for them systematic, instead of desultory instruction. We all know that secular work done systematically is far superior to similar work done without any plan; and this is equally true of instruction in Sunday schools. There is no reason why the study of the Bible should be conducted on different principles, except, indeed, so far as prayer for divine assistance is concerned, from those which apply to the study of any other book; and I maintain that, both to the teacher and to the taught, it is a great benefit for the work to be done systematically, and in the way that this Society enables it to be done. I have already said enough, I think, with regard to the specific objects of the Society; let me, before concluding, say a word about Sunday school teaching itself. I commenced by expressing my conviction that Sunday school teaching is one of the great humanizers and Christianizers of the community. If this be the case, how marvellous it is that the labourers should be so few, not only as compared with the work itself, but as compared with the transcendent privilege and happiness of being allowed to take part in such a work. 1 do believe that every one of us might do a great deal by endeavouring to urge many of our fellow-Christians, who have leisure and ability for the work, and yet take no part in it, to become Sunday school teachers. But do I say, that every man who is persuaded that Sunday school instruction is very beneficial to society, ought at once to plunge into the work of a Sunday school teacher? I say nothing of the kind; I believe that the rash undertaking of that duty leads to very great mischief, and that there have been very many cases in which young, sanguine, generous. hearted persons, having accepted the office of a Sunday school teacher, have soon found it not only a humiliating thing, were that all, it would be of little consequence,-but a mischievous

thing for them to teach in a Sunday school. With all their knowledge, and with all their desire to do good, they have been reminded by the very children whom they wished to teach that they wanted that humility, and that working not for the sake of their own pleasure, nor for the sake of merely doing their duty, but for Christ's sake, upon which alone the success of such efforts must depend. I would warn any one who feels stirred by anything that I may have said to undertake the duty of Sunday school teaching, not to undertake it because he thinks it is a duty, not to undertake it because he is told it is a happiness, but to wait and watch, to read and pray, and when he has done all this, and feels that he can enter upon it in that spirit with which alone he can hope to obtain a blessing, then to engage in the work of Sunday school teaching. This view is strictly in accordance with that of the Society in reference to this matter; and in that work, entitled "The Lesson and Conduct Register," to which I have alluded, there is a preface which I would recommend every Sunday school teacher to read, in order that he may be warned not to undertake this duty rashly, or in a presumptuous and selfish spirit. Do not suppose, my friends, that I am setting myself up as one who has a right to dictate to Sunday school teachers. If there be any feeling,-I say this conscientiously and honestly, if there be any feeling which dwells in my mind beyond that of the privilege and happiness of having been allowed, under God's blessing, to do some little good, it is a feeling of deep, heartfelt regret at the very little good that I was able to do, owing to the selfishness and narrowness of my own heart. In conclusion, let me tell you that I hold in my hand a letter from the Bishop of London, in which he regrets that, owing to the incessant engagements and business of this day, he is quite unable to appear

in Exeter Hall this evening, and his Lordship trusts that the Chairman will express to the meeting his deep interest in the Institution. I will add that there is another Right Reverend Prelate who is present, and who will kindly undertake the duty which was to have been performed by the Bishop of this diocese-I mean the Bishop of St. Asaph.

Mr. NORTON, the Honorary Finance Secretary, then read the Report of the Committee for the past year, in which, after showing the continued importance of the Sunday school system, notwithstanding the increase of other agencies for popular education, an account was given of the operations of the Society during the past year,—its deputations to the provinces and the suburbs-its Lectures, Conversational and Devotional Meetings, and Training Classes -and the labours of its Auxiliaries, at home and in the Colonies. The financial Statement of the past year showed that £1,206 10s. 5d. had been received in subscriptions, donations, and collections, and £2,270 18. by sales of publications; on the other hand, £3,869 11s. 5d. had been expended in publishing the works issued by the Society, and in carrying on its other operations, leaving a deficiency of £393. The Committee expressed their continued anxiety as to the financial position of the Institute, and appealed to the bishops, clergy, and laity of the Church of England to help them in obtaining a Capital Fund,to enable them to carry on efficiently, and without forestalling future income, the trading part of the work of the Society, the usefulness of which was so generally acknowledged.

The BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH moved the adoption of the Report, and the appointment of the Committee for the ensuing year. He said he was delighted to see before him some 2,000 Sunday school teachers. He had himself been one for nearly sixty years, and he was

glad to find a work in which he felt so deep an interest aided by so excellent an institution as that which they were met to support. But the real work must, after all, be carried on by Sunday school teachers, and not merely by any organisation. Organisation might make the work more effectual, but organisation alone would not carry it out. The great blessing of a Sunday school was this, that if a few pious and intelligent Christians collected around them a few children, and taught them Scripturally and spiritually, they would be doing very great good to those children, supposing there were no other Sunday school teachers in the world. Allusion had been made to what the bishops could do. The bishops would do all in their power; but as well might you call upon the Queen to defend England without riflemen, as call upon the bishops to superintend the spiritual education of the lower orders without Sunday school teachers. Now, if persons wished to be good Sunday school teachers, they must work hard; and they would not do much good-he did not say they would not do any unless they sys tematised themselves, and, in so doing, systematised the work which they had to carry on. It might appear, at first, a very odd thing to mention, but, soon after the Battle of Waterloo, he (the Bishop of St. Asaph) saw a copy of a plan, on the back of a letter, by which it was said the first Napoleon fought that great battle. The plan was sketched with a pen on the back of a letter. It might be asked, what that had to do with Sunday schools? Why, it illustrated the necessity of carrying on all Sunday school work on a plan previously sketched out. He was a Sunday school teacher now, and he hardly ever began to teach his class without having first drawn out a little plan of what he meant to teach them. It was not that he did not know what he had to teach, but he was quite sure

them were

consider the points which most difficult, with the aid, if possible, of a commentary, in order that they might be enabled to explain them to the children. Let them get these points distinctly marked out in their own minds. Let them do as Buonaparte did, draw out a scheme, that they might know where the attacks were to be made, and how they were to be made. There was another point on which Sunday school teachers frequently failed; he referred to the discipline of the class. He believed that Sunday school teachers, failed as frequently for want of being able to keep up proper discipline in their class as from any other cause, or for want of intellectual advantages. It was said, he thought, of Lord Falkland, who lived in the reign of Charles the 1st, that he had a great command over others because he could always command himself. Let them keep that principle fixed in their minds. If they meant to keep the children in their schools in order, they must keep themselves in order. Let not a pettish observation, or anything of that kind, excite wrong feelings among the children. Let them, he repeated, keep themselves in order, and in a Christian assembly like that, he need not say that the only way in which a man could keep himself in order, was by seeking aid from above. The grand object of all teaching should be to teach great positive truths. Let them, above all things, teach children the doctrine of Christ crucified,

as our Redeemer, and the doctrine of Sanctification by the Spirit of God. Children could understand those doctrines as well as adults. Let all their work be done simply and quietly, in humble dependence on God's help. Let it also be done systematically: the more system there was the better; but let them not trust to system. Let them strive to prepare themselves for their work, and then rely simply on God's blessing. Such was his advice to the 2,000 Sunday school teachers there assembled.

The Rev. C. R. ALFORD in seconding the resolution, said the meeting must have heard with deep regret, that the financial position of the Institute, was such as to cause great anxiety to the Committee. He would put it to all assembled, whether it were a fair or just thing, that those who laboured so zealously in the cause of Sunday school improvement, should be called upon at the commencement of the year to advance £392 to meet over due accounts. He considered the financial aspect of the Institute most serious; and he trusted that the result of the appeal now made, would be that the £1,000 asked for last year, for a capital fund would be speedily raised; otherwise, the very existence of this excellent Church of England Society, would be jeopardized. He could not believe that the bishops and clergy of that church, would allow the Institute to languish, and even to be in danger, for want of the requisite funds to carry on

the work.

The motion was then put and carried.

The Rev. J. H. TITCOMв, Incumbent of St. Stephen's, Stockwell, delivered an address on "The Bible, a Witness to its own Divinity."

The Rev. Gentleman said,-We have heard from the Report, that the Bible must be the foundation of all Sunday school teaching. I presume that the basis of that sentiment is, that the

Bible is the Word of God. But we have been lately informed by those who are, or at least ought to be, "masters in Israel," that we should not say that the Bible is the Word of God, but rather that the Word of God is contained in the Bible. Sir, the Word of God is contained in the Bible exactly as life is contained in the human body, co-extensively with its surface, and inseparably from its substance. If, for instance, I touch any part of my body, even the extremest part,-beneath my feet,-my hand comes in contact with that, and I know it to be a material substance; but at the same time, I am aware that my body is from end to end filled with the life of God my Maker. Now it seems to me, that the case is exactly similar, when I take up the Bible and read its hallowed pages; my mind then comes in contact with that which I know full well, contains within itself of necessity, from the nature of the case, human elements both of thought and of language, but which I am no less aware, is from end to end filled by the Holy Spirit of God; the fact being, that the framework of the Bible is truly earthly, while the substance of it is infallibly heavenly-that the writers of those books, which we call the Word of the living God, were perfectly human, while the composition which they wrote, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was no less perfectly divine. This is a statement of the truth, that the Bible is the Word of God, and contains within itself evi dence of its own divinity. But, then, what is that evidence? How am I to be really assured in my own mind, or to convince others, that it is on its surface and in its very depths, the Word of God? How shall that assurance stamp itself as divine? What evidence shall I bring to bear upon those who tell me that the Koran and the Shaster, and other sacred books scattered through the world, all claim divine authority in their respective spheres

that they all claim to be revelations from heaven, and that the Shaster and the Koran, are not one whit less divine, in the estimation of the Hindoos and the Mussulmen, than the Bible is in the estimation of those who are assembled in this Hall? Therefore, my friends, we have before us a most important question. When it is asked, "How is the Bible to prove to a man its own divinity ?" a question is put to which every Sunday school teacher, not to say every human being, within these walls, should be enabled to give a most clear, precise, and satisfactory answer.

Now, what are the evidences of the divinity of the Bible? They are, my friends, two-fold. Sometimes we speak of them as external, at other times we speak of them as internal evidences. The external evidences of the Word of God, relate to the genuineness and authenticity of the various books of which the Bible is composed, and they include & large amount of necessary historical criticism, so called, by which the veracity of the holy books, and of the narra. tives contained in those books, is clearly demonstrated. Such is external evidence-a kind of evidence which is altogether external to the human conscience. But then, in addition to that, there is the internal evidence, which takes up the moral precepts of the Bible, and brings them to bear morally and spiritually upon the heart and conscience; the adaptation of its truths, the tendency of its morals, and the whole bearing of its teaching, as it is destined to exercise an influence for good or for evil in this world, and in the world to come; as it affects the happiness, temporal and spiritual, of the countless myriads that throng the world around. Now the subject assigned to me for this evening, leads me of necessity to speak more of the internal than of the exter nal evidences of the Bible. Nor can I say that I regret this. Addressing as I do, on this occasion, those who know and love the Bible; speaking to simple

minded Christians, numbers of whom have neither time, nor talent, nor inclination to investigate with anything like fulness, the historical and verbal learning and criticism involved in the external evidences, to such persons I am clearly right in saying that they will find the internal evidences of the truth of Scripture, the most satisfactory, the most sweet, and the most consolatory in every point of view. Now, my friends, how shall I illustrate the importance of this subject? How shall I deal with the internal evidences at the outset, as tending to throw light on the Bible? Let me commence with an illustration. Yonder is a gas-light; if I wished to prove to you that the branches contained gas, I might refer either to external or to internal evidence. Thus, speaking first of external evidence, I might prove to you that one of those branches contained within itself a light. I might shew you first scientifically, the process of gas manufacture; I might shew you the means by which the various gas-makers in London lay down pipes under the streets, and the means by which gas is conveyed through the pipes to yonder branch; I might introduce to you the agents who are employed to light the gas-lamps, though we do not see them; and thus, personal testimony, added to scientific explanations, would prove to you first, that the gas was made; secondly, that it was conveyed to this room; thirdly, that ignition took place; and fourthly, that by means of ignition, a flame was produced. But surely there is a far better and shorter proof, if we look at the matter from another point of view. There the lights are! we see them. We do not want any man to come in and say, "I lit those lamps, and therefore I prove to you that they are lit;" we see them, and know them to be lit, and it does not require any external testimony, save that which we receive through our eyes, and which gives a kind of conviction to our senses to

prove to us that they are lit. Let any man in his senses, or out of his senses, deny that if he can. Now this seems to me very much the way in which the Bible addresses itself to the heart of the man whom the Spirit of God has prepared to receive it. The Bible comes to his soul as a message from the living God, as a message from that Father of lights, in whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning-a message which, no historical criticism being needed, is at once received into the heart, and which really and truly proves that it is divine, because it shines by its own light. I am bold to maintain, that the Bible does shine by its own light. This is extremely important to notice, because the neologian critics are very apt to underrate this species of evidence, and to turn the assertion originally made by John Calvin, into ridicule. For example, one of the Oxford essayists says, "Calvin did not shrink from saying, that Scripture shone sufficiently by its own light. As long as this could be kept to, the Protestant theory of belief was whole and sound; at least it was sound as the Catholic truth: however, learned controversy and abatement of zeal, drove Protestants generally from this hardy but irrational assertion of Calvin." So that you see, the very theme which is assigned to me to night, "The Bible a witness to its own divinity," is in the judgment of the writer of that essay, whose name I need not mention, a thing utterly irrational. That is the very reason why I rejoice to take it up. I am sure I shall carry this meeting with me, in stating, not only that this assertion is not irrational, but on the very first surface of things, on the first blush of the matter, it is in the highest degree rational and probable. Just let us think a little of this matter. Is it not altogether most rational to suppose, that there should be an impress of God upon a book which comes from God? Taking for granted for a mo.