the faculties of sight, hearing, and speech, and partially that of smell. At the age of nine she was placed at the institution. There she learned to read and write, and has made very considerable progress in knowledge. The details of the manner in which she acquired these arts are exceedingly curious, but to give them does not fall within the scope of this work.

Two very excellent Institutions have lately been opened for the education of idiots and persons of weak intellects, one in Massachusetts and the other in the State of New York.

CHAPTER XXX.

CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE VOLUNTARY

SYSTEM.

WE here close our notice of the development of the Voluntary Principle in the United States; the results will appear more appropriately in another part of this work. If it is thought that I have dealt too much in details, I can only say that these seemed necessary for obvious reasons. There being no longer a union of Church and State in any part of the country, so that religion must depend, under God, for its temporal support wholly upon the voluntary principle: it seemed of much consequence to show how vigorously, and how extensively, that principle has brought the influence of the Gospel to bear in every direction upon the objects within its legitimate sphere. In doing this, I have aimed at answering a multitude of questions proposed to me during a residence and travels in Europe.

I have shown how, and by what means, funds are raised for the erection of church edifices, for the support of pastors, and for providing destitute places with the preaching of the Gospel-this last involving the whole subject of our home missionary efforts. And as ministers must be provided for the settlements forming apace in the West, as well as for the constantly increasing population to be found in the villages, towns, and cities of the East, I entered somewhat at length into the subject of education, from the primary schools up to the theological seminaries and faculties.

It was next of importance to show how the press is made subservient to the cause of the Gospel and the extension of the kingdom of God; then, how the voluntary principle can grapple with existing evils in society, such as intemperance, Sabbath breaking, slavery, and war, by means of diverse associations formed for their repression or

removal; and, finally, I have reviewed the beneficent and humane institutions of the country, and illustrated the energy of the`voluntary principle in their origin and progress.

The reader who has had the patience to follow me thus far, must have been struck with the vast versatility, if I may so speak, of this principle. Not an exigency occurs in which its application is called for, but forthwith those who have the heart, the hand, and the purse to meet the case, combine their efforts. Thus the principle seems to extend itself in every direction with an all-powerful influence. Adapting itself to every variety of circumstances, it acts wherever the Gospel is to be preached, wherever vice is to be attacked, wherever suffering humanity is to be relieved.*

There is one field in which the voluntary principle is perhaps accomplishing triumphs as great, and diffusing an influence as happy as in any other, but which I have not yet noticed. I refer to that presented by the numerous manufacturing establishments that have been springing up during the last five-and-twenty years in the Middle and Northern States. Large factories in the Old World are proverbial for ignorance and vice. But if a man would see religion flourishing in manufacturing places and among "operatives," let him visit some of those towns in New England where cotton, woolen, or other factories have grown up, and where hundreds, in some instances thousands, of men and women are collected under circumstances in which they are apt to exercise a most corrupting influence on one another. Let him there observe the pains taken by bands of devoted Christians, pastors, and members of their flocks, to gather these into Bible-classes and Sunday-schools, to induce them to attend church, to provide libraries of good books for them, to open public lectures on scientific and general as well as religious subjects; above all, let him mark the earnestness with which faithful ministers preach the Gospel to them, and the assiduity with which they watch for their souls; and he will perceive how much may be done even under very unfavorable circumstances, for saving men's souls from ruin. I have never visited communities more virtuous than some of those villages, or in which the Gospel has triumphed more signally over all obstacles.

No manufacturing town in the United States has grown up more rapidly than Lowell, near the Merrimac River, about thirty miles north-west of Boston. It was but a small village not many years ago, and in 1827 had only three thousand five hundred inhabitants. But in 1850 these had increased to thirty-three thousand three hundred and eighty-three. As it derives great advantages for cotton, woolen, and other factories, from the vast water-power it possesses, several companies have built large mills, and employ a great number of people, mostly young women above fifteen years of age, who have been led to leave other parts of New England by the inducement of higher wages than they could command at home. This is an object with some, in order that they may help their poor parents; with others, that they may find means to prosecute their education; and with a third and numerous class, who, being betrothed to young men in their native districts, come to earn for themselves & little "outfit" for the married life. Let us see what opportunities for religious instruction are presented to those young persons.

In 1850 there were more than twenty churches in Lowell, to nearly all of which Sunday-schools are attached. About three fourths of the scholars are girls, a large proportion of whom are above fifteen years of age. More than five hundred became

Nor is this principle less beneficial to those whom it enlists in the various enterprises of Christian philanthropy, than to those who are its express objects. The very activity, energy, and self-reliance it calls forth, are great blessings to the individual who exercises these qualities, as well as to those for whose sake they are put forth, and to the community at large. Men are so constituted as to derive happiness from the cultivation of an independent, energetic, and benevolent spirit, in being co-workers with God in promoting His glory, and the true welfare of their fellow-men.

We now take leave of this part of our subject, to enter upon that for which all that has hitherto been said must be considered preparatory-I mean the direct work of bringing men to the knowledge and possession of salvation.

hopefully pious in 1830, yet that year was not more remarkable than others in regard to religion. A few years ago the whole number of scholars and teachers nearly equaled a third of the population. About one thousand of the factory girls had funds in the savings banks, amounting, in all, to $100,000. A decided taste for reading prevails among them. For several years two monthly magazines of handsome appearance were published there. One of these was the "Operatives' Magazine," and the other the "Lowell Offering." Both were of 8vo form, the one containing sixteen pages, the other thirty-two. Both displayed very considerable talent, and the "Offering" was filled with original articles, written solely by the female operatives. Even a third periodical was established, and conducted by the same class of people.

BOOK V.

THE CHURCH AND THE PULPIT IN AMERICA.

CHAPTER I.

IMPORTANCE OF THIS PART OF THE SUBJECT.

It is instructive to mark the influence of Christian institutions upon society-the repose of the Sabbath-the civilizing effect of assemblies of the people in churches the great amount of knowledge communicated in the numerous discourses of a well-instructed ministry. Apart from higher considerations, the benefits indirectly conferred upon a community by an evangelical ministry are well worth all that it costs. It softens and refines manners; promotes health, by promoting attention to cleanliness and a regard to decency of apparel; it diffuses information, and rouses minds that might otherwise remain ignorant, inert, and stupid. But what is this compared with the preparation of the immortal spirit for its everlasting destiny? This world, after all, is but the place of our education for a better; of how much moment, then, that the period of our pupilage should be rightly spent!

The Church, with her institutions, is of Divine ordination. She was appointed by her great Author to be the depositary of the economy of salvation, so far as human co-operation is concerned; designed to combine all the human agencies which God, in infinite wisdom, has resolved to employ in the accomplishment of that salvation. How important, then, that the Church should meet the design of her Divine Founder, not only as regards her proper character, but also in the development and right employment of the influences she was constituted to put forth for the salvation of the world!

As the Church on earth is but preparatory to the Church in heaven, she was obviously intended to bear some resemblance to the celestial state. As the depositary to which God has committed the custody of His revealed truth, and as His chosen instrument for its diffusion

among mankind, she ought obviously to be kept, so far as an institution placed in the hands of creatures imperfect at the best could be, pure from every thing which would impede the discharge of her high functions.

But we must not misapprehend the office of the Church. She has received no power of original legislation. She is nothing but an agent. Christ is the Lawgiver and the Head of the Church. He has given her the revelation of His will, and has clearly defined her sphere of action. Nor can she justly expect His blessing if she goes beyond the boundaries of her duty.

By a holy life on the part of her members; by a conversation such as becometh saints; by well-directed efforts to make known the Gospel everywhere to dying men, whether by the faithful proclamation of it on the part of the ministry whom God has appointed, or by more familiar instruction in the Sunday-school and the Bible-class, or around the family altar, or by the distribution of the Scriptures and other religious books; united with constant, fervent, and believing prayer that the Holy Spirit may render all these means successful : the Church is required to exert her influence in saving the world. It is thus that she becomes "the light of the world ;" it is thus that she proves herself "the salt of the earth." But, in order to fulfill this high mission, she ought to be as nearly as possible what the Saviour of men intended her to be-a company of saints redeemed by His blood, renewed by His Spirit, devoted to His service-ever bearing the cross, that she may wear the crown, and preparing for that day when she shall be presented to her Lord, "not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing," but "holy and without blemish"-for she is "His Body."

CHAPTER II.

THE EVANGELICAL CHURCHES IN THE UNITED STATES MAINTAIN DISCIPLINE.

DISCIPLINE is a matter of inexpressible importance to the prosperity of a Church; and I rejoice to say that such is the light in which it is viewed by Christians of all the evangelical denominations in the United States, almost without exception.

I do not suppose that there is a single evangelical church in the country that does not keep a record of its members; I mean of those whom it has received according to some regular form or other as