not as necessary as they used to be, or observed the half-hearted sympathy which many evince in relation to them. We, on the contrary, contend that Sunday schools were never more necessary than they are now. Again and again have we put before the members of our Church, in the Reports of this Society, that no improvement in the day schools will ever supersede the necessity for Sunday schools. We are told of a time when parents will take their own place. The answer is, let us wait till then, not wait with our arms folded, but doing our work while we wait. It cannot be kaid that such a time will never come; but it may certainly be said that it has not come yet. In order to prove this it is quite sufficient a point to the fact that the most regular children in our Sunday schools are those whose parents are pious people. They who are the best fitted to give religious instruction ire the most glad to receive assistance, not to supersede their own efforts, but n order that those efforts may be sup. plemented by the act of an intelligent and pious Sunday school teacher. The act is, that there is such a charm in a well-ordered Sunday school, such power ind influence in a well-taught class, hat a pious parent will always gladly relcome the assistance thus rendered. I have said that Sunday schools are as lecessary as ever. Circumstances which have been alluded to this evening seem o me to show that they are more neessary than ever. The more the mind of the people at large is agitated about various questions, which it would have been better to have left unagitated, the more necessary it is that we should point children to the law and the testimony. Let us mingle with all our instruction, the firm foundation of dogmatic teaching. Let no teacher be afraid to do this. Dogmatic teaching is not necessarily dogmatical teaching. A teacher may lay down great truths without doing it in a dry, uninteresting manner. To prove this, let me refer,

for a moment, to the sacred Volume which should always be in his hands. There is, undoubtedly, there all the dogmatie truth which you require. Its history, biography, and poetry, are full of the great truths which concern our eternal welfare. Take the history, take the biography, take the poetry itself, when the children are old enough to en joy it; use all the various means which God has given you to set the truth faithfully before the minds of the children, and to enforce it from the sacred volume. And this I will say, that when a child's heart is touched, as it may thus be, with the great truths of the Gospel, it is safe. Against the child who has learnt the doctrine of redemption, and felt the power of redeeming grace in his heart, all the doubts, cavils, and attacks of ungodly men will be vain. If a child has once loved the great truth that Christ has died to save it, you need not fear. I know nothing else that will secure a child. No amount of intellectual knowledge will avail against the assaults to which it is subject, and the temptations which it is sure to meet with; but if once, by God's grace, that firm foundation is laid in the child's heart, that child has learnt what will keep it safe and steadfast through life. One word of appeal, in conclusion, to your. selves. I ask of you two things. First, look upon your work, not as a duty, but as a privilege. Look upon each hour that you are permitted to spend in a Sunday school as so much valuable time, during which you have a work to do for God. Make the most of the opportunities that you possess. You know that they are few enough. Life is busy. Let not one Sabbath day go by without some message from the word of God to each of the children

in your class. One great source of strength in our system is this, that we combine the power of collective teaching with the power of individual instruction. Our classes are so numbered

and so arranged that we have the power of giving collective instruction; and yet every teacher, who will look out for opportunities, may say something to each child that is especially adapted for it. In order to do this we must of course study the peculiarities of each child; and let it always be our endeavour to utter something that will reach the mind of each. Once more, my friends, I would say, let all of you prize for yourselves the truths you have to teach. Pardon me, if I seem to be assuming here functions which belong to others, but I feel that in these days we need indeed pray earnestly that we may be kept steadfast in the faith. Let us hold fast those great truths which concern our own salvation, and then, if there are difficulties, we shall, at least, have learnt to wait in humility, pati ence, and faith, until they are cleared up. It will be vain, then, to tell us that Sir Charles Lyell knows more of creation than Moses did; it will be vain to tell us that Bishop Colenso knows more than that Spirit who inspired Moses to write the Pentateuch. We shall reply, "It is perfectly true that there are difficulties in the sacred Volume which we cannot solve, but it would be strange, indeed, if there were not difficulties. Who would believe that the work of an Infinite Mind contained nothing but what a finite mind could grasp? There are difficulties, but we can wait in patience and faith." After the greatest miracle that is presented to us, the miracle that the great Creator should care for us and love us, I know not what other difficulties can be spoken of at which any mind should stagger.

The Resolution, "That the Report now read be adopted and printed, and that the following gentlemen (whose names were read) be the Committee for the year ensuing," was then put to the Meeting and carried unanimously.

The Rev. J. H. TITCOMв said :-I regret that this Society is suffering as

regards its funds, not only on account of the limitation of its usefulness which this must cause, but also because it may tend to revive a mischievous opinion which was broached two or three years ago to the eff. ct that it had done its work, and might fairly be laid on the shelf. I believe that the Society has not done its work, and that there is in it very much that we cannot do with. out. We need it, in the first place, as a depository of Sunday school informa tion for all the members of the Church of England; we need it, also, as a kind of centre or fly-wheel for the regulation of Sunday school movements throughout the country; we need it, as a referee for the settlement of the doubts and difficulties which arise with respect to the administration and management of Sunday schools; we need it as a stimulus to rekindle our love, and zeal, and faith in the work; and, lastly, we need it as a kind of recruiting serjeant to look up fresh teachers, both for boys' and girls' schools. On this last point, let me say that I do not know whether the Committee of this Institute have ever issued an appeal for more teachers. If they have not, I should strongly recommend the issue of an appeal, espe cially on behalf of boys' schools. Why is it that, in hundreds of boys' schools, classes have to be taught by women in stead of men? Why is it that, in many other schools, the teachers are no better than boys? Why is it that the manhood of England's Christianity does not come down as it ought to do to the level of the Sunday school child? Is it considered beneath its attention? Surely souls for which Christ died can never be beneath the attention of any of His professed followers. As Jesus counted not His life dear unto Himself, in order that He might save sinners, so never let us feel that any level of rank or age can be beneath us, or that the time which is given to efforts to save souls can be lost; rather let us feel that it is a great privilege to be allowed to take

any part whatever in this great work. In other Churches than our own the manhood of muscular Christianity, if I may use that expression, is brought to bear on the work of Sunday school teaching. Why is that desirable element wanting in the Church of England schools? I should feel very desponding if I thought the manhood of England's Christianity was fairly represented in the Sunday schools of our Church. I do not believe it is; nor do I think that the explanation is to be found in a want of love for souls. It strikes me that the cause is that many Christians are not aware of their responsibilities, and not properly instructed in their duties. Why is this? It may be because the pulpit speaks uncertainly on the subject; it may be because this Society has not turned its attention as practically as it should have done to the importance of making direct appeals on this point. At all events there is an evil, and I trust that some remedy will be applied. I should like to put one or two questions to those to whom I am addressing. Are you all engaged, as far as possible, in this great work of teaching on the Sabbath? If any of you are not Sunday school teachers, have you ever examined your consciences as in the sight of God, and asked why you are not? Perhaps you may think that you are not called to the work. But have you seriously asked the question, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" Have you, as in the sight of God, really investigated the claims of the Sunday school, and do you fully appreciate its bearing on the spiritual life of the nation, and of generations which are yet to come? These are most important questions. I believe there are many well educated and deep-feeling Christian men who, from mistaken notions, or from the want of a due sense of the points on which we feel so strongly, have come at last to persuade themselves that a Sunday school is a vent for a little personal en

thusiasm, a kind of ornamental appendage to a parish, not a necessity, and that all that is done is just to teach the very elements of Christianity. It is very important that such false impressions should be removed. How does the case stand? Can we do with. out the Sunday school? In my opini on we cannot. Viewing it as a matter of taste, no man has a right to say that such work is not to his taste, or that his taste is in another direction. Is a man to use his Christian liberty in that way, when he sees souls around him born to immortality, yet dying in sin, for want of service which he can render? St. Paul sets duties of this kind before us under the metaphor of the human body, where he speaks of Christ as the head, and of all who are Christ's as members. There is, in this case, organization of the Church corresponding to the physical organization of the body. As the physical organiza. tion circulates the inward life of the body, so the ecclesiastical organization circulates that spiritual life which is seen in the Christian life of the members of Christ's body. The vari ous parts of our ecclesiastical organization may be divided under two heads. First, there are the Divine appointments :-the ordinance of preaching, the ordinance of public worship, and the sacraments, are divinely appointed members, 80 to speak, of the ecclesiastical bodily functions-organs by means of which spiritual life is circulated throughout the whole. There is teaching for children, and preaching for those who are full grown; there is worship alike for all. On the other hand, there are parts of the ecclesiastical organization which are of human appointment. There is, for example, district visiting for the masses; and when we come to look at the Sunday school for the young, with a desire to place it on its right basis, we find that it is that development of Church life, or of the organization of the

Church, by which our Church, or any Church that has Sunday schools, is endeavouring, through human instrumentality, to carry out Divine purposes. As a perfect circulation shows a healthy physical life, so perfect circulation also shows a healthy spiritual life. Show me a Sunday school which is taught by Christians who love the truth; show me a school which is taught by those who are seeking to lead souls to the precious Lamb of God; and you show me that which proves that the influence of the Holy Spirit is circulating, not only through the upper, but also through the lower members of the body. With that the organization of the Church is complete ; without that it is manifestly incomplete, and no Church, in which it is wanting, can feel that it comprehends all that it ought to comprehend, or that it is satisfactorily discharging the duties which it is bound to perform for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. Now, this being the foundation of the Sunday school system, we have seriously to ask ourselves to what extent are we thus endeavouring to circulate the Divine life through the body of the Church? Is that our object? When we enter the school, is it our prayer that God would so enable us to explain the doctrines of the Gospel to the children that spiritual life may circulate in their minds? Lacking that as his motive the teacher lacks that which God can alone bless, and which alone can bring glory to Him. I was lately very much interested in a tract, published by the Religious Tract Society, which throws light on this point,-how we circulate the life of Christ Himself when we speak simply, and gently, and tenderiy to children, and, taking of the things of Jesus, endeavour to exhibit them as plainly as possible. It related the case of a poor, deformed child, whose heart a devoted teacher was enabled to reach by the help of the Holy Ghost, and through whose instrumentality a most

obstinate and perverse infidel was converted to God. That child was dying; and, while she was reading her Bible, her infidel father, who had, up to that time, manifested no relenting of heart, came into her sick chamber. Finding her reading, and seeing that she was overtaxing her strength, her father said, "My dear child, what are you reading? Shall I read for you?" She handed him the book, and, with great love and delight in her face, said, "Father, I am reading the Bible; will you read it to me ?" The passage, which she was reading, was in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of St. John, "In my father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you." The father, having read this, closed the book, and said, "Shall I read further ?" She placed her poor little wasted arms upon him, and, looking up to him with eyes of love, said, "Father, father, I am going to that place; Jesus has been preparing a place for me; will you ask Him to prepare a place for you, father?" The father looked as if his heart had began to melt; and the poor child, continuing her loving appeal, said to him, "See how kind this dear Saviour has been! He does not say, 'I will send an angel to prepare a place for you,' but He says, 'I go to prepare a place for you.' O father," she add ed, "it reminds me of when I came from the country, and you met me at the railway station after I had been visiting my uncle. I found my room ready, and you had put some flowers there to greet me. In the same way Jesus is in heaven, making a place ready for me, and oh, do ask Him to make a place ready for you." Her mother came in, and she then persuaded both of them to kneel down for prayer. That child had learnt the value of prayer in a Sunday school. The result was that the heart of the infi lel was melted. Ile could not withstand such appeals; wicked companions were given up one

after another, and he is still living an ornament to Christianity. A minister of the church in which he worships has published this memento of the grace of God, which I have thus referred to for the encouragement of those who are engaged in the work of Sunday school teaching. My dear friends, we circulate Divine life thus ; but remember Christian teachers, that your own souls need to be strengthened by God's Holy Spirit, without which nothing is strong, and nothing holy; and unless your motives are pure and simple, unless you desire to circulate the very life-blood of Jesus in the hearts of the children, you can never hope to succeed. It is very much in this work as it is in an Artesian well. You know that, in the case of an Artesian well, water never rises higher than the source from which it springs; and I am quite sure the success of Sunday school teacher will never rise higher than the motive principle from which his teaching springs. Let your motive spring from the throne of God in heaven, and the results will rise there; but let it be only a human motive, let it be a thing of earth, and it will never rise above the things of earth. In conclusion, I would recommend those who conduct the operations of this Society to look upward, and to lay hold of God's promises, now that things look dark with them, resting assured that those promises are all yea and amen in Christ, and that those who trust in the Lord will find that He is their strong help in the day of trouble.

The Rev. W. SPARROW SIMPSON moved the following resolution :"That while acknowledging the success which, under God's blessing, has attended the efforts of the Church of England Sunday School Institute, this Meeting desires to record its conviction that increased efforts should be made to place the Society on a firmer basis, in order

that its usefulness may be largely extended."

:

He said I well remember, some fifteen years ago, when I was an undergraduate at Cambridge, hearing Professor Blunt, that godly, self-denying Divinity Professor, who did so much for religion in his day and generation, and who refused so many offers of promotion in the Church, in order that he might continue his useful career at the University-I say, I well remember hearing that admirable man deliver a course of Lectures on the office and duties of a parish priest. He commenc⚫ ed one of his lectures with a description of the difference between two country parishes, in one of which there was a good and efficient day school, and in the other no school at all; and I recollect his observing that an intelligent traveller in passing through a village on the outside of a coach might discover, from the general aspect of the children, whether there was a good school there or not. I must say that my own experience tends to bear out that remark. The effects of a good day school are seen partly in the very countenances of the children; and if that is the case in regard to a day school, how much more must it be so with regard to a Sunday school, in which religious truths are regularly and systematically taught! It is not necessary, I am sure, at this era of the Christian Church, to say one word in favour of lay assistance for the clergy. It is admitted on all hands that, if the Church is to be a strong living power, doing its work in

the way in which it ought to be done, the laity must be associated with the clergy in everything that is not strictly clerical. If ever there were a time when the clergy needed the devout and sincere help of the laity they do so now. There are many who are now ever ready to discuss points which ought to be regarded as having been for ever closed. There are many men who, under the pretence of liberality of opinion, are