shall arise from communicating it. In this distribution of ideas, the lower classes of society come in for a large share: hence have arisen the systems of instruction established for their benefit. It was easy to perceive that the education of the labouring classes could not be limited by Sunday Schools, or by the British and National systems of popular education. A capacity to read is a most impulsive faculty, perpetually urging on its possessor into those regions of facts and ideas which he has never yet visited. He is endowed with an ability, and prompted by curiosity, to travel onwards. This is perfectly lawful and natural. If we would restrain him, we cannot; and if we could, we ought not. If it be wrong for a labouring man to possess knowledge, he ought not to be educated; for by being educated, even so far as an ability to read goes, he has had the key of the treasure put into his hand, with an injunction to help himself. We need not, then, wonder at the present aspirings which we observe amongst the people after knowledge; nor need we regret them. The end must be good, notwithstanding some incidental evils which may arise in this march of the public mind. Still, however, it is our duty, as Chrisans and as ministers, to exert ourselves to the uttermost that the moral culture of society may keep pace with its intellectual growth. It is feared by some that the public institutions set up for the improvement of the artizans will not be altogether harmless, but will open a door for a covert attack upon revealed religion. Perhaps their fears are groundless. At any rate, we may, in a considerable measure, provide against the mischief, by establishing similar associations within the circle of our own congregations, and thus taking care to combine re ligion with science; and the object of my present paper is to furnish an account of a very useful and interesting Society, which has been formed in the sphere of my ministerial exertion. Its designation is the Brotherly Society. Its object is to promote the religious benefit, general improvement, and brotherly spirit of its members, and, at the same time, to attach them to the congregation to which they belong, and thereby to assist the prosperity of that body. The Society is composed of young men of all ranks, from the sons of our most affluent people, down to the elder and best-behaved youths in our Sunday School. Its officers are, a Patron, President, four Guardians chosen from the leading men in our congregation, a Committee, Secretary, and Treasurer. The Society holds a monthly meeting in our school-room, when, at a given time, the names are called over, and the absentees marked and fined; which is done again at the close of the meeting, and those who have come in since the first call have half the fine remitted. At this meeting three of the members, taken in alphabetical order, read either an original essay, or an extract which they may have copied from some author. Any member, however, may decline reading, if he wishes it. No member is allowed to make any remark on what is read; this rule is introduced to prevent the Institution from ever becoming a debating society; and, to prevent it from degenerating into a speechifying meeting, every thing delivered must be read, and nothing spoken. The President has unlimited power to stop any reader who may have made an unsuitable selection of subject, or who may advance any thing erroneous or improper. He has also full liberty to make what remarks he may please on what is delivered. If any original essay of peculiar excellence be read, it is, by the vote of the meeting, deposited among the papers of the Society. At the monthly meeting, visiters are appointed for the ensuing month, to visit the sick brethren, and also to inquire into any cases of immorality, or negligent attendance, that may have occurred, the report of which is delivered at the next meeting. A book of records is kept, in which the proceedings of the Society are entered. When a member dies, or leaves the town, an inquiry is made into his character, which, if it be favourable, is preserved at some length in the record. We have already some precious memorials of those who sleep in Jesus, and who finished their course in honour and in joy. Besides the monthly meetings, there is also an annual one, when the officers are chosen, and an address is delivered by the Patron or President. a In order to extend the benefits of the Society, and meet the demands of the age, we have lately appointed an additional meeting, to be held a fortnight after the usual monthly meeting, at which lectures are delivered, either by the Patron, President, the Guardians, or some other friend. An honorary member, well versed in chemistry, has commenced course of lectures on that science, accompanied by illustrative experiments. One of the Guardians has delivered a few lectures, in which, by a familiar method, he has explained the powers of the human mind. The President is about to lecture on mechanics. The Patron has commenced а course of lectures on ecclesiastical history. It will be obvious from this account, that the Society is calculated at once to convey instruction, and to elicit talent. It may be supposed, of course, that a reference to religion is blended with recom all that is communicated. To aid the young men in their pursuit of knowledge, a very good library of elementary books is formed, which they are allowed and mended to read. It is not pretended that we have yet called forth much native genius, nor that we have received papers worthy to be embodied with the Philosophical Transactions; so neither, on the other hand, can it be said that we have heard nothing at our meetings but puerilities or absurdities. However humble our scientific pursuits, they have been invariably conducted with a close and sacred regard to the claims of religion. Five years' trial has enabled us to judge of the tendency and value of the Society; and every successive year has endeared it more closely to our hearts, and raised it higher in our estimation. Our monthly and annual meetings are seasons of hallowed delight. Happily we have hitherto been preserved in almost undisturbed harmony. A storm we have never experienced, nor have we ever had cause to tremble at its dreaded approach; and if at any time a breeze has passed over the surface of the peaceful lake, it has only raised a ripple, which almost immediately fell again into the usual calm. This is not a little to say of a Society which now amounts to about a hundred and fifty members. The ends of the Institution have been answered-a spirit of brotherly love has been produced; attachment to the congregation in which the Society exists has been strengthened; many have found a pleasant circle of friends and acquaintance; piety and morals have been guarded; and general mental improvement has been promoted. I look upon the Society with growing delight, as an auxiliary to my labours, and consider it as a pleasant plant, the growth of which I have been honoured to favour, and the pros perity of which is a more than ample reward for what little labour I have devoted to its interests. Much of the success of the Institution is to be traced, under the blessing of God, to the intelligence, zeal, deep interest, and unwearied perseverance of our President; and, next to him, to our Secretary and one of our Guardians, who have entered into the business with full purpose of heart. Without two or three individuals of this description, who will take up the matter con amore, it is never likely to succeed; but where such men can be obtained to form the Society, and to conduct it with vigour, its benefit will be considerable. And in the hope of inducing others to make the attempt, I have been induced to give publicity to our success. My brethren in the ministry will find the scheme no mean auxiliary to their success. It will attach the younger branches of their flocks to them, and to their congregation; it will provide all the benefits of a mechanic's Institution for the labouring class of their hearers; and those benefits will be afforded in close connection with pure and undefiled religion. I should have stated also, that one part of our plan is to provide a Benefit Society, or Sick-club, for those members of the Institution who choose to avail themselves of its assistance. Provident Societies, as they are usually conducted among the poor, are liable to two objections:-First, They are very generally held at public houses, which throws the members in the way of temptation to drinking; and, Secondly, They usually divide their surplus funds at Christmas, which is sure, little time, to occasion their dissolution. Both these evils are avoided by our plan. Although we have existed only five years, we have already more than fifty pounds in stock; and there is a in a similar Society in this town, which, having been much longer in existence than ours, has five hundred pounds in government securities. It is not compulsory on all the members of the Brotherly Society to be members of the Benefit Society; but no one can belong to the latter who is not associated with the former. If I shall have been the means of stirring up any to imitate the plan here detailed, I shall be amply repaid for my trouble in making this communication. I remain, Gentlemen, Your obedient Servant, ་་་་་་་་་ J. ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE (Concluded from page 293.) HAVING thus briefly stated some of the prominent benefits resulting from the Sabbath, considered merely as a civil institution, it is proper we should notice the objection sometimes urged against it, that the suspension of labour it occasions, impairs the resources of the state, and aggravates the poverty and distresses of the poor. To give weight to the first part of this objection, it must be proved that national happiness is always proportionate to national wealth: and that a small addition to the products of a country conduces more to the welfare of its inhabitants, than the influence of morality and religion. That part of the objection which relates to the interests of the poor, is wholly delusive. The comforts of the poor depend not on the amount of their labour, but on the compensation they receive for it. The labour of one man will in this country command a larger share of the necessaries of life, than that of four men will in China. An increase in the supply of any article lowers its value, when there is no corresponding in crease in the demand for it. A farmer or manufacturer who now employs seven men, would, were their labour continued on the Sabbath, require only the work of six men of course he would either dismiss one, or retain all at reduced wages. The addition of Sunday to the days of labour, could have little or no effect in increasing the demand for labour, while it would be equivalent to an addition to the present supply of one-sixth part of the whole labour of the country. The consequence of such an addition, in reducing the price of labour, is obvious. The coffers of the rich might indeed be swelled; but the poor would be robbed of their weekly rest, without experiencing the smallest mitigation of their present wants and hardships. To banish from society the blessings and consolations of religion, and to doom a large portion of its members to unceasing toil, in order to augment a nation's wealth, may be consistent with the theories of an infidel philosophy, which, in the pursuit of its own phantoms, never stoops to notice the private and domestic enjoyments upon which it is trampling. But that Being whose providence is over all his works, did not confine the privileges of the Sabbath to the wealthy proprietor, and to his sons and daughters: but extended them to his men servants and his maid servants-to his cattle, and to the stranger within his gates. If we have succeeded in proving that the Sabbath, by preserving the knowledge and influence of religious truth, is essential to public virtue, and conducive to public order and tranquillity; and that by the quiet which it affords, and the habits which it promotes, it enlarges the sum of human happiness, we are surely justified in maintaining, that it ought to be countenanced and protected by the State. It may however be urged, that the Sabbath, being in its naNEW SERIES, No. 20. ture a religious institution, is beyond the legitimate control of human authority; and that our own government, being by the very grant of its power restricted from interfering with religious faith or worship, can take no cognizance of this day, nor require its citizens to observe it. The objection arises from a misconception of the true grounds on which laws for the observance of the Sabbath are founded. Mankind are subject both to divine and human laws. The Deity has affixed to his laws their own awful sanctions; and neither requires nor permits his frail and erring creatures to assume the prerogative of vindicating his majesty, by enforcing his commands. But although the civil magistrate may not sit in judgment on his fellow-men, for acts which he may deem displeasing to God, he has an unquestionable right to transfer to his own code such of the divine laws as he may think useful to his subjects; and having thus made them his own, he may properly require obedience to them. Thus theft is punished by human laws; not because it is forbidden by the decalogue, but because it is opposed to the welfare of society. Christianity prohibits polygamy; but the principles of our government do not therefore preclude the legislature from visiting this crime with heavy penalties. So also, if blasphemy be deemed injurious to society, by its tendency to deprave the moral sense, it may be punished, not as an insult to the divine majesty, but as an offence against the State. Hence, likewise, if a periodical cessation from labour be regarded as advantageous to the general good, the legislature may prohibit all laborious employments on any day they may think proper to select. It is futile to argue that the legislature cannot possess the right we are contending for, because it would 3 G perity of which is a more than a ple reward for what little labou. have devoted to its interests. Much of the success of the ! stitution is to be traced, under 1 blessing of God, to the int gence, zeal, deep interest, and. wearied perseverance of our P. sident; and, next to him, to Secretary and one of our Gu dians, who have entered into t business with full purpose of he Without two or three individu of this description, who will t up the matter con amore, it is ver likely to succeed; but w such men can be obtained to fo the Society, and to conduct with vigour, its benefit will considerable. And in the hop. inducing others to make the tempt, I have been induced to publicity to our success. 1 My brethren in the ministry find the scheme no mean aux.. to their success. It will & the younger branches of the flocks to them, and to their congre gation; it will provide all the be nefits of a mechanic's Institution for the labouring class of the hearers; and those benefits be afforded in close connecti with pure and undefiled religion I should have stated also, one part of our plan is to prov a Benefit Society, or Sick-c for those members of the Ins tion who choose to avail selves of its assistance. dent Societies, as they are m conducted among the poo liable to two objections: They are very generallyi public houses, which th members in the way of te to drinking; and, Second usually divide their su at Christmas, which is little time, to occasion |