poral and eternal, upon all true nursing fathers and nursing mothers of Christ's Church; and that we are all fellow-subjects and fellow-members with them under Christ, the great King of the Earth, and Universal Head of the Church, and are bound to labour with them by word and deed in all their endeavours for the diffusion of His truth, and for the promotion of His glory.

May God of His infinite mercy so order the wills and affections of all from the highest to the lowest among us, that these things may be indeed so! Then indeed England will enjoy the high honour and glorious privilege of proving to the world by her example that Righteousness exalteth a Nation; then will her Peace be as a river, and her Righteousness as the waves of the sea!*

Grant, O Lord, we beseech Thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by Thy governance that Thy Church may joyfully serve Thee in all godly quietness, through Jesus Christ our Lord.-Amen.

*Isa. xlix. 23.

London: J. B. Nichols and Son, Printers, 25, Parliament-street.

PRINTED BY REQUEST.

NATIONAL WARNINGS

ON

NATIONAL EDUCATION.

A Sermon,

PREACHED IN AID OF THE PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS,

AT

THE PARISH CHURCH OF SOUTH HACKNEY,

ON SUNDAY, THE 12TH OF NOVEMBER, 1848.

BY THE REV.

CHR. WORDSWORTH, D.D.

CANON OF WESTMINSTER.

BODLEW

LONDON:

RIVINGTONS, PALL MALL, AND WATERLOO PLACE.

HACKNEY:

G. A. SOUTHAN, MARE STREET.

MDCCCXLVIII.

25.

NOTE-This Sermon is published, with the Author's permission, by the Committee of the Parochial Schools of South Hackney, Middlesex. Any profits that may arise from its sale, will be applied to the use of the Schools.

DECEMBER 1,

1848.

J. C. GOODIER, PRINTER,

Well-Street, Hackney, and 126, Bishopsgate Street.

SERMON.

"Where shall wisdom be found, and where is the place of understanding?"

"Behold, the fear of the Lord, THAT is wisdom; and to

depart from evil is understanding."-Job xxviii. 12, 28.

WE read, in the seventeenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, that St. Paul, in the performance of his apostolical duties, which he had now been discharging for about fifteen years, came to Athens, the most learned city of Greece. He there entered into conversation with the Philosophers of the two Schools, which were then the most flourishing in the Gentile world, the Stoic and the Epicurean; and, being charged with promulgating strange doctrines, he was brought before the Court of the Areopagus, the highest Tribunal of Athens, which took cognizance of capital offences, especially in matters of Religion.

This Tribunal sat, not as our Courts of Justice do, within closed walls, but in the open air, on a low rocky hill in the centre of Athens; and on this spot the Apostle was placed, and was there called upon to vindicate himself.

The position in which St. Paul then stood, was a very striking one. Here was a Christian Apostle, from Tarsus, a city regarded as little better than barbarous by the polished Athenian, standing alone before the most dignified auditory in the most enlightened city of the earth. He had before him the most magnificent creations of human skill. As he stood with his face northward, he saw, on his right hand, towering on its proud Acropolis, the severe and stately Parthenon, the temple of the Goddess of Wisdom, adorned with the noblest works of the most celebrated sculptors in the world: near it was the bronze colossus of the same Deity, armed with helmet, spear, and shield, the champion of Athens.