cannot but deeply feel the importance of making even the very young understand that the sermon is a thing that has a meaning, and is worth attending to; and I see no likelier method of doing this than by occasionally (as at such a time as this,) bringing this part of the service down to their capacity. It would break the destructive habit children are so apt to acquire of considering the sermon nothing to them.

If you think these remarks worth insertion, you will give them a place in your useful periodical; if not, you will excuse my having troubled you with them. Rev. Sir, very respectfully yours,

A TEACHER.

I ought to have said, that in the school I allude to, the children are either noisy, sleeping, or going in and out of church almost the whole time the so-called address to them is being delivered: the necessary consequence of the length of the service, and its want of adaptation to their understanding.

THE LOVE OF NOVELTY AND EXCITEMENT. SIR,-Correspondents to your little work often congratulate you on the interest it affords them, and very properly so; but perhaps I may be allowed to bring forward the sentiments of a few around me who may possibly represent a class scattered up and down the country, which might not otherwise come to your notice. I am an old Teacher, of a quarter of a century's standing, and am, from this circumstance, looked up to by the young ones about me. It happened that I had an opportunity publicly of announcing the publication of your "Visitor" in an assembly of about 200 people, all interested in education, and 90 engaged in the work of Sundayschools. I wish to bring forward the sayings of many of my dear young friends, to whom I recommended the work, and whose welfare lies near my heart; such as "The Teacher's Visitor is tame;" the contents "very dry," "simple," "uninteresting;" "it was better when the controversy on corporal punishment was carried on," we want something fresh." Now all these sayings are indicative of a spirit very prevalent in the young, and more particularly so in these frightfully stirring times. Something fresh, Mr. Editor, I know, means something stimulating; and the fact of so many young men flocking to the standard which Robert Owen set up, was because his tenets, amongst other claims, had the novelty of being fresh-not contained in the old-fashioned system framed on the Bible. It is this love of something fresh that leads young men, brought up in our Sunday-schools, to fresh places of worship,

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fresh modes of worshipping God, and wishing for fresh preachers. The Prayer-Book is the same thing over and over again, is a common saying in the mouths of young Dissenters: the Bible itself ought, on the same principle, to be pronounced tame, it being the same now as it was at the first, when its glorious light first beamed on this dark world of sin and sorrow.

The answer I give to all my young friends I wish to record in your valuable pages, (and I would suggest that some of your able contributors should take the matter up,) viz., "In the 'Teacher's Visitor' you are sure to find something to do you good, if you are in earnest in your profession and the work in which you are engaged, and will peruse it in a teachable, humble spirit, with a real desire to be benefited; but as to any thing stimulating, exciting, or what may administer to your desire for something novel, you must not indulge in such a spirit, and then you will not be disappointed. As to controversy, that is an element you should not wish to breathe in." To all young Teachers, I would say, "Attend regularly to your classes; be diligent when there; be content with sound, wholesome, and old-fashioned truths; and meddle not with them who are given to change."

AN OLD-FASHIONED SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER. Darlington, 8th May, 1845.

ON THE SABBATH.

LETTER I.

DEAR SIR,-The great interest which I take in anything which has for its object the improvement of our Sunday-schools and Teachers, induces me to offer a few remarks upon the subject alluded to in the letter of "E. W," in the last number of the "Visitor."

The light in which the Sabbath is regarded by the Romanizing party in the church, although novel to me, is not surprising. I would, however, desire to leave these individuals to themselves, and so to address my observations on the Sabbath, that they may prove, by the blessing of God, edifying to the church of Christ. If I understand your correspondent, he desires a few arguments to prove the divine institution of the Lord's day, as a day of holy rest and sacred employment.

I am quite at a loss to know, on what grounds the appointment of the Sabbath as a divine institution is denied. The passage alluded to, (Col. ii. 16.) while it affords an argument for the change of the day of rest, viz, from the seventh to the first day of the week, cannot, when taken in connexion with other parts of Scripture, be urged as detracting from the honour due unto the Sabbath.

In whichever light we view the Sabbath, whether as instituted at the creation, or as given first to the Jews, its universal and permanent obligation is clearly established. If the former be the case, then the ordinance of the Sabbath was given to mankind generally, and, therefore, is binding upon all. If the latter supposition be the correct one, yet the fourth commandment is a part of that law, which our Lord and Master says, "He came not to destroy, but to fulfil," of that law, which, like its Author, is holy, just, and good; and, like Him, is eternal, unchanging truth. If, then, one of these moral commandments is obligatory upon mankind, surely all are.

Those who would depreciate the Sabbath, maintain that it was not appointed until the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. For the reason above given, even then, their argument falls to the ground. But I will now endeavour to shew your readers, that the appointment of the Sabbath is co-existent with the creation. We read that God rested on the seventh day. Why did he cease from labour? Surely not because he needed repose. It was that man made in the image of God should follow his Master's example; and although in the pure and blissful regions of the Paradise of God, and notwithstanding the innocence of man's estate at the time of the command, yet a day of holy dedication to the service of God would at once be delightful and refreshing to him. I think a common-sense view of the passage in Genesis would lead one to conclude, that the appointment of the Sabbath was made at once; and surely none, save those who have pre-judged the matter, would assert that the institution then made was not to be in force for two or three thousand years to

come.

We have, however, direct proof from Exodus xvi. 23, that the Sabbath was observed prior to the giving of the law. This passage, however, cannot with any rational, consistent, or natural interpretation of Scripture, be said to give us the first institution of the Sabbath. When, therefore, the commencement of the fourth commandment, (so different to that of the other precepts,) desired the Israelites to "remember," that is, not to forget the holy Sabbath; it not only must be understood as pointing out clearly the Sabbath as an institution given previous to the law, and one with which they were already acquainted; but also prior to the sending of the manna. And, indeed, the commandment itself is so plain, that wilful perversity or a prejudiced mind alone could misunderstand it. "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it." When, be it observed, the Lord is said to have blessed and hallowed, not, now and for the future

blesses, but has previously so done; and when? Why, surely, at the period when he rested from his labours of creation.

In the preceding observations, I have confined myself to what seems clear, and may easily be brought before the minds of our Teachers, and through them, to our Sunday-scholars. I have purposely omitted all indirect argument, such as is derivable from Gen. iv. 3, where the marginal reading seems clearly to allude to a regularly fixed periodical return of doing service to the Almighty; nor to Noah's dove, sent out at intervals of seven days each; nor to Job i. 6, which passage seems to express the particular day of appearance of the sons of God before him. These are, however, more more worthy of consideration when taken in connexion with other arguments.

Before I conclude this letter, I must advert to an objection sometimes urged, viz, that the Sabbath is not mentioned in Scriptures previously to the giving of the law.

But if we pursue the history of God's people after that event, we shall find no mention whatever of the observance of the Sabbath throughout the books of Joshua and Judges, and therefore the silence of the Scripture in one part is easily accounted for by its silence in another; and instead of being an argument against us, only shews that the observance of the Sabbath was so well known, that it needed not to be recorded by an historian who was compelled to be as brief as possible in his narrative.

And, indeed, the same may be urged of "Circumcision;" for, from the conquest of Canaan to the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, a period of fifteen or sixteen hundred years, there is no plain mention of the fact of its existence as a rite-yet we apprehend there are none who deny its existence on this account.

If you shall consider these remarks worthy of a place in your "Visitor," I will endeavour, in my next letter, to shew the permanent and universal obligation of keeping the seventh day as a holy consecrated day for the service and work of our heavenly Father. I am, Rev. Sir, yours faithfully, H. G. B.

Near Macclesfield, April 21, 1845.

DIFFICULTY IN THE CATECHISM.

REV. SIR,-Having received much useful and practical information from the "Teacher's Visitor," if it is within the province of that publication, it would oblige if some friend would assist me in explaining to my children this part of the admirable Catechism: "What meanest thou by the word sacrament?" "I mean an

outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace." "How many parts are there in a sacrament?" "Two; the outward visibe sign, AND the inward spiritual grace." Now, sir, the difficulty with me is, how the latter answer agrees with the definition given to the former question? A SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER.

York, May 5th, 1845.

SUNDAY-SCHOOL COURSE.

REV. SIR,-Acting on your suggestion in December last, I applied for a copy of Mr. Dalton's Course of Scripture Lessons for Sunday and Daily Schools.

I found the course to embrace three distinct heads, namely, a reading portion, a portion to be committed to memory, and a doctrinal subject.

The arrangement seemed excellent, with the advantage of being a sound Church system. Those whom it was my duty to consult were highly pleased with it, and have sanctioned its adoption.

I expected to have seen some notice of the work from your correspondents, and I hope I shall yet see some opinions as to the carrying out of the plan, from those who have tried it.

April 11th, 1845.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

SUMMARY OF PASSING EVENTS.

R. G.

"There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand."

THERE is something so ravishing to the spirit in the union of good men, that the conviction forces itself irresistibly on the mind that it is a heavenly quality. Amid the clash of differing minds, to hear nothing but the silver-toned trumpet of peace speaking-amid the many discordant notes of minor variances, to hearken to the breath of a purer and more heavenly spirit, wending its way through them all, and awakening the music of one harmony alone, the chord of union-is a contemplation which every sincere Christian must own to be most refreshing and consolatory. Such an union of good men, however defective for what of earth is not defective?—it may be in reality, the May Meetings in the metropolis prominently display. To extol them as faultless would be to claim for them a character which this world cannot present. To deny that they are liable to abuses, would be to raise them above the footing of every earthly institution; but admitting their blemishes, and not concealing their abuses, we are disposed to accede to these meetings the meed of