in manuscript, till circumstances shall favor its publication, or till a more suitable work shall be published by some other person. (19.)Harmony of the Creeds, and the Creeds proved from scripture, from the Familiar and Easy Guide.

Fourth lesson. (20.)Collects and prayers from Prayer Book:-(21.) Psalter from the same:-(22.)Metrical Psalms and Hymns from the same:-also, occasional reviews of 8, 10-17.

Class I. Division 2. Age, from 11 to 12 years.

Third lesson. (23.)Harmony of the Gospels, by Rev. Dr. Jarvis:— (24.)Bible History, Geography, and Chronology. These last are introduced into the general scripture exercises of all the classes, whenever opportunity offers; but here they are made a distinct exercise. Fourth lesson. (25.)Natural History of the Bible:-reviews of 8, 10-25.

Class I. Division 1. Age, from 12 to 14 years.

Third lesson. (26.) Scripture tables,&c. from Wilbur's Reference Bible:-(27.)Evidences of Christianity, from Porteus, Paley, Dalcho, &c.:-(28.) Instruction in the chief truths of the Christian religion, from Bishop Hobart's Abridgement of Gastrell's Christian Institutes, and other books.

Monitorial Class. Age, from 14 to 16 years.

Third lesson. (29.)Evidences of the Doctrines, Discipline, and Worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church:-(31.)Explanation of the Thirty-nine Articles:-(33.) Commentary on the Scriptures.

Fourth lesson. (30.)Explanation of Confirmation-(32.)Explanation of the Lord's Supper-(34.) Commentary on the Prayer Book: -reviews of all the preceding.

It is hoped, that when the members of this class have attended to the subject of confirmation, they will be prepared and ready to receive that ordinance. After which, they will attend to the explanation of the Lord's supper; and when they become familiar with the duties and privileges of those who are worthy recipients of that holy sacrament, we trust they will themselves become desirous of uniting with the other members of the Church in its observance. They will, then, it is hoped, become teachers in the school, and be prepared and enabled to dispense to others, those benefits which they have themselves received in the school.

General Observations.

In compiling this plan of instruction, the Superintendent endeavored to select what was valuable in the systems of Pestalozzi, Bell, Lancaster, Wilson, Wilderspin, and others, without any re

gard to names. As his object was to form a practical and permanent system-one which would be pleasant and profitable botir to the teachers and scholars he collected information from many various sources, and endeavored to select from each such principles and practices as would be useful and practicable in our own school. In this, he trusts, he has succeeded; and in effecting this desirable object, he has received much assistance, and many valuable hints, from the gentleman mentioned in his Report. To this gentleman he is also indebted, for suggestions which induced him to alter the order of some of the lessons, and deviate, in some important particulars, from the course before pursued in the school.

That any features of our plan are entirely original, is not asserted; but some of them have never before been made public, or introduced into any other Sunday school within our knowledge. That the system is perfect, is not to be supposed; but time and experience will remedy any defects which may be discovered to exist. And as nearly all our teachers and scholars are decidedly of the opinion that the present plan is far preferable to any other with which we are acquainted, we need not fear for the result.

Some objections have been made to the short time allowed for each lesson, and the number of exercises attended to on each Sunday. But this we esteem one of the peculiar merits of our present system. Instruction should never be tiresome to children, but should always be made pleasant; and novelty, a very serviceable means for fixing the attention of the children, should, as far as consistent, be regarded as desirable. Children soon become fatigued by constantly attending to one subject; and as soon as they are tired, instruction does them no good. Indeed, it is not instruction, to them, but an object of disgust or aversion.

It has been asked, Is not the practice of repeating together too noisy for a Sunday school, and will not the introduction of this plan bring disorder and confusion along with it? To this it may be replied, that the best things are often abused. But, so far from this plan being calculated to produce disorder and confusion, it has the effect of producing more order and regularity. Noisy, perhaps, it may be called; but it is the noise of children engaged in delightful occupations; the effect of a system which keeps every individual constantly employed, during the whole time he may be in school. And is it not delightful to hear the voices of many children united in singing or repeating hymns, or portions of scripture, or otherwise engaged in learning what will be useful to them in this world and the next? That this plan is not productive of silence, is allowed; but silence is neither necessary nor useful in a Sunday school. ' Even order, however important in itself, is in a Sunday school to be desired, chiefly for its connection with a future good, and there

fore should by no means be secured to the prejudice of further instruction.' All the arrangements of the school should, as far as possible, be made pleasant to the scholars; for, if children dislike the arrangements of the school, they will dislike the teacher who makes or enforces them, and will transfer their aversion to the instruction he may attempt to convey, and receive it with reluctance. And this may produce in their minds a distaste for all instruction, and a feeling of resistance to all authority.

For the reasons mentioned in the Report, external rewards of every kind have been entirely excluded from our system for several years; and as on our plan of instruction the children are kept constantly employed, they have no time in school for doing any thing deserving of punishment. For improper conduct in church, they are admonished, or suspended, according to our printed regulations. Our school room is at present very inconvenient; but we hope to be, ere long, more conveniently accommodated. The proper arrangement for a Sunday school, and indeed for any school, seems to be that which will place all the children so as to face the master's desk. Semicircular seats, facing the superintendent, with a seat in the centre for the teacher or monitor, seem to be the most suitable; but if these cannot be obtained, benches can be used, placed so as to form three sides of a square, and the teacher may sit in the centre of the other side.

REVIEWS.

A Grammar of the Greek Language; originally composed for the College School, at Gloucester. Recommended by the University at Cambridge, Massachusetts, to be used by those who are intended for that Seminary. Carefully Revised and Corrected by George Ironside, A. M. New-York. Duyckink and Long.

Elements of Greek Grammar; taken chiefly from the Grammar of Caspar Frederick Hachenberg. Adopted for Use in Yale College, New-Haven. Hartford. Huntington and Hopkins.

THE friends of Burke have remarked of that great man, that 'if, like the early sages of Greece, he were to be characterised by some peculiar sentiment, it should be that to which he desired to give the currency of a proverb-to innovate is not to reform.' We have often wished that those, who have in charge the affairs of the `republic of letters, would apply to the administration of their little

province the same practical maxim, which that illustrious statesman would have established as fundamental, in the vast and complicated concerns of human society. Sufficient attention has not been paid, we have often thought, to the plain distinction between the administration, as it may be called, of the republic of learning, and the various subjects of that administration; or, to drop the figure, between the mere modes or instruments, by which knowledge is to be communicated, and the constituent elements of knowledge itself. It is true, indeed, that in a certain sense an acquaintance with those instruments is a species of acquisition, which may be called knowledge; as the acquaintance of a mechanic with the tools of his trade may be called by the same name. But the instruments of knowledge, being only the means, and not the end of our pursuits in science and literature, must ever hold a subordinate rank to those objects which they enable us to attain.

This distinction, we think, has in no case been more overlooked, than in the study of languages. The ardent cultivation of ancient and modern literature in Europe, for a long time past, to say nothing of the constantly increasing intercourse of nations in consequence of commercial and other connections, has rendered it necessary to devote much more time to this study, than was required only half a century ago. The mercantile and many other classes must study the modern languages for purposes of business; while the scholar is also obliged to acquaint himself with them, because Latin, which was once the only medium of intercourse among the learned of different nations, is now less used than formerly for that purpose, and the numerous subjects of literature and science are more frequently discussed in the native languages of the writers. The business of authorship, too, has increased so rapidly, that it is quite impossible for any scholar, who would keep himself informed of the state of knowledge in the world, to wait till he can obtain translations, even if he could stoop to make use of those miserable substitutes for original works. The whole body of translators in Europe could not keep pace with his wants. A literary man, therefore, at the present day, must make himself acquainted with several of the modern languages, in order to possess himself of the same proportion of knowledge, and to sustain the same reputation which he formerly could do, by means of the Latin alone.

But this state of things is not practically attended with so many disadvantages, as might at first view be supposed; for the affinities of the European languages, the continual intercourse of nations, and the consequent diffusion of books and native teachers, render it almost as easy at the present day to acquaint oneself with several languages, as it formerly was with only one or two. We are still obliged, however, in making ourselves familiar with these in

struments of knowledge, to spend much valuable time, which was saved at a period when Latin alone would have sufficed. How far the world has gained by this change, is no easy matter to determine; for, however clear it may at first seem, that it has tended to the advancement of knowledge, yet some obvious facts, in the history of science and literature, will at least make us hesitate before we come to that conclusion. If, for example, Lord Bacon could not have published his works in any other language than English, at a period when the nations of Europe had but little intercourse with each other, who can venture to say, how many years the world would be at this moment behind that advanced state in which we find it? Or, to take a later period, if the immortal works of Newton could not have had the advantage of being diffused in the Latin language, and thus made known at once to the scientific world, what would probably have been the present state of mathematical science? But we forbear indulging ourselves in reflections, which are leading us aside from our subject.

The study of languages, then, in consequence of the actual state of the European nations, has acquired an importance, which it did not formerly possess; and this has naturally led to a good deal of speculation and experiment, in regard to the best modes of studying both the ancient and modern languages. It is not our intention, on the present occasion, to discuss this general question, which, indeed, may not admit of a decision in the abstract; for, though it should be conceded, that all languages ought to be studied in the same manner by persons of any given age, yet we should probably find, that those of mature years may advantageously take a different course from children; because their memory is less tenacious, their time more valuable, and they are under the necessity of making an immediate application of their knowledge, as fast as they can obtain it, to purposes of practical use.

All nations have adopted grammars as the first instrument of acquiring languages; and we believe this course to be a wise one. Not that we are of opinion, that either a boy or an adult should be kept constantly employed upon the rules, and exceptions to rules, of a heavy grammar, without exemplifying them by reading and translating the language he is to learn; but that a certain portion of those general results, called rules, which have been ascertained by actual observation of the phenomena of speech, may be advantageously used, even by young students, in learning foreign languages; just as we use the like general results in the acquisition of the sciences.

We are aware, that there is at the present day, (we speak without reference to any individuals in particular,) a certain popular cant on the subject of acquiring languages, and every other species