this subject on two accounts. The wide spread and increasing desecration of the Lord's-day, and of numerous evils which invariably follow in the train of this vast enormity, must be very painful to every contemplative and serious mind. Are christians guilty of nothing which encourages or justifies the evil which they deplore? is a question it becomes them to consider. Is the obligation to devote the entire day to the sacred exercises of christianity, generally held, and sufficiently felt? If we lay a foundation in all our congregations for the secularizing of a given portion of this day, are we satisfied that this is not a human device, and which must, therefore, be attended with no injurious consequences?

In the second place, though the system of Sunday school teaching has now been in operation, over a considerable part of the country, for thirty or forty years, the effect can scarcely be regarded as answerable to the amount of service or labour which has been employed to produce it. Complaints are generally made that the number of individuals actually benefited, in the full sense of the term, is comparatively small. I am very far from insinuating that the benefit to the country at large and to many individuals, has not been considerable. The prevention of evil, and the retarding of the rapid deterioration of society which is continually going on, are of immense consequence. But, still looking at the thousands of teachers employed, and the tens of thousands who are taught, it is impossible not to feel regret that

the extent of spiritual benefit produced is comparatively so limited. Far be it from me to use the language of discouragement, or of censoriousness. I am conscious of the danger of appearing to find fault with existing operations; and of the difficulty of substituting something better in their stead. But better are the wounds of a friend than the kisses of an enemy. We are too much accustomed, perhaps, to the voice of praise, and are in danger of being lulled by it into a state of security and self-complacency, most injurious to the effective operation of christianity.

Religion is the concern of another world besides this, and its appeal is rather to our wretchedness and our guilt than to our speculative powers. Its design is, to relieve and to rescue; and it directs itself to our mental faculties, and assists in improving them, chiefly with a view to its conferring the important boon of salvation. It has chiefly to do with the spiritual feelings and moral habitudes of our nature; and is adverse to every intermixture and association, by which things earthly and heavenly may be confounded. On this account, I submit, whether a service in which a constant association takes place between what is purely mechanical and secular, and what is altogether of a different nature, be not undesirable, and likely to defeat, to a certain extent, the high object which we profess to have in view? How is it that we succeed in making readers and writers to a most disproportionate extent to what become christians? The answer which refers this entirely to

the corruption of human nature, and to the sovereignty of divine grace, is unsatisfactory; unless we could show that we do nothing which countervails our own efforts, and leave nothing undone which we are capable of doing. I cannot resist expressing my conviction that when all divinely appointed means shall be fully employed, in combination with that faith which rests for its blessing entirely on God, a much greater measure of good will be effected than has yet taken place; and, that what we now ascribe to the withholding of spiritual influence, will be found rather to have belonged to the defective nature of our own principles and modes of operation.

Should it be found necessary to continue the practice of teaching to read on the Sabbath, I would suggest, whether that might not be separated from the business of religious instruction; either by the appropriation of a separate place, or a different time of the day, or another class of teachers. I cannot perceive any insuperable difficulties in the way of some such arrangement. By this means, religion would be treated as it ought ever to be, not as one branch of education, but as the high and the last end of all. It would not be degraded by any unholy association, and regarded only as one of a series of tiresome and uninteresting employments. It would come to be considered as the chief object of living, and of all true knowledge; and, if not cordially received, would leave something behind it, which would render the way of the transgressor hard.

Another feature of the Scottish system of Sabbath schools consists in their occupying only that part of the Lord's-day which is not usually devoted to public worship,-I mean, the evening. No encroachment appears to take place on those hours which are devoted to the public and holy exercises of the sanctuary of God. While the people of God are thus engaged, they do not feel that a large portion of the rising generation are otherwise employed than themselves. The habit of attending public worship, which is so prevalent in the northern part of the island, affords facilities for carrying on the school exercises in this manner, which do not exist where, unfortunately, the practice of neglecting public ordinances is so common. Still it would be extremely desirable to adopt a plan by which neither the children nor teachers of Sunday schools should be deprived of the benefit of public instruction on one of the most important parts of the day of rest. The contrary practice which so extensively prevails, must be injurious; and it tends to foster a sentiment which I fear is too prevalent, that if we do not engage in our ordinary avocations on the Lord's-day, we may appropriate its hours as we please.

The Sabbath-evening schools of Scotland do not consist exclusively of the children of the poor and of the irreligious. They are attended by many whose parents are in comfortable circumstances, and who make a decided profession of religion. Such persons do not consider their children as

degraded by associating, for religious instruction, with those who are in inferior circumstances; or that they devolve on others a task which ought to be performed by themselves. They find their children benefited by the excitement of the school, and by the impressions which are there made upon their minds. Instruction at home is not neglected by those who are most attentive in sending their children out; and in the manner in which their tasks are performed full evidence is afforded of the attention which is paid to them in private.

Damage must be done to society when the lines of demarcation which separate its various classes, are too broad and impassable. Feelings of envy and hatred are thus gendered in one class, while those of contempt and indifference are cherished in another. The community is divided chiefly into two ranks-donors and receiversthe rich and the poor; the former distinguished by all the pride and consequence of rank; and the other, by all the vices and wretchedness belonging to pauperism. In such a state of things, there is little of the intercourse of reciprocal good offices, and none of the sympathy which is more powerful in its operation than the wisest and most efficient laws. It is the design of christianity to unite man to man, as well as to unite all to God; to prepare us for a holy brotherhood in the kingdom of heaven, by uniting us in brotherly association on earth. All our religious institutions ought to be in harmony with this de