scholars, chairs for teachers, &c. Already the roof is on the buildings, and the tradesmen hope to give possession in April at latest.

In

every respect we consider this an excellent example of combined church and Sabbath school premises at a moderate cost. The land and buildings complete are estimated to cost £4700. Towards that sum a grant of

NEW WESLEYAN CHURCH AND SABBATH SCHOOL BUILDINGS, FLEMING STREET, GOVAN.

The

£100 will be obtained on condition that no debt remains. Building Committee have already promises amounting to £2500, leaving £1:00 still to be raised. We would most cordially commend this enterprise to all friends of the Sabbath school. Many, we doubt not, will be glad to assist in clearing off the debt of such a useful building. Voluntary contributions would greatly cheer the hearts of those who have gone so heartily into a work that is so certain to benefit the rising

Passage leading to Hall and Church.

Entrances to Church and Hall, Fleming Street.

HHHH Rooms on Second Floor available for Senior Classes and Church-officer's House.

GG

J

Passage leading to Upper Class-rooms and to the Gallery of Church.

Entrance to Gallery of Church.

generation. Mr. James Hunter, 27 Jamaica Street, who is treasurer to the Building Committee, will thankfully receive and acknowledge any donations.

The Mental Peculiarities of Childhood in Relation to Religious Teaching.

By J. S. CRICHTON, M.D., Arbroath.

In the following remarks I purpose giving the results of my own observation and experience on this subject, in the hope that they may be useful to our younger Sabbath school teachers. I must crave the indulgence of those who are older and more experienced, if much of what I say appears to them very trite and commonplace.

Those engaged in the religious education of the young are apt to fall into two errors in regard to the mental capacity and the mental peculiarities of children. On the one hand, they are very apt to forget how very smart, acute, and intelligent the little things are, and how they understand many subjects in a way of which we never dream. It is possible to be too childish even for children to relish. If what we tell them be true to our own feeling and life experience, most of it will find an answering echo in their minds and hearts; for, after all, men are but children of larger growth. But, on the other hand, (and it is this side of the question which is to engage our attention just now,) we are apt to overlook the mental peculiarities of childhood; and thus much of our work misses its mark, and valuable opportunities of doing good are, to a large extent, lost.

I. The first mental peculiarity of childhood which I would notice is the want of the power of sustained attention which comes with advancing years and mental culture. Very eagerly and with much intensity the little ones throw themselves into a subject; but they soon tire, and close

and unflagging attention can only be maintained by varying the work, and not dwelling too long upon one thing. I have known of Sabbath schools where this was so far lost sight of that the whole Sabbath school work was prolonged to an undue length. This is a mistake which tells both on scholars and teacher. The scholars get wearied, and are apt to look upon the school with disgust and aversion; and the young teacher runs dry, and has either to stand and look at his class, or to speak against time, which is one of the most wearisome and unprofitable of human occupations. Again, the lessons should be short and varied, so that the teacher changes to another subject before the fresh, eager interest in the first is exhausted. If the lesson, for any reason, requires to be longer than usual, it should be varied with a brisk fire of questions, or an anecdote, or mayhap a touch of quiet humour, so that the minds of the children are not allowed to wander. From this incapacity for prolonged attention it also follows that there is no use preaching to children in the ordinary sense of the term,-i. e., addressing them with elaborate arguments or long-drawn appeals, however earnest. A good story or a telling illustration, driven home by a single pointed sentence, will make more impression, and be more certainly carried off and remembered afterwards. I have often heard a very good illustration or a wellchosen incident lost entirely by a spun-out application, the little ones all alert during the giving of the illustration; but their attention was away to twenty different things before the point to be illustrated was half brought out. The recognition of this principle has an important bearing also on the discipline of a class. If we push through our work briskly, and maintain the unbroken interest of the children, there will be little need for discipline of any kind. If, on the other hand, we are wearisome and prolix, almost no discipline will make our young charge keep quiet. A Sabbath school teacher can never afford to be slow or prosy. He must be brisk, lively, pithy, and, above all things, interesting.

2. The next mental peculiarity of childhood to which I would refer is the remarkable retentiveness of the memory which characterizes early life. The instruction we give, the lessons we teach, and the impressions we make, will all be indelibly imprinted on the tablets of the child's memory. As long as life lasts, the truths we have taught, and the impressions we have made on the plastic growing mind will remain. Accident and disease will obliterate later impressions, but these will be unaltered. Eternity itself will not wear out the lines our hands have graven. Knowledge and experience gained later in life may be lost, but that which we have imparted never will. The later pages of the history of the development and progress of a human soul may be blotted or obscured, but the earlier pages will remain as vivid as ever—will perhaps gain in distinctness of outline as the years pass away. Your work can never be wholly lost. Fruitless as it may appear now, the seed you have sown will remain in the soil, and who can tell under what influences of shower or sunshine it may in after days bring forth the fruit for which you have, with heavy hearts, laboured and prayed, as it seemed, all in vain? The sowing is ours-the growth and the rich harvest-time we must, in faith and patience, leave with God. As a distinguished pro

fessor of theology used to say to his students-"Be thankful for visible tokens of good, but work for long results."

Let us not, however, overburden this useful faculty of memory. Remember the hard work of our day schools, and allow Sabbath to be, indeed, a day of rest. Our religious teaching should be a pleasure—a profitable recreation, and not a weary toil. Choice texts of Scripture, containing the sum of saving knowledge, and the great outlines of Christian duty-promises and words of healing and comfort, which in after days may come back to the toilworn or stricken heart with present help and blessing-a few choice hymns, and some of the sweetest verses of our finest psalms-all these could be learned from time to time without overburdening the child's memory. The facts of Bible history, and the wondrous story of the life of Christ, can be told in such a way that no effort will be required to remember them. It is better to select judiciously the most important and useful passages, than to burden the mind with too many details and portions of Scripture, too long and too numerous to be thoroughly mastered, and for that reason likely to be entirely lost.

(To be continued.)

Notices of Books.

THE LIGHT OF LIFE: Addresses to Young Men. By Duncan M. West, Author of The Grace of Giving. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. THIS Volume is dedicated to the past and present members of the George Square branch of the Glasgow United Young Men's Christian Association; and, in the form of an introduction, we have a brief sketch of the origin and early history of the Glasgow Young Men's Society for Religious Improvement, an organization which, since 1824, by means of its special Bible classes for young men, has done incalculable good in promoting the spiritual welfare of large numbers of the youth of Glasgow. Under its influence many useful lives and noble characters have been formed. Missionaries to foreign lands, and some of our most eminent preachers at home, acknowledge their early aspirations after the higher life to their connection with one or other of the branches of this Society. Williams, the martyr missionary of Erromango, and Harris, his co-adjutor, were

identified with it. Dr. Turner, of Samoa, also Nesbit, and Dr. Williamson, who is presently at home from China on a visit, in early life all attended the Sabbath morning Bible meetings for young men, which have been for many years a marked feature in the religious history of Glasgow. Any one who reads these Addresses of Mr. West's will not be surprised at such results. They are full of the spirit of his Divine Master, and rich in counsel. Young men, banded together for mutual improvement under the leadership of such presidents, could not fail to learn something of the true purposes of life. One of our regrets, and one of the chief defects of our Sabbath school system, is the want of an adequate supply of Christian laymen who are able to sympathize with our senior scholars as they are reaching manhood, and by forming them into associations of this nature, ensure their continuance under religious influences. We trust the volume will have an extensive circulation, and that the author may