thence result to religion, I think it extremely probable that he did mean "to hold out his bequest as an invitation for the two Conventions to run a race" in doing that good to religion, "and to enter into a contest for the priority" of being eminently serviceable to the Church a priority which, when once ascertained as a fact, would prevent all further controversies on the subject, or at least render them unavailing.

It seems to me by no means a well founded observation," that the testator was in no hurry to establish a seminary, since he speaks not only of an accumulation of interest, while the property continues in the hands of the executors; but also of an accumulation in the rate of compound interest, which implies its continuance in their hands at least two years after it is vested in the manner required by the testator." If any inference can be fairly drawn from the clause of the will there alluded to, it is thisWhen the will was made and dated, there was no institution in existence that was the object of his bounty-therefore, the theological school, towards the establishment of which the General Convention had taken measures, was not the object of his bounty, and he knowingly put it aside, without any mark or indication of preference; probably because its removal from this State was contemplated and spoken of. His hurry to establish such a seminary is sufficiently evident from his giving the prefer ence to that which should be first established; but as the time of its establishment was in no respect under his controul-as that was to be the act of others to whom he could not dictate, he gave directions for taking care of and improving the fund, while they should remain in active.

The observations I have already made will enable me to be very brief in reply to the proposed questions. I am of opinion, from the facts of the case, that the theological institution now established in the State of New-York, under the authority of the State Convention, fully answers the description of the cestui que trusts contained in Mr. Sherred's will. He was undoubtedly aware that the institution to which he destined so large a property could not be perfect before it would become entitled to the bequest. His object was, by giving it those additional funds, to contribute materially to its improvement. I perceive no deficieney in the institution but the want of distinct professors for each department, and that cannot be such a defect in its establishment or organization, as might prevent the vesting of the legacy. No defect, therefore, presents itself to my mind as capable of affecting this question, that could be cured by any further proceedings of the State Convention, the Trustees, or Managers.

If I am right in the opinions already expressed, the legacy has fully and entirely vested in that seminary, and cannot be taken from it, at least so long as it continues faithfully to perform its functions, and is located in this State. That legacy, under the terms of the will, is to be appropriated only to an institution to be established by one of those Conventions-it would not be conformable to the will to divide it among two institutions, one to be established by each Convention-and I therefore think that if the General Convention should hereafter establish another seminary within this State for the same purposes, it cannot divest or defeat the

rights already absolutely acquired by the exist ing institution-nor partake of the residuary bequest in Mr. Sherred's will. THOMAS ADDIS EMMET.

New-York, July 31st, 1821.

I have fully considered the case on which the foregoing opinion is given, and I entirely concur with it, and with the reasons of Mr. Emmet, I can only add, that if the General Convention have the prior right to establish the theological seminary, for which the bounty of the testator was intended, they necessarily have the power to postpone the completion of the object of the testator. There is no period of time prescribed during which they must make their election; and if the right to establish one is primarily given to and vested in them by the. will of Mr. Sherred, I do not perceive why they may not postpone the exercise of this power, so as, in a great measure, to defeat the religious views and intentions of the testator. If the testator had intended a preference to the General Convention, or, in other words, that they were first to elect, I think he would have expressed himself differently. He would have manifested such preference by fixing a certain time, within which the General Conven tion should decide; and, on failure so to do, then would have provided for a seminary to be established by the State Convention. But, as the will is, nothing, in my judgment, can be more evident, than that the testator intended no preference. As soon as a theological semi nary is established by either Convention in the State of New-York, the bequest instantly attaches, and its benefits-instantly become vested rights in such seminary.

JOSIAH OGDEN HOFFMAN, October 8th, 1821.

Mr. Ogden's Opinion on Mr. Sherred's Will. I have perused and fully considered the an nexed case, and the questions arising under it.

As there was, at the date of Mr. Sherred's will, a theological school in the city of NewYork, established under the authority of the General Convention of the Protestant Episco pal Church, if the testator had intended his bequest to be to that seminary, he undoubtedly would have made the bequest to it, and not have given and bequeathed the same in trust, to accumulate upon interest "until there shall be established, within the State of New-York, under the direction or by the authority of the General Convention of the Protestant Episco. pal Church in the United States of America, or of the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New-York, a college, academy," &c.

The bequest is not for an institution already established, but for one hereafter to be esta blished.

The testator, no doubt, foresaw what has since happened, that the seminary or school then established by the authority of the General Convention was only temporarily established in the State of New-York, and might thereafter be removed from it. The object of his bounty was an institution permanently to be established in this State, and which could not be removed from it. He, therefore, in effect, provides by his will, that if the school established by the authority of the General Convention should be removed from the State, and one should here.

after be established by the authority of the Convention of the State, it should be entitled to the benefit of his bequest.

Upon the first question, I think the theological institution now established in the State of New-York does answer the description of the cestui que trusts contained in Mr. Sherred's will.

It is an institution established under the direction and by the authority of the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New-York-it is permanently established within the State of New-York, and for the education of young men designed for holy orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States.

It therefore answers to every part of the description of the cestui que trusts contained in Mr. Sherred's will.

2. I am not aware that there is any defect in its organization, which requires any further act of the Convention of the State to remedy it.

3. As the institution established in the State of New-York, by the authority of its Convention, is the cestui que trust described in Mr. Sherred's will, the right to the bequest is vested in them; and being once vested, no act of the General Convention can divest it.

If the right to the benefit of this bequest be vested at all in the institution in this State, it is because it is established here by the proper au thority; and to suffer it to be taken away by any act which the General Convention can do, would not only be giving them a power of taking away what the testator had given, and thus violating his manifest intention; but it would be an extraordinary power which would enable them to destroy vested rights.

If the right is vested in the institution of this State for a moment, it is permanently so vested. DAVID B. OGDEN. New-York, August 1st, 1821.

ture would be desirable, and ought to be car ried into effect, if it can be done upon fair and correct principles, so as to preserve all the es sential provisions and regulations of our dio cesan seminary, and to secure a just influence in the government and controul of the general institution to each diocess within which contributions may be obtained towards its funds.

If it were practicable to foresee, it would be unnecessary now to discuss all the details connected with an arrangement for the objects contemplated; but the Committee are of opinion, that the Convention, under this general expression of its views, may, with perfect security, authorize the Bishop of the diocess, and their clerical and lay deputies to the General Convention, to settle those details; it being, however, clearly understood, that any plan of consolidation which may be concluded on, shall be subject to the approbation of the Trustees of the Protestant Episcopal Theological Education Society.

In conformity with these views the Committee submit, for the adoption of the Convention, the annexed resolutions. All which is respectfully submitted. On behalf of the Committee,

18th October, 1821.

T. L. OGDEN.

Resolved, That the annual report of the Trustees of the Protestant Episcopal Theological Education Society in the State of NewYork, made yesterday to this Convention, in pursuance of the ninth article of the Constitution of the said society, be accepted.

The above report of the Trustees of the Education Society, and so much of the Bishop's address as related to the same subject, were referred to a Committee, who made the following report:

The Committee to whom was referred the annual report of the Trustees of the Protestant Episcopal Theological Education Society, together with that part of the Bishop's address which relates to a theological seminary in this diocess, report to the Convention, that having considered the important subjects referred to them, they are of opinion, and respectfully recommend, in reference to the report of the Trustees of the Society, that it be accepted, and that their proceedings in the establishment of a seminary in this diocess for theological education, and in the location and organization of two schools for this purpose, as detailed in the said report, be approved and confirmed.

On the subject of any arrangement for a consolidation of the seminary thus established under the authority of the Convention of this State, with one to be permanently established in this diocess, under the authority of the General Convention, in case that body should deem this measure to be expedient, the Committee are of opinion, that an arrangement of this na

they are hereby approved and confirmed by this Convention.

Resolved, That this Convention will concur in any proper plan for consolidating the said seminary with any seminary, for the like purpose, which the General Convention may, in its wisdom, see fit to establish, and permanently fix, within this diocess, all the essential provisions and regulations of the seminary now esta blished, under the authority of the Convention of this State, being preserved, and a just influence in the management and controul of the general institution being secured to each diocess within which contributions may be obtained, or donations made towards its funds. Provided that the terms of such consolidation be approved by the Bishop of this diocess, and the clerical and lay deputies from the Convention of the Church in this State, to the approaching special General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States; and that those terms be submitted to, and also approved by the Trustees of the Protestant Episcopal Theological Education Society in the State of New-York, or the Board of Managers acting under their authority.

Whereupon, on motion, resolved, that the report of the Committee be accepted, and that the resolutions therein recommended, be adopted by the Convention.

(To be continuetl._)

For the Christian Journal.

An Introductory Lecture to a Course of Religious Instruction for young Persons, and those of mature Years: Delivered in St. Paul's Chapel, on Saturday, the 20th of April, 1822. By John Henry Hobart, D. D. Bi shop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New-York, and Rector of Trinity Church, in the City of New-York.

THE course of religious instruction for young persons and others of the congregations, has been laid before you.* It is my design, in the present introductory lecture, still further to explain and enforce it, in the hope that when it is thoroughly understood, and its advantages exhibited, it will meet with general attention. We should never forget, that amidst the multiplied objects which in this world occupy the powers of our minds and solicit our passions-there is one object paramount to the highest-the care of the soul. And in reference to the care of the soul, the cultivation of divine knowledge is a duty of the first magnitude. What, my brethren, will profit us, all the wisdom, the wealth, the honours, or the pleasures of the world, if we lose our souls?

It is my design, in the present leceure, with brevity and with plainness,

I. To point out what are the con-
stituents of a full course of reli-
gious instruction.
II. To consider whether the course
which is proposed does not em-
brace them.

III. To obviate the objections which

may occur to it. And, IV. Lastly. To urge your attention to it.

I. Our first inquiry is, What are the constituents of a full course of religious

instruction?

They are embraced in the following particulars.

1. The evidences of the truth of Christianity.

2. An explanation of the contents of the sacred volume, and a systematic digest of its doctrines and duties.

* See Christian Journal for March, page 91. VOL. VI.

3. The nature of the Christian Church in general,

4. And the institutions of our own Church.

A full course of religious instruction for young persons and others must embrace

1. A succinct view of the evidences

of Christianity.

Happily, this system bears in itself evidences of its divine origin-in the exhibition which it affords of the character of the divine Being so perfectly agreeable to all the dictates of reason all its truths and precepts to the cir and particularly in the adaptation of cumstances of man's condition, and to the principles and feelings of his nahis guilty conscience may be appeased, ture; developing the means by which his corrupt passions subdued, his understanding, his will, and his affections enlightened, rectified, and purified; and his whole soul elevated with the hopes of the glories of that immortal existence, where all his powers are to be perfected, and all his joys for ever consummated.

Still, did Christianity rest its claims to a divine origin solely on the excellence of the truths which it contains, it might be questioned whether some of these truths were not the production of uninspired reason: and with regard to others, transcending the powers of the human mind so far as to baffle all her powers to comprehend them, her doubts and difficulties can only be removed by the most unequivocal evidence, that they have for their author that divine Being who, as the Creator and the Lawgiver of his intelligent creatures, claims their unreserved submission and obedience. It is reasonable, therefore, to expect evidence of the divine origin of Christianity distinct from the excellence of the system itself. And this evidence is afforded in the miraculous works which, arresting and changing the course of nature, prove that the teachers of Christianity were commissioned by the Almighty Author of nature; and in the prophecies connected with this system, the fulfilment of which in distant events establishes beyond doubt, that these predictions must have proceeded from 20

that infinité mind before which are laid open the past, the present, and the future. Not merely then with the excellence of the Christian system affording to the honest and unprejudiced mind high and presumptive evidence of its divine origin, but with the nature of that evidence of miracles and prophecy which, bearing irresistible marks of the exertion of supernatural power, demonstrate that God hath spoken, must we be acquainted, in order to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and thus to silence the cavils of scepticism with which we may be assailed; and that our faith may stand not in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God. The nature, then, of the evidences of Christianity, it must be obvious, ought to be one of the particulars embraced in a course of religious instruction.

2. As this divine system is contained in the Bible-this sacred volume, the divine origin of which is thus established, with a systematic digest of its contents, should be an object of attention.

All those passages of Scripture should be explained and enforced, which exhibit the miracles that were wrought, and the prophecies that were fulfilled in attestation of the truth of Christianity; and which set forth its doctrines that are to be believed, and its duties that are to be practised. And this explanation of the sacred writings should have particularly in view a systematic digest of the truths and duties which they inculcate a connected exhibition of the incarnation, the life, the death, the resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ-of his divine character and mediatorial offices-of the nature of the salvation which he proclaimed, and of the conditions by which we become interested in it. These indeed were, in some degree, among the first objects of catechetical learning. But in that full course of religious instruction which is designed for those of riper years these inspired events and truths, with the passages of sacred writ that set them forth, should be exhibited in detail, and explained and enforced. For in no other way can we be the roughly furnished in divine knowledge, and arrive at full maturity in the

wisdom which makes wise unto eternal life.

You observe that I have connected an explanation of the passages of Scripture with a systematic digest of its truths. And the connexion is all important. It has pleased our Almighty Creator and Sovereign to leave much in grace as in nature, to human industry and attention. The Bible is not the production of one individual, delivering a well-arranged system. Its inspired authors, through the long tract of ages, indited its hallowed pages; and this circumstance, with the total disregard to systematic arrangement which distinguishes the sacred volume, proves that the lucid, consist ent, and harmonious code of doctrine and morals which may be deduced from its distinct and various parts, cannot be the work of human imposture, but must be traced to that divine mind which planned, in its eternal counsels, the scheme of man's salvation. It is the business of human dili gence to collect and arrange the code of divine truth from the dispersed pas sages of the sacred volume; and pre senting it as a whole, to command for it the admiring assent of the mind, to render its truths and duties easy of apprehension, and powerfully to impress them on the understanding and the heart. The most useful study of the Bible, then, in reference to religious instruction, is that which is connected with a syste matic digest of its contents.

3. But there is a characteristic of the plan of salvation worthy, in a course of religious instruction, of distinct at tention-I mean the conveyance of its blessings through the ordinances of a divinely constituted society, the Church of Christ. The nature of this Church, then, should be a subject of particular consideration.

Even in his state of innocence there was to man a visible mean and symboł of the divine favour-the tree of life in the midst of the garden. And after his fall sacrifices were instituted to be the mean and pledge of pardon; and this rite, added to others of spiritual import, were made to convey and confirm to Israel the covenant favour of the Lord their God; until, in the fulness of

time, both believing Jews and Gentiles became one in Christ, the hope of Israel, and the desire of all nations; and were united in one fold, his mystical body, the Church, which we are told he "purchased with his blood." In this Church, as its Head, he applies and conveys to its faithful members, through its ministrations and ordimances, the merits of his blood, and the efficacy of his Holy Spirit." He loved the Church, and gave himself for it." And the emphatic declarations"Christ is the Head of the Church the Saviour of the body"-" The Lord added to the Church such as should be saved" establish the important truth, that the Church is the channel of God's covenanted mercies to a fallen world. The Almighty, but just and merciful Sovereign, who has thus connected salvation with the mystical body of his blessed Son, may, and we trust, will dispense with his requisitions in all cases where honest and pious sincerity has fallen into inyoluntary error. But to rely on this gracious indulgence as an excuse for indolence, or as a plea for the wilful neglect of any divine institution, would be a criminal presumption, which would incur, as it would merit, the awful displeasure of the Sovereign of the universe. The inquiry, then, into the nature of that visible society, which is the ordinary mean and pledge of the blessings of salvation to believers, is at all times important. But it is peculiarly necessary under the circumstances of the present day, when popular language and popular institutions tend to sanction the lax notion, that the method, which God himself has prescribed for our salvation, of union with his Church, is not among the fundamental and essential doctrines of his word.

A course of religious instruction, to be complete, must advance one step further.

4. This Catholic or universal Church of Christ, subsisting in distinct nations and places, is necessarily divided into particular branches-and the evidence that each branch is a sound member of the universal Church, must be found in its possessing all the essentials of doctrine, of the ministry,

of the sacraments, and of worship. The claims, then, of our own Church to membership with the universal Church, and the nature and propriety of all its usages and institutions, should be subjects of serious attention. When acquainted with these particulars, our attachment to it will be an enlightened and firm attachment-we shall be qualified to be its defenders and its advocates-and above all, we shall be excited and prepared to apply its apostolic and primitive institutions to our ad vancement in holiness, and to the final salvation of our souls.

II. We are now led to the second inquiry proposed, viz. Whether the plan on which we are now to enter, embraces the constituents which have been stated of a full course of religious instruction.

This plan embraces the system of lecturing, and of examination. And the subject of both is the Companion for the Festivals and Fasts of the Church. The lectures will be every week on a select portion of this book, or on the texts of Scripture quoted in it. And in the subsequent week, the classes of young persons and others will be examined on this portion. Questions, with which they have been previously furnished in print, will be asked them by one of the Clergy-the answers to which they are to read from the book. The lecturing will, it is thought, convey useful religious information; but this information will be more particularly impressed on the mind by that careful perusal and study of the Companion, &c. which will be necessary in order to enable them readily to find the answers to the questions which may be asked.

But does the book itself comprise all the constituents of a full course of relious instruction which have been pointed

out?

It is necessary to premise, that the Companion for the Festivals and Fasts is principally the work of a Layman of the Church of England, Robert Nelson. It was the object of the American Editor, to condense the style and matter of the original work, without, however, omitting any thing that could be deemed immediately useful or in