THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER'S
ENCOURAGEMENT.

Ar one of the conversational meetings of teachers at the
rooms of the Church of England Sunday-school Society,
the subject was, "The Encouragement of the Sunday-
school Teacher." The following were among the sug-
gestions offered upon the subject. The four chief points
of encouragement may be described as, 1. The promises
of Scripture. We should persevere, relying simply on
God's promises. We may not see any immediate re-
sults. The command is, "Cast thy bread upon the
waters." The promise is, that "we shall find it after
many days." 2. That God permits us to be fellow-
helpers with him. The work is not our own; it is of
God. He is pledged for its success; and this is a great
source of encouragement. 3. The diligent Teacher will
always find the truth of the declaration, "That, in
watering others, he will himself be watered." The care-
ful examination of God's word always brings with it a
blessing. He learns to be watchful: this necessarily
leads him to be prayerful. It teaches him patience. 4.
We must not be discouraged because no good results are
visible. God may often, for wise purposes, withhold the
knowledge of good effected. We often do not see any
fruit of our labours, because we do not look for it.
school-room is not the place to discover it: the Teacher
should follow his scholar home. It was observed that
the aim of the Teacher should ever be the conversion of
the soul. Mere outward reformation and good conduct
is, of itself, of comparatively little importance. All
should get all the good they can, in order to communi-
cate it. This should, in an especial manner, be the aim
of the Sunday-school Teacher.-Church of England
Quarterly Sunday-school Magazine.

The

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

Closet Helps: a Manual of Private Devotion.

Compiled and arranged from the Church Prayer-Book. By WILLIAM CARUS WILSON, M. A., Rector of Whittington, and Incumbent Minister of Casterton. London: Seeleys; and Foster, Kirkby Lonsdale. The introduction to this little work, which we quote, will explain its nature and object:

'If there is a source of spiritual benefit and refreshment to which we feel largely and increasingly indebted ourselves, we are naturally anxious that others should participate in our advantage. Thus it was with the woman of Samaria, who could not be content with her own introduction to the Messiah, but must needs hasten to her home, and bring all her neighbours to the well where she had made such unexpected discoveries. And here is the apology that I offer for the following Manual of Devotion. I can truly say that I have been more beholden for private purposes to the contents of the Church Prayer-Book than I can well express. I am sure of this, that the soul that is largely engaged in the spiritual conflict, will eagerly call in every succour, and thankfully catch at every help. They whose religion is comparatively superficial, may have leisure and disposition to determine the excellency of one mode of worship or the formality of another; but it is not so with those who are engaged in the hottest of the battle-who are alive to their imminent danger, who realize the immensity of the interests which they have at stake—who with fightings without, and fears within, are often ready to sink in despair, and give up all as hopeless. They know that all their safety depends upon the omnipotence of that prayer which throws them, with all their utter powerlessness and insufficiency, on the strength of God, and thus makes them to realize in their own experience that we can only do all things when Christ strengthens us. And for this purpose they will thankfully call in every aid. Nothing can supersede the necessity of pouring out their spontaneous effusions, such as the large necessities of a gracious heart will constantly dictate; the night season as well as day-time will testify to the un

ceasing supplications which at stated times, or in broken ejaculatory petitions, are issuing from the mouth of those who are wrestling with God, and doing so because they know that all that they have at heart depends upon the issue. Yet the very earnestness of this wrestling will suggest the expediency of adopting every legitimate manner for prevailing with God; and, moreover, there will be times when the heart is so bound up, that it scarcely knows how to pray, and when consequently the help of a form of prayer is specially felt. Thus, I have long brought myself to the conclusion, that while doubtless there are those who are formalists in the true sense of the term, in their use of forms, they who least deserve the charge of formalism will least be jealous of the use of forms, nay the most thankful for their aid, and the most diligent in their adoption. It is the earnest worshippers in spirit and in truth who feel that they need all the helps within their reach; at one time offering up the prayer which the heart directly dictates -at another time thankfully adopting the words which a form suggests.*

And there is another thought which has often powerfully impressed me. They who know what it is to have to cry to the Lord out of the depths of their misery and distress, are men not only of a sorrowind spit, but of timid conscience. They tremble at the magnitude of their sins; they are overwhelmed with a sense of their unworthiness. Can it be (they often say to then

* Fur be it from me to dishearten any good Christian from the use of conceived prayer in his private devocions, and upon occasion also in the public. I would hate to be guilty of pouring so much water upon the stint to which I shall platy and où rather. No, let the fall soc freely pour out itself in gracious expressions of is holy thoughts into the bosom of the Almighty; let both the sudden flashes of our quick qatlidons, and the consent flames of or more fixed concepcions, mount up from the altar of a zealous heart unte the throne of grace; and if there be some stops or solecisus in the fervent utterance of our private wants, these are so far from beng offensive that they are the most pleasing music to the eas of that God at whom our prayers come. Let them be broken of with sobs and sighs and concretes of our delvery; our good Gal is no otherwise affected to this imperfect elocution, then an

parent is to the broken language of his dear child, which lightful to him than any other's smooth, orators-Bishoy humble Remin. Crence,” Edition 1662. vol. i. page 215.

selves) that such a sinner as I may venture to hope for mercy, yea for such a full and complete bestowment of mercy as my sad case requires? Now doubtless the Word of God is the only ground for our faith in this matter, the only rock on which we must build our hopes; still, in all the petitions which the poor broken-hearted penitent would fain send up to the mercy-seat, but which he utters with many a misgiving, many a fear lest he should be guilty of presumption in asking too much, oh, amidst all the trembling anxieties which such souls alone are conversant with, it is a comfort, and a legitimate comfort and relief to find that our Church only expects such trembling, self-renouncing penitents to be her wor shippers, and that she puts into their mouths the very petitions which they would eagerly adopt.

"And really I am more and more struck with the depth of Christian knowledge and experience which our Prayer Book exhibits. I am sure of this, that the deeper we go into an acquaintance with our own evil hearts, and the more tremblingly alive we are to all that is so abominable and deserving of God's wrath and indignation, the more we shall be struck with the adaptation of our Church's services to our case. Nowhere, either in her addresses, or in the prayers that she provides for our adoption, does she expect us to come into her worship, save with such feelings as in our darkest and our saddest moments we are conversant with. Not even at that solemn time when she calls us round the table of our dying Lord, and when it is taken for granted that her members have been more than usually vigilant and holy in their course, not even then does she expect us to draw near, but with the confession of those 'manifold sins and wickednesses which we from time to time most grievously have committed,' the confession that the burden of our sins is intolerable and the remembrance of them grievous unto us.'

They who are conversant with the depths of soul conflict and distress, know best how to appreciate all this succour. It is some relief to find that holy men of old were thinking and feeling as they are doing themselves. and as they would fain do towards God's blessed word.

We have a right to think it a relief, to find that our Church only expects us to come into her worship such as we feel ourselves to be, and holds out to us all the great blessings of the Gospel only because Christ is a great and all-sufficient Saviour for the lost and self-destroyed. "If it be further objected to the following Manual, that it is scarcely called for, inasmuch as all have access to the Prayer-Book, and are able to make their own selections, I have only to say in reply, that while I admit this, to a certain extent, there are many to whom, in point of convenience and benefit, it will be one thing to be obliged to gather for themselves from the various parts of the Prayer-Book what may suit their purpose, and quite another thing to have the most suitable portions arranged and brought together. There are many, too, to whom it will make all the difference possible to have the prayers prepared for their personal adoption, not only by such an arrangement, but by the change of the plural into the singular. I have adopted my plan in order to make this help to devotion as generally accessible as possible.

"And now I leave it with Him who maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered; praying that He, as the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of power, would be pleased to bless the offering, and to make it instrumental to the life of fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ; that many may be helped hereby into the boldness of access to the throne of grace, never abandoning the use of means until they obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar. By the Rev. Dr. BREWER. London: Jarrold and Sons. Pp. 477.

This is a very valuable work, which we cordially recommend to schoolmasters. It contains scientific, though simple, explanations of many of the phenomena of common life, and will afford valuable assistance in solving such questions as those of which we have given specimens in an extract from Mr. Dawes' "Suggestive Hints,” under the heading, "Week-day-Teacher," in our present number.