ANNIVERSARIES OF SOCIETIES Connected with the American Education Society. MAINE BRANCH. AN account of the services at the time of the Annual Meeting of the Society, was given in the last Quarterly Journal. An extract from the Report, prepared by the Rev. Dr. Tappan, follows. Of the whole number, 28 are studying theology at Bangor, 32 are members of The amount of appropriations voted to our college, and 20 are preparing for college. beneficiaries and received by them during the year, has been $4,884. They have received from their friends upwards of $1,600; have earned by school keeping nearly $2,000; by labor and other services about $2,800. With the single exception above mentioned, they have continued to receive satisfactory testimonials from their instructors, of their scholarship and Christian character. During the greater part of the year past, the Rev. William L. Mather continued his services in the State, as agent of this Society; and to his efforts are we indebted for no inconsiderable part of the donations paid into our treasury. In presenting to the Society now convened, the twentieth Annual Report, the Directors would devoutly acknowledge the divine goodness in bringing so many of them and of their beloved brethren in the ministry and in the churches once more together, to unite in all the interesting services of this anniversary. One of the Board, however, is gone. In the midst of life and usefulness, our highly esteemed and beloved brother, the Rev. Samuel Johnson, has been called to his rest. When last we met, no one from among ourselves The period will perhaps arrive, when was more prominent, or seemed more likely among the professed followers of Christ to live many years and to do much good. there will be such large measures of his It becometh us who survive, to work while spirit, so thorough an acquaintance with the day lasts: the night of death cometh in the claims of a perishing world, and with which no man can work. During the past the various schemes devised and prosecuted year two also of the beneficiaries of this for the world's redemption, and so much Society have deceased-William A. Rider of order and system in planning and giving of East Brewer, in the first stage of his for benevolent purposes, that without soliceducation, and Samuel Morrill from New itation they will bring their free-will offerHampshire in the third. Both of them died ings to the full extent of what may be in the faith and hope of the Christian. Mr. required for the successful achievement of Morrill appears to have been distinguished every benevolent enterprise. But that above most others while at college and in period has not yet arrived in relation to any the theological seminary, in his imitation of department of Christian charity. In the Him who came into our world to seek department of charitable education, many that which was lost. He sought out those prejudices are to be overcome. Some perwhom others passed by, and labored without sons find it difficult to understand, that help ostentation, but with untiring assiduity, as for the object which they contemplate is opportunity offered, for their good. His needed; and others, having observed in a memory is embalmed in the hearts of those beneficiary some deficiency of talents, or who were blessed with his instructions. impropriety of behavior, or extravagance The whole number assisted by this Society in dress, at once conclude that all pecuniary during the year, has been 96. Of these, aid bestowed upon indigent students, is a 4 have left the institution at Bangor, and wasteful expenditure. Where no particular are now preaching in the State; 5 have prejudice exists, men do not witness those completed their collegiate course, one of palpable and immediate good effects which whom, still under your patronage, is pur- attest the utility of other charities; and suing the study of theology at Bangor, 2 there is a want of those striking incidents, have died, and one has been dismissed from which excite and sustain the sympathies of the theological seminary, "not for palpable Christians in their behalf. Experience has immorality, but for repeated imprudencies shown, that the collection of funds for the which could no longer be tolerated." A purpose of educating pious young men for few others have ceased within the year the Christian ministry, is attended with pereceiving the aid of the Society. The culiar difficulty. But funds must be obpresent number of beneficiaries is 80. Of tained for this purpose. This method of these, 22 have been received during the advancing the interests of the Redeemer's year-4 in the third stage of their educa-kingdom, cannot be dispensed with; nor can tion, 6 in the second, and 12 in the first. it be promoted without pecuniary contri25 VOL. X. butions. Some of the churches in Maine | pathize with the Redeemer, if he has felstand pledged before the community to lowship with us, and our prayers he will remember this cause, and to do as much hear, our offerings accept, our exertions for its promotion without solicitation, as they shall believe to be their duty. That pledge they will, we trust, be careful to redeem. The object of our Society is better understood, than it has formerly been, and more highly appreciated. The world is still lying in wickedness. It needs to be enlightened, regenerated, redeemed from sin. The mighty work of its renovation must be achieved by the power of the Holy Ghost, accompanying the exhibition of revealed truth. Revealed truth must be uttered by men. Faith cometh by hearing. But how shall they hear without a preacher? Many who ought to consecrate their service to the Lord, are holding back and need to be sought out and persuaded to give themselves to the work. Not a few of those who might do excellent service, are in indigent circumstances, and without pecuniary aid will conclude, that to the work which of all others they would prefer, they are not called, and that they must relinquish all thought of being ever engaged in it. Let it be understood by every church, that at some specified time the claims of the Education Society will be presented, and a collection taken up in aid of the important object contemplated by it. Let it be a settled point, that this is one of those members of the household of Christian charity, for whose support provision must be made, and that the obligation devolves upon every church, upon every Christian. Let the rich give of their abundance, and the poor man of his poverty; every one according to his ability. Let no one, who can spare a single cent, withhold it; and with the offering, whatever it may be, let fervent prayer ascend to the great Lord of the harvest, that he would prosper the effort to send forth laborers. It is delightful to know that the object for which we are associated, is one which Christ approves. He who gave the command that his gospel should be preached to all nations, beholds with complacency every endeavor in the spirit of love and obedience to provide for its fulfilment. The universal promulgation of the gospel by men possessing the requisite qualifications, is now in his estimation not less important, than when looking upon the multitudes of Judea with compassion, because they were scattered as sheep having no shepherd, he commissioned his disciples to go forth and preach the gospel to them. Do we behold with compassion the spiritual destitution of our own land and of other lands?—and is it in our hearts to give our prayers and donations that these wastes may be brought under cultivation, so that with the blessing of Heaven there may be life, beauty, and fruitfulness, where now are barrenness, deformity and death? Then do we sym prosper. The object in view is as interesting to him, as though he had seen fit to bless his people with a high degree of outward prosperity. "Zion still dwells upon the heart of everlasting love." Events apparently disastrous he will render subservient to the building up of his kingdom. We will not therefore indulge in feelings of despondency. When a dark cloud comes over us, we will not lose our confidence in God. But there is need of more self-denial, devotedness and prayer, of more systematic, persevering effort on the part of Christians. Events are showing, that the great enterprises of Christian benevolence will not take care of themselves; that the measure of zeal and liberality already attained is not sufficient; that something more is necessary, than to give what at the moment of being called upon, we find perfectly convenient-what we can spare just as well as not. Jesus Christ did not act upon this principle, when he gave his back to the smiters, and voluntarily endured the cruel torture of crucifixion. Let not the followers of Christ act upon this principle, when called upon to give to him their prayers, their property, their labors, their children. Let parents rejoice in the opportunity of giving up their sons to the work of the ministry. Let pastors and churches rejoice to part with the most promising youth of the flock, for the same purpose. Let every pious young man, however fair may be the prospect of success in any other pursuit, in good faith propose the inquiry,— Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? and then act as conscience, after much solemn deliberation and prayer, shall decide. Let Christians of every condition be solicitous to do their part fully, in sustaining those operations by which the cause of Christ is to be carried forward to its ultimate triumphs. A work is to be accomplished of immense magnitude; there is need of what every one can do, in order to its completion. In every heart let there be a deep sense of personal responsibility. Let new converts understand, that Christ has brought them into his vineyard, that they may work there; that a flame of divine love has been kindled in their hearts, that it may shine out before the world; that when the Lord Jesus says to them, "Follow me," he means that they should make sacrifices and endure hardships; should pray and watch; should give and do whatsoever their hand findeth to give and to do, for the extension of his religion, and the salvation of their fellowmen. Let older Christians gird on their armor anew, and go forth in the strength of the Lord and in the power of his might, with the cross for their standard, and Christ for their leader, until the world shall be subdued, and he shall reign over all the earth. NEW HAMPSHIRE BRANCH. THE Annual Meeting of this Society was held at Claremont, August 24, 1837; at which time, the Rev. Dr. Church presided. The report was read by the Secretary, Prof. Hadduck, and the meeting was addressed by Rev. Joseph Emerson, an Agent of the American Education Society, who expects to labor for a time in the State of New Hampshire, and the Rev. Milton Badger, General Agent of the American Home Missionary Society. For the ensuing year, the Rev. Dr. Lord is President, the Rev. Charles B. Hadduck, Secretary, and the Hon. Samuel Morril, Treasurer. An extract from Prof. Hadduck's Report follows. The subject which the Directors of the Education Society have chosen for consideration, at this time, is that of the importance of cultivating, in its beneficiaries, the spirit of Christian piety. The object of the ministry is the production of such a spirit in the whole world. For this purpose the gospel is preached. For this end, ultimately, all education should be conducted, and all enterprise encouraged. We should live only to do good; and the great good to which all other good is subservient, and into which all other good is, at last, resolved, is the universal prevalence of the spirit of Jesus Christ. Without this spirit, wealth is poor, power is impotent, intellect is cold, and the heart, in the very spring of life, is dry and dead. Without it, man never truly lives in this world; and has no hope, because he has no God, beyond the grave. He may be a king, but he wears a crown of thorns; he may call the earth his own, but its treasures are ashes to his taste; he may have an angel's intellect, but he must have, with it, an angel's remorse. True piety should, therefore, be cultivated by candidates for the sacred ministry, no less than by others, as the life of their own souls. It should be cultivated by them for other reasons, also, and in a tenfold degree. Some of these we propose now to suggest. 1. Personal piety is an essential trait of a Christian minister. Without it, he cannot justly exhibit the truths of the gospel. To preach truth, is not necessarily to preach the truth. A sermon may contain nothing false, and yet be far from containing what it ought to contain, and still farther from exhibiting truth in its proper relations and real colors. A man of inactive piety will, almost of necessity, preach a distorted Christianity. If his creed should be orthodox, according to the most approved standards, it will still be repulsive. It may be dogmatical, or harsh, One may scarcely or cold, or dry, or sour. be able to tell in what the fault lies; but a fault, he is sure, there is. He sees that people turn away from such preaching; he feels like turning away from it himself. And were it not, that substantial points of Christian doctrine do really appear in it, doctrine which he would never be thought to despise or oppose, he would do no such penance as to sit under such preaching. But in the picture which inspiration has the dignity, or mars the beauty of the given us, no wry, unlovely feature impairs daughter of God. But it is perhaps more probable, that a preacher of undecided piety will insensibly fall into error-will slide down, down from the empyrean summit of truth, into the mists and shadows below. Here he sees less distinctly; walks less securely; and breathes less freely. Without running into absolute heresy, he becomes cloudy and shadowy; his reasoning is shackled by his prudence; his admonitions lose their point; his pictures become dim. His real power, as a minister of God, is gone. The simplicity of soul, the logic of the heart, which subdues us without the show of arms, is not his. There may be what men sometimes take for eloquence-argument, declamation, description, expostulation,-all the form and circumstance of oratory-grace of attitude, euphony, and a certain kind of animationnothing is wanting to the man, but soul. There is a point from which every remarkable scene in nature is viewed to the utmost advantage. At this point the painter stands; and from the same point we must suppose ourselves to look at his picture. Just so there is a point of beauty for the moral landscape-a position from which alone the truth is seen in its full glory and power. Here the inspired painters stood and sketched the picture of divine revelation. To this point the minister of Christ must go, and there he must stand, if he would do justice to the truths of the gospel. He must see things as David and Isaiah saw them, as Paul and John saw them, or he cannot delineate them as these men did. This point of observation, in respect to natural objects, or the representations of them on canvass, implies something more than mere local position. When I look at a landscape or a picture, I must not only know where to place my feet, but where to place my mind also. There is, for every such scene, whether natural or artificial, an appropriate intellectual and moral position. To enjoy, to the utmost, the ruins of Athens or of Babylon, I must not only stand upon some eminence, which commands the most striking remains of their ancient magnificence and splendor; but I must be able to take a certain mental position, to look around me, from that intellectual point of view, which commands the moral landscape of the place. There is a certain kind of know ledge, and there are certain habits of feeling, as indispensable to the just appreciation of the scene as my local position, and indeed far more so; for without the recollections and associations of the student of ancient history, without some sensibility to wonderful events and great achievements, what is all we see at Athens or Babylon, but common rock and common earth? We walk over the ruins of empires and the fragments of art without admiration or emotion. When the object is altogether mental, the point of view also is exclusively mental. The position for contemplating truth is the state of the mind itself, of the spectator. He is in the right place, who is in the right state-who thinks and feels right. And in proportion as this truth is practical, and takes hold of the imagination and the heart, in the same proportion is a right state of heart the principal thing necessary to do it justice. To appreciate abstract, scientific truth, knowledge alone is needful. To appreciate the poetical, the beautiful, the affecting, the just, the holy, the spiritual, moral sensibility, a heart attuned to these objects, is indispensable. To suppose, therefore, that mere intellect can do justice to the truths of revelation, is to lose sight of the most peculiar and important features of revelation. For, in fact, there is little that is new in the abstract truths of the Bible, in relation either to God or man. Most of this class of truths are all assumed by the sacred writers. It is the new light in which they are considered, that makes the Scriptures the power of God and the wisdom of God to salvation. That there is a God, all-wise, almighty, and infinitely good, is not revealed by the Bible-it is taught by nature. The Bible gives new and inexpressible interest to these truths, by the relation in which it places them to me-to my wants, my sins, my prospects, my spiritual nature and condition. To do justice to the doctrines of such a revelation, in my preaching, I must have something more and better than all knowledge: I must have a heart to feel-a soul alive to every touch of sympathy, to every smile of joy, to every shade of wo, in the picture of a world in ruins, and a world redeemed. Again without eminent piety, a minister cannot be a true pastor. With some variety of circumstances, the Christian character is always the same thing; and is begun and finished in the same way. Similar causes awaken us all from the dream of sin; similar trials put our principles to the test; similar occasions exhibit our virtues and our defects; we fall by the same enemy, and are rescued by the same means. And the skill we acquire in winning others to Christ, or in strengthening their faith, or comforting their hearts, is almost all derived from our own experience. It is wonderful how little we learn of any thing from the experience of others. | Of practical religion we are exceedingly ignorant until our own souls have experienced its power. To be a spiritual guide, a minister must be a spiritual man. And then what interesting scenes in pastoral life owe their best influence to the Christian temper of the man of God with whom they are so intimately associated. From our birth to our death, life is full of incidents and changes, that derive their moral complexion and influence, in no small degree, from the spirit of our pastor. The baptismal service, the sick bed, and the burial scene, how closely they are all connected, in our memories, with the reverend aspect, the gentle intercourse, the affectionate tones of "our own peculiar friend and our Father's friend."-How soft and holy an air is breathed around the places we have known, and the scenes we have passed through, by the love and sanctity of some true disciple and minister of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the relation of a Christian pastor. Of the necessity of ardent piety to ministerial industry, and patience, and enterprise, we have not time to dwell. Suffice it to remark that, at all times, and especially when exciting topics are discussed, and conflicting measures adopted, when sin is bold and error impudent, a minister has no security for his peace of mind, or consistency of life, or extensive usefulness, but in the purity of his conscience and the simplicity of his heart. 2. In the second place, personal piety is eminently useful during the course of preparation for the ministry. It is so to the student himself. It is the best preservative from indolence and frivolous employments. No other motive is so generous and so ennobling. The mind, in which Christian sentiments are fresh and warm, in which love to God and benevolence to man are daily kindled anew by daily converse with spiritual things, and daily communion with Christ, feels the loss of time like an affliction, and reaches after knowledge, the great instrument of power, with inexpressible eagerness. In minds thus actuated, taste is not gratified at the hazard of principle; nor amusement indulged in at the expense of intelligence. In such minds the unamiable passions are not nourished, whilst the faculties are developed. Envy, and jealousy, and vanity are reproved and repressed. That charity which seeketh not its own, is not easily provoked, is not puffed up, is a branch of Christian piety, and fails not to diffuse itself through the entire character, and to interweave itself with the whole life of the man, in whom the spirit of Christ dwells richly. His heart is its home; it beams from his eyes, speaks from his lips; distils from his fingers; breathes around him an atmosphere in which God and angels delight to dwell; for he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth 3. If not acquired during the course of education, such piety is not likely to be acquired at all. in God, and God in him. Improvement in | at the fountains of intellectual and moral piety is necessary, in connection with in- character. Happy, indeed, is that young tellectual improvement, in order to preserve man, who, before he enters the field, antithe proper balance of the mental powers. cipates its labors and its rewards, and, while Unless the moral sensibilities are cultivated yet preparing to do good in the profession in due proportion to the understanding, the he has chosen, is sowing the seeds of a harsymmetry of the character is destroyed. If vest of laborers in the same field. the intellectual powers greatly predominate, the spirit of the man becomes speculative and frigid. He analyzes a grain of sand, and displays the mechanism of a human body, with equal indifference; contemplates the changes of the earth, the revolutions of empires, and the separation of soul and body by death, with little more emotion than is excited in him by the changes of the seasons, or the alternations of day and night. The moral and sensitive is lost in the intel-commodate themselves to their employlectual man. Affection, enthusiasm, the life of the spirit, is nearly extinct. Knowledge now an end, not a means. The man lives to see, not sees to live. But when, as God intended, the heart is expanded as the intellect is enlarged, and the moral feelings are elevated as the views are extended, then knowledge is happiness, is eloquence, is greatness, is spiritual life. It is a great mistake, not seldom made by young men, that their future circumstances will mould their character; that, however they may for the present indulge themselves in habits which must by and by be put off, and which they do not wholly approve even now, they shall not fail to ac ments in active life. And this delusion is still cherished, after so many delineations of character, good and evil, growing up from infancy to age, and all along bearing the same inarks, as much the same, at every stage, as the plant or the human body. It is too well understood to need stating, that no essential change in the habits of thinking, or the turn of the mind, or the tastes, is ordinarily to be looked for after the age at which professional study is completed. What in these respects men are on leaving the retirement of education, we expect them to be, substantially, through life. For, in ordinary cases, the future is but the development and ripening of seeds already sown. The mind receives its first impulse from without; but it is an impulse only. The action which succeeds, propagates itself; thought is the only perpetual motion. The lessons of external nature and of life, the ten thousand influences of the thousands of thousands of objects on every side of us, are only so much food for the mind. With a character thus early formed, it, like the body, receives what is presented to it, appropriates what it can assimilate to itself, and rejects the rest. If, therefore, it may be said, with truth, that man is the creature of circumstances, it may be said with equal and even greater truth, that circumstances are the creatures of man. After a certain period, a man is not so much accommodated to his place, as the place is accommodated to the man. The mind is in this sense its own place. Every where it finds something congenial to its nature, and every where cherishes its own associations, and lives in its own atmosphere. But the utility of piety as a leading trait in the student's character, is not confined to himself. The scenes of his education are among the most inviting fields of Christian beneficence. It is, doubtless, much for the honor of Christ, if the guardians and instructors of the young are spiritual men, and the institutions they conduct baptized. They will not fail to do something towards the production of a Christian taste and a Christian philosophy. But there is a sphere of influence which they cannot fill. There is a charm in youthful piety, a freshness and life in the first shootings forth of religion from the virgin soil of a young heart, like the rich green of an early spring. We may venerate the religion of our seniors, but it is distant and above us, an example for our manhood or old age. The most it does is, to excite the resolution to die the death of the righteous, and to make our last end like his. The piety of an equal and associate in study, is the living presence of love, an embodied conscience, an angel in our common nature, moving in the midst of us, sitting at our elbow, sleeping by our side. And when the character is strongly marked, when an air of unusual sanctity and sweetness is thrown around it, we cannot breathe without inhaling health; we cannot move without catching something of the manner we ad- What is thus true of the mind in general, mire; we cannot think without insensibly is no less true of Christian character in parweaving into the texture of our own minds ticular. The tone of principle and feeling a film of Christian thought, or a hue of mo- exhibited in a course of education, is rarely ral feeling. And the instances are very much changed in after life. The kind of numerous of a decided religious influence motives that are accustomed to influence us exerted by pious young men at the acade- in college, and the spirit which distinguishes my, in college, and in a course of profes- our social intercourse and our private hours sional education, most delightful in its as- there, are very likely to be characteristic pect, and permanent in its results. It is of us as long as we live. No habit is easily influence upon educated mind, influence | changed; and such habits are, generally, |