the Lutheran and Calvinistic Churches, and to propose measures for reconciliation and agreement. We trust it may be successful; but the parties are so dissimilar that we have little hope of a reunion.

Two of the heads of the revolutionary party in France, have lately escaped to England, and found a refuge there, viz., Blanc and Caussidiere. It is a remarkable fact, and speaks well for the liberty enjoyed here, that the ex-king and the Constitutional party who were expelled by the revolutionists, and the revolutionists themselves, when expelled in their turn, should both seek for, and find an asylum in the same country.

We have more than once adverted to the number of infidel and irreligious publications which are constantly issued from the press for Sunday reading. Mr. Poynder gives the following facts :-" In 1843 The Weekly Despatch' printed 3,720,000 impressions an'Bell's Life in London,' nually. 'Sunday Times,' 1,030,000.

1,014,000; and three others of less note, 1,130,000. All of them being published on the Sabbath. But since 1843, four new Sunday papers have arisen, and reached a circulation of 5,720,000 annually, so that the four last have almost doubled the amount of Sabbathbreaking literature since 1843. The issue of the unstamped periodicals is calculated at 10,400,000; but their opposition to truth is uniform." Surely, with such facts, we ought not to be "weary in well doing," by endeavouring to instil purer notions and a better creed into the minds of the people who are subjected to our discipline.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

In November and December, 1847, we inserted two excellent addresses on the subject of Confirmation, and we do not think it necessary, after so short an interval, to insert another series of addresses which we have received on the same subject. If, however, our kind correspondent will consent to allow the addresses to remain in our hands, we may make use of them at some future period.

Received: ""! perance."

The Year of Jubilee," and an "Address on Tem

J. FOSTER, PRINTER, KIRKBY LONSDALE.

EVERY one knows that to impart useful knowledge to our children, is a principal concern in the intellectual part of education; and no one who has been accustomed to the care of the young, can fail to be aware that their capacities for receiving it are exceedingly various. The supply of information provided by the tutor, ought certainly to be sufficient to meet that fair demand for intellectual light which arises from the general progress of knowledge in the world; nor ought it to fall very far short of the mental capacity of the pupil; yet it is surely a prevalent error in the present day, to grasp at a great variety of knowledge in the education of our childrento diffuse our school-room teaching over a very wide and diversified surface. Attempts of this description offend against the general principle, that education is in its nature prospective. Vain, for the most part, must be the Teacher's efforts to convert our children into men and women, and to impart to them that measure and scope of knowledge which belong to maturity; but when not vain, such an effort is far from being harmless. Just in proportion as we partially succeed in it, are we in danger of marring the mental constitution of the child, and of forcing a blossom which will soon prove itself barren. It is never to be forgotten, that our grand object in cultivating the intellects of children, is to fix in them those habits of investigation and study which lie at the root of learning-habits of which they may afterwards avail themselves in ranging through many a field of literature and science. It is essential that our children should be early instructed in the all-important

lesson of learning, what they do learn, well. If we sacrifice this object to a mere spread of information, we shall inflict an injury on their minds, which, in all probability, will be found incurable.

A child who from day to day is allowed to be inaccurate and superficial in construing his Latin lesson, will be prone to act in the same manner with respect to the other branches of his learning, and his carelessness will even extend to his play. But these are only the smaller parts of the mischief The bad habit of inaccuracy once formed, will infect his mode of conversing, undermine his attention to truth, and weaken him in his moral duties; nay, it will follow him to the place of public worship, and mar the early fruits of his religion and piety.

The efforts of the tutor will, however, be all in vain, unless he obtain attention on the part of the pupil; and this is a point which will generally be found to depend on his own method of teaching. A man may teach in such a manner as almost to compel the most orderly child to be inattentive to his teaching; and his failure will only be made worse and worse, by his perpetual complaints against a fault which he has himself produced. The precept, the exclamation, the groan of impatience, I will fall on the ear and on the mind of the child with less and less force, just in proportion as they are often repeated; and the result will be a total failure. But let the Teacher secure, as his allies, the curiosity, the taste, and the natural ardour of children-let him play upon their minds as a man plays on an instrument-let him make them feel the pleasure of conceiving a clear ideaand there will be few among them so dull and careless as to refuse him an open and intelligent ear.

Whatsoever method, however, we find it best to pursue for the purpose, it is absolutely essentail to our success in the education of children, that we should fix in their minds the habit of attention. The absent and wandering mind, the listening to what is read or spoken only in parts or patches, the indolent vacuity of thought when something is in hand to be learned, the division of the mind between two or more cotemporary objects of

pursuit-must all be carefully discouraged, and, if possible, put to flight.

In order to be a whole man to one thing at a time, we must learn to exercise another useful habit-that of breaking our trains of thought, and of turning with ease from one subject of pursuit or study to another. This is a faculty, for the use of which the rapid course of this busy world is apt to make a large demand upon us; and for the formation of which in the young mind, that little world, a school, or even a system of private tuition, affords abundant opportunities. The minds of children are naturally versatile, and may, with little difficulty, be directed to various objects in succession. A spirited Teacher, whose own mind is pliable enough for the purpose, may effect these transitions in the pursuits of his pupils with wonderful celerity-like the skilful mariner who shifts his sails, in tacking from point to point, with scarcely any impediment to the progress of the vessel. The variety of pursuit will, in fact, serve the purpose of recreation, especially if the harder and easier lessons are introduced alternately-"so much easier is it to do many things than to be long at work at one."

Those who know the pain of being haunted by thoughts which belong to some past unpleasantness, and have no connexion with present duty, will feel the importance of accustoming their pupils to an easy breaking of their trains. They will be the first to appreciate that mental discipline by which young persons may gain the happy art of turning their minds, without loss of time, from one object to another. One cannot but admire the prowess of a celebrated author, who, as it is said, wrote history one hour, belles-lettres a second, and poetry a third-played with his children a fourth, and then wrote history again—and, moreover, performed all these functions with vigour and success. Yet it must never be forgotten, that no men are so great in literature, in science, or in philanthropy, as those who, while they give a fair attention to that vast diversity of objects with which the world around them teems, have selected a leading one as peculiarly their own, and pursue it with undeviating determination, and ever-recurring care and

interest. A capacity for such selection and such resolution is indeed partly of a moral character; for it never fails to be connected with a disposition to decide and to persevere. But it is also partly intellectual-requiring, first, a clear sight of the point before us, and, secondly, that noble faculty of concentrating the mental powerswithout which no man has ever occupied a truly elevated place in the rational world. This faculty of the intellect, as well as the moral qualities just now alluded to, have been remarkably displayed in their several and distinct pursuits by a Galileo, a Newton, a Milton, a Porson, a Howard, and a Clarkson.

AFFECTIONATE SUGGESTIONS OF A PASTOR
FOR HIS SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHERS.

BY W. SCORESBY, D.D., LATE VICAR OF BRadford.
I. CONSIDERATIONS TO BE BORNE IN MIND.

1. CONSIDER the work in which you are engaged: the feeding of the Lambs of Christ's flock.

2. Remember, it is a great and honourable work: prepare your hearts for it by meditation and prayer.

3. Remember the noble destiny for which it is your privilege to endeavour to prepare these children.

4. Remember, that doing good is the way to get good. 5. Consider the children of your class as a trust from God; nurse them for God, and he will give you your wages.

6. Consider your fellow-teachers as brothers and sisters; and let your common work be a bond of Christian union.

7. Let there be no rivalry, in respect to places or classes, betwixt one another as teachers, remembering, that humility is real exaltation, and self-denial the way of blessing.

8. See to it, whilst aiming to shew your children the way to Zion, that you yourselves have your faces thitherward.

9. Be not satisfied with your work, till you find it acting profitably on your own souls' health and salvation.