criminally neglect it, and can only be roused to contribute to its extension, by the view of great and improving institutions. Many,

who will overlook a confined and local society, will be attracted by a greater; and they who are apt to "despise the day of small things," will not disdain to be patrons of an extended and respected association. The principle of imitation, and the powerful sentiment of respect for opinion, will thus be pressed into the service of piety.

Another important benefit of a national institution, is this:-It will be a centre, a bond of union, a source of charity and Christian affection, to the various religious denominations in our country. This is a distinguishing glory of Bible Societies.、 They break down the barriers between Christians. They annihilate the distinctions of sects. Christians, when they enter them, lay aside the badges of party, and assume the appointed badge of disciples, that of mutual love. Nothing strengthens affection, nothing reveals to men each other's virtues, so much as cooperation in a great and beneficent work. Much of the uncharitableness of Christians should be ascribed to reserve, to distance, to ignorance of each other's character. Let them come together on this holy ground, and read in each other's countenances, words and actions a devotion to the cause of their common Master, and their jealousies and alienations will gradually give place to candour and love. Who that remembers the earnestness with which. Jesus Vol. IV. No. 10.

prayed in his last hours, that his disciples " might be one,” can doubt that he will regard with peculiar favour an institution which attaches Christians to each other by the holiest bond, by cooperating in sending his word to every family and every nation under heaven.

To conclude, we may hope from a National Bible Society, a happy influence on our national character. It will help to heal our divisions. Common interest is thought to be the strongest bond of union to a people; but perhaps a stronger may be found in common sentiment, in common feelings, in attachment to generous objects, diffused through every class and district, and exciting general zeal and activity. In this country peculiarly, we need institutions of a generous character, which shall be regarded as the property not of a particular state, but of the nation. These are the best nutriment of patriotism. A country, to be loved, must possess something more than physical advantages; something more than a favoured climate, or a fertile soil. It must possess institutions, which will be monuments of its intellectual and moral progress, which will render it venerable in the eyes of its citizens, which will speak to their hearts, and awaken a consciousness of its glory. The association, whose cause we have been pleading, will be surpassed by none in communicating this moral dignity and lustré to our country.

Such are the benefits of a National Bible Society. In

quiet, decorum, and attendance on publick worship on Sundays, than in Boston; and no philanthropist, moralist, patriot, or christian, but must acknowledge the happy effects produced by the observance of this day of retirement and devotion. Without intending to criminate one class of inhabitants more than another, or to pronounce which deports most agreeably to the purposes of the day, I am of opinion that the day is not hallowed as it ought to be by commercial men. Were a stranger to witness great numbers of respectable persons issuing from different churches, converging to the reading-rooms, and devoting a considerable por tion of the day to the perusal of newspapers, and to conversation on commercial topicks, I think he would justly form a most unfovourable opinion of the religion of the inhabitants. He would suppose they had issued from a Lyceum, Athenæum, or Debating Society rather than from the house of God, that they had been auditors of a political orator or scientifick lecturer, instead of listening to the oracles of heavenly wisdom.

I am not an advocate for the rigid observance of Sunday, held by our ancestors, and by many of the severer sects of christians at the present day; for it has disgusted the minds of young persons, and given an unsocial, frigid, and secluded character to religion. But I am in favour of devoting the day to thought, selfexamination and devotion; I am in favour of detaching the mind as much as practicable, from the

anxieties, cares, and affairs of the present state, and living, by anticipation, in futurity. If I roam abroad in the morning of Sundays, eager after news, inquisitive to find subjects of conversation; if I hurry from the wharf or the news-room to church, and after listening impatiently to the services there, retrace my steps, pour over the newspapers, fresh from the mail, with an intenseness as if I were reading the "words of eternal life," and making myself "wise to salvation," surely I do not hallow the day, nor, in scripture sense, "remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy." Many good men differ in opinion as to the advisableness of forwarding mails on Sundays, or of distributing newspapers and letters at the offices; but whatever argument, there may be in favour of perusing letters, there can be, in time of peace, few or none, in favour of reading newspapers. What time has the busy merchant, whose six days are sedulously devoted to business, to read or reflect on things concerning his eternal welfare, if he gives the seventh also to the pursuits of the rest? In regard to himself, his family, or society, it is irrational, ruinous. There is a calm, serenity, and delight, in the retirement of Sunday, which is delicious to a reflecting mind. It is a sweet respite from the corroding cares, the din of business, and the labours of the busy week. For myself I would not exchange the peaceful hours of Sunday, their tranquillity, and happy tendency for the pleasantest por

tion of the other days. To the christian, other motives should be addressed than the self-satisfaction which a religious observance of this sacred day produces. It is exceedingly unbecoming a Christian to give all his days to the world, to hold no converse with his own soul, the scriptures, or his Maker. I hope these remarks will not be supposed to proceed from a splenetick distaste to the innocent or proper employments of those, who merely happen to differ from me

in opinion on the disposal of their leisure. I delight in witnessing the happy visages of my fellowbeings on a Sunday, and would not be rigid in enforcing the requirements of law, or the precepts of religion. But it is the duty of every one to contribute, by his example and opinion, to the religious observance of a day set apart by God himself for the benefit of the human race, and conducive to the welfare, order, and happiness of mankind. MERCATOR.

BELIEVING, as we verily do, that a Christian education is the most probable means for forming the character of a Christian Disciple, for abolishing vicious and inhuman customs, for reforming the morals of society, and for promoting the peace and happiness of mankind; believing also that the power of education for these important purposes has hitherto had but a very partial experiment, we shall cheerfully exhibit in this work an account of such modern improvements in the modes of education as shall come to our knowledge.

In speaking of the power of education, to produce such glorious results, no thought is entertained, that such means can produce the effects, independent of the agency of him "who worketh all things according to the

counsel of his own will." But we wish to impress these ideas upon every reader, that the minds of children and the earth may be cultivated with equal prospects of success; that, in both cases, it is God who giveth the increase, and that the harvest may be expected generally to correspond to the prudence and fidelity with which we plant or sow.

When children are suffered to grow up to adult age, under the dominion of ignorance, prejudice and vice, there is but a dismal prospect of their being afterwards thoroughly reformed by the preaching of the gospel. Preaching to such persons is, in a great measure, like preaching to convicts in a State Prison, whose habits of vice are almost as fixed as the Ethiopean's complexion or the leopard's spots.

A PHILANTHROPIST, by the name of M. de Fellenberg, bas established in Hoswyl, near Berne, in Switzerland, a remarkable institution for the education of children, and one which has attracted the attention of the Emperour of Russia.

The most remarkable feature in Fellenberg's institution, is, "the union of instruction, in letters, with the operations of agriculture." It also unites a seminary for the poor, with a seminary for the rich."

66

The agricultural part of the establishment, consists of two farms; one is called the model farm, the other, the experimental farm. The first is intended to

exhibit a well conducted farm on the best existing methods; on this, the poor class of children are employed. The other is intended to advance the science of agriculture by new inventions and experiments. The rich class are here instructed in the theory and practice of agriculture.

Connected with this institution, there are also work-shops for the manufacture of agricul

tural instruments; one for making for sale, the best instruments now in use; another for " a school of invention and improvement.”

"The children of the laborious class, are not only taught to read, write, and account, but they are attended by their master, a man of liberal education, during their hours of labour as well as of recreation; and are instructed by him in the properties and connections of the objects of nature, and the operations of art. They are taught to observe and to reflect, and to acquire habits of drawing useful ideas from things themselves."

The education of the rich class, embraces all those points of art and science which belong to a liberal education. The great objects of the Institution, appear to be these;-to teach the youth how to obtain a comfortable living in the world, and how to be useful and happy.

The effects of this mode of education, are said to be " perpetual happiness and good humour; no quarrels; gentleness, industry, and contentment."