more life and spirit to his instructions, by detail and explanation, there is a great want of some leading idea, around which the information he conveys may arrange itself into an orderly system. Now, the spread and history of the religion of Christ will supply this idea: let the Clergyman furnish his school with an excellent map,' published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, in which the regions occupied by the various religions of the world are distinguished by different tints and shades, so as to be at once recognised by the eye: the mere colouring of the map assists the children in forming habits of classification and arrangement; and as the British possessions are coloured with a red outline, within which are the different shades which constitute the mark of the different religion, an opportunity is afforded also of explaining, in a simple and natural way, what is meant by a cross-division. When children have been told stories of the worship of the Ganges, and how men come to its banks to die, or, in order to secure a happy hereafter, drown themselves in its waters, they will not soon forget its position or its name. When they have looked on the black shade which fills up India, and have been made familiar with anecdotes (for such things are not readily forgotten) of its Juggernaut, and twenty million gods-its system of castes, and the selfishness thence arising-that spot on the map will be to them a reality; and when they look on the red line encircling it, and behold the same colour round a little white island a long way off, and forming also the border of vast districts in all parts of the world, it will be no hard matter to graft upon this the lesson of England's greatness and England's responsibility. Their eye, familiar with the group of countries coloured green, will serve to recal to their memories, that Turkey and Asia Minor, North Africa, Arabia, and Syria, with some adjacent parts, are the chief seat of the Mahomedan superstition; and with this may be connected valuable historical lessons of the fall of the cross in those fair lands, and the progress of the false prophet through the sins and schisms of Christians. But it would extend this letter beyond due limits if I were to give the methods, endless in their variety and application, in which the principle here suggested may be carried out; I have just mentioned an example or two in order to show my meaning ; I would only suggest, further, that this lesson had better be generally taught by the Clergyman, not only for the reason that he will be most competent to give it with success, but because it will be partly religious, and will thus serve to sanctify what would otherwise be merely secular teaching.

But this leads me to make a few observations on the second head of this letter, the higher and more important uses which this method will serve. It is true that it will be found a most interesting and efficient way of teaching Geography, but it will do much more than this. It will explain to the children what is meant by the Catholic Church better than any mere verbal exposition of their usual glib reply, "Universal, all over the world ;" it will teach them to value their privileges as

1 This map will do equally well for ordinary purposes, so that there will be no need in a new school of purchasing any other Map of the World.

:

Christian children; it will train them in the practice of almsgiving. I can assert that this plan is effective for both its purposes from experience, having tried it in several schools and as I found that by no other means could I so soon enable the children really to understand anything about the position and relation of the kingdoms of the earth: so did I find it the most effectual method of bringing them to value Christian truth, by letting them know some of the gross absurdities of heathen error; and to appreciate religious ordinances by telling them stories of the spiritual wants of our Colonists, among whom many of them had brothers or relations. I found that the anecdote which Bishop Selwyn relates of the four lads, the eldest not twelve years old, sailing by themselves seven hundred miles in order to come to school, helped very forcibly to impress upon them the blessing of having a place of Christian instruction close to their homes. Even older persons than children are often more moved to value a thing by finding that others are seeking it, than by any abstract dissertation on its excellence. One good proof that the children were really interested in the matter is their contributions to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. At a village school in Dorsetshire, where the parents of many were in the most abject poverty, they subscribed a small sum, without my knowledge, and gave it to me through the schoolmistress; at the larger schools in this district, in less than two months, the boys and girls of the National Schools put more than one pound into the Missionary Box, though I must be honest and confess that there were some shillings among the coins, which I suspect were given by the master and mistress. At a Middle School, in this district, I gave a sort of catechetical lecture on the same plan, and the boys manifested great readiness in putting into the box: it is nearly full, and I have no doubt that, when I open it, I shall find a good sum. I found considerable assistance from Mr. Trevor's excellent Parochial Missionary Magazine; and the Gospel Missionary, lately started by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, at one halfpenny per month, will prove of great service; children readily subscribe for it.

I will conclude this hasty letter by saying, that in our schools, of all kinds, we have an opportunity of laying the foundation of a Missionary spirit throughout the country; I say " of all kinds," for the principles I have hinted at are as applicable to our public as to our National Schools, and through the greater intelligence and wealth of the pupils, may be much more effectually carried out. The young become acquainted with the countries "in foreign parts," and their spiritual desolation; they have learned to practise almsgiving; and in after-life the subject will come before them as a recognised and familiar, though it may be, for a time, forgotten duty; and this is a considerable step; for, besides the general ignorance which prevails respecting the religious condition of the Colonies and dependencies of Great Britain, one great impediment which I have met with in the

1 I would suggest, that a question relating to this should always be asked of the children; and that Colony selected in which some of them have friends or relatives, as it adds greatly to the liveliness and reality of the lesson.

way of starting Parochial Associations for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel is, I am sorry to say, the strangeness of the whole subject to the people's minds. It was some new crotchet of the new Curate. All plans require to be worked heartily in order to obtain any tolerable success; but I am sure that every Clergyman (or schoolmaster) who will give the system here hinted at a fair trial, will find abundant recompense both in the intellectual and spiritual improvement of the children he has to teach; and I have a hope, that, by reason of the absorbing interest of the subject, those who begin by impressing the duty of aiding Missions on the children in school, will not be very long before they go on to impress it on grown-up people in Church. Faithfully yours, E. P. E.

APPOINTMENT OF COLONIAL BISHOPS.

SIR, It was reported some days ago, that the recent appointment to the Bishopric of Nova Scotia had been made without the concurrence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. I am happy to be assured that such was not the case. Still, I think it may be interesting to your readers to be furnished with the terms of the compact and understanding which exists between the Archbishop and the Secretary for the Colonies, with reference to the appointment to Bishoprics endowed from voluntary sources. The following is his lordship's answer to a question proposed by the Official Salaries Committee:

"Question 1490.-Does he (the Colonial Secretary) stand, with regard to Colonial Bishops, in the same position in which the Prime Minister does with regard to Bishops in England?

"Earl Grey.-Not exactly. Almost all the Colonial Bishoprics of late years have been founded by private subscriptions, by a Society called the Colonial Bishops Society. It is a Society formed for raising subscriptions for endowing Colonial Bishoprics. They are hardly any of them endowed by public grants; and it was a sort of understanding by the subscribers to that fund, that the Secretary of State would, in general, be guided by the Archbishop of Canterbury in recommending Bishops to the Crown; and all that have been appointed since I have been Secretary of State have been, in consequence, recommended by the Archbishop."-Report on Official Salaries, p. 157.

I trust that this tacit agreement will be borne in mind by Lord Grey and his successors in office.

Since writing the above, I have seen with pleasure the following passage in Lord Grey's speech in the House of Lords, March 25th; perhaps you may think it worth placing upon record. Referring to the subject of Colonial Church legislation, his Lordship said :—" He thought it very possible that when these matters came to be looked into in the colonial legislatures, they would find it desirable to give the Church of England, as well as other Churches, the means of securing its own organization. To effect that most useful object, every support and assistance in his power should be rendered as long as he held his present office."

ILEX.

Reviews and Notices.

The Tinnevelly Shanars. By the Rev. R. CALDWELL, B.A. (No. 23 of "Missions to the Heathen,") Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

WE have too long delayed to direct the attention of our readers to this able and valuable work. Mr. Caldwell has been stationed for some years at Edeyengoody in Tinnevelly. With the help of twenty-two native Catechists, and sixteen schoolmasters or school-mistresses, he has the spiritual charge of more than a thousand baptized converts, an equal number of Catechumens under probation, and nearly five-hundred native children. Persons who are wont to ascribe to Missionary accounts a general tendency to exaggeration and maudlin sentimentality, will find this volume eminently free from such a charge. It is evidently the production of a mind disposed to take for granted nothing which has not been proved, accustomed to collect and ponder facts, and to reason out conclusions independently,―a mind in which a tendency to doubt is chastened by piety and sound sense.

Their

The Shanars are a Hindoo caste who yield by far the largest portion of converts to the Missionaries in the south of Tinnevelly. Their hereditary occupation is to cultivate the palmyrapalm, from the juice of which a coarse sugar is made. Mr. Caldwell supposes that they originally emigrated from Ceylon. Their religion is distinct from the other superstitions of India, consisting in the worship of devils, whose anger they strive to propitiate by bloody sacrifices and by dances. They seem to have no idea of a merciful God or of a future state. natural evil tendencies are unrestrained by any feeling of moral responsibility, any sense of duty. They are amongst the poorest and the least intellectual of the natives of India. Such are the rough materials upon which our Tinnevelly Missionaries have to work. The arid plain which they inhabit holds out no temptation to those classes of Christians whose practice too frequently disgraces our faith. The missionary faculty of our Church is fairly on its trial here. No other Christian denomination, except the Church of Rome, has attempted to gain a footing in Tinnevelly.

Mr. Caldwell speaks calmly and dispassionately, yet hopefully of the future prospect. He appeals for an increased number of faithful Missionaries to be sent to Tinnevelly. We confess that we think that if the Church of Christ is to be permanently established in that province, the present number of European Clergymen is sufficient to lay the foundations.

We would wish rather to see more interest felt at home in their work, alms supplied to them as liberally as now, and reason to believe that prayers more frequent and more fervent were offered for them; and we would express, though with diffidence, our desire for two things in Tinnevelly itself,-more rapid progress in the complete organization of the native Church, and some arrangement among the European Missionaries which would bring under their influence the larger towns that seem now abandoned to the Romish Priests.

The Church in the World, or the Living among the Dead. By the Rev. J. B. SMITH, Vice-President of King's College, Nova Scotia. London: Rivingtons.

THIS pleasing little work consists of five chapters, in which the author passes under review the religious services presented daily in a Cathedral and weekly in a country Church in his native land. Daily prayer, absolution, baptism, catechising, and a churchyard, are described not merely in their outward and visible circumstances, but with such accessories as a Christian of earnest faith and glowing fancy will discern in them. The book will be welcome and useful to many a young mind which is learning to read the inward meaning of familiar but holy rites.

WE desire to commend to those of our readers who feel an interest in St. Augustine's College, the admirable "Address" by Dr. LOCHEE, recently delivered to the students, preparatory to their commencing the study of practical medicine. We trust to see medical skill again become a regular qualification of a Missionary; and we cannot wish to see its due relation to more sacred functions pointed out more ably than has been done by Dr. Lochee. The Monthly Packet, of which we are glad to repeat our very favourable opinion, has contained some interesting papers on the Missions of the Church in the Fourth Century.

Colonial, Foreign, and Home News.

SUMMARY.

THE chief topic of interest in the NOVA SCOTIA Church Times, continues to be the Meeting of Clergy and Lay Delegates on Jan. 29th, of which we gave an account in our last number. Thirty-two Clergy and twenty-eight Laity took part in the proceedings. The Annual General Meeting of the Diocesan Church Society was held on Feb. 3d, when the Report was read, and resolutions were agreed upon expressive of the Society's sorrow for the loss of the late Bishop. The Associate Alumni of King's College are contemplating the endowment of an