glass. The central, or lecture hall, capable of accommodating 600 scholars, is surrounded on three sides by a balcony, or gallery, and has a platform for speakers at the south end, from which are stairs leading directly to the gallery on either side for the use of the superintendent. The front of the gallery is of open ornamental work in pitch pine, relieved by pilasters of American walnut; and round the walls of gallery and ground floor is a dado in pitch pine, about four feet high. The lecture-hall, being surrounded by class-rooms and other buildings, has no side windows, but is lighted entirely from the roof; this has been effected by an outer skylight, glazed on Rendle's principle, combined with an ornamental tinted glass ceiling, panelled to correspond with the ribs of the coved plaster work. At night the lecture-hall is lighted principally from two sunlights fixed in the ceiling, which are themselves lighted by electricity from the platform. Four separate entrances are provided for the main building, and one for the infants' room; these all have swing doors opening either way; and all stairs, excepting those for the superintendents' sole use, are of Green Moor stone. Provision is made for ventilating the buildings by the admission of fresh air through flues and gratings in the walls and floors, and extracting the vitiated air by means of Boyle's patent ventilators fixed on the roof. In winter the air is warmed before being admitted by passing over coils of hot water pipes situate in chambers underneath the lecture-room floor. The architects were Messrs. Parry & Walker, of Nottingham, and the builders, Messrs. Bell & Son, of Nottingham.

"The land cost £2,800; the builders' contract was £6,329 14s.; and the estimated cost for furnishing is £1,000, making the total cost about £11,000. The original estimate will be increased by the extra cost of the foundation, which, however, will be covered by the sum named, viz., £11,000. Towards the amount there has been promised, almost entirely by the congregation, £8,482 4s. 3d., of which sum £6,850 Os. 1d. has been received. There will be a considerable sum realized by the Houndsgate premises, whether they are let or sold."

The Teacher's Work: its Dignity and Design.

JOHN xxi. 15.

THIS story tells us something of Christ, and something of His disciple, Peter. It is to what it says of Peter I would direct your minds.

And, first, observe that Christ restores Peter to office by recalling him to work. By his denial of his Master, Peter had thrust himself from the disciple's place of honour. Here Christ restores him. But how? Not a word of office or of honour: only of work. "Feed my lambs." That is to say, Peter is made an apostle again by being recalled to work.__ Let this, then, be my first remark, that with Christ work is honour. Every member of the Church holds office in the Church; and, be it higher or lower, it is the place of work. The highest is not above work, nor the lowest below it. The very chiefest apostle is chief in work. Work is the badge of honour with Christ. All His nobles are workers. In this

the disciple is as his Lord, for the Head of the Church was Servant. By His work Christ is Lord of all.

It follows that work is the only way to honour. In the kingdom of God rank comes by work, and goes according to work. He is next the King who best serves the King. And all the honours of Christ's kingdom are open to us all. None are kept for favourites. The path to honour is the common highway, and the highest place is open to the obscurest. And why should there not be a holy ambition, a noble rivalry for the honours Christ bestows? There is room, there is call for a pure, a spiritual ambition among Christ's servants. Don't be content to be last. Strive to rise high in the roll of Christ's nobles. Press on for the prize of His high calling. Resolve to get as near Christ as can be, and not follow afar off. Christ calls you to honour: quit you like men then. No fear of this ambition breeding pride, for here, to be chief of all is to serve all.

If work is the road to honour, then neither despise nor neglect work. He that thinks himself above work, even the humblest of it, shews himself a fool. He can't recognise a diamond that happens not to be polished. He casts away an unpolished jewel, thinking it a worthless stone. Despise work for Christ-content only to be saved by faith—and you trample under foot the crown of royalty Christ holds out to you. Work for Christ, and you invisibly rise far up in the ranks of Christ's nobility-you earn for yourself a good degree-you weave your crown of royalty. True, work does not make a Christian; but it ennobles him who by faith in Christ is already a Christian. Work is not your title to eternal life; but it is your title to high place in God's eternal kingdom. Work does not blot out sin; but, like the lapidary's wheel, work gives the jewel of Christ the polish and shape that fit it to sparkle in the Saviour's crown.

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And now look at the work to which Christ sets His chief apostle"Feed my lambs." This answer of Christ to Peter's claim of love to Him is Christ's confirmation of the reality of the love Peter claimed. Because He knew Peter's love was real, Christ entrusted him with His most delicate and difficult work. He gives him the lambs to feed, not because it was the easiest, but because it was the hardest work. The lambs need most care. He that tends them must excel in wisdom, patience, love, tenderness, thoughtfulness, self-denial. They need everything done for them.

Of the bearing of this on the age and experience of those that should teach the young I will not speak. Enough if they that do it see how delicate and difficult work it is--how much of Christ's Spirit it requires. Of the way to do this work I only say two things:-(1.) Feed the lambs. Much teaching is not feeding the young. At most it is only treading out the corn-perhaps only treading down the pasture. You wash a child's face, comb its hair, put shoes on its feet, and give it dress both warm and tasteful; but that does not feed the child. And many teachers clothe the lambs, but don't feed them. Bible knowledge, history, geography, customs, won't feed them. You must shew them Christ; bring His love and His salvation home to their minds, and so to their hearts. Love to Christ is the soul's fatness. The Christ-loving soul is

the well-fed soul. To feed Christ's lambs is to get the one story the Bible tells into their hearts. Teach them Christ's love to them in such a way that they will love Christ for loving them, and you feed the lambs. (2.) And then, remember it is lambs you feed. Therefore, give the food in the form suited to their years. Hay, and corn, and cake starves, if it does not actually kill lambs. They need fresh, sweet, and tender grass. Give the children the sweetest bits of Scripture, the most easily understood, the bits that give the best news of God. For these you must search. What most interests you may weary them. What comes easiest to you will be dry and tasteless to them. You must, by careful study, forage for them. And when you have got the food that feeds them, take care to give it so that they will relish it, and get good from it; put it so as to reach young minds. To be simple is the triumph of genius and of industry; and to speak simply of Christ is the triumph of love to Christ and industry in His work. If any of you feel lack of fitness, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally, and it shall be given him. And now let me speak, lastly, of the qualifications for this work for Christ. You observe that before Christ said to Peter, "Feed my lambs," Peter had said to Christ, "Lord, I love thee." It was because Peter spoke truth when he said, "I love thee," Christ said to him, "Feed my lambs." So that we learn that the one qualification for Christ's work is personal love to Christ.

Love is fitness for work in a double sense: it is talent, and it is strength. As talent, love is all a man requires. He is amply furnished that has personal love to Christ. With love only he can do Christ's work, and rise in the rank of Christ's servants. God be thanked, whatever the world's work, Christ's work - the highest and noblest of all work is such that any Christ-loving man is fit to do it. Genius is not needed: alone, genius will fail. Education is not indispensable: without love, education may be a barrier; the illiterate disciple that loves Christ as his own Saviour has the wisdom that suffices. Position is not needed: Christ, who finished God's work and saved the world, was a despised Nazarene. And if influence is needed, then he that loves Christ has the needful influence. For no influence is like love's. Talents, education, position, are useful; but the one thing that makes them tell is personal love to Christ. Love pours grace into the lips, and tips the words so that they reach the heart.

Then, again, love is fitness, because it is strength. It is an axiom in all teaching, that he that would teach successfully must love what he teaches. That is peculiarly true of Christ. You must love Him if you would teach Him to others. Speaking to the heart is speaking from the heart. And is it not a proverb that love laughs at labour? All things are easy to love, for love can suffer long. All work is welcome to love, for loved work is by love turned into recreation-it refreshes the heart. Nothing can bear the strain of Christ's work but love. Be it fervent or quiet, only let the love be real, and it will never fail. It is undying, like the soul, of which it is the fragrance. Like a grain of musk, in bulk a speck, it is in power endless. All true disciples love, therefore all disciples can work. Having love, every one is qualified for work, and, therefore, called to work. Some may have more talents; but it is not the

two or three extra talents fit them for work, but the one they have in common with them that have but the one. Extra talents only fit for different work; and he that has most is still dependent on the oneon love to Christ-for power to use the others to profit.

What follows? Many things. For one, no true disciple can decline to work on the plea of unfitness. Let him use his love, and he will soon find out its marvellous power; and by diligent use of it, he will excel those that have more talent but less love. Many that are first in gifts are last in service; and many that are least in gifts, because they use the one they have, are foremost in service, and so first in honour. Further, the more your love to Christ, the greater your power for work. Take care of your love; don't let the cares of the world or its pleasures cool it. Take care of your love to Christ, for it is the right arm of your strength. When the hammer is light, men put to more strength, and then the light head is as efficient as a heavier one. If your talents are few, multiply your love, and you will do as good work with your few talents, through your warmer love, as those more gifted but less loving. Once more, he that has no love to Christ cannot do Christ's work. Love to Him is the genius that does the work well and beautifully. Nothing— not even love to men-will take the place of love to Him. That can't be dispensed with. It is to your work what oil is to the lamp-fire to the engine.

Let me say, in closing: see well to it your love is to Christ. You had better let church, and school, and union all drop quietly into the background, lest love for them should subtly worm itself into the place of love to Christ. You will never work aright till you put Christ in the front. Don't repeat the papist's error, and let your church come between you and Christ-as little in your work as in your faith. Work in your church; but let your work in your church be work, not for the church, but for Christ. Then your work will help your church, and guard your love; and as your labours increase, your love will increase.

These three points, then, I leave with you: your work for Christ is your honour; your work among the young is Christ's highest, finest work; and your strength for this work is your sincere personal love to Christ as your Saviour. And may God bless your work, and increase your power for it, by making your love to Christ abound more and more, that you may not be weary in well-doing, but receive the welcome: "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Amen.

Precentors and Leaders of Praise.

NORMAL TRAINING CLASS.

We have pleasure in calling attention to a new effort of the Directors of the Glasgow Union to promote the improvement of the psalmody of the Sabbath school. The musical demonstrations which have been given, from time to time, by the various Unions, abundantly shew what can be done by

the children when they are placed for a short time under proper tuition. But it is well known that the choirs, although large, comprised only a fraction of the scholars of any of the Unions, and that a large proportion of schools have never yet taken part in the festivals; the chief obstacle being the want of qualified teachers, who would be willing to devote the week evenings necessary to carry on the preparatory classes. In the Glasgow Union there are not fewer than 600 schools or Sabbath classes meeting in separate places, each requiring at least one qualified to conduct the praise. Only those who are in the habit of visiting schools can form any idea of the need there is for something being done to encourage and aid those who have charge of this part of the exercises. Long ago we were quite satisfied with a conductor who was familiar with a certain number of hymns, who could pitch the tune correctly, and by strength of lung managed to control the voices of the scholars. The idea scarcely entered our minds of the children themselves reading the music, or of the conductor teaching them to render it intelligently and with expression. These days are now past. We have learned something of the importance of music and the place it should occupy in the services of the sanctuary and of the Sabbath school; and, if there is one thing more than another that we have learned from the Musical Festivals, it is, that our Sabbath School Societies may add immensely to their influence for good were they to establish, in every district, week evening classes for musical instruction, where the teachers and scholars may be trained to sing efficiently the beautiful hymns and music now so plentifully provided for their use. This means, of course, that a considerable proportion of the teachers must be willing to co-operate personally in the support of such classes, and that for each class there must be a proper Conductor; one who will command their esteem and confidence; one who, by his skill and enthusiasm as a leader, will ensure its success; one who is capable of shewing them that by attending the class they will learn their respective parts, and, at the same time, the art of singing correctly and harmoniously, much better than they can possibly do by staying at home and studying alone.

But the scheme of the Union to which we wish specially to refer just now, is an arrangement of the Directors with Mr. David S. Allan, to carry on Normal Music Classes for the training of those who desire to become precentors, or who may be already engaged as conductors of music in Sabbath schools, Bands of Hope, and other kindred meetings. A class of this description was conducted by Mr. Allan for three months in the early part of the year. Its success was such that a strong desire