instruction only, and that it was taken up as the work of the church, the upper classes would begin to appreciate and avail themselves of its advantages. There would be, no doubt, prejudices in some cases; those prejudices must be attended to, and if the children could not be got into one school, they might into another. He very earnestly hoped that the time would soon come when there would be no more distinction in the Sunday school than in the church of God.

Mr. STARLING, of Islington, said it had always been his conviction that the Sunday sehool was a place of religious instruction for all classes of young people, and it had been his endeavour to give practical effect to that conviction. He thought that it rested very much with ministers to make the Sunday school respected, and to remove the too general impression that it was intended for the religious instruction of the poor only. Our churches had too often left the Sunday school to take care of itself, and its management fell into the hands of those who were not well qualified for the work. It should be felt that the Sunday school was a part of the church, and ministers should encourage all the parents of their charge to send their children to it. This would tend to remove many existing prejudices, would improve the character of the school itself, and result in spiritual good to all concerned.

Rev. H. PAUMIER said he considered the subject was one of paramount importance. He should be very sorry if it should ever be thought that in the Sunday school there was a distinction between poor and rich. To have separate schools for the upper and lower classes in France would never answer, because of the strong feeling which there existed on the subject of equality. The title "ragged school" would frighten everybody away from it. He thought that all prejudice between the two classes would be removed, if it was well understood that the work of the Sunday school was entirely a religious work. In France the Sunday schools were generally held in the church, and superintended by the minister, and it was considered a part of the education of the children by the church. He had himself commenced a Sunday school in a fashionable part of Paris, where the Protestants chiefly resided, and had among his teachers wealthy ladies of the nobility. There were both rich and poor children in attendance, and good was done to all. The rich took an interest in their poor neighbours, and the latter were elevated by the contact. Two years ago he hired a steamer, and took the children on an excursion. They were all together, but during the whole day there was no discord or ill feeling. Those who were better off than their neighbours acted in the most kind manner to the others, and even the rudest of the boys became as gentle as lambs.

Rev. A. W. HERITAGE thought it would be impossible to devise any plan which would suit every locality. It would be better to have separate classes for persons in a higher position of life rather than lose them altogether. The plan recommended in the paper might be well adapted in

London, but could not be adopted in agricultural districts; indeed, he thought it would be ruinous to some of their schools. He had found by experience that in proportion as the character of the Sunday school was elevated, and became more strictly religious, so did the prejudices of the more respectable classes die away, and their inclination to send their children increase. There were many reasons why this subject should not be lost sight of. The children of the more respectable classes, not being trained in the Sunday school, took but little interest in that institution as they grew up in life; and should they then be persuaded to engage in the work, they were not qualified, by want of previous training, for the duties of the teacher's office.

Mr. EDWARDS, of Huddersfield, corroborated the remarks of M. Paumier, as to the admixture of classes in the Sunday schools of France and America, and bore testimony to the good results attending it. The difficulty of adopting a similar plan in the manufacturing districts of England was, that there were such wide distinctions preserved among the various grades of society there. Caste prevailed in those districts to a much greater extent that in a large city like London. And if separate classes were established for the children of the upper ranks of society, he was doubtful whether teachers could be found to supply them, inasmuch as the majority of the teachers now engaged in the Sunday school were those who had passed through the schools as scholars, and the children of the upper ranks would not look upon them with that respect and confidence so necessary to ensure attention to their instructions. On the other hand, if teachers for these separate classes were taken from their own ranks, it would be found that there was not that training amongst them which would enable them to sustain the interest, and advantageously conduct the religious studies of the children.

Rev. J. KEED said, he understood, from the admirable paper just read, that the classes proposed were specially for the little ones, but he hoped they would not be confined to them.

Rev. G. ALLEN said, it was not intended that they should be limited to mere children.

Rev. J. KEED said, it occurred to him whether the plan itself could be regarded as an extension of the Sunday school system. Then, he would ask, what class of teachers would be required for such a work? Not that he should feel this would be a difficulty, because he believed there was plenty of teaching power in the church; it needed only that the necessity for its employment be pointed out, and its obligations enforced. He was of opinion, however, that the plan suggested by the Chairman would meet the case better than the creation of a new element in the Sunday school, which, after all, did not come strictly under the Sunday school organization. The difficulty in rural districts would be, that perhaps not more than one family in a neighbourhood would be found of the class specially comprehended in the plan.

Mr. ALLYOT, of Nottingham, said such a class had been established in his locality, the children meeting in which had requested that they might be considered as part of the Sunday school. This request had arisen out of the circumstance that, the general school being so full, it had become necessary to assemble this class in a separate room.

Mr. GROSER said, the Committee of the Sunday School Union were favoured with a communication from Mr. Allen, some years ago, on this subject. The plan was only then in that gentleman's mind, and he had had no practical evidence that it would succeed. He had this day shown that success would attend such an effort, and taking this in connection with the chairman's suggestion, as to the establishment of parlour classes, he (Mr. Groser) felt sure, that though the Committee were very much overworked, they would gladly attempt something of the kind.

The CHAIRMAN said, in making the suggestion, he was under the impression that the Sunday school system was so elastic that it would readily embrace all kinds of effort. He urged them not to shut themselves up to any stereotyped system. The characteristic of the present times was, that men were shaking themselves loose from old customs and modes of operation, and were looking about for any means whereby they might get hold of these various classes. It was a melancholy fact, that too much of caste existed in society, and he could not help feeling that by some such organization as had been suggested, much might be done to break down and do away with it.

Mr. HOOPER, of Brighton, said the subject was a novel one, and he should like to have more time devoted to its discussion. Unless the neglect of the religious training of the children of the upper classes could be justified, why should not efforts be made to get them into the Sunday school? He thought, if the superintendents and ministers exercised sound judgment and vigilance in the necessary arrangements, the plan proposed could be carried out with advantage. When they commenced a Sunday school in connection with the church to which he belonged, they found the ground pretty well occupied, and it was difficult to get a sufficient number of the children of the poor. The question then arose, why shut out the children of the congregation? He took his own into the school, and one of them, having passed through the classes, was now a teacher in the same place. Let it be remembered, that the best teachers were those who had been trained in the schools as scholars, and why should they exclude those who they hoped would by-and-bye take their places? He believed there were but few localities in which, by proper arrangements, the children of the upper classes could not be got to attend the Sunday school.

Mr. C. REED said, there were two or three points he should like to urge. A previous speaker had remarked, that this system, if introduced, would be ruinous to the schools. Why ruinous? It ought not to be. It was a system which, if worth anything, ought to be comprehended in the work

they undertook. They ought not to consider anything beyond their province, whether relating to high or low; and if there were difficulties connected with it, they must grapple with and not evade them. They must not be frightened by words, and suppose, because Mr. Allen spoke of princes and Arabs, they need at once go to extremes in both directions. Let them go first to the classes immediately above and below those at present found in the Sunday school, until they embraced all in their educational arrangement. The more they made spiritual work the work of the Sunday school, the less would become the difficulties which encumbered this question. The parents of children in what were called the upper classes of society did not require secular education for them, and the consequence was they looked upon the Sunday school as beneath their notice. But let these schools be liberated from that element, and made institutions for purely religious and spiritual training, and soon a very different estimate would be formed of them, and these parents would be found gladly to embrace the help which they afforded for their children. There might be a difference of opinion as to separate services for little children, but it was a great fact that they had extended in all directions, and were now established in all parts of the country. What did that fact show? Why, that because they were religious services adapted to the minds of little children, and presided over by persons thoroughly qualified, the parents of these little children not only did not object, but were anxious they should attend them, even though they did not belong to the Sunday school. Let them get rid of the term "school," if necessary, and call these gatherings which had been proposed "Bible classes," or anything else which would allay prejudice, but by all means let there be an effort made to bring the children of the upper classes under the care of pious fathers or mothers, who would give them such religious training as they were accustomed to give their own families on the sabbath afternoon.

Rev. G. ALLEN, in reply, said, he was only anxious to remove one erroneous impression which possibly might have been made. He would be very sorry that it should be thought for one moment that he was the friend of caste. He thought it very desirable, and would be rejoiced to see, that the poor and the rich should meet together; but this fact stared him in the face-there was a large class in England, who, when they grew up in life, possessed immense influence, but who were left entirely out of the teaching of the church of Christ. Those children's souls were as dear as any other children's, and if properly trained, they could do a vast work among their poorer fellow-creatures; therefore they must be got hold of somehow or other. The threefold suggestion which had been made might in the course of time embrace all.

Mr. F. CUTHBERTSON, of the Sunday School and Ragged School Unions, then read the following paper upon

"SUNDAY SCHOOL EXTENSION IN THE LOWER CLASSES OF SOCIETY." THE upper, middle, and lower classes have each their several grades, but I assume it is intended that my subject should concern only the lowest grade, whose residences are in the poor and crowded neighbourhoods of our great cities and towns, where wretched dwellings and pestilential air make the locality entirely their own; and where the thoroughfare is obstructive, both for physical and moral circulation. Here dwell the lowest of our neighbours. To sketch their occupation, and to portray the privations and sorrows, and all the surroundings of the poor children in this mass, have engaged the popular writers of the day, as well as the philanthropist, whose details have been read with startling interest; and the further uncovering of the scenery now will answer no good purpose beyond what is necessary to show upon what material the Sunday school system must be extended. In our daily reading, the details of wretchedness are passed over; -they may excite for the moment, but the impression fades away like a tale that is told. The activities of daily business lead us to pass and re-pass frequently within a few yards of the dwellings of squalid wretchedness, unconscious of the horrid scenes which are daily going on in this busy world, but we have no adequate idea of its sights and scenes, no time to seek and save its lost. The late Rev. E. J. Hall, in his "Sought and Saved," gives a pretty correct view in a few words :

"We may well be humbled and shocked to find that there are lower regions of society, even in christian England, where men, women, and children herd together, amid filth and vermin, in damp cellars, up filthy courts, or in close, unventilated garrets,—where most of the money, indolently obtained and recklessly spent, is the wages of sin,-where dishonesty and unchastity are almost universal,—where the name of God is heard only in oaths and curses, — where even children are trained in all villany by their own parents or by practised thieves, and sent forth to prowl about the streets, not for their own daily sustenance, but to furnish others with the means of self-indulgence,—where girls are taught early to receive, without even a blush, the wages of shame, and even infant lips take the name of God in vain. The actual existence of all these things is attested by witnesses of unimpeachable integrity. Yea, we have not far to go, that we may see with our own eyes these thickly-planted preserves of sin and Satan, where pestilent drains and stagnant pools are ever exhaling fever and death; that we may hear with our own ears their profane language, their obscene epithets, their coarse jests, and their hideous laughter. In the midst of all these terrible foes to cleanliness, health, and godliness, there are tens of thousands, yea, even hundreds of thousands of our countrymen and countrywomen, whose dwellings are scarcely cheered by a ray of sunshine, or cleansed by a pitcher of water. Accents of kindness seldom fall on their ears. They are strangers to decency and self-respect, to the joys of home, to the comforts as well as the restraints of religion, and to the house of God.