PERVERTED KNOWLEDGE.

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increase of power, and power may be a bad as well as a good thing."

"That is what I cannot understand," said the bustling little man. How can power be a bad thing?"

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"I will tell you," meekly replied the old man, and thus went on: "When the power of a horse is under restraint, the animal is useful in bearing burdens, drawing loads, and carrying his master; but when that power is unrestrained, the horse breaks his bridle, dashes the carriage that he draws to pieces, or throws his rider." ! I see!" said the little man.

"I see

"When the water of a large pond is properly conducted by trenches, it renders the fields around fertile; but when it bursts through its banks, it sweeps every thing before it, and destroys the produce of the field." "I see! I see!" said the little man, "I see !"

"When a ship is steered aright, the sail that she hoists up, enables her the sooner to get into port; but if steered wrong, the more sail she carries, the further will she go out of her course."

"I see! I see!" said the little man, "I see clearly!" "Well, then," continued the old man, "if you see these things so clearly, I hope you can see too, that knowledge, to be a good thing, must be rightly applied. God's grace in the heart will render the knowledge of the head a blessing; but without this, it may prove to us no better than a curse.

"I see! I see! I see!" said the little man, "I see!" I return to the question, How is the salvation of this and other nations to be effected for time and for eternity? I reply, By no one means; but by the union of all the means within the reach of the Church of God. The press must take its stand in the heart of every Christian nation, and give out its full tale of a thousand Bibles every day, the year round; and pour out its tracts in uncounted quantities. The Church must see

10 HOW TO SECURE THE SALVATION OF A NATION.

her labours and prayers giving to the world a priesthood, holy, self-denying, and absorbed in the one great work of saving the world. They must be so holy that they can stand on our beautiful walls, not dazzled, nor rendered torpid by a goodly heritage. They must pass over the mountains of the west, and beautiful shall be their feet; they shall teach the sailor to sing the songs of Zion; they shall climb the mountains of the south; they shall go through the heart of Africa, and purify her life-blood; they shall go from isle to isle over the great Pacific, and shall go still further, till they have carried the light of heaven back to the cradle of earth's family. But to do this, to rear up all these heralds of the Gospel, to rear up men to stand under all this vast machinery, and, with it, purify and sanctify earth's millions, and fit them for an immortality of glory, will require all the means which have yet been placed within the power of the Church. I say all the means, and others, too, which I trust God will soon commit to his people. The Gospel has been making progress in the earth about eighteen hundred years, and yet it is computed there are but ten millions of true Christians, or about one in eighty, who have embraced the Gospel with the heart. Let real conversions go on at this rate, and it will take one hundred and forty-four thousand years to have the Gospel fill the earth! Or if we count from the days of Luther, and say that ten millions have been converted to God, during one generation, within these three hundred years, on that supposition, it will take, at the same rate, twenty-four thousand years before the earth is saved. This will not,-cannot be permitted. The Church of God has a work to do, incalculably greater than any thing which she has as yet done, or even attempted. And the Church of God is composed of individuals, each of whom must be called into the active service of Christ, each occupy the station

EDUCATION OF THE HEART.

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for which he is best adapted, each bring all the energies and faculties which are committed to him, and each solemnly and repeatedly consecrate himself and all that he has, to the great work of saving the earth. This should be the object at which every Christian should look, and for which alone he should live and labour. The finger of prophecy, and the providences of God, are pointing to the world as the field, the great vineyard into which we are all to hasten, and there to spend the day of our life; knowing who hath sent us, and who will reward us.

I rejoice in the belief, that the impression is becoming more and more universal, even among those who are not professedly acting as Christians, that the heart must be educated, as well as the mind. I select the following testimony from M. Victor Cousin's able report on Public Instruction in Prussia.* "We have abundant proof that the well-being of an individual, like that of a people, is nowise secured by extraordinary intellectual powers, or very refined civilization. The true happiness of an individual, as of a people, is founded in strict morality, self-government, humility, and moderation; on the willing performance of all duties to God, his superiors, and his neighbours. A religious and moral education is, consequently, the first want of a people."

To meet and supply this "first want of a people," God in his providence has led his people, step by step, to the present Sabbath-school system.

This system, in its power and influences, is yet in its infancy. It is but a few years since the thought of such schools was first struck out and presented to the world. Legislatures have made laws respecting other systems of training the young; they have legislated about the

* Page 259, English edition.

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IGNORANCE OF LEGISLATORS.

training of horses to run races-theatres to amuse and corrupt society: professorships for training horses for war, and bulls to fight, have been endowed; and salaries equal to those of the Presidents of our highest Colleges have been settled upon the Professors;—but as yet, little of mind, little of thought, comparatively speaking, has been expended upon the Sabbath-school system. Good men have been engaged in its practical duties, and as they have felt their way along in the dark, they have here and there thrown out a modest hint or suggestion, for the benefit of others. Many good things have been said about the system, and many beautiful speeches made in its praise; but as yet, no enlarged, comprehensive mind has taken hold of the subject, and poured out its light for the benefit of the thousands and tens of thousands who are engaged in Sabbath-school teaching. I have been repeatedly and earnestly requested to write a book, "which should be a kind of manual for Sabbath-school Teachers,-a book which should illustrate and enforce the relations and duties of the teacher-touching upon all the topics which experience can suggest, and his situation require." I have felt that if such a work could be properly written,—just what it should be,-it would do immense good; but it needs little less than inspiration to do it right. And who can do it? I have been afraid to attempt it, and have waited more than two years for some abler pen to write it. But as no one has hitherto undertaken it, I dare not longer delay. The suggestions which I shall make, in many instances, may appear crude; but when the mind shall come forward and present the whole subject in that judicious, practical, clear, and burning light, which will thrill, and awaken, and strengthen the Church of God in this great work, no one will rejoice more sincerely than myself; and I shall be willing to fall back into the shade, rejoicing that wishes and

EFFECTS OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

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designs, which by me were only conceived, are within the practical power of others.

He who engages in the Sabbath-school system, ought fully to understand the great object and design of the system as revealed by the providence of God; the means which are put into the hands of the Teacher, to attain those ends; the right way of using those means; the certain results of the system yet to flow upon the world, and the motives to faithfulness and perseverance.

That the system meets with the decided and continued approbation of God, no one who is acquainted with its plans, or who has watched its results, can for a moment doubt. This is not the place to point out the pillars which it has raised up, and which are now supporting our churches the ministers of the Gospel, who are filling our pulpits—and acting as the agents of the Church in spreading the Gospel,—and the missionaries of the Cross, who were here converted to God-and who, like the sainted Morrison, now in glory, have provided the word of life for millions. This is not the place,―else I might pause and show you how it was, that to supply the Sunday Schools with Bibles, first originated and arose that wonder in the earth, the British and Foreign Bible Society: we could show you by facts that it has prepared thousands for glory, who have already entered upon the rewards of the faithful, and thousands now on their way to the skies. We could show you the infant just beginning to lisp, the widow bringing her babe in the cradle that she might be a pupil; the old soldier, aged one hundred and seventeen years, going to the Sabbath School, just one hundred years after he first joined the army; and the heathen, children and parents, under the shade of a tree, learning from the teacher who wrote his lessons in the dirt, and carved his first teaching on the bark of the tree. I should feel as if I did my reader injustice to suspect

C