books treat the writers from whom they compile their new selections. Our correspondent states, that the effect of the following Address to Parents (founded on the paper in our number for January) has been already most striking; the "P. P.'s" are wonderfully increased, and the parents have been made aware of a portion of their responsibility, which they had well nigh lost sight of, and the grounds on which a master may have to punish (and we must be allowed to add, suspect) children are greatly diminished. Our apology to the author for spoiling his paper must be, that we fancied he had fallen into a serious error for a law-maker, in seeming to suppose, almost to take for granted, that his laws would be broken. Surely this is not the way to manage children of either smaller or larger growth. But we must not forget our main object, which is to circulate the address, not to criticise it. SCHOOL.-REGULATIONS ABOUT ATTENDANCE. It is desired to draw the serious attention of Parents to the following points : The opportunity of attending a good School should be looked upon as a privilege and advantage, both by Parents and Children. The responsibility of the Master or Mistress of the School begins when the child has entered the school room, not when it leaves home. Therefore the duty of punishing children for playing truant or coming late to school rests with their PARENTS, and not with the Schoolmaster or Mistress. It is hoped that the following remarks will convince all Parents of the great importance of enforcing regularity upon their own children, since want of punctuality Injures the child itself 1st-Because they who come late miss the Prayers; and without Prayer no blessing can be expected to attend any instruction the child may receive. 2nd-Because the truant or loiterer from school gets habits which often lead to Sabbath-breaking afterwards. It is the same temptation, namely, bad Company, which misleads in both instances. 3rd-Because late comers are placed at the bottom of their class, and are in consequence usually in an ill humour for learning. It interferes with the School at large 1st-Because late comers set a very bad example. 2nd-Because they disturb the order and regularity of their class. 3rd-Because they lose the time of their class, which frequently has to begin its work again. On these grounds it is intended to adopt, and to act strictly up to the following REGULATIONS:— 1.-The Masters and Mistresses will be in School a quarter of an hour before the time of Prayer, and the children will be expected to be there likewise. 2. At the hour of Prayer, the school-rooms will be closed, and no admission given afterwards. 3. Hence absence from Prayers will be absence from school. N.B. When prayers have once begun, the school cannot be disturbed to allow those who are only just too late, to come in. 4. Leave of absence will readily be granted for good reasons on application from a Parent personally, or by note, or by message through an adult, (not through the child), if made beforehand. 5.-If a child who has been absent is brought at the next meeting of the school, by a Parent or trustworthy Person, and it is shown satisfactorily that leave could not have been asked beforehand, the child will be suffered to enter the school. 6. A child absent on any occasion without an explanation must not be sent again. The parents may apply on the regular day for the re-admission of the child. The preference, however, will be given to children who have not been in the school before. 7.-Notice of a child's absence will always be sent to its Parents at the close of the school-time. 8.-Personal attendance of a Parent is always required at the admission or readmission of a child. N.B. The hour of Prayer is (Signed) Extracts from Bishops' Charges. ON THE DUTY OF ADMINISTERING PUBLIC BAPTISM AFTER THE "And here I would again press upon you, but now more earnestly than before,* from the considerations I have just adduced, the duty of administering the Sacrament of Baptism, as the Rubric requires, before the congregation at the appointed time, after the Second Lesson. "You may say that your congregations will be impatient of such an addition to the Morning or Evening Prayer. If they be, you cannot need a stronger proof of the need they have of special instruction on this main point, the nature and the blessing of Christian baptism. Depend upon it, that they who are impatient of the performance of that holy office, are miserably deficient either in Christian knowledge or in Christian feeling, or, too probably, in both. For, if they understand the office, they must value it as a pregnant manual of evangelic doctrine; they must, too, rejoice to bear their part in it, as one of the most delightful of Christian privileges. For, what portion of divine worship can delight a Christian, if he be cold, much more if he be impatient, in witnessing the infant sons and daughters of those around him rescued from spiritual death, born again, made members of Christ, children of God, heirs of everlasting salvation? "The truth is-and, as we do not meet for the purpose of complimenting each other, you will bear with me while I declare it-our sad neglect in enforcing the vast importance of Baptism has been the cause of the carelessness of our people in this particular, and of the tremendous consequences of that carelessness. In the course of my present visitation, I have found that in many parishes, especially in Cornwall, the number of Baptisms has frightfully diminished. This has been ascribed to the operation of the new Registration Act; and I do not doubt, that such may have been, in many instances, the proximate cause. But has it been the prime, the most potential cause? I fear not; I believe not. I rather fear, I rather believe, that we have to reproach ourselves for suffering the people to fall into ignorance, and therefore into indifference, in respect to this first duty of Christian parents. Were it not so, they would not, they could not, yield to the miserable temptation afforded by a Register-office to prevent them from entitling their children, under the blessing of God, to be recorded in the Book of Life. For, as the Church tells us,It is certain by God's word that children, which are baptized, dying before they commit actual sin, are undoubtedly saved.'† * At my visitation in 1839. + Rubric at the end of Public Baptism of Infants. "Let me encourage your exertions in this most important particular, by communicating the fruits of the zeal and industry of one of your own body. On succeeding to the charge of a populous parish, chiefly of miners, he found a lamentable and growing deficiency in the parochial register of the baptized. What did he? Was he satisfied with complaining of the Registration Act? No; he set himself to work in earnest, explaining to his people what the blessing is, of which they were thus robbing their children. He preached on it to those who would attend his preaching; he talked on it to those who would hear him in their houses; he wrote and dispersed judicious tracts upon it, among those who neither heard him at church, nor could be visited by him at home. And what was the result? At first, what I should advise you all, in such a case, to expect and to disregardopposition, ay, furious opposition-abuse, contumely, anonymous letters, tracts far more numerous than his own. But, before the year was over, some scores of children, whose baptism had been superseded by registration, were brought to the font, in his own and an adjoining parish, into which the agitation had spread. His congregations largely and steadily increased, the number of his communicants was multiplied threefold, of candidates for confirmation more than fourfold: his ministry was honoured, his person respected, even offers of money were voluntarily made to help to enlarge his church and erect a chapel of ease,—and all this by the very persons who, a few months before, had been the loudest in crying out against him.". Charge of the Lord Bishop of Exeter, 1842. PEWS TOO OFTEN AN USURPATION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE POOR. "At a time when Church extension is sought by all of us, and when in most of our churches there is not space for receiving all the parishioners, it is well to bear in mind, that the system of pews is, by law, tolerable, only where they do not interfere with the accommodation of those who have a right to worship God in their Parish Church. In this respect, all parishioners have, by common law, an equal right, which the churchwardens, whose duty it is to order what is necessary for the good regulation of churches, have no right to disregard. If they do, the Bishop's Court has both the power and the duty to redress the wrong. But it is manifest that they whose rights are most likely to be violated-I mean the poor-are disabled, by their poverty, from seeking redress in courts. Now, this is a general evil, which requires to be gravely dealt with. I do not advise a sudden and violent breaking in upon an inveterate, however unjustifiable, usage. But I strongly urge it on my clergy, to do their utmost, quietly, to induce a better state of things. "The origin of the evil is not such as can endear it to any churchman; for it was part of the systematic outrage on the sacredness of churches by the Puritans, in the day of their brief triumph in the seventeenth century, when they perverted these hallowed edifices into little better than preaching rooms. The continuance of it, in any case, must surely be ascribed to want of due energy in our attempts to remove it; and to want of due consideration on the part of those who may seem to profit by it. Surely, if such persons reflect, they cannot but feel, painfully feel, the incongruity of making the very worship of God an occasion of injustice to man—of usurpation on the rights of the poor. Nor would they, on consideration, fail to be ashamed of carrying their love of worldly distinction into that house, where all they see and all they hear, all they want and all they pray for, ought to remind them, that there the rich and the poor meet together;' not equal, indeed, in God's sight, but distinguished by qualities, which will make many who think themselves the first to be the last, and the last first."-Ibid. TO PREACH WITHOUT CATECHISING IS TO BUILD WITHOUT A FOUNDATION. "I now take leave, chiefly on account of my less experienced brethren, to make a few remarks on the discharge of certain parts of our duty; more especially the catechising of the young, and the observance of the week-day services, as enjoined by the authority of the Church. The former I have always considered as one of the most interesting labours which belong to our sacred office. To have the stream pure you must begin at the fountain; and to have a people void of reproach and devoted to their holy calling, you must teach them to remember their Creator in the days of their youth. You have to deal with tender minds, and consequently have the advantage of making the first and deepest impressions upon them; whereas to preach to a people without principle is, as said an old divine, 'to build where there is no foundation, or rather where there is not so much as ground to build upon.' But, on this head, it is not necessary that I should say more, for the solemn service of yesterday presented the most gratifying proof of your zeal and success. You not only suffer but invite the little children to come unto you for knowledge and direction; and in this respect the pleasure of the Lord seems to prosper in your hands. Persevere, my dear brethren, and the blessing of the great Head of the Church will ever be with you."-Charge by the Bishop of Glasgow, 1842. Review. By the Rev. W. Gresley, Church Clavering; or the Schoolmaster. In our last number we gave a short account of this excellent and well-timed little volume, and promised to give, at our earliest convenience, some extracts from its pages. Happily for our purpose, the author has at the end of the work favoured his readers with a recapitulation of the principles illustrated in the course of the story; we cannot resist the temptation of borrowing the entire chapter, our only scruple being that in order to find room for it we are obliged to omit some other shorter but not less interesting passages which we had marked for insertion. We need only premise, that the whole book from the beginning to the end is thoroughly practical in the largest sense of the term, as leading teachers, and especially schoolmasters, to think, and not merely giving them rules and directions to follow. This is higher praise than to say that we altogether agree with our author in every minute detail, which would be wonderful indeed, as there is scarcely an educacational point of interest in the present day upon which he does not freely give his opinion. For instance, we think him far too severe on the monitorial system, and we cannot approve of rewards for regular or punctual attendance at school. The remarks upon the best methods of giving instruction are admirable, including some branches not usually *The allusion here is to the solemn rite of confirmation administered the previous day, when 230 candidates, exclusively from the city [of Glasgow] appeared at the altar. taught in our schools, as Etymology and lineal drawing. We may also observe for the comfort of those who have been spoiled by the abundance of easy books of which the age is sadly too fond, that they will find Church Clavering" a more readable book than they might be disposed to infer from the specimen we are about to give. Our readers, however, will all thank us for presenting them with the following summary of the views of such a man as Mr. Gresley upon education, in his own words :— CHAPTER XXIV.-RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSION. "O for the coming of that glorious time, When, prizing knowledge as her noblest wealth An obligation on her part to teach Those who are born to serve her and obey; Binding herself by statute to secure For all the children whom her soil maintains The mind with moral and religious truth, I wish briefly to recapitulate the practical points set forth and advocated in the foregoing volume, and to found on them a few concluding remarks. The principles on which true religious education is based are the following:First, the essential object of Christian education is, to train an adopted child of God to live to His glory. Education which fails in this object of no value whatever. Secondly, those appointed to "teach all nations," and consequently to train the youth of this realm, are God's ordained ministers-the Bishops, Priests, and Deacons of the Church. Thirdly, the standard of religious teaching is the holy Scripture; that is to say, the holy Scripture rightly understood; for if children are trained as it is supposed according to God's word, but that word is not rightly understood, it is manifest that they are not trained according to holy Scripture, but according to the erroneous fancies of their teachers. Fourthly, the three great branches of education are, to inform the mind, to develop the faculties, and to promote good moral habits. Where these objects are rightly carried out, a youth so trained is best able to live to the glory of God. Now, it is admitted on all hands that there is a lamentable want of sound education in the country. In some places many children grow up without any instruction at all; in others the instruction which they receive is defective in various ways. Either that which is the one essential feature of education-the training of youth to live to the glory of God-is not made, as it should be, the primary object, or else God's divine law is not rightly understood, and children are supposed to be trained in scriptural knowledge, while the doctrines instilled into them are not in reality God's divine truths, or, at least, are defective or erroneous; or, again, their intellect is not sufficiently cultivated, or their faculties are not well developed, or they are not trained in good moral habits. Can it last as it is? The question is, Will this state of things be suffered to last? If not, how is it to be improved? Who are able to improve it? to the government for the accomplishment of any great national benefit: can the state accomplish this most desirable object? I answer, that the state by itself can do little or nothing. It has received no mission to teach the nation; it is incompetent to the task, But if it employs and assists the exertions of the Church, which is God's commissioned agent, the work may without doubt be accomplished. But here there is a strange practical anomaly. For in this most vital question, the State, or rather the legislature, acts differently from what it does in every thing else. In all other matters, if the government, backed by the great body of the legislature, are of one opinion, the matter in hand is ordered according to that opinion, and the dissentients are obliged to submit. For instance, the poor-law is thought to |