teachers of Sunday Schools, conducted by Clergymen and Members of the Church of England, has been long and urgently felt. The great deficiency of Church Sunday Schools in many populous districts, the difficulties frequently encountered in establishing such institutions, and also the lamentable condition of many already in existence, can scarcely be contemplated by any sincere Churchmen without regret. In many existing Sunday Schools, the teachers having a knowledge of such methods of instruction and discipline alone as their own short experience may have led them to adopt, and not possessing facilities (of which, if furnished, they would thankfully avail themselves) for becoming acquainted with, and profiting by, the more matured plans of others, are discouraged at the comparatively fruitlessness of their exertions, and too often tempted to withdraw themselves in despair from institutions which appear to languish on in a bare existence. It is in order to meet, to mitigate, and, as far as possible, to overcome these evils, that a considerable portion of the Christian Guardian will be devoted specifically to this sacred and important branch of our national education; in the hope of increasing the number and efficiency of Sunday Schools, and of affording improved facilities, in tho Established Church, for spreading spiritual instruction amongst those classes of the rising generation who appear especially to need it. There are doubtless in our Church, in the present day, many pious persons whose thoughts are being directed to the importance of District Visiting and Sunday-school training, and there are others who have been long engaged in the practical working of both plans. Those persons are not sufficiently acquainted with each other-some medium of communication between them is essentially wanting. A Magazine suggests itself as such medium, and in this age, at least, as the most obvious and convenient one. And not only is it hoped that such a work may, in the hands of God, be the means of improving the minds of such persons, thereby rendering them more efficient; but also that, by affording direction and information on District Visiting, and on the discipline and management of schools, it will assist the efforts of the clergy, conduce to raise and multiply those valuable institutions throughout the land, and furnish additional moral checks to the flood of profaneness and vice which threatens to overwhelm our nation. It is intended that this Magazine shall be still under the direction of Clergymen and Laymen of the Church of England; and that it shall include every variety of useful information particularly connected with the institutions above referred to:-Statistical Accounts, illustrative of their progress in this and other countries-Direction to the inquiries of Correspondents seeking information-Original Correspondence-Biblical Illustrations-Biographical Notices of Eminent Individuals— Anecdotes-Hints to District Visitors, Superintendents and TeachersUseful Extracts from the Journals and Notes of District and School Visitors-Review of suitable Books-Missionary and other Religious Intelligence. |