should be to treat of the Missions in that part of India where the Institution is situated. Their history should be given; the chief obstacles and how they may be best overcome, should be stated; &c. The main object is to fit the students for work among the Heathen.

Philosophy of History.-The progress of civilization should be traced, and God's government of the world should be illustrated as far as possible.

God's Wisdom in Creation.-The Bridgewater Treatises, Dick's Christian Philosopher, &c., will yield materials.

PHYSICAL TRAINING.-Unless great attention is paid to this, confirmed sedentary habits will be contracted during years of study, and the men turned out will be of little use for many Mission purposes. Double or treble the amount of work may be obtained from Agents whose physical powers have been properly developed during their education. The Calcutta Review, No. 78, shows the extent to which the "thoughtful Missionary" (the Rev. T. Spratt) "wisely encourages the Palamcottah gymnastics." Gardening is also an excellent form of exercise. Vegetables required in the School may be raised where circumstances are favorable. Walking excursions are admirable.

TRAINING IN MISSION WORK.-A shoemaker cannot be taught his trade by mere lectures; so actual practice in Mission work is of great importance.

The Rev. T. V. French says:

"My own strong wish has been to combine the systematic class lecture with the travelling lecture-a regular course of instruction in the class room at given seasons, but this again submitted to the test of experience gained under the Missionary's own eye, as well as in offices of trust and responsibility, such as exercise the students' own unassisted resources. For the systematic class lecture the hot weather supplies invaluable leisure." Punjab Conference Report, p. 143.

At the Church Mission Institution, Palamcottah, the senior students go out once a week to preach to the heathen. Some of them are also sent for a month at a time to labour under the Itinerating Missionaries.

In some cases junior students might accompany senior students as listeners. During the long vacation, the students connected with each station might work under the direction of the Missionary. Sometimes the students should go out alone to acquire confidence; at other times they should give addresses in the presence of the Missionary, that he may afterwards privately point out their faults and suggest improvements.

TEACHING OF ENGLISH.-The extent to which this language should be taught to Mission Agents, is one on which there is a difference of opinion. Some would employ it largely; others would confine it within very narrow limits.

The teaching of English is advocated for the following reasons:

1. It expands the mind. A knowledge of a new language is compared to giving a man a sixth sense.

2. The respect of the people is increased. A knowledge of English is now so general, that any one ignorant of it is regarded as an uneducated man.

3. It lays open the vast stores of English literature. This is the grand argument.

On the other side, it is urged that:

1. The mind would be equally benefited by other studies through means of the vernacular.

2. English education is expensive, and Agents thus trained require high salaries. The money might be spent to more advantage in providing books in the vernacular, which would be accessible to millions without the necessity of acquiring a foreign language.

3. Agents who have received a good English education are under great temptations to throw up Mission service.

4. The self-support of the Native Church must be

indefinitely postponed. Rural congregations cannot give such salaries as are required by Agents who have acquired a knowledge of English.

The limits of controversy may be considerably narrowed.

1. All are agreed that some Agents who have received the most thorough English education which can be given, are required for large cities to work among the educated classes, to act as translators, and to be the leaders of the Native Church.

2. It is equally certain that a considerable number of Mission Agents cannot be taught English, and in their particular circumstances its advantages would be more than counterbalanced by disadvantages.

Many converts are too old or too dull to acquire a foreign language. It would be labour thrown away to attempt to teach them. Dr. Caldwell tries a boy with English for a year in his Boarding School. If he gets on, the study is continued; if not, the boy is confined to the vernacular. This seems an excellent plan.

Only very rare attainments in piety will make a man whose tastes have been refined by high education, willing to labour in a village, perhaps inhabited by Pariahs, and to mix with them in such a way as to do them good. The natural tendency of education is to make a man prefer to move among persons more of his own grade. It is absolutely certain that such a man would not be content with the salary which a congregation of converted Pariahs could give.

Dr. Duff, the highest authority on the subject, in a paper approved of by the Calcutta Missionary Conference, thus states some of the objections to the teaching of English to Village Teachers :

"There is first, the time and the expense that must be consumed in acquiring it to any good purpose. From experience, we must say that a period of six years is the very minimum, even in the case of the more clever and talented youths. To require therefore an effective knowledge of English for village

teachers in Bengal, would, as has in substance been remarked, be somewhat eqnivalent to requiring for the rural popnlation of England that every parish Schoolmaster should have a University degree in classical literature.

"There is secondly, the uselessness as to any mental illumination, of a mere smattering of English acquired in a shorter time. It is strength lavishly and fruitlessly wasted in 'the substitution of a very imperfect and inaccurate knowledge of English, with a still smaller knowledge of other things, for that higher education through the vernacular, which, while giving full and accurate information of a practical kind, would, at the same time, strengthen the faculties of the mind.'

"There is, thirdly, the actual unfitting of the pupils for the work for which they are destined. What is wanted is, men with a simple but efficient education, specially adapted to the condition and wants of the rural population-men, also, who will be cheerfully willing to labour for moderate salaries. Now, in the present state of things, even a smattering of English would be sure to elevate young men in their own eyes to a superiority, which would render them unwilling to devote themselves exclusively to the drudgery of teaching the vernacular, or utterly discontented with a moderate salary, such as that to which the past usages and actual ability and willingness of the people must assign a limit. While the teacher conversant with the vernacular alone, would be satisfied with such a moderate allowance as might be fairly expected from village communities, earnestly desirous of instruction for their children; the veriest smatterer in English would be a dissatisfied and heartless grumbler, were we to offer him less than double or treble that sum."

The same objections apply to Catechists.

3. A middle course may be followed with other Agents. The Rev. T. Spratt of the C. M. Training Institution, Palamcottah," proposes that the ordinary lessons should be given through the medium of the vernacular, but that English should be taught for two hours a day as a foreign language, so that it would occupy the same place in the training college which Latin and Greek take in a public school at home."*

*Calcutta Review, No. 78, p. 258.

Such men would be better fitted, in some respets, than Agents acquainted only with the vernaculars, for working in towns and among the higher castes generally. Very few of them, however, would acquire a sufficient knowledge of English to make use of books in that language.

With the spread of a knowledge of English, its acquirement will become more indispensable on the part of Mission Agents, while it will be attended with fewer evils-less conceit, smaller temptations to leave Mission service. On the other hand, every year the multiplication of books gives additional facilities for training through the vernacular.

The course to be taken must be decided to a large extent by the circumstances of each Mission and the locality where it is situated.

SALARIES AND POSITION.

Salary Question.-Few things have caused more heart-burnings and dissatisfaction than the different rates of pay to Native Agents. The absence of uniformity was, at the Punjab Conference, placed first in the list of grievances by Native Christians.* There are difficulties in the way. Mr. Janvier observed :

"It often happens, that two men, equally qualified to serve, for instance, as Scripture Readers, are yet so totally different in their antecedents, that it seems unreasonable and quite inexpedient, to put both on the same rate of allowance. Especially is the difficulty increased, when one of them has qualifications that would give him perhaps thirty rupees in a Government office; while the other could not get ten, and will serve you very gladly for eight. Must then the man who can command thirty be told that he too shall have only eight? Long and earnestly have we laboured to meet and reconcile differences of this sort; and taking into view the different circumstances of each case, our aim has been to adjust it as well as we could."+