among the masses of the people, it is impossible that the blessed truths of the "everlasting Gospel" can ever be implanted so as to produce the fruits of salvation. No spiritual good can exist but in moral good as its basis; and where there is no spiritual or Christian good, there can be no salvation. Our departed friend, therefore, rightly considered that he was labouring in one part of the Lord's vineyard whilst actively engaged in promoting the great moral movements which characterize the present age; all which he contemplated as so many results and evidences of that new and powerful influence now operating from on high, and which is involved in the true idea of the Lord's second coming. And in this department of heavenly usefulness none were more zealous, none more active, none more eloquent, none more untiring in their efforts by the press, than the late Dr. Firth; and we may safely assert, that during the last twelve years, he devoted himself to this good cause with such ardour as to be surpassed by none of his contemporaries. His name was, in consequence, known far and wide; and wherever known, feelings of respect and love were enkindled in every bosom desirous of seeing the dreadful evils of drunkenness subdued, and the way of soberness and truth, and consequently of every blessing, both temporal and spiritual, prepared to the minds of men. Dr. Firth was a member of the church of which the Rev. Mr. Pulsford is the minister; and he often spoke of the ministry of his pious, intelligent, and eloquent pastor in high terms of admiration. He has left a widow, and, we believe, four very young children, to bewail their loss. Humanly speaking, the loss is indeed great; but we are consoled with the idea that the Lord's mercy and providence are in the minutest things relating to the eternal happiness of man: and although His dispensations are sometimes for the present moment trying and afflictive, yet we are again consoled by his own merciful declaration, that "what He does now we know not, but we shall know hereafter." Hereafter, if we now live in the sincere prayer that His will may be done, we shall know that all things have been directed by infinite wisdom and mercy. of diligent study in acquiring it, he early made considerable progress in mathematics, in classics, and in general literature. He devoted himself to the scholastic profession. He was a tutor in a boardingschool at Leeds, when, through the medium of a fellow tutor, he became acquainted with the doctrines of the New Church. Soon afterwards he engaged in a similar situation at Rochdale, in Lancashire, where he continued for eleven years. Whilst in this respectable establishment he enjoyed the confidence and friendship of the master, and of his fellow tutors, one of whom has kindly furnished us with the particulars of his early career. He always cherished the most pleasing reminiscences of his sojourn at Rochdale, partly on account of the friendship he enjoyed, and also on account of the opportunities he had of prosecuting his various studies. It was also here that he first enjoyed an open communication with the New Church; he often visited Heywood, about three miles distant, where a society is established, and on several occasions officiated in the chapel. Whilst at Rochdale his private studies were chiefly devoted to the writings of Swedenborg. He procured the Latin copies of his works as far as he could meet with them, and diligently studied them in the original. It was whilst resident at Rochdale, that we had occasionally the pleasure of seeing him, and of enjoying his pious and intelligent conversation. He subsequently removed to Hull, where he opened a school on his own account. Here he entered upon a career of usefulness in which he laboured with increasing zeal and with unwearied diligence. He became a champion in the cause of total abstinence from intoxicating drinks. From the wide-spread evils and miseries of drunkenness, he was forcibly impressed with the idea that the way in which he could best carry out the heavenly doctrine of love to his neighbour, was that of labouring in this moral desert, preparing the way for the minds of men to become receptive of the pure doctrines and truths of genuine christianity. He plainly saw that drunkenness is the vice which manures and waters every other; and that so long as this monster evil is not checked J. H. S. Cave and Sever, Printers, 18, St. Ann's-street, Manchester. (Preached in Manchester, July 3rd, 1814, by the late Rev. J. Clowes.*) "For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers that they should make known to their children. That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children. That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God; but keep His commandments."Psalm lxxviii. 5, 6, 7. It appears evident from these words, that under the Jewish dispensation the Lord manifested a particular concern for the pious education and instruction of children. Nor is less attention discoverable under the * The late Rev. J. Clowes was amongst the first movers in the great and glorious work of Sunday schools in England. These schools were, we believe, commenced in Manchester in 1784 or 1785, very soon after they had been commenced in Gloucester by their founder, the benevolent Raikes. Mr. Clowes was nominated the first secretary to the first committee appointed by the Sunday School Association in Manchester, and he had the honour of drawing up the first general plan of proceedings for the guidance of the Association. At that time, all the churches of the Establishment in Manchester formed together one Association for the support and management of Sunday schools; but some years afterwards it was found expedient that every church should have its own committee for the support and management of the schools immediately under its care. Mr. Clowes acted as secretary to the Association for several years, and was appointed by a unanimous request, to preach, we believe, the very first sermon that ever was preached in Manchester in behalf of Sunday schools. This sermon was preached October 9th, 1785, and it deserves, on many accounts, to be preserved in type, and transmitted to posterity. Our pages shall have the honour of performing this duty. The present discourse was nearly the last that Mr. Clowes ever preached.-EDITOR. N. S. NO. 123.-VOL. XI. G 66 Christian dispensation, when God himself, as we learn, appeared here on earth in a human form, to call mankind unto Himself. For hear now the tender and affecting words of this "God manifest in the flesh:"- Suffer," says He, "the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." And again, when He appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, He was not forgetful of His young flock, for thus He charges His apostle Peter in the most interesting and significant language:-"Feed my lambs." Accordingly it was predicted of Him by the evangelical prophet, that amongst other blessed operations of His redeeming love, "He should gather the lambs into His bosom.” Such, then, being the affectionate solicitude manifested by the Great Father of being for the instruction of all His young children in the knowledge of Himself, it cannot be unsuitable to the occasion of our present assembly, to consider the weighty obligations imposed on us by this disposition of our God. And since these obligations will acquire an additional force, by taking a particular view of the manifold advantages of religious instruction, I shall call your attention, at this time, to those advantages as they are distinctly pointed out to us in the words of my text, under these three interesting characters : 1st. That children may set their hope in God; 2ndly. That they may not forget the works of God; and 3rdly. That they may keep His commandments. And first. Let us consider the great advantage of religious instruction, in leading young children to set their hope in God. We can hardly conceive a situation more forlorn and terrible than to have no hope in God, and yet such must be the necessary lot of all those who are uninstructed in the knowledge of God. On the other hand, we can hardly conceive of any state more happy and consolatory than to be supported by a constant hope and trust in God, since, whatsoever may be the calamities, the distresses, the sorrows, with which a man is encompassed here below, if he has hope and trust in God, he is enabled to bear them, and not only to bear them, but finally, through the same blessed hope, to overcome them. Behold here, then, one of the first advantages pointed out in the words of my text, as resulting to young children from religious instruction! They are taught to set their hope in God. They are supplied thus with a strong staff of support under all the vicissitudes, the wants and miseries of human life. By the aid of this staff, if they are poor, they can rise above the temptations and distresses of poverty. If they are sick they can console themselves in the tender mercy of that Divine Physician, who giveth medicine to heal their sickness. If they are afflicted, they can look up unto that God who has said—“ Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." If they are beset with strong temptations, they are enabled to flee to the Great Saviour for power to overcome them, and they can put their trust in Him for deliverance, because they find it written," Blessed is the man that endureth temptations, for when he is tempted he shall receive a crown of life." In short, with hope in God every circumstance and every situation in life becomes, not only tolerable, but in a measure gratifying, and at all events profitable. But without hope in God, all the wealth, the honour, the prosperity of this world, only add to the debasement and misery of their possessor. Behold here, too, the obligation of duty on the present occasion, binding upon us all, with a force which no words can sufficiently express ! For it rests now with us to extend, or to deny to the multitudes of children here present the means of acquiring the proffered blessing, to set their hope in God. It rests with us, I say, to supply them or to refuse to supply them with the consolations of heaven; with the joyful prospects of a blessed immortality; with a coat of mail, to shield them against all the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil; with a healing balm, to preserve them from the horrors of despondency, and to quiet and compose them under the various afflictions and calamities of human life. Can any one, then, be insensible to the obligations arising out of these reflections? Can any one be sparing of the aid which is to enable these otherwise destitute children to set their hope in God? But, secondly. Another important advantage resulting to children from religious instruction, is thus expressed in the words of my text"That they may not forget the works of God." Allow me to call your attention also to this advantage. By the works of God are evidently meant His wonderful works of Creation, of Preservation, of Redemption, and Regeneration. To the serious mind nothing can be more astonishing, nothing more delightful, nothing more edifying than the consideration of these works. For from the contemplation of the works of God, we ascend to God Himself; we become acquainted with His perfections; we discover the traces of His infinite wisdom and loving kindness; become delighted with His excellencies; and thus by degrees we receive in ourselves the god-like stamp of the Divine mind, and are created in its image and likeness. But if the remembrance of the works of God be thus blessed, thus sanctifying and enlivening, how terrible then must it be to forget them! How dreadful, I say, must be the state of those who find no delight in regarding the operations of the Most High; who are insensible to all that Divine love, wisdom, and power, by which the world was originally created, by which also it is continually preserved, and by which it has been redeemed, and is being perpetually redeemed through the grand work of the regeneration of human minds! Surely, we must be forced to confess that thus "to forget the works of God," as it is the most lamentable proof of human folly and depravity, so is it likewise the most fruitful source of human misery, condemnation, and destruction. Behold here, then, a further obligation of duty imposed upon us all, in regard to the young objects now presented before us, and soliciting the aid of our liberality! We are called to the distinguished honour and happiness of enabling them "not to forget the works of God." It is in our power to be instrumental in conducting them to the most blessed of all knowledge, the knowledge of the operations of the Most High. Our charitable aid may thus unlock for them the gates of heaven, by bringing them acquainted with the God of heaven; by opening their young eyes to see, and their young hearts to feel the power of His love, the brightness of His wisdom, the wonders of His omnipotence. The very salvation, therefore, of the numerous little flock now before us, is in some measure committed to our care, since if we refuse to help them they may be plunged into that most tremendous of all gulphs, "Forgetfulness of the works of God," and may thus never behold the face of God; whereas, by the exertion of our liberality, and the blessing of God upon it, they may possibly attain that most sublime height both of human greatness, of human happiness, and of human perfection, to remember God, and to delight in viewing the operations of His hands. But, lastly. A crowning obligation to the exercise of our present charity will be found to result from the additional advantage of the religious instruction of youth pointed at in my text, and expressed in these words, that they may keep God's commandments. To a congregation of Christians it cannot surely be necessary to enlarge much on the peculiar advantage involved in these words. For what Christian cannot see that to keep God's commandments is the beginning and the ending of all Christian duty, Christian sanctity, and Christian bliss? What Christian, too, cannot discern yet further, that not to keep God's commandments is the beginning and the ending of all that profligacy, of all that defilement, and of all that extreme folly, misery, and destruction, which the impenitent and the thoughtless bring down upon their own heads by their obstinacy and disobedience? There does, indeed, prevail a belief amongst some that there is no such extra |