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YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

CHARGE,

DELIVERED IN

THE CATHEDRAL AND PARISH CHURCH

SAINT MICHAEL, BARBADOS,

FEBRUARY 24, 1848.

THOMAS PARRY, D.D.
BISHOP OF BARBADOS.

BARBADOS :

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY JOSErH BAYLKV,
LBTTEK-PRBSS AND COPPER-PLATE PRINTER, BOOK-HINDER, lilC,
17, TRAPALCiAR-STHEliT, BKIDGE-TOWN. 1848.

TO THE
VENERABLE THE ARCHDEACON
OF BARBADOS,
AND THE
REVEREND THE CLERGY
OP THE RURAL BEAMERT OP BARBADOS,
THIS CHARGE,
PRINTED AT TE1ER REQUE'
IS'
WITH SINCERE ESTEEM AND RESPEC.
AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED,
BY
THEIR FAITHFUL FRIEND AND BROTHER,
T BARBADOS.

a y

NOTICE.
It was proposed to accompany the following Charge
with a variety of Statistical and other information of
an Ecclesiastical nature; but it being desirable to lose
no time in complying with the request of the Clergy
as to the circulation of the Charge, it has been
thought better to defer the publication of the other
matter alluded to, with the hope of enjoying (throtfgh
the Divine Goodness) greater leisure and increased
advantages for the purpose.

CONTENTS...
Introduction. — Work of the Ministry viewed in;
connexion with the whole of the Christian life. —
Baptism of Adults, and instruction of them before
and after their Baptism. — Education of Children as
Christ's Disciples, — public Catechising of the young
of all classes, — peculiar claims of the poor. — Common
Schools — failure of attendance at them — its causes
inquired into, and remedies proposed. — Number of
Clergy with reference to their work. — Training of
Teachers, — Central Schools,- — differences of race, —
number of persons confirmed, — of Communicants, —
Amount of Church-room. — Codrington College. — Con
clusion.

CHARGE

My Reverend Brethren,
I had hoped to meet you thus assembled in
August last, at the expiration of four years from my
Primary Visitation ; for while our constant facilities
of intercourse seem to render more frequent meetings
of this kind unnecessary, I feel that a greater interval
than four years between them would have but little to
plead in its defence, and might be attributed, not so
much tor an unwillingness to interrupt your important
labors, as to an inclination to evade the responsibility
inseparable from my office. I regret, therefore, that
various obstacles, in a good measure inevitable, com
bined with my desire to revisit first each Church and
Chapel in the Island, as well as the Schools connected
with them, have caused a postponement of our meet
ing to six months beyond the day originally proposed.
My parochial visitation has at length been completed ;
and I have to offer you my sincere thanks, for the
valuable Returns so promptly made to my printed
inquiries. These, and opportunities of personal con
ference with you at your different posts of duty, have
enabled me to make my remarks less unworthy, I
trust, of your consideration, than they might other-

10
wise have been. Yet, at the best, it is a very serious
responsibility to have to address you thus solemnly on
subjects of the first importance, and to offer to you
counsel, which, after all, may be inadequate to its
purpose, and liable (I will not say to perversion, for
against that your good feelings will be an ample secu
rity, but unavoidably, perhaps,) to some misconstruc
tion ; so as, in consequence, to become possibly an
occasion of mischief, instead of promoting the good
which I desire. Assured, however, of your candour
and kindness, I would proceed, in humble dependence
on the divine help and guidance, to the discharge of
my bounden duty ; not without a prayer (in which I
entreat you to join) that " the words of my mouth,
and the meditation of my heart, may be acceptable in
the sight of Him who is our common Lord, our
Strength, and our Redeemer."
Our work, my Reverend Brethren, has to do with-
the old and with the young ; it is concerned with man-
from his cradle to his grave ; we have to assist, and
in a great measure to direct, the training of immortal
souls, of souls redeemed bjr the Blood of Christ, for
their heavenly inheritance, through all the progres
sive stages of their earthly being. Let us consider our
ministry in this, its relation to the gradual improve
ment, the ' edification,' as the Scriptures speak, (for
edification is a gradual work,) of those committed to
our care, whether collectively or individually, as a
Church or separately as Christians.
I begin with that which is, in a Christian sense,
the begining of our work, the Holy Sacrament of
Baptism. " Go ye," said our Lord to his Apostles,
" make disciples* of all nations by baptizing them in
* Sec the Greek, cr the marginal translation.

11
the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Ghost," (St. Matt, xxviii. 19.) " We are all bap
tized," saith St. Paul, " into one body." (I Cor. xii.
13,). The unbaptized are not yet disciples of Christ ;
they have not been admitted into His school, to be
taught His will ; they are not members of his mys
tical body, the Church*.
It is not very long, my Reverend Brethren, as you
are well aware, since the unbaptized in this Country
constituted a majority of the population. Such a
state of things (blessed be God !) has ceased. But
the number, I fear, though greatly reduced, is still
painfully large. So far, then, we have still to consider
ourselves as a Missionary Church in the midst of
unbelievers, or rather with unbelievers in the midst of
us ; nor ought we to rest until we bring them, or at
least have used all our endeavours to bring them, to
be partakers with ourselves of the Gospel hope, " heirs
of God, even joint-heirs with Christ." (Rom.viii, 17.)
Not that I would urge a hasty baptism of all, or
indeed of any, without reference to their knowledge
of Christ and willingness to take his yoke upon them.
Far from it ! Some instruction is absolutely necessary
to the adult candidate for baptism : he must be brought
to repentance and faith in Christ ; he must be prepared
to make with his lips a confession of saving faith ; he
must be made acquainted with the first " principles"
at least " of the doctrine of Christ" (Heb. vi, l.Jf
But to go beyond this, and require of Candidates for
Baptism a considerable maturity either of knowledge
or character, seems more in harmony with the practical
errors of later times,' when men learned to defer
* Eph. I. 22, 23.— «. 30.
t See the Rubric prefixed to the Office of Baptism for those of riper years.

12
Baptism to the last, as many still defer the Holy
Communion, than with the example of the Apostles,.
or with a true Christian view of the Sacrament itself,
as in its very nature initiatory, a begining of Chris
tian life, not one of its rewards or ripe results.
In the case of St. Peter's first converts at Jerusalem,
we may observe that, though, many of them had been
directly accessary to the murder of their Saviour, yet
no sooner were they pricked to the heart by the
Apostle's address to them, and said " What shall we
do ?" than Saint Peter answered, " Repent and be
baptized ;" and, after some further instruction given
there and then, " they that gladly received his word
were baptized : and the same day there were added
unto them, about three thousand souls" (Acts iiiy
37, &c.) It may be, that gross ignorance or evident
impenitence in the applicants for Baptism,, may often
deprive us of the satisfaction of following the Apos
tolic precedent, from not having, as they had, persons
of a contrite heart' to deal with. If so,, we must wait
and pray ; all I would urge is that we should keep
that precedent in view, and not insist upon length of
probation, where repentance and faith appear already
to exist, though not to be mature.
But do I say that the baptized should not be
thoroughly instructed ? No : I have been speaking
rather of the unbaptized, of instruction before Bap
tism, not after it. Baptism makes men Disciples of
Christ, that is his Scholars : and why Scholars, but
that they may learn ?
In regard, however, to those baptized in riper
years, it is, I apprehend, too much the custom, with
themselves at least, and one which we must make still
more strenuons efforts to correct, to rest content with
the instruction received before Baptism, and not to

13
seek, perhaps not-willing-ly to submit to, any farther
training, as if Baptism were the end, not a beginning,
of their Christian course. But where shall we look
for the remedy for this mischievous delusion ? To
me it appears that we may find it in a due prepara
tion of the baptized for the Apostolic rite of Confir
mation. In the highest view of Baptism, as the
Sacrament of our Regeneration,/ in which we are
made " members of Christ, children of God, and
inheritors of the kingdom of heaven",* (which to me,
I own, appears to be the view taken by our Church,
as well as apparent throughout the New Testament,)
still, at the most, a beginning only is implied : — there is
life and capability, but not yet any habits formed,
nor yet any powers developed, not yet any actual
attainments made in grace ; just as, in the cradled
infant, the powers of reason are possessed in the germ,
and may with time and culture grow into greatness*
but are not as yet displayed in wisdom or knowledge.
If then we leave the Christian in his spiritual cradle,
as it were, abandoned to neglect, nay more, exposed
on every side to danger, what can we reasonably
expect but the gradual extinction of his spiritual life ;
unless some miracle of divine mercy be interposed to
save him from destruction ? And the evil is only the
greater, if the ' babe in Christ' be already an adult in
regard to the animal man, with habits of sin added to
his original corruption, and habits too of ignorance
superinduced like a cataract over the eye of his soul.
Let us not neglect persons in such a condition ; let us
not, if we can help it, suffer them to neglect them
selves. Let them still be regarded as Catechumens
under special instruction for Confirmation, and, even
*. Church Catechism.

14
sifter Confirmation, be prepared by farther special
instruction for the Holy Communion ': a course which
I should recommend also for general adoption even
in the case of persons baptized in infancy ; particu
larly when there is much ignorance or an- absence of
parental control, and young people, being left to their
own ways, are falling headlong into habits of irreligion
and vice. In this respect there is, I fear, amongst
our laboring classes, not always that improvement
which we had hoped to witness as one of the conse
quences of freedom, but rather an increasing licen
tiousness, which we must use our watchful efforts to
counteract. Such care of the young and ignorant
will, I know, involve much anxiety and labor, and
(what to some is perhaps still more irksome) much
* condecension to men of low estate.' But our calling,
Brethren, is in its nature an anxious and laborious
one ; and if we are ever tempted to shrink from
ministering even to the lowliest of our brethren, let
us think for a moment of our Lord's infinite conde
scension, in laying aside his eternal glory in order to
come and minister to our Salvation.
The case of those baptized in infancy is different ;
in many respects more cheering and free from some
formidable difficulties which surround that of late and
ignorant converts to the faith : yet on this very
account it is often the more neglected, and manv~a
child who has been baptized is suffered to grow up as
if his Baptism were either everything or nothing, and
so to fall into that state of sin and thouohtlessnes, if
not of ignorance, in which wc find the unbaptized
adult involved. Hence the necessity of care and
watchfulness on the part of the Christian Minister,
that (so far as it rests with him) the intentions of
Baptism may be curried out, and Christ's disciples

15
be really " taught," as our Lord intended they should
be,* " to observe" his commandments.. The Church
is particularly urgent on this point. I need only
remind you of the exhortation to Sponsors at the
close of the Office for the public Baptism of infants.
And there are, I trust, some Sponsors and many
parents who do think of their religious duty in the
education of children, ' bringing them up virtuously
to lead a godly and a Christian life ; according to the
beginning made in their Baptism.' f But is this uni
versally, or is it generally, done ? Is it done as
extensively as we might hope it would be in a
Christian country, even with a large allowance for
human infirmity ? On the contrary, as regards the
careful Christian training of children, is there not a
great, nay more, a prevailing, neglect throughout
the whole Christian Church ? And if so, is it not a
subject, to which, as Christ's ministers, we should
earnestly direct our attention ? Will not the Great
Shepherd expect from us his pastors, that we should
take care of his lambs ? Has he not indeed given us
a special charge over them, as well as over the sheep ?
and will he not require both at our hands ?
In many cases, the neglect, to which I allude, arises
it may be from mere thoughtlessness or indolence, or
,,it may be from ignorance, on the part of parents or
sponsors ; in few, I would hope, from actual irreligion
and a wilful abandonment of children in regard to
their souls; but there is another cause to which I
would advert, as appearing to me greatly to paralyse
the eftbrts of Christian education, and that is the want
of faith in God's promises made and confirmed to our
children in the Covenant made with them at their
* St. Matt, xxviii, v. 20. t See the Office for Baptism,

16
Baptism. For the promise, that gracious promise
proclaimed by the Apostles — " Repent and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Christ Jesus for the
remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost" (Acts ii, 38J ; — this blessed promise is
" to us and to our children, and to all that are afar
off" (as our own ancestors once were), " even as many
as the Lord our God shall call" (v. 39). Still there
seems to be in the minds of some a lurking unbelief,
as if, after all, our children were not partakers of this
promise, as if God would not visit infants with his
prevenient grace, or as if the Almighty could not (if
the expression may be used without irreverence) do
anything for their salvation in their infant state, but
must wait until the child be old enough to begin by
doing something for himself, so as to originate the
work, and take the first step towards God. I need
not point out to you, my Brethren, on what false
views such opinions rest, both of the free grace of
God on the one hand, and, on the other, of the nature
of the human character, as if it depended only on
notions or sentiments, and those too expressed in lan
guage, not also upon feelings, and instincts, and
affections, and tempers, and little acts of imitation,
and growing habits springing up in silence, but quick
and innumerable, in the infant soul, long before the
tougue has learnt the mystery of speech or even the
intellect within is able to frame a distinct idea. Shall
these operations of the new-born spirit be placed under
a ban ? Shall they be left to the unrestrained bent of
our natural corruption ? Shall infants, because they
cannot yet reason or speak, though they have an
immortal nature beginning to clevelope its capacities
for good or evil, be excluded from that, only preserva
tive, the prevenient grace of God ; though Christ

17
invites them to his arms, and his Apostles have most
distinctly included our children, as well as ourselves,
within the range of the promise? Perhaps the notion,
to which I allude, that our baptized children are not
really what, in the language of our Catechism, we
call them, " members of Christ, children of God, and
heirs of the kingdom of heaven," is after all main
tained by few. Still, in the midst of a theoretical
acknowledgment of the lawfulness and indeed neces
sity of infant Baptism, there seems to linger too
generally a distrust of its practical importance and
value, which prevents it from being made, as it ought
to be made, the great basis of Christian education, the
hinge upon which the subsequent training of the child
should turn ; as the admission of children in Baptism
into the family of God, into the very body of his Son,
is the great ground on which we venture, through
that blessed Son, to offer up our prayers for our
children to Him who is their covenant God and
Father, as well as our own.
Let education then, be based upon Baptism.
From that Sacrament of dedication let it principally
take its color : from that covenant of mercies let it
derive its chief encouragement and support.
But is the Pastor to educate all the children of his
flock ? Assuredly not. We must beware how we
exaggerate even our duties. It is one way to ensure
their neglect ; it is one way perhaps by which the
enemy deludes the better disposed to become reckless
of their obligations. By making our work appear
impossible, we learn to regard it with despair, or
else to listen to exhortations to its performance as a
mere flourish of rhetoric, calculated for solemn occa
sions, but devoid of any real connexion with our
every day conduct. Let us study our real responsi-
B

18
bility in the matter. Our Lord is not a hard task
master ; he doth not gather where he hath not sown.
It is only his own with interest, or at most with
reasonable increase, that he looks for from us.
That the Christian Pastor, or even the Christian
Church, should educate all the children of the flock,
would be impossible; the very attempt would be
injurious. It would lead parents and Sponsors to
forget their own responsibilties, and inflict an injus
tice on the children by depriving them of their proper
guides and guardians ; nay more, it would throw
society into confusion, by breaking up God's own
distribution of it into families. What is required of
ns is not to do other persons' duties for them, but to
assist them, according to their need, in doing them
for themselves. I say, according to their need ;
which supplies a key and a clue to us in helping
them. And here I would distinctly observe that
in speaking of education, I do not speak only cf
Schools, nor yet of the poorer classes only, but of the
whole training of early life, and of all children of
¦every degree.
Looking then to the need of Pastoral assistance in
the education of their children, we shall find some
so wise and careful, as well as so mindful of the
¦Christian privileges and responsibilities of their off
spring, that all perhaps which they may require
from their Minister, will be a word occasionally of
sympathy or encouragement in the good work, or at
most of counsel such as his better education or longer
experience in teaching may supply, or his pastoral
relation to them may suggest. It mav indeed be
desirable, if not necessary, that even in such cases the
young should occasionally ' hear sermons' of an
elementary character peculiarly adopted to them : nor

19
would it be amiss, perhaps it would be a great
improvement upon our present practice, and some
thing like a return to the catechetical teaching con
templated by our Church, if the Afternoon Sermon,
or, in its stead, some simpler form of Lecture, were
almost invariably devoted in this manner to the young
and ignorant* more especially. To this might be
added also, with great advantage to all classes, some
regular course of public catechising, either on the
Sunday Afternoon at stated periods, or on the minor
festivals, or, at least, once or twice a week in Lent.
It might not be necessary to have all the Catechumens
together ; perhaps difference of proficiency, or of
convenience might render some classification desira
ble ; but that all the children of every class should, as
they grow up come at stated times to the Church
to be examined by their Minister, is one of those
benefits both to them and to the Church, which
greatly needs to be restored. The reason of the case
seems to demand it ; the regulations of the Church
contemplate it : and we have the highest possible
example, even that of Christ himself, for its encour
agement ; nor is there any cause arising out of
increased attention paid elsewhere to sound religious
instruction, why so valuable a practice as that of
public catechising, edifying at once to young and old,
should not be reverted to. Even if children are well
instructed at home, it would be a satisfaction to the
Congregation as well as to their Minister to find them
so ; whilst such examples might have a most salutary
effect in stiring up other children and other parents

* It is due to the Clergy to observe that most of our Churches and Chapels
have Sunday-schools attached to them, in which effective ehatecetical instruc
tion is given to persons from the poorer classes. The number of such Schools
ut Barbados is 2:J, attended by upwards of 2000 persons.
B 2

20
to a holy emulation, and the very practice would in
many cases be a security against neglect of domestic
instruction. As the care taken of the young at their
homes is less, that of the Pastor should increase. His
advice at least, and admonitions, both private and
public, should be tendered even to the more affluent
and educated. Perhaps, on this subject, our pulpits
have been too silent. Impressed with the necessity of
bringing the aged sinner to repentance, we have too
little regarded the importance of keeping the young
from going astray. Men and women have occupied
our attention : whilst we have comparatively over
looked the children who will soon occupy their place.
Meanwhile, the weeds spring up to spoil the future
harvest ; tares amongst the wheat ; tares where per-
.haps, with a little more timely care, we might have
had wheat instead. What a blessing it is to a neigh
bourhood to have always in the midst of them one
friend competent and willing to counsel and direct
them in the education of their offspring ; above all in
their education for eternity ! Let us remember, my
Reverend Brethren, that this is a part of our vocation
as Christ's Ministers ; one full of reward both here
and hereafter. " Train up a child in the way wherein
he should go ; and when he is old he will not depart
from it." He may forget your counsels amidst the
levity of youth': but he will remember you in the
time of age ; he will think of you on his china- bed ;
he may bless you through eternity.
I have been particularly anxious, my Reverend
Brethren that in the question of education, we should
not confine our attention to the poor ; as if they only
had souls to be saved, or alone needed our spiritual
help. If poverty has its obstacles, wealth has its
snares; and to soy the plain truth, both poor and

¦21
rich need continually, amidst the pressing demands
and temptations of this life, to be reminded that their
children require to be carefully educated for Eternity,
full as much as for time. It is obvious, however, that
the poor have peculiar claims upon us. In their case
we have not only to exhibit a general interest in their
education, but we have to go much more into particu
lars, and to attend even to the ' details of their school
ing, which, though but a part of education, is still, to
the poor especially, a most important one.
And if ever the question of Schools called for our
attention, it does so pre-eminently now. The educa
tion of the people is, so to speak, the great question of
the day not in this Country only, but throughout the
civilized world. Time was, within the recollection of
many of us, when even in England general education
was regarded, to say the least, as a very questionable
blessing, and in these Countries we ourselves have
had to prosecute the work almost single-handed, sup
ported by sympathy and assistance from the Mother
Country, but seldom encouraged by much approba
tion or even much interest in the work manifested on
the spot.
I speak not thus in anger, nor even in censure, but
simply to mark the change which has taken place in
the current of public feeling- For, at present, instead
of exciting suspicion by our furtherance of general
education, we are rather blamed that the work does
not make more rapid advances;, and there are those
who seem to insinuate that it is only our supine-
ness which keeps it back. ^Formerly the dangers of
the undertaking were exaggerated ; now its difficulties
are overlooked. In either case, perhaps, the Clergy
have had to submit to a little injustice ; but especially
in being supposed to be now lukewarm in a work,-

22
which, under God, we contributed most materially to
give the first impulse to, on any large scale, and for
many, years under many difficulties, to carry on, so
far as our means and instruments would allow, to at
least some degree of proficiency, But be this as it may,
it is a matter of thankfulness to know that the public
feeling has at length undergone, on this subject, a
remarkable change ; and that the education of all
classes, instead of being viewed any longer as a doubt
ful benefit, is now a primary object of public attention*
urged upon us as such by the Imperial Government
through our active and intelligent Governor, himself
a strenuous advocate of the cause, and hailed by the
other Branches of our Legislature with the most cordial
assurance of co-operation. Already, indeed, has the
Legislature given us a substantial pledge of- its interest
in the work, by the annual grant,* extended to our
Schools in 1836 on the entire cessation of the aid which
we had been accustomed to receive from the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel ; — a grant, it may
' be, insufficient to place the Schools upon a thoroughly
effective footing, but more, we must remember, than
the Society had actually withdrawn, and as much, or
very nearly as much, as at the time it seemed desirable
to apply for ; it being thought advisable to endeavour
to make the Schools, in part at least, self-supporting.
Such encouragement, involving as it does an approval
of our past exertions, while it demands our gratitude,
adds, it is plain, to our responsibility. With more
help, or at least more local sympathy and support 
for at one time, though not latterly, our help from
England was much greater— we shall naturally be ex
pected to make greater progress.
* Of £760 Sterling.

23
And yet our present d ifficulties are many. Happily,
from one great evil this. Island is comparatively free.
Of open religious dissent there is comparatively, little
amongst us ; and even that of such a description as need
not necessarily be made to interfere with our Schools;,
there being little or nothing in the teaching of our
Church Schools, which well instructed Moravian or
Wesleyan parents may not conscientiously allow their
children to learn. I would, therefore, confine myself
to the other difficulties alluded to, of a more strictly
local nature.
And in- the first place, I would advert to -the attend
ance at our common Schools ; to secure which, with-
any satisfactory degree of fulness or regularity, you
almost all find to be next to impracticable. For
although since the year 1841, when our assistance
from England was on its most liberal footing,, the
number of Schools has slightly increased, being now
altogether eighty-seven instead of eighty-three, the
attendance at them has fallen off considerably, being
stated in 184 1 at 6,726 ; whereas at present it is only
5,714, being a difference of more than 1000. On
the other hand, as instruction has been diffused, pri
vate Schools have multi-plied ;. and thus our past
labors have tended in one way to embarrass our present
exertions, or it may be in some degree to supersede
them. Yet, after allowing fully for this influence, I
cannot but observe that the attendance at ouu Schools,
or indeed at any Schools, is much less, if not than it
has been in former years, yet certainly than it might.
and ought to be.
In looking for the causes of such a result, it is
natural that our thoughts should first recur to the
stricter enforcement of payment from the pupils,
rendered necessary by unavoidable reduction in the

24
stipends of the Teachers. It was to be expected that
many, who would be ready to receive instruction for
their children gratuitously, would be unwilling to
purchase it. Still I am far from thinking that this
cause alone accounts entirely for the result.
Much, I think, is also to be attributed to the
altered feelings of the peasantry themselves on the
subject of education. Schools have done less than
they expected towards changing their outward con
dition : their benefits have been in a manner impal
pable to the touch of the multitude; and even these
much more difficult of attainment than was at first
supposed. You may remember, my Reverend Bre
thren, the numbers, not of children only but of men
and women, who flocked together to learn to read in
the year 1834 ; when Bibles and Prayer books were
so munificently distributed among them in remem
brance of their emancipation ; yet how these numbers
gradually melted away, when they found how much
harder it was to use a book, than to possess it ; when
they felt what sacrifices and self-denial and perseve
rance, to grown persons especially, the art of reading
implied ! And so it has been in a great measure with
the children ; especially as there has been too general
a want of temperate authority in the parent, even
when convinced of the value of instruction, to secure
the child's regular attendance upon it.
Meanwhile Slavery has been receding from the
view, and the agricultural laborer has been gradually
divesting himself of that repugnance to field labor as
connected with Slavery, which was for a time so
strong upon him, especially with reference to his
children ; whom he is now content, nay eao-er, to see
following his own steps in the field as soon as may be.
Accordingly the practice of early labour, which even

25
ill England is felt to be the great obstacle to school
instruction, is every day exercising an increasing
influence amongst ourselves. Parents are glad of the
assistance which their children thus afford them,
particularly in a time of distress and difficulty, such
as has lately come upon us : and even the children,
if allowed to appropriate their earnings to their own
use, rejoice in the opportunity of having something
which they can call their own. I mention this
increasing prevalence of early labor in the field, not
to condemn it, but to account in part for a result,
which might otherwise be attributed solely to
other causes. To check the practice might be preju-
dical to all parties : to condemn it, inconsistent in
those who enforce upon the young their duty to
" learn and labor truly to get their own living, and to
do their duty in that state of life to which it has
pleased God to call them" ; while, in this climate
especially, it may be more than usually necessary that
the frame should be inured betimes to that labor in
the sun, which might otherwise become so irksome,
as to be almost impracticable.
I feel it the more important to advert to this cause
of decreased attendance at our Schools, because it is one
on the continued and increasing operation of which we
must reckon, and which we must therefore keep in
mind in all our plans of education for the rural popu
lation at least, if not for the working classes generally.
Early labor must be reckoned upon in connexion with
our School system, if not as a part of it. How far
indeed it may be practicable to unite the two in this
country in any large and effective scheme, without a
a greater outlay of means than we could at present
hope to command, or an unsettling of the domestic
ties or an interruption of the general agriculture

26
of the Country, I do not undertake to determine,
Perhaps the most practicable and promising course
in the first instance would be, if Proprietors or their
Representatives, either separately or two or three
together, could be induced to adopt it, to establish-
Estate Schools, in which School instruction,, compri
sing agricultural teaching, and manual labor should
be judiciously combined, the latter being made pro
fitable at once to the Estate and to the pupil ; each
day having its lessons, and each day also its in
dustrial occupation.* Meanwhile, till some such
plan can be matured, we must endeavour to adapt our
District Schools as much as may be, to the wants of
the population, by making them for the most part
infant or dame-schools, in which the younger chil
dren may be regularly instructed as at present, whilst
the elder may be received on stated days (were it only
three in a week) or for a short period on each day ;
the course of instruction being modified accordingly
to meet their case.
. Besides dame or infant Schools whether attached
to Estates or to Districts, and of which a much larger
number is required than we have at present, we want,
in each Parish at least, one principal School under a
superior Teacher, in which instruction should be
provided of a higher kind and for older children,
whether from the class of mechanics or from a still
higher grade. For, whilst converting most of our
rural schools into good dame-schools, I would gladly
raise what are called our national into commercial
Schools ; so as at once to increase their value and
to extend the range of their usefulness, giving through

* And something mipdit he done by means of such schools to improve the
domestic tastes and habits of the rising generation.

27
them more instruction to a greater variety of Classes.
But to return to the question of attendance, for the
failure of which, so far as it arises from the practice
of early work, I have been proposing a remedy in a
closer adaptation of our School arrangements to the
necessities of our population. There are,- however,
other causes still of diminished attendance. In some
instances, at least, it is evidently attributable not so
much to the parents, as to the School itself. Else
why should we find Schools in one part of the
Country crowded, in another deserted, nay more, the
same School at one time nearly empty, yet shortly
after, upon some change of management, replenished
and overflowing, yet without any reduction as to the
payments of Scholars, or the hours, of attendance.
The question is an important one, and seems almost
of necessity to involve invidious comparisons ; but,
whilst freely declaring my sentiments, I shall endea
vour to avoid every thing approaching to a personal
or even local reflexion, I acknowledge indeed that
the unpopularity of a School is not always a proof of
its inferiority. In general, however, I am disposed
to believe that the common-sense and natural feelings
of parents, even of uneducated parents, lead them to
a tolerably correct judgment in such matters ; so that
a School seldom falls into great disrepute, without in
some measure deserving it.
Perhaps there is a want of books and other mate
rials of instruction ; or a want of punctuality and
method on the part of the Teacher ; or a want of life
and ability in his instructions, or possibly, a want of
regularity and frequency in that pastoral superintend
ence, without which a School, a Church-School at
least, can never thrive ; or it may be that the School-
house is unfit for its purpose, unattractive in its

28
appearance, inconvenient in its accommodations, and
in its dimensions inadequate. It is obvions that any
one of these defects must be highly detrimental to the
character and efficiency of a School, and that where
several of them are combined, a numerous School
cannot be expected, a good one is impossible. — Bear
with me then, my Reverend Brethren, and you also,
my Brethren, the Schoolmasters, who are our fellow
laborers in this important work, whilst I detain you
with a few remarks on the different points, to which
I have adverted as affecting the quality of our Schools.
With respect to the buildings themselves, we have
on the whole no great reason for complaint, but
much on the contrary for mutual congratulation and
thankfulness. Our School houses are altogether forty
seven in aumber, almost all of them ecclesiastical or
parochial property, in addition to fourteen Chapel
Schools, parts of which are employed during the
week for School purposes. These buildings are gene
rally spacious and in good repair, as well as neat in
their appearance. What we chiefly require in this-
view of the subject are private apartments for t^ie
Teacher ; a defect which it is important to remove.
Of Books our supply is far from satisfactory : it is
at once irregular and incomplete, and from this cause
alone many of our Schools are suffering seriously. It
is enough indeed to paralyse their exertions, and
make them comparatively of little use. I have repeat
edly, though not thus formally, recommended that
this and similar wants of our Schools, including- that
of rooms for the Teachers, should be provided through
our Local Church Asssociation, by means of private
beneficence aided by collections made for this especial
purpose once at least in every year in our different

29
Churches and Chapels ;* and it would probably be a
great futherance of such exertions, if the Church
Association, already established or supposed to be
established in each Parish in connexion with the
Central one in Bridgetown, were re-organized and
requested to direct their bounty particularly, though
not exclusively towards the Schools, as also to take a
personal y interest in visiting and encouraging them.
The feeling in favor of popular education is spreading
and growing : if it would only take the form of active
and systematic co-operation in some such shape as that
which I have mentioned, it might enable us, under
God's blessing, to accomplish gradually great im
provements. For, though charged with a peculiar
responsibility as to the training of the young and
ignorant, we do not refuse, on the contrary we invite
and entreat, as necessary to the success of the work,
the co-operation of our lay brethren, and are ready
to make any sacrifice but that of Christian Principle,
in order to secure it.
From the materials of instruction, I proceed to the
Teachers, on whom it is obvious the efficiency of a
School must ever most seriously depend. Now com
paring the present with the past, I do not hesitate to
say that there has been within my recollection a great
improvement in many instances in the character of the
instruction given in our Common Schools ; and that
* A plan of more frequent collections in Church in support of our Schools,
has been proposed from a quarter entitled to great attention ; and I should not
be sorry to see it tried, thnufth I cannot say that past experience justifies any
sanguine anticipation of its success.
t Such an interest in the Schools, manifested by families living near to them,
in conjunction with the Clergyman's family, and in furtherance of his measures,
would (under God's blessing) be an incalculable gain to them. Such co-opera
tion with the Clergyman "in works of piety and charity of various kinds is
common in England, nnd in some parts amongst ourselves, though not per
haps, in our Country Tarishes especially, to the extent which might reason
ably be looked for.

30
as private individuals, our present Teachers are a
respectable and exemplary class of persons, who
amidst many difficulties and uncertainties, and even
privations, have still, in hope and almost against
hope, persevered in their work. On the part of some
too, I have witnessed, in my late visitation, proofs of
much intelligence and zeal, and consequent success in
their duties. ' Still it must not give offence, if I add
that in this Country popular Education is as yet but
in its infancy ; and has of necessity been carried on
hitherto under great disadvantages. Even our best
Teachers have come to the work, in almost every
instance, with little or no regular training for it ; and
without much general education. Yet to provide
regularly trained Teachers or to bring them from a
distance, would be a work of much time and much
expense and otherwise of much difficulty, perhaps of
much disappointment after all. What then remains
but that our present Schoolmasters should, under
the guidance of the Clergy to whom they are subordi
nate, lay themselves out systematically and diligently
to improve both themselves and their Schools ? For
of improvement, of daily improvement, there is need
even in the very best instructed ; and I am sure not
one of the Teachers now present will be so weakly
self-complacent, as to suppose that this is not true of
of him. Were there such a one, I should at once say,
that he was unfit for his office ; that his self-sufficiency
was a most conclusive proof of his ignorance. The
wisest men have generally been the most humble, and
the first requisite in a Teacher is a modest estimate of
his own attainments, combined with an earnest desire
to improve them. Those who would teach, must
learn ; those who would improve others, must first
improve themselves.

31
Hitherto, the qualifications which we have required
in our teachers have been few and slight. To be able
to read correctly, to spell, to teach the Catechism, to
write a good hand, and to instruct in the earlier rules
of Arithmetic, has been considered sufficient, as much
at least, as we were likely to obtain, and therefore
as much as we could in prudence insist upon. But
time works great changes : as civilization advances,
a higher degree of instruction is expected even in
our humblest Schools ; and more becomes by degrees
practicable ; more mental cultivation, more useful
knowledge, more real acquaintance with what is read
and taught. But in order to give such instruction,
we must have men able and willing to acquire it ;
men conscious of their own deficiencies, fond of read
ing, ready to receive advice, eager for improvement,
willing to study and above all animated by Christian
zeal in their interesting but laborious duties.
As yet the instruction in our Schools, with some
few exceptions, has been too much a matter of rote,
destitute of intelligence and life and interest, dull,
monotonous and comparatively unimproving. Our
Teachers have been too easily contented with their
own School attainments instead of adding to them
by continual study ; and all they seem in many cases
to propose to themselves, is merely that the children
should read correctly, without even understanding
what they read, much less taking any delight in it.
The consequence, I fear, is that the great majority of
the children who are thus taught, not seeing the use,
nor experiencing the pleasure of reading, soon drop
the practice and, as men and women, lose the power
altogether. It is to remedy this state of things, that I am
anxioifs to stir up the teachers to exertions for their

own improvement, and particularly to a constant pre
paration of their work beforehand, until at least they
shall have made themselves quite familiar with it;
and that, not as a mere matter of rote, but in an
intelligent and interesting manner. It would be easy,
my Brethren, if the time permitted, to explain my
meaning more fully ; but I must be content to refer
you (the Teachers 1 mean), for more particular direc
tions, to the Clergy under whom you are laboring,
aud to whom you are more immediately responsible.
The advantages of education which they have enjoyed,
put it in their power to give you the advice and instruc
tion which you require not only on sacred subjects,
which must ever form the basis of instruction in a
truly Christian school, but also in those departments
of generally useful knowledge with which it is daily
becoming more and more necessary that our youth of
all classes should be made in some measure acquainted.
Our people are already free, as well as Christian.
Let their instruction become more adapted to their
condition and its demands upon them : let the shackles
of ignorance be broken from off the mind, as those
of Slavery have already been removed from the body.
In order the better to promote such an education
as I have described, I have had it in contemplation
no longer to allow to be employed, as under my
sanction, any Schoolmaster who is not formally
licensed, and no longer to license any without a
previous examination, part of which should be in
questions on paper to be answered in writing. I was
unwilling, however, to press this rule abruptly with
out sufficient notice, of my intention, such as I now
desire to make public.
I have presumed, my R,everend Brethren, that you
will most readilv afford to your Schoolmasters the

33
fullest counsel and direction in the prosecution of their
studies, as well as in that direct preparation of their
work which is necessary for the effective discharge of
of their office. The zeal which you have ever shewn
in your duties, and the readiness with which you are
accustomed to receive my suggestions, are the grounds
of this confidence on my part. In the absence of
training Schools it is peculiarly desirable that we
should endeavour in some such way as this to supply
the defects which must otherwise continue to exist.
Indeed I cannot but think that a preparation by the
Clergy of the Teachers to be employed as their
assistants in instructing the young and ignorant,
though likely to be less complete in some minor
points of method and routine, would be far more
satisfactory in a religious view, and would on the
whole even intellectually, involve greater advantages
than any other. In a small community especially,
where the division of labour cannot be carried out
completely, and where learning or leisure for in
struction is of necessity rare, it would seem that the
Clergy may naturally be looked to as the principal
agents in diffusing wholesome knowledge, whether
sacred or secular. Even economy would point to such
a course as most eligible ; whilst experience would
perhaps pronounce it to be the only one generally
practicable : and in a religious view of the subject, if
human nature tends continually to corruption, how is
this tendency to be corrected but by the salt of
heavenly wisdom ? If the world sitteth in darkness,
how is that darkness to be dispelled but by the light
of Christian truth ? And remember, my Brethren,
as you have just now been solemnly reminded,* that
* In the Visitation Serinnn, preached by the Revd. R. r. ling, Rector of
St. Philip's and Rural Dean, from St.. M^tt V., <-, 13.
C

34
"Christ's ministers are expressly ordained to scatter thi3
salt, to diffuse this light. — " Ye are the salt of the
earth :" " Ye are the light of the world". (St. Mat.
v. 13, 14.)
And here bear with me, my Brethren, if I carry
this view of the subject still farther. 1 may be
mistaken ; but I would lay before you candidly my
sentiments, after much careful consideration, on a
question at all times important, and which at the
present time We cannot with propriety or even with
impunity evade. I have already intimated, indeed
more than intimated, that I consider a supervision of
the training of the young a most important part of
Clerical duty, and that, in the education of the poor,
something more than occasional inspection or counsel
is necessary. I have intimated farther that the pre
sent state of our common Schools, with some few
exceptions, is far from satisfactory, and that this their
defective condition, the result of many concurring
causes, might be in a great measure remedied, if the
teachers would, under the advice and instructions of
the Clergy, prepare themselves for their work more
systematically. But we must never forget that the
Schools now under consideration are after all, not
private Schools belonging to the teachers, but
Church Schools for the state of which we, the
Ministers of the Church, are before God and man
responsible ; the teachers being only our assistants,
(valuable and effective assistants they ought to be, as
some of them are, still only assistants) in this great
though unostentatious work. It is therefore to be
wished that the Clergy would regard themselves not
merely as inspectors or visitors of the Schools, but as
their chief directors, so as to take an active part, and
that statedly, both in arranging the proceedings of the

35
Schools, arid in giving to those arrangements effect.
Two or three hours thus spent in each School at
weekly intervals, if practicable, or even once a fort
night, by the Minister of the Parish or District, not
as a mere looker-on or even as an examiner, but .as the
principal Instructor, would; I am persuaded, do
much, under the divine blessing, to place our Schools
on a salutary and efficient footing, at once discreetly
extending their usefulness in a temporal view, and
adding to their religious value as Schools in connexion
with the Church. Nor can I well imagine a more
satisfactory provision for the instruction of the rising
generation than one, which, whilst improving the
teachers by example as well as by advice, should
secure to the Scholars, the additional instruction of
men from among the best educated in the country,
and who are at the same time the appointed Pastors
of their souls.
To such a system I can see no reasonable objection,.
excepting that our numbers may be inadequate to the
carrying of it out with full effect. Still something
might be done in the way of approximation, or, at
least, in the way of experiment, and if on trial it
should be found that we are too few for the work, I
could only suggest that to add to the number of the
Clergy would probably involve mnch less expense,
than to provide a new class of Schoolmasters, or even
School-inspectors ; whilst the services of the former
might also be rendered available to the cause of
religion, and of civilization too in various ways, in?
which those of the latter would be inapplicable.
Already indeed are complaints heard from various
quarters of the insufficiency of our Church services
for the wants of the population. Wherever a Chapel
is opened but once on the Sunday, especially if it be

36
in the afternoon only, there discontent is found to
exist. The people consider themselves neglected.
They imagine that no one cares for their souls. Our
answer is that we do all in our power. Where provi
sion has been made for a Clergyman, a Clergyman
has been placed, and the number of Clergy would
gladly (God willing) be increased, were the means
provided for their support.
In making this remark, I mean no reflexion on the
liberality of the provision already made for the Clergy
of this Island. In me such a reflexion would be
peculiarly ungracious ; for independently of all that
had been done previously at the request of my Prede
cessor, or before his appointment, even from the first
foundation of the Colony ; my most grateful acknow
ledgments are especially due to the Legislature for
their attention to my own representations of the
spiritual wants of the people ; — first in 1843,* when
the stipends of the Curates were increased, and made
irrespective of any payments from England, and then
in April last year, when on the cessation of aid from
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the
Curates' stipends were still further increased to £150
Stg. and the number of Curacies augmented from 14
to 16. y It is due in short to Barbados to state most
distinctly that, when its aid has been solicited for
ecclesiastical purposes, it has been given promptly and
considerately, if not to the extent that some may have
expected, yet as far probably as the public resources

* The Act was not assented to, by the Governor till 1844 ; but was retro
spective in its operation.
t Of the 16 Curacies or Chapelries, 6 have Chapelry-Houses, or residences
for the Curates attached to them, viz. : St. Paul's, St .Matthew's, Holy
Trinity, St. Mark's, Innocents', and St. Clement's, besides the Socie/y's
Chapel, not included in the 16.

37
would allow, and sometimes beyond what was actually
applied for.
Still, though by these and other means, our number
of Clergy has been greatly increased of late, I should
only misrepresent our real condition, were I to state
that even now it is adequate to the wants of the
Country. The ordinary calculation is, that to 3000
souls there should be one Church with two Clergy
men ; whereas in this country with a population of
at least 125,000 we have at the most 30 parochial
Clergymen distinctly provided for, or about two to
more than 8000. This may be a larger proportion
than most other parts of the British Empire present,
and, in the comparison, most creditable to Barbados :
still if the Clergy are to be as useful as they are
expected and desire to be, both spiritually and tempo
rally, if they are even to celebrate divine service
regularly in all our existing places of worship, and to
direct an effective system of Schools for our large
population, it is evident that their number requires
still further increase.*
How this object is to be accomplished, I know not,
especially at a time when the general distress clearly
forbids any increase of the public expenses. But the
experience of the past encourages us not to despair.
The present cloud may pass away, as others have
before it. Our existing difficulties may, by a Gracious
Providence, be over-ruled for good ; and meanwhile it
is for us all to consider how we may best be able to
meet the moral and spiritual wants of the Country
with the least addition to its burdens. I can only
point to the rates which are raised in the form of ' pew
rents' ; as admitting of being in some cases considerably
increased and, should the Legislature think fit so far
to amend the law, of being applied, especially at the

38
Churches and principal Chapels,, towards the mainte
nance of additional Curates.
The stipends too of our Parish Clerks (as vacancies
should occur) might, with the consent of the Vestries,
be similarly applied to the maintenance of Clerks in
Holy Orders, as provided for in England by a recent
Act of the Imperial Parliament ; nor should I regret to
see the principal School in each Parish placed under
the actual charge of a Deacon, even should it be neces
sary for this purpose to admit to the Diaconate
persons of good education, able to teach well, and to
discharge all the duties pf a Deacon ; though not as a
matter of course admissible to the Priesthood, or even
qualified to preach. In every point of view, the
addition of a Deacon at each of our Parish Churches
at least would be a great acquisition. Not the
Schools only, but the whole Parish would gain by
such an accession of help to their Pastor.
In connexion with the subject of Schools, I would
further suggest for your consideration, my Reverend
Brethren, that we greatly need opportunities of em
ploying as assistant teachers at our principal Schools,
young men and young women not yet sufficiently
advanced in age or experience to have the separate
charge of a School. We lose many a valuable teacher
for want of the means of thus employing them, when
leaving School, and obliged by their circumstances to
engage in some avocation at once. From the records
of the Central Schools it appears that they were
originally intended to become nurseries of teachers,
training Schools, in a manner, for the whole Coun
try ; and it is, I think, to be regretted, that this
object has not been more decidedly kept in view.
Some, at least, of either sex, from these Schools,
might become excellent teachers, when expressly

39
trained to the work; especially if selected with that view
in their original appointment, and furnished, on their
leaving School, with employment as assistants. We
should thus have a constant supply of valuable teachers
from amongst ourselves ; whilst the Central Schools
might become our model, as well as our training
Schools, being themselves, perhaps, supplied, not by
a mere reference to complexion, but with children of
talent and promise, such as should do the Church and
the Country good service, as examples at least, if not
as instructors to others.
Whether the time is come or not for doing away
altogether in our Schools the distinctions of color,
which have hitherto so much embarrassed our pro
ceedings and enhanced their cost, it were presumptu
ous in me to take upon me by my single voice to
decide : I can only say, / wish the time were come.
Whilst feeling, as I have felt, that the poorer whites
had peculiar claims upon the justice of the Country,
to the policy of which their independence had been in
a manner sacrificed by the very favouritism which
they so long enjoyed, I still think there are limits to
these claims, and that, after a ten years interval in
which to become accustomed to their new position,
the class referred to might find it to their own
advantage to enter fairly with their neighbours into
the competition of character, industry, and talent ; not
so much deprived of their present advantages as
sharing them with others ; no longer looking upon it
as their peculiar privilege to be poor and dependent,
but striving through God's blessing upon their own
intelligence and activity, to breathe a freer air in
respectability and comfort.
I have dwelt so long upon the question of Schools,
from its being at the present moment of all questions

40
the most pressing, as to preclude myself from entering
at all fully upon other points to which I had proposed
to advert.
I should else have enlarged upon Confirmation, as
not only an Apostolic Ordinance of the first import
ance, but as being peculiarly connected with a
Christian education, its close in short, as Baptism is
its begining ; that to which education should be in a
great measure directed, and in which you may be able
to ascertain how far the young have been brought up
as Christ's disciples or not. Of those indeed whom
we baptize, not all I fear come to be confirmed. My
own calculation, after allowing for early deaths, would
make the proportion small ; the numbers confirmed
in this Island in the last six years, including a
majority of adults, having fallen short of four thousand.
But I .content myself with this suggestion of the
subject, that, if there be neglect, steps may be taken
without delay to remedy it, so that those who are
Christ's may be so, not by early dedication only, but
in spirit and in truth, may have his ' seal' upon
them, ' the earnest' of the promised inheritance. (Eph.
1,13,14.; A similar remark would apply, I fear, to our
Communicants also. Their number (about five thou
sand at the most) is small, very small, among the men
especially, in proportion even to our congregations ;
as they again are still small with reference to the
whole population. It is for us, my Reverend
Brethren, to consider whether we do habitually
instruct the people sufficiently in these parts of their
Christian duty, particularly in regard to the Holy
Communion. If that Sacrament be, as we believe it
to be, generally necessary to salvation, necessary not
to a few only hut to men in general, that is to all

41
Christians, it is very, painful to think how^ few coin*
paratively our Communicants are.
Our Churches and Chapels may be said to be com
paratively numerous. What we now require is not so
much to increase their numbers, as to enlarge their
dimensions.* This is in many cases much needed
still. In one such case, that of St. Andrew's Church.,
the good work has already been considerably ad
vanced ; the Church being rebuilt on a much enlarged
scale, as well as in a greatly improved style of
Architecture. The difficulty of the times have how
ever retarded this undertaking, as also two Chapels
in course of erection, one in St. Andrew's and one in
St. James's parish, and caused the postponement of
another' greatly needed in the town, for which a site
has already been obtained from private liberality.
When the prevailing distress shall have in some degree
abated, we shall again, I trust, be permitted to reckon
upon that general and generous assistance in these
works of piety, by which similar undertakings have
been encouraged amongst us, and through the divine
favor carried to a successful completion.
For our supply of Candidates for the Ministry we
must still look, perhaps more than ever look, to the
College projected for that purpose by the pious and
sagacious mind of General Codrington. The Society,
whose hands it was the great object of his Will to
strengthen, being called to extraordinary exertions in
the newer settlements of the Empire, has been com
pelled to withdraw entirely from this Island its
contributions for the maintenance of Clergymen. But
its College for the propagation of the Gospel is hap-

» Our Church-room is not sufficient for much more, at one time, than
•m 000, being; about, one sixth part, of the whole population, instead of one-half.
O

42
pily a fixture amongst us. Already lias it rendered
to the West Indian Church most essential service, pre
paring numbers who would otherwise have had no
opportunity of qualifying themselves, for Ordination,
and preserving to us probably many an estimable
individual, who, if sent for his education to England^
might have remained, as others have done, in the
Mother Country, or have been tempted from his
Tropical home to some other more attractive Colony.
In the times of diminished affluence that appear to be
coming upon these Countries, the advantages, which
under its new Principal and with its revised course of
instruction the College is likely to afford, may prove
peculiarly seasonable to our West Indian youth,
whether designed for the Minist£ra of the Church, or
any other walk in life requiring a more enlarged and
lengthened education. A good education at hand
and at a moderate expense, not for boys (which is
more easily provided for by private arrangements) but
for young men, is evidently desirable in all countries.
While it prevents none, whose circumstances render it
practicable and prudent to do so, from seeking the
greater advantages which may be found, though they
are not always realized, at the celebrated Universities
of England, it provides for others, by far the more
numerous, to whom such a course is impossible, some
compensation in the humblerbut safer discipline of a
Colonial College ; being in fact an addition to our
English Institutions, not a substitute for them, and
such an addition, as the present exigencies of Colonial
Society most urgently require,
You are aware, my Reverend Brethren, that views
differing from these have been held respecting our
College by individuals eminent in station and entitled
to high respect. From such persons it is painful to*

43
dissent ; and I will only add that, in discontinuing.
the Grammar School connected with the College, the
Trustees have been influenced principally by reasons
of necessary economy, and that, whilst we feel called
upon by the Founder's Will to provide especially for
a supply of Clergymen to " do good to mens' souls,"
we are solicitous to extend the benefits of the College
collaterally as much as possible,, particularly by
laying a broad foundation of / general scholarship,,
and by opening the College to young men at as early
an age as they can in prudence be admitted into such
an institution.
My Reverend Brethren, I have detained you
already too long, though much remains unsaid,*
which either want of time has excluded, or else my
want of skill to express myself with sufficient brevity.
I must therefore content myself, in conclusion, in
commending ourselves and our work through our
adorable Redeemer to the grace and blessing of God :
humbly imploring, that unworthy as we are of our
holy office, and unequal of ourselves to our many
mixed responsibilities as Ministers of the Church of
Christ, established by law in this land, or even in
point of numbers insufficient for all that is expected
from us, we may be guided and strengthened from
above, to become more and more instruments of g;ood
to the people whose Ministers we are ; — of good both
temporal and spiritual, and especially, at this time of
general trouble, may we be instruments in the hands

* I would have said a few words respecting Scripture Readers, but must
only add that we would gladly make, through means of our Schools, the whole
population Scripture Readers ; and meanwhile, should be thankful for means
to employ more Readers and Catechists to assist the Clergy in this part of tlieir
work. Some we still have, but their number lias been greatly reduced, chiefly
from the failure of aid from England ; though partly, also, by the applicatiou
of our funds to the support of an increased, number of Cleruv.
D 2

44
of God to lead men to Himself for true consolation
and support, and to help them to turn their present
trials to everlasting good. The Church was designed
to be a blessing to mankind : may it prove such here,
an instrument to young and old, of every grade, of
blessings of every kind, multiplying and increasing
daily more and more.
Since we last met on an occasion like this, our
number in this Island has through God's mercy been
preserved unbroken. There have been additions, and
changes, but, even for more than six years and a
half, there has been no removal by death. The fact,
my Brethren, demands our deep and united thank
fulness. It is not probable that we shall meet
again under similar circumstances. We must at
length depart One by one to give in our account.
May we be prepared " to do it with joy" ! In
this hope let us become continually more devoted
in Our Lord's service ; and by His grace, ' whatsoever
our hand findeth to do' for Him, let us ' do it with
our might.'

THE END.

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