teaching in our sabbath schools; and though every teacher does not habitually bear in mind the chief design of his instructions, it is the general aim of most to seek the conversion of the children's souls through the teaching of the word of God.

I am afraid that the conclusion to which I have come may not meet exactly the views of those who have visited our schools in Scotland, and they may say the picture is rather brighter than the reality. I am well aware of the deficiencies of our schools in Scotland. I know that in reference to management and school-room accommodation, and the like, we have a great deal to learn from our brethren in England. I know also that out of the 40,000 teachers, there are a good many drawn into the school, not by love to souls, but by fashion. I know too that in some of the schools chaff is scattered instead of genuine wheat-that the inattention, irregularity, and other such evils which exist, compel us to abate a considerable amount from what might be supposed to be the result of the labours of 40,000 teachers among 400,000 scholars. Yet, after making these deductions, I am prepared to say that our teachers as a body are the flower of our churches, that they are desirous of promoting God's glory and the conversion of souls, and that during the last eighty years they have not laboured in vain. I could give you story after story of children, as well as of men and women, who on their death-beds have gratefully traced their conversion to the teachings of the sabbath school. And these are but a few ears which the flail of death has thrashed out to be laid up in God's garner above; the great harvest is still waving in the land. The history of the past is this:-There have been many fluctuations; the cause has sometimes advanced through the influence of a society or a single individual, and then there has been an ebb of the tide; but amidst all these ebbs and flows, the great work has gone on increasing in strength and in life; and the lesson we learn is this,—that not by faith in societies, not by faith in systems, not by faith in books, but by arduous study, by earnest prayer, and by hard toil, the church of God among the young and among the old is to be built up; and that the work is to be carried on by good men doing their part as they best can, trusting in God to help them. It is thus, and only thus, that Scotland, England, Ireland, and the world are to be converted to God.

Mr. HARTLEY said the Committee had arranged with Mr. Hugh Owen to read a paper upon the history and influence of Sunday schools in Wales, but they had just received a telegraphic message from that gentleman, stating that, in consequence of having taken the wrong train at Bangor, he should not arrive in London in sufficient time to read the paper which he had prepared upon the subject.

After singing the hymn,—

"Happy the souls to Jesus joined,

And saved by grace alone:
Walking in all His ways, they find
Their heaven on earth begun.

"The church triumphant in Thy love,—
Their mighty joys we know:

They sing the Lamb in hymns above,
And we in hymns below.

"Thee, in Thy glorious realm they praise,
And bow before Thy throne:
We in the kingdom of Thy grace ;—
The kingdoms are but one.

"The holy to the holiest leads;
From thence our spirits rise:
And he that in Thy statutes treads,
Shall meet Thee in the skies,"-

the proceedings of the evening were closed with prayer.

The following paper, prepared by Mr. HUGH OWEN, was read at a subsequent meeting, but is inserted here in its proper place.

"THE HISTORY AND INFLUENCE OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS IN WALES."

In tracing the history of the common people of Wales, we recognize the exceeding goodness of God in raising up men from time to time, who were moved by an earnest desire to lead them to a knowledge of His word.

In the seventeenth century, the Rev. Thomas Gouge and the Rev. Stephen Hughes, two of the ministers who seceded from the Established Church in 1662, devoted themselves with pious zeal to the work of establishing day schools, to teach Welsh children to read the Scriptures in their own tongue. From three to four hundred of these schools were established; and several thousands of copies of the Bible and other godly books were distributed among the people. The means of supporting the schools failing on the death of their founders, there is reason to fear that the schools themselves did not long survive them.

About half a century later we find that the Rev. Griffith Jones, of Llanddowror, had, like his divine Master, compassion on the multitude, and began in 1730 to set up his circulating schools, the object of which was to teach the people to read the Scriptures in the Welsh language, to catechize them and to instruct them in psalmody, and generally to promote their religious advancement. The plan of Griffith Jones was simply this: he first engaged a body of schoolmasters, and then dispersed them in different directions over the country. A teacher was sent to the nearest town or village where his assistance had been requested; and then, having taught all who were desirous of instruction, he passed on to another district where a similar feeling had been manifested. In the course of time he

revisited the locality whence he had at first started, and resumed the work of education anew on the youth who had sprung up in his absence. The teachers thus made a continual circuit of the whole country, to present to each generation, as it arose, the means of acquiring religious knowledge and the incentives to virtue.

Mr. Jones died in 1761, when the number of schools which had been established at different times in various places in Wales amounted to 3,495; and the number of scholars who had been instructed in them amounted to 158,237. The number of scholars given is that of the attendants on the day schools, two-thirds of whom, it is stated, were adults. But it appears, from Mr. Jones's own account, that those who received instruction in the night schools were double the number of those who attended the day schools.

After Mr. Jones's death, the schools were superintended, and chiefly supported, by Mrs. Bevan, of Langharne, in Carmarthenshire, who left a legacy of £10,000 for their permanent maintenance. But, unhappily, on the death of this benevolent lady her will was litigated, and her bounty remained hung up in the Court of Chancery for many years.

In the year 1785, the Rev. Thomas Charles, of Bala, following the example of Mr. Griffith Jones, whose schools had by this time become almost extinct, commenced the establishment of Welsh circulating schools in North Wales. Mr. Charles, in his travels through the Principality, especially the northern part of it, to preach the gospel, discovered that, notwithstanding the labours of his predecessors (which were chiefly confined to South Wales) in the work of teaching the people to read the Scriptures, not more than one in every twenty of them were able to read God's word. He found that in some neighbourhoods only one individual had received any instruction in reading. He saw that the people must continue in much ignorance, even where they were regular attendants on religious ordinances, while they were unable to read the Bible themselves, and while no means were used to instruct them. This circumstance greatly distressed him, and occupied much of his thoughts. It occurred to him that he might engage a teacher who could be removed from place to place, and that this would be a simple and effective means of teaching a considerable number of persons to read the Scriptures. He at once entered on the work, asked the aid of one and another, beginning with one teacher. The number was increased, according to the means in his hands, till they reached twenty. A teacher received £12 a year salary, remained in a district for six or nine months, and then removed to another. It was Mr. Charles's custom, before setting up a school in a place, to visit it himself, confer with some of the principal inhabitants, and then call a meeting of the neighbourhood, which he would address, pointing out the importance of their being able to read the word of God, and informing them that it was his intention to send a teacher to instruct the children,

and adults also, if unable to read. He would urge parents to send their children to be taught, promising that to such as could not afford to buy books they would be given without charge. The beneficial results of this movement were very great. Thousands were annually acquiring the ability to read in their native tongue. This power gave to their minds new impulses, enabled them better to understand the preaching of the Word, and led the young men to thirst for books in order to extend their knowledge.

About three years before Mr. Charles entered upon this important field of labour in Wales, a still more important work was commenced by Mr. Raikes, at Gloucester. In the year 1781, that christian philanthropist, moved by the profane and turbulent conduct of the poor ignorant children in the vicinity of Gloucester, conceived the happy thought of collecting them on the Sunday for instruction. I have not been able to ascertain the precise date when, nor the place where, the work of Mr. Charles's circulating schools (which were week-day and night schools) was first engaged in on the Sunday; but there is little doubt that this extension of the work took place at Bala or its vicinity, between 1785 and 1790. The teachers of the circulating schools appear to have been the first teachers of the Sunday schools, but they were early aided by voluntary labourers, who, in a few years, entirely superseded the stipendiary.

It is not clear whether the devoting of part of the Sunday to the teaching of the Welsh peasants to read the Bible was forced on the attention of Mr. Charles by the condition of the people, or was suggested to his mind by the establishment of Sunday schools in Gloucestershire and elsewhere. However, Sunday schools spread with great rapidity in all parts of the Principality. The large increase in the number of persons who, by means of these schools, had become able to read, led to the scarcity of copies of the Bible being sorely felt. We find that Mr. Charles, who was ever intent on the prosecution of his loved work, being in London at the close of the year 1798, applied to the Committee of the Sunday School Society for aid towards the support of Sunday Schools in the Principality; but, as their funds were raised for schools in England only, this could not be granted. A separate fund was therefore raised for Wales; and from some letters addressed by Mr. Charles to the Committee, it appears that his account of the English bounty "was received with great joy, and soon spread throughout the whole country;" 3,000 books, including Bibles and Testaments, were placed at his disposal, and were distributed in the course of a few months. Mr. Charles says, in a letter dated Bala, June 18, 1799, "Those who have been to the schools six months can, in general, read their Bibles well." Influenced by Mr. Charles's representations, the Committee of the Sunday School Society, in July, 1799, announced their "intention, if possible, to print an edition of the New Testament in the Welsh language, a measure," say they, "which we have much at heart, being convinced of

its great propriety and necessity, that the knowledge which has been acquired in Sunday schools might be directed to the Scriptures." In another letter, dated Bala, 13th January, 1800, Mr. Charles says, "The report of the new edition of the Welsh Bible has enlivened them (the Sunday schools) much, especially as they are to be disposed of at so low a price. I am convinced of it, that 5,000 Bibles could be immediately disposed of in North Wales, if they could be obtained. I know several districts without a Bible in all the families who live in them, and there was not an individual who could read among them till our schools were introduced. Now, being taught to read, they are ready to famish for want of Bibles. In some parts, the Sunday schools flourish more than ever, and, beyond all dispute, do abundant good." It would appear that the Sunday School Society was not able to carry out its intention to print an edition of the New Testament in Welsh. Mr. Charles, two years after, in 1802, stated the want of Welsh Bibles to the Committee of the Religious Tract Society. He said that, as they could not be obtained in the usual channel, it was desirable to resort to "new and extraordinary means." The Rev. John Owen, in his history of the British and Foreign Bible Society, says, "This proposition gave rise to a conversation of some length, in the course of which it was suggested, that as Wales was not the only part of the kingdom in which such a want as had been described might be supposed to prevail, it would be desirable to take such steps as might be likely to stir up the public mind to a general dispersion of the Scriptures. To this suggestion, which proceeded from the late Rev. J. Hughes, one of the society's [first] secretaries, and which was warmly encouraged by the rest of the company, we are to trace the dawn of those measures which, expanding with time and progressive discussion, issued at length in the proposal and establishment of the British and Foreign Bible Society."

The Bible Society having been formed, early steps were taken by the Committee for supplying the Welsh with copies of the Scriptures; and this gave a powerful stimulus to the Sunday schools in all parts of the Principality.

In the year 1813, about twenty-five years after the commencement of Sunday schools in Wales, Mr. Charles, being in London, attended a meeting of the teachers and friends of Sunday schools at a tavern in Cheapside, when he gave an account of the movement. This account is so interesting, and presents so clear a view of the nature of the work, and the spirit in which it was conducted, that I must crave permission to quote it. Mr. Charles says,—

"With respect to the progress of religion among young people, I wish to make one observation, which is this; that throughout the country in which I am situated, we have received most of the members to our churches from the Sunday schools. Nearly 100 have been received into the church at Bala within the last year, all from the Sunday schools, except two aged