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tion of books on every subject are so numerous, | results, is of comparatively recent growth. It is whether it is necessary to keep up an expensive establishment for that which may be done, I believe, as effectively through the legitimate trade.

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION.

In Philadelphia one sees the national system of education in its most advanced form; and in this respect, I believe, America is setting an example to the world. The system aims at making education, up to a certain grade, free, efficient, non-sectarian, and universal.-"Our schools," says an able advocate, "are established for the masses, the commonwealth of mind, rich and poor alike-for the common benefit and the common protection, regardless of the accidents of life......And the system is to be judged, not by exceptional cases, but by the pervading atmosphere of intelligence and moral culture which it diffuses throughout society. Its blessings fall upon the community, not in interim showers, but, like the dews of heaven, unseen, unfelt, save in the freshness and beauty which they contribute to promote." It is supported by a tax which all are required to pay, because, it is rightly said, all reap the benefit. The last Report of the Board of Education contains the following admirable remarks on a nation's duty as regards the education of the young-remarks which deserve special attention in our own country at the present time :

"The education of the young is a subject, the importance of which has been so long tacitly acquiesced in, and so often ably argued, that a complete statement of its claims upon the consideration of the citizen is neither expected nor desired in this place. It is nevertheless true that too many who should understand and estimate it at its real value are so absorbed in the pursuit of wealth and the development of a material prosperity, that they not only fail to appreciate the public-school system, but regard the taxes levied for its support as onerous and excessive.

"Strangely enough, they forget that education is the essential preliminary to the material progress to which they devote themselves, and in which they so rejoice. The industrial activity of the day, with the material wealth in which it

due to the quickened energies of the inventive intellect; which are due, in their turn, to the increased and increasing intelligence of labour. Need it be added that the intelligence of labour is due entirely to the diffusion of education among the masses, which is peculiarly and preeminently the boast of modern times? The wealth, therefore, that groans under the burden of the school-tax, and would seek its diminution, or, at least, evade its legitimate increase, owes its existence to the education which it contemns.

"Intelligence and skill are no longer confined to classes, but are developed by our free system wherever they are found. The labourer sees his interest in the increased productiveness of machinery, and seeks to contrive it. The supposed conflicts of labour and capital are daily being reconciled; and not only are the known. resources of the community more carefully husbanded, but new means of wealth are opened up; so that the prospect is literally unbounded.

"When we consider, moreover, that the inventions of the past fifty years are but an earnest of those which are certain to be made as Science continues her investigations and dicoveries, we must acknowledge the obligation to provide with an enlarged liberality for the instruction of the masses, which, in the future as in the past, must precede as an indispensable condition all material progress and prosperity.

"Costly though it be, we thus see that education secures a direct pecuniary return that infinitely overbalances the original outlay.

Important as

"It is important that this argument, although it is doubtless the lower and utilitarian view of the question, should be urged persistently and forcibly upon the tax-payer. economy doubtless is in the administration of public affairs, there is no department where there is more danger of it being misapplied than in this. There are many things in which cheapness may constitute a recommendation; but teaching, which is, in truth, incapable of valuation by the rude and imperfect standards of the market, may be obtained at a cost so reduced as to deprive it of all its worth, and render it a source of injury rather than of benefit. Let it be hoped, then, that henceforward the low cost of our school

system shall no longer be its vaunt, but let our aim rather be to increase its efficiency, its thoroughness, its comprehensiveness, in the confidence that, however much it may cost, the community will not only be better, more intelligent and happier, but in the end actually richer, through its

agency.

"Another view in close connection with the foregoing is, that the continued prosperity of a community depends not only on the multiplication of its resources, but also upon the intelligence and skill with which those resources are managed and distributed. Of a surety, education, and education universally and freely diffused, is essential to secure this intelligence and skill. Especially is this so in a country which, like our own, assumes to be self-governing.

range of study as broad, nay, in some respects even broader, than that pursued in our High School."

These are weighty words. They go to the root of the matter, and state with all plainness a nation's duties. Education in these days is power. Brute force and mere material resources, however great, are comparatively valueless without it. We see the want of education among ourselves in those pernicious "strikes" which are shaking the very fabric of society. Were the masses properly educated, "strikes" would be unknown, for it only requires a sufficient amount of intelligence to see their utter folly and to raise the workingclasses above them.

The educational system of the United States is thoroughly non-sectarian, and yet Christianity is not ignored. One of the fundamental rules provides that, "At the opening of each session of the schools at least ten verses of the Bible shall be read, without note or comment, to the pupils,

"The complicated relations between capital and labour are not only difficult to comprehend, but they give rise, if not understood, to those ignorant and dangerous jealousies between the rich and the poor, which, in France to-day, are sap-by the principal; or, in his absence, by one of the ping the foundations of society.

"Educate the masses, and you reduce the number of the poor by teaching labour how to make itself rich. Educate the masses, and you teach the poor that capital is their best friend, without which their estate would be tenfold more wretched.

"Government, too, is a science which only intelligence can master. Good government is the only security for prosperity; and what hope of good government can there be, with us, without the widest diffusion of education among those masses who at last shape and control the administration of its every department.

"Were there time, these arguments could be enforced in detail, so as to insure conviction in every doubting mind; but enough has been said to suggest the line of thought. Enough has been said to show that education, not merely in its elementary, but in its higher branches, should be provided at least to that point where the youthful mind can be safely trusted to follow up and perfect its own development. It is a mistake to suppose that the rudiments are all for which a free system should make provision. We ought rather to emulate our German contemporaries, who, in their burgher schools, prescribe a

assistants. A suitable hymn may also be sung." The existence of God, his universal sovereignty, our obligation to hear and obey his laws revealed in the Bible, are thus laid down as a firm foundation in the mind of every child. He is taught to look upon the Bible as the basis of his faith and the grand source alike of intellectual enlightenment and material prosperity in his country.

I visited the schools of all grades, from the lowest to the highest. In the thoroughness of their training, and in their adaptation to the requirements of a great Christian country, they could scarcely be surpassed. The Normal School especially, in which nearly six hundred females are being educated as teachers, excelled anything I had ever seen. By the courtesy of the principal, I was permitted to enter every class-room and hear the lessons and examinations. The teachers, with one or two exceptions, are females, and the instruction is chiefly oral. The teacher stands, uses no book, has the whole class under command, questions each pupil in turn, or at will. The answers must be given promptly and clearly. There is no hesitation, no waiting. I heard examinations in history, geography, arithmetic, algebra; and the way in which the questions were put, and the answers given, showed that both

teachers and pupils were thoroughly trained. The classes pass from teacher to teacher every hour. It struck me, however, that the strain upon the teacher's mind must be very severe. She is compelled to conduct five distinct classes, upon different subjects or different departments of the same subject, each day.

The pupils were summoned to the public hall half an hour before the usual time, that I might have an opportunity of seeing and hearing their exercises in concert. They first read together a few verses from the New Testament; and they read with such precision of emphasis, and such accuracy of expression, as to make it manifest to every thoughtful listener that they fully understood the sense. Then they sung a hymn with great taste. Two of the girls next recited select pieces of English; and afterwards a number, at my request, engaged in gymnastic exercises, which form a part of their regular school training. The postures were admirably chosen, and nothing, in my opinion, could be better adapted to develop the physical powers and preserve the health, while at the same time giving grace to every movement. At the close I was asked to address them; which I did with a great deal of pleasure. It is not surprising that under such an admirable system the highest qualities of mind and heart should be brought into full play, and that the principal should be able to report that, "Correct deportment and a proper regard for right have generally been manifested; evidently the result of sound moral principle, based upon the religious sentiment which seems to pervade the school and mould the actions of the pupils."

I also inspected the High School for boys, and found it equal in efficiency, though somewhat different in the mode of instruction followed. The instruction is thoroughly practical. Every Every department is conducted with a view to life-work. No expense is spared in providing the highest talent and most complete apparatus for training the young to take their places, and fill them honourably and successfully, in the commonwealth. A basis is surely being laid by the educational system of the United States for greatness, grandeur, and stability, such as no nation has ever yet attained to.

AMERICAN MISSIONS.

The missionary meeting in Dr. Boardman's church was the last I attended in Philadelphia, and it was one of the most gratifying. I saw there, with equal surprise and delight, a crowd of the leading people of the city assembled to hear a simple address upon missions. It showed me how thoroughly the American Churches are imbued with the spirit of the Gospel, and it indicated one secret of that wonderful success which those Churches have achieved in their missionary operations both at home and abroad. In fact they have long come to regard Christian work and mission work as correlative terms. The one

implies the other. Mission work is the natural and necessary action of a living Church; and it will be extended and successful just in proportion to the amount of inherent life. In this respect also America is setting an example to the Christian world. When in Pittsburg, my kind friend the Rev. Dr. Howard put into my hand an interesting pamphlet of his, recently published, which contained the following graphic sketch of the origin and progress of Presbyterian Missions. Its perusal may serve to stimulate some in the mother country :—

"Since the work of Foreign Missions has been conducted by the General Assembly, there has been a steady, healthy, and most encouraging growth. From one mission in 1833, we have grown, in less than forty years, to thirteen missions; from one station in 1833, to over two hundred stations in 1872; from five or six missionary labourers in 1833, to nearly eight hundred, one hundred and twenty-eight of whom are ordained missionaries, in 1872; and from a contribution amounting to a little over $3,500, to a contribution amounting to nearly $334,000, of which about $24,000 were raised by the children of the Church.

"Less than forty years ago, the Presbyterian Church in the United States held up, by a single sick, albeit a heroic, faithful, resolute hand, a solitary torch of gospel light in all the eastern part of the vast continent of Asia, and one other by an equally brave and devoted hand on the continent of Africa: now, though we cannot say of our Presbyterian missions as some one has

said of the British Empire, 'the sun never sets upon it,' yet we can say that the sun as he rises in the east scarcely greets the land until he finds our mission in Japan; then, as he pursues his western way, he looks down at our mission at Shanghai, with its press of movable Chinese type, first used by our missionaries in that vast empire, and which is destined to revolutionize the art of printing in its original home; then a little further he finds Ningpo, with its numerous Presbyterian congregations, and then Tungchow, with its deep religious interest, and Pekin, the capital of the empire, with its earnest labourers and a govern- | ment college, at the head of which is a Presbyterian minister, who went abroad as a Presbyterian missionary; a little further west, and considerably to the south, he beholds our mission at Canton, with the veteran Happer, from amid our own western Pennsylvanian hills, at its head; and then, as he continues his journey to the west he meets our missions in Siam and among the Laos; and presently his glowing eye lights upon that glorious cluster of missions in Northern India, the first-born of the whole family, with its teeming presses, its schools, its churches, its native pastors and native teachers. He scarcely loses sight of these till he finds our Persian mission, founded by the American Board—a mission most interesting, as being among a people who, as it seems to me, are the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. The sun still continues his course, passing over the ruins of buried empires amid the mountains of Lebanon and on the shore of the Great Sea, and on the borders of the favoured

land where Christianity was cradled looks down upon our prosperous mission in Syria.

"But even yet he has not seen all that God is permitting our beloved Church to do in this great behalf. As he pursues his westward way, he observes our quiet but earnest and faithful labourers in Italy, Belgium, France; and as he passes où, glancing far to the south, he finds that our Church has representatives among the dusky peoples of Africa, in Liberia, among many of her towns, at the Gaboon river, and on the island of Corisco. And now, leaving the Old World and crossing the Atlantic, among the first things that meet him as he gazes down upon our own Continent, are our missions in North and South America-among the descendants of the 'Friend of God' in New York, and among the Portuguese and Spanishspeaking populations of Brazil, the United States of Colombia, and Mexico. And then, as he passes on to his setting, he beholds our faithful missionaries labouring to christianize our Indian tribes, the Senecas, the Chippewas, the Omahas, the Creeks, the Seminoles, and others; and finally, as he completes his circuit of the heavens, he looks upon our Chinese mission in California.

"Now are not these wonderful things? Has there not been marvellous and encouraging growth? Less than forty years ago a little spark of holy fire was struck in the Old Second Presbyterian Church down here in Diamond Alley [Pittsburg], and, behold, it has kindled a flame that almost encircles the globe! It is the Lord's doing, and marvellous in our eyes." Such is Christian work in America.

LIZZIE IRVINE:

A YOUNG IRISH SABBATH-SCHOOL TEACHER.

(Concluded.) HE read her Bible very much. She read also other good books of a stimulating character, especially religious biographies. Those she did read she went over carefully, and sometimes again and again. "M'Cheyne's Memoir and Remains," and "Rutherford's Letters" seemed her choicest favourites. She liked also the lives of Payson, Hewitson, Adelaide Newton, Mrs. Wilson, and Mrs. Winslow. She told me she had derived much benefit from Boardman's "Higher Christian Life." She had

been taught by the Spirit before she saw the book that she must look to Jesus for sanctification as well as justification; that we are not only made alive, but kept alive, by faith in Christ. But she saw this more clearly through reading Boardman. From the time of her conversion she had ever been aiming at a closer walk with God. Sitting outside in the summer nights, and looking up to the clear moon and stars, she used to ask God to make her holy and Christ-like. At length she was enabled to realize much of the love of Christ, and

to have communion with him about nearly everything, small and great, temporal and spiritual. She seemed to live almost constantly in his presence, not only when praying to him, or working for him, but even when sitting-to sit before him, and enjoy his company, as that of a dear friend, when not a word was spoken. And I suppose this is the secret not only of a higher Christian life, but of the highest Christian life. She told me she had been enabled to cast herself upon Jesus for holiness in her every-day walk, and to expect him to work out all his good pleasure in her, in a way she had not formerly done. Casting herself upon Jesus, seemed one of her favourite phrases. She wished to hang upon him hour by hour, and moment by moment. She said she had derived much benefit from 1 Corinthians i. 30: “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." Also from Psalm lv. 22: "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee." She mentioned what delight she had in meditating on Exodus xiv. 14: "The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace." But perhaps her favourite text in her latter days was Hebrews vii. 25: "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Some of these texts are noticed in the following letters.

She refers to this subject of a deeper work of grace in the heart and life, in a letter to her brother, who was a student of theology, dated January 1870 :

"......But let me not dream over it in that way; it was so ordered by Jesus. I do love to watch the guidings of his hand. I feel assured, if we watch, we shall see him both in minute and great things. At first the dealings often appear dark. Looking longer, we discern the all-wise, unerring Hand making all things work together for good.

We are

"Dear W. J., when we reflect we are both travelling Zionward, it is really humbling how little we talk of it by the way, and urge each other forward. almost unacquainted in that way as to what progress we are making, or our experience in the Christian life. I often think, if we told it more, we might be mutual helps. Many a sorrow and joy might be sympathized with. We meet with both in our heavenly way. My path has been watered with many a tear. I've had inward and outward trials, but I am sure all was needed.

"Dear W. J., surely we should aim high in the Christian life-to live holy. I think there is a secret of sweet attachment to Jesus, a close acquaintance and intimacy with him, that some Christians attain. 'Tis then the believer looks down into his loving heart, feels its beatings towards him, shares his secrets. (The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.) The affections are strongly entwined around him. He learns to copy his example, and lives a holy life. Surely, W. J., you and I may attain to this. It is thus our efforts for the salvation of others will be successful. Thus

yours will be a successful ministry. To attain to it we must be much in prayer-dwell much in communion with Jesus, not only morning and night, but often should our thoughts and desires be stealing after Jesus in ejaculatory prayer. Hewitson said, 'A converted soul should never rest till every thought, word, and action was in communion with Jesus.' When I think of those who have shone brightly in the Christian life, and look at myself, I am often ready to despair of ever being holy. Were he not mighty, I could never think it of such as I am; but he is; and I tell him I expect him to make me holy and useful. He is the same Saviour as in days gone by, and can make you a holy and successful minister. Oh, what a high privilege is yours! What noble employ, to be an ambassador for Christ! It was surpassing love that designed this honour for you. Surely we should be loyal to him who has loved us so well. We are now commencing another year. How quickly time is passing! Soon we will be landed in eternity; then let us, at the beginning of this new year, afresh dedicate ourselves to Jesus, and take as our motto, Live for eternity. Soon nothing else will satisfy. Let us totally consecrate ourselves to him and his service. What precious souls we may be the instruments of winning! Many opportunities may offer if we embrace them. 'Tis glorious work. The joy of winning souls is deep and real.”

In a letter to the young lady who taught her French and drawing, written nearly at the same date, she says:—

"MY DEAR MISS S.,-I love to think our friendship will not be for a little while, and then have an end for ever. No; though our paths here may yet be far severed, we shall be one in Jesus for ever, and meet at home never more to part. All our ways are in the hands of Jesus. I often think what a dark path it would be, how sad to look forward, were we not sure of such a guide,-none else but Jesus, all-wise and ever-loving. I had some thoughts lately on a verse that appeared to me most wonderful: The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace' (Ex. xiv. 14). The Lord goeth forth to the battle for us, and we may be quiet. Inward corruptions are great. The war with the flesh is terrible; but the Lord shall fight for us, and we shall overcome. Jesus has prayed that we might be sanctified, and we shall be sanctified wholly. Our strong enemy would tear us from the side of Jesus if he could; but our Royal One won't give us up. He fights for us.

"In temporal things we do not know what is best for us, but we give our ways into his hand. He fights for us.

"In our longings to bring immortal souls to Jesus, the enemy will oppose us; but the Lord shall fight for us, and make us the instruments of winning many. The barriers sometimes appear many between us and our heavenly home; but Jesus ever fights for us, and we may hold our peace. Strange to think, wonderful love,

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