general welfare; but have learnt to esteem it, in some sort, as a parishioner actively engaged in aiding my ministerial duties, facilitating the intercourse between the pastor and his flock, communicating its valuable treasures of Christian knowledge on the easiest terms, to thousands around me. 1st, In the Central School of the kingdom, in which, from local circumstances, a great majority of the children are my parishioners. 2dly, In a branch of the City of London National School, accommodated in my parish Church. 3dly, In my own Parochial School, where 230 children are not only instructed in the books supplied by the Society; but on quitting the School, are furnished with Bibles and Prayer Books, at the usual redus ced prices, to carry with them into whatever situation of life it may please God to call them. To this account I may add gratuitous grants of the Holy Scriptures, and other publications, made by the Society, to the workhouses, alms-houses, and the indigent classes in general within the parish, so far as its means will allow.

"These extensive aids, rendered by the Society to the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, have established a claim upon my gratitude to make known its worth, and to declare to others what I firmly believe myself, that it is a most valuable ally of the Church, a faithful dispenser of evangelical knowledge, and an instrument in the hand of Providence, for checking superstition, infidelity, and schism; and for promoting the stupendous plans, which the God of our salvation hath devised for the conver. sion of mankind. This may sound like the language of adulation in the ears of those who are strangers to the principles by which the Society is governed, and to the connection it maintains with the National Society for the Education of the Poor,' as well as with the Society for the Propaga tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.'

"I request your attention to a brief account of its influence in these two relations; and would preface what I have to say with one or two observations on the present state of our own country. Whether we contemplate the immense increase of our population, far beyond the existing means of instruction under its regularly appointed ministry, owing to the want of church-accommodation; (a want, however, which we trust in God will be soon in some degree supplied) or, whether we look at the great consequent increase of Separatists from the Establishment; or, at the incalculable power of the new mechanism at work for the instruction of the lower or

ders; or, at the diffusion of information of every kind through the medium of a bold and free-too often, I fear, a venal and mischievous press; or, lastly, whether we regard the unceasing and unprincipled efforts of the disaffected and the lawless, of profane persons and unbelievers, to contaminate the public mind, and poison the sources of moral happiness; to whichsoever of these points we advert (and no one duly impressed with the feelings of a religious and responsible being can be insensible to their momentous influence on social order, and the present and future happiness of the community,) we shall be consoled by the reflection, that there is a Society fortunately influential, by the indefatigable activity of its direct exertions, and those of its subsidiary committees, in almost all parts of the kingdom, and the foreign possessions of the Crown; by the enlargement of its designs on every new increase of its resources; a Society under the guidance of sound discretion, disinterested benevo> lence, and unostentations piety; consisting of clergy and laity, who devote much of their time, their talents, and their labours to counteract, what is most to be dreaded, the effects of irreligion in geenral, and of hostility to our Establishment in particular; and who spare no pains to give a right direction to a system of education, which without such direction, might prove a greater curse than ignorance; and instead of helping to fix sound principles of religion in the minds of our population, tend to the subversion of all religious principles whatsoever. For instance, not fewer than 350,000 children are daily educated in schools, united with the Society for the Education of the Poor in the principles of the Established Church, and on a plan, which for the rapidity with which it conveys information, and for the efficacy with which it impresses on the memory, has no parallel. Now what would be the consequence, if false principles of religion, and a spurious morality, the visionary fancies of the enthusiast, or the cheerless dogmas of the fanatic, were so propagated and enforced? What but disorder, disunion and

error?

"But, behold, on the contrary, the

"I allude particularly to the establishment of Parochial Lending Libraries, by means of which, as well religious books as those of innocent recreation and instruction, are communicated to the lower orders with extraordinary facility and the` best prospect of success..

Holy Scriptures, the Book of Common Prayer, that wholesome comment on the Sacred Text; tracts doctrinal, devotional, and practical, adapted to all capacities, and suited to all conditions and exigencies of human life, which have passed a threefold scrutiny of able and pious men, and have the surest guarantee for their bene ficial tendency that human caution can suggest: behold these distributed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, with an almost unbounded munificence; and these the only books that can (according to the terms of union) be admitted into the National Schools.

"And what is the result we may reasonably hope for, of limitation on the one hand, and liberality on the other! What but an increasing knowledge of the Word of God! An increasing desire to do his will! An increasing attachment to our Apostolic Church, and to that form of civil polity, with which it is combined! which in their union are the glory and blessing of our own country, and the admiration of all civilized nations; which have kept their seat, unmoved, amidst the wreck of other states, and may be destined in the counsels of the Most High to accomplish a final triumph over the powers of darkness. For it is scarcely to be believed that this small island which we inhabit, this speck in the “broad sea,” should have attained to her present height of temporal grandeur, and have subjected to her dominion such extensive territories, as she possesses in all quarters of the globe, unless it were to answer some special design of Providence-We see this country the depository of the wealth, the science, the commerce of the world; the exuberant parent of every form of charity that can alleviate, approve, and advance the condition of humanity. Is it for the purpose of a transient glory, that she has been allowed to accumulate on her shores the treasures of the gorgeous East, and the luxurious produce of the Western hemisphere? And will all the splendour of her achievements in arts and arms be dissolved, like a baseless vision, and leave no trace of them behind for the benefit of genera tions to come? Have we so long encircled by our shores the pure form of primitive Christianity, and upheld our Protestant Church in the beauty of holiness against the insidious attacks of internal enemies, and the undisguised assaults of revolutionists and infidels; and all for the exclusive benefit of so small a portion as we inhabit of the globe?

"It is not for us to pry too curiously

into

the times and seasons, which the Father has put in his power; but without presumption be it said, that at no former period, since the miraculous and extraordinary interposition of heaven for the propagation of the Gospel was withdrawn, has there been so much reason, as at the present time, to hope that by the agency of human means, God will shew wonderful things in righteousness,' diffuse the light of the divine truth, dissipate the mists of error, and chase the phantoms, which ignorance and superstition generate, from the face of the earth. These hopes have their main foundation in the sure word of Prophecy,' which so pointedly, so repeatedly, in the most specific, and the sublimest terms, predicts the accomplishment of this great scheme of Providence. For the everlasting Gospel shall be preached to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." And the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ †.”

"These hopes find further encouragement in the new method for inculcating knowledge, which has before been mentioned, and to the efficacy of which no limit can be assigned. This method of teaching, it will be recollected, was an offering from the East. We have already, in this particular at least, given back to her her own with usury. Under the joint auspices of the Societies for Promoting Christian Knowledge and for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Madras System, sanctified by its union with our Ecclesias tical Establishment, is making a surprising progress in the three presidencies of India. They have long supplied the dependancies of the Crown of England on the American continent, and the adjacent islands, with the means of religious instruction, according to the doctrine and discipline of our Church. Upwards of eighty missionaries are there employed. They have contributed their aid to the erection of churches, the circulation of the Scriptures, Prayer Books, and religious tracts. Under their patronage, the National System of education has, of late years, been introduced into the three principal provinces dependant upon England; and the advantages already derived from it, sufficiently prove its great influence in the great improvement of the moral and religious habits of the people. But the great field of their

* Rev. xiv. 6. + Rev. xi. 15. See Reports of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, &c.

operation is British India. A scion from the Church of England has been planted in Hindostan by the hand of that distinguished labourer in the vineyard of God, whose comprehensive and enlightened mind devised a scheme for imparting the light of Christianity, that has been the admiration of all classes of Christians, and when in full operation, we trust, will not disappoint the expectations that have been formed.

"With an energy, and a devotedness to the cause of Christ, worthy of the Apostolic age, this mitred Missionary traversed his enormous diocese, obtained an intimate knowledge of its internal condition, and more than redeemed the pledge given to the Society which so anxiously watched for the result of his labours. He has been cut off in his holy career; it has pleased God to take him to himself. But dead he still speaks to the millions of India in the wisdom of his scheme for their conversion, and in that noble monument of his taste and genius the Missionary College, near Calcutta. Another monument § is about to be raised to his memory in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul.

"But we anticipate for him more durable memorials than these, in the indelible gratitude of the converted idolater, in the annals of an evangelized continent, and in the eternal records of heaven. Quicquid amavimus, et mirati sumus, manet, mansurunique est in animis hominum, in æternitate temporum, famâ reram *.'

6

"To supply the vacancy made by his lamented death, another prelate, highly qualified, we believe, to prosecute the mighty work, has left our shores. He, like his predecessor, received his valedictory address within the walls, which himself called sacred t,' of the Society for

* This monument, to the memory of Bishop Middleton, is to be erected at the joint expence of the Members of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, by the first of living artists; and is intended, by the simplicity of the design, to hand down to posterity the gratitude of the present age for achievments

rarely equalled in the annals of the Church, and to operate as an incentive to exertions of the like unbounded beneficence, and piety, and wisdom.

Tacitus in vitâ Agricolæ,

+See Bishop Heber's answer to the address of the Lord Bishop of Bristol, on the day previous to his departure for India,

Promoting Christian Knowledge—' Sacred, considering the purposes to which they are devoted, and the prayers by which they are hallowed.' For all the business there transacted, begins and ends with prayer. Its members of the same communion, acknowledging one faith, one baptism, and one Lord, can conscientiously bow together hefore Him that heareth prayer,' and with heart and voice in unison implore the hastening of his kingdom.' Beginning from God, they humbly hope to be workers together with God;' and with the sanction of divine co-operation, to bring to a glorious issue the great enterprise they have taken in hand, involving the edification, security, and increase of the Church of Christ in our own country, together with its establishment and enlargement in our foreign settlements, and in the widely extended regions subject to British influence, in almost every quarter of the habitable globe.

6

"Thus these two Societies, coeval in their origin, and consentient in their missionary characters, like two noble rivers, unite themselves in a common channel, without the noise and foam of the torrent: no shattered fragments mark their course. They flow on, in a majestic stream, the medium of conveyance for the choicest gifts of heaven, enlightening and enriching the regions through which they pass. May they still flow on, daily receiving fresh supplies of strength, nor terminate but in the fulfilment of that encouraging prediction, The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters' cover the sea!'" P. 13.

We most heartily join with Mr. Beresford in his concluding address.

"As patriots and philanthropists you will unite in their enlarged and benevolent views. As Christians, you will seek to acquit yourselves of some part of that responsibility, which attaches to your station, and thus, in the way most efficacious, next to personal example in holiness and virtue, you will assist in promoting religious knowledge and religious practice, and prepare yourselves for the solemn account in the great harvest of righteousness, when the final distinction shall be

made between the chaff and the sound grain, by that impartial Judge, who will

in the interesting Report of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge fo 1823.

reward every man according to his works, without respect of persons.

"As members of the Church of England, you will never forget that that Church should be not only the sanctuary of sound doctrine, but the centre of union, and the seat of charity. The discordancies, inconsistencies, and contrarieties of opinion subsisting in the various sects without her pale, should serve as continual motives for concord and exertion to those within. Between the extremes of error, which unhappily prevail in this land of freedom-where too many imagine them selves authorized to worship God, not as He has required to be worshipped in his revealed Word, but according to any dictates of their bewildered fancies, and rend in pieces the body of Christ, the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood" by their widely opposing tenets—the middle ground of truth should be kept in the meekness of wisdom by the members of the Church. With the law of love for their guidance, their only strife should be in offices of love, and for the prize of holiness. So would the influence of religion spread rapidly

6

Acts xx. 28.

among our own people, and more zeal be testified to promote the Redeemer's kingdom in foreign lands. It would not be only an annual subscription we should give, in behalf of those important designs, which we have been recommending; nor the occasional donation to further their efficacy; but the actual exertions of each member individually in that sphere, wherein he is appointed to move, would help to transfuse the spirit of piety and charity kindled in his own breast to the breasts of others. Thus would the engaging form of our holy religion defy the imputation of formality, and the scandal of being a po litical establishment; and with all her fair appendages, her simple but solemn rites ; her converting and confirming ordinances; her font and her altar; her creeds and her common-prayer-with these for her handmaids, she would go on to new conquests over the hearts and affections of men-her triumphs would be seen far and near— acknowledged as the genuine descendant of heaven, the offspring of holiness and truth, all the inhabitants of the earth, as many as experience the sweet vicissitudes of day and night, would call her blessed; and from the rising to the setting sun her name would be glorious." P. 25.

Memoir of the Rev. Duke Yonge, Rector of Sheviock, in the County of Cornwall, and Vicar of Cornwood, in the County of Devon.

It is a common and true observation, that the biography of eminent persons belongs to their country: a faithful portraiture of their actions, their habits of life and modes of thinking, of the difficulties they have surmounted, the snares they have avoided, and the temptations they bave resisted, seems to be the best means of extending the benefits which they have conferred on society, by at once provoking and facilitating the imitation of those who may come after them. These reasons appear to us to apply with REMEMBRANCER, No. 63.

peculiar force in the case of good men of ordinary means and acquirements in the middle classes of life. Their story, indeed, wants the brilliant interest of the biography of great men; but examples are useful, in proportion as they are generally imitable. Few of us can ever hope to be illustrious as generals, statesmen, or writers; but we may all become good and useful in our respective stations; and the example of one who lived in the same rank with ourselves, eminent only for superior goodness, applies itself to every one of us, may be useful to us all, by challenging our zeal and industry, encouraging our hopes, and smoothing the path for our progress in virtue. It is on this Ꮓ

principle that we present to our readers the present Memoir: we have drawn it up partly from our own knowledge, and partly from unquestionable documents and authorities; we trust we shall not be thought to dwell on them at too great length, or to attach undue importance to the subject. Certainly we write under feelings of great affection and veneration, but we write also under a sentiment of great responsibility:-we would far rather say too little than too much, for exaggerated praise of himself would have been the last thing which the subject of our Memoir would have been willing to pardon; the truest and the simplest statement will be the most just to his memory, and of the greatest use to society in general.

Duke Yonge was born at Puslinch, the seat of his father, the Rev. John Yonge, on December 3, A.D. 1750. He was the youngest of three sons; and, after such education as the free school of Plymton could afford, he went with his second brother, James, to study medicine and surgery under the roof of his uncle, Charles Yonge, then a surgeon and apothecary in great practice at Plymouth. After a few years thus spent, the prospects of James were suddenly changed by the accidental death of his elder brother, John; and he was removed to the University of Oxford, that he might take orders, and fill the living of Newton Ferrers, the advowson of which had descended to him as part of his patrimony. Duke Yonge, who was affectionately at tached to his brother James, upon this renounced also the profession for which he had been preparing himself, and accompanied him to Oxford. They both entered at University College, and became the pupils of the present Lord Stowell, and contemporaries of Lord Eldon, Sir W. Jones, Sir T. Plumer, and the many other dis

tinguished young men who then adorned that Society. He took the degree of A.B. there, June 13, 1775, and that of M.A. at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1782; at the age of twenty-four, in the year 1774, was admitted deacon upon the populous curacy of Charles, in Plymouth; and, in 1776, was ordained priest upon the curacy of Yealmton, in that neighbourhood. In the following year he married Catharina Crawley, sister of the late Sir Thomas Bolvey Crawley, of Flaxley Abbey, in Gloucestershire, by whom he left four sons and four daughters surviving him. His mother had been a Miss Duke, of Otterton, in the county of Devon; and, in 1783, the vicarage of that place, which was in the gift of her family, becoming vacant, he was presented to it. In 1793 he effected an exchange with the incumbent of the vicarage of Cornwood, his principal object being, as on a former occasion, to bring himself near to his brother James, then residing at Puslinch. Here he lived uninterruptedly till his death for thirty years. In 1808 he was presented to the rectory of Sheviock, in the county of Cornwall, by the Right Hon. R. P. Carew, who had been his school-fellow at Plymton, and college mate at the University, and with whom, to the day of his death, he maintained an intimate and unbroken friendship. He died, after a lingering illness of many months, at the age of seventythree, on December 3, 1823, the anniversary of his birth-day.

The events of his life are thus summed up in a very few words: they flowed on in an even tenor; many worldly blessings were bestowed on him, and his afflictions were only those natural dispensations of Providence which every man who lives so long as he did must expect to receive, and which his cheerful temperament and intimate belief in religious truths enabled him easily to bear.

A