CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 153 



laws ; it is he who makes a mock at sin and scoffs at knowledge ; 

 he it is who, being a savage above all others, is to be dreaded as a 

 moral monster. But, it may be asked, in the absence of such 

 schools, where must we look for assistance and encouragement ? In 

 reply, the doctor boldly answers — to the institutions which are 

 rising and thriving all around us. Through their agency, we may 

 not be able to remedy the great defect of a National System of 

 Education : we may not be able to instruct the child ; but we may 

 instruct the parent. We may lead that parent to a knowledge of 

 the wonders and mercies of God's creation ; we may simplify and 

 unfold to him the treasures of learning ; we may lead him to love 

 the pure, the good, the beautiful, the useful in literature and 

 science ; and, we may depend upon it, the lesson will not be forgot- 

 ten. The fire-side of the cottager will then be a witness to many a 

 truth heard at our institutions, and the children of the cottager 

 will learn from their parent to respect knowledge, to prize and pur- 

 sue its blessings. 



Becoming animated with the inspiration of his glorious subject, the 

 lecturer exclaims — shew me a period in the history of our country, 

 where there ever was as now such an universal, indomitable thirst for 

 knowledge. If that cannot be shewn, all reasoning from the past is 

 idle and gratuitous. It matters not what the timid may fear or the 

 selfish prognosticate : the stream has burst with gushing, fearful 

 power, from countless sources. It spreads and gathers strength. Will 

 ye guide it into safe channels ; or will ye, in lofty disdain and lonely 

 magnificence, suffer it to waste the land ? Will ye, as educated and 

 influential men, take the lead in this outburst of intellect, or follow in 

 the tracks of its desolation ? It has come to this, join in the excite- 

 ment or be left alone : unite religion with instruction : teach men to 

 be loyal subjects, true christians, as well as free inquirers after truth. 

 Let the duties and charities of life gather beauty from our Institu- 

 tions ; let each of these be a sacred spot of neutrality in a land of 

 strife and turmoil, where all jealousies, all animosities may be 

 hushed and banished, where friendships and kind offices between 

 similar societies may be cultivated. Let all this be done courteously 

 and effectually, and the result will prove every way advantageous 

 to towns, and counties, and our common country. 



Dr. Jones next engages in a lively description of the numerous 

 and magnificent achievements already accomplished in Science and 

 the Arts, by the exercise of enlightened intellect ; and he ingeni- 

 ously converts these into encouragements to hope that still grander 

 discoveries will be completed in due time, and with adaptations even 

 more beneficial to man, in the discipline of his faculties as a respon- 

 sible being well assured of immortality. His consummating 

 inquiry is — how far the Literary and Scientific Institutions are 

 favourable to religion ? In his opinion, formed from observation, 

 and confirmed by experience, we may make them nests of infidelity 

 or schools for the diffusion of genuine piety ; but, with a fatherly 



VOL VIII., NO. XXIII. 21 



