also give this inestimable book to the destitute and indigent; and do all we can to extend its blessings; praying that it may

fill the hearts of all men with the knowledge and love of our glorious and blessed Redeemer. R. W.

SOCIETIES FOR THE EDUCATION OF INDIGENT PIOUS YOUNG MEN, FOR THE MINISTRY.

THESE Societies are founded on two well attested and deeply impressive FACTS; that a large portion of our nation is destitute of competent religious instructors, and that the ordinary supply from our colleges is utterly insufficient to meet these wants. The population of our country swells far beyond the ordinary flow of ministers from our colleges. The wants of the country are constantly be coming more extensive and more grieveus. An extraordinary and vigoroas effort, therefore, is demanded in order to furnish our nation with suitable Christian instruction.

The facts, which have been laid in various ways before the Christian public, relative to the wants of our countrymen, are yet incomplete. The most prying eye has not yet searched out every corner of darkness in our land. But the facts, which have already been collected, need only be diffused, to interest every Christian heart in the subject. An impartial statement of facts will enable every Christian to see what claims his destitute countrymen have on his charity. Information on this subject, must be collected and diffussed. Men must see, in order to act. Objects of misery must be present to the view, before the heart will be moved to pity. The multitude of Christians in our land who enjoy the weekly instruction of the sabbath, and who, with their families, dwell daily in the midst of that great light, which first diffused its healing beams in the land of Zebulon, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the gentiles, must behold the thousands of their fellow-countrymen, who, with their children, spend the present life without Christian instruction, and enter the future without hope; and, unless they are Christians merely in name, they will open their hearts and purses in charity. Mr. Beecher, in his Address in behalf of the Charitable Society formed in Connecticut for this object, has laid before the public as brief and comprehensive a view of the present state of information, rospecting the extent of religious instruc

tion enjoyed in our own country, as can elsewhere be found. The facts he has exhibited respecting the deficiency of evangelical instructors in our nation, his ingenious and sound calculations to shew the incompetency of any ordinary method to furnish a supply, accompanied with the most solemn appeals to the conscience and heart, have already induced many Christians to take hold of the subject and to form Charitable Societies. Their object is to educate pious young men for the ministry, who are unable to educate themselves, and thus supply the nation. They would seek the energy, and talent, and piety, that adorn so many in the poorer classes of society, and cultivate them for more prominent service in the church of God.

Mr. Beecher has warned us not to keep silence on this subject. In his expressive language, "the newspaper, the tract, and magazines must disclose to our slumbering countrymen their danger. The press must groan in the communication of our wretchedness; and from every pulpit in the land the trumpet must sound long and loud. The nation must be awaked to save itself by its own exertions or we are undone."

This was uttered while his heart was warmed by the facts he had just been exhibiting. These facts have probably met the eyes of most of our readers. We feel justified, however, without detailing them minutely, to exhibit his general estimate of the spiritual necessities of our nation.

The rule with which Mr. Beecher sets out in his estimate, is, that to furnish the United states with competent religious instruction, one instructor is demanded for every thousand souls. To justify this rule, he states that in the Jewish nation the proportion was much greater; that New England in her most prosperous days had one for 628; and that the present medium supply for Europe is one for 1000. The following reasons shew the rule to be at least moderate. "The population of the Union is so scattered, that one half of it cannot be thrown into congregations of a thousand souls; and if, in some places, one pastor can supply 1500 or 2000; in four

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times that number of places he can embody in his charge a number not exceeding 500 souls. So that assigning one minister to a thousand souls, as they are scattered over the face of the nation, is in fact a very small supply. But could the population of the nation be organized in congregations of 1000 souls, or 150 families, the whole routine of ministerial labor, the weekly preparations for the desk, the visiting of schools, the catechetical instruction, the weekly lectures, and family visiting, added to a vast amount of miscellaneous avocations, would completely engross the whole time of any pastor."

Take this rule, then, and the 8,000,000 of inhabitants in the United States need 8,000 ministers. The number of our educated ministers is not more than 3,000; of course 6,000 are at present needed, and 5,000,000 people are destitute of competent religious instruction. There may be, perhaps, 1,500 besides, who are nominally ministers. These Mr. B. strikes off the list. His reasons for so doing are, that they are extremely illiterate, despising learning, and utterly incapable of exerting that religious, and moral, and literary influence which belongs to the ministry. "Illiterate pastors," Mr. B. justly observes, "cannot be the patrons of schools, academies and colleges. They cannot, and if they can they will not, exalt society above their own level. Education, religious and literary, will be neglected in their hands; civilization will decline, and immoralities multiply. If the influence of such men be better than nothing, if it do not help on the decline caused by human depravity, it is totally incompetent to arrest it."

"Illiterate men have never been the chosen instruments of GOD to build up his cause. The Disciples of our Lord, to supply the deficiency of an education, were instructed by himself for three years; and then, were miraculously taught languages, and clothed with the power of miracles, and were guided beside by the immediate suggestions of the Holy Spirit.

"What would the science of law become, and the administration of justice, in the hands of men destitute of a common education, ignorant of the science, and who should go from the plough and the workshop to the bar? What would be the fate of medicine, and our fate, were health and life committed to the hands of men who never studied the hu man system, and knew nothing of diseas es or remedies, by reading or by meditation? And what would be the fate of agriculture, or commerce, or the mechanic arts, pursued with as much ignorance as attends an unlettered ministry; and pur

sued only as a calling subordinate to another, which occupied six days in seven? Is religious knowledge alone to be obtained without study? Or is the soul, and its eternal concern, the only thing on earth unworthy the attention of an order of men educated for the purpose, and devoted exclusively to that object? It is our duty then to engage deliberately in the enterprise of supplying our nation with qualified religious instructors.-Religion is the last thing that should be committed to the hands of ignorant and incompetent men, and the real deficiency of competent religious instructors is at least five thous and, and the population unsupplied is five millions."

The question then arises whether these 5,000,000 will ever receive competent religious instructors. A short calculation will shew, that without extraordinary exertions, they never will. The population of the country in past years has far outrun the increase of ministers. "From the year 1700 to 1753, there were 998 students graduated at Harvard and Yale Colleges, (at that time the only Colleges in New-England.) Of this number, 804 were ministers of the Gospel. Of these 804, there were living in 1753, according to the best estimate, 621. The popu lation of New-England, in 1753, was 390, 000. Of course there was, at that time, on an average, one LIBERALLY EDUCATED minister for every 628 souls in NewEngland.

"From a cursory examination of the necessary documents, it is presumed, that previous to this period, back to the first settlement of the country, the supply was even greater than this proportion.

"Compare this result with the present supply of ministers from these colleges. Let it be first remembered, however, that since 1753 the population of New England has increased nearly tenfold, and has spread itself over the whole western country; and though Colleges have multiplied, yet Harvard and Yale still educate ONE THIRD of all who receive a collegiate education in the United States: that of course one third of the population, or nearly_three millions of people, look to them for religious teachers. To supply this population, as New-England was supplied for more than 130 years after its settlement, (that is, till within the memory of many now upon the stage,) would require 4,250 ministers. Yet it is a fact, that there are now living only 760 ministers, graduates of Harvard and Yale; leaving an arrearage of 3,490.

"To speak more particularly of YaleCollege. Probably one sixth of all who receive a collegiate education in the United States are graduates of this semi

nary-Allotting then to Yale-College one sixth of the population of the United States, as her portion to supply, if this portion were now fully supplied, with one minister for every 1,000 souls; yet, barely to fill the vacancies by death, and to meet the annual increase of population, the College would still be called upon to furnish 80 ministers annually; and this number to be increased in future, in proportion as the population should increase. Yet it is a fact, that for the last forty years, there has not been an average of NINE ministers annually from this institution."

We are brought then to this conclusion, that "an immediate, universal, vigor. ous effort must be made to provide relig. ious instruction for the nation -The enterprize is one which a few hands cannot accomplish. The nation, all the pious and well-disposed part of the nation, must unite and engage systematically and vigorously in this work of self-preservation. The evangelizing of the nation must not be a secondary object to any one. It must stand forth in all its magnitude, as the prominent object upon which all eyes are fixed; for which all hearts beat, and in which all hands are employed. A Bible for every family, a school for every district, and a pastor for every 1,000 souls, must be the motto upon the standard, round which the millions who enjoy these blessings must rally for the purpose of extending them to those who do not."

Mr. B. brings an object so loudly claiming Christian charity to the doors of ministers, churches, charitable associations, the wealthy, men in civil authority, and the alumni of Yale College. On each of these classes, he presses his solicitations with an ardor demanded by the necessities of those whose cause he pleads. We will close this article with a few passages, with which he concludes his energetic appeal. "The motives to such an effort as we propose, are numerous and powerful. It is indispensable to prevent the great body of the nation from sinking down to a state of absolute heathenism. Let the tide of population roll on for seventy years as it has done for the 70 that are past, and fet no extraordinary exertion be made to meet the vastly increasing demand for ministers; but let them increase only in the slow proportion that they have done, and what will be the result? There will be within the United States SEVENTY MILLION SOULS-and there will be only six thousand competent religious teachers; that is, SIXTY-FOUR MILLION, out of the -SEVENTY, will be wholly destitute of proper religious instruction. They may not become the worshippers of Idols; but there is a brutality, and ignorance, and VOL. XI.

profligacy always prevalent where the Gospel does not enlighten and restrain, as decisively ruinous to the soul, as Idolatry itself. It is of little consequence to a ruined immortal in hell, whether he perished by the waters of the Ganges, or on the road to Juggernaut; or whether he perished at home, consumed by slow fires within, or chilled by frost in a fit of intoxication. The little light that may glimmer upon the dark places of our land, if it be not enough to rescue souls from death, may even render their circumstances more dreadful than the total darkness of heathen lands, by aggravating their guilt and condemnation. The civil welfare of the nation demands imperiously, the universal co-operation of religious institutions.

"If knowledge and virtue be the basis of republican institutions, our foundations will soon rest upon the sand, unless a more effectual and all-pervading system of religious and moral instruction can be provided. The right of suffrage in the hands of an ignorant and vicious population, such as will always exist in a land where the Gospel does not restrain and civilize, will be a sword in the hand of a maniac; to make desolate around him, and finally to destroy himself. It is no party in politics that can save this nation from political death, by political wisdom merely. The disease is upon the vitals, and the remedy must be appropriate. There is no remedy but the tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. Beneath the shade of this tree the millions of our land may sit down with great delight, and its fruit shall be sweet to their taste.

"The integrity of the Union demands special exertions to produce in the nation a more homogeneous character, and bind us together by firmer bonds. Commenoing, as each State did, a kind of insulated existence, and preserving still, as it ought to do, an independent, internal organization; and spread as the States are, over a vast extent of country; and united as they are, chiefly for defence and commercial purposes, there is not sufficient intercourse to beget affection; nor a sufficient solidity of the whole nation to counteract the danger of local repulsion in times of public commotion. A remedy must be applied to this vital defect of our national organization. But what shall that remedy be? There can be but one. The consolidation of the State Governments would make a despotism. But the prevalence of pious, intelligent, enterprising ministers through the nation, at the ratio of one for a thousand, would establish schools, and academies, and colleges, and habits, and institutions of homogeneous influence. These would produce a sameness of views, and feelings, and interests, which would lay

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the foundation of our empire upon a rock. Religion is the central attraction, which must supply the deficiency of political affity and interest. Religion is the bond of charity, which in storms must undergird the ship. The intercourse of good men, in the blessed enterprize of evangelizing our land, will do more than every thing beside to make the different parts of the land acquainted, to do away local jealousies, to consolidate the nation, and perpetuate its liberties. The very enterpize will cause every one who embarks in it to love his country better, while he constantly renders his country more worthy to be loved.

"How blessed will be the remuneration of such an enterprize, in the health, the temperance, the industry, and peace, and friendship, diffused through the nation. The expense of crimes and of their punishment, beside all the woes of wickedness, is four times as great, as the expense of their prevention, by a comprehensive system of religious instruction.

"With respect to the young men, whom we shall educate by our charities, it may be observed, that as we take them under our patronage not until they are fitted for College, we shall not be likely to be de ceived in the objects of our charity, after such a probation as the preparatory studies will afford. We shall be able to select young men of sound mintis, and good talents; and they will be takon from a state of society, where bodily vigor, resolution, and a capacity of enduring hardships, will be found in their best estate.

"Upon the College, and upon the State at large, the influence of such an aécession of intelligent and pious young men, will be most auspicious. The religious and moral habits of our young men in College are to affect deeply the civil and religious interests of the State. The age at which they reside in College is the forming age; and the habits of thinking and feeling acquired there, will often be carried through life. We feel constantly in our churches, and in our civil concerns, in all parts of the State, the good or ill effects of principles imbibed, and habits formed in Yale College. Now the great difficulty, where such numbers of inexperienced youth are associated, is to guard against irreligfon and dissipation. What parent, on sending his son to a public seminary, does not tremble at the temptations, to which he may be exposed? But the students, whom Charity shall send to Yale College, will possess, ordinarily, a weight of talents, and always, it may be hoped, that piety and circumspection, which will create an influence in the College, surpassing the power of laws or discipline. What a security to our sons to have in the College,

whither we send them, a select band of pious companions to watch over and pray. for them, and lead them in the right way.

"Nor is it a vain expectation, that the prayers, the example, and the conversation of these sons of the prophets in our College, will be connected with frequent revivals of religion, and that our charities to them may be the very means, which God will make the occasion of salvation to our own children. What a pledge to the State for the piety and integrity of her pastors and of rising legislators. It is no unreasonable hope, that in educating one minister by charity, we shall provide two for our country, by the blessing of Gol upon the prayers and example of this one.

"The Providence of God also seems at the present time, to indicate, with uncommon clearness, our duty. There is an unusual predisposition, manifesting itself in our country, to receive the Gospel. Infi delity has long been on the decline, and the importance of religious institutions is more highly appreciated. Something begins to appear in some of the new settlements, which reminds us of the early days of New-England, when our fathers carried their pastor with them, to commence a settlement in the wilderness. The utility of Missionary labors is more and more admitted, and the demand as to extent and importunity is increasing every year.

"Several charitable foundations have al ready been laid, with a view to prepare indigent young men of piety for College; and God has raised up suddenly, and by an unparallelled liberality, Theological Seminaries to receive them, and fit them for the Ministry, when regularly educated. By the revivals of religion, also, which have prevailed and now prevail in our land, a great multitude of young men have been made willing to devote themselves to alt the hardships attending so great an enterprize as the evangelizing of the nation. Our College constitutes the broken link. To her threshold, every year, young men of piety come, and for the love of Jesus, and the worth of souls, plead for admission, and are sent away because no funds are provided to help them through. From all parts of the land the cry ascends, Give us Ministers, or we die; and pious young men, smitten with compassion, spring up and rush to our College, and offer themselves to the Lord, and no provision is made to receive them.

"For a number of years past, from 16 to 20 applications of this kind have been made and refused. There are at this time several young men in Yale-College who, hearing that this society had been organized, have come and flung themselves upon us. We could not send them away, and yet, unless we are patronized by the

public, they must go away despairing of their object; for they stand in need of every thing, while as yet it is compara tively nothing that we can do.

"After all, it may be demanded by some what evidence have we, that the objects of our charity will devote themselves to the profession for which they are educated, and will adorn the doctrine of God their Savior. You have the evidence of a profession of religion, confirmed by a corespondent life, through at least two years of preparatory study.

"Considering the great demand for Min isters, and the evident purpose of God to provide a supply, indicated by revivals in Colleges, and unheard of liberality of many to educate ministers, you have reason to believe that those who offer themselves will be generally those whom God has called, and whom he will preserve and bless. And you have the analogy of past experience, from which it appears that, with few exceptions, the young men, who have been educated by charity for the ministry, have answered the expectations of their benefactors. But suppose occasionally we should be disappointed, and our labor's be in vain, would that be a reason for abandoning the whole system of charitable education, and leaving our country to relapse into heathenism, and our posterity, to be crushed by the land of despotism. Must we be certain of success, before we lift a finger in any charitable enterprize? Is no trust to be reposed in God, and no risk to be run for the love of Jesus and the good of souls? Do we in common life vest no capital in any business without an absolute certainty of a profitable return? If a crop fail, will the farmer never sow again? If a yoy age prove unsuccessful, will the merchant never try another? We have at least as high security for the accomplishment of our charitable designs as attend an ordinary worldly avocation, in which the risk of failure never deters any one. Where then you would run the risk of failure from a prospect of earthly gain, will you not do it to glorify God, to bless your country, to save immortal souls from perdition. You have as high and even higher security than parents ordinarily have, who educate their own children for the ministry, and pon the principle upon which you would refuse to give, all efforts must stop to provide ministers, and the whole land sit in darkness. Besides, your obligation to give does not arise from the absolute certainty of success. The necessities of your country and the world, and the high authority of heaven, bind you to give, committing the event to God. If he hear your prayers and bless your alms, you are bound to give thanks. But if, for the trial of your faith, he disappoint your hopes, then

you are to submit without murmuring, but never to withhold your charities and your prayers,

"And now, people of Connecticut, and all who fear God, with these facts we appeal to your consciences whether it is not your duty to give. We appeal to your hearts whether you are not willing to give, to save your country from ruin, and to save millions of your countrymen from heil. Are you a friend to your country? Behold her nakedness and spread over it the cor er of charity. Are you friends to civil liberty? Give, that it may be rescued from a violent death, and a speedy one, by the hands of ignorance and irreligion. Afe you patriots? Bless your country by uniting in the holy enterprize of converting moral wilderness into a fruitful field. Are you fathers? Give, that you may provide for your children, at home and abroad, an in heritance incorruptible and undefiled, and unfading in heaven. Are you Christians? Pray without ceasing to the Lord of the harvest, that he would thrust laborers into his vineyard, and let your prayers and your sharities go up together. Do any of you anticipate a speedy removal from this to a better world, and do you wish to conse crate to some useful purpose a portion of the whole of your property? Give it, we beseech you, for the education of indigen pious young men for the Gospel Ministry, that you, being dead, may yet, through distant generations, speak to your country. men the words of eternal life. finally, whatever it shall be your purpose to do, do it quickly, and with all your might; for of the five millions of your destitute countrymen every year is sweeping 150 thousand to the grave. While you read, they die and go to the judgment; and with all the expedition that you can make, about 750 thousand must die in this Christian land destitute of the means of grace, before you can send to them one competent religious instructor, as the result of exertions which are yet to be made. O, that my head were as waters, and mine eyes as fountains of tears, that I might weep day and night over the slain of the daughter of my people!”

CONSTITUTION

And,

OF THE CHARITABLE SOCIETY, FORMED IN CONNECTICUT, FOR THE EDUCATION OF INDIGENT PIOUS YOUNG MEN, FOR THE MINISTRY OF THE GOSPEL.

Art. 1. The object of this Society shall be, to furnish pecuniary assistance to indi gent young men of piety and promising talents, intended for the ministry of the Gospel, in obtaining an education at Yale College; it boing understood, that no per. sons are to be received under the patron