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and human life; and on these points the Gospels furnish occasions of much useful teaching. They give us not only the life and character of Christ, but place him before us in the midst of human beings and of human affairs. Peter, the ardent, the confident, the false, the penitent Peter; the affectionate John; the treacherous Judas, selling his Master for gold; Mary, the mother, at the cross; Mary Magdalen at the tomb; the woman, who had been a sinner, bathing his feet with tears, and wiping them with the hair of her head ;-what revelations of the human soul are these! What depths of our nature do they lay open!-It is a remarkable fact, that the great masters of painting have drawn their chief subjects from the New Testament; so full is this volume of the most powerful and touching exhibitions of human character. And how much instruction does this book convey in regard to life, as well as in regard to the soul! I do not not know a more affecting picture of human experience than the simple narrative of Luke; "When Jesus came nigh to the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and much people of the city was with her." The Gospels show us fellow-beings in all varieties of condition, the blind man, the leper, the rich young ruler, the furious multitude. They give practical views of life, which cannot be too early impressed. They show us, in the history of Jesus and his apostles, that true greatness may be found in the humblest ranks; and that goodness, in proportion as it becomes eminent, exposes itself to hatred and reproach, so that we must make up our minds, if we would be faithful, to encounter shame and loss, for God and duty In truth, all the variety of wisdom which youth needs, may be extracted from these writings. The Gospels, then, are to be the great study of the Sunday school.

I cannot close these remarks on what is to be taught in the Sunday school, without repeating what I have said of the chief danger of this institution. I refer to the danger of mechanical teaching, by which the young mind becomes worn, deadened to the greatest truths. The Gospels, life-giving as they are, may be rendered wholly inoperative by the want of life in the instructor. So great is my dread of tame, mechanical teaching, that I am sometimes almost tempted to question the u tility of Sunday schools. We, Protestants, in our zeal

for the Bible, are apt to forget that the very commonness of the book tends to impair its power, that familiarity breeds indifference, and that no book, therefore, requires such a living power in the teacher. He must be aware, lest he make the Gospels trite by too frequent repetition. It will often be best for him to assist his pupils in extracting the great principle or truth involved in a precept, parable, or action of Jesus, and to make this the subject of conversation, without further reference to the text by which it was suggested. If he can lead them by fit questions, to find this principle in their own consciousness and experience, in their own moral judgments and feelings, and to discover how it should be applied to their characters and brought out in their common lives, he will not only convey the most important instruction, but will give new vividness and interest to the Scriptures, and a deeper conviction of their truth, by showing how congenial they are with human nature, and how intimately connected with human affairs and with real life. Let me also mention, as another means of preserving the Scriptures from degradation, by too frequent handling, that extracts from biography, history, natural science, fitted to make religious impressions, should be occasionally introduced into the Sunday school. Such seems to me the instruction, which the ends of this institution require.

We have now seen what is to be taught in the Sunday school, and the question now comes, How shall it be taught? * * * The first aim of the teacher will of course be, to fix the attention of the pupil. It is vain that you have his body in the school-room, if his mind is wandering beyond it, or refuses to fasten itself on the topic of discourse. In common schools, attention is fixed by a severe discipline, incompatible with the spirit of Sunday schools. Of course the teacher must aim to secure it by a moral influence over the youthful mind.

As the first means of establishing an influence over the young, I would say, you must love them. Nothing attracts like love. Children are said to be shrewd physiognomists, and read, as if by instinct, our feelings in our countenances; they know and are drawn to their friends. I recently asked, how a singularly successful teacher in religion obtained his remarkable ascendancy over the young. The reply was, that his whole intercourse expressed affection. His secret was a sincere love.

The next remark is, that, to awaken in the young an interest in what you teach, you must take an interest in it yourselves. You must not only understand, but feel the truth.

Your manner must have the natural auimation, which always accompanies a work into which our hearts enter. Accordingly, one of the chief qualifications of a Sunday school teacher, is religious sensibility. Old and young are drawn by a natural earnestness of manner. Almost any subject may be made interesting, if the teacher will throw into it his soul.

Another important rule is, Let your teaching be intelligible. Children will not listen to words which excite no ideas, or only vague and misty conceptions. Speak to them in the familiar, simple language of common life; and if the lessons have difficult terms, define them. Children love light, not darkness. Choose topics of conversation to which their minds are equal, and pass from one to another by steps which the young can follow. Be clear, and you will do much towards being interesting teachers.

Another suggession is, Teach much by questions. These stimulate, stir up the young mind, and make it its own teacher. They encourage the spirit of inquiry, the habit of thought. Questions, skilfully proposed, turn the child to his own consciousness and experience, and will often draw out from his own soul the truth which you wish to impart: and no lesson is so well learned, as that which a man or child teaches himself. Again, teach graphically where you can. That is, when you are discoursing of any narrative of Scripture, or relating an incident from other sources, try to seize its great points, and to place it before the eyes of your pupils. Cultivate the power of description. A story well told, and in which the most important particulars are brought out in a strong light, not only fixes attention, but often carries truth farthest into the soul.

Another rule is, Lay the chief stress on what is most important in religion. Do not conduct the child over the Gospels as over a dead level. Seize on the great points, the great ideas. Do not confound the essential and the unessential, or insist with the same earnestness on grand, comprehensive, life-giving truths, and on disputable articles of faith. Immense injury is done by teaching doubtful or secondary doctrines, as if

they were the weightiest matters of Christianity; for, as time rolls over the child, and his mind unfolds, he discovers that one and another dogma, which he was taught to regard as fundamental, is uncertain, if not false, and his scepticism is apt to spread from this weak point over the whole Christian system. Make it your aim to fix in your pupils the grand principles in which the essence of Christianity consists, and which all time and experience serve to confirm: and, in doing this, you will open the mind to all truth as fast as it is presented in the course of Providence.

Another rule is, Carry a cheerful spirit into religious teaching. Do not merely speak of Christianity as the only fountain of happiness. Let your tones and words bear witness to its benignant, cheering influence. Youth is the age of joy and hope, and nothing repels it more than gloom. Do not array religion in terror. Do not make God a painful thought by speaking of him as present only to see and punish sin. Speak of his fatherly interest in the young with a warm heart and a beaming eye, and encourage their filial approach and prayers. On this part, however, you must beware of sacrificing truth to the desire of winning your pupil. Truth, truth in her severest as well as her mildest forms, must be placed before the young. Do not, to attract them to duty, represent it as a smooth and flowery path. Do not tell them that they can become good, excellent, generous, holy, without effort and pain. Teach them that the sacrifice of self-will, of private interest aud pleasure, to others' rights and happiness, to the dictates of conscience, to the will of God, is the very essence of piety and goodness. But at the same time, teach them that there is a pure, calm joy, an inward peace, in surrendering every thing to duty, which can be found in no selfish success. Help them to sympathize with the toils, pains, sacrifices of the philanthropist, the martyr, the patriot, and inspire contempt of fear and peril in adhering to truth and God.

I will add one more rule. Speak of duty, of religion, as something real, just as you speak of the interests of this life. Do not speak as if you were repeating words received from tradition, but as if you were talking of things which you have seen or known. Nothing attracts old and young more than a tone of reality, the natural tone of strong conviction. Speak to them of

God as a real being, of heaven as a real state, of duty as a real obligation. Let them see that you regard Christianity as intended to bear on real and common life, that you expect every principle which you teach, to be acted out, to be made a rule in the concerns of every day. Show the application of Christianity to the familiar scenes and pursuits of life. Bring it out to them as the Great Reality. So teach, and you will not teach in vain.

SELECTED POETRY.

BAPTISM.

DROP the limpid waters now,
On the infant's sinless brow;
Dedicate the unfolding gem,

Unto Him who blessed the stem.

Let our aspirations be

Innocent as infancy;

Pure the prayers that force their way,
As the child for whom we pray.

In the Christian garden we
Plant another Christian tree;
Be its blossoms, and its fruit,
Worthy of the Christian root.

To that garden now we bring
Waters from the living spring;
Bless the tree, the waters bless,
Holy one with holiness.

When life's harvests all are past,
Oh, transplant the tree at last,

To the fields where flower and tree
Blossom through eternity.

BOWRING.

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