oly praise and prayer. The assembled crowds were delighted at the sight of out a thousand children thus in training for earth and heaven, and at the fine unity of feeling thus displayed on behalf of the young by the various parts of the one redeemed church.

Hull.-In connexion with the 31st anniversary of the Hull Auxiliary to the London Missionary Society, the teachers and children of the Sabbath schools were assembled on Lord's day afternoon, June 9th, 1844, in Hope-street chapel, when instructive addresses were delivered by the Revds. James Sibree, Thomas Archer, M.A., of London, Thomas Stratten, and J. A. Shurman, missionary from Benares, which were listened to with deep interest and attention by the juvenile audience. A collection was made, amounting to upwards of eight pounds, and it was gratifying to notice the cheerfulness and readiness of the children to give their pence to assist in sending the Gospel to the perishing heathen. It is hoped that these interesting assemblies of the Lambs of the flock,' will be generally adopted at Missionary anniversaries, as they are delightful occasions for not only diffusing missionary intelligence among the young, but have a tendency to train them to habits of christian benevolence, and in furtherance of the great missionary enterprize.

Manchester.-The foundation stone was recently laid of a new Scotch Covenanting church in Grosvenor Square, by the Rev. Dr. Davidson. In the stone were deposited various coins and documents, and a copy of the SUNDAY SCHOOL MAGAZINE. Will those gentlemen of the committee of management who thus honoured our periodical, though entirely unknown to us, accept our best thanks for this mark of their esteem?

Manchester.-SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION.-On Whit-Wednesday afternoon, the scholars in the various schools in the Union were conducted by their superintendents and teachers, to three of the largest chapels in the town, where suitable addresses were delivered,

In Grosvenor-street chapel, by the Rev. W. Roaf, of Wigan ;

In Mosley-street chapel, by the Rev. James Dean;

In Rusholme-road chapel, by the Rev. Giles Hoyle.

Appropriate hymns composed for the occasion were sung. In the evening of the day the friends and teachers of the schools in the Union took tea together in the commodious room below Grosvenor-street chapel; they afterwards adjourned to the chapel, where the annual meeting of the Union was held-Samuel Fletcher, Esq., in the chair. Mr. Robert Needham, one of the honorary secretaries, read the report of the committee for the past year, from which it appears that the Union now comprises 30 schools of eight denominations of christians, containing a total of 7783 scholars, and 849 teachers, of whom 532 are members of churches: during the last year the average attendance of scholars has been 5060, and 65 scholars have been added to christian churches. In the past year the committee have visited many evening classes held in connexion with various institutions in the town, with a view to the establishment of superior evening classes for the Sunday scholars who cannot attend day schools. Such a class has been established by the committee of Ducie chapel Sunday school, and has been productive of much good.

The committee have obtained the delivery of a series of scientific lectures, designed principally for the young; the object contemplated was to afford the Sunday scholars an opportunity of having the wonders of nature explained in a

popular manner, that their minds might be led to admire the manifestations by which they are surrounded, of the wisdom, goodness, and power of God.

In December last, two lectures were delivered by W. Makinson, Esq., one on astronomy, and a second on geography, ancient and modern, with illustrations of scripture history. In February last two lectures were delivered by H. Day, Esq., on chemistry; and in March one lecture was delivered by R. P. Crowe, Esq., of Liverpool, on sacred choral music, in its connexion with congregational singing the illustrations were given by an efficient choir, under the superintendence of Mr. Robert Weston. The committee gratefully acknowledged the debt of gratitude due to the several gentlemen above mentioned for their kind and gratuitous services in the lecture department, and reported that other gentlemen of talent and ability had consented to come forward in a similar manner when required. The charge for admission to the lectures was only one penny, and at some of them upwards of eleven hundred persons were present. The report then adverted to the happy and useful character of the quarterly meetings of the Union, to the periodical visitation of the Sunday schools, which had been a source of satisfaction to all parties; to the singing classes which were approaching completion; and concluded by strongly urging on the meeting the Sunday School Magazine, rejoicing in the prosperity which had attended it, and enforcing its claims to still further support.

The report having been read, the meeting was addressed by the Revds. Dr. Nolan; Radcliffe, of Hulme: Hoyle, of Every-street; Townsend, of America; Dean, of Cannon-street; Caston, of Manchester; and Messrs. Stonier, Hesketh, Webster, and others; and the proceedings of this interesting meeting terminated about ten o'clock. The annual sermon to the teachers was delivered in York-street chapel, by the Rev. D. E. Ford.

Spalding.-At a tea-party lately in the baptist chapel school room in Spalding, a handsome mahogany portable writing-desk, tastefully inlaid in brass, with an appropriate inscription, and upwards of fifty of the donors' names beautifully engraved, was presented to Mr. S. Simpson, gardener, as a token of respect from his fellow labourers, for his unwearied attention as a teacher of the Sunday school in that place for more than thirty years.

Wigan.-One of the teachers in the St. Paul's school, being about to leave home for a time, her scholars purchased a small elegantly-bound pocket Testament as an expression of their attachment, and presented it with a short letter. The Testament has the following inscription :- Presented to Miss N. Stuart, by her affectionate Sunday scholars, on her leaving England for a few months, with the hope that the Word of God may comfort her during her absence, and that the Providence of God may restore her safely and speedily to her home. Wigan, 14th April, 1844.'

Obituary.

Died at Wigan, on the 17th of May, aged 28, Jane Baron. This worthy young woman is another proof of the beneficial influence of Sabbath schools. Either as a scholar or as a teacher she was connected with the St. Paul's schools during the whole of her life.

THE

SUNDAY SCHOOL

Magazine.

AUGUST, 1844.

bits 9910

lil To THE

SABBATH BREAKERS

903 of 1694 W91

agading Tommy

97LONDON BRIDGE.

TO THE SUNDAY SCHOLARS OF GREAT BRITAIN. MY DEAR FRIENDS,-If you had been living in London in the month of May; and on Sunday the 19th of the month had been walking over London Bridge, returning. from your regular places of worship between eight and nine o'clock in the evening, you might have seen a number of persons running up to the side of the bridge, and looking over the wall into the water beneath; and then turning

I

back and speaking to others on the bridge with looks of excitement and anguish in their countenances, and tones of earnestness in their language which indicated that something very shocking was taking place. You would most likely have asked the person nearest to you, 'What's the matter?' and would have run to the side of the bridge to look over and see for yourself; and then you might have seen a sight you would never forget. You might have seen a number of watermen and sailors exerting themselves with all possible haste-some letting down their boats from the sterns of their vessels, some throwing large ropes into the water, some pushing off their boats from the shore, and some rowing with all their might and main to a particular place near to the bridge, where you might have seen a number of hats and bonnets floating on the surface of the water, and fifteen human beings struggling for life, all in danger of perishing together. Your hearts would have been pierced with sorrow at the sight. Most of you would have wished at first to go and try if you could not do something to help to save them, and under this impulse you would have darted off, for the moment, from the side of the wall; but you would soon have seen that all your efforts must be useless, and you would have run back again to see what would be the end of the distressing event. Hope would have risen in your bosom as you saw two or three boats coming up near to the spot; and oh, how happy would you have been when you saw first one, and then another, of the drowning children taken into the boats, until ten or twelve were rescued from a watery grave. But while you were thus delighted that so many should be saved, your heart would have bled again when you saw one-two-three, and probably more, rise up to the surface still struggling for life, but no boat near them to take them in, and then sinking down to rise no more. As the boats drew near to the shore with those who had been saved, you would perhaps have got near enough to see them; and you would have looked upon ten little boys under the age of twelve years, and one girl-with the clothes that remained on them torn and dripping wet, their bodies cold, their faces pale, and so entirely exhausted as to make you fear, for a time, that many of them were dead, or would soon die. While the men were getting them out of the boats as fast as they could, you might have seen fathers and mothers, and brothers and sisters, pushing through the crowd, shrieking, wringing their hands, and crying out 'O where's my child?'

SABBATH BREAKERS AT LONDON BRIDGE. 171

Is my boy saved?' What has become of my sister, is she saved or is she drowned? O tell me, tell me, tell me, somebody-I'm afraid she is lost-what shall I do! what shall I do!' You might have seen two poor girls in particular-who were afraid, from what they had heard, that their sister was one of the lost-waiting in the greatest distress on the shore, for the arrival of a boat which contained a bonnet that had been picked up in the water. You might have seen them, regardless of their own safety, leap into the boat as it drew near to them, to look at the bonnet; and, seeing in a moment that it was not their sister's, you might have seen one of them fall insensible at the bottom of the boat, while the other gave vent to her grief in the most bitter cries and lamentations. But you were not there to see it, and hence your kind friend, the editor of this Magazine, has provided a picture for you, in which some part of the affecting scene is represented. Now turn back and look at it again, and then let me say a few more words to you about it. Bear in mind, then, that it was on the Sabbath day, and that the children at the time of the event were in the pursuit of sinful pleasure; and now try and think seriously of the four following things.

If

1.When you are breaking the sabbath by spending it in sinful company, and sinful pursuits, you are incurring God's displeasure, and running a great risk. God says to you 'Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.' you spend it in voluntary and unnecessary labour, in your accustomed week day sports, or in the pleasures of sin; if you spend it in sliding or skating in the winter; or in bird'snesting, or gaming, or rambling in the fields, or rowing, or sailing on the water in the summer; you are not keeping it holy, and by not keeping it holy you are disobeying God's command, and by doing that you are incurring his displeasure, for God is angry with the wicked every day.' is a dreadful thing to have God angry with you. It is bad enough to have your parents or your teachers or your employers angry with you; but it is a thousand times worse to have to endure the anger of God, for

"One stroke of his almighty rod,

Can send young sinners quick to hell;'

It

and very often, as in this melancholy case, the stroke of that terrible rod falls upon young sinners when they are in the very act of breaking his commandment, by profaning the Sabbath. Children, every step that you take when