in sin, an enquiry as to whether they had ever attended a Sunday School, melted them at once; and he related several instances of this, from his own experience.

8. B. POWER, Esq., (of the Deputation) supported the resolution: he observed that teachers were very susceptible of discouragement; in order to cheer them in their arduous labour, he mentioned several cases, shewing that their work was not in vain; the resolution having been carried, the gallant CHAIRMAN Concluded the business with some appropriate remarks.

After singing a hymn the benediction was pronounced, and the Meeting separated.

We hope to record a few more such Meetings, and we trust that our friends, the friends of schools in Chelsea, will follow up the proceedings of this Meeting, intended to stir them up with something practical. The Chelsea schools should join together for the purpose of Lectures and Conversational Meetings, and classes bearing directly on the work of Sunday school teaching.

NORWICH CHURCH OF ENGLAND SUN

DAY SCHOOL UNION.

THE following is the Report of the Conversational Meeting of the Norwich Church of England Sunday School Union, in connexion with our Institute. Our readers will note for themselves the points of agreement between the London and the Norwich teachers. The latter part of the 11th Proposition is an important one, and should be the rule in every Sunday school possessing a library.

The 12th contains an excellent suggestion, and worthy the consideration of managers of schools in moderately sized towns; such a library well managed, would be of great service to the teachers, the parents, and the scholars; we should like to see our Norwich friends take it up, work it well, and report the results.

At a Conversational Meeting held at St. Stephen's school room, on Tuesday evening, 11th November, 1851.

The Rev. J. S. Osborne in the Chair.

The subject of Sunday School Libraries was discussed, and it was the opinion of the Meeting :

1. That a library is a most desirable appendage to every Sunday school.

2. That in the formation of a library, efforts should be used to raise special subscriptions for the purpose, and that application should be made to the Christian Knowledge and Religious Tract Societies, for a grant of books, through the Sunday School Institute, if the school be in connection with it.

3. That additions should be made to the library as often as the funds of the school will admit of it; and that the friends of the school should be encouraged to present books of a useful nature, to its library, even though they should not be very modern.

4. That no book should be admitted into the library without the approbation of the Clergyman connected with the school, or of some other person appointed for the purpose.

5. That all the books should be of a decidedly religious character, fit for reading on the Sabbath day.

6. That when practicable, the books should be distributed on a week day rather than on the Sunday, and that a librarian should be appointed to take charge of them.

7. That the library should contain books suited to children of all ages and of both sexes.

8. That all the books should be duly classified; to mark those which are suitable either for s boy or girl, or child of any particular age.

9. That a correct catalogue should be kept of the library, from which the elder children might be allowed to select books, if they desire it; but that in general, the volumes should be given out at the discretion of the teacher of the class to which the child belongs. 10. That no payment be required from the children for the use of the library.

11. That all the teachers should be entitled to the use of the library; and that it should be open to any persons of good character, who have been scholars in the school, and who left it with credit,

12. That punctuality in returning books and taking care of them whilst in course of reading, should be strictly enforced.

13. That in large places where there is a branch of the Sunday School Institute, it is most desirable that there should be a central library, open to all the schools in connection with such branch.

FUNDS.

Our receipts during the past quarter in fresh Subscriptions and Donations, we thankfully record as below: it would help the Committee in this necessary part of their labours, if they were made acquainted with the names of benevolent persons, to whom application for pecuniary aid might be attended with success.

have been, a Tract in a neat wrapper (for distribution by Sunday school teachers in their visits on canvassing for scholars), entitled "Come to the Sunday school;" it is written in a plain style, so as to be intelligible to the minds of the class for whose benefit it was written; it is finding a ready sale, and we have received many testimonies (from persons well qualified to give an opinion) to its fitness for the purpose for which it is intended to be used.

"A New Year's Greeting to Sunday School Teachers, by a Fellow Labourer,"

Notices

LIFE OF FRANCIS, LORD BACON, by the Rev. Joseph Sortain, Fcp. 8vo., 300 pp. Religious Tract Society. WE are not aware whether Biography be a new field of Mr. Sortain's labours, but if so, we sincerely hope it is one in

is also on sale. Clergymen and Superintendents will find this a suitable present for their teachers; like the preceding Tract, it is sold at a cheap rate, in order to ensure for it a wide circulation, and is designed to lead those with whom we are co-workers to an exercise of self-examination, and to prayer for greater grace to be bestowed upon them during the year upon which they have just entered.

With the New Year commences a re-arrangement of Lessons, fully explained in the remarks which have been widely distributed; the permanent feature is the division of the Old Testament, the first of which, the Patriarchal Age, is proposed for the Old Testament classes for the year 1852. The Gospel History has been re-cast. Lesson Papers, in unison with the above, have been printed.

The first half-year's Notes on the Patriarchal Age, and the first Quarter's Notes on the Gospel History, are ready for delivery.

A TEACHER'S MEMORANDUM BOOK, suitable for any year, has been published.

A cheap ALMANACK for scholars, is also one of the fresh issues.

The series of Fifty-two Lessons, is still provided for those who consider a short course desirable. Such briefly is the provision the Committee has made for the Teachers for the ensuing year; they have spent much thought and labour on this work; they are conscious that what has been done is susceptible of improvement; and they will thankfully receive suggestions, which our friends may rest assured will not be passed over without serious consideration.

of Books.

which we may often meet with him again, for he has executed his task in a way which cannot fail to excite the same desire in all his readers.

The subject of the Memoir is one of surpassing interest. Cold must be the

heart, and grovelling the intellect, which rest unmoved by the towering genius of Lord Bacon, and feel no interest in the career of one of those few great men who arise at rare intervals to take a giant stride in the path of human progress.

Who that feels his own spirit yearning after that progress, not selfishly, but socially, does not turn with deep sympa. thy to such records as he can meet with, of the inner life of those great leaders?

And what is the result in this remarkable instance? The main features are well known; but the lights and shadows of the painful history are here thrown out in deeper relief. Mr. Sortain feels, as he ought to feel, intense admiration for the intellect which, amidst a variety of occupations and cares, could successfully accomplish such gigantic achievements; and his readers will find no little-minded carping or petty depreciation. But a Christian Biographer dare not "give flattering words;" he, of all men, must eschew hero-worship, and weigh his fellowcreatures (be their standing what it may) in the balances of the Sanctuary : and it is just this courageous treatment of his subject which we admire in Mr. Sortain; whilst not content with displaying, in its true colours, Bacon's moral degradation, and the ruinous fall which he encountered, he leads us to investigate the internal elements of weakness (the clay mingled with the iron) which left an intellectual giant powerless against temptation.

Not the least painful part of the sad story is to see how clearly and how wisely Bacon could measure and declaim against the evils to which he yielded himself a willing victim. We can use no gentler language; it is almost with loathing that we read the servile language in which he seeks the gratification of his ambition, the depths to which he was willing to stoop, if by any means he might gain a step in the ladder of political or legal eminence.

Let us add, moreover, that there is

clear evidence as to the soundness of Bacon's Christian knowledge. The question whether the Socinian can claim him as a fellow, is surely settled for ever, by the noble confession of faith here given us.

Is the question raised, how a man, who saw so clearly and so justly, could walk in the paths which Bacon trod, and, with a clear perception of eternal truth, live for the world alone; we reply, that the distinction between the head and the heart, is as old as the Fall; and Bacon adds but one, (however illustrious) instance of the possibility of living in diametrical opposition to the voice of conscience and the dictates of the understanding.

Most earnestly do we beg our young friends to ponder this truly useful Memoir, if they desire to avoid the shoals and rocks that stud the course of the aspiring; and to unite with intellectual activity that moral consistency and strength, without which there is no true, lasting excellence.

We wish we could go as far as Mr. Sortain does, in the hope that Bacon's fall was to him a true blessing, leading him to look to that Saviour, whose nature and work he had so long intellectually understood, but whose love had not been to him the pearl of great price, or the object of his desires; but it was with a feeling of oppressive gloom, that we came to the last closing scene. However, let charity draw the veil over the sad retrospect, and hope supply the consolatory thought, that Bacon died in faith, resting on the atonement of a Redeemer.

DR. ROBINSON'S GREEK LEXICON TO THE NEW TESTAMENT, condensed for Schools and Students. Fep. 8vo. pp. 518.

AN extract or two from this valuable work, will give a much better idea of its nature, and recommend it much more effectually, than we ourselves can

do. It will be found a very useful addition to the appliances of a Teacher's Class for the study of Scripture, throwing light on many doubtful passages, the obscurity of which is mainly owing to the difficulty of rendering Greek into English idioms with perfect accuracy.

The inflection of the principal parts of all verbs, in any degree irregular, is given; and in their compounds a reference made to the simple root. Contractions and anomalous forms in nouns are noted; and peculiarities in the declension of some compound pronouns. The derivations of words, the significations arising principally therefrom, and the construction, are carefully attended to; and the statement made in the Preface, that the particles had received the large share of attention which they deserve, appears fully borne out in the body of the work.

Our extracts, of course, can be but brief, and therefore to a certain extent, imperfect specimens.

Babús, eîa, ú, deep, profound; e.g. To opéap, John iv. 11: metaphorically

v Babe, Acts xx. 9;-Luke xxiv. 1, opopov Baléos, literally, deep twilight, i.e. earliest dawn, answering to λlavπρωΐ, Mark xvi. 2. So τὰ βαθέα τοῦ Zarava, the deep things, or secret purposes of Satan, Rev. ii. 24.

σφαγή, ής, ἡ (σφάζω), slaughter; i. e. of animals for food or in sacrifice, Acts viii. 22. In Rom. viii. 6, ŵs πрóẞата opayîs, i. e. for slaughter. In James ν. 5, εθρέψατε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν ὡς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ opayîs, i. e. (like beasts) in the day of slaughter without care or forethought.

One great feature of the value of the work, in our eyes, is the number of examples given.

THE SYNOPTICAL DICTIONARY of Scripture Parallels and References. 8vo. pp. 302. Hamilton and Adams. WE feel thoroughly convinced of the truth of the Author's statement, that this work is "the result of laborious

Prophecies respecting Christ.

The Prophets foretold concerning the Messiah,

His being the Son of God. Ps. ii. 7. Isai. ix. 6. Fulfilled. Luke i. 32-35. Matt. iii. 17: xvii. 5. (&c.) See Christ is God.

His being born of the seed of the woman. Gen. iii. 15. Fulfilled. Matt. i. 18. Gal. iv. 4. See Human nature of God.

Our readers will thus see the great assistance they will derive in this book in studying subjects of Scripture.

BIBLE EXERCISES; a Sabbath

Recreation for Young People. Square 16mo., pp. 122. J. F. Shaw, Southampton Row.

"THE initial letters of each answer form a word, which is the solution of the 'whole.' By reference to the Key the plan will be perfectly clear.

"The separate parts of each should be asked as Questions for a Bible Exercise; and, as Scripture References are fully given in the Key, it is hoped they may be conducive to an increased interest in, and acquaintance with, the Word of God."

Such has been the excellent design of the author of this little work, and we can confidently recommend the result of his labours, as he has avoided any thing approaching to a light treatment of the Sacred Volume.

PAPERS FOR THE SCHOOLMASTER. October, November, and December. Simpkin and Marshall.

WE are persuaded, that no recommendation of ours is needed for this old and valued friend. It is as good as ever, the Devotional selection evidently made with the judgement and taste of one who enjoyed his work. May it prove a profitable companion to numbers of God's children through the coming year.

THE HISTORY OF A FAMILY

BIBLE. A Tale of the American
War. 12mo. pp. 150. By Mrs. Best.
Shaw, Southampton Row.

THIS is a pleasing tale, suitable for a present to our elder scholars, especially girls. The striking discovery of the bank notes in the Bible is vouched for as an actual occurrence.

MARGARET BROWNING; or Trust in God. 12mo. pp. 178. Religious Tract Society.

WE do not know when we have read a story-book more to our mind than this. It is really a charming picture of the effects of true religion in young and old, rich and poor: and must melt many a young heart in thankfulness and faith.

THE NEW CASKET. Fcp. 8vo. pp.

188. Coloured Engravings. Religious Tract Society.

THIS is described as kr A Gift Book for all Seasons," and most justly so, for its elegant illustrations and gay outward appearance, will gain many suffrages, which the contents will amply justify, by their interest and simple unaffected piety.

ROME, its Edifices and its People. By the Author of Athens. Fep. 8vo. Pp. 246.

THIS is also an excellent present for young folks, conveying much useful information respecting the great city of the Cæsars, brought down also to modern times; the temporary fall of the Papacy in 1848, and the Pope's subsequent return. It would be a good addition to a teacher's library, as also throwing light on many allusions and illustrations in scripture.

We cannot but thank the Committee of the Tract Society, for such publica