be created. And this must be done to a great extent in pious families, and in Sabbath schools. There must be sown those seeds of virtue, whose fruit is to bless coming years. There is no necessity, indeed, to make Sabbath schools the only instrumentality which is to be used, or to exalt them to undue importance in the economy of benevolence. They constitute, however, a highly important method of proceeding in the great business of enlightening and reforming the race of man. Besides the fact mentioned, that they commence the work at the most favorable period, and under the most favorable circumstances, there is another consideration of a no less cheering character. They open a line of operation in which all the talent of the church can engage in doing good. This is a great advance on the state of things hitherto existing. Hitherto, the ministry have been looked on as the only public laborers. The numerous highly gifted sons and daughters of Zion have found but little to do. Their talent, in many instances, has rusted out for want of employment. And the consequence has been, that the progress of righteousness has been slow. But now there is a field opened, into which they may all enter, and in which all the qualifications for usefulness which they possess, may be employed to the best advantage. In this way, they will be saved from lethargy, and will grow in grace more rapidly themselves. And, under the combined influence of the ministry and the whole body of the faithful, the millennial blessedness will more rapidly advance. This is very evidently a consideration of the highest promise, as regards the future prosperity of the Redeemer's kingdom. The laborers in our Sabbath schools are performing a great and an important service. They are blessing earth, and they are doing that which will add, too, to the blessedness of heaven. When These results have begun already to be realized. we read in the report of the Union of our own commonwealth, presented in May last, that, "probably, more than five thousand teachers and scholars in this Union, have passed from death unto life within the last twelve months,” and when we bear in mind that similar results have been witnessed in many other parts of our country, we have the evidence of sense to assist our faith. In facts of this description, we have the most animating assurance that these institutions are owned by the great Head of the church, and that those who labor in them, are made by him the instruments of gathering souls into his kingdom and of adding, at length, to the numbers of the redeemed in glory. What can the disciples of Christ desire, more than this? Let teachers be quickened and encouraged in their work. The millennium may be hastened, and the inhabitants of heaven may be more numerous and more blessed forever, as the result of your humble labors with your class in the Sabbath school. Be faithful, therefore, and look for the early, the immediate conversion of your pupils to God. And let parents rise to the duties which are required of them. Your beloved children need your constant watchfulness, and guidance, and prayers. Diminish not your own labors, because the teacher of the Sabbath school is assisting you, but rather increase them, inspired by the additional hope that your combined labors will not be in vain. And let all who love the prosperity of Zion, or seek the highest welfare of their fellow men, give their countenance and their help to an institution so pure and elevated in its design, and so fraught with blessings to those who feel its influences. Come and see what God is doing by means of this institution. Look at the grandeur and blessedness of the result which it is to bring out; and add your labors, in some way, to those of others, for the accomplishment of the object. Let all combine to promote an interest so precious, and so momentous. And, in addition to other means, let there be from all a united petition: O Lord, continue and increase thy favor to an institution established for thy glory. Plenteously imbue its teachers with every qualification for their work. Give unto all parents the spirit of fidelity to their offspring. And let the generation now instructed in thy truth, be sanctified, and be a generation to thy praise: honoring thee on earth, and enjoying thee forever in glory! D. For the Sabbath School Visiter. A SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER'S TEST. A SABBATH School teacher, on his return from a teacher's meeting, was heard to say, "If I must stay at noon, I shall leave the school." The teachers had decided that evening, to hold the school at noon, and in order to secure punctuality on the part of the teachers, it was proposed, for those who lived at a distance, to remain during the intermission, and thus be in readiness to receive their classes, at the appointed hour of opening the school. Now it occurred to me, that this Sabbath school teacher, and of course, all who test their love to the Sabbath school by this rule, and find that the loss of a meal, weighs more than their interest in the Sabbath school; all such, I do not say, ought to leave their classes, but I do say, they ought seriously to ponder the example of that Saviour, whom it may be, they profess to love; when he fasted, and wept, and prayed whole nights, for the salvation of a world lying in wickedness. Ay-even for them. Let me say to all such :-Beloved teachers, count not any self-denial too great, which you may be called to make for your classes, provided it trenches not upon other and higher duties. And whenever you are disposed to think that you are laboring beyond measure, for the conversion of your class, just then think again of the labors and sacrifices of the same Saviour, and then you will have a more adequate and complete conception of your own short coming, and be led to the appropriate confession, "I am an unprofitable servant; I have done no more than it was my duty to do.” X. For the Sabbath School Visiter. A LITTLE BOY IN ILLINOIS. Mr. Editor,-Your youthful readers, who have been interested in the benevolent enterprize of supplying the rising generation at the West, with suitable Sabbath school books, will be pleased to learn, that the little children in Illinois are beginning to make personal sacrifices, to obtain the means of aiding the work of sending the privileges of the gospel to perishing heathen children. boy, 7 or 8 years old, living in Carrollton, Ill. handed me twenty-five cents a few days since, requesting me to buy two Testaments with it, and send them to heathen children. When he went out of the room, his father informed me how the little boy had obtained his twenty-five cents. Of his own accord, he promised some months before, to do without butter, (an article of which he was particularly fond,) if his father would give him six and a quarter cents a month for this sacrifice. As his father thought it would promote his health, as well as cultivate a benevolent spirit, he readily promised the reward. In this way, the little boy obtained his twenty-five cents in four months. The children in Massachusetts must be interested, to know that the books, giving a history of the wants and destitution of the world, which they have sent into the Valley of the Mississippi, have exerted an important influence, in exciting the benevolent spirit which now begins to manifest itself among the recipients of their bounty. A FRIEND OF CHILDREN. For the Sabbath School Visiter. TO LITTLE CHILDREN. Dear little Children,-I always like to talk to such as you are, whenever I can; and, I suppose, it is because I love little children. Now a great many of you I never saw, and, probably, I never shall in this world, though I hope I shall see you in that better world, to which all good people and good children go, when they die. And so, because I never expect to see you and talk to you face to face, I thought I would sit down in my room all alone, and write to you, and tell you all about a sweet little girl that used to go to the Sabbath school just as you do, but who died a few months ago, and, as I hope, has gone home to heaven. She lived in This little girl's name was Sarah. and I was once her minister. She used to love me very much, and when I called to see her father and mother, as I used to do sometimes, she always seemed very glad to see me, and as she came up to me to shake hands with me, that bright and sparkling eye of her's, and that sweet smile told me how much she loved, and how glad she was to see, her dear minister. I wonder if all the little children, to whom I am now telling this, do so to their minister. I think they ought to; and then, besides, it would make their minister so glad, and make him love them so much, too. Well, little Sarah went to the Sabbath school, just as you do. She was about nine years old; and, like other little children who love their minister, she used to love to go to the Sabbath school. I do not know that she ever teased her mother to let her stay at home, as some children do. So far from this, I believe she used to feel very bad when any thing happened so that she could not go. Indeed, somebody told me once, (I do not know that it was certainly true, for I never asked little Sarah,) but somebody told me, that a wicked man, who knew how little Sarah loved to go to the Sabbath school, tried to hire her to stay away. They said he offered her, I think it was twenty-five or fifty cents, if she would only stay away. But she would not do it; and when she came to die, no doubt she was very glad she did not stay away, as that wicked man wanted her to. And her dear father and mother too, when they looked on and saw how sweetly and happily she died, no doubt they too were very glad to think that she did not. Little Sarah and her dear parents, I think, were never sorry, and never will be sorry, that she went to the Sabbath school. When in the school, she never used to be looking about the room, nor turning over the leaves of her book, nor playing with her bonnet strings or her clothes, nor fixing her hair, nor whispering or playing with the litle girl that sat next to her, as a great many children, and as I am afraid some of you do.. O no, she never did so; but when her teacher used to talk to her, and to the other little girls in her class, about their souls, and about God, and heaven, and hell, and that dear Saviour that died for them so that their sins might all be forgiven, if they would only love him and be so sorry for their sins as not to do so again-I say, when her dear teacher used to talk to her, and the little girls in her class, about these things, she always used to listen to what was said. She did not move about in her seat, as if she disliked what was said, and wanted to have the school stop, so that she might get away, but she |