for the edification of the body, it should surely be a prevailing argument with Episcopalians, to respect and support their ecclesiastical constitution by the observance of all the duties it imposes upon them.

And first, they owe to their own interest, to the credit and welfare of the church, and to the advancement of true religion, a conscientious performance of their right and duty in the election of the members of the vestry. On this every thing may be said to depend, because to the vestries all subsequent measures for the year are referred. And not only is it a conscientious duty that every member of the church should personally attend on the annual election day, but that he should vote also for those persons who, for their piety, their standing in public estimation, and other qualifications combined, give the best assurance of a faithful and profitable performance of the trust committed to them. In electing these men, respect should be had, in the first place, to their standing as Christians; a Christian body should surely be represented by Christians. In truth it is desirable, that in every case the representatives of the church should be communicants. But as this, unhappily, is not in all cases possible, it is therefore not insisted upon; nor is any particular congregation, or the church at large, debarred, by any regulation, from the services of those friendly laymen whose orderly lives and respect for religion encourage the happy hope that they are not far from the kingdom of God.

Secondly, they owe it to conscience and to consistency to obey the regula-tions, and carry into effect the lawful resolutions and enactments of their representatives. As the members of a particular church are" morally bound by the acts of their vestry; so are all the congregations in a diocese equally bound by the acts of their convention; and all the conventions of this country by the acts of the General Convention of this church. And the ground of this obligation is plain and obvious. As the individual members are bound by every principle of right reason to perform the duties and fulfil the engagements growing out of the lawful acts of

their immediate representatives; so are these also, in the same manner, equally bound by the lawful acts of their immediate representatives, up to the highest judicatory known to the church.

From this very brief but just statement of the popular principle upon which the frame of our ecclesiastical government is founded, the members of the church in this diocese, I trust, will be induced to pay more attention to the election of their immediate representatives, and feel that the carelessness and indifference too frequently manifested as to this duty, is, in fact, a surrender at once of private and public obligation, and a mark of great laxity of principle, both as churchmen and Christians.

As an additional and very powerful reason to give to the whole of this subject the serious consideration its real importance demands, I would remark, that as the whole power possessed by the administrative bodies of the church is of a moral nature, and dependent for its effect on the influence of this principle over the members, all unnecessary neglect of the personal duties consequent on the right of election by them, of the relative duty of representatives, with all refusal to carry into effect the decisions of the vestries and conventions, is so far very conclusive proof of the weakness of the moral principle of indifference to the interests of religion, and of disregard for the only just and safe ground on which either civil or religious liberty can be maintained, viz. submission to the will of the majority constitutionally declared.

Let not then the church of which we

are happily members, have to take up the reproach of her great Founder and Head, as expressed by the prophet Isaiah, "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." Our nursing mother ap peals to us for support; let us not prove ourselves unnatural children, by devouring the breasts which we have sucked, and refusing the support and defence which our spiritual parent requires in the day of her need. has given all to her children; she has reserved nothing for herself, but the comfort and consolation which springs

She

It is not often that occasions like the present produce addresses of equal merit with the one before us. The author has well considered his subject, and has embraced a wide field of research on the moral and religious instruction of the rising generation. The whole of his remarks, extending, with an appendix, to 26 closely-printed pages, are excellent, and would well repay a perusal. The address, however, is too long for insertion in our Journal, and we must therefore content ourselves with extracts. He commences his subject by stating, that

"However interesting and useful the annual commemoration of political, and sometimes of military events, may be; of empires founded, or of liberty attained or secured; yet there are none which so deeply affect the sympathies of our nature, as the anniversary celebration of institutions founded for the glory of God, and the religious improvement of man." And after depicting the emotions arising from the latter case, and moralizing on the benefits to be derived from themcontrasting the mere moral man with the Christian one, and secular education with religious; showing that "the effects of secular schools are immediately seen and felt in the ordinary concerns of life; while the benefits dispensed by Sunday schools will chiefly be experienced in another world;" he proceeds

"Sunday schools are admirably calculated to lay the foundation of religious

knowledge in the youthful mind, and more particularly when they are seconded at home by the catechetical instruction and Christian demeanour of parents. It is not, however, without the most painful anxiety that the clergy have often to la ment that many in every community, and in every class of society, appear to be regardless, or ignorant, of the vital importance of domestic religion and parental example. Is it probable, my friends, that a parent will be able to convince his child by any arguments he may use, of the scriptural obligation of reverencing God's holy name, his sanctuary, and his Sabbaths; of praying to him in private, and worshipping him in public; when the practice of the parent contradicts his precepts? Will he not place his child in this distressing dilemma-either, from the parent's prac duties, and thereby defy the authority of tice, not to believe in the necessity of these God-or, from his precepts, believe them to be necessary, and his parent guilty of hypocrisy and impiety? Would not this weaken the claim which every parent has by nature upon the respect and love of his child? And how lamentable is it to know that this case, though strong, is a fearful reality.

"The moral and religious instruction of

children, by example as well as precept, is a duty which parents cannot neglect without sin. Revelation, reason, parental affection, all conspire to render the duty imperative. Children are the heirs of im mortality, and are born for another world

as well as for this. The promises of old were made to them, as well as to their fathers; and if they are trained up in the school of virtue and piety, they may, through the grace of God, reap the unspeakable blessings which he has promised to faith and obedience. So highly important is this duty considered by the Almighty, that he made it one of the excellencies in Abraham's character, that he brought up his household in the know. ledge of God: For I know him,' said our heavenly Father, that he will com. mand his children, and his household after

him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment.' And we are equally bound, my friends, to do every thing which has but the smallest tendency to keep' our children in the way of the Lord,' and save them from irreligion and ruin. If we watch over the health of their body with unwearied solicitude, and carefully guard it from every thing likely to do it injury; how much more ought we to guard the health of the soul! Moral evil will as effectually ruin the one, as natural evil will destroy the

other. Their souls as well as their bodies are intrusted to our care, and we shall be held accountable to God for the means of grace which we may not have permitted

them to enjoy, or they have been suffered wilfully to neglect. Although this re sponsibility belongs in a much greater degree to parents, yet a portion of it rests upon others; for it is the duty of every virtuous and religious man to lessen, as far as in him lies, the moral want of his fellow-creatures, to increase and to cherish the means devised by the pious and benevolent for their spiritual improve ment, and, if it were possible, to bring every child of Adam into the fold of the great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls.' "Let me then affectionately urge upon the attention of parents the important duties of which we have been speaking: let me entreat you to consider, that religion is all-important to the human race, both here and hereafter. Whatever opinion the world may hold upon this subject is but of little moment, when it contradicts the word of God. Bring up' your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,' are the words of inspiration and of command. Nothing is here left to our choice but unqualified obedience, or a contemptuous rejection of the authority of the Lawgiver."

"There is nothing too preposterous for the human mind to cherish, if it be not disciplined in the school of vital piety. The young soon begin to assume the right of thinking for themselves; and if for no other reason than to obtain a little noto

riety among their companions, they will sometimes espouse principles which they do not believe, or consider a matter of perfect indifference whether they be true or false. They first, perhaps, impose up on others; but, at length, deceive and ruin themselves. This, however, may be as much the fault of their education as of their nature; for it is very possible to give them a speculative knowledge of religion, without improving the heart by vital piety; and if they be left to find out a religion for themselves, they may know Christ,' but not him crucified' for the sins of the world. We must, therefore, be careful not to mistake an outward re spect for Christian principles for Christianity itself, or confound mere animal excitement with serious devotion. If we are convinced that the faith of our church is pure, her ordinances scriptural, her ministry apostolical, and her worship in ac

cordance with primitive usage--if we be. lieve her to be, for these reasons, the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth-it is natural that we should desire our children to be taught, and to 'hold fast the form of sound words," and to be partakers of the same privileges with ourselves. It is unquestionably our duty to guard them against error in reli. gious principles as well as in moral practice, and to promote an ardent and lasting attachment to those vital truths and vir tuous habits which, we confidently be lieve, will make us acceptable to God. If our own principles are grounded and settled in the faith, and we are not moved away from the hope of the Gospel,' this will certainly be the course we shall pursue. The slightest reflection on the subject will convince us that we must not, through an affectation of liberality, which is only another name for religious indifference, leave their doctrinal impressions to time and chance; but we must endeavour, by every possible means, to give them a scriptural knowledge of the faith once delivered to the saints,' as we firmly believe it to be taught in its purest form in our apostolic church. But if we believe it to be unimportant what religion they profess, it must be a matter of indifference whether they have any or none. Where this would be likely to end requires no great foresight to tell.

"To those who ask what we can teach in Sunday schools which cannot be learned at home? we may briefly reply, nothing; and yet very consistently urge their im portance. For we may in our turn askWill, or can every family undert ke to give Christian instruction to its children, adapted to their several ages and capaci ties? Have all the time, the inclination, and the ability to teach what it is the immortal interests of children to learn? Do not many heads of families in every community, and more particularly among the poor, stand in need of instruction themselves, even in the first principles of the oracles of God? And do we not know from experience, that Sunday schools have imparted to children the knowledge of which their parents were ignorant; and that they have been, under God, the happy instruments of instructing those who ought to have instructed them? Do parents, generally, teach their children to love, to court the favour, and to dread the displeasure of their Maker? Do they make them study the Scriptures, that the nu merous rules of moral obligation may be indelibly stamped upon their heart? Do they make them repeat the portions they have learned, and explain to them what they do not understand? Do they instruct them in the formularies of the church, that they may join in public worship with understanding and edification? Do they

teach them by precept and example 'the beauty of holiness,' and the guilt of sin? Do they endeavour to excite their adoration and love for the unspeakable mercies of redemption through Christ, and for all the other blessings which God so graciously bestows, and we so unthankfully receive? Do they persuade them to lead a virtuous and a Christian life, in conformity with the spirit and precepts of the Gospel, and to approve themselves before God in all holy conversation and godliness? Do they teach them the vanity of those things which mere men of the world so anxiously desire, and so eagerly pursue; and do they recommend that their adorning be not that outward adorning of which an apostle speaks, the plaiting the hair, and the wearing of gold, or the putting on of apparel; but much rather the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price? Do they admonish them not to be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God,' and tell them that without holiness no one can see the Lord?' And, in short, do they earnestly and affectionately entreat them to cultivate all the graces of the Christian character, that they may, by faith and obedience, attain a blessed existence be yond the grave? Are you not, my friends, assured in your own minds, that if these important subjects be early pressed upon the attention of youth in an interesting and persuasive manner, they would induce, by the grace of God, a serious habit of thinking on divine things, which might continue with them the rest of their lives, reclaim them if they went wrong, and ultimately preserve them from misery and ruin ?* And yet, I fear, there are many families in every community who call themselves Christians, who do none of these things. But if these things be promotive of the everlasting salvation of children, and if they be not taught at home, where can they be more readily learned than in Sunday schools? For what are

"The late Mr. Newton, rector of St. Mary Woolnoth, London, has left on record the advantages he derived from the instruction of a pious mother. She stored my memory,' says he, which was very retentive, with many valuable pieces, chapters and portions of Scripture, catechisms, hymns, and poems. The viciousness of his life when he first grew up is well known; and his subsequent return to the paths of virtue, and his eminent usefulness as a Christian minister, are in some measure attributed by him to the early instruction which his mother had given him. These early impressions,' he says, were a great restraint upon me, they returned again and again, and it was very long before I could wholly shake them off; and when the Lord at length opened my eyes, I found great benefit from the recollec

tion of them.?'

VOL. X.

these institutions but so many churches in miniature, where religious instruction is brought down to the capacity of chil dren, and personally applied by the teach. ers to individual understanding.

"In pointing out a few of the more ob vious advantages of Sunday schools, I may state that their influence is immediately perceived in the concerns of life. When a youth, through love or fear, obeys and honours his Maker, he will, from the impulse of the same feeling, obey and honour his parents. The mild virtues and spiritual graces of Christianity will make him more docile at home, and more patient of instruction in the secular schools: and as a religious foundation has been laid in the Sunday schools, he may pursue his studies in the history of antiquity, without the fear of imbibing false notions of morality and religion, and of forgetting the moral code of Christianity, in his admiration of the pagan philosophers and deified men. And here it may be remarked, that there is nothing to prevent us from giving our children an accomplished education, while, at the same time, we earnestly endeavour to instil into their minds the piety of Christians.

"Another advantage to be derived from Sunday schools, and that none of the least, is, that our pupils, being accustomed to repeat their exercises aloud to their teachers in the presence of their class, and oftentimes in the hearing of their minister and many of the congregation, they ac quire a confidence in the expression of their religious principles, which, otherwise, they would not be so apt to feel. The happy consequence of this will be, that, in riper years, should they hear the libertine, the infidel, and the scorner sneer at the doctrines of revealed reli gion, they will neither be overpowered. by fear, nor confounded by false reasoning. They will stand as an host on the Lord's side,' to combat infidelity and vice, and to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.' They will, we trust, be strengthened by our Lord, as he has promised his disciples-'I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.'

We shall make but one extract more from the address, which relates to the number of Sunday school pupils in the United States and in Great-Britain.

"Sunday schools are moral engines of great and increasing power, which are calculated to produce, at some future time, a wonderful influence over the civilized world. Some opinion of this happy effect may be formed from the great extent of their operations. The number of pupils in the United States is considerably 30

more than 100,000, and in Great-Britain and Ireland there are between 8 and 900,000 children now receiving Christian instruction in these schools. And the fact has often been published, that in GreatBritain, and the United States but few of the number who have received the advantages of these, or similar institutions for religious instruction, have been ar raigned for crimes in courts of justice. Such, then, being the transforming influence of religion over the human character, what friend of the Redeemer, what friend of the best interests of his country and his species, would hesitate one moment to promote the religious and moral condition of the rising generation?"

We cannot however close this article without copying the following interesting narrative of an amiable child, introduced, and added by way of note to the address, to elucidate some remarks of the author, tending to show the uncertain tenure of life, particularly as respects children, and the duty of parents and guardians " to prepare them for an immortal existence in glory beyond the grave."

"Mary D., the only surviving child of Dr. Horatio S. and Henrietta Waring, was born in this city, December 7th, 1815.The character of this amiable child was peculiarly interesting. At an age when children usually enjoy the amusements of the nursery, her mind was bent on other pursuits. She delighted in the acquisition of new ideas from surrounding objects, and was accustomed to consider with seriousness those religious principles which improve the heart and regulate conduct. When but five years old, she derived great pleasure from listening to her mother while she read to her some of the many beautiful and instructive stories in the Bible. When called for this purpose, she suffered no engagement to prevent her immediate and cheerful attendance. Her temper was amiable and meek; her mind ingenuous and active, though inclined to be serious; and as she was early accustomed to attend

"It is stated by Dr. Walmsley, on the authority of the late recorder of London, that from 1814 to 1819, there were committed to Newgate 497 juvenile culprits, of whom only 14 ever belonged to the schools which are under the auspices of the National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church. Grant's Hist. of the Church of Eng. iv. p. 413. Lond. 1825.

"The philanthropic Howard discovered that in Switzerland crimes were but seldom perpetrated, and capital punishment had been inAlicted but once in 17 years: and he ascribes this moral condition of society to the religious instruction of the poor."

with her parents upon public worship, it acquired a devotional cast. She never thought the service of the church too long: young as she was, she remained without complaining of fatigue, and fre quently staid until the communion was finished. Her private devotions were regularly performed. For several years she used the following little prayer, which she had composed for her own use:-'I pray to God to bless my dear father and mother-all my relations and friends; to bless me, and make me a good child; for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.' She was very inquisitive about the laws and operations of nature, and would often remark to her parents, You know I am a curious, singular child. On some occasion of this kind her father said to her, Well, my daughter, what do you think of things generally?" To which she replied, I think upon God.' 'And what next?' she was asked. "My school and my learning? When collections were made in the church for charitable purposes, she displayed considerable sensibility in bestowing her mite. She contributed towards the education of a child, and belonged to some juvenile charitable societies. Thus early accus. tomed to feel for the wants of others, and to practise charity as a religious duty, she learned to value and to be grateful for the blessings of her own condition in life; and these principles would, most probably, have strengthened with her years and increased with her ability to be liberal. What added probably to the seriousness of her character, was a fondness she had contracted for the company of aged persons. She took a particular delight in visiting and conversing with the venerable Josiah Smith, who soon followed her to the grave, at the great age of 94 years.

"Thus her life glided smoothly along. Mary was happy, was greatly beloved by her friends, and daily acquiring those intellectual and pious principles which made them anticipate her future usefulness in society. But in an unlooked-for hour their expectations vanished, and she was called to participate in far different scenes than this fading world affords. Returning from school on Thursday, January 5th, 1826, a dray casually run over her, and injured her so severely that she died in a few days.

"How often is the uncertain tenure of human existence made the theme of public exhortation in vain! Notwithstanding we are so frequently reminded of the awful truth, that in the midst of life we are in death,' how little do the generality of mankind regard the monition! We ing that to-morrow shall be as this day, travel the dangerous path of life, expectand much more abundant.' But, alas! we know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is our life? It is even a vapour,