A strong feeling has been manifested this year against the conversion of the Union into a political organisation. As Dr Parker expressed it, “If there was anyone the Union had not yet attacked or defended, he might almost rest assured it was not from want of will, but of time.” His paper in the Friday session, urging that general organisation must be subordinate to the organised life of the individual church, for its force, raciness, and for the "back-handed compliments" to which he treated the other leaders of the Union, was the most remarkable feature of this year's proceedings. Among many other suggestions, he advocated the publication of division lists, that votes might be weighed as well as counted. The discussion, though largely an exciting personal controversy between Mr Hannay and the Doctor, who is facile princeps in Congregationalism in the use of sarcasm, did good service in emphasising the fact that vigorous spirituality, not extensive organisation, is the real power of our denomination. Resolutions relating to University Reform, and to the Education Act, closed the work of the session.

Wednesday and Thursday Congregationalists devote to the venerable London Missionary Society, and the more youthful Home and Colonial Societies. The annual service at Surrey Chapel was especially interesting, as probably the last of the kind that will take place there. One thought, as the great crowd surged up the stairs, and densely packed the building, of the enthusiastic congregations that had met here, year by year, through the century. Here have preached Dr Boyne, Rowland Hill, here have been ordained such magnificent Evangelists as Robert Moffat and John Williams; what a sermon would those stones have given were they but gifted with speech!

Never had Surrey Chapel held a larger audience than on that sunny May morning, for it simply could hold no more. Dr Punshon, the great Wesleyan orator, preached the sermon, one of the best exhibitions of his peculiar rushing, imaginative style. In the evening, Rev. J. A. Macfadyen, M.A., of Manchester, preached at Westminster, to a good audience, the young men's sermon on the appropriate text, "I have no one (besides Timothy) like-minded who will naturally care for your state."

The missionary meeting on Thursday conveniently filled Exeter Hall. The return of the Prince of Wales on the same day was a happy augury, let us hope, of the connection of his visit with the evangelisation of our fellow-subjects in India. Henry Lee, Esq., of Manchester took the chair. Dr Mullins read the report, which stated that the legacies had this year amounted to £8814; home subscriptions, &c., to £61,760; contributions from mission stations, £22,006; the total income,£114,853. Five missionaries had been sent out,—three to India, one to China, and one to New Guinea; and four ladies had gone abroad as missionaries— two to North India, one to Shanghai, and one to New Guinea. Twelve candidates had been accepted, and had commenced their preparatory

studies. Still the great need of the Society was men. The Society had resolved to accept the offer of £5000 for the establishment of a new mission station at Lake Tanganyika, cordially co-operating with the Church of England and the Free Church, which have agencies at Nyassa and Victoria Nyanza. Dr Mullins' report contained much interesting matter, but why in the world, Mr Editor, must secretaries take threequarters of an hour to call a spade anything except a spade because the meeting is held in May?

I should like to give an outline of the speech by the Rev. G. S. Barrett of Norwich, on the "Relations of the Sceptical Spirit of the Age to Missions," an out-spoken and useful address; but I have a wholesome fear of the editorial scissors, and refrain. Other speakers were the Revs. J. Sadler of Amoy, and A. T. Saville of the South Seas, part of the deputation to Scotland last year. The Liberation Society filled the Metropolitan Tabernacle on the 3d, and "the usual speakers said the usual things."

The Rev. Dr Kennedy of Stepney has resigned the chair of Apologetical Theology at New College, London, and will be succeeded by the Rev. R. A. Redford, M.A., LL.B., of Putney.

Apropos of New College, at the presentation ceremonial last Wednesday, in connection with the London University, the names of nine students of Congregational Colleges appeared in the list of graduates for the year; seven from New and two from Lancashire. This is one sign that Congregationalism is abreast of the times. Rev. Henry Simon, formerly associated with Dr Raleigh at Hare Court and Stamford Hill, has accepted the co-pastorate of Westminster Chapel (Rev. S. Martin's). An interesting ceremony took place on Saturday-the laying of the foundation stone of the New Union Chapel (Dr Allon's). The new edifice will seat 1650 persons, and will cost £16,693, of which the most has been raised by the congregation itself, including £1000 subscribed in that subtly powerful manner, putting purses upon the foundationDrs Allon, Raleigh, Kennedy, Stoughton, and Aveling, Samuel Morley, Esq., M.P., and some two thousand others, were present.

stone.

But, Mr Editor, as there are about enough religious events transpiring in London to fill two or three magazines this month, I think I may as well stop here, and remain yours, in the bonds of writership, ZETA.

INDIRECT HELPS IN SABBATH-SCHOOL TEACHING. It is characteristic of all God's works, that they come from His hands, in one sense perfect, and yet in another, susceptible of indefinite improvement. The fact that His creature Man is possessed of various powers and capacities, is reason sufficient for their being educated and

developed. The garden planted long ago eastward in Eden was perfect, but its capabilities had to be brought forth by cultivation, and this was. equally true of him who was put there to dress it and keep it. But this development must not, indeed cannot, be carried on merely for its own sake. No man can live to himself, even though he would; the Christian would not, though he could. He feels that there must be in his life, a thorough recognition, not only of what he is in himself, but of what he owes to his Redeemer God, and to his fellow-creatures.

In all Christian work it is of great importance to have some one definite aim in view. In a sorrowful, sin-stricken world like ours, there are multitudes of objects upon which energy may well be expended, but a choice must be made, and effort concentrated, so that it may tell. Let us suppose the choice to be that of a Sabbath-School Teacher, with but little time for study, and who has had little previous training in the exercise of thought; but whose aim is nothing short of that of the most earnest thoroughly furnished minister of the Gospel-the conversion of his young charge to God. Once possessed of, or rather (for we must have enthusiasm here) possessed by, the desire of imparting spiritual good to others, he will find to his glad surprise many helps amidst his daily toil. It is said of "the hand of the diligent," no less than of "the blessing of the Lord," that "it maketh rich," and this holds true in the spiritual and intellectual parts of our nature, no less than in our money-making powers. It is a fact of common experience, that when once attention has been called to some particular word, name, or object, it seems to come before us again and again, in unexpected ways and places. It may in all probability have been often within our bodily vision, but attention never having been called in that direction, the eye of the mind has failed to see it; once seen, and attention really on the alert, acquaintance grows with wonderful rapidity. The most highly gifted man is here on a level with the most humbly endowed. The Will is the citadel of our nature, and commands all our lower powers, but attention must be engaged before the will can act. It is by superiority in this power of attention, which some may be inclined to regard as one of the very common every-day gifts, that real excellence in many departments is attained.

Many of us listlessly pass the little rocky pools by the sea-shore, seeing, but not observing, while our companion will linger behind, enjoying the world of wonders which they open up to his gaze. His mind has been already occupied with the flowers of the sea, and here, lying in his path, is a whole garden for his study. An apple fell one autumn afternoon in a fruit garden—a very common occurrence; but its fall led to the discovery of the law of gravitation which moulds the dew-drop and keeps the planets in their sphere. "But it was Sir Isaac Newton who saw it," some one will say. Yes, but had his attention not been thoroughly engrossed with the subject, had he not been a steady observer of nature,

and an enquirer into the causes of things, it would never have occurred to him to put the question-" Why did that apple fall?”

It is this habit of intelligent observation in connection with a subject already so occupying the mind, that food for thought is appropriated and assimilated, which we think can be made a very efficient, though indirect help in the work of a Sabbath-School teacher. With no text-book but the Bible, he will find innumerable illustrations of this principle. Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and yet in instructing the Israelites (a nation of children in the principles of religion), it is the natural scenery and operations with which, when he led his flock, he was so familiar, that he uses as illustrations of the highest truths. His doctrine, as he tells us, "drops as the rain," his speech "distils as the dew." He wishes to tell the people of God's wise and tender love and care, and his eye is caught by the eagle, as she “stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings." He wants to speak of the strength of their great Deliverer, and of His protection from trouble, and he points to the great rock in that weary land, and from it teaches the people of the rock of their salvation.

And we find that it is in the line of things with which in every-day life, the sacred writers were familiar, that they see constant illustrations of God's glory, and of the great truths they wished to teach. How are the psalms enriched by the fact that David was a close observer of nature, with a heart ever seeking for instances of the goodness and greatness of God! There is no speech nor language in the skies, on which he gazes, as he rests on the hill-side, but he hears them declaring the glory of God, and the firmament showing forth his handiwork. He notices the honey trickling from the rock, and as he enjoys its sweetness, he thinks of the judgments of the Lord, which are "sweeter than honey, and the honeycomb." "The rivers of pleasure," "the fountain of life,” the "rod and staff" comforting, "the dews of Hermon " that come back to his memory as he sings of brotherly love, are but echoes of his shepherd songs. He has watched the shadows flitting swiftly along the mountain side, darkening them for the moment, and leaving no trace behind; and he recalls them as he sighs, long after, when he is king, and has tasted the unsatisfactoriness of earth's pleasures-"Man is like vanity, his days as shadows pass away." He has watched the timid dove sheltering in the rock from the windy storm and tempest, and amidst the cares of royalty, he sadly sings "Oh that I had wings like a dove, for then would I flee away, and be at rest." It is worthy of notice, that it is the prophet Amos," one of the herdmen of Tekoa, a gatherer of sycamore fruit," that exhorts us to "seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning." How he had watched the dawn stealing over the east, as the stars paled before it!

But it is in the New Testament, and particularly in the writings of

the Apostle Paul, that we find this habit of intelligent observation, with special application to a chosen work, most fully illustrated. As he is waiting for his companions at Athens, his eye, as he walks through the city, is arrested by the altar "to the Unknown God," and we know the power with which he uses this incident in declaring to the Athenians, Him whom they thus ignorantly worshipped; he turns to account the familiar surroundings of idolatry, for the one great end he had in view— its entire suppression. A Roman soldier converted to Christianity, might have thought, on reading the letters of the apostle, that the writer had been at one time a soldier, so completely is he at home, amongst all the habits and customs of the class. He is familiar with the armour in all its points; he is acquainted with the details of military life, and we find the explanation of this in his quick tact, and observation of what was passing around him. During his life he had frequent opportunities of mingling with soldiers. He lived two whole years with a centurion at Cesarea; guards were sent with him again and again. He was kept in the citadel for safety, when the populace would have killed him, and remembering his security there, he writes to the Philippians, that the peace of God which passeth all understanding will "garrison" their hearts and minds. He has observed the Roman sentinels, bound on pain of death to keep awake, and exhorts his converts to "watch and be sober," cheering them with the assurance that the night (of watching) is far spent, and the day is at hand, when they will put on "the armour of light." So much for his soldier associations, and these are mere suggestions of what may be most profitably studied, but the apostle illustrates our subject in many other ways. One familiar with husbandry might think that he had had a fellow-labourer in Paul, as he reads constantly in his Epistles of the "sowing," the "reaping," the "engrafting," "the ox treading out the corn," the "bringing forth of fruit unto life eternal." The builder finds his Christian life made clearer to him, by the references to "the foundation," the "chief corner-stone," "the temple of the living God," the rearing of structures that will stand the fire, or that will perish in the flames. Those interested in the Grecian sports, find new light thrown upon their every-day struggles with sin, as they read of the wrestling, the fighting, the bringing of the body into subjection, and thus fitting it for the race. Indeed this figure of a race" has become so naturalized in religious language that we speak of "the Christian course," hardly aware that we are using a metaphor. But Paul had an occupation, a trade, like many of us, and we think we can see traces of this also being brought under tribute, in the doing of the "one thing" which he had ever in view. As he is busy at Corinth with Priscilla and Aquila, at their tent-making, he mentally draws a parallel between the frail, moveable habitations which he is making, and his own body, often weary with excessive toil, as well as hope deferred; and writing afterwards to his Corinthian converts, he reminds them that if their earthly "taber

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