treatises, that the poorest can obtain it; for which reason it is little to be wondered that the people cease to have recourse to a method of imparting it, which they imagine is no longer recommended by necessity.

To these causes, if I am not mistaken, is to be attributed the growing disuse of public catechising; yet let it not thence be inferred that its utility has vanished, or that it is not advisable to adopt it wherever it can be used with success. So efficacious a means of instruction should never be omitted where circumstances admit its employment; at the same time, though its revival would be hailed with sincere gratification by every sound churchman, it appears unfortunately too true, that, in consequence of a change in the national character and habits, the duty, generally speaking, has devolved upon other hands; what was formerly an important branch of the ministerial labour, now principally belongs to the parental office. However disadvantageous the change may be, and how much soever to be regretted, it is one for which it will be difficult to find a remedy. There is no lack of zeal, no want of exertion in the clergy to renew the practice; but without some great and unexpected change in public opinion, it is very questionable whether it can ever again become general. Wherever the office of ministerial catechising can be practised,

let it not be neglected; but if catechising, to be generally performed, must be performed by those who are intrusted with the education of youth, let the ministers of Christ inculcate upon parents and guardians the necessity of a practice no less pleasing than useful, and afford such advice and directions as may assist them in executing it with assiduity and advantage.

A distinguished Prelate, speaking of this subject, remarks, that, "it is observable, that, in exact proportion as catechising has been practised or neglected, in the same proportion have the public faith and morals been seen to flourish or decline"." If this représentation were correct, religion, in these realms, where the usage, as he himself owns, is fallen into nearly total neglect, would be in a deplorable state of decay; but, admitting the existence of a widely-spread distempered feeling on religious subjects, it is fairly questionable whether, upon the whole, public faith and morals are on the decline. By the mer ciful ordination of Providence all evil is met by some counteracting good; and the disuse of Mi nisterial catechising has been in some degree balanced by other modes of training up the young members of the Christian community. Among the better informed orders of society

h Bishop Jebb, Charge in 1823, p. 21,
k k

it has been in part compensated by the greater diligence which parents and teachers, in consequence of this disuse, have found necessary to employ in inculcating the first principles of faith; and among the humbler, by the enlarged and still rapidly increasing means of education.

The instruction of the children of the poor, and of the labouring classes, has been of late years greatly facilitated and extended by the establishment of sunday schools. If conducted upon right principles, they will, under the divine blessing, be one of the most efficacious means of training the rising generation to moral and religious habits. The regular attendance at school and church, is of itself favourable to virtue, while, under the superintendance of the clergy, sound principles may be instilled, and the most useful lessons inculcated upon the infant mind, the advantage of which will be experienced in after life. The carelessness, the indifference, and the vice which unhappily prevail among the humbler ranks, throw formidable impediments in the way, of which those alone can be justly sensible who have been concerned in the management of such schools: but however we may regret the want of success which sometimes attends the most zealous efforts, our exertions should not be relaxed. Much may be accomplished by perseverance; and experience of the benefits, it may

be hoped, will in time cause a general eagerness among the poor to extend them to their children. So little open to objection are these institutions, and so fraught with the most beneficial effects, that it ought to be the wish of every servant of Christ, of every friend to humanity, to render their operation universal. These, together with the exertions of the National School Society; a Society deserving the warmest support of every member of our Apostolical church, afford an encouraging prospect for the future; and from their united efforts it is reasonable to expect an increase of attachment to our venerable establishments, civil and ecclesiastical, a gradual extension of religious feeling, and a consequent improvement in the national character'.

Such are the private and domestic duties required of those who would devote the sabbath to the consecrated objects of its institution. It is not meant that ALL these duties are to be performed every sabbath, or that they are ALL incumbent upon every individual: but they are to be practised, either all or in part, either on

It has been made a question, whether the teaching of writing in Sunday-Schools be not a breach of the sabbatical law. To prohibit it, however, appears to be too strict a construction of the statute, as it may well be considered a work of charity. Nevertheless, the time may, probably, be employed other ways to much better purpose.

every sabbath, or successively, as may appear most expedient to every person's own judgment and discretion. Private prayer, meditation, self-examination, studying the Bible, reading books of piety and devotion, family worship, catechetical instruction of the young and uninformed, are confessedly religious exercises proper for the Lord's day. Varied, however, they must be, according to the different relations sustained in society, and as they may be best adapted to the peculiar circumstances in which those who use them are placed; but to direct beforehand the exact proportion and the particular application of them, is to assume a power over others inconsistent with Christian liberty. Every individual should exercise himself herein in the way which he deems most likely to meet the exigencies of his own case, and of those with whom he may be united by any of the ties which bind society together; but the time and manner, the degree and nature of these exercises must be left to his own determination, which will commonly be right if he humbly and sincerely follows his best judgment, meekly praying for the light and guidance of God's Spirit. The great object of the institution is to be kept constantly in view, which is the commemoration of the divine goodness in creation and redemption, and the improvement of the heart in godliness. He who adopts