26th of that month a constitution was adopted for the 'FirstDay or Sunday School Society.' On the 11th of January, 1791, the officers of the Society were elected, and in March of the same year their first school was opened for the admission of children. If we are rightly informed, these schools were taught by paid teachers, and were devoted exclusively to the instruction of poor children. It was not until 1816 that the system of unpaid teaching was introduced by the Philadelphia Society. This valuable organization was the parent of the American SundaySchool Union. In the mean time the Methodist schools were going on under the gratuitous system; and in the notes to the Discipline of 1796 the bishops urge the 'people in cities, towns, and villages to establish Sunday-schools, wherever practicable, for the benefit of the children of the poor.""

A Conference of the Church met in New York, May 28, 1789, the same year, and almost at the same time, that the Constitution of the United States went into operation. Congress was in session during the sittings of that Conference, and, as Washington had just been inaugurated and the new Government gone into practical operation, the Conference gave expression to their loyalty and patriotism in an official act. Bishop Asbury, a few days after its sessions commenced, offered a proposition to Conference, "whether it would not be proper for us, as a Church, to present a congratulatory address to General Washington, who had been lately inaugurated President of the United States, in which should be embodied our approbation of the Constitution, and professing our allegiance to the Government." The Conference unanimously approved of the measure; and the bishops, Coke and Asbury, drew up the address on the same day. Rev. Thomas Morrell, a member of Conference, and who had been a commissioned officer in the American army, was appointed to wait on President Washington with a copy of the address, and to request him to designate a day when he would publicly receive the bishops. "This address was not intended," says a writer in the "National Magazine," "to court popular favor by a servile fawning at the feet of a great man, but was intended as a tribute to God for favoring the American people with such a noble monument of his wisdom and goodness in the person of the illustrious chief, and in that admirable Constitution which his hands helped to frame and which he was now called upon to administer and carry into effect. It was natural to

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rejoice in beholding the adoption of a Constitution which guaranteed to all denominations their rights and privileges equally, and to see this Constitution committed to the hands of men who had ever manifested an impartial regard for each religious sect and for the inalienable rights of all mankind."

ADDRESS OF THE BISHOPS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

SIR:

To the President of the United States.

We, the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, humbly beg leave, in the name of our Society, collectively, in these United States, to express to you the warm feelings of our hearts and our sincere congratulations on your appointment to the Presidentship of these States. We are conscious, from the signal proofs you have already given, that you are a friend of mankind, and under this established idea place as full confidence in your wisdom and integrity for the preservation of those civil and religious liberties which have been transmitted to us by the providence of God and the glorious Revolution, as we believe ought to be reposed in man.

We have received the most grateful satisfaction from the humble and entire dependence on the great Governor of the Universe which you have repeatedly expressed, acknowledging him the source of every blessing, and particularly of the most excellent Constitution of these States, which is at present the admiration of the world, and may in future become its great exemplar for imitation; and hence we enjoy a holy expectation that you will always prove a faithful and impartial patron of genuine, vital religion,—the great end of our creation and present probationary existence. And we promise you our fervent prayers to the throne of grace that God Almighty may endue you with all the graces and gifts of his Holy Spirit,-that he may enable you to fill your important station to his glory, the good of his Church, the happiness and prosperity of the United States, and the welfare of mankind. Signed in behalf of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

NEW YORK, May 29, 1789.

ANSWER.

THOMAS COKE,
FRANCIS ASBURY.

To the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of

GENTLEMEN:

America.

I return to you individually, and through you to the Society collectively in the United States, my thanks for the demonstrations of affec tion and the expressions of joy offered in their behalf on my late appointment. It shall be my endeavor to manifest the purity of my inclinations for promoting the happiness of mankind, as well as the sincerity of my desire to contribute whatever may be in my power towards the civil and religious welfare of the American people. In pursuing this line of conduct, I hope, by the assistance of Divine Providence, not

altogether to disappoint the confidence which you have been pleased to repose in me.

It always affords me satisfaction when I find a concurrence of sentiment and practice between all conscientious men, in acknowledgments of homage to the great Governor of the Universe and in professions of support to a just civil government. After mentioning that I trust the people of every denomination, who demean themselves as good citizens, will have occasion to be convinced that I shall always strive to prove a faithful and impartial patron of genuine, vital religion, I must assure you in particular that I take in the kindest part the promise you make of presenting your prayers at the Throne for me, and that I likewise implore the Divine benediction upon yourselves and your religious community. GEORGE WASHINGTON.

The loyalty and patriotism of the Methodist Church are displayed in the following article in their Church Constitution, adopted at the first Conference in Philadelphia, in 1784:—

ARTICLE 33.-OF THE RULERS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The Congress, the General Assemblies, the Governors, and councils of States, as the delegates of the people, are the rulers of the United States of America, according to the division of power made to them by the general Act of Confederation and by the Constitutions of their respective States. And the said States ought not to be subject to any foreign power.

Subsequently the following was added:

As far as it respects civil affairs, we believe it is the duty of Christians, and especially of Christian ministers, to be subject to the supreme authority of the country where they may reside, and to use all laudable means to enjoin obedience to the powers that be; and therefore it is expe dient that all our preachers and people who may be under the British Government, or any other Government, will behave themselves as peaceable and orderly subjects.

"These declarations," says a Methodist author, "embrace the doctrine of the Church in regard to civil government; and whoever is not governed by this doctrine, and is not loyal to the Government where he may reside, cannot be a Methodist of the American stamp."

In the Convention that formed the Constitution of the United States, the Methodist Church was represented by Richard Bassett, of Delaware, a distinguished lawyer, and a confidential friend of Bishop Asbury. He, with other influential Methodists of Delaware, George Read, John Dickinson, and their associates, urged the people of Delaware to adopt the Constitution, which they did in 1787.

THE QUAKERS,

As a Christian denomination, have exerted no unimportant influence on the religious character and sentiments of the nation. They took their rise in England about the middle of the seventeenth century, and called themselves at first Seekers, from the fact that they professed to seek pure truth; afterwards, however, from their peace principles and conduct, they assumed the name of Friends.

George Fox was the founder of the Friends' Society, in 1648. In 1669 he visited America, and, spending two years in this country, he formally organized the denomination on this continent. It was, however, left for Penn to give system and vigor to the Society. In March, 1681, he obtained from Charles II. a grant of all the territory which now bears the name of Pennsylvania, where he desired to "spread the principles and doctrines of the Quakers, and to build up a peaceful and virtuous empire in the new land, which should diffuse its examples far and wide to the remotest ages." In 1682 Penn set sail for this country, and in the following year founded Philadelphia, and laid the permanent basis of a civil and religious society in accordance with the principles of the Quakers.

They rapidly rose to prominence, and their influence for good has been extended over the continent. During the Revolution, many of this denomination declined to take up arms against George III., because forbidden by a fundamental article of their faith. Stephen Hopkins, of Rhode Island, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a member of the Friends' Society and labored zealously for its prosperity. This body of Christians, by their principles and the example of their peaceful lives, have done much to give a higher moral tone to our national character. Their patriotism and attachment to the new Government were evinced in the following congratulatory address to Washington on his being inaugurated President of the United States.

THE ADDRESS OF THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY CALLED QUAKERS, FROM THEIR YEARLY MEETING FOR PENNSYLVANIA, NEW JERSEY, DELAWARE, AND THE WESTERN PART OF MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA.

To the President of the United States.

Being met in this our annual assembly, for the well-ordering the affairs of our religious society and the promotion of universal right

eousness, our minds have been drawn to consider that the Almighty, who ruleth in heaven and among the kingdoms of men, having permitted a great revolution to take place in the government of this country, we are fervently concerned that the rulers of the people may be favored with the counsels of God, -the only sure means of enabling them to fulfil the important trusts committed to their charge, and in an especial manner that Divine wisdom and grace vouchsafed from above may qualify thee to fill up the duties of the exalted station to which thou art appointed.

We are sensible thou hast obtained a great place in the esteem and affection of the people of all denominations over whom thou presidest; and, many eminent talents being committed to thy trust, we much desire they may be fully devoted to the Lord's honor and service, that thus thou mayest be an happy instrument in his hands for the suppression of vice, infidelity, and irreligion, and every species of oppression on the persons or concerns of men, so that righteousness and peace, which truly exalt a nation, may prevail throughout the land, as the only solid foundation that can be laid for prosperity and happiness.

The free toleration which the citizens of these States enjoy in the public worship of the Almighty agreeably to the dictates of their consciences, we esteem among the choicest of blessings; and we desire to be filled with fervent charity for those who differ from us in matters of faith and practice, believing that the general assembly of saints is composed of the sincere and upright-hearted of all nations, kingdoms, and people, so we trust we may justly claim it in others. In full persuasion that the divine principle we profess leads into harmony and concord, we can take no part in warlike measures on any occasion or under any power, but we are bound in conscience to lead quiet and peaceable lives in godliness and honesty among men, contributing freely our proportion to the indigencies of the poor and to the necessary support of the civil government; acknowledging those that rule to be worthy of double honor, having never been chargeable from our first establishment as a religious society with fomenting or countenancing tumult or conspiracies, or disrespect to those who are placed in authority over us.

We wish not improperly to intrude on thy time and patience; nor is it our practice to offer adulation to any. But, as we are a people whose principles and conduct have been misrepresented and traduced, we take the liberty to assure thee that we feel our hearts affectionately drawn towards thee, and those in authority over us, with prayers that thy Presidency may, under the blessing of Heaven, be happy to thyself and to the people, that through the increase of morality and true religion Divine Providence may condescend to look down upon our land with a propitious eye, and bless the inhabitants with the continuance of peace, the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and enable us gratefully to acknowledge his manifold mercies.

And it is our earnest concern that he may be pleased to grant thee every necessary qualification to fill thy weighty and important station to his glory, and that finally, when all terrestrial honors shall pass away, thou and thy respectable consort may be found worthy to receive a