Проповеди и лекции

attbe tafoe time, to carrr the iDreotioD into the decpcat and daifcfst receves of oar cities and towna, a plan of diriding tbem into local districts^ vU each a rebgioiis and benevolent man over it, hath been digested and rcennunended, and pot in tice bj one of the moat gifted men ot Ae and is already become anirersal in the chief of the north, and is making rapid way in these parts. And to indicate the effect lAich the spirit of zeal and inTcntioo to educate the peofde is prodactng, there hath sprm^ op like the anaaer frmts, and erery where Ue scattered like antnaw learea, works composed and digested far the tn&nt and the yontiiliil mind, as introdnctory to science, and literatare, and bisttHy, and gCMtml knowledge ; calculated for all conditions of the mind, from infancy to manhood. And periodieal works which circulate amongst the people an multiplied a hundred-fold, and newspapers almost a tbousand'fold witiiin the last lulf cttitvy. And, in short, every source of inbrmatMB yon I-] OV EDUCATION. 783 can appeal to, secmn to testify with oiie voice, that the capacity of the country for knowledge, aiicl its intellc^tUiil appi'iite hath increased beyond any other change, fulfilling ihe prophecy of Daniel concerning the latter days, " that many should run to and fro, and knowledge should be increased/* The question which naturally arisclh in the mindofevcry good man inlereiited in the common weal, is : And what effect i% thii i>ew element likely to produce in the midst of hb! To ihe an- swering of which question, every considerate peraoo is intent; for he is blind indeed, who pcrceiveth not that this is a mostpenctratin;^ and rcstle&a power, which even already hath hej^iin to change ihefnce of many things. Il halh brought Um ntinds of thousands^ of tens of thousands, yea of millions* and tens of milHoni^ (for we look also abroad), into communication with one another, who heretofore dwell widely apart ; and it hath put between men who dwell together, a revealer of thoughts within them, which would have dwelt unperceived for ever; and each man it halh lifted from the condi- tion of an unknown, unfelt individual, to the high and dangerous pre-eminence of thinking upon the abstruse^t subjects, and judging of the greatest men. It hath multiplied the power of the prc»s to an unlimited extent, and begotten a new power, the power of public opinion, capable of controlling prince and people, governors and govorned^ and the press itself, (for the press is generally at the hock of public opinionO to which it seems