be, which has been so very extensively circulated, we deem it a very disingenuous trick to palm any book off with the title of a popular publication; and especially to call it "Part Second," in order to render the deception more complete. We would advise Mr. Connitor, in his next endeavour to appear before the public, to find some new title for his publication.

As to the work itself, we may observe, that the hymns which are put as answers, are in general so long, that we fear the poor child would forget the question before he arrived at the end of his answer. The hymns being taken from Watts, must be excellent; as to the questions, we do not think them so well selected as they might have been. We should suppose the hymns were first chosen, and then the questions framed to them. Upon the whole, we think this work by no means worthy to be called "part the second" of a book to which it certainly does not deserve to be compared.

SUNDAY SCHOOL INTELLIGENCE.

Third ANNUAL REPORT of the BATH SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION. THE Committee of the Bath Sunday School Union have the pleasure to submit this report of the proceedings of the third year to the notice of their friends and the public. They have the satisfaction to state, that the number of new schools opened this year, under the patronage of the Bath Union, has exceeded the number opened in either of the preceding years; and although it was not possible for any of the members of this Institution to have personally assisted at the establishment and organization of the greater number of the schools which will be hereafter particularized, it may nevertheless be confidently asserted, that the major part of such schools would not have been opened at all, had it not been for the assistance rendered them by the Bath Sunday School Union, by means of the gratuitous supply of initiatory books, &c.

Although your committee could give much pleasing information on the subject of Adult Schools belonging to the Bath Sunday School Union, it is intended to make a reserve of such communication, however gratifying it may be, till the Second Annual Report of those schools shall be made, as it has already been determined to keep the account of the Adult Schools distinct and separate from those of the Juvenile Schools, although both are still under the immediate inspection of your committee and its secretaries, as formerly resolved upon.

It is with no small satisfaction that your committee can take a retrospect of the three past years of its labours, and those of its secretaries and teachers, with whom the members of your committee are so happily connected; being firmly persuaded, that if the most careful and minute examination into facts, which may be stated in this Report, was to take place, it would be found that not only great progress had been made in blessing with

religious instruction some thousands of poor children, who might never have been favoured with such instruction, had it not been for the existence of this benevolent society, and the active zeal of its members; but that the actual good done had been commensurate with the design of the institution, and with the means employed to carry that design into effect.

Of the schools opened in the two preceding years, there are now belonging to the Bath Sunday School Union as follow:

The following new schools have been opened in this third

year, by means of the assistance afforded by this society:

Coutaining....1004

Children belonging to the four schools in Bath, which) have been incorporated with the Union, but regulated by their own rules and under their own managers as usual.

1126

4202

It is highly gratifying to your committee to observe, that in many places where new schools have been opened by the members of this society, the people in those places have been made better acquainted with the things that appertain to salvation; and the parents and friends of the children have frequently felt a disposi tion to receive the truths of that Gospel which they before rejected. Some places of worship have been erected and well attended where the Gospel would not have been introduced, had it not been for the establishment of Sunday schools. It is also an undeniable fact, that in some other places where the children of the schools have been accompanied to Church by their teachers, the country churches belonging to the establishment have been much better attended than heretofore; and a revival of religion has been manifested, which must be cause of great satis

faction to all true Christians, not actuated by a sectarian spirit, who will at all times rejoice at the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom. This spirit of liberality, and this truly Christian temper and disposition, it has been the grand design of the founders of the Bath Sunday School Union to promote; which, while it manifests the warmest zeal in the great work of religious instruction, proclaims itself of no particular sect or party, and is desirous of sacrificing all minor considerations and petty distinctions to the benevolent object of promoting the present and eternal welfare of their fellow-creatures, by extending the blessings of a religious education to the poor and ignorant children; who, while they are instructed in their duty to God and Man, are not proselyted to any particular party, but left to join what church they may think proper, when they shall attain a state of maturity to be capable of judging for themselves.

Actuated by such motives, your committee feel warranted to call upon liberal-minded Christians of all denominations to cooperate with the managers and teachers of this institution, in order to instruct the poor and ignorant in their respective neighbourhoods, and thereby to extend the knowledge of Jesus Christ and his great salvation.

Your committee cannot but again advert to the kindness of the committee and secretaries of the Bath Auxiliary Bible Society, in supplying the secretaries of this institution with bibles and testaments at reduced prices for the accommodation of the Sunday schools belonging to this Union; by which means thousands of poor children have been enabled to obtain the Holy Scriptures which they have been encouraged to subscribe for in small sums; and whereby the word of God has been introduced into hundreds of families, and into many villages, where it had not been before read or scarcely seen.

Your committee cannot close this Report without again bearing testimony to the unwearied zeal and activity of the teachers belonging to the Bath Sunday School Union, whose disinterested and pious exertions, in carrying the grand and benevolent design, of this society into effect, are beyond all praise. It may indeed be said to them, partly in the language of the wise man, "Many teachers have done excellent things, but ye have excelled them all. May they continue to persevere in this great and good work, and impart yet greater blessings to all the poor children around them! May others imitate the example they have so generously set them, till not an individual uneducated child shall be found not only in the neighbourhood of Bath, but in GreatBritain, and throughout the whole habitable world, till religious education shall have accomplished its grand object of enlighten. ing all the human race, when all shall know the Lord from the least even to the greatest!

*The teachers belonging to this Union have unitedly travelled upwards of 20,000 miles in this good work.

CAMBRIDGESHIRE SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION.

IT is with unfeigned pleasure we announce to our readers the establishment of a Sunday School Union in the town and county of Cambridge. It appears from accounts we have received, that some of the teachers of those schools having been deeply impressed with the importance of Unions, from reading this Magazine, have felt a desire to have one formed. They therefore called a meeting of the managers of the different schools in the immediate vicinity, and consulted upon the best mode of carrying their views into effect. Several subsequent meetings having been held, and a circular address printed and circulated, a public meeting was called on Tuesday the 14th of May last. On that day a very numerous and highly respectable meeting of the teachers and friends of Sunday schools was held in the Independent chapel, Downing-street, Cambridge. The interest excited was great, and numbers flocked from all parts of the county. The business commenced by the Rev. Mr. Miles, of Foulmire, reading part of the 78th Psalm, and prayer; after which, John Audley, Esq. was called to the chair, and in a very impressive speech stated the object of the meeting, and dwelt on the good that was likely to result from the establishment of so desirable an institution. The blessed results arising from Sunday school instruction, and the advantages to be expected from the combined efforts of those engaged, was admirably pourtrayed in the excellent addresses of the Rev. Messrs. Harris and Edmonds, of Cambridge; Mole, of Barnwell; Dobson, of Chishill; Miles, of Foulmire; Hopkins, of Linton; Bull, of Bassingbourn; Golding, of Eversden, &c. &c. in moving and seconding the various resolutions, and the meeting separated highly gratified with the proceedings of the day.

Fourteen schools have already joined, in which are nearly or quite 1000 children *.

DERBY SNDAY SCHOOL UNION.

TO the christian who surveys the world with a mind enlightened by the discoveries of the divine word, is presented a wide and dreary field of darkness and distress. This painful view, while it demands our pity, calls also for our best exertions to lessen the immense mass of human misery. True benevolence, which divine grace always infuses into the heart that enjoys its influence, has given birth to many institutions calculated to promote this great design. And among the most efficient of those institutions formed to spread divine knowledge in our native land, are Sunday Schools. These, even in their present state, have through the

* We should be obliged to the Secretaries for more particular information.

Editor.

divine blessing, been productive of incalculable good. Nor are they yet perfect; for as progressive improvement is characteristic of the most important human inventions, so it has been with the system of Sunday School education. To increase the extent of the operation of this system, and to insure more of its advantages, the friends of the rising generation have formed Sunday School Unions in a variety of places; one of the earliest of these exists in a neighbouring county town, where a considerable number of schools are united, and have, it is believed derived much advantage from that connexion.

Several friends of Sunday Schools have for some time entertained a wish to see a similar institution formed in Derby; and though when the subject was first started, some difficulties appeared, yet a meeting was called which led to the formation of a Sunday School Union in Derby the 17th May 1816. The resolutions which passed at that meeting were as follow:

1st, The objects of the Union shall be, to promote the increase of Sunday Schools by introducing them into those places where there are none, and of increasing their number where they are not proportioned to the population of the place.

2nd, To suggest improved methods of instructing and governing the children.

3rd, To increase each other's zeal, and direct it to proper objects.

4th, To assist each other, and further the work by mutual prayer.

5th, There shall be two general meetings of this Union in the year: the first, or annual meeting, to be held on Easter Monday, when a sermon shall be preached, and a collection made to defray the expences of the Union; the second on the Tuesday in the week when the Derby Races are held, when a sermon shall be preached, but no collection made.

6th, The managers of Sunday Schools in connexion with this Union, shall furnish the committee with a statement of the number of children in their respective schools, and of the Teachers actually engaged; the same to be reported to the general meeting

7th, At each general meeting the members shall communicate to the Union any improved methods of governing Sunday Schools or imparting instruction, especially religious instruction.

8th, The teachers of the Sunday Schools shall be requested to communicate in writing to the secretary, at least seven days before each gene al meeting, a report of the state of the schools, together with any remarkable instance of success in instruction, especially religious instruction; the same shall be communicated to the genral meeting if the committee shall think proper.

At the same time a committee was appointed to carry into execution the views and resolutions of this society.