months have passed, and now we pause to scrutinize the record. What has been the result?

In some things, perhaps, we have measurably succeeded, and for this we should be thankful. In some things we probably did better than we expected, if not better than we hoped, and these should encourage us in the future.

In other things we had only partial success. We did not achieve what we expected, but we did accomplish something. All the effort was not lost either on ourselves or on others. We are the stronger because we made the effort, and our effort has helped others.

Perhaps as to some things we feel that failure is the only fitting word to express the fact, and we have a deep sense of humiliation; yet we should not be discouraged, for no one reaches his highest ideal in everything. But even what we call failure may not be complete failure; indeed, the future may call it success.

Let us profit by the lessons of the past so that we shall avoid its mistakes and advance upon its achievements.

Thankful to God for any good we may have done, let us trust him for the future, and nerve ourselves for further effort.

A New Year.

THOUGH an old year has ended, a new one has begun, and the new year is a new opportunity fraught with possibilities, probabilities, and even certainties of good. Hence with hopefulness we greet the year nineteen hundred and two, and gladly go forward to do our part.

As individuals we may forecast our own action in the coming twelve months, and, at least in a general way, plan for the greatest

success.

As Sunday school workers let us sit down and view the school, the class, and every part of the school, and, with the best light we can get from the past and the present, perceive the needs of every particular part, and make provision for the immediate present and the remote future.

The school may be weak in something; in that let us purpose to make it strong. The work has been defective; let us determine to make it more perfect and infuse into it the right spirit.

But a wish and a decision are not enough. We should also ascertain the right method for accomplishing our purpose. In this we may draw from our own experience and from the experience of others.

We should not be satisfied with poor or even moderate attainments, but we should have lofty ideals and aim at the highest achievements. That we have not so attained should stimulate us to aim at something bet ter. Even an imperfect past may encourage us, for we may perceive how we might have succeeded had we done our best. The past shows us that what we have done poorly we may do more perfectly, and it should impel us to make the requisite effort.

There are great opportunities in the new year. We should seek them, and, when they are found, we should promptly improve them. There are great possibilities which we should seek to develop. There are great probabilities of success, as we see from what has been done under similar conditions. We have learned that certain efforts are likely to produce certain results, and so we repeat the effort that we may have similar results.

In our Sunday school work we have more than our own strength and skill on which to depend, for the probability of success is immeasurably increased by the power that is in God's word, for there is the potency

of the truth to reach intellect, to influence hearts, and to mold character.

Then there are certainties that will be within our reach as the year rolls on. Thus, it is a certainty that we can do our duty no matter what may result. Another certainty is that we can bring good influences to bear on the scholars by our personal living, by our direct teaching, by our constant and kindly interest in the scholars, and by the general conduct of the school.

The year has begun, and it will rapidly pass away. We cannot afford to waste a moment of the precious time God gives us. We should begin at once, and we should continue steadily, patiently, and hopefully to the end.

Something at Which to Aim.

IN the new year there will be some specially important things at which we should steadily aim, a few of which we may mention:

First, we should aim to increase the size of our Sunday school. No school is so large that it may not provide for some more, and there are many outside who ought to be in the school. Though the school may be large, we should not be satisfied with its size, but should remember the many who do not attend any Sunday school, and endeavor to bring them in; for surely we are not doing our full duty if we merely care for those who are already in the school. To do our full duty we must also seek those who do not attend, and try to bring them into the school. Again, it can hardly be called a valid excuse for nonaction to say that the school room is crowded. If the work requires it, new accommodations can be secured in connection with the old building, or a branch Sunday school can be started in the needy community.

Few schools are so crowded that new schol.

ars cannot be received. Who, indeed, knows of one that is so crowded? On the other hand, the vast majority of Sunday schools are only partially filled. The workers in such schools should take courage, for if proper effort is made the vacant seats may be filled with new scholars who have not been attending any Sunday school. Such effort should be made by all schools, both large and small.

Second, we should aim at greater efficiency in the school. We should never be satisfied until we have a thoroughly efficient school -one that will do the real work of a Sunday school, and do it well.

To be efficient there must be order. Το have an orderly and well-managed school the superintendent should determine to have order, and should employ an orderly method by which to attain it, and each teacher should determine to aid the superintendent by being in order and keeping the class in order. To secure order a good way is to set a right example. Another way is to have exercises that will attract attention and interest the scholar. That is better than cold command. But, to maintain order, there must be the cultivation of reverence. the officers and teachers should set a reverential example, and by intelligent instruction induce the scholars to reverence God and all sacred things, and, especially, to be reverent in God's house.

Hence

Third, we should aim to have every scholar attend the preaching services, for without regular attendance upon the preaching services much, if not all, of the work of the Sunday school will go for naught.

Fourth, we should aim to have the Bible studied comprehensively as a book. To this end a Bible should be in the hand of every scholar who can read, and there should be a double or Additional Lesson each week to give general facts beyond those directly con

nected with the International Uniform Lesson. Then there will be the advantage of the International Lesson and the Additional Lesson-the specific and the general-each day, and on through the year.

Fifth, we should aim at the most thorough grading of the scholars, so that the teaching of every individual teacher may be adapted to all in the class, and the general management to all in any given grade. Then, to make this grading effective, each grade should be supplied with its appropriate periodical literature, instead of one kind of literature for every grade, and this should be the best, the consideration not being cheapness, but quality.

Sixth, we should aim at the conversion of every scholar, and that at the earliest possible moment; and in connection with this we should aim at the development of each scholar's moral character, and at the forming and fixing of right moral and religious habits.

Let us earnestly and wisely aim at these things, and within the year there will be a transformation of the average Sunday school and a decided improvement even in schools that have been classed as models.

The Two Million Converts.

It was suggested that at the opening of the twentieth century the Church should raise twenty millions of dollars as a special thank offering, and at the same time an appeal was made for two millions of converts.

What has been the result? Already a large proportion of the amount designated as a special contribution has been raised, and, as the period has been extended a year, there is a great probability that all will be obtained.

But, what about the conversions? Have the converts been secured? In answer to this

it may be said that there has been a large number of accessions to the Church, but at the same time it must be admitted that the aggregate number is far below the two mili lions.

Now, why have not the two millions been secured? It will hardly be said that there are not so many who are unconverted, when the fact is that many times that number are not professing Christians. Then why has there not been an ingathering of two millions? Are we more secular than spiritual? | Or is the general community so materialistic that it is difficult to influence it by spir- i itual forces?

Let it be agreed that there is much truth implied in both members of this double question. It is very true that there is not sufficient spirituality on the part of many in the Church, and there is great indifference on the part of multitudes outside the Church. But has it not always been so?

The very suggestion of twenty millions of dollars and two millions of converts is an implied admission that it is more difficult to secure conversions than it is to obtain money mounting up into the millions. Notice the proportion between the financial and the spiritual-twenty millions of dollars and two millions of souls-a proportion of ten to one -of ten dollars to one soul. The very proportion named indicates a consciousness of the greater difficulty in the line of spiritual effort, and we must admit that it seems easier to get money than to bring about conversions-that dollars are easier to secure than an immortal soul, or, reducing it to the plainest terms, that it is easier to get ten dollars than to secure one soul.

But when we admit the difficulty that is not conceding the impossibility of securing that number of conversions. It is not impossible.