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exert the greatest amount of control—that it may occupy the
largest field of usefulness—it must be supported as well as invigor-
ated by an adequate amount of intellectual culture.

These familiar truths underlie the obligation of Christian com-
munities, to make suitable provision for the education training of
their youth. And the considerations they suggest, through at all
times of the weightiest character, have, at no time in the past,
seemed so pressing on the minds of the Bishops of the Southern
Dioceses, as they appear at the present moment. And it is to the
obligation and duty of making provision for the intellectual, moral,
and religious training of the youth belonging to our several dioceses,
that we would now invoke your attention.

And we desire in the outset to express our sense of this high
character and eminent services of many Institutions, already exist-
ing in the several States, where our fields of labor lie—Institutions
which, whether founded by the States severally, or by one or other
of the religious denominations inhabiting them, have discharged
the duty of training those committed to their care with honorable
claims of some of these, the personal experiences of several of our
number would forbid our speaking otherwise, than in terms of the
highest respect and veneration.

It is believed, nevertheless, that the whole ground is not occupied.
That the work to be done is beyond the power of the laborers who
are employed in doing it, and that the entrance of another Institu-
tion of a high grade upon the field to be cultivated, so far from
being uncalled for, should be hailed as a welcome ally.

It is to be remembered that, as a Church, we have in this matter,
thus far, been the recipients of favors at the hand of others; and
we may well ask ourselves whether we can stand justified in
allowing this state of things to continue beyond the point, where it
is clear we have the ability to take care of ourselves. And, not
only so, it behooves us also to inquire how far the obligations of
patriotism require of us to place at the services of the State the
whole force of our denominational strength for the intellectual and
moral training of its youth, and in a form in which it can be most
efficiently and successfully exerted.

The State affords us our guardianship and protection, and is
entitled to the reciprocal benefit of such efforts as we are capable
of, to enlighten its administration, to consolidate its power, and to
perpetuate its duration. The Presbyterians at Princeton, the

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Methodists, and others, in numerous instances, have set us an ex-
ample in this behalf, which we cannot but admire, and would do
well to imitate.

Nothing is more common than to hear it affirmed that the hopes
of mankind are suspended upon the success of the experiment
in government now being made in these States. The success or
failure of this experiment turns entirely on the degree of intelli-
gence, and the character of the moral sentiment which shall dis-
tinguish the masses of our population. These masses are but the
aggregation of individuals, and the responsibility and duty origin-
ating and sustaining Institutions whose offices go to the point,
directly or indirectly, of enlightening them, is therefore obvious
and imperative. And we may add, if there ever was a time in the
history of our republic at which good men were called upon more
than at another, to unite upon efforts to found such Institutions,
the present is that period. At no time in all the past, have we
been so threatened with the spread of the wildest opinions in
religion and government; and at no period, therefore, has there
been so great a call to put into operation and multiply agencies,
whose high conservatism shall furnish us with the means of making
fast the foundations of the State, securing a sound and healthy
feeling in the social condition, and preserving in their integrity the
great truths of our holy religion.

But, besides these general considerations, which are of force with
all men, and which claim our attention as citizens, there is the
special obligation upon us, as churchmen, to originate some plan
for the special benefit of the children of the Church. Their claims
upon us are of the highest description. They are our offspring,
committed to our guardianship and nurture, and for whose careful
training we are deeply responsible, not only to themselves and their
country, but also to God. By the very condition of their relation-
ship, they claim of us the most vigilant oversight, and the most
thoughtful provision for their moral and spiritual, as well as
intellectual well-being.

And now, it may be asked what are we, as churchmen, as men
who have committed ourselves, or who stand committed to the
service of God, and who recognize distinctly our accountability,
what are we doing in our dioceses for the religious, moral, and
intellectual welfare of our offspring? What are we doing to throw
around them during that most important period of their life—their
collegiate career—those sustaining supports, as well as those
wholesome restraints, furnished by our holy religion, as exhibited