The Advantages of Knowledge to the Lower Classes: a Sermon, preached for the Benefit of a Sunday-School. By Robert Hall, A. M. 8vo, 1s. 6d.

WHEN Sunday Schools were first established in this country, our readers will probably recollect the virulence with which they were attacked by some who ought to have known better things. To them the instruction of the poor seemed to threaten every moral and social evil, every thing disastrous to individuals and to the nation at large. Surely, they had been taught at Rome, that Ignorance was not only the mother of Devotion, but of Patriotism and Public Virtue; and they, of course, employed all their efforts to cheek the spirit which menaced the dissolution of her empire. Some of them, indeed, professed to be ministers of the gospel; but they had learnt the Chris. tian religion backwards, as wizards are said to read the Lord's Prayer! In the same manner they taught it to the world, and found little difficulty in collecting around them a sect of ignorant bigots and half witted politicians, who, for several years, raised a loud outcry against the horrid iniquity of teaching poor children to read, and to reverence the Sabbath. We are not sure whether this sect is yet quite extinct; on the decline it has certainly been for some time past. Should, however, an individual or two still remain, we request them to peruse this sermon by Mr. Hall. We know that they are not easily instructed, and that to the light of reason their understandings are in a great degree impervious; but to the hands of Mr. Hall we cheerfully commit them. If a man can read this discourse without being convinced that knowledge is of the greatest importance to the lower classes, he must be lameatably deficient either in intellect or ia virtuous principle. He, surely, cannot feel the cogency of argument; and he can have little

perception of moral beauty and excellence. This sermon is not, indeed, distinguished by those extraordinary flights of eloquence, which astonish and overwhelm us in some of Mr. Hall's former productions; but we perceive in it the same comprehension of thought, the same originality, the same attic elegance. If his eloquence on this occasion is not the glory and the power of the sun shining in his strength, it is the soft flowing stream, which reflects his rays with silvery brightness.

The first part of this sermon is devoted to Reflections on the Utility of Knowledge in general; and the second part is taken up in the discassion of the Value of Religious Knowledge, in particular, to the inferior ranks of life. Under the first branch of the subject, after observing that the extent to which we have the faculty of acquiring knowledge, forms the most obvious distinction of our species;--that the attainment of it mightily strengthens and improves this faculty; and that know. ledge in general expands the mind, refines the taste for pleasure, and opens innumerable sources of intellectual enjoyment, Mr. Hall proceeds to enquire into the moral good which results from the acquisition of it. It is,' he observes,

chiefly this :-That by multiplying the mental resources, it has a tendency to exalt the character, and, in some manner, to correct and subdue the taste for gross sensuality.' The beneficial influence of knowledge, in forming the character of industry, is stated in a remark which, for its importance, deserves to be repeated until it becomes the common property of the whole thinking population of the country.

The poor man, who has gained a taste for good books, will, in all likelihood, become thoughtful; and when you have given the poor a habit of thinking, you have conferred on them a much greater favour than by the gift of a large

sum of money, since you have put them in possession of the principle of all legitimate prosperity.' This is followed by a contrast between the condition of the Irish and Scots peasantry; and the vast superiority of the latter is very properly ascribed to the influence of education.

It is under this branch of his subject that Mr. Hall combats a political objection which has been often urged against educating the children of the poor. The paragraph in which this is refuted, we feel ourselves in duty bound to quote.

'Some have objected to the instruction of the lower classes, from an apprehension that it would lift them above their sphere, make them dissatisfied with their station in life, and, by impairing the habit of subordination, endanger the tran. quillity of the state: an objection devoid, most surely, of all force and validity. It is not easy to conceive in what manner instructing men in their duties, can prompt them to neglect those duties; or how that enlargement of reason, which enables them to comprehend the true grounds of authority, and the obligation to obedience, should indispose them to obey. The admirable mechanism of society, together with that subordination of ranks which is essential to its subsistence, is, surely, not an elaborate imposture, which the exercise of reason will detect and expose. The objection which we have stated, implies a reflection on the social order, equally impolitie, invidious, and unjust. Nothing in reality readers legitimate government so insecure, as extreme ignorance in the people. It is this which yields them an easy prey to seduction, makes them the victims of prejudice and false alarms, and so ferocious withal, that their interference in a time of public commotion, is more to be dreaded than the eruption of a volcano. true prop of a good government is opinion; the perception on the part of the subject of benefits resulting from it; a settled conviction, in other words, of its being a public good. Now, nothing can produce or maintain that opinion but know

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ledge, since opinion is a form of knowledge.'

We could indeed go on quoting with increasing satisfaction; but we must refer our readers to the discourse, itself. Every page presents us with sparkling gems of sterling thought, and they are so well set, that to remove them would despoil them of half their beauty. Two other short paragraphs, under this head, we must transcribe. One is on the Pernicious Effects of Ignerance; the other on the Intellectual Glory of the Millennium.

Ignorance gives a sort of eternity to prejudice, and perpetuity to error. When a baleful superstition, like that of the church of Rome, bas once got footing among a people in this situation, it becomes next to impossible to eradicate it; for it can only be assailed with success by the weapons of reason and argument; and to these weapons it is impassive. The sword of ethereal temper loses its edge, when tried on the scaly hide of this Leviathan. No wonder the Church of Rome is such a friend to ignorance! — it is but paying the arrears of gratitude, in which she is deeply indebted. How is it possible for her not to hate that light which would unveil her impostures, aud detect her enormities!'

'It (the Millennium) will be a period of remarkable illumination; during which, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun as that of seven days. Every useful talent will be cultivated, - every art subservient to the interests of men be improved and perfected; Learning will amass her stores, and Genius emit her splendor; but the former will be displayed without ostentation, and the latter shine with the softened effulgence of humility and love!'

Under the second head, the delightful and beneficial consequences of Christian knowledge are traced in the true style of pulpit eloquence. There are two considerations, we are told, which may suffice to evince the indispensable necessity of scriptural knowledge: That the Scrip

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the occasion. It was preached first in one of the largest churches in Hull; and, as many persons could not gain admittance within its doors, he preached it again to an audience equally crowded. Such was the impression produced on the minds of the people, that he thought it proper to send it from the press, in order that it might be still more extensively and permanently useful. We rejoice in his determination. We learn that 1500 copies were sold, of the first impression in three days, and more were immediately called for. Mr. Scott has printed a cheap edition at 6d, and another at 1s. This sermon is so cheap and so good, that we think every servant should have one: it should be read in all female schools: the opulent and benevolent should circulate them as antidotes to prostitution; and the conductors of penitentiaries should carefully distribute them to those who have fallen a prey to seduction, and may be asking the way to reform with their faces thitherward. We give two quotations: one on the crime of Seduction; the other on the blessed Advantages of Penitentiaries.

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On Seduction. Perhaps I have among this numerous audience, that very man who seduced her, whose case this discourse has been founded. I know thee not by name; but I know somewhat of thy conduct. O man! what must thy feelings have been, what must they still be, if thou art not even dead and lost to all feeling! Had the injured partner of thy crimes been convicted of the murder with which she was charged, I would this night have summoned thee to answer at the bar of God for a large share, at least, of the double murder, at once of the mother and the child. Thou art not, indeed, amenable to a human tribunal; but, at the judgment seat of God, thou hast thy trial yet to meet. Think what thou hast done! See what thou hast wrought! Thou art young in years, probably, but thou art far advanced in guilt. Thou

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hast ruined the character of the professed object of thy affections ; → thou hast planted a dagger in the hearts of her parents which shall never be extracted;-thou hast well nigh brought her to a shameful and bitter death; yea, thou hast done what in thee lay, by tempting her to sin, ta murder her immortal soul, as well as to destroy her bodily life!

and all this thou hast effected, only by assuming the mask of tenderest regard; only by holding out the lure of receiving her into the most honourable and endeared relation in which a woman can stand. To what end say I these things, but to rouse, if possible, thy too torpid feelings; to awaken thy slumbering conscience; to excite thee to cry "What reparation may I make to the injured individual and her family? What, at least, may I do to testify to them my contrition for my irreparable fault? and how, especially, may I escape the dreadful wrath of God which impends over me?" I say these things also, to warn others by thy base and criminal example.'-In a note it is observed, that at York there was, a few years since, a case quite of the same kind, when the woman was executed, and died, as far as could be judged, a true penitent. When that poor creature was tried, her agitation was such, that all her clothes were completely wet; yer the wretch who had seduced her was in the castle yard at the time, and perfectly unconcerned.'