and we of the north consequently have competitors from every quarter.  Let not this discourage, but rather stimulate us to more strenuous endeavours, so that if we do not keep a-head of the rest of our countrymen, we may at least take care not to be left behind in the race of honourable ambition.  But after all, worldly advancement and preferment neither are, nor ought to be the main end of instruction, either in schools or elsewhere, and particularly in those which are in rural places, and scantily endowed.  It is in the order of Providence, as we are all aware, that most men must end their temporal course pretty much as they began it; nor will the thoughtful repine at this dispensation.  In lands where nature in the many is not trampled upon by injustice, feelingly may the peasant say to the courtier—­

    The sun that bids your diamond blaze
    To deck our lily deigns.

Contentment, according to the common adage, is better than riches; and why is it better?  Not merely because there can be no happiness without it, but for the sake, also, of its moral dignity.  Mankind, we know, are placed on earth to have their hearts and understandings exercised and improved, some in one sphere and some in another, to undergo various trials, and to perform divers duties; that duty which, in the world’s estimation may seem the least, often being the most important in the eyes of our heavenly Father.  Well and wisely has it been said, in words which I need not scruple to quote here, where extreme poverty and abject misery are unknown—­

      God doth not need
    Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best
    Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best; his state
    Is kingly—­thousands at his bidding speed
    And post o’er land and ocean without rest;
    They also serve who only stand and wait.

Thus am I naturally led to the third and last point in the declaration of the ancient trust-deed, which I mean to touch upon:—­’Youth shall lie instructed in grammar, writing, reading, and, other good discipline, meet and convenient for them, for the honour of God.’  Now, my friends and neighbours, much as we must admire the zeal and activity which have of late years been shewn in the teaching of youth, I will candidly ask those among you, who have had sufficient opportunities to observe, whether the instruction given in many schools is, in fact, meet and convenient?  In the building about to be erected here, I have not the smallest reason for dreading that it will be otherwise.  But I speak in the hearing of persons who may be active in the management of schools elsewhere; and they will excuse me for saying, that many are conducted at present so as to afford melancholy proof that instruction is neither meet nor convenient for the pupils there taught, nor, indeed, for the human mind in any rank or condition of society.  I am not going to say that religious instruction, the most important