member of those committees bore evi- character too, that is of immense imdence to the existence of the evil. The portance in the teacher of the young, only question was as to the means by namely, that he is a man of sanctified I need not which it could be remedied. Various gladsomeness of spirit. suggestions were made; in some cases remind you how this is shown, for there appeared to be school-rooms not perhaps there is no other feature of his fully occupied, and the most obvious character that is more manifest and thought was, that immediate measures striking than this. It was gladsomeshould be adopted to fill them; in the ness which came down from heaven, majority of instances, however, it ap- and returned to heaven again; it found peared that the school-rooms were filled its consummation there as well as its to overflowing, while large districts source; but in the meantime, while existed without either school or place of it was upon earth, it was not content to public worship. Here the remedy also be gladsome and joyous itself, but called seemed plain,-the opening of a school upon all within the sound of its voice to in the locality. But how could funds be be joyous and gladsome too. And this obtained, and where could teachers be is a characteristic eminently desirable procured? Both these must be sought in a teacher of the young, and a Christian from the nearest Christian church, and teacher above all. There may be piety, the co-operation of the minister and the where this is wanting in some measure, members of that church should be which in such a work is always to be secured. The committees of the regretted, because, while we may be auxiliaries have since had the subject thankful that the children will be sure under their consideration, and it will be to be pointed to heaven, yet we can only one of the most important duties of the fear that it will be a dark and cloudy Committee of the ensuing year, to see heaven, that the desires of the child will that these efforts are carried out to a not be drawn out after, while this gladpractical result." someness is like a living beam poured from the divine throne into the teacher's heart, and makes, as it were, a bright and blessed pathway, up which the children's thoughts may travel to the glory that is beyond. Dr. Watts felt this, and hence, when he would give utterance to the thought of worship, he sang :

The report was adopted and ordered to be printed, and the officers and Committee appointed.

THE ANNUAL SERMON

'Lord, how delightful 'tis to see
A whole assembly worship Thee!
At once they sing, at once they pray;

They hear of heaven, and learn the way."

Was preached on Tuesday, May 5th, at the Poultry Chapel, by the Rev. J. P. Chown, of Bradford. The attendance of the members of the Union was large. And this is a matter of far more imporThe preacher selected Psalm xxxiv. 11 tance than we are sometimes apt to for his text, and spoke of the teacher- think; for while I have known old and the taught, and the lesson. On the first eminent Christians turn back to the division of his sermon, he noticed that associations linked with these first imthe teacher was a man-a man of God-pressions made upon their minds, whose a king-an eminently gifted man-a man joyousness had never passed away, and of sanctified gladsomeness of spirit. We in which they found delight that no cannot forbear quoting at length, the description of this last feature in the character.

"There is one other feature of David's

subsequent experiences could be compared with; how many have been repelled in early life from the ways of piety, in which they might have walked,

but the most blissful and rapturous scene
of that kind I have ever witnessed, was
that of a scholar whose only religious
instruction had been found in the Sun-
day school. When you entered the
dwelling where he lay, it was actually
and literally, as I never saw and felt it
before or since, as though the atmos-
phere were influenced by the brightness
of his countenance; and if an angel
from heaven had been there, it could
scarcely have been more so.
I re-
member standing dumb and spellbound,
in a measure, before that dying child,
as he poured out the rapture of his soul
in the midst of the most intense suffer-
ing that he never seemed to feel, with
the soberness of age giving weight to
the ecstasies of youth, and furnishing an
instance of what, under God's blessing,
may be done by the religious instruction
of the young, such as will never be
forgotten, I know, by those who looked
upon it, and can never be fully de-
scribed."

because they have contracted the idea that they were ways of moroseness and melancholy, such as youth could not endure, instead of being shown that they were ways of pleasantness and peace, in which youth should find its noblest satisfaction and purest delight. Not, of course, that there should be anything like levity, any more than moroseness, -the one is the bubble on the surface of the stream, the other the dark sediment at the bottom; what we want is the pure crystal stream itself, pouring joy and gladsomeness wherever it goes, and making all that is bright and pleasant spring up around. And there may be all this, entirely independent of any ordinary distinctions, for a sunny soul will ever make a sunny face, and that will ever pour its blessing upon all within the reach of its power; and there stands the teacher before us, then, —a man, a man of God, a man of God in exalted station, a man of God in exalted station eminently gifted in many ways, and a man of God with all this crowned On the lesson taught, "the fear of with a sanctified gladsomeness of spirit the Lord," it was observed that this that enriches all besides, and makes lesson shewed that our instruction must him a blessing to all he comes near. be spiritual-must be experimental-it Let us have, as far as practicable, such must be purely and simply what perteachers, and the results of Sunday tains to man's salvation-"the fear school instruction, beyond anything we of the Lord." The sermon thus conhave known, shall be such as thought cluded:can scarcely conceive, as tongue can never tell, as eternity itself can never fully make manifest."

Under the second division of the sermon, the preacher shewed that the taught were children - whom the teacher had invited-for whom he had prepared-whom he deemed capable of learning divine things-and whom he addressed specifically and personally. In referring to the taught as children, the preacher said

"It has been my privilege to stand by many death-beds, and look upon the departing spirit, just entering the valley of the shadow of death, but fearing no evil, with

'A mortal paleness in the cheek,
But glory in the eye;'

1

"Let the teacher be one whose spirit and character shall answer to what has been mentioned, and who shall thus look upon his precious charge, and seek to lead them thus to the things pertaining to their salvation, and then the little one should indeed become a thousand, and the small one a great nation. The generation rising up to fill our places should be such a royal priesthood, and chosen generation, and peculiar people to show forth the Redeemer's praise as, as yet, this world has never been blessed with. Our Sabbath school classes should become little congregations, and then churches, that, as they should all become united and poured into the world, they would be such a power, be

matic plan, for the children of the members of our congregations. He would suggest the erection, in an appropriate locality, of a large children's chapel, and in the conducting the service in it, he would have 150 children trained to sing well. He had no hesitation in saying, that they could fill such a chapel in Manchester, two or three times a day, with a congregation of 2,000 children, of ages from eight to fourteen. Mr. Armitage, the son of Sir Elkanah Armitage, had built an institution and opened it for separate services in that city, and the place was filled every Sunday night with children. One of the results was, that the neighbourhood, which formerly was a very noisy one, was now quiet; and so great was the interest taken by the children in the service, that some of them were there an hour beforehand, so as to get their places. This was an indication of the want which existed, and he had no doubt that success would generally attend such an effort. His own children had begged to be allowed to attend this service, because they could understand the address given. Mr. Armitage's children, and others in the same station of life, were taken there, and, judging from their countenances, they were quite delighted with the proceedings.

taken, and soon filled to overflowing, and a few young people were sent from the congregation to teach. A joiner's shop in the locality, which would hold three or four times as many, was next obtained, and being fitted with proper appliances, that also was filled. The result of the whole was, that a schoolhouse had been erected by the congregation of which he was minister, at an expense of £700.; that there was a school at the present time of between 400 and 500 children, besides an infant class of 120 meeting in a separate room, and a select class meeting in their own room, which had been carpeted and papered like a drawing-room, by themselves. Out of that school it had been his pleasure to receive several into the church of Christ; and he believed the school would become the nucleus of a church itself.

The Rev. J. P. Cook, of Paris, said, he had known some of the most active teachers and superintendents, whose own children did not go to the Sunday school. And why? Because they had formed the idea that the school was only for the instruction of the children of the poor. For his own part, while doing all he could at home for the instruction of his little boy, he had made it a rule that, to whatever Sunday school he belonged, that boy should be his first scholar, and he was himself trained to this by his own father. He had been accosted sometimes, in going to the Sunday school, with the remark, "You are going to teach your poor children;" to which he replied, "No, I am not; I am going as a minister to take part of my pastoral charge. I shall teach you at half-past eleven in the chapel, and I am now going to teach the young of my charge the same truths." It was only by cherishing this view of the case that the prejudices referred to would be removed. He was afraid that the organization of the school was frequently too

The Rev. J. P. CHOWN, of Bradford, mentioned one case as an illustration of what might be done to gather the poorer classes into the Sunday school. He knew a poor woman, a member of a church, whose family detaining her from the means of grace, she took the opportunity of telling them of divine things on the Sabbath day. There were other families living around her, the children of which were not brought under religious instruction; so she gathered them together to teach them with her This went on for some time, and she then invited the parents to attend, and asked her minister to come and say a kind word to them. Afterwards a cellar kitchen in the same street was complex. If teachers felt more solemnly

own.

admitted, there being hundreds outside seeking an entrance.

that their work was to instruct the children in order to save them, they would not begin by saying, "We must The meeting was commenced by the have so many classes," but "How singing the following hymn, composed many good teachers can we get? If for the occasion by the Rev. Robert we can only get five, we will have Robinson, and appropriately entitledfive classes; if twenty, we will have twenty." The consequence of the present plan of having so much organization was, that for the sake of preserving so many classes, bad teachers had sometimes to be employed, and the great object of the Sunday school was missed.

Mr. GOVER remarked, that, when in Belfast, he witnessed the nearest approach to a solution of the problem he had anywhere met with. There the Presbyterian congregations had two descriptions of schools-a congregational school, and a mission school-the former for the young of the church, and the latter for the poor in the surrounding neighbourhood. To a large extent these schools had answered their design, and he thought some such plan was necessary in London and other places, where, apart from any question of prejudice, parents in the more respectable positions of life naturally feared that the effect of all classes being brought together would not be beneficial to their children. In reference to the great complaint of want of teachers, he observed that, if the practice which prevailed in the Wesleyan body, of requiring all who became members of society to engage in some portion of the work of the church, were more generally followed, this difficulty would be speedily got over. He believed that, if the pastors of our churches could be induced to take this matter up, there was a large amount of agency which might be brought into operation.

THE GATHERED WORKERS.
Once more with joyous greeting
We crown another year,
And at this gladsome meeting,
Each worker bid good cheer.
With anthems of devotion,

We join the choir above,
And say with sweet emotion

Our Master's name is Love.

For blessed work and wages,
With pleasures yet untold,
For children of all ages,

Allured within the fold,
We lift to Heaven our voices,
And gratefully would own,
While every heart rejoices,

The praise is God's alone.

With strong divine assurance,

Our vows we now renew;
With Christ-like meek endurance,
Our souls, O Lord, imbue;
And soon, amid our yearning,
Permit us all to see

The young around us turning

With loving hearts to Thee.
Mr. KINNAIRD, the President of the
Union, being engaged in the House of
Commons, in consequence of the Bill
authorising the appointment of Roman
Catholic chaplains to prisons being fixed
for discussion, the chair was taken by
HENRY LEE, Esq., of Salford.

After the Report had been read, Mr. E. S. ROGERS, of Manchester, made a statement relative to the effort made by the Union on behalf of the unemployed teachers and scholars in the cotton dis tricts. He said, "little did we think that the sympathy would extend so far, and that the assistance would be so bountiful as it has proved to be. The report which has been read tells This was held as usual in Exeter Hall, you that £3,500. has been raised for at six o'clock, and was as numerously this purpose. Besides that, there have attended as ever. The large assembly been other sums received, making was appealed to, to endeavour to sit the amount up to nearly £4,600., closer, so as to allow some more to be when we take into consideration the

PUBLIC MEETING.

and