diately and invariably to follow wilful disobedience; the whole should visibly proceed from the dictates of mercy and a regard for the offender's real good. The very countenance of the keeper should wear a benevolent aspect, however resolute and determined he may be to carry his measures into full effect. These unfortunate youths are to be reclaimed; the light of knowledge is to be shed upon their understandings; the sanctions of virtue and revealed truth are to be presented to their hearts and consciences; they are to be shown the exceeding folly of transgression, and have a better way pointed out to them; they must be attracted to goodness; they must be cured of their moral maladies by a course of patient instruction, and humane treatment. 'Let it be remembered,' said an enlightened writer,* whom death arrested in early life in the midst of usefulness, that in youth the character is easily susceptible of change, the mind greedy for knowledge, the heart, in general, when skilfully touched, sensible to kindness and compassion.' Experience has always confirmed these remarks, but never more signally than by the labors of Mrs Fry and her associates in Newgate, to which we have already referred. In other prisons also, to our personal knowledge, human nature, even in its abject and depraved forms, has responded to the voice and action of humanity. We have seen hardened cultprits who at first looked with sullen disrespect upon those whom official duty sent to inspect their cells and inquire into their treatment; but whose manners and countenances assumed grateful and confiding expressions, the moment they perceived, that their comfort and good were the motives of the visitation. Kindness is the grand secret of all government, but especially of prison government. A culprit that laughs to scorn the shouldered firelock of a sentinel, or the sword of an overseer, will melt into tears at the voice of good will, and feel no disposition to abuse the confidence that induces a superintendent to throw himself fearlessly into the midst of a crowd of criminals.

* John Gallison, Esq. See his able review of Buxton on Crimes, in the xxvth number of the North American Review. There is in both the review and the work reviewed, much ingenious speculation and a fund of valuable matters of fact. Mr Gallison examined the subject of Prison Discipline with great zeal and ability. It was a subject that deeply interested his mind. In his premature death, the benevolent lost an able associate, and society a wise and improving member. His writings were powerful in the cause of virtue and truth, and were illustrated by a pure example.

But since the first object of a Refuge for juvenile offenders, is to supply the neglect of parents and society, a schoolroom will be indispensable, and the Lancasterian or monitorial mode of instruction will probably be found to be the best that can be adopted. At the New York Refuge, as we have noticed above, two hours in a day, one in the morning and one in the evening, are devoted to spelling, reading, writing and ciphering. The superintendent is also in the daily habit of giving instruction on subjects adapted to the intelligence of the subjects; such as various objects of natural history and the useful arts, availing himself of the opportunity thus afforded of enforcing moral and religious truth and desires, which tend to elevate their minds above the low and degraded habits, to which they had been accustomed, and to implant the ambition of entering upon an honorable and useful course of life.' Let it not be said, that criminals have no inclination for intellectual employments. The voice of experience has decided to the contrary. In the Sixth Report it is said, that

Education is the very best employment. You can hardly credit me in saying, that the old embrace the opportunity so cheerfully, that in a very few months some have been able to read and write far beyond the progress made by the younger members of society at regular schools. In the gaol school men of forty years and upwards, from the alphabet, have, in a very short time, departed a credit to their instructers. These are not extraordinary instances, they are frequent.......There is a school for those who cannot read, from which it appears that many boys have derived great benefit. Considerable attention is paid to religious instruction......The chaplain bears testimony to the great benefit which has resulted from the establishment of the school under his superintendence....Schools, the most interesting instrument in the improvement of prisons and prison discipline, have made encouraging progress within the last year.' Again; Admonition and advice have no affect on children, who are confined in the prisons with abandoned offenders. They become unruly, impudent, and vicious. I dismissed none without inquiring if they could read, and found that not more than four or five out of forty had been instructed. One answered, 'What is reading good for? Another said, 'Who was to have taught me? We had no schoolmaster at our place.''

Regular instruction should be given in the mechanical arts. Each delinquent should be thoroughly taught some trade.

It will give them means of support, and a consciousness of independence. Work performed out of doors, is especially proper, for without it they will become too tender for any but sedentary employments.

But in vain will every other precaution be taken, if religious instruction* be neglected. That should enter largely into the system. Not that we should recommend a formal, or gloomy course of instruction. The Scriptures should be read and familiarly explained, not as is too frequently done, to administer sharp reproof and denunciation, but as the language of the friend of sinners to his erring, tempted, and sinful disciples. Let the religious teacher of a Refuge beware of telling his hearers, that they are 'sinners above all men.' Nothing renders scriptural truth so unacceptable, as when it is delivered at particular individuals, rather than at particular sins. We have heard prayers and sermons before mixed audiences, culprits, overseers, and committees, the bond, and free, which have appeared like the aspirations of the selfrighteous, I thank God I am not as other men are, or even as this publican.' It is a matter of accident with many persons, that they are not in the society of prisoners. Besides, in a religious view, all men are transgressors. Therefore, when human beings address the almighty and pure Spirit in prayer, all distinctions created by man should be forgotten. They are of less value in the sight of God, than some would seem to think them. We must never overlook the fact, that the disease is within, affecting the heart and the mind. Conscience must therefore be awakened, christian motives must be perseveringly presented, and enforced by the irresistible eloquence of mildness and good example. As there is no genuine morality without religion, we must not expect to succeed in the reformation of criminals, unless the fear of God is superadded to the fear of man.

Moral and religious instruction has become a general practice in the prisons of Great Britain. Benevolent individuals and associations are doing great good by this means. In many prisons, Bibles, prayer books, and tracts are furnished to the prisoners, prayers are offered by the chaplain mornings and evenings, and worship on the Sabbath regularly attended. In one instance an apartment has been allotted to the Chaplain for giving private instruction and admonition.

ART. VI.-A Sermon preached at the Dedication of the Church in Hanover Street, Boston, March 1, 1826. By M. STUART, Associate Professor of Sacred Literature in the Theological Seminary, Andover. pp. 35.

THIS Sermon claims particular notice for several reasons. It was delivered on an interesting occasion. The opening of a new house for christian worship, in any case, is an occasion of great interest. It adds to the interest, that it is for the accommodation and use of a new society of worshippers, and thus gives encouraging indications of the demand for more places of worship, bearing some proportion to the increased population of the city. The character and standing of its author impart a degree of importance to whatever doctrines it expresses, and whatever spirit it breathes. And the sermon contains sentiments, which ought not to be regarded with indifference.

From the words of our Saviour, Mast. xviii. 20, 'For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them,' the preacher raises the two following questions, which make the subject of discourse, viz.

1. What is it for an assembly of men to convene in the name of Christ?

2. What is implied in the declaration that he is in the midst of them?

To meet together, or to perform any act in the name of Christ, is to do it as his disciples. But this phrase also needs. explanation, and the preacher proceeds to state the several points in which the religion of Christ differs from every other, and in which his disciples are distinguished from those, who profess every other faith. It is justly remarked, that there are many doctrines, and those of great importance, which the Christian holds in common with men of other religions, and duties also, which he practises in common with them. But there are others, which are peculiar to the Christian; which distinguish him from all others; which make him, what he professes to be, a Christian, in distinction from an unbeliever, a heathen or polytheist, a deist or naturalist, a Jew or a Mahommedan.

The author proceeds with a sufficient degree of solemnity,

and expressing a strong sense of the delicacy and the responsibility of the task, to point out, not all the peculiarities of the christian system, which disciples of Christ are bound to maintain; but merely a few particulars, which are prominent among the characteristics, that distinguish the christian religion from all others. We mention this to show, that the author has not expressed himself with carelessness; that he was probably fully aware of the bearing of what he has said, and that he is to be understood as deliberately intending all that is, by fair interpretation, implied in the representation he has given of what constitutes a Christian. For otherwise, there seemed no occasion for so formally drawing the attention of his hearers to the delicacy or the responsibility of what he was about to say.

When, therefore, he professes to point out what those distinctive traits of belief or character are, which separate Christians from all other worshippers, and make them the subjects of the promise in the text, and pronounces, that they, who are the genuine followers of Christ, and real converts to his religion, must receive those doctrines, and practise those duties; and that none can be truly said to meet together in the name of Christ, or as his disciples, who do not admit the one and practise the other; we are to understand him as denying the christian name to every one, who does not assent to each of those articles, which he has selected as those, by which the Christian is distinguished from all others, however sincere he may be in his belief in him as a messenger from God, however ready to receive all his instructions as divine truth, however careful to cherish the spirit of his religion, and however faithful to perform its duties. Those articles, as the preacher has explained, illustrated, and enforced them, are

1. Belief in the atonement by the blood of Christ.*

2. Love to Christ.

3. Rendering religious homage to Christ.

4. Obedience to Christ.

Now waiving, for the present, the question whether these arti

* The proposition, as stated in its place in the sermon is, 'You who are here to meet in the name of Christ, must believe and trust in him as the true Messiah, the Son of God, and the only Saviour of Sinners.' As explained and enforced in several following pages, it is as we have stated it above, and is so expressed by the preacher. Only one has made atonement for sin by his death.' 'No other religion presents you with a founder, who has made atonement for his followers by his own blood.'