ganise and place them on an efficient footing. I may also say, that upwards of 10,000 persons, independently of clergy and teachers in our day-schools, give their gratuitous services in instructing classes in Church Sunday-schools. What is wanted for these is a journal, published monthly, which shall contain articles and suggestions specially adapted to assist them in the work in which they are engaged. Such articles and suggestions ought to be essentially practical in character, and should embrace short notes on the collects, epistles, and gospels; hints as to time-tables, and the discipline suitable for Sunday-schools; remarks as to the best mode of conducting monthly or weekly meetings of the teachers for self-improvement; together with statements of plans which have been found to succeed in attaching to the Church the younger portion of the community. In most parishes it is the usual practice for the clergy to assemble their Sunday-school teachers, in order that they may study the lessons which are afterwards to be taught, as well as to discuss matters bearing upon their duties. Now, it seems to me that if we had a journal containing heads of subjects which might be taken into consideration at such meetings, and which the teachers might themselves take in, we should be better able than at present to work as a body with definite plans. Our attempts under the present system of things are too desultory and vague. In our day-schools we work with spirit, and the Church is certainly the practical instructor, or rather educator, of the great bulk of the people up to a certain point; but let us take heed that we do not lose our ground by a slight for Sunday-schools, and a fancied superiority in organisation over other religious bodies. This superiority may perchance prove to be less real than we suppose. Our pupils will quit the National school in a few years, too few, alas !—and if we do not take care, we shall have to mourn over the fact, that while we had the power we suffered the period of budding manhood and womanhood to pass by without making a united effort to follow up our exertions. The chasm of dark infidelity and indifferentism is ever yawning to receive our youth of both sexes; the profound depths of vice and infamy, into which no salutary ray of light can find its way, except that which emanates from Divine truth, are ready now as ever to be the resting-places of the young: let it not be said, that the lack of spirit and hearty cooperation has limited our success in training aright the rising generation, and guarding them from these dangers. I believe many well-ordered Sundayschools exist, in which plans have originated which only require to be known to be at once appreciated and generally adopted. I see no way of bringing them before the notice of clergy and teachers, unless through the medium of a journal having an extensive circulation; and such a journal have we already, namely, the National Society's Monthly Paper. Presuming, therefore, upon your readiness to fall in with my suggestions and insert this letter, I venture in all humility to make the following propositions : I. That a portion of the Monthly Paper be regularly set apart for the insertion of articles of a practical kind relating to Sunday-schools, as one means by which "the education of the poor in the principles of the Established Church" may be still further promoted. II. That clergy and teachers be respectfully invited to contribute each month articles for this portion of the Paper. III. That the readers of your Paper be solicited to recommend it to the notice of all Sunday-school teachers, and to request each one to subscribe regularly to the Journal, or, in other words, to take it in: the cost is very trifling. This last proposition appears to me to be highly important; for we have to benefit the Sunday-school teachers as a body and individually, and to excite among them increased interest in their work and labour of love. If these hints can be carried out, I believe great good will ensue, and the Society's Paper will gain some five or six thousand additional subscribers before the termination of the current year. Help us, sir, with your powerful aid and accustomed ability, in this important undertaking. Continue to press the subject of Sunday-schools upon the attention of your readers; and I feel assured you will receive the gratitude and best wishes of the Church at large, and be supported by all who peruse your journal. If you allow us to make a beginning in your next, we may perhaps discuss the following points: (1) The best time-table for a Sunday-school of five classes. (2) The best mode of conducting monthly or weekly meetings of Sunday-school teachers. (3) The best prizes for Sunday-schools, and the best system of awarding them. Leaving the subject to your kind consideration, and the Paper to the support of Sunday-school teachers, as well as those in day-schools,—I am, sir, &c. A. THE Meetings of the Committee of this Society have been attended during the past month by the Bishops of Bangor, Oxford, Bath and Wells, and Salisbury; Lord Lyttelton, Rev. Lord John Thynne, Right Hon. J. W. Henley, M.P.; Rev. Sir Henry Thompson, Bart.; Sir Thomas Phillips, C. B. Adderley, Esq., M.P.; the Ven. Archdeacons Sinclair and Harrison, Rev. Canons Wordsworth and Jennings. The Society's Triennial Letter IN LIEU OF A QUEEN'S LETTER. The following is the letter of his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Bishops in his province requesting them to issue a Pastoral Letter on behalf of the Society. The Archbishop of York has also addressed a similar letter to the Bishops in his province. Lambeth Palace, May 12th, 1856. MY LORD, I am desired to communicate to your Lordship the request of the Committee of the National Society, that, in consequence of the withdrawal of that source of income on which the National Society has been chiefly dependent, your Lordship should have the goodness to recommend to the clergy of your diocese that a collection be made in their churches in behalf of the Society during the course of the current year. It is also suggested that each clergyman should be at liberty, if he see fit, to appropriate a portion, not exceeding one-half of the collection, to the Diocesan or Local Board of Education.-I am, &c. J. B. CANTUAR, The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and many of the other Prelates, have already issued letters to the clergy of their several dioceses. VOL. X. I Building Grants. The following Grants have been voted by the National Society during the past month in aid of building schools: The Treasurer has been authorised to pay the Grants voted by the Society to the schools in the following places, the several undertakings having been reported as completed: Buckingham. Hagley, Stourbridge. Glemham, Little, Norfolk. Herston, Swansea. Hubberstone. Local Treasurers' Remittances, The following remittances have been made by the Society's Local Treasurers during the past half-year. The list is made up to the end of June. The Committee desire to express their best thanks to those gentlemen who have rendered this material assistance to the Society, more especially at a time when, by the refusal of a Royal Letter in its behalf, the funds available for School-building have been endangered. The following Donations and new Annual Subscriptions have been contributed since the last announcement, and are hereby thankfully acknowledged. The List is made up to the 20th July. Contributions may be paid to Messrs. DRUMMOND, Bankers, Charing Cross; to Mr. HENRY STRETTON, the Society's Receiver, 67 Lincoln's Inn Fields, to whom all Remittances should be made; or they will be received at the National Society's Office, Sanctuary, Westminster, or by any of the Local Treasurers to the Society, or by the Society's Travelling Agents. St. Mark's College, Chelsea. The annual examination, conducted by the authorities of the College, took place during the week ending Saturday, July 12th. On the following Tuesday prizes were distributed to the successful students by the Hon. Arthur Gordon, M.P. The following is a list of the prizemen: Third Year: Charles J. S. Dawe, Head Monitor. Second Year: First prize, Samuel Cowdell; Second prize, Joseph Thorne. First Year: First prize, Joseph Henry Smith; Second prize, Allan Freeman. Drawing prize, Charles Goostry; Music prize (theory), Charles J. S. Dawe. The College broke up for the summer vacation on Wednesday July 16th, and will reopen on Saturday August 30th. Whitelands Training Institution. On Saturday, July 5th, Miss Burdett Coutts held an Examination at Whitelands for the prizes for Common Things which she has kindly offered for the present year. Fifty pupils in their second year and seventeen pupil-teachers competed. The following questions were proposed to them by Miss Burdett Coutts: 1. Supposing that a man with a wife and three children had an income of 781. per annum paid to him quarterly, and supposing that one-eighth part of it were spent upon his rent, what quarterly and what weekly arrangements must he and his wife make in order that they may most advantageously lay out the remainder? 2. How would you teach that the possession or want of self-respect is betokened by dress, and that moral habits are influenced by dress? 3. From what passages of Holy Scripture could you take the opportunity of teaching the exceeding sinfulness of cruelty to animals? 4. Mention various kinds of diet suitable for sick people; and give a few receipts for light puddings, broth, and drinks for invalids. 5. What are the general symptoms of mild fever? and what simple means would you use to remove it? 6. Convulsions frequently occur to young children. State some of the common causes which produce them; and say what advice you would give as to the treatment of a child in a convulsive fit. Or, if a child were suddenly attacked with bleeding of the nose, what would you recommend should be done to check the flow of blood? 7. When a warm bath is required, what ought to be generally the temperature of the bath? 8. What advice would you give to young girls as to the care of medicines in a sick room? Essay. What do you understand by "the teaching of Common Things?" and what do you consider would be the good likely to result from this instruction? have heard many zealous and humble-minded teachers,-teachers who have had their heart in their work, and who were guided, as far as man can judge, by proper motives and Christian principles,-bitterly lament that they had not the advantages of a more liberal education in their youth, as they keenly felt its wants in the conscientious discharge of their duties. And I am acquainted with many teachers whose attainments, a few years ago, were but of a humble character, and yet by their own industry and indomitable perseverance they have succeeded in gaining creditable certificates from the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education. Ask those men whether they prize their dearly-earned, and to them highly honourable, "intellectual advancement," ask them if they find their increased store of knowledge advantageous in their great and glorious work; and you will, I think, without exception, find them answer in the affirmative. At least, I know that all those-a pretty considerable number-with whom I am acquainted highly value their increased acquirements, being fully convinced of the great benefits they confer upon them in a practical point of view; and many I know who can look back with thankfulness to the time when their Lordships' Minutes first stirred them up to exertion. The remarks of the Dean of Hereford, who has done so much for both the teacher and the taught, are to the point on this subject. He says: "There can be no doubt, the higher the acquirements of the teacher, and the more knowledge he is able to bring to bear on his teaching, the more likely he is to succeed." And again : "Although the attainments aimed at in some of the training-schools may appear of a character beyond what is wanted in the lower class of schools, yet these very men of greater attainments are by no means beyond what is wanted in our elementary schools, and will, if they can unite in education the children of the employer and the employed, in the end be the cheapest schoolmasters, inasmuch as I am confident they will be the means of raising up a numerous class of self-supporting schools, and make the farmers and tradesmen feel what they have hitherto never done, -the real value of the village schoolmaster." These are the remarks of no theorist, but of a sound and practical educationist. Need I here remark, that no intellectual acquirements will make up for the want of Christian principles in the teacher? The first and great qualification in the teacher is to be imbued with proper motives. No teacher can expect to be really successful in his labours who does not make the love and glory of God the polar-star of his life. He must live for Him and to Him, and have the image of God engraven on his heart. I mention this, lest it might be supposed that whilst I advocate the advantages of intellectual culture I overlook the most important qualification in the teacher. I now proceed to show that "intellectual advancement," generally speaking, is not only free from danger to the schoolmaster, but that it is his duty, as well as his interest, to cultivate to the best of his ability those powers which God has bestowed upon him The design of the Creator in bringing man into existence appears to be, that he might exercise, according to the best of his ability, those powers of reason and virtue with which he is endowed. Archbishop Sumner, treating of this subject, says: "The proof that reason furnishes of this design (that stated above), without appealing to higher sources of information, is this, that unless the Creator did propose such an object to the existence of mankind upon earth, He has bestowed upon them needless and superfluous faculties, both moral and intellectual. But to imagine this with regard to man would be to acquiesce in a belief with respect to the most exalted inhabitant of the earth which is contradicted by all our researches into the inferior orders of creation, and diametrically opposite to the general analogy of nature."+ If we examine the inanimate world around us, there is scarcely a part which we cannot distinguish as subservient to the various wants of living beings. If we go a little higher in the scale of creation, we find irrational animals possessed of powers exactly suited to the rank they hold in the scale of existence,-powers which suffice to their necessities, and no more. But man is the only animal endued with improvable reason. It is by the exercise of this peculiar gift that he is not only empowered, but even obliged, to become his own artificer in the scale of beings. This distinguishing talent, however, is bestowed upon man to no effectual purpose as long as he continues in circumstances which do not call it into exercise. "Man is, in fact, the creature of education and discipline, and is rendered so by the very faculty which characterises him; neither is it from what he is born, but from what he is capable of becoming, that he is entitled to claim a place at the head of created beings that fall within our knowledge." Holy Writ confirms the idea that improvable reason was given to man by the Creator in order that he might employ it partly for his own happiness upon earth, * Rev. R. Dawes' Suggestive Hints, introduction, pp. 17 and 18. |