SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER; A MAGAZINE OF ESSAYS, LESSONS, ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIAL, EDUCATIONAL THE WHOLE DESIGNED WITH A VIEW TO THE INFORMATION, CULTIVATION, AND PRACTICAL ASSISTANCE OF VOLUME II. LONDON: SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION, 56, OLD BAILEY, E.C. PREFACE. THE Sunday school and its agents became, not long since, the objects of a series of attacks, which, whatever their deficiencies in the matter of justice or charity, were by no means wanting in energy and bitterness. There were critics who wore the garb of discriminating friends, and critics who made no scruple of manifesting their hostility. Old fallacies, concerning interference with parental duty, and the like, and which needed only a touch to explode them, were brought forward as the results of profound investigation; the faded banners of priestly authority were taken down, re-dyed and calendered, and then hung aloft, looking "almost as good as new," and as well designed to awe unruly laymen into obsequious silence as in the days of their mediæval glory. Comments on the deplorable ignorance (a theme that never fails) of the well-meaning but somewhat narrow-minded persons, who devoted their Sundays to making children uncomfortably serious, were dispensed with a liberality which, if not conscientious, was at least comprehensive. These attacks are now well-nigh forgotten, but their influence remains; and it is an influence for good. Public attention has been called to the nature, objects, and results of Sunday school effort; and they have stood the test with credit and advantage. The true scope and capabilities of the agency are perhaps more fully recognised than ever, and a desire has been fostered, both outside and inside the Sunday school, to augment its power and widen its application. The great body of Sunday and ragged school workers have not only exerted an important influence as members of the state, but in their united capacity have achieved a triumph which will long be remembered with satisfaction. The Sunday and Ragged Schools Rating Exemption Act, obtained from the Legislature, after a sharp but decisive struggle, would of itself have rendered the past year a noteworthy |