gious opinions he shows firmness of principle without asperity of conduct, as he is ever mild, gentle, and tolerant. He warms the hearts of his flock, by his fervent and unaffected piety, and enlightens their understandings, confirms their faith, and invigorates their practice by his judicious and impressive discourses. In his private admonitions he is diligent in giving ad-' vice, and delicate in his manner of doing it; always considering whether the means he employs of reconciling animosities and reproving vice are best calculated to answer the proposed ends. He maintains a proper intercourse with all classes of his parishioners, butis neither arrogant to the poor, nor servile to the rich. To the indigent and deserving he is a constant friend, and protects them from the oppression of ther superiors; he relieves their wants as far as it is in his power, and reconciles them to their laborious and humble stations by the most earnest exhortations to patience and contentment. He is the composer of strife, and the soother of outrageous passions, and no less the temporal than the spiritual minister of peace. His family is the model for all others in their attention to private and public duties; he is the general object of esteem to all, except the malignant and the envious; and he has the happiness to observe that, as he advances in life, the respectability of his character gives additional efficacy to his instructions, and both increases the honour and promotes the diffusion of his holy religion.

"The imagined presence of a wise and good man has been recommended as a convenient guard to private conduct. How would this thought or action appear to Socrates, or Plato, or Aristides? The parochial minister may with equal advantage suppose the ocular inspection of his spiritual Overseer, and antici

pate with greater feeling his censure, or his approbation. If the fear of solitude, or vanity, or idleness, should draw him from the scene of his duty to the provincial town, to the camp, or the capital, he may seem to hear the voice of his elder brother With whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? The reproach may possibly vibrate in his ear, till it rise to the expostulation of a higher Friend and Monitor-Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Happy is the clergyman who, under the impulse of all these motives, discharges with unabated diligence, the sacred, useful, honourable office of a parish priest; and blessed is the congregation who receiveth and heareth him with a grateful and attentive mind." Dr. Napleton's Consecration Sermon, p. 107.

The day will come when the Son of God himself the great Teacher of Christianity, will appear to judge the world in righteousness. His minister, who has thus been an example in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity, who hath taken heed unto himself and all his flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made him overseer, may then meet his congregation in pious hope that his labours, through the mercy of an all gracious Redeemer, will be accepted; and what tongue can describe, what imagination can conceive the ecstatic transports of him, who, because he has turned many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars of heaven forever and ever, and shall be welcomed to the realms of eternal glory with these gracious expressions of acceptance, "WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL

SERVANT; ENTER THOU INTO THE JOY OF THY LORD?" I Tim. iv, 12. Dan. xiii, 3. Matt. xxv, 21.

THE CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

THUS have I endeavoured to execute my proposed design, by sketching the outlines of general knowledge, and opening the various prospects of Religion, Learning, Science, and Taste to the young and studious reader; and in the discussion of every subject I have omitted no fair opportunity of endeavouring to strengthen the ties of genuine patriotism, and to increase his zeal for the service of true religion. My plan would however be incomplete, were I to conclude this work without subjoining a few considerations, which will be stated with more freedom, and urged with greater earnestness, because they have not been sufficiently insisted upon by the numerous writers upon these subjects, although I am sensible, from long experience and attentive observation, that they are of the highest importance.

To all who feel a proper regard for the dearest interests of society, education must appear to be a subject of the most serious concern, as it has the most powerful influence in forming the character, inculcating the principles, and promoting the happiness of the rising generation. And such are the peculiar circumstances of the present times, and the numerous and unprecedented dangers to which young men are now exposed, that it can hardly be questioned, whether there was ever a period in our history, when greater docility and obedience were necessary on their part; greater circumspection on the part of their parents; or greater diligence, aided by all the advantages of learning and experience, on the part of their instructors.

Writers of eminence and respectability, who were remarkable for their accurate observations upon the conduct of mankind, have drawn very gloomy pictures of the depraved manners of the last century. Berkely, the celebrated bishop of Cloyne, and Hartley, the ingenious author of the Observations on Man, did not hesitate to attribute much of this national degeneracy to neglect in the conduct of education, particularly among the higher ranks of society. But had these writers lived in the present times, can it be seriously asked, whether they would have found no additional subjects for their complaints? or rather would they not have apprehended that greater and more alarming dangers than those which impended over their contempories, would arise from the prevalence of evils now existing?

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Such conjectures are confirmed by those authors who have recently remarked the various and considerable changes, which have taken place in the opinions and the conduct of their contemporaries. "In consequence of the tide of wealth, which our extensive commerce has caused to flow into this country, the luxury and dissipation of the higher orders of society have reached an unprecedented height; while the public opinion of high birth and hereditary honours has sunk far below their former estimation. The rage for public amusements, and for crowded assemblies of persons of fashion, who meet for no purpose but to destroy time, and encourage the selfishness of gaming,

See Mrs. H. More on Female Education; Bowdler's Reform or Ruin; Bowles's Reflections on the State of Society; Mrs. West's Letters to a Young Man; and Dr. Barrow on Education.

has gone far to extinguish their domestic pleasures, and to banish rational and refined conversation. The distinctions formerly preserved among the different ranks, which were once reputed the great preservatives of decorum and order, are now neglected as unnecessary, and ridiculed as formal. The doctrines of liberty and equality are not confined to speculators on government, or political declaimers alone, but are introduced into common habits of thinking, and general modes of acting among other mischiefs to which they have given rise, they have increased the self-sufficiency of young men, encouraged the indulgence of their passions, flattered their vanity, led them to regard government of every kind as tyranny, religion as superstition, and the laws and regulations of all former ages as incompatible with the rights of their nature, and unworthy of the dignity of their understandings. The general reverence for the experience of age and for the privileges of authority is greatly diminished, and this change of opinion and laxity of principle are observed to be in no instances more conspicuous than in the relaxation of parental authority, the indulgence of the appetites and inclinations of the young, and the confident manners, and sometimes the open disobedience of children to their parents.'

Such are the most striking characteristics attributed to the present times; and whether the description be allowed to be precisely accurate, or only partly just, it is our earnest desire, as well as our urgent duty, even supposing that a relaxation of principle, an immoderate pursuit of pleasure, and an impatience of authority and restraint have not yet pervaded any considerable part of the community, to sound the alarm of approaching danger, and to point out the best

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