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illustrate my thoughts by examples, when I am urging them to do the same to their classes. Almost any

simple story will answer your purpose,-always supposing it to be true.

6. The teacher must provide himself with some helps to aid him in preparing to teach.

Most schools use Questions of some kind or other, and in the present state of Sunday-school teaching, I have no doubt that this is wise. But this of itself cannot make a good teacher. He should have a Bible with references, which he should feel is to be the great interpreter, in connexion with a Concordance, so far as obtaining a knowledge of the Bible is concerned. Iu addition to this, he will find other helps, such as maps, diagrams, books of Geography, Natural History, Antiquities of the Bible, and the like, of great use. Were I to select a commentary, I should decidedly place HENRY first on the list. For obtaining interesting and rich views of the Scriptures, I think it decidedly the best in the English language. No man can read it daily, without becoming wiser and better. To the teacher it is almost invaluable. I recollect when I first commenced the ministry and was teaching a Bible class, I rode on horseback, through deep mud, eight miles, to get Henry, long enough to examine one single chapter, and thought myself abundantly compensated for time and trouble. For a single book, I know of nothing so useful to the teacher as "The Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge,”—a book of nearly thirteen hundred pages, and as a whole, of great and permanent value. It contains what would cost ten times its own price, if the separate books containing all its information were to be purchased. Let me beg of the teacher to read something, even if it be but little, every day. No man can live, and forget as much as every man must, and keep up with the times, without reading and filling up the mind. We love a modest man. We have confidence

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MEETING.

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in such men. The reason is, that they are usually modest in consequence of reading, comparing their views with others, and obtaining knowledge which is the result of experience;—while a man who does not read, is in danger of throwing out half-formed notions, crude opinions, and theories which are based upon a false philosophy. A man who does not read, can have no confidence in himself any longer than he is associated with minds similar to his own. Besides all this, a mind that is not improved by reading will soon have used up all it possesses; and when the man finds that his stock is completely exhausted, he is in danger of retiring in discontent, and mourning over the stupidity and degeneracy of the times. The reading of which I am speaking, has direct reference to the lessons to be taught. That reading is always the most valuable which has an immediate end directly in view.

7. The teachers' meeting should be punctually attended, and made useful in preparing to teach.

Since a kind Providence has placed me in the ministry, there has been no part of my congregation in which I have taken a deeper interest than the Sunday School. If I have in any measure been useful to it,—and God has been pleased to bless it abundantly in converting its members,-it has been principally through the teachers. Our method has been this. We had a long room fitted up, and a table in the shape of a T, capable of holding fifty teachers. At the head of this table I have been accustomed to meet my teachers once every week. The Superintendent always sat at my right hand. On this table were laid Reference-Bibles, maps, dictionaries, &c., as each one chose to bring,-always having a good Map of Palestine present. I have then requested the teacher nearest me to read a verse of the lesson; asked him questions, and talked with him about it, just as if in a parlour. If he could not readily answer the question, I say, "Can any of the teachers

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answer this question?" Any one answers, who pleases. Or if he gives an answer not quite satisfactory, or not quite full enough, I ask, "Has any teacher a different opinion," or, "Would any teacher add any thing to this answer?" Sometimes these questions lead us into long and deeply interesting conversations; for after I have put the questions relating to each verse, all have permission to question me. And at the end of the lesson, I ask, "Has any teacher any question to repeat, which has not been satisfactorily answered?" I have met hundreds of teachers in these meetings, have never seen a meeting which was not deeply interesting, have never seen any thing occur which was painful, disrespectful, or otherwise than pleasant. I can truly say, that some of the brightest hours of my life have been spent with teachers in the Teachers' Meeting. I have never seen any disagreement among themselves. Each one should come to these meetings endeavouring to bring a teachable, kind spirit; to bring his share of intellectual food which is to make up the feast, and to feel that he is doing all that he can to make the meeting profitable and interesting. A lesson talked over in this way will be taught with great pleasure and profit. I have sometimes been delighted with the illustrations which they have brought in; and sometimes have felt that I was aiding them when they ask, "How, sir, would you illustrate this and that truth contained in this lesson to a child of six years?" The minister and the teachers who have been unacquainted with the pleasures of these meetings, are ignorant of what will always cheer, encourage, enlighten, and warm the heart.

8. Prayer is indispensable to him who would acquire knowledge in order to be a teacher.

Were the question to be asked, how you could make even fine linen whiter, the answer undoubtedly would be, wash it in pure water; and the purer the water, the whiter would be the linen. So if you would have the

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mind clear, and pure, there is nothing like washing it in the pure waters of life. It needs daily and constant washing, too, for sin daily defiles it. Nothing will purify the mind like bringing it into contact with God in prayer; nothing will render it clear like this,—nothing will enlarge and strengthen it like this. It is the testimony of all such men as Payson, that they succeeded in obtaining knowledge vastly more rapidly, in consequence of communing with God in prayer.

There is another thought which should not be left out of mind. The Scriptures were given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He is their author. In order, then, to understand them aright, you must go to the same Spirit for light and teaching. He can guide into all truth, and make you wise to lead others to salvation. Your own comfort as a Christian must droop and die, your hopes become faint and darkened, your faith weak and unproductive, and your love to the souls of men will wax cold indeed, unless you keep your heart warm at the throne of grace. I do entreat my reader never to attempt to get a lesson,- -never to go to the teachers' meeting,-never to go to your class, unless you have first earnestly sought the blessing of God upon your soul in secret prayer. All meetings of teachers should be opened and closed with prayer. All attempts to do good must be founded on prayer. Were I to say what I deem the greatest deficiency among teachers, among Christians,-among all who are engaged in building up the kingdom of Jesus Christ, I should say, the want of an habitual spirit of prayer. The mouth that speaks in God's name in the pulpit,the hand that holds the pen which writes for the good of others, the lips that pour instruction into the mind of the child,-all, all need to be daily sanctified by prayer. This would shield us in the hour of temptation; this would sustain us when the horizon looks dark and gloomy, this would strengthen us when the heart feels

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GREAT TALENT NOT NECESSARY.

ignorant and desponding,-and this would give us the arm of Omnipotence for our aid, the wisdom of the Infinite One for our light, and the sweet communion of the blessed Spirit, to aid, guide, and reward us. The seed sown in the freshness of the morning, and that which is scattered in the dews of evening, would alike take root and bring forth fruit, thirty, sixty, and an hundred fold.

CHAPTER VII.

COMMUNICATING RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION.

Do not begin the work of teaching with a radical mistake; viz. that it requires very uncommon talents to teach children.

There are many most valuable men, both in our churches and in the ministry, who never make any attempts at teaching children, because they think they have no faculty for it;—that this is a gift of nature which has been denied them, and therefore they can never exercise it. So far is this from being the case, that I believe it to be no more the gift of nature than the talent to express your thoughts to adults. Py attention and long practice you can communicate your thoughts to old, or middle-aged people; and by practice you can just as well communicate them to children. And yet how often do we hear the thought expressed, that it requires a peculiar talent" to teach children! What a dearth of teachers in most of our Sunday Schools, because the impression is so general, that but few have this "peculiar talent!" How many, too, would at once leave their classes, and retire from the field,—could their places possibly be filled,-because they have not this talent! And how many just drag along, year after year, in the school, not expecting, not trying to do much, because they have not this "peculiar talent!" We find some men, by peculiar circumstances, becoming painters, musicians, and artists. The taste that made