and strictly avoid any thing which may unnecessarily give them offence. It is not only necessary, but it is the bounden duty of the strong "to bear the infirmities of the weak." Where this is not the case, but practices, unimportant in themselves, are continued to the injury and annoyance of those who conscientiously object to them, disunion will surely prevail; and where it does prevail, under such circumstances, on which side lies the fault? May God Almighty enable every proud heart to learn in time!

"It is impossible," said the blessed Saviour, “but that offences will come; but woe be to him through whom the offence cometh." And oh! how little does the obstinate supporter of such measures reflect on the injury he may be doing, both to himself and others! When the destruction of the Grecian empire was threatened by the immense army of Xerxes, the few determined and patriotic men who fought its battles resolved to deliver it, or perish in the attempt. They were comparatively a mere handful, compared to the almost innumerable army of the Persian Monarch. Themistocles and Aristides-who, like most worldly great men, were opposed to each other, either from difference of opinion, or probably from jealousy of each other's attainments— were the two principal commanders. Being at variance with each other, and each commanding at different stations, they were ignorant of each other's schemes. Aristides, therefore, mistaking an artifice of Themistocles to mislead the enemy, and supposing him to be in danger, "ventured in a small boat by night, (says the historian,) through the whole fleet of the enemy. Upon landing, he made up to the tent of Themistocles, and addressed him in the following manner: If we are wise, Themistocles, we shall henceforth lay aside all those frivolous and puerile dissensions, which have hitherto divided us. One strife, and a noble one it is, now remains for us, which of us shall be most serviceable to our country. It is yours to command, as a general, it is mine to obey, as a subject; and happy shall I be, if my advice can any way contribute to your and my country's glory.' He then informed him of the fleet's

real situation, and warmly exhorted him 'to give battle without delay.' Themistocles felt all that gratitude which such generous and disinterested conduct deserved; and eager to make a proper return, he immediately let him into all his schemes and projects. After this, they exerted their joint influence with the other commanders, to persuade them to engage, and accordingly both fleets prepared for battle."

You are the soldiers of a little army, which has to contend with and overcome the powers of darkness, led on by "the prince of the power of the air;" and will you, in the heat of battle, stay to quarrel amongst yourselves in trifles, when the interests of eternity are at stake? Without love, there can be no real unity; and without unity in the little flock, who are counted by world "not fit to live," who are despised, and persecuted, and hated, how are their consolations lessened? Oh! Sunday-school Teachers, if the world take delight in war, in envy, in deceit, in malice and pride, be it yours to "love each other with a pure heart fervently," never forgetting that, though "we speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity—or love—we are sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal." Neither the highest attainments of wisdom, nor the most abundant almsgiving-nay, even martyrdom itself, is worth any thing without this love.

Faith will one day be lost in vision, and hope in reality; but love will endure for ever: the eternal happiness of saints and angels, the very element of heaven.

PUNCTUALITY.

"No one can be a good Teacher who is not a punctual one."Todd's Sunday School Teacher.

AMONGST the many requirements requisite for an efficient Sunday-school Teacher, Punctuality stands in a very prominent situation on the list. But it is a requirement with many that is too often dispensed with, and in consequence it is fraught with evils.

It is an evil which affects the non-punctual Sundayschool Teacher personally. His class being aware that he will not be at school until after the time of its commencement, some of them will say to each other, "Our Teacher does not come very often in time for school, and so let us come to school before the time, and have a bit of fun." And accordingly they come earlier, and have their bit of fun; and when he arrives a quarter or half an hour after the time of commencement, in what state does he find his class? He finds the steam of levity is well up, and the engine of idleness every minute increasing its speed. While some of the others (and especially boys) will say, "Let us go for a run before we go into school; and if we are late, it does not matter. Our Teacher can't scold us, for he is always late himself; and if he does, we could say we thought it was not worth while to come so early, because we knew that he would not be there in time." And accordingly they go; and when they come to school after the run, they are heated, idle and wild, and all the Teacher's efforts (generally speaking, for some Teachers have more moral authority than others) to hold them in will be almost as useless as to try to "hold in" a horse that is frightened -it will break the reins, and run away.

The first evil is common to both morning and afternoon; the second more particularly to the afternoon. And hence the levity and idleness, if not insolence of his class, and particularly if he be of a testy temper, irritates

him;

the class soon discovers his ill temper, and then no good is effected. And this often repeated, he begins to get tired of Sabbath-school teaching, and it becomes, instead of a pleasing duty, an irksome task.

He also loses much precious time, and also many opportunities for doing good, both by his being too late, and by the idleness of his class, which, had he arrived earlier, might have been prevented. He loses also (which surely none ought to lose) the singing and

prayer.

It is an evil affecting the children, in thus allowing them the opportunity of an excuse for their being late, and by example sanctioning and confirming in them

this bad habit, and in allowing them the opportunity and occasion for misbehaviour.

You are committing an evil against the School "Suppose a school consists of 150 scholars, and the teachers 25. Suppose several teachers come so late that the Superintendent must delay opening the school for five minutes. This seems a short time to wait. Take the 175 which compose the school, and multiply it by 5, and you have 875 minutes lost. Suppose this takes place once on every Sabbath, the loss for one year is 758 hours; and suppose the same set of teachers continue this for 5 years, it would be 3790 hours. If, now, we suppose the habit to be by them perpetuated in the school, and transmitted down, and, above all, be woven into the habits of the hundreds of pupils, and become a part of their character, no arithmetic can compute the evils of such a habit."*.

Not only does it affect the school by the waste of time, but it also disturbs the arrangements of it. Chil dren, if left to themselves, become, as we have pointed out to you, idle; and hence the Superintendent, to abate this evil, necessarily runs into another by providing a Teacher, perhaps from one of the senior classes, or else by dividing the class, and portioning some into this, and some into that class; and in this way "the whole school is disturbed by the process. The Superintendent kindly says, he 'presumes the Teacher is sick.' This is done, and soon you come hurrying in with that quick, noisy step which always indicates a consciousness of being too late. The class must again be disunited and taken to their own seats, while the school is again disturbed, and the mortified Superintendent sees you are any thing but sick."* It is indeed mortifying to the Superintendent; you give him needless trouble, and you prevent him from giving his attention to some more important work.

The following extract from the life of a devoted Sunday-school Teacher and Superintendent of fifty years' standing is applicable to the present topic. "In all his

* Todd.

Life of Thomas Cranfield. Published by the Religious Tract Society.

engagements at the School, punctuality was strictly observed by him: this he considered an indispensible qualification for a Teacher. Nothing appeared to ruffle him more than to see the teachers come in half an hour

after the time for opening the school. Such persons he would sometimes accost on their entrance as perfect strangers, and very gravely ask them if they were teachers, or what was their business there?' To you who are guilty of this delinquency, I will accost you, and ask you this ruffling question: "Are you a stranger to the rules of your school? What business, if you are a Teacher, have you to come thus late? Answer your conscience. It is an evil against God. You have undertaken a responsible office. God commands you to 'redeem the time.' If, then, you waste it, shall not God require it of your hands? God says, 'Work while it is called to-day;' 'be instant in season and out of season.' If, then, you waste your working hours, shall not your heavenly Master require at your hands the account of your stewardship? Will he not upbraid you as a slothful servant, if you waste the season of opportunities if you waste the season set apart for instruction? Bethink yourselves, you who know you are guilty, and adopt measures to prevent its recurrence; for God will render to every man according to his work."

But I know there is an excuse by many Teachers on account of the lateness of closing the shops on the Saturday eve; and, that they may have their usual allotment of sleeping hours, the Sabbath morn is encroached upon so much, that they are late at school. Here a lesson of self-denial is wanted, to overcome this self-indulgence.

As a remedy to prevent this late attendance, we would advise you to rise early. This is the hinge on which punctuality turns: if you can overcome sleep, and secure an early breakfast, you can have no obstacle in the way of your being punctual. "He that riseth late, must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night."" The Teacher will find this to be the case. I remember reading somewhere, that the Teacher, to prevent any obstacle on the Sabbath morning, should take care to