patronage and support of the members of the Protestant Episcopal Church; inas. much as, if carried into efficient operation, it must contribute most essentially to the interests of that church in particular, and of religion in general.

"2. Resolved, as the opinion of this meeting, that as the said union has been located in this city, where the influence of our church, and the means of promot ing her advancement, are unrivalled, it becomes the sacred duty of the Episcopalians of this city to put forth such exertions as will meet the reasonable expectations of their brethren elsewhere, and be an encouragement to such proportioned efforts in other places, as, added to our own, will enable the society to go into prompt and efficient operation.

"3. Whereas, in the opinion of this meeting, it would be highly inexpedient to interfere with other pious and benevolent objects, proper to be brought before the Episcopalians of this city, and especially with the collections now making for the General Theological Seminary, by asking large sums; and whereas there is reason to believe that there wili be found in the members of our church in this city, generally, a willingness and desire to contribute to our Sunday School Union; therefore, resolved, that a committee be appointed by this meeting in each of the congregations here represented, with power to add to their own number; whose business it shall be to apply to every member of that congregation, for a donation of one dollar, or less, to the funds of the General Protestant Episcopal Sunday School Union. Further, resolved, that the above committees be earnestly requested to be ready to report to the executive committee at the first meeting of the said committee held after the 15th day of March next; at least one week's previous notice of the said meeting being given to the

chairman of each committee.

“4. Resolved, that such benevolent individuals as may wish to contribute a larger sum than that named in these resolutions, be respectfully requested to send the same to the treasurer of the union, Dr. John Smyth Rogers, or to any one of the Protestant Episcopal clergymen in this city.

"5. Resolved, that a committee be ap pointed to draw up a brief statement of the objects and claims of the General Protestant Episcopal Sunday School Union, and to have the same, together with the proceedings of this meeting, printed; and that the ministers of the several Episcopal churches in this city be respectfully requested to allow the document thus printed, to be laid in the pews of their churches, on the Sunday next preceding the appli. cations to be made to their respective Congregations.

"Resolved, that the committees con

templated in the third of the resolutions just passed, consist of five each; and that the members present from each congregation, or a delegation from them, be on the said committees; and that should the number thus appointed be less than five, the remainder be supplied by the nominations of the members of those congregations respectively, present at this meeting."

The statement contemplated in the fifth of these resolutions has been drawn up and printed in sufficient number for distribution in all the congregations of the city. For the benefit of our readers in other parts, we insert it here:

"Sunday School Instruction.

"This mode of instruction, humble in its origin, and humble in its operation and character, when considered in detail; must, when viewed in the aggregate, and in its connexion with the known operations of the human mind, be regarded as one of the most important, extensive, and efficient moral engines which are to produce an effect on society. The contemplation of hundreds of thousands of the youth of our country acquiring their knowledge, sentiments, and principles of actions, and thus forming their moral character, at the hands of those who dispense this instruction, presents the system to the mind as emphatically great in itself, and momentous in its consequences The first impressions which it suggests, are admiration of the pious benevolence which prompts to exertions involving so much solicitude and labour, and, save in consideration of the sweet reward which it cannot but return, so much self-denial; and gratitude for the many instances with which we are favoured, of long-continued and unwearying perseverance in this labour of love. And when we reflect on the consequences which cannot but result rom these labours, we find it difficult to set to them any limits with regard either to space or time. They will pervade every section of the country, and be handed down to every period of posterity. These consequences will be invaluable in a civil point of view. There can be no doubt that they will bring with them honesty, sobriety, and good order, which, in their happy influence on soby the philanthropist and the good citizen, as ciety and the commonwealth, will be regarded an ample return for whatever labour may have been bestowed, or expense incurred, in securing them.

But the civil benefits of Sunday school instruction are far from limiting the Christian's estimate of its value, or his view of its advantages. Its religious character is that only which can justify the appropriation to it of the hours of God's own hallowed day; while it demands for such appropriation the merited regard of its being among the very best to which that day can be given. It is one of the most influential means, under the divine blessing, of spreading the knowledge of the Redeemer's grace and mercy, and inciting to the true and living faith of the Gospel. And when religion is the subject which occupies the mind of the pious and enlightened Episcopalian, his heart turns, with a readiness, a devotion, and a feeling of gratitude to the God of all grace, which cannot but be excited by its evangelical and primitive character, to the religion of his church. Pereciv

away.' Yet the force of this obvious truth must never be allowed to deter the reasonable inquirer from a steady examination of the leading principles of thought and action which, whether for weal or woe, direct the age in which it is his fortune to live.

Now that in every age the accumulation of wealth and the increase of power have obtained far more than their due share of attention, is beyond question; and it is equally beyond question that in the present age, these objects are pursued on a more gigantic scale than at any former period, and obtain more, far more exclusive attention. In every former period there was at least some countervailing influence which had powerful hold on the minds of mankind. But with us the spirit of religious enthusiasm, except in the lowest and most disgusting form, the spirit of chivalry, the spirit of elevated philosophy which counteracts any excessive attachment to temporal and personal objects, by pre-occupying the intellect and the affections with permanent, universal, and eternal truths, all in short which tended to raise man from the earth, is departed to give place to the spirit of accumulation. To this every other passion bows. From this every pursuit takes its tone and its colour, and what is most me lancholy of all, it is obviously desired to render even knowledge and education subservient to this ruling passion, and to estimate them only in proportion as they tend to increase man's sway over the material universe, to render it tributary to him, and thus increase his stock of wealth and power: That such a state of things is eminently unfavourable to religion would be clear from mere reasonable considerations, and the facts of the case establish the point, I fear, still farther. Thus much at least can hardly be denied, that although there is undoubtedly a bustling external activity prevalent in the world with respect to religious objects, there is not the same degree of spiritual and meditative religion which other ages have possessed. The contrary opinion, it must be remembered, can derive little support from any appeal to the state of public morals, even if that state were

likely to give the desired answer. For although vital religion is no doubt the best amender of men's practice, we must not forget that prudential considerations are also most powerful in their effect on the conduct, and it may perhaps be true that a prudential morality, and a sort of heartless and lifeless decency of conduct, pecessary as they are to the well-being of society, and to the prosecution of schemes of interest, flourish in no small degree amongst us, while that religion which elevates man above this lower sphere of action, its concerns and interests, spiritualizes the being, and guides and animates it to the prospect of an higher and more developed state, is too much cast aside and forgotten. In the belief then that very erroneous methods of thinking with respect to knowledge and education, resulting from our devotedness to the accumulation of wealth, have greatly contributed to produce this tone of religious feeling amongst us, let us shortly examine the prevalent opinions on these important points, especially as to their objects, their value, and their probable progress.

First of all then, wherever inordinate thirst for wealth exists, it is reasonable to suppose that the knowledge which will be the most highly prized, will be that which most contributes to its increase. And accordingly it is beyond all question, that of far, very far the greater portion of that knowledge, for which men at present labour, the only object is its immediate utility, and the return which it will make. This is entirely a question of facts, and they are so positive as to admit of no contradic. tion. The country which once within a few years produced and gloried in a More, a Norris, a Cudworth, and a Stillingfleet, must blush to confess that she can hardly name among all her sons more than a single metaphysical or ethical student; that scholarship of the higher class possesses only a bare and a dubious existence; that pure literature shares the same negleet; and that every department of intellectual research which requires time, and thought, and patience, without offering a

prospect of immediate advantage, is rejected with a vehemence of anger,

and branded as visionary. On the other hand, the grand object of pursuit is the knowledge of the material universe, as tending most directly to add to the conveniences and comforts of life, and to bestow immediate reward on those whose sagacity leads them to discovery themselves, or to profit by the discoveries of others. Here then is at once a striking difference between the present and past ages, and a difference in no way favourable to our own. When it was said indeed in former times, for the maxim has passed away, that knowledge was to be valued for its own sake, little more was meant than an absolute denial of the belief entertained among ourselves, that it is to be valued only by its immediate utility. And that denial was founded on worthy views of human nature, its objects and its destiny. Coming into the world in a state of helpless weakness of body, and with a mind which, however endowed, is as yet undeveloped, it is the law of man's being, that by a mighty process of cultivation in a world of sense, the most wonderful and noble powers should be educed, and a being of infinite worth and dignity, though in many respects frail and imperfect, called, as it were, into an existence which is to last for ever. But it is the law of this being also, that whatsover imperfection it can conquer, whatsoever perfection it can attain, the one can be conquered, and the other attained only by a slow and gradual process, by a developement of the whole being, and by maintaining the harmony and due relation of the several faculties with which it is endowed. We may perhaps force a little immature produce by the strong excitement of immediate reward, but if we desire that man should attain his glory, we must remember that like the plant, his flowering time is only once in his life, when years of thought, of study, of careful and patient cultivation directed to that end alone, have expanded all his powers, and enabled him to send forth his blossom in perfectness of beauty. Again, we may cultivate one faculty to the exclusion of the rest, and we may perhaps attain the specific end for which the care and cultivation was bestowed, but we shall

not have the being man in his glory, but a part only, and that part in an unnatural state. Now it needs no argument to show that all knowledge which looks only to immediate utility and present reward, must sacrifice all to those objects, must cultivate the faculties only partially, and must lose sight entirely of the great end, the improvement of the being.

But still further: it is a law of our nature, that truth on all great and important subjects, should be attained only by much labour, many struggles, and many difficulties, and should be only slowly and gradually recognized. Snatches and fragments of truth we may attain rapidly, but not a fixedness and unity of view, such as is alone worthy of an intellectual being, and alone can conduce either to his improvement or his happiness. When the metaphysician tells us that we know only what we are, he re-echoes in fact the words of our Lord, that to understand his doctrine we must do his will. We cannot indeed comprehend any great truths with which we do not stand in constant relation, which have not grown with our growth, which have not melted into our being, and which do not form a part of it. Meditation and thought are in short absolutely and indispensably necessary to elevation, to the absolute possession of the individual mind, and to a consistency and harmony of the being within itself, which no outward agency can reach to disturb or to impair. How entirely opposed to such a state is that produced by making immediate utility our object, a state to which meditation must be a stranger, and which must be engaged in a constant and feverish activity of unmeaning exertion, and guided by partial and imperfect knowledge.

Let us, my brethren, who have a real and unfeigned belief that we are made by a God, and that by him we are to be judged hereafter, and rewarded or punished, let us, I say, not hold these principles as mere dead letters, but act upon them, and give proof of our persuasion that the interests and advantages of time are not to be compared with those of eternity. Let us show, that we are guided in our thoughts and