which he was accustomed to sit, and in which I also sat for a moment; the chair of his wife, modestly distinguished from her husband's by having no arms; his stove, with numerous scriptural and ecclesiastical subjects in wood, carved at his own desire. Here, also, are portraits of Luther, Melancthon, and other eminent personages, by Cranach, and a cast of Luther himself taken after death. So, at least, it is said, but I find a difficulty in believing this. If it be really so, it is the plumpest and most life-like cast of this description I ever saw. It has had, however, the advantage of being painted. When Peter the Great visited this place, he scrawled his name over one of the doors in chalk-such, perhaps, as he had used when a shipwright in Holland; and this, his autograph, is now carefully preserved by a glass frame. A still more singular trace of this remarkable man consists in some pieces of broken glass, which are carefully deposited in a kind of bookcase under lock and key, because they once entered into the composition of a drinking cup, which, after quaffing a draught of wine out of it, Peter broke by throwing it on the ground. In the same bookcase is an article which I looked on with much greater interest, a likeness of Luther done in needlework by his wife, and very beautifully done too. The whole apartment must certainly have been handsome; it is handsome still, though in decay, and it is very faithfully represented in the engraving which I have purchased for you. On coming out of it, we saw in the next room some soldiers of the garrison measuring oats from a large heap for their horses.

My guide now led me out of the town by the Elster gate, to see the spot where Luther burnt the Pope's bull of excommunication. That was done, history informs us, under an oak; and an oak stands on the spot now, but not the same oak. Hard fate of war! The French, when they held Wittemburg during the wars of Napoleon, found it necessary to convert the whole of the environs into a glacis, and even this venerable oak was felled, lest it should obstruct a cannonball, or shelter an enemy. The Prussians, however, since the addition of this territory to the Prussian dominions, have planted another oak on the same spot, and it certainly thrives well.

My guide having now finished his part of the exhibition, I had to engage the services of another person to show me the Stadt kirche, or Town church. Here is the remarkable and highly-interesting altar-piece, representing the four sacraments, as understood and celebrated by the Reformers themselves. In the picture representing baptism, Melancthon officiates, and is holding in his hands above the font a child, whom he has evidently dipped, as the water dripping from the child's bonnet demonstrates. In the picture representing the administration of the Eucharist, the painter, Cranach, has introduced himself, in the humble character of a servant. The third picture exhibits a congregation to which Luther is preaching, his wife and son being in the foreground; and the fourth represents the sacrament of penance, or confession, administered by Bugenhagen. In front of the altar was a fine bronze font, of ample dimensions for immersion. In this church Luther preached, but not in the pulpit at present there, which is evidently modern: to gratify my curiosity, however, my guide led me to one of the angular staircases of the tower, and opening the door, he showed me a set of wooden steps of very humble pretensions, which was in its time the actual staircase to Luther's pulpit. This church has the pulpit, after the usual fashion, placed against one

*There is a strong resemblance between the signature of Peter the Great in Luther's chamber, and the autograph letter of his which is preserved in the British Museum.

of the pillars near the altar, and not over the altar, as in the Schloss kirche. Although, doubtless, much altered by the Reformation, it has more of the air and style of a Roman Catholic church about it than most which I have seen. It is early, that is, heavy, Gothic. In one of the side-aisles is an interesting picture, representing a visit paid to Luther's grave by the Emperor Charles the Fifth, accompanied by the cruel Duke of Alva, and a cardinal whose name I forget.

I now made my way to the Rath-haus, or Town Hall, in the market-place, at which I was given to understand I should find some one to show me the memorabilia. I had, however, considerable difficulty. There were people enough about, but they were all engaged on magisterial business, and no one seemed capable of understanding that my visit was one of curiosity. I was actually shown, by one of the most civil of attendants, into the room of some functionary, who, seeing I had papers in my hand, held his own out for them, as if supposing them to be legal documents. I just contrived to make him understand that these were simply engravings (I had just purchased them), and that I had no business of the kind he supposed, and I then retired, amidst the inquiring and perplexed looks of all parties. I was now leaving the Rath-haus in despair, when I was eagerly beckoned back, and placed under the care of a gentleman who had arrived in the interval, and who knew very well what I wanted. He showed me at once into a handsome room, which I suppose I may call the council chamber, and which was full of recollections of the one great man. There, in a volume of manuscript letters, was his hand-writing, and likewise Melancthon's. There was the rosary-half-a-dozen black beads loosely strung on a piece of twine-which he carried when a monk, the top of his sacramental cup, and other relics. Fine portraits were here in abundance: Luther and Melancthon, by Cranach, of course; and a curious picture by the same hand, illustrating, in ten compartments, the precepts of the Decalogue. A rainbow stretches across the whole of this picture, to denote, we may suppose, the unity and beauty of moral duty. Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, when he visited Wittemburg to see these curiosities, left his sword as an addition to them, and it is still shown as a memorial of his homage. Here is also Luther's hour-glass, or rather set of hour-glasses; for they are five in number, severally recording by the passage of the sand various portions of time, from a few minutes to some hours.

I have not even now recorded all that I have seen, but I am weary of taxing my memory for the particulars. I return rather to the general impression, which, amidst so many details, becomes more feeble. I felt more intensely when standing on Luther's grave than at any other moment. I thought of that spot as a part of the great spectacle of the resurrection, and of the blended littleness and greatness of constituting a portion of the working system of God's ways. How little has Luther done for Wittemburg! How much for the world, and for mankind! I looked, of course, at his statue, which adorns the market-place, and stands immediately in front of the Rath-haus. Indeed, you see Luther everywhere in form, but nowhere in spirit. Scarcely less than a dozen statues and portraits of him are in this town; as though subsequent generations would compensate themselves for losing the substance by multiplying the shadow.

Correspondence.

ON SUGGESTIONS REGARDING SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.'

WE have received several letters on the subject of the first article in our last number, entitled 'Suggestions regarding Sunday-schools.' As, however, they are nearly all of the same character-expressive of 'deep gratification' at the subject being discussed in the pages of the CHRISTIAN SPECTATOR, and of a general approval of the ground taken by the writer of the article, we have judged it best to give insertion to only a small portion of the correspondence. We hope, next month, to resume the topic, and shall then endeavour to enter with greater minuteness into objections that may be urged against certain of the Suggestions,' as well as further to develop the plan we have already indicated. In the meantime we shall be glad to receive any hints on the general subject with which our friends, Sunday-school teachers and others, may favour us.

LETTER I.

To the Editor of the Monthly Christian Spectator.

SIR,-As one who has been constantly engaged for the last ten years in the work of Sabbath-school instruction, I hailed with much satisfaction the appearance of an article in the last number of the MONTHLY CHRISTIAN SPECTATOR, containing some useful and interesting, if not novel, Suggestions regarding Sunday schools.

I know not what reception these 'Suggestions' may meet with amongst your readers in general, nor with what prejudices they may possibly come into contact; but whether objected to or not, I am sure all must admire their moderate tone and their earnest and catholic spirit. It seems to me quite time that an agency which may be made so immensely powerful for good, and which the wants of the age demand should be rendered so much more adapted to its purpose than it now is, had secured for itself that serious consideration and candid discussion by the conductors of our religious periodical literature, which it imperatively requires. The good which has already been accomplished by the ministry' of the Sunday-school, even in its present sadly imperfect state, ought to be a sufficient incentive to all holy and intelligent men to give this subject their attention. Whatever difference of opinion there may be as to the particular plan suggested in the article, there can be little, I imagine, as to the important position it assigns to the institution itself. It is not now (as is justly remarked) what it was, when the education of the poor was the dream of a few warm-hearted enthusiasts alone'-its grand task is not now to teach the art of reading '—that work is now, for the most part, done for it in the day-school or the ragged-school. It has a higher mission—the entire moral and spiritual renovation of the rising generation, by bringing to bear upon their minds the influence of the 'truth as it is in Jesus.' How best to accomplish that great and glorious object, is a study worthy the attention of the most en

lightened, if not of the most learned, servants of God. You have done well to give so important a theme a place in your pages, and in taking the liberty briefly to remark upon one point which is strongly urged in the article you have published, I have no intention of indulging in merely impertinent criticism. Every plan would be open more or less to objection, and the scheme set forth in the Spectator' is scarcely developed sufficiently to warrant much being said either way on the details. May I express the hope, that in another article we may be made more fully acquainted with the method and means for carrying the 'Suggestions' into practice?

I cannot but believe that some such scheme as is proposed, carried out, where practicable, by the right men, would be followed by beneficial results. Indeed, it is very much, and almost only, a question of practicability; and as I happen to know that in some instances a plan similar to that suggested has been tried with some success, I believe experience would give testimony in its favour. I am disposed to think, however, that the 'Suggestions' go a little too far in proposing to substitute the system therein propounded for the present Sundayschool organization. It is recommended as a principle, that, wherever they can, Sunday-schools should stand alone,' and be ‘independent of all congregations.' In connexion with the present system, there are many and serious evils, and some of them are very forcibly pointed out in the 'Spectator.' One of the greatest is the inferior light in which the Sunday-school is too generally viewed by the members both of churches and congregations-an evil which often produces either stolid indifference or meddling interference. This inferior estimate it is which leaves our schools in their present comparatively inefficient state, and which accounts, in great measure, for 'the entrusting of classes to teachers not fitted by age, character, or any qualification for the sole control of children.' I do not see, however, how this state of things is to be remedied by the entire independence of schools from connexion with particular congregations (and I suppose the word 'congregations' is used in the article interchangeably for churches'). It seems to me, on the contrary, that the very object sought by the plan proposed in the 'Suggestions' is only likely to be fully followed out, when the churches, as such, awake to its importance and paramount necessity; besides which, I do not understand, neither is it stated in the article, on what principle we can dissociate the agency of Sabbath-schools from the proper and legitimate work of the churches. Of course, I do not lose sight of individual responsibility, and I can understand how, in cases where churches are not careful to 'feed the lambs,' and, in this respect, neglect their duty, devoted individual Christians may, and ought to institute a Sunday-school, either on the plan suggested in the Spectator,' or on some other. All such isolated individual efforts must, however, be made under great disadvantages, and will have (as the present system, to a great extent, has) the dead weight of the churches' indifferentism to contend against. The Sunday-school is too much regarded as a thing grafted on the Church, instead of being an important agency for the regeneration of the world instituted by the Church, and until the Church sees and feels its folly in this matter, the experience, the power, and the influence necessary to carry out the 'Suggestions regarding Sunday-schools' will not be forthcoming. Duty, I think, therefore says to all who entertain a high estimate of what the Sabbath-school institution should be, not to recommend that the schools be rendered independent of the churches, but rather to rouse the churches to a sense of their responsibility in regard to the schools.

I am quite aware that attempts to introduce some of the improvements suggested in the 'Spectator' would meet with much opposition in consequence of the

connexion between the schools and the churches; and, in fact, I know that, in many instances where it has been proposed to adopt the arrangement of separate services, the most determined opposition has been manifested in quarters from whence only support should have been received for so very sensible a proposition. But all this arises, in my opinion, from the connexion between the schools and the churches being merely nominal and legislative, instead of being vital and institutional, and calls for a correction of the evil by other and more natural means than disconnexion. In a particular case, perhaps, where there might appear no other alternative to secure the proper efficiency of a school, and enable it to overcome great obstacles to its success, wisdom might counsel entire independence; nor do I see any reason against the establishment of schools free from connexion with particular churches, in places where churches are not alive to the importance of instituting such an agency, but the very statement of either case appears to me to exhibit only what should be exceptions to the rule.

I will not further trespass on your space but by expressing the hope that so important a subject will receive further discussion and elucidation in your pages. Yours, &c., April 16th, 1852. S. S. T.

LETTER II.

To the Editor of the Monthly Christian Spectator.

SIR,-As the superintendent of a Sabbath-school, allow me to express my sincere pleasure that you have taken up the cause of Sunday-schools.

Though I cannot at present see the propriety of some of your 'Suggestions,' I do think a calm discussion of the subject will lead to much good. I shall, therefore, be much pleased to receive next month a further statement of your views.

I have felt a deep interest in the 'Spectator' from its commencement, and have introduced it amongst our teachers as far as I can, and shall have still greater pleasure in doing so, if the subject be continued.

ONE Saturday evening, towards sunset, many years ago, two men were lazily walking through a lane in the neighbourhood of Burnham, a village in the county of Norfolk. They appeared to have neither object nor business in view; and had you asked them whither they were bending their steps, it is very probable they would have been unable