cancelled instantly; every poor prisoner that was bound in prison was liberated directly; every individual that had sold his inheritance, it returned to him; every servant that was a bond-servant, and not a hired servant, was free directly. Every thing that grew out of the ground that year was to be free for every body; and it was to be nothing but a year of rejoicing; so that the first day was a day of great and marvellous joy.

And surely this ought to be a day of very great joy to us, dear children and teachers. This jubilee among the Jews was intended to set forth the days of the Gospel. And what are those days? Why, the days in which we live, days when ministers and teachers proclaim liberty to all children that are bound captive by sin. They proclaim, that that inheritance, which every child has lost by transgression, is recovered in Jesus Christ, and that, by believing in him, they shall finally enter heaven. They tell them, that the way to this inheritance which they have lost, is by Jesus Christ, and that every child, that comes and casts its guilty soul upon him, shall be saved in the day of the Lord.

Now, dear children, it would be very wrong in me to detain you very long; and I shall, therefore, only just show you some of the causes why this is to be such a blessed day of rejoicing. Your teachers say to you, in all Sunday-schools, "Come, ye children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord." The great object of Sunday-schools is, not merely to teach you to read; that is a very small part; the great object of Sunday-schools is, to teach you the fear of the Lord, to bring you up "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," and to prepare you for heaven and a better world.

Now this day is to be a day of rejoicing in consequence of this; and for what are we to rejoice in it? Why, there are seven things that I want you all to recollect, and that are to be matters of joy to you to-day.

Now the first of these is, that you were born in a country where Sunday-schools are established: that is the first ground of rejoicing. Why were you not born in Turkey, in Spain, or in heathen lands? Why, till very lately there was not a country upon the continent that had a Sunday-school-France, or Spain, or any of those countries. In Turkey, you know the poor children are not cared for. In China, you know the poor children were not cared for till very lately. In all India they are not cared for; as soon as they are born, they are often killed; you have heard Mr. Williams say (some of

you, at least), that it was a very customary thing in some of the islands, not to find above two or three female children, for the mothers had destroyed them all; and as to the other children, they were all trained up to idolatry, and cruelty, and folly. Now what a blessed country ours is. I was thinking, as you were coming here, what a beautiful sight it was to see those flags-all flags of peace, not war; and just while I was thinking, an ammunition-waggon passed, laden with some weapons, and three soldiers upon the horses. What a different sight was the one from the other! the one preparing for war, and the other for peace; the one exhibiting the implements of destruction, and the other showing signs of love, and harmony, and good-will, and singing the angels' song when Christ came "Good-will to men." Now what a mercy, I say, it is, to live in such a country as this, where you are instructed, and trained, and brought up in the fear of God! This is to be one of the seven things that you are to give God thanks for, that you were born in a Christian country, where Sunday-schools are established.

The second thing for which you are to be thankful to-day is this, that God put it into the hearts of teachers to care for you; that is another matter of great thankfulness. O! what was there in you, dear children, that any body should care for you? You very well know that you do many things that you ought not to do, and that you have been very wicked, very disobedient to your parents at times, and very disobedient to those who have instructed you. O! how wonderful, that all these holy men and women should delight to teach you! Why, it would be a very great happiness to some of them to remain at home; that is to say, some of their domestic comforts are often sacrificed; they are not paid for teaching you, but they do it of their own good will; they make many sacrifices in order to teach you; often stay away from hearing sermons, that they may teach you; have to rise carly in the morning, that they may get all their duties done, in order to teach you; come through the wet, and rain, and snow, to get to the Sunday-school to teach you. Now, why is this? Why did not these good people, like many others, let you pass into an eternal world, without a knowledge of Christ, or of the way to heaven? Whenever I see a teacher, my heart is lifted up to God, in thankfulness to him, that he has put in the heart of that teacher not to be a drone, to care for others, And this is a matter of thankfulness for you? What would have been the use, if Sunday-schools had been established, and there had been no teachers? And there are no teachers like those, who feel the value

of their own souls, and, therefore, feel the value of yours, and therefore instruct you, and lay themselves out for your welfare. Have you thought of these two things, dear children; first, that you were born in a country where Sunday-schools are established; and, secondly, that God put it into the hearts of teachers to care for you?

Well, now, thirdly, there is another thing to be matter of thankfulness, and that is, that you have had your health and your opportunities to come to school. Now there are many children lame ; they cannot walk to school. There are some children blind, and who have not their eye-sight, and therefore cannot read. There are many children sick, and they are laid up, and cannot go to school, and lose the instruction which you have. There are many children that are so deeply sunk in vice and infamy, and their parents are as sunk as they are, that they never will allow them to come. Now what a comfort it is to you, to think, "Well, God has given me health; I am able to go to school; I am not lame, I can walk; I am not blind, but I can see to read, and can join in this day of rejoicing." What a matter of thankfulness to you, that you are not sick! Why, how many of you know some of your little neighbours that are sick at home, that would be very glad to come here, but they cannot. Now you should pity them, and pray for them; but surely it is matter of joy that you are able to come, that God has given you these various opportunities to be employed in this good work.

Then there is a fourth thing for which you are to be thankful, and that is, that good people are willing to subscribe, and give you books and rewards in the Sunday-school. O! what a good thing it is to see the money come into the treasury, to provide you with the room, and a fire when you want it, and to supply the materials to carry on instruction, dear children, in the Sunday-schools! Why, many years ago there were but a very few pounds raised for instruction, and now what hundreds and thousands are raised every year, a great deal of it out of your teachers' own pockets. But what a matter of thankfulness, that there are people willing to give their money, as well as others willing to give their time, in order to instruct you in the nurture and admonition of the Lord!

But there are two or three things still further, more important than these, and which I want you especially to think of. I come, then, to the fifth thing for which you have to be thankful, and that is, that some of you have learned to fear the Lord, while you are

young. I think the first time that I began seriously to feel that I had a soul, and to look after my soul, was when I was about twelve years of age. Now I see a great many before me, this morning, who are that age and above that age. And I believe that there are many children here, who, through the instruction of their teachers, have begun to inquire about the way to heaven, and are very solicitous of entering the realms of everlasting glory; I hope not a few of you. Shall I tell you how I know it? Why, your teachers tell me that they observe that you are anxious, that you begin to inquire about Christ, about your sins, about the way to heaven. They tell me, that some of you love to retire to pray. They tell me, that some of you weep when you think of your former condition, and how you have been saved through grace alone, and that several of you are very, very desirous to learn of them what you must do to be saved. Now these are all good and hopeful signs; and I trust, dear children, that the Spirit of God has been at work in many of your hearts.

Now if any of you have these humble beginnings, this wish to go and pray in private, this anxiety about the way to heaven, O! thank God for it, and pray to him to increase it, and to make you never satisfied, until you know and love Christ as a Saviour, and as your Saviour, and your Friend. Pray to the Holy Spirit to come down upon you, and to renew your infant mind, and to qualify and fit you for a place in everlasting glory.

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Well, now there is a sixth thing I want you to be thankful for, as this is a day of rejoicing, and that is, that Jesus Christ welcomes every child that comes to him. I have supposed that many of you anxious to come, and that many have come-come with many trembling steps-come with many anxious desires-but still they have come. But there are many that have not come. My dear children, it is a great pleasure to your minister to tell you, that Jesus Christ welcomes every child that comes to him. This is a day of jubilee, and on the day of jubilee your minister declares, that Jesus Christ will save every soul that wants to be delivered from sin. Hear him say this morning, My son, my daughter, "give me thine heart." What a blessed jubilee would this be, if all of you, this morning, touched by the Spirit of the living God, were to make surrender of your hearts to Jesus Christ, and say, "O Lord, I have been Satan's till now; now I will be thine!" O! wonder that Jesus Christ should ask you to become his children, wonder that he should ever take any notice of you! Who are you, that he should take

notice of you? And yet he says to every child that is present to-day, My son, my daughter, "give me thine heart." This is to be matter of rejoicing, that there is a way to be saved, that Jesus Christ is the way to be saved, and that he is now at the right hand of God, and that God has given him the gift of the Holy Ghost to pour out upon all children.

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Well now, there is another matter of this rejoicing to-day, the seventh thing; and that is, that many children from Sunday-schools have gone to heaven. O what a matter of rejoicing is this. I have visited one from a Sunday-school, and as she was dying she said to me, Sir, I was"—this was a little girl, that was ten years old— Sir, I was very wicked before I went to the Sunday-school; I used greatly to disobey my parents, and to sin against God; but I bless God that my teacher was very kind to me, and, though I was often very obstinate, yet she used to teach me so kindly and so gently, that she broke down my temper, and she taught me to love Christ; and so by his grace I now have no fear to die." now have no fear to die." I asked her what her hope was that she should be saved; and stretching out her little hands, which were nothing more than bone and skin hardly, she said, O, Sir, Jesus Christ is my only hope; I rest upon his precious blood, and because he died for children, I hope to enter glory."

Now I know that this is not an extraordinary case, but that there are many, very many children whose teachers have seen them pass from their death-beds to an eternal world; seen them go up to be where Christ is, and to dwell with him for ever and for ever. And is not this matter of rejoicing? Why, many of your scholars are not with you this morning, but they look down upon you from heaven; and it is a matter of rejoicing that they were trained up in a Sunday-school, and have passed into heaven where Christ is.

Now I am going to tell you again what these seven things are. You have to be thankful, first, that you were born in a country where Sunday-schools are established; secondly, that God put it into the hearts of teachers to care for you; thirdly, that you have had your health and your opportunities to come to school; fourthly, that good people are willing to subscribe, and give you books and rewards in the Sunday-school; fifthly, that some of you have learned to fear the Lord while you are young; sixthly, that Jesus Christ welcomes every child that comes to him; and seventhly, that many children from Sunday-schools have gone to heaven. This is the substance, then, of what I shall say to you this morning. be matter of great rejoicing to you.

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