit who is able to form his nature pure within, to free him from the dominion of sin, so to subdue his will into conformity with the will of Christ, as to enable him to say at all times, " thy will, and not mine be done," so to inspire him with confidence as that he may repose, without the intrusion of a single fear, upon the favour and protection of heaven, so to fill him with "perfect peace," that he rejoices in the darkest hours of his probation and pilgrimage, and so to pour love into his heart, that he feels contented and happy at the foot of the cross, and can cry, whatever events betide, "Abba, Father."

Would any man estimate truly the value of this blessing, let him realise the difference in his feelings, when the sentence of condemnation stared him in the face, and he sought and found peace the justifying righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, appropriated by faith; let him remember how he loathed the pollutions of sin and

in

saw it defiling his every act and thought, and how through the purifying influences of the spirit of holiness, he was translated into a state of purity and peace; how he was thus enabled to gain the mastery over his corrupt affections, to walk in newness of life and "rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

If any of you, my dear hearers, have not so apprehended Christ, if you have not yet attained to this liberty, and experienced the power of Divine grace in the renewal of your hearts and in the sanctification of your purposes, desires, hopes and pursuits, let me intreat you to labour earnestly for this blessing, without which all your other advantages and privileges will prove of no worth.

The obligation of his love is thus enforced :-Still we must say, in reviewing the past, "the God of heaven has prospered us," and assuredly he will continue to bless us, if we but prove faithful to him, to our duty and to our privileges. But we must not forget that the work is great and large, the bearers of burdens few, and separated far from one another. Our diligence and exertions must increase in a corresponding ratio to the success which attends our efforts. To relax in our labours is to go backwards; not to occupy the ground that is vacant, is to yield it to the possession of adversaries who will never give back an inch of it without a violent struggle !

If we cast our eyes to the foreign field of missionary enterprise, the same grounds of encouragement seem to be held out, in the success which has attended the labours of our missionaries. Whether God's truth be proclaimed on the classic soil of Greece, or on the coasts of benighted Africa, it vindicates its heavenly origin and power, by rescuing from the thraldom of sin, and inspiring a "faith which works

by love, purifies the heart, and overcomes the world." Under such circumstances can any one who has named the name of Christ," and subscribed himself servant to the God of Jacob, refuse his aid to carry forward this work? Can the church, with every reason of encouragement, with every motive of commanded and acknowledged duty, and with every omen of final success, now stop short in the career which she began so gloriously? God forbid ! May the honour of our holy religion, gratitude to the Saviour of men, charity to our fellow sinners, and the love of our own souls forbid ! No one can mistake our position, for no one can misunderstand the duty which the church in her assembled wisdom has recognized as peculiarly her own.

As

a witness and keeper of Holy writ,' through which faith in Christ is preached to man, as the condition of his salvation, she is bound in obedience to the orders of her ever living Head, to send out the ministry of reconciliation, that a perishing and condemned world may hear, believe, and be saved. She has constituted the Board of Missions her special agent to give direction to her efforts, to concentrate her means upon points where their use will be most effective, to devise plans for the most speedy and successful accomplishment of the great objects in view, and to secure the services of those who are willing and qualified for the work.

It is ably argued by the example of Jesus Christ.-But above all, the example of Christ furnishes the master argument and constraining motive to the whole of what has been said, imposing an obligation upon every Christian to do what in him lies, to spread abroad the knowledge of his grace and salvation. "For our sakes he became poor that we through his poverty might be made rich." "While we were

yet sinners, he died for us." We have no terms to express and no measures to apply to such condescension and benevolence as this. It is love that might well lead angels to wonder and adore, as it ought to inspire gratitude and kindle a flame of devotion in the heart of every man, and awaken a song of rapture from every tongue. Had he come to our world at the head of hosts of righteousness, to bind in chains of darkness for ever, the rebels who had braved his Father's power, by trampling upon his goodness and violating his law, it had been but the rendering of a righteous and deserved doom. He might have waked the sword of vengeance and swept the earth of its polluted millions, and replenished it with purer and more exalted beings, who would have rejoiced in his love and yielded a ready and cheerful obedience to his will, and this perhaps had met the measure of man's conceptions of the Divine justice. But he had thoughts of mercy and compassion that entered not into the comprehension or imaginings of angels or men. He himself stooped to suffering, took upon him our nature, travelled about homeless, houseless, almost friendless-a man of sorrows, weeping as he went, over the miseries and sins of a ruined and fallen race; every where the sick, the afflicted, the dying and the dead were laid at his feet, and health came from the touch of his hands, and life from the words of his lips, and bread was multiplied for the hungry by his blessing, and Judah's hills, and Hermon's vales became vocal with the praises of rejoicing thousands. He instructed man in his duty-taught him the knowledge of God, the worship he required, the high destiny that awaited him beyond the grave, and at last yielded up his life upon the cross, a sacrifice for the sins of the world. His goodness ended not here he founded his church, and JANUARY, 1840.

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committed to it the ministry of reconciliation, and bade his messengers go forth in his name, and bear the proclamation of his grace, mercy and salvation, to all the nations and kindreds and families of the whole earth. And lives there the man, who has been made partaker of this grace, who has shared in this mercy, and who rejoices in hope of this salvation, that feels not in his heart a desire to communicate to others the blessing of Christ's gospel? Lives there the man who has experienced the power of God's Spirit in the renewal of his heart, and in his deliverance from the slavery of sin-that enjoys peace of conscience, peace with God, and peace with the world, who can yet clutch his gold and refuse to give of God's bounty to him, that which would send the ministers of the gospel of peace, to his brethren perishing for lack of knowledge? Alas! I fear that the spirit of worldliness will stand its ground in this case, as in all others, and conscience may warn, and the love of Christ may plead, and his church may intreat, and yet your missionaries still be left to struggle with want, and your stations remain unoccupied, and your brethren, sheep of the same pasture, members of the same household of faith, be abandoned a prey to wolves, or suffered to stray into strange folds, or perish under the blighting influences of practical infidelity, or fall victims. to the more alluring charms of worldly pleasure. Let the ministers of the Gospel lift up their voice like a trumpet and warn the members of the church, of their duty in this behalf, throughout the length and breadth of the land. And let those who feel the love of God in their hearts, step forward and give such an example of self-dedication and consecration of their talents and worldly substance to the cause of Christ, as may effectually rouse the careless,