its moral dignity. Mankind, we know, are
placed on earth to have their hearts and understandings exercised and
improved, some in one sphere and some in another, to undergo various
trials, and to perform divers duties; _that_ duty which, in the world's
estimation may seem the least, often being the most important in the
eyes of our heavenly Father. Well and wisely has it been said, in words
which I need not scruple to quote here, where extreme poverty and abject
misery are unknown--

God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best; his state
Is kingly--thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.

Thus am I naturally led to the third and last point in the declaration
of the ancient trust-deed, which I mean to touch upon:--'_Youth shall
lie instructed in grammar, writing, reading, and, other good discipline,
meet and convenient for them, for the honour of God_.' Now, my friends
and neighbours, much as we must admire the zeal and activity which have
of late years been shewn in the teaching of youth, I will candidly ask
those among you, who have had sufficient opportunities to observe,
whether the instruction given in many schools _is_, in fact, _meet and
convenient_? In the building about to be erected here, I have not the
smallest reason for dreading that it will be otherwise. But I speak in
the hearing of persons who may be active in the management of schools
elsewhere; and they will excuse me for saying, that many are conducted
at present so as to afford melancholy proof that instruction is neither
_meet nor convenient_ for the pupils there taught, nor, indeed, for the
human mind in any rank or condition of society. I am not going to say
that religious instruction, the most important of all, is neglected; far
from it; but I affirm, that it is too often given with reference, less
to the affections, to the imagination, and to the practical duties, than
to subtile distinctions in points of doctrine, and to facts in scripture
history, of which a knowledge may be brought out by a catechetical
process. This error, great though it be, ought to be looked at with
indulgence, because it is a tempting thing for teachers unduly to
exercise the understanding and memory, inasmuch as progress in the
departments in which these faculties are employed, is most obviously
proved to the te