suffered to remain, in a great measure, destitute of the means of acquiring religious information. While such is the situation of many of the youth of our land; and while it is a fact, that every individual of the community, whatever be his situation in life, has his own weight in society; and according as his principles are good or bad, must be to it a blessing or a curse, what greater service can be rendered to our Country, and to these individuals themselves, than to endeavour to supply these deficiencies, by instructing them in the Religion of Christ, and thus instil into their minds those principles which are found to have the most powerful influence upon human conduct!

What are the ties that will bind the man who has no knowledge of God, no reverence for his character, no regard for his authority? What can prevent him from breaking through the fences which civil law and the laws of honour have raised, (when these stand counter to his propensities,) and from making inroads upon the rights and the lives of his countrymen ? If there is nothing to deter him, but the temporary punishments which an injured country can inflict,—the fear of these will not restrain his passions, nor hinder him from pursuing the object of his lawless desire.

But even should the laws of the country deter from the commission of deeds of violence and of blood, what can operate as a preventive, in those cases of fraud and injustice, to which the laws cannot reach? There are a thousand ways in which a man may injure his neighbour, without the fear of being detected, or in which, even his detection would be followed by no other penalty, than the contempt of the few by whom his conduct is known. He may sow the seeds of jealousy among families and friends; he may calumniate the fair fame of his bro

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ther; he may, by a course of ingenious fraud, raise his fortune upon the ruin of others; he may entwine himself around their affections and opinions, the more easily and effectually to sting them; he may in the view of the world, be presenting the hand of friendship, while with the other he is secretly presenting a dagger to the breast. If then such actions may be done, either without being known by the world, or even when known, without the danger of a painful retaliation; and if by their commission, the strongest desires of the mind may be gratified ;-what will prevent them from being committed, if no conviction is felt, that there is an eye which scrutinously watches every movement, and marks every deed.

That such men, as have now been described, do exist. in society, does not admit of a doubt. We have only to open our eyes, and we see them. The records of every day, and the intelligence from every quarter, place them before us; and fortunate are they, (for such are few,) who cannot in the course of their life bear testimony, from their own experience, to the mortifying truth. Who has not some story to tell of unsuspecting youth betrayed by the unfeeling deceiver; of humble worth borne down by the iron grasp of an oppressive and ty rannical master; of the orphan, and the widow, and the destitute, over-reached and ruined by the cool, calculating knave! Where is the prison-house which does not contain some unhappy being, now clanking his chains, and in the dreariness of his cell, suffering for those outrages which he has made upon the rights of a brother! How many a poor wretch, now waits in awful expectation of the execution of that sentence, which is to terminate his career of wickedness in this

world, and to usher him into the presence of a God, whose authority he has insulted and defied !

If then, the sons of violence and deceit be so numerous, if they are to be dreaded, for the havock, and the desolation, and the misery which mark their footsteps, and accompany them wherever they move; and if the influence of their example may contaminate and pollute all, or many, who come within its reach; surely philanthrophy could not undertake a nobler task, than to rid the community of their presence, not by destroying them, but by destroying their principles,-not by disabling them merely from doing injury, although this would be much, but by giving their propensities and desires such a direction, as should lead them to the love and practice of what is good. We all feel the evil arising from such people existing at present, and we can all conceive the benefits which would result trom their numbers being diminished. Society would then be in a much happier situation than it now is; and high as our country stands in the scale of nations, it would then rise to a much nobler height.

But however desirable it may be that such characters should be reformed, and however necessary that every practicable endeavour should be used to accomplish this end; yet that such a reformation should be brought about, is in most of the cases extremely improbable. It is not the best time to begin to tell men of their duty, after evil habits have been acquired, and a long series of indulgences have strengthened and confirmed them. It is not easy for the "Ethiopian to change his skin, nor the leopard his spots," neither for the man who has learned to do evil, to learn to do well. Accordingly, we find, that comparatively few, who have run the career of wickedness, have returned to their God; and

but few of them, excepting when in the prospect of death, have shewn any signs of contrition or remorse for their misdeeds.

There is another class of men whose reformation it would be no less difficult to effect, and the existence of which it would be in no small degree beneficial to prevent:-A class of people who, if they are guilty of no positive evil, yet do nothing positively good; whose principles are sufficiently powerful to preserve them from acting unjustly towards their neighbours, and whose natural inclinations lean to the side of decency and peace, but who, in other respects, are mere cyphers; who eat, and drink, and sleep, and die; whose anxieties begin, and end, and centre in themselves; to whom the world is indebted for none of those charities which alleviate the sufferings of humanity; and who float along the stream of time, without any other concern than for the bark in which they sail, although hundreds may be striving, and tugging and perishing around them.

If, then, it would be a glorious atchievement to free society of these different classes of men; and, if it is so difficult, nay, almost impossible, to reform them when already confirmed in long nurtured habits; unquestionably, a greater benefit cannot be rendered to our country, and to posterity, than to use such means as are best calculated to prevent their future existence; and not merely to prevent their existence, but to raise up in their room, those who may be respectable citizens and active Christians. Nor to accomplish this end, can a better method be adopted, than to lay hold of every child, (and these are many), destitute of the means of obtaining religious instruction; and so to seize that moment when the mind is susceptible of receiving salutary

impressions, when passion has not drowned the voice of reason, nor a seared conscience the voice of God.

To confer such a benefit, in some degree, upon the public, and by the adoption of such a method, is one of the important objects of the EDINBURGH GRATIS SAB BATH SCHOOL SOCIETY. By establishing Schools in different quarters, they collect children together on the evening of the Lord's Day, and endeavour to explain, and impress upon their minds, those momentous truths which are contained in the scriptures; and, aided by the powerful motives which these present, urge them to the practice of every virtue, and the shunning of every vice. Great, however, as this object is, it is not their only, nor even their chief object. The design of their exertions is not so much to make the young a blessing to others, as a blessing to themselves ;-not so much to fit them for being honest and reputable citizens of this world, as to prepare them for being citizens of heaven. They wish to be instrumental in saving those souls, each of which, He who alone knows their value, has declared to be more precious than the whole world. They wish to encrease the triumphs of the Cross, and to add to the worshippers of the Lamb: In short, their sole aim is to make them Christians.

It is no valid objection against such an institution, that all the young under its charge do not become Christians; and that many of them in after life may, or do throw off entirely, all the restraints of religion: For even though this were true, it is a fact of high importance, that the instructions which they receive do, in general, for a length of time, prevent the perpetration of any flagrant or enormous crime; that frequently, even in the midst of the vice and folly into which they may have plunged, compunctions are produced, which are