appropriated to another-and that one does the same, and it is again appropriated, and thus the benevolence of the giver is made to extend from youth to youth, and probably from generation to generation, long after he has gone to his rest. 5. Young men who are most worthy of the patronage of the Society will be better pleased with this mode of receiving aid, than with one which makes them entirely dependant on charity. If their hearts are warmed with the same spirit of benevolence, which prompts Christians, many of whom are themselves poor, to patronize them, they will wish to add as little as possible to the burdens which are sustained on their account, and will ask no more than to be assisted till they shall have it in their power to refund what they have received. Certainly they will ask no more when it is considered on what favorable conditions the loans are made to them, and how completely they are guarded from being ultimately op pressed, if they exercise the proper self-denial and do their duty.-If they finish their preparatory course and enter upon their destined profession, they are indulged with sufficient time to repay, before any interest has begun to accumulate; and if they devote themselves permanently to the service of Christ in the most destitute regions, where a scanty subsistence is all which they can ever hope to receive for their labors, or if, in any other way they are deprived of the power of refunding, the Directors will exercise the right entrusted to them, of abating or cancelling obligations at their discretion.-pp. 8, 9. Another change in the financial system of the Society, with which we have remarked a disposition in intelligent minds to become enamored upon a thorough examination of its merits, is that of establishing Scholarships, on a permanent foundation of 1,000 dollars each; which is placed under the care of the Directors, and is subject to such provisions, as the donor, or donors, may think proper, in concert with the Society, to institute at the period of making the foundation. The reason why the sum of one thousand dollars has been fixed upon is, that the interest of it comes so near to the present yearly appropriation to beneficiaries in colleges, which is seventy-two dollars. that the Directors think it safe to engage to supply the deficiency from their other funds.-p. 10. Fifty Scholarships were obtained by the present Secretary of the Society, during three months of the past year, in a few of the principal towns in New-England.-To such as may doubt the expediency of permanent foundations of this sort, the following considerations are addressed by the Society. 1. The experience of the best Christians has long decided, that there are some objects of great interest to the cause of the Redeemer in the world, which require the aid of permanent funds in order to be most successfully pronoted. Without attempting to enumerate them all, it may be mentioned, with safety, that Colleges, and Theological Seminaries, and, generally, those institutions which are designed to educate the young and prepare It is them for public life, are of this nature. necessary to the success of such institutions that they be permanent; and this every wise man knows they cannot be, without a permanent foundation to stand upon. Not only is it found important to have funds which may be invested in buildings, and libraries, and other similar objects, but foundations are often essential for the support of instructors, and for aiding indigent youth in obtaining an education. It would be easy to point to more than one Theological Seminary whose success in raising up ministers of the Gospel has occasioned joy to thousands, but which owes nearly all its means of usefulness to the assistance of permanent funds: while other Seminaries, which have been less fortunate in obtaining such assistance, and have been obliged to rely on the yearly contributions of the community, have labored under heavy embarrassments, which have not only circumscribed their usefulness, but threatened their very existence. However great, therefore, may be the danger that such funds may not be wisely and faithfully managed in particular instances, in time to come, true Christian prudence demands that they should be established. The cause of truth and piety cannot be successfully maintained without them. At the same time, it would seem as if a faith which can without difficulty trust in God to dispose his people to support public institutions of this nature from year to year, and from generation to generation, might with no greater effort, trust in him to raise up a succession of faithful men, to manage and apply fands which have been solemnly consecrated to his service. 2. The object of the American Education Society is the same with that of the institutions which have been referred to. It is to educate young men of picty and promise for the ministry, who have not the means of educating themselves. It has not indeed buildings, and libraries, and a local establishment, to give it visibility like other institutions, because, the Directors have wished to scatter their beneficiaries as widely as possible in other institutions, that these might have the benefit of their example and influence; and because, this method is attended with many conveniencies both to the beneficiaries and to the Society. There is no imaginable difference, however, as to the propriety and desirableness of the thing in itself, between giving a scholarship to a College, or a Theological Seminary, and giving it to this Society. The reasons which justify the laying of such foundations in the former case, justify it in the latter. No matter whether those who are to enjoy the benefit of the funds are educated in a particular college, or in many colleges; under the superintendence of a Board of Trustees, or of the Board of Directors of the American Education Society, the principle is the same, and a denial of it in one case, involves a denial of it in the other. 3. The American Education Society possesses a decided advantage over any local institution, in the security which it gives for the faithful application of its funds. It is composed of men from every quarter of the country, who stand as high in public confidence as any other men, and who elect others to cooperate with them as it becomes desirable, or necessary. The officers, including the Board of Directors who have the control of the funds, are elected every year by the Society. It may reasonably be hoped, therefore, that while there is a sufficient number of evangelical and faithful men in the country to constitute such a Society, the funds will not be misapplied. This cannot be said, with equal confidence, of Boards of men which are not amenable to any such society, and whose vacancies are filled by persons living within a small distance of each other. The security which the American Education Society holds out for the proper direction of its funds is probably as great as can be given in any case, and as great as any reasonable man would desire. 4. The plan of establishing Scholarships is exceedingly important, also, as it will enable the Directors to give a much more minute and thorough attention to the selection of beneficiaries, and help them to extend a more salutary supervision over them during the period of their preparation for the ministry. The Directors cannot but think that there is far greater reason to apprehend danger from this source, than from a designed misapplication of the funds by those into whose hands they may hereafter be entrusted. The persons to be patronized are young; often minors; and their character is yet to be formed. In addition to this, they are peculiarly liable to have their qualifications for future usefulness overrated, through the partiality of the friends by whom they are recommended to public patronage. Nothing but the most unwearied attention and vigilance can save the funds from being misapplied on these accounts. But it will be impossible for the Directors, or for any man whom they may appoint for the purpose, to superintend this all-important trust, so thoroughly as it should be, unless they are relieved, in some measure, from the necessity of making such constant efforts to obtain funds as have heretofore been made. There is in this respect a wide difference between the circumstances of the American Education Society, and most other benevolent institutions of a popular kind. The Bible Society has no fear that the precious book which it is circulating through the earth will disappoint its expectations, and prove a source of poison to those who read it; the Tract Society labors under no apprehension, when its pieces are selected, that they will change their character and be converted into something different from what they were originally; and even the Missionary Society has greatly the advantage of this, because it employs men who have been longer on trial, whose characters are in a good degree established, and whose faults, if they commit them, being seen at a distance, are less likely to be blazoned abroad and to excite popular prejudice, than the faults of beneficiaries who are situated in the midst of us. The Directors see no way of obviating these and other difficulties to which the Education Society is, from the very nature of its object, exposed, which promises to be so effectual as that of establishing Scholarships. Should this plan succeed, the public may hope to see the great, the final object of Education Societies accomplished; but if it should not, the experience of every Education Society yet formed, admonishes them to expect embarrassment and declension, if not entire failure. The Directors would not indeed make the Society independent of the continued charities of the community. They have fixed the amount of a Scholarship so low, that large contingent funds will be absolutely necessary to carry forward the operations of the Society; and for these they must look directly to the yearly contributions of the community. Should the number of beneficiaries increase, as it is to be hoped and expected that it will, the dependance of the Society on the community will increase with it. Of course, it will be necessary to form auxiliary Societies, and to make collections as heretofore; and those who prefer to make donations for present use only, will have opportunity of contributing in the way most agreeable to themselves. 5. It admits of doubt in the minds of some, whether it is right to encourage youth, and especially minors, to contract debts for board and other expenses, the payment of which cannot ordinarily be deferred without injustice to those to whom they are due, when the only means which the Directors have of enabling their beneficiaries to pay these debts is derived from a contingent fund, which one month may be sufficient for that purpose, and another month may be entirely inadequate. Confidence it is true may, to a certain extent, be lawfully exercised in this, as well as in other cases; but unless there are some sources which may be applied to for relief, in the last resort, beside contingent funds, the Institution may sustain frequent injury in its character for integrity and efficiency. 6. Another advantage of the plan of Scholarships is, that it will enable every individual who gives a thousand dollars, and every society which does the same, to educate more ministers for the church in a course of years, than could possibly be educated with the same sum by giving it altogether for immediate use. Each Scholarship will probably give to the world one minister of the Gospel every seven, or eight years, supposing aid to be granted in the several stages of preparatory study, which will make fourteen or fifteen ministers in a century; without exhausting the principal; while two, or three at most, are all that can reasonably be expected to be educated with the same sum if given for immediate use. It cannot be surprising that those who have the means of establishing such foundations, and who are desirous of perpetuating their charities long after they are dead, should regard this method of appropriation as having peculiar attractions. pp. 15-18. We have given so much room to this subject, because the American Education Society is one of very great importance, and because the present is an eventful period in its history. Let it receive a patronage proportionate to its value as a moral instrument; or, even, let it be patronized only as it has been in time past; and ten years hence, it will, by its results, strongly urge itself upon the public attention. Already, when driven, by the detractions of enemies, or the coldness of friends, into the 'foolishness of boasting,' it uses language like the following. וי The Society can tell of six missionaries whom who, in exploring the waters of the Pacific, it has assisted in preparing to preach the Gospel || have visited Hawaii, have seen a small part to the heathen, two of whom, after having de- only of that island; and their observation livered their message with exemplary devoted-being confined to the coast, they could, of ness, have ceased from their labors, and left their bones upon pagan ground; and it can mention several other missionaries, who are laboring with zeal and fidelity in distant and destitute parts of our country. It can enumerate more than thirty who have been settled as pastors of churches, and nearly the same number of licensed preachers of the Gospel, who will probably ere long become pastors. It sees two whom it has aided, holding offices of great responsibility and usefulness in two of the largest benevolent Societies in the country-while two others, who have been prevented, by loss of health, from statedly preaching, are sending abroad a salutary and pious influence from week to week by means of the press. Twelve or fifteen others are engaged for the present, as Instructors of Academies, or as Tutors in Colleges; and one is a Professor in a Seminary for educating men for the ministry. Twelve have died who had not completed their preparatory studies. Of those who are now in different stages of their education, some are in academies, and private schools; between one and two hundred are members of colleges; and a large number are pursuing theological studies in Seminaries established by evangelical Christians. In one of these institutions, the Theological Sem inary at Andover, one fourth part of the whole number of the students is composed of those who have enjoyed the patronage of the American Education Society.-p. 13. JOURNAL OF A TOUR AROUND HAWAII. A COPY of the "Journal of a Tour around course, give us but little information respecting Accept, Gentlemen, this expression of my Hawaii, by a Deputation from the mission at the American Board of Missions. Sandwich Islands," having been transmitted, not long since, to the Geographical Society of Paris, the following official letter has, in consequence, been sent to the Board. Paris, Sept. 18, 1826. Gentlemen,-The Geographical Society have received the work, which you had the goodness to send to them, entitled "A Journal of a Tour around Hawaii," and have directed me to express to you their high gratification on receiving a work, which contributes so much to the advancement of knowledge. Navigators, FORMATION OF AUXILIARIES. OHIO.-Portage County. Elizur Wright, Esq. of Talmadge, Pres. Dea. J. H. Sherwood, Nelson, 1st. V. Pres. Rev. Caleb Pitkin, Charlestown, zd. do. David Hudson, Esq. Hudson, 3d. do. Rev. George Sheldon, Franklin, Sec. Mr. Harvy Baldwin, Hudson, Treas. Organized Sept. 7, 1826. Trumbull County.-Rev. Harvey Coe, Vernon, Pres. Dea. Abram Griswold, Gustavus, 1st. V. Pres. Mr. E. P. Fanner, Canfield, 2d. do. Dea. Robert Russell, Newton, 3d. do. Rev. J. W. Curtis, Warren, Sec. Sept. 22, 1826. Numerous Associations have been formed, recently, in different parts of the country, of which there will be a notice in the next number. DONATIONS, FROM NOVEMBER 21ST, TO DECEMBER 20TH, INCLUSIVE. West Bridgewater, Ms. E. Reed, 4 07 2 25 50 00 13. 00 11 01 22 00 12 00 9 85 62 50 Greenville, N. Y. La. asso. av. of cloth, Haddam, Ci. Rev. JOHN MARSH, (which constitutes him an Honorary Member of the Board,) Hagerstown, Md. S. Steele, for Ceylon miss. Hardwick, Vt. Fem. aux. so. 12; E. Strong, 5; Hartford, Ct. Fem. juv. mite so. for Caroline Chester in Ceylon, Hartsville, Pa. Nishamony so. 2d pay. for an Indian child. 50 00 50 00 17 00 12 00 14.00 2 40 51 62 7.39 1 00 Windham, N. H. Mon. con. for wes. miss. Yellow Springs, O. J. Stewart, Amount of donations acknowledged in the preceding lists, 85,544.39. III. LEGACIES. Lancaster, O. Indiv. 2.00 11 96 Lebanon, N. J. W. Johnson, Lewistown, Pa. Miss. so. 5 00 15 00 Braintree, A box, for Rev. W. Potter, Creek Path, 16 00 Litchfield. Ct. A family, for hea, chil. 1 00 Canterbury, N. H. Clothing, fr. ladies, for Tus Lyons, N. Y. Mon. con. 13; Fem. miss. so. 16; 29 00 carora miss. 34 01 Lyons Farms, N. J. Mon. con. 5 66 Manchester, Vt. Rem. of c. box of R. P. Shel don, dec'd, for hea. chil. 50 Canton, Ms. A coverlet, fr. children in Miss Enfield, Ct. A box and bundle, for Osage miss. 18 00 miss. so. in Trumbull, 14.10; and from fem. asso. in Brookfield, 29.44; Fayetteville, Ala. Articles, fr. ladies, Great Barrington, Ms. Leather, fr. S. Rosseter, for Choc. miss. Hamp. Chris. Depos. Ms. 20 1-2 yds. flannel, fr. fem. asso. Middlefield; wool fr. fem. asso. Northampton. 17 1-2 yds. fulled cloth, fr. fem. asso. Granby, W. par. Hartford, Ct. A box, barrel and half barrel for Sandw. Isl. miss. 43 54 64 58 3.00 Worcester Central Asso. Ms. Bibles, Testaments, &c. fr. gent. asso. in Worcester, The following articles are respectfully solicited from Manufacturers and others. Printing paper, to be used in publishing portions of the Scriptures, school-books, tracts, &c. at Bombay, and at the Sandwich Islands. Writing paper, writing books, blank books, quills, slates, &c. for all the missions and mission schools: especially for the Sandwich Islands. Shoes of a good quality, of all sizes, for persons of both sexes; principally for the Indian missions. Blankets, coverlets, sheets, &c. Fulled cloth, and domestic cottons of all kinds. |