ness.

I will venture to predict, that the ability will increase with the effort, and that, in many cases-yea, I might say in all--God will perfect His strength in our weakThat the means employed by myself, and by those to whom I am indebted for a more than equal participation in what has been done in the present and other cases, have been felt by us to be utterly inadequate to the effect produced, I am bound to declare, to the praise of the glory of the grace of God.

Think not, my Brethren, that, in strongly recommending, and affirming to be indispensable, careful instruction from the Holy Scriptures, I am overlooking or making light of other literary or scientific attainments. No; I do not underrate any useful knowledge: and, indeed, this I am sure of, that in proportion as the mind is purified and elevated by Scriptural knowledge (and nothing else will purify and elevate it), it will be prepared to make more and more progress in every thing that is really useful and valuable, whether of Science or of Polite Literature. I appeal with confidence to the actual state of our Universities, especially that with which I am best acquainted; in which there never before was so much of Scriptural knowledge, and never such vigour and successful prosecution of manly and scientific pursuits.

Let me here recommend, as books which I have found exceedingly valuable in the communication of Scriptural instruction, the Rev. Cornelius Neale's "Bible Teacher's Manual;" and I would add, his "Emblems for the Young," which are illustrated exclusively by Scriptural quotations- a little work of exquisite taste and beauty. As a Scriptural Exposition of the Church Catechism, I know nothing equal to Stillingfleet's. This, and the other Scriptural Catechism which is repeated by the Children of the Vicarage School during the Sunday Afternoon Service, have been learned through, again and again, in my own family.

Though I have said little of what I think I could say to Parents and Teachers, and other persons of influence, I must now draw to a close.-My own prayers for my Child are answered-sooner than I expected. I asked life for him, it is true; yet with submission, I hope, to the will of God;and God has given him a long life, even for ever and ever. He has enabled him to triumph over the terrors of death; and early to reach that land of rest and peace, where, as his affections became more purified and elevated, he ardently longed to be. I prayed that it might please the Good Shepherd to deal tenderly with this lamb of

His flock; and this prayer, too, was answered; for though his sufferings were severe during a few days, (and commonly speaking, it is not a condition of our state of trial here, that the change of death should pass, especially upon a youthful subject, without severe pain,) yet the suffering was mitigated exceedingly by the kind attentions and skilful ministrations of affectionate relatives and medical attendants, who passed with him sleepless nights;and especially by the abounding consolations of the Holy Spirit, and by strength given him superior to his own.

My prayers, as they respected himself in particular, having been answered and exceeded; I will take encouragement therefrom, and from the precious promises of my God, to expect the fulfilment of all that remains to be accomplished, for myself, and for those who are nearest and dearest

to me.

To the young people of my charge, especially, I am earnestly desirous that my loss-if I may so call it should prove a gain. It will be so, if they be stimulated, by means of it, to seek earnestly an interest in that salvation, of which he was a partaker, and which is freely offered to all.

Let me, my Christian friends, again entreat your kind co-operation and assistance in instructing the young people of this parish, with a view to the interesting rite of Confirmation. My earnest prayer for you, my dear friends, is, that you may be abundantly blessed in your own persons, and (what is particularly suggested by the present subject) the persons of those who are near and dear to you as your own souls;—that you may see them growing up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, a generation prepared to serve the Lord;— and, should it please the Supreme and All-wise and All-gracious Disposer of all events to remove them early from your fostering care, that you may have the blessed assurance (which, through the abounding grace of God, I have*) that they are passed from your embrace to the bosom of their Heavenly Father. But rather, I will pray, for you and for them, that they may—if it be the will of God-live before Him; serve Him faithfully in their day and generation; shine as lights for Him in the world, transmitting to others the knowledge and love of the truth as it is in Jesus; and, finally, rich in faith and the fruits of faith, be joined to the spirits of the just made perfect, in heaven.

See Appendix.

HYMNS REFERRED TO IN PAGE 10,

NOT all the blood of beasts,

On Jewish altars slain,

Could give the guilty conscience peace,

Or wash away the stain.

But Christ, the Heavenly Lamb,

Takes all our sins away;

A Sacrifice of nobler name,

And richer blood than they.

My faith would lay her hand

On that dear head of Thine, While like a penitent I stand, And there confess my sin.

My soul looks back to see

The burdens Thou didst bear,

When hanging on the accursed tree,
And hopes her guilt was there.

Believing, we rejoice

To see the curse remove;

We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice,

And sing His bleeding love.