of their pastor to undeceive them; they may read in it a direct confirmation of what they have heard, and ascribe solely to self-interest what emanates from the pious zeal and sense of duty of him who “watches over them as one that is to give account.” But when they see associated with the minister, in the work of Christian charity and instruction, laymen, whom they know to have no inducement to support a system of fraud, and whom they may believe to be too honest and honourable to promote the cause of error, they are more likely to banish the suspicion of unworthy motives, which, in the present distempered state of their minds, opposes an insuperable bar to the reception of religious truth. We have had in all our towns, and even in many large villages, boards of health formed to visit and enquire into the state of the poor; let similar religious boards be established under the direction of the parochial clergy, to promote their spiritual health. Numerous and great are the evils which have arisen from the population of many parishes having increased beyond the means of accommodation in the parish churches and almost beyond the personal visitation and superintendence of the parochial clergy. It has given rise to much almost compulsory secession from the Church, has weakened the influence of the Clergy, and has been productive of the still greater evils of immorality, irreligion, and impiety. Plans, therefore, have been drawn up and acted upon with the most happy effect in some places, for the formation of visiting societies. These have already received the sanction of two prelates, who preside over populous dioceses, the Bishops of London and Chester, who have both recommended them in their Charges to their Clergy. “The vastness of the field,” observes the Bishop of London, “which demands their exertions, and their own insufficiency to meet that demand according to the promptings of their conscience, and the impulse of a truly Christian charity, are matters which lie heavily upon the mind of many faithful zealous clergymen. In the discharge of those duties which, in a populous parish, far exceed the physical abilities of the strongest and most devoted minister, great assistance may be derived from parochial visiting associations, acting in subordination to the Clergy. By kind, yet not intrusive enquiry into the wants, both temporal and spiritual, of the poor; by well-timed aid, by encouragement, and counsel; by exhortations to the duty of reading the Scriptures, of public worship, of sanctifying the Lord’s Day, of regulating the behaviour of their children; by directing them, in cases of sickness, or of ignorance, or of troubled conscience, to their appointed pastor, such an association may work incalculable good, and become powerfully, though indirectly, instrumental in preaching the Gospel to the poor. But it is incumbent on me to caution the parochial Clergy against relinquishing the