323 27 350 Theological Seminaries. 1,092 $5,830 36 AT the Quarterly Meeting of the Board of $5,866 Directors of the American Education Society, the following rule was adopted, viz. Voted, That, as the Directors of the American Education Society view it highly important, that, in all their transactions, they should act understandingly and in a fair impartial manner, so, consequently, they deem it expedient, that, whenever any of the gentlemen, who have received the patronage of this Society, shall request, that the written obligations held against them be I cancelled, such request be accompanied with suitable testimonials of the pecuniary situation and other circumstances of the individuals, making the application, unless they should be well known to the Board. 12 12 REPORTS OF AGENTS. REV. WILLIAM L. MATHER. To the Secretary of the American Education Society. My last report was made out at South Mansfield, Tolland county, Conn. Immediately after the date of that report, I visited the following towns in Tolland county, and closed my agency in that State : viz. North and South Mansfield, Columbia, Gilead, Andover, North and South Coventry, and Willington. The amount subscribed and paid in these towns was $313 57. My next field of labor was Middlesex county, Mass.; in which I spent a few weeks, and visited Reading, Stoneham, Medford, Wilmington, Woburn, Framingham, Natick, East Sudbury, Sherburne, Holliston, Hopkinton, Waltham, Tewksbury and Dracut, and collected $514 01. From this field I proceeded to Addison county, Vt. where I spent the remaining weeks of the last three months; visited 8 towns and obtained subscriptions amounting to $146 75; of which $108 95 were paid down. This, however, does not give a correct view, either of the result of the agency, or of the amount which will be actually paid into the treasury during the year, by this county. In several of these towns subscriptions to a considerable amount have been obtained, but which for particular reasons did not pass through my hands, and will not be reported the present quarter. And in others additional sums will be paid in the course of the year by societies already existing, the time of whose annual payments had not arrived. The whole amount which will be paid by this county in the course of the year, will probably be between two and three hundred dollars. Owing to an unusual scarcity of money at the present time, arising somewhat from peculiar local circumstances, I have found greater difficulty in collecting funds in this county, than in any other which I have visited during the whole of my agency. The state of feeling however on the subject, is generally good. But few are found ready to oppose this good cause. And I doubt not that Addison county, under other and more favorable circumstances, will manifest its approbation by more general and more liberal aid. Since I have been in the State I have attended the meetings of two consociations, and presented the subject publicly to these bodies. The whole amount of subscriptions obtained during the quarter, as appears from the above, is $974 13, of which all but $39 30 was paid down. The particular sums as obtained in the several places, will appear in the list of donations published in the Journal. In nearly all the places above-mentioned, efforts have been made to secure permanent aid. With this view Associations have been formed, on a plan, which, it was thought, would be best calculated to accomplish that object. REV. JOHN M. ELLIS. To the Secretary of the American Education Society. DEAR SIR,-Having been engaged as agent of your Society in the Illinois Branch, for two months, viz. February and March, and now, being about to engage in the Indiana Branch, which is auxiliary to the Presbyterian Education Society, I supposed it would be well to report the results of those two months, viz. An addition to the State Society of more than one hundred members; thirteen of whom are life members by the payment of $10 or more, the rest by the payment of one dollar or more, annually. Places visited, with the respective sums subscribed. viz. Of this sum $85 75 has been collected. The whole or more than this amount, viz. $317 00 may doubtless be relied on. The winter has been so severe, and the travelling so difficult, that in almost every instance, the meetings were small; and numbers not present may be expected to be added still. The interest manifested by our new and feeble churches, (for such is the case with alınost all,) has been particularly gratifying, They have been willing to do what they could for an object which they feel to be so nearly connected with the welfare of Zion at the West. The number of young men aided by the funds of the American Education Society, under the direction of the Illinois Branch, is eight. Nine more will soon apply for aid— 17 at least will soon be under the care of the Illinois Branch. Adding those who are soon to join the college at Jacksonville, encouraged by the Education Society, to your former beneficiaries, with several who have recently been the hopeful subjects of grace in the college, and who have determined on the ministry, 25 promising young men will be pursuing their studies for the sacred office. The influence of the pious students on the other members of college, has been most important. EXTRACTS FROM THE MIDDLESEX be placed in connection with the proceedings of the Middlesex Auxiliary, which will be found on a preceding page. THIS report was not received in season to "God has wisely and kindly ordered it, that the influence of benevolent exertions should be twofold. While they extend the light of the gospel abroad and exert their transforming power far and wide, the influence comes back again upon the soul of the benevolent man, and every effort he makes strengthens his habit of doing good, while every breath of intelligence, bearing to him tidings of success, encourages and animates him in his onward course. And hence we have to-day, on our assembling together as a benevolent association, a pledge of the perpetually increasing interests, and the final triumphs, of the cause in which we labor. This remark is perhaps no where more clearly exemplified than in the history of the American Education Society and its Auxiliaries. "This Society was formed in view of the institutions has fallen far behind this increase of population, and also that in all parts of the land infidelity in sentiment and immorality in practice are extending together, affording and receiving that sustenance from each other by which they flourish, then we shall perceive that the Education Society has but just begun its work. alarming disproportion which had beening, and towns and cities are springing up found to exist between the increase and like willows by the water courses,' and diffusion of our population, and the growth then consider that the progress of religious and extension of our religious institutions. On careful examination it had been found, that over a great majority of the people of this land, no religious influence was exerted. Over a great extent of territory, the institutions of the gospel were scarcely known. In other large regions churches were very few and feeble, no temples for worship were seen, and no voice of praise was heard. For hundreds of miles where the population had become considerable, no sermon had ever been preached, and but few, com. paratively, possessed the Bible. There was a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.' "And while there was such a scarcity of means to supply the wants then existing, it was seen that throughout our wide extent of territory, the population was increasing every day with an unexampled rapidity. In this state of things, and admitted, as it was, by all wise statesmen, as well as by all philanthropists, that religion was the general source of morality and public order, and that nothing but the influence of that morality, which was fostered snd sustained by religion, could save our country from that misrule and anarchy which had destroyed other republics, a few individuals devised the plan of an Education Society to increase the number of competent ministers of the gospel. "It has been demonstrated by thousands of examples, indeed a large portion of our land is at this moment a standing witness of the truth, that religion can never be made to flourish but by the instrumentality of a competent ministry. When a survey of the land was made, it was at once seen that the ministry was incompetent, either by their numbers or their attainments to take that station in society which they ought to occupy, or to exert upon the mass of the community that influence which a Christian ministry ought to exercise. Those who were scribes well instructed were too few, to be extensively known by their numbers, while many in our new settlements, particularly, were too little instructed themselves to command the respect of the more enlightened. "And the friends of religion, the friends of morality and of all that is desirable in the preservation of our free institutions were convinced, that something must be done to increase the number of competent well instructed ministers of the gospel, or our land, with all its past prosperity, and all its eulogized prospects, was ruined. The result was the formation of the American Education Society, in the year 1815. "The object for which the Society was formed, and at which it constantly aims, is to remedy an evil great and alarming, by raising up in every part of the land a learned, pious, and devoted clergy; to give to every thousand souls among the increasing millions of the land a pastor, whose influence over them shall be such as always belongs to superiority of knowledge, combined with goodness of heart. "Great is this field of labor, and but few now occupy it. Though it may appear to Christians in this region, who sit under the weekly ministrations of the gospel, that there is no need of any special effort in this cause, yet there never has been a time, since the first settlement of this land, when the inspired words were more applicable to us than now, The harvest is great, and the laborers are few.' "Without taking up your time by giving a statistical view of our land in detail, it is sufficient for our purpose now to give merely the result of accurate observation and calculation made and reported from the most credible sources. "It appears from the best documents, that no less than 6,000 ministers are wanting this day, in order that our countrymen may all have the preached gospel. And the field is already white for the harvest, but there are no laborers to enter in and reap. Thousands of destitute churches are waiting for pastors and can find none. repeat it, the difficulty is daily increasing, and will continue to increase, unless the churches who are already supplied, awake to a sense of their duty, and replenish the funds of the Education Society. And we "All the candidates for the ministry now sent forth from year to year, are not enough to supply the vacancies made by death, and the increase of population. The present extensive wastes still remain unsupplied, and are daily extending their territory of darkness. The man of sin has already planted his emissaries there, and that deadly foe to free institutions civil and religious, even now boasts of his success. 66 Something then must be done to increase the number of able and pious Protestant ministers, or the waste places in the land will increase, immorality and vice will march "If we look abroad in our land and see on, irreligion, Romanism, and infidelity will how rapidly the population is increasing, become triumphant, and anarchy and ruin how the vast Western forests are disappear-will inevitably succeed. The case is a plain all around them, and to generations that come after them, and then go away in their sins to people the world of despair. And is there not a vast responsibility resting on Christians who know these things, and who, by a little effort, a little sacrifice and selfdenial, can give the bread of life to the famishing, and cause the river of the water one. It cannot admit of a question. It is not mere theory. The experiment has often been tried whether a nation can be free, and has always resulted in showing that a nation degraded by ignorance and vice can never maintain free institutions. We are now trying the experiment again. We are a spectacle to the whole world, and the influence of this experiment is to ex-of life, with an overflowing current, to run tend to all men, and to all the coming generations down to the end of time. And the success of this trial, and all its consequent influences, depend on the intelligence and virtue in which the foundation of our repub- "And beside the destitution in our own lic was first laid. Remove this foundation land, there are hundreds of millions in other and the building has nothing upon which it lands, who are yet without any knowledge can stand. And our only hope of extend-of the gospel, and who are perishing by ing and perpetuating a healthful moral influ-hundreds and thousands every day for lack ence through the land is by extending the living ministry until their voice shall be heard by all who dwell in it. "The question then whether our republican institutions are to be preserved and we to remain freemen, depends entirely, under God, on the question, whether the Christian portion of our population, who see the dangers and know the remedy, love freedom as much as did their fathers who fought for it. In other words, whether they are willing to make, in their turn, the sacrifice which the exigency of the times demands, to preserve and extend and perpetuate the religion of Jesus Christ, which alone has power to restrain the passions of men, to elevate and sanctify their affections, and without which republican institutions cannot long survive. "But the preservation of our free institutions, as highly as we prize them, is a minor consideration compared with the influence of the gospel upon the hopes and immortal destinies of the souls of men. On the sure word of God, we believe that the present world is a state of probation, and the future a state of retribution; that the human soul is immortal; that God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world, and that the final and everlasting destiny of every human being will then be fixed in happiness or misery as he has received or neglected the gospel of Christ. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we can be saved than the name of Christ. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?' "Preachers must be qualified and sent forth into the destitute portions of our land and the world, carrying with them the everlasting gospel, or generation after generation will pass through life ignorant of the gospel of the grace of God, exert their demoralizing and degrading influence upon through the length and the breadth of the land, bearing on its bosom the fruits of righteousness and the hopes of immortal blessedness. of vision. The world yet lieth in sin. And in view of the hasty glance we have now taken of the influence of the gospel upon our civil and temporal interests, in view of the love of Christ for lost men; of the eternal blessedness of the soul in the presence of its God and Saviour, and of the unceasing agonies of all who shall be banished from his presence and the glory of his power, how great is the responsibility resting upon Christians? Generation after generation are passing off this stage of trial, and millions of souls who have never heard of a Saviour are annually called to the bar of God. And can those who enjoy the ministrations of the gospel and have tasted themselves the sweets of Christian communion, and felt the joys of Christian hope, can they, with stoic indifference, look upon this fearful condition of such vast multitudes of their fellow men? With the command of the gospel sounding in their ears, Go preach the gospel to every creature, and furnished by the God of heaven with ample means, would they use them to the extent of their ability, very soon, literally, to obey this injunction, can they claim an affinity to the spirit of Christ, or hope at last to be approved as good and faithful servants, while they refuse to yield but a mere fraction of what the exigency of the time requires, and of what they could well spare? O that every professing disciple of Christ may feel, that the providence of God is now addressing him as clearly and distinctly as though it were a living voice from the clouds, calling him to awake and put forth every energy in the great work of sending the gospel to the destitute. "Now an appeal is again made, and an opportunity again presented, to the friends of religion and the friends of man in this county, through the medium of this Society, to come with their benefactions, to this good work of qualifying young men for ministers, to go and break unto the famishing the bread of life, to build up the waste places of the heritage of God, and to extend the blessings of eternal salvation to a perishing world. "Those who are indeed the friends of Christ will not, cannot turn away from such a call. If they have his spirit they will not, they cannot become weary in well doing; but as they grow up in the divine life, they will feel more and more, that they are only stewards of the Lord's bounty, and will rise in their zeal and increase their benefactions, and walk in the light and enjoyment of the cheering hope of the speedy approach of the predicted time, when the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High." PRESBYTERIAN EDUCATION SOCIETY. breaking the bread of eternal life to the famished heathen, and which has caused many solitary and barren spots in the wilderness, to bud and blossom as the rose? Christians have long been praying the Lord of the harvest, to send forth laborers into the widely extended and waving fields. God is now hearing and answering this prayer. By the outpouring of his Holy Spirit upon the churches, he is converting and bringing forward a large number of young men. He calls upon his people to educate these youth for his service. He is thus testing the sincerity of their prayer. He is now weighing in the balance their desires to have an adequate ministry provided for a perishing world; and the opposing principles of selfishness, unbelief, and worldly ease, which neutralize every effort to accomplish this glorious object. Let all then, who have prayed for an increase of "laborers in the harvest," evince by an active benevolence, the sincerity of their petitions. Let them come forward with promptness, and prevent by timely and liberal support, the embarrassment, which 1,354 otherwise must inevitably arise, from the 976 greatly augmented number of young men who apply for patronage. In 8 Theolo. Sem. 39 men $ 737 Total 37 institutions. 56 do. 165 men, $3,067 Appropriations to the amount of $825, were also made to forty-seven new applicants, belonging to nine States and twentyeight institutions of learning. The whole number of young men assisted at the meeting of the Board is 212. The whole amount appropriated is $3,892. TERMS OF ADMISSION TO THE THEO LOGICAL SEMINARY, ANDOVER. MISTAKES having often been made by persons at a distance, respecting the terms of admission to this Seminary, the Trustees at their late meeting voted, that seasonable and extensive public notice, respecting those terms, should be given by the President. To those who wish to apply for membership in the Seminary, information on the following points may be sufficient. 1. The regular time for admission is five weeks after the anniversary, which will be hereafter the second (instead of the fourth) Wednesday of September. The Christian public must be aware, from the above statement, that the operations of the Society cannot be sustained, without a large increase of funds. Sixty-five new applicants were received at the Quarterly Meeting in March, the annual appropriations to whom, will not be less than $4,800. To carry forward those, who were received on probation at the last meeting, an additional sum of $3,500 per annum will be required. 2. The laws require that every candidate A large number of new applicants may also for admission into the Seminary shall, prebe anticipated, at the next Quarterly Meet-viously to his examination, produce to the ing of the Board. Thus the demands upon the Society are rapidly increasing, and unless its friends come forward to its support with promptness and liberality, its operations must be greatly embarrassed, if not actually retarded. Let the benevolence of the followers of Christ be commensurate with the greatness of the sacred enterprize. Let every one engage with alacrity in the great work of furnishing the world with a pious and well educated ministry. Who will stand aloof from this sublime and sacred undertaking, upon which God has enstamped the broad seal of his approbation? Who will withhold his influence, his prayers, and his contributions from a Society, which has already furnished many a feeble and destitute church, with a devoted and able pastor; 'Every candidate thus introduced, is which has trained up men, who are now to be examined by the Faculty, with re faculty satisfactory testimonials, from persons of information and respectability, and of reputed piety, that he possesses good natural and acquired talents; that he has been regularly educated at some respectable College or University, or has otherwise made literary acquisitions, which, as preparatory to theological studies, are substantially equivalent to a liberal education; and that he sustains a fair moral character, is of a prudent and discreet deportment, and is hopefully possessed of personal piety. He shall also exhibit to the Faculty proper testimonials of his being in full communion with some church of Christ; in default of which he shall subscribe a declaration of his belief in the Christian religion. 3. " |