represent, very nearly, the scene which takes place in the Sabbath-school, and the mutual occupations of the teacher and his class; but none actually giving the lesson itself-representing the teacher teaching, and the children learning. I trust that the feeble attempt now made will supply, in some degree, this deficiency.

My experience in Sunday-school teaching has not been extensive. I taught for some years in the Church Sunday-school at Ramsey, Hunts, under the superintendence of the much-loved minister of the parish church; and afterwards had the advantage of being associated, in the same delightful employment, with the superintendent and teachers of the St. Bride's Sundayschool, London. To Mr. R. N. Collins, the superintendent of the latter school, I am largely indebted; not only for the assistance afforded in the work of teaching, when it was my privilege and pleasure to work under his superintendence; but also, for the aid he has afforded me in revising the following sheets as they have gone through the press, and in suggesting alterations and amendments, with a patience and a kindness, which I can never sufficiently appreciate. Though now called to labour in another sphere, yet the recollection of the hours passed at St. Bride's will long be cherished with affection. Separation from those we love is a part of the necessary discipline of this short and chequered life; but the friendship contracted in an employment which has for its end the salvation of souls, and the experience of kindnesses from those with whom we hope to spend our eternity, form a source from which memory delights to draw many refreshing consolations. Having thus pointed out my design in the publication of this little work, I will take the opportunity afforded by a few remaining pages of suggesting a few hints to my

fellow-labourers, in the hope that our system of teaching may be thereby improved, and our great object more effectually promoted.

In the first place, we want to be, as a body, more punctual. How some teachers love to enter the school just when the bymn is closing, or the children are commencing in their respective classes! How many arrive at the teacher's meeting, when the opening prayer has commenced, and interrupt the solemnity and attention of those assembled, by abruptly opening the door during the prayer, and moving to their seat with the most unbecoming thoughtlessness! How desirable that all should be in time; that all, even the teacher, who for the last seven years has systematically arrived a little too late, should begin a new plan of systematically coming early, and see if a punctual attendance will not be alike pleasurable and profitable. It is unworthy a Sunday-school teacher, to be leisurely finishing his breakfast, or spending an extra quarter of an hour over a bright fire, when half a dozen children are wasting the precious moments of the Sabbath, and annoying the other classes of the school by their restlessness and insubordination. On the contrary, there is something consistent and self-rewarding in a Sunday-school teacher, rising early on a cold December morning-facing the piercing wind and the biting sleet, and merging all considerations of personal comfort, and love of ease, in a regard to the prosperity and order of the school, and a love for the sacred employment in which he is about to be occupied. Like many other bad habits, the habit of being always out of time arises from thoughtlessness and self-indulgence. Sunday-school teachers! do think, whether it be not better, whether it be not more Christian, always to be in time; and, if so, whether it be not worth that

self-denial which the Redeemer calls upon all who profess his name to manifest.

Secondly, we want a more cordial and undeviating conformity to the regulations of the school. Where this conformity does not exist, a serious impediment to the efficiency of the Sabbath-school system is presented. It may be inadvertence or forgetfulness which occasions the evil-for an evil it most certainly is, and one which teachers ought scrupulously to shun. There should be an unequivocal recognition of the authority of the superintendent, and a minute observance of all the details of management which he lays down for promoting the order and comfort of the school. It is part of the teacher's implied engagement, that he will completely fill up his niche in the school where he becomes a teacher; so that if the hour for closing is a quarter to eleven, he will no more think of relinquishing his class at half-past ten, than he would of commencing teaching in the middle of the singing, or of telling his scholars to meet him for instruction half an hour after the school has commenced. There should be so thorough a harmony reigning throughout the school, that it should be just as indecorous to quit a class during the time of the closing address, as it would be to leave that same class to itself during the hours of teaching: so entire a subordination to the general order established in the school, that the weekly or monthly teachers' meetings should be regarded as a sacred engagement, which a teacher can no more lightly violate, than he could omit the visiting of his scholars at their homes, or neglect any other duty, equally apparent and obligatory. Now, the great secret of proper subordination and order in a school, is a thorough devotedness to the work, on the part of the teachers who are engaged in it. A teacher

who goes to the school for fashion's sake, for the purpose of securing the good will of a minister, or from a desire of being considered a person of evangelical sentiments and practices, will think nothing of wasting half the hours of teaching in frivolous conversation with a teacher in a neighbouring class; of disturbing the whole school, by sending his scholars to put their books away ten minutes before the proper hour of closing has arrived; or of hurrying away the moment teaching is over, leaving the class to commit any disorder they choose, during that most important branch of Sundayschool duty, the closing address. But one who has a passion for teaching; who longs for the perfection of the Sunday-school system; who is never so thoroughly at home as when surrounded by his class on a Sabbathday, and never so happy as when the buzz of three or four hundred children is sounding in his ears-one who has the Sunday-school spirit within him, and who longs to impart it to all around him; it need not be feared that he will forgetfully violate any regulation, or treat lightly, in any matter, the authority of the superintendent. There may, however, be such cases, but the evil need only be mentioned to insure the remedy.

In the third place, when I say that we want more prayerfulness, some may think I am stating a truism which is too trite to be again put in print, and too evident to need arguing; but old as the remark is, clear as the duty is, I am persuaded that many know but very little about fervent and continued prayer to God, for the good of those souls which he, in his providence, has committed to their charge. Many make a conscience of naming their class in their approaches to God, in a listless and frigid manner; but it is only the few, who know what it is to carry the little circle, with all its

wants, its temptations, and its guilt, to the hearer of prayer. There are those who will notice the pale and wasted face, and who upon discovering that disease has been busy with their scholar, will entreat the Lord to sanctify such affliction to the good of that child's soul, and who will watch and wait for the indications of an answer to their prayer, with the same anxiety with which the merchant watches the arrival of some richly freighted vessel, or the farmer the ripening of his corn-field under the cheering rays of the sun. There are those who will mark the tearful eye, and the sorrowful expression of countenance; and who, upon learning that the heavy sod has lately wrapped, in its embrace, a mother or a sister, will pray that the loss of the earthly relative may lead the child, who has been thus bereaved, to seek God in early life, and that the gloom which has shrouded the domestic hearth may be cheered by the possession of a hope, blooming with immortality. There are those who will wrestle with the Lord, for the salvation of a child, who has manifested an unusual seriousness when divine things have been mentioned; or who, by a casual remark, has shown that the seeds which have been sown, in by-gone days, are quickening beneath the surface, instead of rotting in barren ground.

Notwithstanding these exceptions, the peculiar circumstances of the class are unthought of, uncared for, by the mass of teachers; and the general petition is substituted for the earnest and specific appeal to God in its behalf. Now there is utterly a fault among us in this respect. If all the preparation in the world is futile and worthless, without the blessing of God accompanying it to the hearts of those who hear; if all 'the increase,' whether in the shape of prayerful children, or devout communicants, or earnest enquirers