which shall give an interesting view of the history and genius of the Old Testament, seem greatly to be needed.

The children of the Schools from which reports have been received, are generally between the ages of 3 or 4 and 16. At the latter age they imagine they have outgrown the need of instruction, and, when they need it most, desert the School. The Directors are, however, happy to perceive that in four of the Schools, at least, in those of Northborough, Lancaster, Sterling, and Uxbridge, there are classes of adult females, many of whom are married ladies, which they cannot but regard as a circumstance propitious to the future interests of the Sabbath School. When the mothers of our children, enter so deeply into the spirit of religious improvement which is abroad, as to become themselves pupils, we have no apprehension for the future character of the community. The superintendent of the School in Uxbridge ⚫ also writes, "There is one class of young men, from 17 to 20 and upwards, who have with commendable zeal associated themselves, for the purpose of obtaining such moral and religious information as the Sabbath School affords." This class is peculiarly interesting, and your Directors cannot but pause to ask why this example is not oftener imitated? Why our young men, with their leisure, and their means of knowledge, do not more frequently associate for the purposes of moral and religious improvement? Theirs is the age when they begin to act for themselves, when the great conflict of life is entered on, and when the character takes its hue and coloring for eternity. Why then should they be driven, by feelings of false shame, from the place of religious instruction, as though by them there was no more to be learned, when the whole of life, with all its scenes and changes, and its voices of instruction and warning is but a school, to mould and purify and educate the soul for eternity? Why should they be ashamed to be taught and assisted in religious duty, when Christian knowledge, virtue, and piety are the only things over which the grave has no power? It is devoutly to be wished that our future Reports may exhibit more of our young men associated, like those above named, for their moral and religious improvement.

In mentioning the present condition of our schools and their means of usefulness, the stated meetings of Teachers are not to be passed over. These meetings all the reports concur in representing as not only beneficial, but essential to the prosperity of the Sabbath School. "We bear" says one of the reports, "our unanimous testimony to the value and interesting character of these meetings, confident that no Sunday

School can be effectually and satisfactorily sustained without them. They give to all the measures undertaken for the good of the School, unity and strength; and at this day we need not be told how essential they are to success. They have had in many instances a perceptible effect in deepening the interest of the Teachers in their work, and in more forcibly directing their attention to their own religious duties and wants." These meetings are held once in a fortnight in all the societies except that of Fitchburg, where they are held once in a week. In some instances the attendance is represented as good, in others as indifferent, especially among the male teachers. This is to be attrib uted to the engagements of some, and the remoteness of other teachers, from the place of meeting. This defect may be remedied in some measure by a practice suggested by the superintendent of the School in Harvard. "Since the close of the School for the season," he writes, "the Teachers have received instruction during the intermission on the Sabbath." All the meetings of the Teachers are conducted in nearly the same manner. They are opened or closed with prayer by the pastor, and the time is spent in conversation and in exposition of the lesson, or of some portions of the Scripture. The practice of some clergymen, of making the lesson of the day the subject of his sermon, cannot but be useful. Connected with all the schools, are Juvenile Libraries, composed of from 60 to 500 volumes. To these Libraries all the children have free access; and they cannot but be regarded as powerful auxiliaries to the cause of religious education.

Such is the present character of our Sunday Schools, and the means of improvement which they enjoy. They are represented in all cases, as flourishing the last as any preceeding year; and of almost all the reports, the language is that of the Superintendent in Bolton, who says, "our Sunday School the past season has been in a better condition than on former seasons."

swer.

3. We come now to the last inquiry which it was proposed to anWhat is most wanting? What remains to be done in order to improve and perfect the Sabbath Schools? In answer to inquires on this subject your Directors have received only very general and vague answers, such as, that "parents are to be interested;" "teachers are to be more interested;" "pupils are to be more interested;" and perhaps these replies contain the secret of improvement. But the question still recurs, how shall all these become interested? On this point the Directors will venture to offer a few suggestions, availing themselves of the few hints which they find in their returns.

1. In the first place it is believed that a wide misapprehension exists with regard to the relative numbers of the children in the community who attend the Sabbath School. Although, perhaps, there is no portion of the world more favored than our County, yet from some attention which the Directors have been able to give to a portion of it, they are led to the conclusion that not less than one third of the children, of a suitable age, attend no Sabbath School. The proportion cannot be stated exactly; but let any one compare the returns of the Public Schools recently rendered to the Legislature with the returns of the Sabbath Schools in this Report, and he will readily perceive that this estimate is not extravagant. Look at the number of pupils already stated as under the care of this Society, 788 Females, and but 529 Males; and, of the answers made to your Directors, one says, "there is probably one-fourth of our children, who, on account of distance, poverty, or want of inclination, do not attend." Another report says, "as nearly as can be ascertained there are about 200”— nearly half of the whole number of a suitable age in the parish. May we not say then, without exaggeration that as yet one third of our children receive no Sabbath School instruction? And to what parents do they belong? Almost without exception to those who, careless, indifferent, irreligious, feel no interest in their moral and religious improvement. Through the criminal negligence of their natural guardians, many among us are yet growing up to take their part in society almost without moral and religious culture. Born amidst poverty, educated amidst vice and irreligion, they seem visited from their birth by the most unkindly influences, and destined to the most wretched fate. They know little of that which renders existence a blessing. Home, which to us awakens a thousand tender and religious associations, to them is desolate in the extreme-the scene of squalid want and domestic wranglings. The care which watches over helpless infancy, and the solicitude which guides with many prayers the steps of youth, they have never experienced. They, who should have conducted them along the pleasant paths of life, are themselves the victims of a degrading vice. They, who should have taught them to fear and love God always, themselves forget and forsake him from day to day. His name first reaches their ears in accents of imprecation. His command first reaches their minds only to be disobeyed. All things are against them. Their condition is bewildering and appalling to the mind; and they have felt their lot to be sad and full of wo, even in early childhood. And how must it appear to a Christian

mind that knows the awful consequences of early sin, that sees evil propensities growing into giant passions, and evil habits winding, like the folds of a serpent, around the soul? Here is a case for Christian philanthropy. We ask, can nothing be done for such children as these, with minds naturally as pure, and hearts as tender, and sensibilities as warm as our own children, differing in nothing from them but in the unkindness of their lot? Here is one great means of adding to the numbers, and extending the influence of the Sunday School. Let these children be sought out and be rescued from their den of sure corruption. If there be a heart of flesh in the bosom of Christians, let them be rescued from their abode of darkness and ruin, and see the light of Heaven, and enjoy the life and happiness of increasing knowledge and virtue. Let them be allured into some Church, and be gathered into some Sunday School, and the blessing of Heaven shall descend upon the kind deed, and he who said feed my lambs, shall reward those who shall gather together these wandering and forsaken ones.

2. Your Directors would suggest as another means of improveing the condition of the Sunday School, that by earnest preaching and frequent conversations of the Pastor, parents be made to regard them as efficient means in assisting them to sustain their responsibility. Parental responsibility! How much is involved in it! How many joys and sorrows, and fears and hopes, for time and eternity! This responsibility is felt, to a certain extent; but it is not felt enough. Let a child but dislocate a limb or be dangerously sick, and where is the father that will not hasten for a physician in all the agony of pa rental solicitude? Where is the mother that will not watch by its bed-side through the sleepless night? Let the parent be told, let him be made to feel, that his own happiness is bound up, not in the health, not even in the life, but in the moral habits and Christian character of his child. Let him realize that he is united to him by ties which can never be severed, that whatever he may become, however ungrateful and unworthy, he cannot say to him "Go and drink the bitter cup which you have prepared-go and take the wretched lot which you have chosen." No, he must drink of that cup too, though it be filled with wormwood; he must endure that lot too, though it be the extremity of human suffering. He can have no separate joys and Let him feel too, that there is a time when his child is all weakness, dependence, and submission; when the formation of his habits and character, the direction of his course, the sealing of his

sorrows.

fate are in his own hands. Let him be told that the Sabbath School is the mightiest instrument ever framed in aid of parental influence, that its worth is tested by the voice of thousands in all lands and by daily experience. Let him be told this until he believes it, and there will be no more complaint of the indifference of parents to the success of the Sunday School. Even those, who have little respect for public worship themselves, will be anxious to secure the attendance of their children. They will watch over their progress with increasing interest. They will assist them in their lessons. They will read their books. And if they do not themselves obey, they will be anxious to impress upon their minds the religious truths which these books contain. By earnest appeals to the parent's heart, and by frequent illustrations from fact and experience of the value of the Sabbath Schools, we believe it is in the preacher's power to awaken a permanent interest in these institutions.

3. As another means still of sustaining and improving the character of the schools, the Directors would rely much on the intelligence, zeal, energy, and devotion of the Teachers. But how are this intelligence, zeal, energy, and devotion to be inspired? Much, they think, depends upon the character of the Teachers; and in their selection for this office, they should always deem of more consequence a quick religious sensibility and a thorough conscientiousness, than any mere literary attainment. They believe that such persons cannot fail to prepare themselves for their duty. They would endeavor to make them feel the greatness of the work in which they are engaged. They would say to them "Consider what it is you undertake. It is no ordinary service. You have to do with the holiest and most sacred thing in nature-with the mind and heart of a child—with a being who may be destined to run a glorious carrier of usefulness on earth with a being who, by the slightest change in the current of its blood, may soon become one of those angels who behold the face of their Father in Heaven. And will you go to the instruction of such a being, to the moulding and purifying and elevating of such a nature, as to an ordinary work? Will you go to the place of instruction and deal with the infant soul, that spark of the divinity which God has placed in the human bosom-that ray kindled at the eternal fountain, which is to shine on for ever-will you deal with such a thing with the same indifference with which you would turn the soil beneath your feet? Reflect on the greatness of the human soul, and upon the direction which you may be instrumental in giving it, and you cannot—