others, of the deficiency of funds in Eng land for our assistance. We cannot give up our Stations; nor do I see how we can support them, as the whole weight will now bear on Br. Marshman. I felt as if it was necessary for me to continue my pecuniary assistance, but I have now nothing to give perhaps I do wrong in supposing my little help necessary to the carrying forward the Work of God; and, after many inward struggles of mind and prayers to God, I now feel calm, as it respects the Cause of God, and thankful for the provision made for me in my old age. If I had property, I would give it : If I have not, I cannot give; but God can raise up help from other quarters. From a Circular lately issued we extract the following account of an Association in Aid of these Missions. The very extensive and valuable labours in which the Serampore Missionaries have been so arduously engaged for nearly forty years, and the justice of their claims to the confidence and support of the Christian Public in Great Britain, have induced several Gentlemen in the Metropolis to form themselves into a Society, called the " London Association in aid of the Serampore Mission." The object of this Associated Body is, to obtain Subscriptions, Donations, and Collections for the Translations, the Schools, and the General Purposes of the Mission, which have been so long conducted by the Venerable Dr. Carey and his Brethren at Serampore, Deeply impressed with a sense of the vast importance of this Mission to the spiritual interests of India, and of the necessity of its continued operations for the furtherance of the Redeemer's Kingdom in that extensive empire of idolatrous delusions, the Members of this Association embrace the opportunity of appeal ing to the friends of religion, on behalf of its funds, through the medium of this Circular. The length of time in which the Serampore Brethren have been engaged in their labours of love-the assiduity with which they have pursued their plans for diffusing the knowledge of the Gospel through the Eastern World-the munificent sums, THE FRUIT OF THEIR OWN LABOURS, which they have expended in the prosecution of their laudable designs the extensive good which they have already done and the permanent foundation, which, under the blessing of God, they have laid for the successful opera tions of future Missionaries-strongly concur to recommend their case to the benevolent consideration of Christians of all Denominations. Should any friend to the spiritual welfare of India be disposed to assist the Serampore Missionaries under their present pecuniary embarrassment, communications may be sent to G. F. Angas, Esq. Treasurer, 2 Jeffrey Square, St. Mary Axe, where the business of this Association is conducted. BRITISH & FOREIGN SCHOOL SOCIETY, FROM the last Quarterly Publication of the Committee, we extract a view of the Deplorable Amount of Ignorance in the Agricultural Districts. It has frequently been asserted, that few, if any, of our own countrymen are, in the present day, without the means of instruction. This opinion has occasioned no inconsiderable degree of the apathy which exists with respect to the establishment of Schools for the daily instruction of the poor. How false, and utterly delusive, such a view of things really is, the melancholy facts brought to light by the late Special Commissions abundantly testify. From a Correspondence which has been entered into with intelligent individuals resident in the disturbed districts, the following details have been elicited. Berkshire Of 138 prisoners committed to Reading Gaol, 25 only could write, 37 only could read, and SEVENTY-SIX could neither read nor write: 120 were under 40 years of age, varying from 35 down to 18 years. Of the 30 prisoners tried at Abingdon, six only could read and write, 11 could read imperfectly, the remainder were wholly uneducated. Bucks-Of the 79 prisoners CONVICTED at Aylesbury, only 30 could read and write. Hants-Of 332 committed for trial at Winchester, ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE could neither read nor write: nearly the whole number were deplorably ignorant of even the rudiments of religious knowledge. Kent-About ONE HALF of the prisoners committed to Maidstone Gaol could neither read nor write; and nearly the whole were totally ignorant with regard to the nature and obligations of true religion. 12 could read imperfectly: ONLY ONE depended upon. It is always worth COULD READ WELL. Now from these statements, which are attested by the Local Authorities, the following deductions may fairly be drawn : 1. That a large proportion of the working classes in our agricultural districts are in a state of ignorance, as debasing as can possibly be imagined. 2. That where the art of reading has been communicated, it has been taught so imperfectly as to afford little, if any, advantage to the learner; and has been almost entirely unaccompanied by instruction in moral or religious obligations. 3. That this ignorance, in connexion with other causes, has led to the commission of the most serious crimes. Necessity and Means of adequate Scriptural Instruction. These facts are truly alarming. The existence of a brutalized population, in the heart of a free country like England, is as dangerous to the peace of Society as it is disgraceful to a Christian People. The importance of establishing Schools of Scriptural Instruction, proportionate to the wants of the community, must at once be evident. The only question is, how so desirable an object can be most easily and effectually accomplished. The following plan is suggested. Let a suitable room be hired, which may in most places be obtained at a rent of from 71. to 10l. per annum. To contain from 150 to 200 children, it should be from 40 to 50 feet long, and about 25 feet wide. This room should be fitted up with desks, forms, &c., according to the regulations laid down in the Society's Manual, which may be accomplished for 157. or 201. An active, pious teacher should now be selected, and admission be obtained for him at the Borough-Road School, to learn the System. If the population be large enough to furnish 200 children, by charging each child 2d. a week, a sufficient sum will be obtained to defray the expense of the teacher's salary, and a few annual subscriptions will cover all incidental charges: but if the population be limited, and not more than 50 or 100 children can be obtained, then it will be necessary to raise, by subscription, about 301. per annum in addition, in order to afford the master a comfortable maintenance. In some cases, the Master can obtain Scholars in the higher branches of learning at an additional rate of payment; but this source of emolument cannot always be while to make an effort in order to secure the whole time of a good Teacher. Nothing is so DEAR as a bad one. LORD'S-DAY-OBSERVANCE society. THE Formation and Objects of this Society were stated at p. 157 of our last Number. We rejoice to be able to put on record in our Work the following able developement of the Principles and Views on which the Society has been formed. I. That this Meeting is firmly persuaded that the dedication of One Day in every Seven to religious rest and the worship of ALMIGHTY GOD is of Divine authority and perpetual obligation, as a characteristic of Revealed Religion during all its successive periods; having been enjoined upon man at the Creation -recognised and confirmed, in the most solemn manner, in the Ten Commandments-urged by the Prophets as an essential duty, about to form a part of the institutions of the Messiah's Kingdomvindicated by our DIVINE LORD from the unauthorised additions and impositions of the Jewish Teachers - transferred by Him and his Apostles, upon the abrogation of the ceremonies of the Mosaic Law, to the first day of the week, in commemoration of the Resurrection of Christ, and on that account called THE LORD'S DAY"-and finally established, in more than all its primitive glory, as an ordinance of the Spiritual Universal Church of the New Testament, and a standing pledge and foretaste of the Eternal Rest of Heaven: And that this Meeting believes that every person in a Christian Country is bound in conscience to devote this Seventh Portion of his Time to the honour of God, by resting from the business of his calling; by abstaining altogether from the pursuit of gain, and from ordinary pastimes and recreations; by guarding against every worldly avocation and interruption; and by spending the entire day in the public and private duties of religion, with the exception of such works of necessity and charity as our SAVIOUR by his example was pleased to allow and commend: so as to designate this One Day of Rest and Service, after six days of labour, as a more distinguishing privilege of the Christian, than it was of the Patriarchal and Jewish Dispensations. II. That this Meeting witnesses with tian Nation. to confess its allegiance to ALMIGHTY GOD and its faith, in a DIVINE REDEEMER, by honouring, in every proper manner, this Solemn Institution-by encouraging among all classes of persons the due observance of its sanctity-by making the most ample provision for the Public Worship of Gon-by discouraging and repressing open inroads upon its sacred duties-by inserting suitable guards for its observance, wherever necessary, in New Acts of Parliament-by providing for the suppression of outrageous offences sorrow and alarm the attempts, which have of late years been deliberately and systematically made, to impugn the Divine Obligation of the Lord's Day; and to remove the foundations of the duty of keeping it holy, from the express command of GOD, to the uncertain dictates of human authority and expediency thus virtually releasing the consciences of men from the paramount claims of this primeval ordinance, as repeated in the Fourth Commandment; and affording to its actual profanation excuse and encouragement: And this Meeting can--by reviving and amending the Statutes not but further lament the licence which has thus been given, perhaps often unintentionally, to the corrupt propensities of our fallen nature, generally, in their opposition to the worship of GOD; as well as the countenance which has been lent, in particular, to the carelessness of the worldly-minded, and the impieties of the sceptical and profane. III. That this Meeting contemplates also with grief and dismay the present widely-extended violations of the Lord's Day, which have arisen from these and other causes-the many infractions of its primary duties, which are too often exhibited by the Great and Wealthy, and which are thus diffused through all the classes of the community-the opening of shops, and the trafficking in the early part of the day, for which the late payment of workmen's wages on the Saturday is often made an excuse the encroaching abuses and disorders of Beer and Spirit Houses-the multiplication of Tea Gardens and other Places of Public Resort for amusement and dissipation the systematic violation of the Christian Sabbath by steam-vessels, carriages on rail-roads, stage-coaches, barges, packets, and other public conveyances-and, above all, the enormous evil of the Sunday Newspapers, which are published and vended with pernicious diligence, openly trampling upon the first duties of Christianity, and introducing all that destruction of the great principles of morals and religion which a SUNDAY PRESS necessarily involves: And that this Meeting believes that these and other instances of contempt and profanation of the Lord's Day are already threatening a general dissoluteness of manners, and are loosening those bonds of civil order and religious obedience by which the tranquillity of nations is maintained. IV. That this Meeting is persuaded that it is the paramount duty of a Chris which have become obsolete and inefficient and by doing every thing in its power to defend, mildly and firmly, the Christian Sabbath from open violence and desecration; so as not to interfere with the conscience of individuals in their private and retired sentiments or conduct, or to attempt any thing beyond that protection of this fundamental institution of Revealed Religion which it is the province of a Christian Legislature to afford: And this Meeting considers the British Nation as more especially bound to grant this protection, because the Divine Authority of the Lord's Day has ever been admitted and acknowledged as a law of the land, however particular enactments may have fallen into disuse or become ineffective. V. That this Meeting is persuaded that the welfare of nations is intimately connected with the due sanctification of the Christian Sabbath; as it lies at the foundation of all practical religion, and is the season peculiarly appointed for instructing mankind in the Doctrines and Duties of Christianity; and, also, as the conscientious observance of it tends to secure the blessing of GoD, while its violation brings down His severest judgments on all the undertakings and interests of a nation that the favour and blessing of the ALMIGHTY are the only source of peace and tranquillity, and His displeasure the most certain precursor of confusion and ruin—that the Divine Chastisements now abroad in the world place before us, with awful warning, the critical danger of neglecting any of the appointments of Christianity, or of subtracting any portion of the time which our CREATOR claims for his immediate service-and that a contempt of the Sabbath, at all times sinful and criminal, would be more signally so at this period, when that very contempt has visibly led to the fearful decay, and in many places almost extinction, of Spiritual Religion, among the Nations of the Continent; and to the proportionate growth of Superstition, Profaneness, Neologism, Socinianism, and Infidelity; and has been visited with a series of tremendous judgments during the last forty years, which hold them up to us as beacons, to avoid their sins, if we would escape their punishment. VI. That this Meeting, being per suaded that ALMIGHTY GOD will favour every sincere endeavour to confess His Truth and glorify His Name in the midst of the infidelity and lukewarmness which surround us, is desirous to attempt something, however feebly, for the vindication and revival of the dignity and authority of the Lord's Day, on the basis of its Divine institution, and its indissoluble connexion with all the various and im mense spiritual and temporal blessings which Christianity is designed to diffuse -that each of its Members will endea vour to scrutinize and amend his own spirit and conduct; to exert all due influence with his domestics and depen dants, and among his neighbours and tradesmen; to aim at raising the tone of sentiment and feeling among all classes of society, from the highest to the lowest; and to promote and encourage earnest prayer to ALMIGHTY GOD for the grace of HIS HOLY SPIRIT to accompany and bless the efforts which may be made to further this momentous object. VII. That this Meeting rejoices in the interest which is beginning to appear in different parts of the country in this Sacred Cause; and relies on the active cooperation of all the sincere followers of our DIVINE REDEEMER and LORD, to aid it in the plans which it may adopt, consistently with the spirit of the Gospel, for advancing the scriptural honour and sanctification of the day on which the consummation of His sacrifice has ever been celebrated in the Universal Christian Church. ITINERATING-LIBRARY Societies. A MEMOIR relative to Itinerating Libraries has lately reached us, an abstract of which we shall lay before our Readers. The Rev. Dr. Brown, Secretary of the Scottish Missionary Society, drew up this Memoir from details furnished by his Brother, Mr. Samuel Brown, of Haddington, Manager of a body of Itinerating Libraries in East-Lothian. April, 1831. Great Success of the System in East-Lothian, We have formerly noticed the measures adopted in the quarter where the System originated; but shall now collect from Dr. Brown's Memoir a fuller view of the successful prosecution of the System. begun in East-Lothian in 1817; and has The plan of Itinerating Libraries was been attended with a degree of success Reading Associations. The object is to which is unprecedented in the history of furnish all the Towns and Villages of the County with Libraries of Useful Books; and to plant them at such distances, that no individual may be more remote from one than a-mile-and-a-half. This might, at first sight, appear a chimerical design; and there is every prospect that, in a few yet it is now in the course of execution, years, it will be completely effected. In order to supply the whole population of East-Lothian with useful books, about Sixty Libraries will be necessary: the scheme commenced with five divisions, or 250 volumes; and there are already forty divisions established in Haddington, and in thirty-one of the principal towns and villages of the county. This has been effected chiefly through the instrumenta lity of an individual, and that with comparatively limited means. The experiment is important; because libraries, a whole kingdom may, by simiif a whole county may be covered with lar means, be covered with them; and if a whole kingdom, why not every part of the world where there is found a reading population? Though the primary object of the EastLothian Libraries is to promote the interests of Religion, and a large proportion of the books have accordingly been of a religious character, yet there has also been a considerable proportion of History, Biography, Travels, and popular works on the Arts and Sciences: this has added not a little to the popularity of the Institution; and, it is worthy of particular notice, has materially increased the number of Religious Books which have been read. As the East-Lothian Libraries contain many of the most valuable works, which are published from time to time, and also a considerable number which combine taste of the young, the books have had amusement with instruction, suited to the ready access into many of the principal families in the district. They are read, Z in fact, by all ranks and all classes-from families of the first respectability in the county down to the poorest and most distressed of its inhabitants; not excepting the prisoners in jail. Considering the necessity which there is for diffusing among the mass of the population sound and useful knowledge, it may be of importance to develope more particularly the nature of a scheme by which libraries are already in the course of establishment for a whole county, and by which they may be established over a kingdom, and even ultimately over the whole world. The primary feature of these libraries is their ITINERATING character. The books are formed into divisions of Fifty Volumes each. One of these divisions is stationed in a place for two years, and the books are issued to all persons above twelve years of age, who will take proper care of them. After that period, it is removed to another town or village, and a new division is sent in its place, which, after other two years, is again ex-, changed for another. Thus a perpetual succession of new books is introduced into each town and village, and by this means the interest of the readers is very effectually kept up. The issues of the books of the East-Lothian Establishment (now amounting to upward of 2000 volumes) have, so far as reported, been five times for each volume; or 10,000 issues of the whole if the same number of books had been formed into as many Stationary Libraries, there is reason to doubt whether the issues, several years after their establishment, would have amounted to 1000 a year. A second important feature of these libraries is their CHEAPNESS. A single Library of Fifty Volumes, with book-case, catalogue, labels, advertisements, and issuing-books, may be procured for from 10. to 121.; but the cost will, of course, depend, in a considerable degree, on the kind of books wanted, and whether they have been recently published: very good divisions may be selected for from 81. to 107. taking the medium of these rates, namely, 10%., the following number of libraries might be established for the sum stated -1 for a Village, 10-5 for a District of Villages, 50-50 for a County, 500l. Supposing the books in these libraries to be read on an average annually, in the proportion which has just been stated, namely, five times for each volume, this, in twenty years, the period which a library is found to last, will amount to 100 issues for every volume, or 5000 issues for the whole of the books in each library; and 250,000 issues for the whole of the books of fifty libraries. It may be doubted whether so much good, as may be anticipated from such a number of well-chosen libraries, could be effected at so small an expense by almost any other means. Pre It is a third important characteristic of these libraries, that there is in them a principle of SELF-PRODUCTION. Originally all the libraries were entirely gratuitous : only a small box was attached to each library, to afford the readers an opportunity of giving any small donation which they might think proper; but, some years ago, a plan was adopted of keeping NEW books at Haddington for the use of all persons who gave a small annual subscription, to the value of double the amount of their whole contributions; and the plan was extended to North Berwick and Dunbar. This arrangement has been attended with complete success. viously to the adoption of this measure, the greatest number of Annual Subscribers did not exceed eight: now they amount to 162. In consequence of there being Stations for NEW books in three different towns, it has been found practicable to furnish the subscribers with a much greater number of recent publications, by means of a mutual exchange between these places, than would have been practicable had the plan been limited to a single town. By the subscriptions, too, the means are in part furnished for providing new books for the following year: in 1829, the subscriptions and donations from these three places amounted to 391. 14s. 6d. and the donations from gratuitous readers to 71. 12s. 3d.: making in all 471. 6s. 9d. Hitherto the books have been issued gratuitously from the other libraries; but it is proposed, now that a spirit of reading has been excited in the county, to issue the books in future, the first year that a division is in a place, at the rate of a penny a volume: but as a subscription, however small, might essentially impede the success of the scheme, and as it is of immense consequence to bring the books within the reach of the whole population, particularly of the young, whom it is of peculiar importance to form to habits of reading and reflection, they will still continue to be issued gratuitously the second year. By such a system, combined with the plan |