INFLUENCE OF cI ERcYMEN.
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There is class of men in whose pows CT Il IS, by thci' position ih society, and by virtue 0t the influence which their office s'ves them, to d" much for the cause of general education. | allude to my reyer. end and respected brethren of the clergy. lift be true, that intelligence is favor able to the interests of,morality and reli.. gion-~if. to make men sieadfastly and em. ineniIy yirtuons. and ra,ionally, as we'll as ferven'ly devout, we must enlighten their unders,anding-.hat knowledge enlarges and Iiberalises inc mind, and opens it wide 10 the reception of trutt-thal intellectual culture, and intellectual enjoymenls, are a powerful security against the seductive in. flucnce of error and of vice-that the best affections of the heart, no less than the highest powers of intellect, are refined, and strengthened, and improved, by broa- der, and more elevated, and more accurate view of the being, in all his complicated relations-to GoD, to his fellow men, to himself, to his country, to society, tO his family, and his friends-t0 the exlernal world around him, and to that untried state of existence, which awaits him here- af'er-if it be true also, that ignorance dulls, and contracts, and debases the hu- man mind-tbat the absence of more refn- ed tastes, and purer and more exalted pleasures, gives predominancc to the gross CT propensi,ies of mans lower nature--s that, seen through the medium of an unen- frightened understanding, the most impor~ tant things are obscure, and confused and nncertain-that in this darkened, and be- wi!dered and groping condition of the

 mind, faith even may degenerate into big. otry, and devotion into superstition; if these things be true, then respectfully, but as the same time, earnestly ask, are not the Clergy, by the sacred obligations of their office; as being especially the guar- diaps and conservators of the public mor- als; as the delegated advocates and defen- ders of religious truths; as the lights and guides of the people ip the paths of right- eousness as their counsellors and conducs tors in the straight and narrow way, which leadeth unto life; called upon to make the cause of education, empha,ically, their own cause to identify it with themselves; to strive, with all their power, and this is great, 10 encourage and promote its ads vancement, and that too, with direct refs erence to the highest ends of their profess sion7 What mighty influence might they not exercise? What great and invai- uablc results could they not bring about ]; by waking up the attention of the people to this subject; by advising to measures of improvement by visiting and inspecting ,he schools; by cheering and animating the teachers by throwing, in word, the whole weight of their talents, and infu- ence, and efforts effectively and decidedly on the side of general education? And it is matter of deep regret and surprise, that they should have, in any degree, wi.hhol- ,ie" themselves ftom this great and good cause. ."--Rev. Wm. Page.