teachers assembled there were all Church of England Sunday school teachers, and they must combine as one man-as members of the Church of Englandto resist manfully and powerfully all the attacks that were now being made upon the constitution of the Church. If Mr. Elliot would forgive him, he would supply one defect in his other wise very excellent speech. Mr. Elliot had modelled a beautiful figure of clay, but it appeared to him there was something wanting. When the artist had succeeded in producing the figure, let him ask God to send down into it the principle of life-in other words, add to the teaching of the Sunday school children, a prayer for the Holy Spirit to come down into the souls of the

children to quicken them into eternal life.

Rev. Mr. JONES said :-The resolution he had to propose was a vote of thanks to the staff of superintendents and teachers of their various Sunday schools. He believed there was no class of persons doing more real service to the Church of God than Sunday school teachers. The service in which they were engaged could not but be beneficial to the teachers and to the taught. There was a certain amount of self-denial which every man or woman must exercise before he or she could become a Sunday school teacher. And that was acknowledged by the worldly equally with the religious man. A few hypocrites might engage in the work, but if they did, they did not persevere, the task was too severe for them. The first requirement of a teacher was to estimate aright the value of his own soul. To handle spiritual things in a carnal manner was the most miserable drudgery that could be conceived. No. The man whose soul was fired with love alone, and who was bound by ties of gratitude to the Saviour for the shame and pain He had endured to save him, that man or that woman alone would make a successful

teacher. The next thing was to realise the value of other souls. No man could ever do this until he had realised the value of his own soul. Here was a teacher with a class of twelve precious souls around him-every soul was a jewel of priceless value-so precious was it that the Son of God deemed it no degradation to leave His high estate and endure the agony of the cross, to redeem that soul from perdition. Oh! the value of a soul! Teacher, do

you realise it ? The Sunday school teacher also required a model. And where would he find a perfect model but in Christ? Let him look at that model of patience and kindness. The obtuseness, ignorance, and perverseness of His disciples were enough to have broken any human heart, but how gently he dealt with them. In that they had a model for their conduct towards the children, and if ever they felt tempted to withdraw, or grow wearied with their work, let them look to Jesus for strength and encouragement. Let them look also to Him for humility; no jewel wore so bright a lustre as humility. It was a very rare thing in this day. themselves up to neighbours. They called out to the people-I'll set you right, I'll do this and that; and even in religious matters people exhibited a large amount of this presumptuous spirit. Let such look at the humility of Jesus, standing in all the majesty of benevolence--mothers bringing their little children for Him to bless them, and His disciples presumptuously and impertinently interfering to keep them back, and hear the Saviour saying, "Suffer little children to come unto Me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." Although He was higher than the highest; although he was King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He did not think it beneath His dignity to take the little children in His arms and put His blessing upon them. Humility was as great a

Men everywhere set be better than their

necessity for Sunday school teachers as for ministers of religion, for it should be remembered that children would copy the defects sooner than the excellencies of their elders.

Mr. E. F. LAW said he supposed his name had been associated with the proposition so ably moved by the Rev. Mr. Jones, because he was the oldest Church Sunday school teacher in the town, having been engaged regularly and constantly in that work for twenty-seven years past, and for seventeen years he had had the honour of being superintendent of All Saints, and therefore he thought he might say that he was the oldest superintendent.

After referring to the influence of "the Essays and Reviews," and giving detailed statistics from the Education Report, Mr. Law concluded, by observing, that each of them could use an influence for good or evil, and although they might not possess the same degree of influence, and, therefore, not the same degree of responsibility, yet all of them, by their example, could do good, and none of them could do so without receiving an immediate internal reward.

The CHAIRMAN then called upon a young friend to move a vote of thanks to the choir for their services during the day, and on an old friend to respond to the same.

The Rev. T. BEASLEY (curate of Wellingborough) said he was proud of having been styled by the rev. chairman as his young friend. Although he was young, that was a fault, as they knew, of which we grow better every day. He would give them some excuses for his venturing to address them, and the first was that he had been entrusted with a vote of thanks to Mr. E. Barry and the choir. A hint had been dropped that every speech ought to have a back bone, and he hoped his would be found to have a

back-bone, and it was this-the importance of regular attendance at school of Sunday school teachers. There were two ways in which this was important. It was important to ourselves, and it was important also to those whom we taught. If a Sunday school teacher stayed away from his class because it was wet, they would find that the children would stay away because it was fine, and they wanted to go for a walk. From his short experience, too, he be lieved that if a Sunday school teacher was worthy of his name, his class would always prefer him to any one else, and if a child knew that its own teacher was not going to school, it would most likely stay away itself. If it did go, the probability was that it would not listen with the same attention as if it had its own teacher. And how did it affect themselves? Constant attendance was the best way to keep up their interest in the work. If they were in the habit of staying away, their interest in the school would decline. Constant attendance was the best way also to obtain that influence over the children which was so desirable. It was a well known law that if two bodies were brought near to each other, one possessing heat, it would give off its heat to the other body, and the closer contact those bodies were brought into, the more rapidly would the heat be given off from the one to the other, until they became of equal temperature. Well, so it was with the teachers and the children. Mr. Beasley concluded by moving the vote of thanks to Mr. Barry and the choir, which was acknowledged by that gentleman.

Mr. WM. MOBBS, deputy superintendent of St. Giles's schools next addressed a few words to the meeting, after which the chairman brought the proceedings to a conclusion.

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THE ANNUAL MEETING of the PARENTS of the children who attend these schools was held on Tuesday evening, April 9th, at the National School Room, Cloudesley Street. bountiful tea was provided, to which full justice was done by those presentupwards of 300 in number. During tea, a few of the children sang some pretty glees and songs. After they left,

The Incumbent, the Rev. WILLIAM VINCENT, took the Chair, and addressed the parents. He was glad to meet them on that occasion, and especially glad to see so large a gathering. There were more than 320 present, being an increase of about sixty on last year's attendance, which he attributed prinpally to the fact of the school having considerably increased since that time. He urged them to make a point of curbing the self-will of their children. If they did so, they would thank them for it afterwards, and it would be a preparation for the great lesson of sub. mission to the will of God.

He recommended them to rule their children

by love. Children looked for their parents' love; and if they did not meet with it, they were dissatisfied with home. They should not let them have their own way, it was the worst thing that parents could do, as it set them against the discipline of school. Then, they should never deceive their children, never threaten them with punishment and not carry it out. The great reason why many mothers had so little influence over their children, was their not carrying out the punishment they threatened. Whatever they wished their children to be, they should see that they were themselves first. The Sunday school was of great importance to their children, they should, therefore, send them regularly and punctually. As the future of their

children was, under God, very much in their hands, he urged them to think of their great responsibilities. To bring up their children aright should be one of the great objects of their existence.

The Rev. ARTHUR SWEATMAN, Curate of Trinity Church, then spoke of the importance of " Home Lessons,” of which the moral lessons were of greater moment than the mental. The parents were the real educators of their children, who received their training from their home lessons. What a power they had, which the teachers did not possess! They might shirk their duty, but they could not shirk their responsibility.

However much their children were taught at school, if they had a counter influence at home, the latter would prevail. Children must notice things, and must draw conclusions. The school was opened and closed by prayer. They should ask themselves whether the example at home was rebuked by that at school? They were the real educators and trainers of their children; and what they were, their children would be.

Mr. W. T. PATON, the Superintendent, after expressing the happiness with which he met them, said that some persons had asked, what was the use of Sunday schools? He an swered, they taught the children the highest kind of knowledge that was possible religious knowledge. Secular education brought them to an eminence, whence, if they fell, they would be crushed to atoms; and religious education taught them to look up to God. The object of Sunday school teaching was to bring their children to Christ. Was that their object? Were they taking care that their children were safe for eternity? Their co-operation was needed; they should give encouragement to the

teachers in their work, and keep their children from the paths of temptation, by making home pleasing to them.

Mr. E. J. STEVENS, the Master of the National Schools, having addressed the meeting, giving the parents some

very practical advice in regard to their children,

The INCUMBENT, after a few words. read a portion of Scripture. A hymn was then sung, and the Benediction pronounced, and the interesting meeting was brought to a close.

THE SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING of the Institute was held on Thursday evening, April 25th, in the Large Room Exeter Hall, and was well attended, nearly every seat being occupied.

Before the proceedings commenced, F. NORTON, Esq., Honorary Secretary, read a letter from the Right Hon. LORD CALTHORPE, who had been announced to take the Chair, stating that, from severe indisposition, he regretted at the last moment being obliged to absent himself from the Meeting.

In his Lordship's absence, the Chair was taken by the Hon. GEORGE DEN. MAN, M.P., who was supported on the platform by the Bishop of St. Asaph, the Rev. C. R. Alford, the Rev. J. H. Titcomb, the Rev. J. Bardsley, the Revs. C. Marshall, R. M. Martin, A. Sweatman, A. B. Suter, T. P. Holdich, S. B. Sealy, L. B. White, and other gentlemen.

The proceedings commenced with the singing of Jackson's Te Deum, after which the Rev. C. R. ALFORD, Principal of the Metropolitan Training College, Highbury, read a few verses of the 21st chapter of St. John's Gospel, and then offered prayer.

The CHAIRMAN, after some prefatory remarks, in which he expressed his deep regret at the absence of Lord Calthorpe, and his sense of his own in

adequacy to take the noble Lord's place, said :-It now devolves upon me to say something in explanation of the object of this Meeting. In proceeding to discharge this duty, I shall com. mence by remarking that it is my firm opinion-an opinion founded on my own experience--that of all the movements which are being carried on for the benefit of our fellow-countrymen, the Sunday school movement is that which is doing most to improve, to humanize, and to Christianize the population. If that be the case, we ought, of course, to regard with the greatest favour any society or institution which is earnestly, honestly, and judiciously endeavouring to render the Sunday school system as efficient as it can, under the blessing of God's Divine Providence, be rendered by human means. No one will deny that God has given us certain powers, that we may exercise them according to the best of our judgment and our discretion. Now, the object, as I understand it, of this Society is to organize, to methodize, and to put under a better system and better rules those voluntary efforts which otherwise might lose some of their greatest advantages; and I believe that I myself, small as my experience has been, am able to give personal confirmation of the fact that,

in that respect, it does a great work, and renders great assistance to Sunday school efforts throughout the kingdom. I had, for several years, the privilege of being myself a Sunday school teacher. I regard that period as one of the happiest periods of my life. I trust that the weight of other duties, and the calls of other pursuits, will not for many years longer prevent me from being a Sunday school teacher; and I trust, that whenever the time shall come when I can conscientiously, with reference to private and public duties, devote a portion of my Sabbaths to Sunday school teaching, I shall not be backward, but eager to do that which I did before, and with regard to which I now feel the deepest regret that it was done so inefficiently. My labours, such as they were, were labours of love; and such labours are hardly to be called labours at all. They were rendered much smoother and easier than they would otherwise have been by the circumstance that in the school in which I taught, the aids derivable from this Institution were fully and heartily adopted. I am not prepared this evening to enter into all the advantages which are derived from this Institution, but I came here prepared to speak, and I will speak, by God's blessing, of those advantages which I know, from experience, the Institution confers. Among the advantages which the Institute has conferred upon the school with which I was myself connected, there are three which I cannot refrain from mentioning, because it was upon them, I believe, in a great degree, that the efficient working of that school depended. Most persons present are probably acquainted with a small book published by the Society, entitled "The Lesson and Conduct Register." In that hook the teachers, or, at all events, the majority of the teachers, in my school constantly recorded the attendance of the children in their respective classes; and I believe the

mere circumstance of its being known that such a register was kept had the effect of causing the attendance to be, on the whole, early and regular. There is another publication of the Society which was regularly used in this school -I refer to the Society's Collection of Hymns. I would put it to any one who is accustomed to use that Collec tion, whether it does not evince excellent taste and judgment, and whether it be not characterised by all those qualities which are calculated to present the truths of God's Word to the minds of children in an attractive form?

There

I

was, also, another most useful publication of this Society in constant use in my school, consisting of such a distribution and arrangement of Scripture for reading purposes, that if the course were read regularly, the whole of the more important portions of Scripture would be gone through in the course of three years. Now, these instances of the Society's usefulness are entirely within my own knowledge and experience; it is for that reason that I mention them; and I can declare, with the utmost confidence, that the publications of the Society have been most beneficial. have frequently observed, even in schools where the teachers were very earnest and zealous, and where the work of the Sunday school was one of the main objects of the clergyman's life, that there was a great want of system and regularity. In such cases I have ventured to direct attention to the publications of the Institute. The result has sometimes been that they have been adopted, and have proved of the greatest advantage; and never, so far as I am aware, have they, after being adopted, been laid aside. Aids of this kind are not only advantageous to the teacher, by enabling him to teach himself (which, after all, every teacher must do before attempting to teach others), but they are also of the greatest benefit to pupils, by ensuring