a far greater responsibility rests upon us, my fellow Christian citizens, than upon the subjects of a monarchy. How shall that responsibility be met?
With no disparagement to other means of Christian activity in the service of the church, our country and mankind, (but under a thorough conviction that when it trenches upon the prerogatives of the Christian parent or the Christian ministry, it has exceeded its legitimate sphere,) we believe the Sunday-school system admirably adapted, in the circumstances of our country, to effect, by God’s blessing, the end at which every Christian should aim, the sanctification of our country. When we consider, that before forty years have passed away, the country will be wholly governed by those who are now children, no farther argument is necessary to prove the wisdom of following the Saviour’s example, in choosing them, under God, for our strength, and their instruction from the word of God as the method of training them for their future career.
The art of reading is of course fundamental to such education, and, notwithstanding the opportunities so richly enjoyed by the youth of our land, there are not a few who are prohibited from acquiring it, during the secular week; but, on the sacred day, when God gives man freedom from labour on earth, that he may prepare for rest in heaven, we open the gate of knowledge for all within our reach. The cases must be very rare, in which, with such facilities for teaching or learning, any need grow up to manhood destitute of skill to trace the words of divine truth.
The art of reading is, however, but a small part of the necessary training. It may, in itself, be a curse,
