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such an one, will you not desire to keep self back, lest the view of saving love should be obstructed. Does this seem the time with uplifted eyes and inward satisfaction to exclaim, "I am the means?" Sunday-school teachers must have but two points in view-God, and the soul to be saved!

N. A. N.

OUR DEFICIENCY.

DR. W. -, writing on agriculture, observes, that the successful advancement of the rural art depends on two circumstances: the one, its improvement by discovery or invention; the other, a more extensive practice of such improvements, when fully demonstrated. The former is effected by the contrivance of more perfect machines and implements of husbandry, which facilitate the progress of labour; the introduction of new articles of profitable culture, and the most advantageous method of treating those which have already been cultivated, though in a defective manner. The latter, namely, the practice, relates not only to future improvements, but likewise to those which, though generally known, have been either wholly neglected, or adopted only in particular places. It may not be irrelevant to apply the above remarks to the subject of Sundayschool teaching. Although this useful mode of teaching has in thousands of instances been successful in the great object in view-the conversion of the soul-it may be said to be labouring under a twofold disadvantage. That of excellent plans being as yet but half digested; while such as are "generally known and approved," have been adopted only in particular places.

If the soil of our earth is capable of yielding an increase greater than has ever yet been proved by ingenious and laborious man, may not the painstaking teacher expect that the hearts of their precious charge would, under better culture be found to produce a more abundant harvest than they have ever ventured to hope for. Where are greater returns to be met with than the thirty, sixty, and hundred-fold of the Gospel seed!

LETTER OF A CATECHUMEN TO HER MINISTER.

REV. AND DEAR SIR,-I hope that you | will excuse the liberty that I have taken in thus addressing you; but having received much benefit from your labours, I feel it my duty to acknowledge it, hoping that it will yield you some little encouragement amidst the many formidable trials and difficulties with which you have had to contend.

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prehensive views of those doctrines of which before I understood so little. I have also become more extensively acquainted with the history, biography, geography, and chronology of the Bible. * * * May more abundant success attend your ministry, and many hundreds be the crown of your rejoicing in the day of the Lord! and may we at last meet,

"Where seraphs gather immortality, On life's fair tree, fast by the throne of God!"

I remain,

Yours truly in Christ Jesus,

May 10, 1848.

THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL MAGAZINE.

THE

SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION.

THE MORNING CONFERENCE.

MEETINGS.

THIS breakfast meeting, gathered together a goodly number;-officers, and committee, delegates, ministers, superintendents and teachers were there, and the opportunity for usefulness was great. If we say we were disappointed, we shall not be misunderstood. We are jealous for the

error; how often will they need reminding that the Union has no immense resources, but rather that it is in debt. The report, which was thoroughly practical, was read by the worthy Secretary in thirtyfive minutes. We cannot speak so highly of all the speeches. Mr. Prest's was good, and would have been very effective but for

its great length, and the unwise refer ence to a topic upon which Sunday-school teachers have over and over again ex

pressed a strong opinion.

Mr. Bevan, and Mr. Weir, acquitted themselves nobly. Mr. Pottinger's was a first appearance, and though a Sundayschool teacher, he did not seem quite at home. He would have done better in

Mr.

right use of such occasions, and it is this feeling alone that prompts us to ask whether more could not have been done than was accomplished between half-past seven and eleven o'clock? Instead of delegates, who had an express mission, the chairman called upon London speakers, who were unprepared;-instead of discussing the West Riding of Yorkshire. the practical questions affecting the Green, ever ready to take up the glove, schools, and eliciting information as to the ran a side-tilt at Mr. Prest, and won a cheer, state of country Unions, the chief time while the meeting lost a speech. Mr. was spent in advertising the claims of va- Bateman, the worthy and talented Editor rious Magazines,-a very important matof "The Bible-Class Magazine," did his ter in its way-but not the proper sequence best, but could not be heard. We rejoice to the admirable digest of business pre- to know that he has an audience of fifteen sented by Mr. Groser. thousand persons who listen to him in a We would venture to suggest, that wider sphere of usefulness. The collection

another time the breakfast should be earlier, the meal simpler and shorter, the price lower, and the accommodation larger; that each delegate should be called upon by some prepared plan to speak for a given time, and to confine himself to practical matters. We should

then have a fine specimen of the meeting we desire, and ample time for a real and useful Conference.

THE EVENING MEETING, As is generally the case, was the best of the month. No cause had so many supporters, or better advocates; all that was wanting was more pecuniary help. It is a singular thing that people will live in

was under £80. Surely the Committee would do well at once to appeal to the public; they have a strong claim, and must be supported by annual Subscrip

tions.

THE RAGGED SCHOOL UNION. sustained. The speeches were less sentiTHIS meeting was very cheering, and well mental, and took a higher tone than formerly; and the evident feeling of the friends of this institution is growing in favour of self-sustaining schools. Let it be ever so little, the poorest Englishman likes to pay, if he can, something; and after all, the greatest charity is to help men to help themselves.

THE MONTH.

JUNE. THIS is the meridian of the seasons. The Anglo-Saxons called this month Sere month, from the dryness of the atmosphere; but more anciently weyd month, "because their beasts did then weyd in the meadows, that is to say, go to feed there; and hereof a meadow is also in the Teutonic called a weyd, and of weyd we yet retain our word wade, which we understand of going through watery places, such as meadows are wont to be."

About this time it is mid-winter in La Plata, South America.

1. The rebellion of Jack Cade, who, it will be remembered, in 1450, spoke thus of education: "Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm, in erecting a grammar school; and whereas before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and tally, thou hast caused printing to be used. Away with him! he has a familiar under his tongue, he speaks not o' God's name." Sir Thomas More is tried at the bar of his own court, 1535.

In 1764, the number of slaves imported into Jamaica by the French, was 10,223. Slavery is now abolished in the colonies by the Provisional Government.

3. King James visits the Lions' Tower, 1605. After being forced from their den by burning links, "then there was two racks of mutton thrown unto them, which they did presently eat; then there was a lusty cock alive cast unto them, which they presently killed, and sucked his blood. After this the king caused a live lamb to be easily let down unto them by a rope; and being come to the ground, the lamb lay upon his knees, and both the lions stood in their former places, and only beheld the lamb; but presently the lamb rose up and went unto the lions, who

very gently looked upon him, and smelled on him without sign of any further hurt." This was the amusement and sport of the British Solomon and his court.

5. Adam Smith born, 1723.-Dr. Sacheverell died, 1724.

7.

8.

9.

The old law of wager of battle, in which personal combat was allowed, is abolished, 1819.

The Royal Exchange founded by Sir Thomas Gresham. His crest was a grasshopper.

The execution of Archbishop Scroop, 1405. Henry IV. commanded the Chief Justice Gascoigne to pronounce upon him the sentence of death, but that inflexible judge refused, on the plea, that the laws gave him no jurisdiction over the life of the prelate, and that he had a right to be tried by his peers.

The ninth day of the Jewish month, Thammuz, was an especial fast for the taking of Jerusalem, under Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, upon that day, B. C. 587. The seventy years of the captivity, according to the prediction of Jeremiah, begins, B. C. 606, when the temple was plundered, and Daniel, with his three companions, who escaped from the furnace, were led away to the Assyrian capital.

11. Dugald Stewart died, 1828.-Roger Bacon died, 1294.

14. The Roman Republic established.

Cicero has preserved the original laws of the Comitia, which subverted the tyranny and set up the commonwealth.

15. Martin Luther is excommunicated by a papal bull, 1520.

The famous decree, called the Confession of Augsburg, drawn up by Melancthon, was publicly read the same day, 1530.

Anson arrives at Spithead, 1744, after a voyage round the world, of three years and nine months. 21. Bishop Butler died, 1752.

Sabbath Evenings at Home.

BY THE REV. J. JORDAN, VICAR OF ENSTONE.
(Continued from page 191.)

B. C. 1451.

Moses would die, and then the people
would be left again without any one to
speak for them. But God is so merciful
to man that he is "ready to give us
more than either we desire or deserve;"
and now that the time of Moses' death
draws near, He commands him to tell
the people that a prophet shall be pro-
vided for them such as they have de-
sired, one who can plead with God for
them, and whose voice they shall re-
joice, and not be afraid to hear.
was such a prophet?
C.-Jesus Christ.

THE NINTH PROMISE OF A SAVIOUR AS A PROPHET. DEUTERONOMY XVIII. 15-19. P.-As the time approached when Moses was to be taken away from the people of Israel, and they would necessarily feel the loss of such a leader, he was commissioned of God to take this opportunity of comforting the people with a promise, which was not to be fulfilled completely until a much later day. This promise is to be found in Deut. xviii. 15-19: read the whole P.-Yes, he is our Mediator, pleadpassage over, and then ask any ques-ing between us and God, and reconcil

tion on it

like. you

C.-What is a prophet?

P. He is one who makes known the will of God to man. Sometimes he foretells distant events in this life, foreshowing what the Providence of God designs to bring about. Prophets were frequently sent of God to the people to warn them of their sins, or of his judgments if they did not repent.

C.-Is not this then a temporal promise, for the prophet would come in

this life?

P.-If his office had been limited to this life, it would have been a temporal promise only, but much more than this is spoken of here; the prophet is promised of a different character from that which such persons generally were. For what is the circumstance that Moses reminds the people of, as having occurred at Horeb?

C.-They had been so terrified by the voice of God, that they besought him not to speak to them again, lest they should die, but to let Moses speak for him.

P.-This is in the twentieth chapter of Exodus, and the fifth of Deuteronomy, and God says that in thus asking they have done well, "they have well said all that they have spoken," Deut. v. 28. They, however, had asked only for Moses to speak with them. Now

Who

ing us sinners to his Father and our Father, by his own precious blood. This, then, is a gracious promise of a Saviour from God, and one upon which the Jews had great reliance, as we see frequently alluded to in the gospels. One of the questions asked of John the Baptist was, "Art thou that prophet?" and he answered, "No," John i. 21; again the people said, "This is of a truth, that prophet that should come into the world," John vi. 14; and, again, "Of a truth this is the prophet, John vii. 40.

B. C. 1451.

THE TENTH PROMISE OF A
SAVIOUR AS A ROCK.

DEUTERONOMY XXXII. 1—4.

P. We have already seen that Moses had promised the people of Israel a Saviour, first as an angel, and, secondly, as a prophet; we have now to consider a third type or figure, under which the same promise was repeated to them. This you will find in Deut. xxxii. 1-4, which you may, therefore, read over.

C.-Whom does Moses mean when he calls upon the heaven and earth to hear him?

P. He means all created things, whether those that obey his laws in heaven, or men who should be his ministers on earth; and so he calls upon all his servants, in heaven and on earth, to hearken to what he has to say.

C.-And what is meant by his doctrine dropping as rain, and his speech as dew?

P-Rain and dew, the small rain and the showers, are the refreshings which God sends in different ways upon the earth we inhabit, and all that grows upon it; and Moses means that as by these the tender herb and the grass are nourished, so those who will receive the doctrine he teaches, shall be strengthened and refreshed by the truths taught to them. He then begins to praise God, and calls him by a certain name; What is that name?

C. He is the Rock.

P.-And to what did Moses refer when he said that God was the Rock?

C.-I do not exactly know, unless it was to the rock from which the water came in the desert.

P. That is it. As the rock had on that occasion been the means, under God, of supplying their extreme necessity in the wilderness, so would God be to them on every occasion a rock fruitful of help and blessing to them in the time of trouble.

C.-But how is it here promised that our Saviour was to be our Rock?

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P.-St. Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians, chap. x. ver. 4, tells us that the children of Israel did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ? "

C.-Oh! then, that at once tells us that the Rock meant Christ?

P.-Certainly it does so; and our Saviour himself on one occasion speaking to his apostles, called himself the Rock; for when he had asked them whom they believed him the Son of man to be, and Peter, speaking for. them all, said in reply, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." He told them that this confession they had made was the rock upon which he would build his church, so that the gates of hell, that is, the strength of hell, should not prevail against it; Matth. xvi. 18. Thus we are enabled to understand other passages of the Scripture as speaking of our Saviour in the same way, as in the Psalms, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength, the Lord is my rock and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower," Ps. xviii. 1, 2. And since all these things are spoken of our Saviour and of God, therefore it is evident that he is God!

A REWARD FOR A LIE.

BY THE REV. T. WITHEROW, OF MAGHERA, IRELAND.

upon the place, that they who pass may in future be the better able to avoid it.

WHERE a ship strikes upon a rock, or | duty bound, we will strive to set a buoy the sounding-line tells of shallows, men sometimes place a buoy, which floats upon the surface of the water; and when the passing sailor sees the painted log rising and falling with every swell of the tide, he knows that danger is near, and he is warned, and keeps off. We think we know a spot on which more than one or two have received damage, if not shipwreck; and, as in

A Sabbath-school teacher, whom we know. well, and whose labours in the great cause have, we believe, been blessed, brought one morning to the school a number of catechisms for distribution to his class. One or two of his scholars said they had catechisms, all the others said they had none. Those

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