if we were careful not to waste a moment of our time. Consider; halfan-hour wasted every day, amounts, in the course of the year, to 182 hours. How much could be learned in that time that would be useful in after life. The time waster is often called to regret his folly, even as regards this world. He sees those who have been diligent, advanced before him, and he is thereby not unfrequently prevented from taking a position, in which he would have more opportunities of glorifying God, and benefiting his fellow creatures. Believe me, many lads and girls have lost good situations for want of knowledge which they might have acquired, had they not wasted their time by lying in bed, loitering on errands, or some other method of producing the same sad result. These are a few of the evils resulting from this bad habit. Now let me ask, Do you fear God? Can you then do that which displeases Him? Are you called by the name of Jesus, and do you love Him? Would you willingly do that which will cause men to speak reproachfully of Him, and to despise his blessed Gospel? Do you pray, "deliver us from evil, or, the evil one?" And will you habitually put yourself in his power by sinfully wasting precious time? Oh! no; I trust each one of you who feel guilty in this matter, will determine, by God's help, to do better for the future. If so, you will go with me while I point out some remedies by which this sad state of things may be rectified. I have said to waste time is a sin. The first step is to confess the sin, and seek for pardon. Indeed this is the first step a Christian should take, who wishes to overcome any sin, or to be delivered from any evil habit. Confession of sin, and prayer to God for pardon, constitute the first remedy I would propose. Go to your heavenly Father, and tell him your fault in X this particular. Ask pardon in your blessed Saviour's name. Remember that, if you are Christians, you may come boldly to a throne of grace, to obtain mercy and pardon for the past. In addition to pardon, seek help for the time to come. To sorrow for the past, must be joined determination to do better for the future. not determine however in your own strength. If you do, you will fail. But in the strength of the Lord, you may expect to overcome this, and every other evil habit. Do As a second remedy, I would suggest, Avoid whatever leads you to waste time. Let each one ask himself, or herself, "How do I most usually waste my time? If it be by lying in bed in the morning, determine overnight (and ask God to help you in keeping the determination,) that you will rise the very moment you are called. A better thing still, would be to form (with divine assistance) the habit of rising at the proper hour, without being called. Or do you waste time by loitering on your errands? Does a crowd in the street, or a shop window, present the temptation ? In the words of Holy Writ, I would say "Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away." If a crowd be in the street through which your way lies, better go up another, even if it be a little further. You may make up the time by a little quicker walking, and thus you would avoid the temptation. So with carelessly performed work, or reading in work-time. In the one case, do everything thoroughly well at once, watch against and resist the smallest tendency to slighting. In the other case, never open a book to read in during work hours, and leave off carrying one in your pocket, if that has been your custom. Do not be surprised if you meet with difficulty and oppoзition in doing all this. Satan never saw any one resolutely determining to leave off sin of any kind, without seeking to make the task as difficult as possible. He will suggest many plausible reasons, why these few minutes should not be actively employed; or why you should not rise quite so early, or work quite so diligently. Or he may kindle in you a strong desire to open a particular book, and read only for a minute or so. Do not listen to him. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Seek God's help, and He will make you strong to overcome every difficulty that lies in your way. Dear young friends; let me most earnestly and affectionately exhort you, from this time forth, to "turn over a new leaf," as far as the employment of time is concerned. Try to get a sense of the value of time. Labour to improve every minute. There is an old proverb with regard to money, "Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves," implying that those who look narrowly after small sums, will not be very likely to squander away large ones. We may apply this to time. Take care of the minutes. Watch over the odd quarters of hours. Try to fill them up with something useful. Remember, that for your use of time you are accountable to God. Every wasted minute, every lost half-hour, will tell on your position in the Kingdom of Glory. Those Christians who faithfully employ every moment of their time, will have a far higher place in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and wear a much brighter crown, than those who listlessly waste their precious hours. Think how short time is-how rapidly it passes away. A few short years at most, and all opportunity of getting good, or doing good, will be past for ever. But I must say a word in conclusion, to those who are not Christians. Dear young friends; what has been said does not apply to you in your present state; true, you waste your time, and it is sin in you as well as in others. God will reckon with you for it. Believe me, every wasted minute will add to the miseries of hell. But even if you were to amend in any, or all the particulars we have stated, what would it profit so long as you remain separated from Jesus Christ by unbelief? However diligently you may work, however early you may rise, however quick you may be on your errands, be assured, all your time is wasted until you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let the past years of your life be enough of wasted time; from this day forth begin to improve it. Whoever may try to persuade you to the contrary, it is a solemn truth, that so long as you continue unconverted, you do waste time, and that in the worst manner. I told young Christians their first step must be confession and prayer: I tell you unconverted young persons, your first step must be faith in Jesus. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Go to Him by faith, you will find Him ready to receive you, able to pardon you, willing to bless you. Go to Him, and receive pardon through his blood, and justification by his righteousness, and then seek as earnestly as possible to improve every moment of your time to his glory. So, when the Lord shall come to reckon with us for our talents, and among other things, to call us to account for our time, you may, with the other dear friends to whom I have been speaking, hear Him say, "Well done good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Gulielmus. [Our readers cannot fail to admire the simplicity of the above address, and the way in which the matter is brought to bear on the daily conduct of the children-principle and practice going hand in hand; whilst the subject is invested with sufficient interest to insure attention. We see in the lesson very little that calls for our usual criticism. We doubt the wisdom of the opening remark; it would have been better to dismiss the younger children, or to provide for them in another room, than thus to tell them (in effect) that they need not pay attention to what was about to be said. The great merit of the address-its simplicity-is also obscured in some few places, by the use of involved phrases and difficult idioms. Such expressions as, "the sinfulness of wasting increasing in proportion to the value of the thing wasted,"-"time-viewed in connection with the great purposes, &c." "lay themselves open to the assaults of the great enemy," "constitute the first remedy," are much better avoided; and such a teacher as W. H. C. would find no difficulty in conveying the same idea in a much simpler form. These, however, are quite exceptions to the general character of the address; and we most cordially acknowledge its excellence.-ED.] Plans and Progress. ESSAYS BY SUNDAY SCHOLARS. IT is generally admitted, that one of the greatest difficulties attending Sabbath school instruction, is getting pupils to think for themselves. And various are the modes adopted by the teacher to bring about this most desirable object. How often are his feelings pained by receiving very irrelevant replies to questions which, if carefully considered, must prove highly beneficial; and the benefit of which, we fear, is too often lost, through a want of the same. It becomes a question then, how can this habit of thoughtfulness best be cultivated in Sunday scholars ? And in reply, we beg to inform our fellow Sabbath school teachers that we have for some time past been engaged in distributing among our Sunday scholars, scraps of paper, with plain, fundamental subjects written on them (endeavouring to suit the subjects to the capacity of the scholar), which we require them to corroborate by passages of Scripture to be written on the blank side, and to be produced on the ensuing Sunday. After acting on this method for a short time, we found our pupils require a change; and (prompted by the many productions which are constantly emanating from persons in humble life), we have introduced essay writing. Subjoined are a few specimens of both text papers and essays. We do not bring them before the public on account of any literary merit they possess, but simply as proofs that with a little tact and perseverance on the part of the teacher, Sunday scholars may be made to think, and to test what they hear by the standard of God's Word. We can, as far as our experience will allow us, strongly recommend this mode of proceeding; and should any Sabbath school teacher, by adopting this plan in his class, bring his pupils to a habit of thinking and to a closer and more diligent study and searching the Scriptures, we shall be amply repaid for the effort. V. T. A. ESSAY ON THE IMPORTANCE OF By a Sunday Scholar. I will commence with a brief description of what a Sunday school is. It is a building erected for the purpose of imparting to the minds of the young who there assemble, a right knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, which, as we are told in the 2nd Epistle to Timothy, chapter iii. and 15th verse," Are able to make wise unto salvation," and which have been in many cases, through the medium of a Sunday scholar, a blessing to hundreds of families. The subject shall now be divided into three parts, to be considered:-1st. The necessity of it to the young. 2ndly. The benefit derived from such instruction individually and nationally. And 3rdly. The evil which may be traced to a want of the same. In the first place it is necessary to prepare the minds of the young, to guard against the manifold temptations of the world, into which ere long they must enter; to show them their lost and guilty state by nature, as well as their need of a Saviour; but above all to point out to them the way of everlasting life. The second point to be considered is the benefits derived from it individually and nationally. 1st. then, the young are taught the way to heaven, also to lead a honest and religious life. 2ndly. Such good principles, founded on the Holy Scriptures, are implanted, as, if they are imbibed, cannot fail to produce good effects which are never forgotten in the whole course of the believer's life; and thus one believer is made to be the author of the conversion of many others to the fold of Christ, that good Shepherd; and in time those individuals who have had the privilege of such an instruction, become a blessing to their parents and instructors, as well as ornaments to society. But what are the benefits derived nationally from Sabbath schools. 1st. The instruction there received tends in a great measure to diminish crime among the lower classes of people. 2ndly. Such good morals are established in their minds as make them to be true and loyal subjects, when in due time they arrive to manhood. The third part to be considered is the evil effects which may be traced to a want of Sabbath school instruc tion. These are many; the principal are lying, theft, Sabbath breaking, murder, taking God's name in vain, and many other heinous sins. Can it be believed that persons who commit such crimes have ever had the privilege of attending a Sunday school? No, it is impossible! For it is written in the 22nd. chapter of Proverbs and 6th "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." But perhaps some persons say, "There is no need of instructing children, for there is no direct command in the Bible to do it." Let such turn to the 6th of Ephesians, 4th verse,- "But ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." verse, TEXT PAPERS. E. K. Prove, by examples from the Old Testament, that the fervent prayers of the righteous availeth much with God. Abraham's pleading with God for Sodom and Gomorrah. Gen. xviii. 23. Abraham for Abimelech. Gen. xx. 17. The prayer of Eliezer, Abraham's servant. Gen. xxiv. 12. Hannah's prayer for a son. 1 Sam. i. The prayer of the prophet for Jeroboam. 1 Kings xiii. 6. Hezekiah's prayer. 2 Kings xix. 15-20. WILLIAM M. Passages which explain what the Christian's life should be. Matt. xxiv. 42; Rom. xiii. 13, 14; Ephes. iv. 1-4; v. 1—7. F. S. JUVENILE READINGS. IN the present day, when infidel and dangerous publications so much abound, it becomes all who are Sunday school teachers to do what they can to circulate truth. Many drops of water, we are told, form the ocean. There is a blessing promised in Isaiah xxxii. 20, to those who sow beside all waters. Surely this means that we should embrace every means for usefulness in our power. There is one plan by which a Sunday school teacher may endeavour to do this, which all perhaps may not have thought of. At the commencement of this year, finding the bound up volumes of the "Child's Companion," were very popular in the library, I enquired if any of my class would like to take in the Magazine monthly. Several, the next Sunday, expressed their wish to do so, and have continued up to the present time. "Please, is it the Magazine Sunday," is sometimes asked, ere the first Sunday in the month comes round. Of course the money is regularly paid, before the Magazine be delivered to its possessor. This can either be done on the Sunday afternoon, or in the week, if the teacher has the power of calling at the children's homes-I find it cheer fully paid, and sometimes beforehand. Some of my subscribers have gone to service, but they still continue to take it in; and as some of them are nursemaids, the benefit may, like the grain of wheat dropped into the ground, become extensively diffused. One is the teacher of an infant class in the morning; here again it is useful. Some who joined the class in March, were desirous to have the back numbers procured, and thus to have a perfect set. The parents also like the little books very much, and read them. Besides the "Child's Companion," published by the Religious Tract Society, there are many others. "The Children's Missionary Magazine" is only a halfpenny, I believe, a month. It is better to commence the plan by introducing juvenile Magazines, as the pictures and stories render them the most inviting. J. R. T. H. L. NORTHAMPTON CHURCH SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS' ANNIVERSARY. THE Anniversary Meeting of the Church Sunday School Teachers was held on Monday last. Accompanied by the clergy of their respective parishes, they attended Divine Service in the afternoon, at St. Katherine's Church, where an able and appropriate sermon was preached by the Rev. Hamlet Clarke. Adjourning from the Church to All Saints' Parochial School Rooms, upwards of two hundred teachers partook of tea, according to annual custom. The room was profusely hung with evergreens, and decorated most tastefully with banners and flowers. Rev. Chancellor Wales presided. Tea having been removed, cordial thanks were tendered to Rev. H. Clarke for his sermon, and the Rev gentleman, in return, addressed a few brief but highly practical observations to the meeting. Thanks were then given to the Rev. B. Guest, for the use of his Church. Mr. GUEST, in reply, drew the attention of the teachers to the fact that the contest of the Church lay between Popery, on the one hand, and Infidelity on the other, and that, if the teachers really meant to combat those enemies, they must be, as Mr. Clarke had truly said, teachers not only on the Sunday, but throughout the week. He alluded to the strong Protestant feeling everywhere evoked by the Papal Aggression. They had established a college of priests, who were at work, silently, secretly, but he feared with some progress, for he had known children to be taken from |