He

the accomplishment of great and important purposes. He was a man holding that situation in life, which enabled him to be useful in a private sphere, not expecting that any thing of large and extended utility could have proceeded from him as an individual. was one of those instruments whom God from time to time selects, for the purpose of accomplishing great and mighty works, that honour shall be given to Him, to whom alone it is due, and that man shall be saved from the danger of appropriating to himself that which alone belongs to God. Without much talent or power of mind, he possessed a benevolent heart, which would lead a man to do every thing in his power to promote the happiness of another, but was unfitted to excite any strong impression upon the mind of the public. This was the individual whom God, for his good purposes, selected as the instrument, in his hand, of a great and mighty work."

"Mr. Raikes, in his usual walk to Church, had been struck with the number of children playing in the streets, and it occurred to him-" Why not collect these poor creatures, who are growing up in ignorance, and are exposed to all the dangers and temptations inseparable from a life of ignorance? Why not collect them in a room where such instruction might be given to them as might prepare them for higher instruction under happier circumstances?" Doubtless hundreds had been just as wise, had seen the evil of children playing about the streets, and had thought it a pity that they should remain there; had thought of collecting them into a school, and trying what could be done for their religious instruction and improvement; but the singular circumstance in his case was, that what he saw ought to be done, he resolved should be done at once; instead of wishing that such might be done, he tried whether it could not be done. A room was taken; children were invited, and

forty or fifty children thus collected, formed the first Sunday school. He cheerfully gave to their instruction the leisure the Sabbath afforded; the result was, that other schools were esta blished; under God, the work was thus begun, the foundation of which was laid in love for souls, and the superstructure of which shall be found in the happiness of rejoicing millions, in the kingdom of heaven. The originator of Sunday schools was connected with the Established Church; others, having taken up the system, wish to include in their rank the humble individual who was the means of introducing the plan. If ever there was a simple, thoroughgoing old Churchman, it was he; a regular attendant at the daily prayers of the Cathedral, humbly and faithfully devoted to the Church in which he was born and bred, he had not a thought beyond the Church to which he belonged. The only cause of regret is this, the Church of England did not perceive an institution, which proceeded from one of her most faithful sons, to be so calculated to promote the good of souls."

This highly interesting sketch by Chancellor Raikes, of the founder of Sunday schools, is brought forward to prove that they were primarily intended for the working classes.

The originator hoped to gather the playful stragglers from the city streets, who were losing the precious benefits of God's Sabbath, as well as being an annoyance to the peaceful observers of the day, and doubtless sought to bring into the Sunday school the members of that grade of Society, to whom the Institution has been of such an immense value the children of the working classes.

It would not be difficult to shew how admirably the machinery of the Sunday school is in the present state of things, suited to the working classes.

Out of the twenty-eight millions of our population, nearly one half belong to the working classes. It is absolutely

necessary that the disinterested members of the community should make some provision, so that the children in this position of life be religiously educated as inhabitants of earth and expectants of heaven. Men have now too just an estimate of the value of secular knowledge to themselves, and the facilities for its attainment by their offspring, to rest satisfied that their children should remain in ignorance. These are times for universal instruction; many run to and fro, and knowledge is increased; now, unless this rests upon the basis of God's Word, education puts in motion a gigantic machine, the effects of which must be beyond calculation mischievous. It is absolutely necessary that the power be directed as well as created, and is not this most likely to be accomplished in the Sunday school; where the children of the working classes come into contact with those who have Christian principle enough to induce them, not only to lay aside what might be considered opportunities for taking reasonable recreation, but to persevere amid the difficulties of the work, which is eminently one of faith and love?

Other circumstances conspire to render this agency suitable to the the working classes.

Just look into the poor man's home; the father of the family rises early six days in the week, in order to obtain a livelihood for his little ones: late in the evening he returns, weary with the occupation of the day, his children were left in the morning sleeping and now they have again retired to rest.

Can a

man under these circumstances, if ever so well disposed, exercise much influence over his offspring, either of an educational, or moral, or religious character, except upon the Sabbath? It is very probable, that in addition to this absence of the father, the mother is so busied with household affairs, or her own occupation, that she could not give that attention to her children

which they require. There is only one day of the seven, when either parent, in many cases, could possibly devote a portion of time to the best welfare of their young ones. Then, when we take into consideration the indisposition of the parent, from a thousand varied causes, to undertake the spiritual training of his children on the only day available for the purpose; what resort is there but the Sunday school, where others shall piously perform that sacred obligation resting upon every parent, which some are unable to fulfil, and which others culpably neglect?

The fact that a very large proportion of children who receive Sunday school instruction, are altogether uneducated in the week-day, is sufficient of itself to prove the suitability of such an agency.

"There is one fact which, in treating of the secular advantages of the Sabbath school system, deserves a special allusion, namely, that a very large portion of the children receiving instruction through that channel, are destitute of any other means of education. In the village Sabbath school, in which the writer labours, out of 138 children, there are not less than fifty-three entirely dependent upon that school for the instruction they receive. And, as this village borders closely upon a large manufacturing city, the statement may be taken as a specimen of the position in which no small portion of the labouring classes are placed, in such localities. A friend of the writer, labouring in another school, situated in the city alluded to, assures him that out of two hundred children, not fifty attend a day school."

If further proof were required this sad truth is highly confirmatory of the usefulness of such machinery, Dr. Browning asserts, in his "Convict Ship," that of 1065 prisoners, who had in five different voyages been conveyed under his superintendence to the penal Colonies of Australia, fourteen only had been educated at a Sabbath school."

These introductory remaks bring us to the peculiar subject of the Lecture. The Sunday school appreciated by the working classes.

"These delightful institutions," says

one of their number, "are mainly supplied with scholars from the families of the lower ranks of society." There are at the present time, according to a recent calculation, not fewer than two millions of such children gathered every Sabbath day into these Christian nurseries, a large proportion of whom are employed through the entire week, and who, but for this expedient of Christian benevolence and zeal, would grow up in a state of barren ignorance. Not less than 250,000 Sabbath School Teachers are seeking to disinfect the minds and to mould and sanctify the characters of two millions of the rising generation that are soon to supplant their fathers. That two millions of children, principally from the working classes, should be found Sabbath by Sabbath learners in the Sunday school, that 250,000 Teachers should be assiduously engaged in imparting instruction, (and of these, a vast number from the same position in life) are facts of themselves potent enough, to prove that the Institution is valued by the classes for whom it was intended.

Out of the thousands of individual instances which have occurred as illustrations of the value set upon Sabbath schools, one is selected for the touching simplicity of its character. A few weeks since, a Clergyman, on visiting one of his schools, had his attention arrested by a decent looking man, who had suddenly came into the room, and began at once to demand with no little warmth of manner, the name of the teacher who had forbidden his little son to come to the school. The Clergyman begged the man would be calm, and direct his inquiries to him. "Sir," said he, "I am a Roman Catholic, but only in name, for I know and love the Word of God, I have felt its comfort through many a dark and evil hour, and often have I blessed the day I was first induced to enter a Sabbath school, for it was there I was first taught the precious news of a Saviour's blood. I

wish my little boy to be taught the same." Doubtless, this is the tale which many a parent could tell; I have myself been benefited by the Sabbath school, there I learnt the way to heaven and I wish my children to learn the same. Yes, this is the inspiring motive with hundreds, as they dress their little ones for the class, and bid them with a parting smile or kiss, hasten to the school-there I was first taught the preciousness of Christ, I wish you to be taught the same.

Very recently, as many as 1045 Essays have been written by working men, on the Sabbath; it is pleasing to observe in these Essays how the writers trace up their own religious attainments to the Sunday school, the manner in which the benefits of this Institution are alluded to by them.

Stating, as those working men do, the result of personal observation, by accumulating their interesting remarks, (which may be looked upon as the representatives of a class,) it will be amply seen, that the Sunday school is appreciated by the working classes.

I. It is appreciated by them on account of the Educational advantages secured to them by it.

1. Directly on the Sabbath.

"The Sabbath day has provided a means. and afforded a time for improvement. Immortal honours to the name of Raikes, by whose instrumentality, the portals leading to the temple of knowledge are unfolded so wide, that nations abreast may go in. The good bestowed upon the labouring classes by the adoption of Sunday schools, eternity can never unfold. Were it not for them, the writer of this essay must have remained in a state of mental destitution, as his forefathers were; for it has been the only means of instruction that were ever afforded him. There are tens of thousands more of the children of the poor, that can bear the same testimony."

2. It secures those advantages of education indirectly on the six days of the week.

"The Sunday school, that great social regenerator of modern times-is it too much to say, that to it we are indebted for the mighty

advances which popular education has made, and is now making? We think that the nucleus around which the whole system has been formed, may be found in the humble efforts of the founder of Sabbath schools. The great problem had then to be solved, whether education would or would not unfit the working man for the discharge of the duties connected with his position in society. Educate the people, said some, and you at once raise up a power, which, as soon as it ascertains its own strength, will ride rough-shod over every established form and order in the land; our fields will be untilled, our manufactories deserted, and anarchy and confusion will alone prevail. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,' was echoed from one quarter, and the people were condemned to ignorance, lest in becoming wise, they might be able to discover the ignorance of their teachers. Honour to the kind-hearted and benevolent Raikes! little did he think, when he first gathered together his handful of children, that he was touching a spring which would move the world. But the people have, to a certain extent, been instructed, and the problem has been solved."

A necessary and suitable bias has been given to the public mind, by the religious training of the Sabbath, and seeing that this bias for good education is a blessing and not a curse, it has been more freely bestowed and more carefully fostered than it would otherwise have been. The ship, if the figure may be used, which has been provided, with her ample sails by the secular education of the week, has received her ballast which shall render her otherwise perilous navigation safe, on the seventh day in the Sabbath school.

II. The Sabbath school is appreciated by the working classes on account of the temporal advantages derived from it.

"The writer's experience as a Sabbath school teacher, has furnished him with several instances, in which attendance at those schools, has been a source of direct temporal benefit to individuals of the working class. Children who have been surrounded with innumerable disadvantages, have been induced to attend a Sabbath school. With that step, their temporal prosperity has been identified. Individuals interested in those schools, have also become interested in their attendants, and have studiously sought to place similar advantages within their reach. Thousands of the working classes, now moving in a com

paratively respectable sphere of life, owe their position in society, to their attendance at a Sabbath school."

"Another grand instrument of great utility in forming the character, is the Sabbath school. Early impressions are lasting, and the principles imparted to children in Sabbath schools generally are retained throughout life. Intellectual instruction is given in day schools; but it is a lamentable fact that a large portion of the children are not morally trained, except on the Sunday. In most families, some of the children work, and therefore are deprived of all but the Sunday school. Now it is well known that the children of these schools are always preferred by employers, to those who have received their education in the streets; indeed nothing can better qualify a person for the faithful discharge of his duties, than to be taught whilst young the principles of fidelity and honesty."

"To what, then, are we indebted for our possession of the innumerable benefits which the Sabbath school has afforded? It is evidently a logical inference, that were there no Sabbath, there would be no Sabbath schools. To that sacred institution then, the secular benefits to which we have adverted, are ascribable; no mean auxiliary to our position, that the Sabbath is a source of temporal advantage to the working classes."

*

"We would instance the noble and disinterested band of Sabbath school teachers. What influence is so salutary as theirs? Who devote their time, and employ their talents, and expend their resources, for the good of others like them? Who practise self-denial like them? Who live so happily, look so comfortably, or dress so respectably? Who spend so much money in the labour market? If it be asked, from what invisible power they derive their influence, the answer is plain-they keep holy the Sabbath day." "And what is the result? # * The people have been tested by seasons of dreadful suffering; calamity in all its forms has come upon them, and they have stood, the wonder of the world; not resorting to what is called "the wild justice of revenge ;" not demanding from their rulers what was not in the power of man to bestow; they have borne their sorrows manfully, and in the midst of them have stretched forth the hand to help those who were still more wretched than themselves. And these were Sunday scholars! many of them, like the present writer, had never passed a day in any other school."

"When we remember that it is estimated that about two millions of children are receiving instruction in Sabbath schools, in connxion with the fact, that a large number of them are wholly dependent upon those schools for education, what a powerful

illustration is afforded, of the value of the Sabbath, as a source of temporal advantage to the working classes."

The case perhaps may be familiar to you, of two boys seeking for a place, in answer to a notice in the window of a shopkeeper in some town. The parents of the children accompanied them to the house of the tradesman, they were both neatly dressed, the manners and appearance of both were good. They were asked various questions by the man of business, as to their knowledge and habits, and wishes; and both seemed so similar in their qualifications, that for a time he knew not which lad to choose. One question however, was put at length, which decided the matter. It was this, Do you go to a Sunday school? The one replied yes! the other no! The tradesman then said, I see scarcely any difference between the boys, but I shall certainly select the one who attends a Sabbath school, for he will best serve me, who has best learnt to serve his God. It is certain, that parents have again and again experienced something of this kind in placing out their children in the world, and for the secular advantages connected with the Sunday school, it is appreciated by the working classes.

III. Its moral influence is duly estimated.

"The amount of good effected through the means of Sunday schools, is beyond all calculation. The highest truths of religion, and the purest principles of morality, are taught in such a way, that the children are led to think for themselves, and to apply for themselves to the fountain of all goodness and truth. Moreover, the teaching, being itself purely a work of love, begets love in the children, and we seldom meet with a child who does not love his Sunday school teacher, however he may feel towards the daily distributors of stripes and handers. The kind of instruction is peculiar to the day, and derives a great part of its effect from the day, in fact all the countless advantages of Sunday schools are entirely owing to the existence of the Sabbath."

"None, who are at all acquainted with the kind of education, which is imparted in Sab

bath schools, will deny its tendency to elevate its recipients in the social scale. It cannot be otherwise than advantageous, to those who are brought under its influence. Children cannot be made familiar with their obligations to their Creator, and their duties to their fellow-creatures, without being led into an acquaintance with those precepts, obedience to which must necessarily exercise a beneficial effect upon their future temporal interests."

Perhaps a more striking instance of the effect of Sabbath schools, in tending to the mutual elevation of the working classes, cannot be adduced, than the fact of our being invited to become competitors for premiums, to be awarded to the best essays on the temporal advantages of the Sabbath to ourselves. Fifty years ago, such an idea would have bordered upon the ridiculous; and whilst we readily allow that other causes have had their effect in producing the happy change, we claim the chief honour for Sabbath schools."

"Here then we have a machinery, simple in its construction, noiseless and unobstrusive in its operations, but nevertheless wonderful and far-reaching in its results. The ten thousand little streamlets glide unseen along the bed of society-the children and their teachers come and go from week to week-the busy world, meanwhile, taking no note of them, but a mighty and beneficient work is stealthily going on in secret. The fallow ground of two millions of minds is brought under the culture of spiritual husbandry. The virgin soil of youthful hearts is turned up, and exposed to the warm breath of instruction. The seeds of evil germinating there-those indigenous to their nature-those shed upon them by a pernicious parental example, and those borne to them on the wings of every worldly influence, are sought out, and carefully eradicated. Fresh sowings simultaneously take place; living germs of goodness are implanted; the stony heart is often times made ductile by tender treatment; the conscience is aroused; the intellect is dressed and fructified, an appetite for nutritious knowledge is created, and thus the work hopefully goes on."

"It is moreover, the peculiar excellence of this educational system, that it not only developes intellect, but it developes it in a right manner. It does this, not by artificial stimulants, forcing a precocious and sickly growth, but by simply aiding the healthy action of nature. For it is not the abstract acuteness and capacity of any mind, but the proper applications of its powers, that should be a matter of solicitude. A splendid intellect prostituted to the advocacy of error is a fearful curse, whilst the humblest talents, plighted to truth, and wisely directed, may prove an enduring blessing. Had the Sabbath no other benefit of which to boast, than than that of educating