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 . AN&JEMENTARYHaNIBOOKOF 
 
 Sunday School Instruction. 
 
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 BV 1533 .G76 
 
 Groser, William Howse 
 
 The young teacher 
 

NORMAL STUDIES FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS. 
 
 THE YOUNG TEACHER: 
 
 AN ELEMENTARY HANDBOOK OF 
 
 SUNDAY SCHOOL INSTEUCTION. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM H. GROSER, B.Sc. (Loxd.), 
 
 Eon. Literary Secretary, Sunday School Union, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER'S MANUAL," 
 "JOSHL'A AND HIS SUCCESSORS," "THE TREES AND PLANTS OF THE BIBLE.' 
 
 PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE 
 INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR NORMAL STUDY. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, REVISED. 
 
 LONDON : 
 THE SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION, 
 
 57 & 59, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. 
 
NOBMAL STUDIES FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 TEACHERS. 
 
 Prepared under the Direction op the International 
 Committee for Normal Study. 
 
 Bible the Sunday School Text Book (The). By Rev. 
 A. Holborn, M.A. Post 8vo, paper covers, Is. 6d. ; 
 cloth, 2s. 
 
 Bible Studies : For Normal Students and Sunday School 
 Teachers. By Rev. A. E. Dunning, D.D., of Boston, 
 U.S.A. Cloth, Is. 6d. ; paper, Is. 
 
 From Christ to Constantine : Christianity in the First 
 Three Centuries. By Walter F. Adeney, M.A. Paper 
 covers, Is. 6d. ; cloth, 2s. 
 
 From Constantine to Charles the Great : Christianity 
 from the Third to the Eighth Century. By Walter F. 
 Adeney, M.A. Post Svo, paper covers, Is. 6d. ; cloth 
 boards, 2s. 
 
 Modern Sunday School (The). By Rev. C. H. Kelly, 
 Fountain J. Hartley, Alfred Sindall, and Benjamin 
 Clarke. Is. Qd., paper ; cloth boards, 2s. 
 
 Primer of Bible Geography (A). Founded on the 
 latest Explorations. With Maps. By C. R. Conder, R.E. 
 Cloth boards, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Primer of Christian Evidences (A). By Rev. Prof. 
 Redford, M.A., LL.B. Is. ; cloth, Is. (5d. 
 
 Young Teacher (The). An Elementary Handbook of 
 Sunday School Instruction. By W. H. Groser, B.Sc. 
 (Hon. Literary Secretary, S. S. Union). Paper covers, 
 Is. 6d. ; cloth, 2s. 
 
 London: 
 Sunday School Union, 57 & 59, Ludgate Hill, E.C. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 |Q| 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Sunday School, its Scope and Aims ,., ... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Chief Qualifications of the Sunday School Teacher 13 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Principles of Instruction, and their Relation to Bible 
 
 Teaching ... ... ... ... ... ... 43 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Methods of Instruction : their Use in Bible Teaching 62 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Bible Lessons, and how to prepare them ... ... 74 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Class Teaching ... ... ... ... ... 92 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Class Management ... ... ... ... ... 109 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Helps and Hindrances — Encouragements — Concluding 
 
 Hints ... ... ... ... ... ... 116 
 
THE YOUNG- TEACHER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE SUNDAY SCHOOL, ITS SCOPE AND AIMS. 
 
 A Case supposed. — An English lad of the present day, 
 just entering npon his teens, and beginning to exert his 
 powers of reflection, might naturally feel some curiosity 
 respecting the institutions by which he sees himself sur- 
 rounded. Here are legal enactments, social customs, and 
 domestic habits, which are generally recognized in their 
 several spheres; which cannot be ignored or resisted 
 without more or less of inconvenience ; and to compliance 
 with which the individual is prompted by a sense of mental 
 or moral obligation. If the young thinker appealed to 
 parents or friends for some explanation of this state of 
 things, he would probably gain but scanty assistance in 
 his quest. They, like himself, did not make these institu- 
 tions, but found them what they still are ; and yielded 
 obedience to them as the most easy and proper course to 
 pursue, without analyzing their principles or tracing their 
 history. 
 
 Whence is the Sunday School P — In like manner, 
 a Christian young man or woman, lately appointed to the 
 charge of a class of children in a Sunday school — and it 
 is to such that these pages are specially addressed — might 
 
 B 
 
I THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 feel disposed to make some inquiries concerning the great 
 religious and educational institution which is already 
 claiming him or her as one of its active members. 
 
 The cases, indeed, are not very dissimilar. You have 
 probably been nnder Sunday school influences as long as 
 yon can remember. There your religious life had its con- 
 scious beginnings, concurrently with the hymns learned, 
 the Scripture repeated, and the prayers said, at a mother's 
 knee. There, as a child, you realized something of 
 spiritual companionship and a spiritual home. And there, 
 as years went on, your interest in Divine truth was 
 quickened into personal repentance and faith ; issuing in 
 personal decision for Christ, and a voluntary profession of 
 faith in Him. As the fitting outcome of such profession, 
 you have yielded to the invitation to work in a field which 
 has been to yourself so fruitful in blessings. What is 
 more natural, then, than to seek a fuller acquaintance with 
 the nature and objects of an institution in which you have 
 found your sphere of Christian service ? 
 
 A Short Answer. — The Sunday school, as we find 
 it, after a full hundred years of existence, is a vigorous, 
 popular, and aggressive agency. We discern that it is in 
 operation in almost every section of the Protestant Church ; 
 that it flourishes on an extensive scale in Great Britain, 
 America, and the Colonies ; and that it is steadily taking 
 root in other countries of Europe and Asia, adapting itself 
 with marvellous flexibility to the varied peculiarities and 
 requirements of different nationalities. The Sunday school 
 has hosts of friends and sympathizers (even if their 
 sympathy be only a sentiment) in all ranks and classes of 
 society ; its severest critics are rarely its avowed oppo- 
 nents ; while Christian men and women in general agree 
 to recognize in it one of the noblest, most useful, and most 
 encouraging products of modern religious life. 
 
 This, however, is a mere bird's-eye view of the Sunday 
 school ; a nearer inspection is desirable. In this country 
 
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL, ITS SCOPE AND ^IMS. 3 
 
 the children and young persons who attend Sunday schools 
 belong chiefly to the artisan class and to the middle and 
 lower sections of the trading community ; and since about 
 eighty per cent, of the teachers are drawn from the ranks 
 of the scholars, the like conditions apply, for the most part, 
 to them also. Mission and ragged schools reach, further 
 downward in the social scale ; while, on the other hand, 
 there are suburban Sunday schools and young people's 
 Bible meetings which affect the upper strata of the middle 
 class ; but in the main the above-named restriction prevails, 
 m the United States, however, no such exclusiveness 
 exists ; and (strange as the comparison may appear) it is 
 also absent from the Sunday schools established on the 
 continent of Europe. It must, therefore, be due to some 
 national peculiarity ; but it demands serious notice, as 
 having an obvious bearing, both directly and indirectly, on 
 the religious interests of our English youth. 
 
 In institutions, as in individuals, origin and early sur- 
 soundings frequently affect the whole after career ; and 
 this has been the case with the English Sunday school, to 
 the serious injury both of its reputation and its efficiency. 
 No blame, however, is attributable to its excellent founder 
 or his coadjutors. 
 
 When the good printer of Gloucester unconsciously 
 took up the commission which had well-nigh been for- 
 gotten by the Church through ages of conflict and vicissi- 
 tude, he began, like his Divine Predecessor, by making 
 known the gospel to the poor. The most needy — in other 
 words, the most degraded specimens of the juvenile popula- 
 tion — attracted his benevolent attention and awakened his 
 practical sympathy. Raikes's first efforts were, therefore, 
 to rescue and to reform : and in fact, though not in name, 
 the " ragged school " preceded the " Sunday school." Not 
 that he or his colleagues supposed that any merely outward 
 amelioration would suffice to cleanse the springs of ovil, 
 whether in the child or the adult. But though they were 
 
& THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 devout they were none the less practical. It was indispen- 
 sable that the rescued boys and girls should be kept out of 
 the lanes and alleys which had been their only sabbath 
 seminary ; and hence paid " masters " and " mistresses " 
 were engaged to " look after," as well as instruct, the first 
 Sunday scholars, in Gloucester city, and in other places as 
 well. But Christian zeal and devotion demanded an ampler 
 channel for their exercise ; and with the formation of the 
 Sunday School Union, at the beginning of the present 
 century, voluntary service became the rule in Sunday 
 school work. 
 
 A Common Mistake. — This, and similar religious 
 efforts, gave a powerful impetus to secular education, the 
 advance of which, down to the present day, has been one 
 of the most gratifying features of our national progress. 
 As the influence of the day school has broadened and 
 deepened, the Sunday school has gradually divested itself 
 of some of its earlier and subsidiary agencies, and has 
 become more and more what it is best adapted to be — an 
 essentially religious agency. But ignorance and prejudice 
 die hard ; and in many quarters the Sunday school is 
 viewed from the old " charitable " and " philanthropic n 
 standpoint of 1780. Either it is regarded as a temporary 
 expedient for imparting religious and moral instruction to 
 the children of vicious, ungodly, or indifferent parents (of 
 the artisan and lower middle class, it is taken for granted), 
 or as a sphere in which Christian " ladies and gentlemen ,: 
 condescend to teach the offspring of their " poorer neigh- 
 bours." Under either aspect the practical effects of the 
 theory are most disastrous. In the former case it is argued, 
 fairly enough, that, if designed for religiously neglected 
 children, Sunday schools would attain their greatest 
 success by becoming altogether superfluous ; and in both, 
 the Church withholds her riper culture and experience to 
 an institution which appears to rest on so narrow and 
 insecure a basis. 
 
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL, ITS SCOPE AND ADIS. 5 
 
 The True Theory of the Sunday School. — But the 
 conception is radically false. The Sunday school is not a 
 temporary expedient, or a charitable agency, or a scheme 
 for the benefit of this or that class in society ; and it will 
 never realize its full capabilities, or attain its true spiritual 
 vigour, until these cramped and misleading notions have 
 given place to nobler conceptions of its scope and aim. 
 
 The same Divine authority which uttered the ancient 
 law, " These words which I command thee this day . . . 
 thou shalt teach diligently to thy children" and re-enacted 
 it under the new dispensation, " Bring them up in the 
 nurture and admonition of the Lord," also gave to His 
 Church, through its first representatives, the kindred law, 
 " Feed My lambs " — the lambs whom, under another 
 figure, He had previously included among the subjects of 
 His "kingdom." This twofold commission, to the parent 
 on the one hand, and to the Church on the other, entrusting 
 the religious instruction of the young not to either, but to 
 both, has never been repealed. It is too often neglected 
 by the former, it has been too often overlooked by the 
 latter ; but the duty remains unchanged. It rests on each, 
 and no degree of fidelity on the part of the one can excuse 
 the want of it on the side of the other. 
 
 Now, the Sunday School is emphatically the Church's 
 recognized method of fulfilling her mission to the young. 
 It is not implied that there never was or never can be a 
 fulfilment of that mission in other forms ; it is sufficient 
 to point to the fact that no other, comparable in simplicity, 
 extent, or effectiveness, has been hitherto devised. The 
 spiritual necessities of children and youth, which this 
 institution aims to meet, are, it is almost needless to 
 remark, as wide as humanity itself. All distinctions of 
 social rank or mental culture melt away in presence of the 
 searching truth, " Ye must be born again." No " tem- 
 porary agencies " will meet a claim which cannot cease 
 until the last unrepentant soul has been brought to the 
 
6 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 foot of the Cross. Nor can Sunday schools well be super- 
 seded by any day-school system in existence. The best 
 friends of the rising generation do not hesitate to declare, 
 that the new machinery which the last twelve years have 
 called into action in this country has rendered Sunday 
 schools not less, but more important and useful, than before 
 — more essential, as a Cabinet Minister has lately reminded 
 us, to the religious life of England than ever. 
 
 It can hardly be otherwise. In whatever degree the 
 understanding is informed and the mental powers developed 
 by the schoolmaster, a corresponding demand is made upon 
 the parent and the Church to train and develop, in like 
 proportion, the moral and spiritual faculties ; otherwise 
 the result will be, not harmony, but deformity of character. 
 And thankful as Christian teachers and parents may well 
 be for whatever amount of moral and religious influence 
 the day school may exert on the young, that influence is 
 mostly incidental and subordinate, and its amount com- 
 paratively small. In reference to direct religious instruc- 
 tion and impression, the compromise which underlies our 
 board school system must of necessity reduce them to a 
 minimum. Narrative portions of the Bible, oniy read, 
 and read as a part of school tasks, can scarcely be expected, 
 even by the most sanguine, to be grasped in their deeper 
 or more didactic bearings by the volatile minds of children, 
 especially amidst the heterogeneous crowd of secular 
 topics which enthusiastic specialists, more learned than 
 practical, and more pertinacious than either, have gradually 
 wedged into the weekly curriculum. Nor will any true 
 educator hear with much surprise the statement recently 
 made by a board school teacher : " I have forty boys under 
 my care, and not one of them would hesitate to tell a lie if 
 it were at all to his apparent interest to do so." It is not to 
 such institutions, however necessary and useful, that we 
 must look for the moral and religious culture of the young. 
 Cardinal Manning has most truly observed, when writing 
 
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL, ITS SCOPE AND AIMS. 7 
 
 on this question, " Christianity will be sustained, as it was 
 first diffused, by teaching, and by teaching all that the 
 Divine Author commanded us to believe and to do." And 
 in that great truth the credentials of the Sunday school 
 teacher may assuredly be found. 
 
 The Teacher's Calling. — "Ye see," then, young 
 teachers, "your calling:" and a noble calling it is. No 
 grander work can enlist the energies of a consecrated 
 mind and heart. To teach is the noblest of earthly pro- 
 fessions ; to teach the revealed will of God, the highest 
 sphere in which that profession can be pursued. Yours is 
 a Divine evangelism, a spiritual ministry, a sacred pas- 
 torate, a " cure of souls." Wherefore let each true 
 successor of apostles and prophets " take heed " to him- 
 self "and to the teaching." 
 
 The Teacher's Aims. — It may still be inquired, " If 
 such be the scope and purpose of the work, as a whole, 
 what are to be the specific aims of the individual teacher, 
 and by what means are those aims to be pursued ? " No 
 more important question can be asked by a young Christian 
 brought face to face with a group of children, whose 
 opening minds await his utterances, and whose unformed 
 characters lie plastic to his touch. A full answer would 
 extend far beyond the limits of the present little hand- 
 book ; but a few leading principles may be given in 
 outline, by way of suggestion. 
 
 First Principles. — You have probably heard much, 
 from pulpit and platform, and have also read not a little 
 in tracts, magazine articles, and perhaps in larger treatises, 
 concerning "the objects of Sunday school teaching," and 
 may have felt somewhat bewildered by the seeming differ- 
 ences of opinion. You have been told, for instance, that 
 the teacher's object should be " to lead his scholars to 
 Christ ; " " to lead them into the way of peace ; " "to 
 persuade them to repent;" "to persuade them to be- 
 lieve : " " to secure their conversion : " " to secure their 
 
8 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 salvation ; " " to train them in the knowledge of God's 
 Word ; " " to train them in Christian life ; " " to bring 
 them into union with Christ ; " " to touch their hearts 
 with a Saviour's love ; " " to bring them to decision ; " 
 " to form their religious characters ; " " to seek for them 
 the baptism of the Holy Spirit ; " " to make them dis- 
 ciples; " "to put them into Christ's hands: " and so on, 
 through almost endless varieties of phraseology, according 
 to the mental or theological bias of the speaker or writer. 
 Carefully examined, these apparent divergences will be 
 found to have a substantial unity, representing merely 
 different aspects of the same great process in its successive 
 stages. Putting aside technical peculiarities of theological 
 belief and expression, the following truths appear to the 
 writer to be plainly taught by Christ and His apostles : — 
 
 1. That man is by nature sinful, guilty, and alienated 
 
 from God. 
 
 2. That God, in His infinite love, has provided a means 
 
 of pardon and restoration through a Divine 
 Redeemer, Jesus Christ. 
 
 3. That Jesus Christ, by His obedience to the Divine 
 
 law, and by His atoning death, has procured the 
 means of man's forgiveness, restoration to the 
 Divine favour, and personal renewal. 
 
 4. That this renewal involves a vital change in man's 
 
 moral and spiritual nature. 
 This change is presented in the New Testament 
 under a great variety of figures (it being only by 
 symbolic language that spiritual phenomena can 
 be rendered intelligible) ; as, for example, a new 
 birth ("regeneration"); a turning round ("con- 
 version ") ; a return to God ; a coining to one's right 
 mind ; an adoption ; a deliverance or " salvation ; " 
 a clothing anew ; a laying hold of a hope; a rest; 
 a transformation ; a building in ; a planting anew ; 
 and many other striking and suggestive emblems. 
 
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL, ITS SCOPE AND AIMS. 9 
 
 5. The Agent by whom the change is effected is, in all 
 
 cases, the Holy Spirit. 
 
 6. The ordinary mode by which the Holy Spirit effects 
 
 the change is by revealing to the sinner his true 
 condition ; revealing Christ as the manifestation 
 of God's love, and the Way of forgiveness and 
 restoration ; and so leading him to repentance and 
 to the acceptance of the Divine offer of salvation. 
 
 7. The sinner accepts the Divine offer by faith; that 
 
 is, belief in " the record which God has given of 
 His Son," and trust in that Son, as a Saviour 
 alike from the gnilt and the power of sin. 
 
 8. The effect of the change is a godly life, maintained 
 
 by the continued operations of the same Spirit, 
 
 and manifested in personal holiness and Christian 
 
 service, to be further developed and perfected in 
 
 a future state of being.* 
 
 Place of Human Instrumentality. — Accepting the 
 
 foregoing principles as substantially, however imperfectly, 
 
 expressing the Scripture doctrine of man's salvation by 
 
 Christ, it may be further asked, " What place has human 
 
 effort in a work so manifestly Divine ? " 
 
 The answer is not far to seek. The Holy Spirit, in 
 effecting the change on which we have just been dwelling, 
 does not act directly on the human soul, but indirectly 
 through objective (i.e. outward or external) truth — the 
 truth concerning God's plan of redemption, as embodied 
 in the Scriptures. " The Spirit " acts through " the 
 Word ; " and this Word appeals to the heart and con- 
 science through the understanding, and by means of 
 human language. If this were all, it is obvious that 
 the silent dissemination of the Scriptures everywhere 
 would be the chief aggressive work of the Church ; and 
 evangelistic ministries, at home and abroad, would be 
 
 * It will be desirable for each reader personally to test the accuracy 
 of the above statements by reference to the Word of God. 
 
10 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 concentrated in one vast Bible Society. But it is not all. 
 The wisdom of God has seen fit to ordain that His gospel 
 should be made known to man through man, and that 
 it should be communicated by word of mouth, and not 
 simply in written language. It has pleased Him " by 
 the foolishness of preaching," in its varied forms, public 
 and private, " to save them that believe ; " or, as the 
 same apostle presents it, under another figure, the 
 heavenly " treasure " has been stored " in earthen vessels, 
 that the excellency of the power may be of God." And 
 with this human effort, if faithfully put forth, there is 
 a Divine co-operation, without which it must be utterly 
 ineffective ; for the principle holds good now, in the 
 humblest Christian labour, on which the first triumphs 
 of the Cross were won : " The Lord working with them, 
 and confirming the Word with signs following." 
 
 Summary; — Objects and Means. — To sum up and 
 apply what has been advanced, though without attempting 
 to explain all the phrases which have been quoted con- 
 cerning this work — 
 
 Firstly, the supreme object of the Sunday school 
 teacher should be, to lead to repentance and faith in Ghrist 
 such of his scholars as have not taken that solemn step, 
 and to train in the life of faith those who have. (Probably, 
 a larger proportion of the latter would be found in Sunday 
 school classes if sought for.) In the former case, he 
 seeks conversion, decision, reconciliation with God, submission 
 to Christ ; in the latter, growth in grace, sanctification 
 conformity to Christ's example, obedience to His precepts, 
 discipleship, service, formation of Christian character. 
 
 Secondly, the means to be adopted for the attainment 
 of this object are, Instruction * and Personal Influence ; 
 or, in more familiar phrase, teaching and training. 
 
 * Instruction was well defined by the late Professor Payne, as 
 " the orderly placing of knowledge in the mind ; " and education as 
 *' the harmonious development of the faculties." Instruction and train- 
 
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL, ITS SCOPE AND AIMS. 11 
 
 Primarily, the Sunday school is a place for instruction— « 
 the teaching of God's "Word. But the force of instruction 
 is increased tenfold by example and 'personal influence, by 
 which the teacher is enabled to train as well as direct. 
 
 Personal Influence and Example. — Doubtless, 
 there are many pious workers in the Sunday school field 
 who, from circumstances beyond their control, see but 
 little of their pupils, except for the short time of class- 
 meeting on the sabbath ; and such would appear to be 
 capable of doing little or nothing in the way of personal 
 training. Happily it is not quite thus. It is scarcely 
 possible to come into contact with a band of young 
 people, though it be but for one or two hours weekly, 
 without growing interested in their everyday life and 
 experiences, and so becoming desirous of being something 
 more than a sabbath instructor. They quickly respond 
 to this desire ; and, gaining their affection and confidence, 
 the teacher becomes, in a large proportion of instances, 
 their "guide, philosopher, and friend." Acquaintance 
 deepens interest, and interest leads to action ; and so, 
 around the primary work of the Sunday school, there 
 springs up an ever-increasing throng of subsidiary 
 agencies, designed for the benefit of the scholars, and 
 strikingly exemplifying the ingenuity of Christian love 
 and zeal. Some promote moral and intellectual culture ; 
 others, especially in poorer districts, afford direct or 
 indirect pecuniary assistance ; while others, again, take 
 the form of purely recreative engagements. 
 
 Provided the main object is never lost sight of, these 
 agencies are valuable helps to spiritual work. They 
 brighten the everyday life of the young ; they show that 
 religion is the best friend of mental and social progress ; 
 and, above all, they augment the personal influence of 
 the teacher by demonstrating his loving sympathy with 
 
 ing are thus means, while education is the end. These definitions 
 should be well pondered and clearly understood. 
 
12 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 his pupils ; and strengthen the ties which bind them 
 to him and to the school and Church. 
 
 The faithful Sunday school labourer, then, must seek, 
 not only to speak, but also to live, the truth. Let him 
 be sure of this, that his tempers, habits, and general 
 conduct, so far as they come within the observation of 
 his scholars — whose scrutiny will be close, impartial, and 
 generally accurate — will form an eloquent commentary, 
 or a melancholy satire, on his sabbath instructions. It 
 was not by accident that St. Paul bade his young disciple 
 "take heed," first, to himself. "His words," says the 
 proverb, "will thunder whose life lightens," but where 
 there is no living light, the words, however wise or appro- 
 priate, will be but as the mimic thunders of a stage. 
 
 REFERENCES TO THE FOREGOING TOPICS. 
 
 "The Sunday School Teacher's Manual." By W. H. Groser. 
 2s. 6d. (Chaps, i., vii.) 
 
 "The Sabbath School Teacher's Handbook." By Principal 
 Morrison, LL.D. 2s. (Sunday School Union.) 
 
 "Teaching and Teachers." By H. Clay Trumbull, D.D. 5s. 
 (Hodder.) 
 
 %* The above three Manuals deal comprehensively with Sunday 
 School work in its various departments. 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE CHIEF QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. 
 
 Some years since, the writer's attention was called to 
 a little book of which he only remembers the title, "An 
 Idea of a Christian." It is to be feared that there are 
 many Christians whose conceptions of the religion which 
 they profess are vague and shadowy indeed. And it is 
 not less probable that there are many well-meaning 
 persons, actually engaged in the work, whose " idea of 
 a Sunday school teacher " is lamentably inadequate and 
 ill defined. It is hoped that a thoughtful perusal of the 
 previous chapter may serve to prepare the way for clearer 
 and more accurate views of the teacher's qualifications, 
 and to convince the reader, at starting, that here is no 
 mere ephemeral expedient for remedying a temporary 
 dislocation in the social fabric, but a spiritual ministry, 
 whose foundations centre in the inspired Word of God. 
 
 Personal Piety. — We would enter upon this very 
 serious theme with a friendly but earnest personal inquiry 
 — Have YOU, into whose hands these pages have fallen, 
 been called to this great ivork, the religious instruction and 
 training of the young ? And since God calls only His 
 own servants to do His work, there lies behind the above 
 question a second one — Are you a true disciple of Christ f 
 Are you yourself a learner in that Divine school into 
 which you propose to lead others ? We do not dare to 
 
14 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 affirm that God's truth, spoken by the undecided, or even 
 by the irreligious, must needs fail of its effect, but we 
 may safely assert that such is riot the Divine method ; 
 and we can with equal confidence declare that a teacher 
 who is not a disciple excludes himself and his efforts from 
 the prospect and the promise of a blessing. If, therefore, 
 we chance to be addressing any who are conscious that 
 as yet they are not possessors of the first qualification 
 for Sunday school teaching, we beseech them that, before 
 proceeding a single step further, they — for their scholars' 
 lakes, for their co-workers' sakes, for their own sakes — 
 "be reconciled to God," by simple hearty faith in the 
 redeeming work of His dear Son. 
 
 For what possible success can be anticipated in this 
 or any other spiritual enterprise — and we hope that the 
 preceding chapter has sufficiently defined the true nature 
 of Sunday school teaching — without the indwelling of the 
 Holy Ghost ? If God was pleased to make inspiration 
 a qualification for the chief artificers in the construction 
 of His ancient tabernacle — if He " filled " Bezaleel and 
 Aholiab "with the Spirit of God ... to work in gold, 
 and silver, and brass," in " cutting of stones " and 
 "carving of wood," can any inferior endowment be 
 adequate for those who toil to build a living temple, in 
 which the Divine presence shall abide and be manifested 
 with a constancy which Israel's sanctuary never knew ?* 
 We are helpless in the midst of our sabbath classes unless 
 He " who spake by the prophets " speak also by us. It 
 is not enough that, to quo^e a somewhat misleading 
 phrase, we expect a "blessing to follow " our instructions ; 
 the Giver of that blessing must also abide in us as the 
 Shekinah of our hearts, illuminating our understandings, 
 quickening our perceptions of His Word, and clothing us 
 with the true prophetic power. A Christian teacher must 
 be not as a catoptric mirror, reflecting the Divine beams only 
 * Cf. Exod. xxxv. 30-33 ; 1 Cor. iii. 9, 10 ; Eph. ii. 20-22. 
 
CHIEF QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. 15 
 
 from the surface, but as a dioptric lens, itself permeated 
 by the light which it transmits to others. 
 
 Adaptation. — But not all who are disciples are called 
 to teach, much less to teach the young. Diversities of gifts 
 prevail in religious equally as in secular agencies ; and 
 it is well to remember that there are both natural and 
 acquired " gifts " of teaching. Let our readers allow us 
 to bring them to the test of some of these qualifications. 
 We will mention three, that appear to be of primary 
 importance, and will do so in the form of familiar 
 questions : — 
 
 1. Are you in sympathy with the young f Some pious 
 people like children very well — "in their place ; " but it 
 is implied that the children's " place " is at a respectable 
 distance. This is the feeling which consigns Sunday 
 scholars to hot, stuffy, unwholesome galleries in churches 
 and chapels ; where participation in Divine worship is 
 impossible, but where an intense dislike to the sanctuary 
 and its services is vigorously fostered. It is not every 
 Christian man or woman who feels "at home" in the 
 society of young people. There is a sort of instinctive 
 incompatibility which keeps them apart when left to their 
 own free will. And there are many who seem quite 
 unable to touch any sympathetic chord in young minds 
 and hearts : they would be glad if they could do so, but 
 do not know how. 
 
 Such persons, however pious and benevolent, are as 
 clearly unfit for the charge of a Sunday school class 
 as a deaf man to be a professor of music, or a dumb man 
 a teacher of elocution. Their vocation may, perhaps, be 
 found beside the sick-bed, or at the mothers' meeting; 
 distributing pure literature, or writing in defence of the 
 faith ; but it is obviously a mistake, and an injury to all 
 concerned, to allot them a place in a Sunday school. If 
 any of our readers are conscious of this initial defect, it 
 will be safer and more candid to avow it at once, and 
 
16 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 withdraw from a sphere which they cannot but feel was 
 not designed for them. 
 
 2. Are you in sympathy with teaching ? In other words, 
 Are yon fond of telling to others whatever you yourself 
 have learned ? There is such a thing as " a passion for 
 communicating ; " and probably it exists in all our best 
 teachers, whatever their special departments of effort, as a 
 distinct characteristic. If you do not share this tendency 
 at all, if communicating is rather a drudgery than a 
 delight, there are doubtless paths of Christian usefulness 
 open to you, but they do not lead, we venture with some 
 confidence to affirm, to the Sunday school class. Unless 
 " Tell me the old, old story," as a request from youthful 
 lips, awakens in you a glad and eager response, you can 
 hardly conclude that the Master has called you to " feed 
 His lambs " with heavenly pasturage. 
 
 3. Are you in sympathy with the Sunday school enter- 
 prise ? It is not enough that you approve of it, or even 
 admire it as an institution ; most persons do that. Do you 
 love it sincerely ? Have you thorough faith in it, as a 
 Divine agency for the diffusion of Christ's gospel among 
 the youth of all nations and ranks and positions, and 
 their nurture in the inspired "words of faith and of 
 good doctrine " ? Do you recognize on it the stamp 
 of Grod's approval, through a hundred years and more of 
 practical trial ? For your own sake, for the children's 
 sake, and for the sake of your fellow-labourers, forbear to 
 put your hand to a work to which you cannot yield your 
 fullest sympathy of mind and heart. We can neither 
 know, hot perform, as we ought, any work that we do not 
 love. 
 
 The lack of any or all of the above-named requisites 
 should, in the writer's judgment, be regarded as an effec- 
 tual bar to undertaking the superintendence of a class of 
 Sunday scholars, or indeed to engaging in any school 
 work whatever. Assuming, however, that our readers' 
 
CHIEF QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. 17 
 
 sympathies are fully enlisted in the direction we have 
 indicated, we may now proceed to consider other qualifi- 
 cations scarcely less important. These may be conve- 
 niently divided into the necessary and the desirable, pre- 
 mising that these terms are to be understood in their 
 ordinary sense. Some teachers have succeeded in the 
 absence of one or more of these qualifications which we 
 deem "necessary;" while, again, any of those which we 
 class as " desirable " may become, in certain circumstances, 
 all but indispensable to efficiency. 
 
 Necessary Qualifications. 
 
 Of these the Moral stand first in value and import- 
 ance, and among them we place at the head — 
 
 Patience, which is the cardinal virtue of the educator, 
 whatever his special department. — Christian patience is 
 the fruit of Self-control, which can best be learned in 
 the school of Christ. The subjection of the tempers and 
 passions to the Divine law is a task which every disciple 
 must set before him, though many a struggle be needed 
 to insure success. It is doubly important in an instructor 
 of youth, since every phase of his character is closely 
 watched by his pupils, and unconsciously moulds their 
 own. The teacher who fiercely boxes the ears of an im- 
 pertinent scholar, or excitedly engages in a hand-to-hand 
 struggle with a refractory one, can hardly be surprised if 
 he neutralizes, by the looks and gestures of a few moments, 
 the wise and painstaking instructions of weeks and months. 
 The youthful heart is a " city " which can only be " taken " 
 by him who has learned to " rule his spirit." 
 
 Patience, one of the fruits, as we have said, of this 
 grace of Self-control, is both passive and active, nor can it 
 be asserted that either is the more needful. 
 
 Passive Patience is love enduring. Not mere moral 
 inertia, but the charity " that beareth all things," express- 
 ing itself in meekness and forbearance amidst the ofttimes 
 
18 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 trying faults and failings of a class of children or young 
 people. Inattention, indifference, perhaps obstinacy, sul- 
 lenness, ingratitude, instability, and the long train of 
 juvenile sins and shortcomings — these should be, and, 
 happily, often are, endured with calmness and loving 
 patience by those who teach for Christ. And the thought 
 of His compassionate forbearance with His wayward and 
 faithless disciples supplies the highest motive to the 
 cultivation of this highest of educational virtues. 
 
 Active Patience is love toiling. We call it Persever- 
 ance, but the apostle defined it more forcibly as " patient 
 continuance in well-doing." It is not mere blind tenacity, 
 but trustful plodding on in a path which the convictions 
 pronounce to be the path of duty. It is the transference 
 to moral and spiritual spheres of that which inspired 
 Palissy and Brindley and Stephenson in the ways of 
 material progress. 
 
 " O'er wayward childhood wouldst thou hold firm rule, 
 And sun thee in the light of happy faces, 
 Love, Hope, and Patience — these must be thy graces, 
 And in thy own heart let them first keep school." 
 
 Of this " Love " and " Patience " we have spoken ; " Hope " 
 should be manifested in Cheerfulness of disposition and 
 manner, which is all-important in intercourse with the 
 young. By the law of association, a sombre Christian is 
 judged to be so because of his piety ; while " heaviness ' 
 in teaching Bible lessons is mentally attached by the child 
 to the contents of the Book ; and the feelings of repulsion 
 so awakened in the sunny minds of youth are more easily 
 produced than eradicated. 
 
 Prayerfulness. — By this we mean, not the practice so 
 much as the spirit and attitude of prayer — that dependance 
 on Divine help which stimulates, instead of superseding, 
 human effort, and is indeed the strongest incentive to 
 patient industry. If prayer be 
 
CHIEF QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. 19 
 
 " The Christian's vital breath, 
 The Christian's native air," 
 
 it is not less the teacher's talisman — the secret of his 
 strength and his success. His private studies, his inward 
 meditations, his class instructions, his correspondence and 
 personal intercourse with his scholars, — all these, as well 
 as his individual piety, need to be permeated and sustained 
 by that devout recognition of the Divine element in all 
 spiritual work which finds its fit outcome in the exercise 
 of prayer ; — 
 
 " I can only spread my sail, 
 Thou, Thou must breathe th' auspicious gale ! " 
 
 Turning now to the Intellectual Qualifications de- 
 manded for the efficient discharge of the teacher's duty, it 
 will be convenient to divide these also into Passive and 
 Active, or Knowledge and Ability. 
 
 As to the former, they may be comprised under two 
 familiar heads, A Fair English Education, and A 
 Competent Knowledge of Holy Scripture. 
 
 Education. — An acquaintance with those departments 
 of everyday learning which are included in the phrase " A 
 fair English education," may be regarded by some as far 
 from indispensable in " spiritual work " like that of the 
 Sunday school. They will point to many illiterate yet 
 successful teachers, and affirm that in spiritual things 
 " human learning " is rather a hindrance than a help. 
 
 Such reasoning is fallacious, in more directions than 
 one. Of course we do not presume to assert that there 
 can be no success without this limited amount of secular 
 knowledge for which we plead. We have read of Saunderson, 
 the professor of mathematics, who taught optical science 
 at Cambridge though he had been totally blind from 
 infancy ; and Beethoven, one of the first of modern musi- 
 cians, was afflicted with severe deafness. Yet surely one 
 
20 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 may include eyesight and hearing as " necessary qualifica- 
 tions " for teaching optics and music respectively ? 
 
 Nor are we demanding that Sunday school instructors 
 should be "learned" in any sense which can fairly be 
 imposed upon that term — in any sense even remotely ap- 
 proaching that in which the great pupil of Gamaliel depre- 
 cated reliance on " the wisdom of this world." All we 
 demand is so much of scholastic knowledge as shall place 
 the teacher at least on a par with his pupils. National 
 education, defective though it is and must be, is yet slowly 
 but surely raising the intellectual level, and the literary 
 and scientific attainments (humble as both undoubtedly 
 are), of the youth of this country ; and it is undesirable in 
 the last degree that those who impart religious knowledge 
 should exhibit ignorance of the elementary subjects of 
 board school tuition. A Sunday school teacher, whose 
 blunders in his facts or his grammar excite the mirth of 
 his scholars, may forfeit neither their affection nor their 
 esteem, but can scarcely fail to be lowered in their respect. 
 They may love him as truly, regarded as a friend ; they 
 will certainly look up to him with somewhat less of con- 
 fidence, regarded as an instructor and a guide. 
 
 We are not now referring, of course, to an occasional 
 error, whether in statements of fact or modes of expression, 
 for to such all are liable ; but to that habitual illiteracy 
 which is a constant advertisement of infirmity, and at the 
 present day must prove an ever-increasing hindrance in 
 Sunday school work. Obstacles are numerous enough in 
 the path of the competent ; it is surely a pity to add to 
 them by neglecting the most ordinary degree of mental 
 culture. That which is every year becoming a more serious 
 disability even in the young mechanic or artisan, can 
 hardly fail to operate yet more unfavourably upon any one 
 who essays to be a teacher. 
 
 But the fallacy we are trying to combat may be still 
 further exposed. It is not correct to say that Sunday 
 
CHIEF QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. 21 
 
 school teaching is a " spiritual " work, in the sense of being 
 exclusively a process of spirit acting on spirit, or even 
 one of imparting truth of a purely immaterial nature. 
 It is spirit acting through human language — human 
 grammar ; and it is spiritual truth embodied in a Booh 
 of human history, dealing with the various outward objects 
 of human thought. More than this, the Text-book of the 
 Sunday school is a " Divine Library," which connects 
 itself with all history, science, and literature, and to the 
 right understanding of which all these contribute. Hence 
 it results that secular knowledge, so far from being a 
 useless appendage to religious teaching, may be rendered 
 a most valuable auxiliary thereto. 
 
 We would therefore plead earnestly with every young 
 friend who seeks assistance from these pages, to spare no 
 pains to attain this reasonable qualification for teaching a 
 sabbath class with comfort and self-respect. Helps are 
 so cheap and abundant, that the most exceptional circum- 
 stances can hardly be urged as an excuse for illiteracy. 
 How early disadvantages may and have been conquered 
 by resolute purpose and unflinching industry, the annals 
 of modern biography afford ample and striking proofs. 
 Knowledge is the ammunition of the mind, not its bag- 
 gage ; it affords the materials of power, though power- 
 less in itself, till, as Bacon says, it is "referred to use 
 and action." Power in a teacher means influence over 
 his pupils ; and there is scarcely a department of secular 
 knowledge by means of which a skilful teacher may not 
 augment his influence for good. 
 
 Probably it is quite unnecessary, but we add one 
 cautionary remark. It is no detriment to a teacher's 
 position or influence that he should be ignorant of certain 
 specific matters which one or other of his scholars may 
 know. A city teacher will not lose the respect of a boy 
 or girl from the country because he is unversed in agri- 
 culture, or is acquainted with the names of but few garden 
 
22 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 or field flowers. It is only in those common subjects which 
 form a part of an ordinary education, that ignorance or 
 blundering imperils an instructor's influence and repu- 
 tation ; and it is against these defects that the foregoing 
 arguments have been directed. 
 
 Bible Learning. — But if a "fair English education" 
 may be urged as an essential requisite for a modern Sun- 
 day school teacher, with tenfold force may it be demanded 
 that he or she shall have attained something more than a 
 "fair" knowledge of Holy Scripture. 
 
 We have just remarked that Sunday school teaching 
 is Bible teaching — the explanation and exposition of a 
 Book, which, though one in Authorship and purpose, is 
 manifold in its subject matter as well as in age, style, and 
 composition, so that it is not only a Volume, but a Litera- 
 ture in itself. 
 
 It would appear almost an impertinence to argue that 
 the duty of setting forth the contents of such a Book, 
 week after week, demands a close and comprehensive 
 acquaintance with those contents, and not that mere 
 superficial knowledge which seems to satisfy the majority 
 of Christian people. And, indeed, no such arguments 
 would find a place in these pages, were there not reason 
 to fear that the Bible is treated by not a few of its expo- 
 sitors, both in the Sunday school class and elsewhere, as 
 no other text-book, literary or scientific, is treated by 
 professor, lecturer, or schoolmaster. And the reason for 
 the difference is, unfortunately, far from creditable to the 
 religious teacher. In secular instruction such imperfect 
 and fragmentary knowledge would mean loss of credit, 
 position, and income ; in Sunday school teaching it means 
 only loss of teaching power, loss of personal influence, 
 and, too often, loss of pupils ! In the one case, the failure 
 is pecuniary and temporal, and it is strenuously avoided ; 
 in the other, the failure is moral and spiritual : ought it 
 io be willingly endured, when like industry and earnestness 
 would transform it into success ? 
 
CHIEF QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. 23 
 
 We entreat, then, of every intending Sunday school 
 worker, not to court the bitterness of failure and dis- 
 appointment by an ignorance and shallowness in relation 
 to the Bible, which, amidst the multitudinous helps at 
 once cheap and accurate provided for his use, can hardly 
 be otherwise than inexcusable. St. Augustine was wont 
 to remark of the Scripture, that one might have "first 
 draughts, second draughts, and third draughts " of the 
 water of life. It may be too much to expect of so busy 
 a class as the teachers in modern Sundav schools, that 
 they will be able to drink so deeply at that Divine Foun- 
 tain as to know what the "third draughts" really are. 
 Yet surely they ought not to be satisfied with the mere 
 " first draughts " which many, perhaps most Christians, 
 are content with, — that and no more than is embodied in 
 the lines — 
 
 " I came to Jesus, and I drank 
 Of that life-giving stream ; 
 My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, 
 And now I live in Him." 
 
 Piety not Sufficient. — You cannot, indeed, lead others 
 to a Christ to whom you have not yourself come, and to 
 whom you have not paid your vows of allegiance. But 
 you need to go beyond this if you aspire to be a Bible 
 teacher. You must know more of that Book than suffices 
 to enable you to find pardon at the foot of the cross. Be 
 not deceived by a fallacy which is often uttered with the 
 best intentions. Your duty is not simply "to tell little 
 children that Christ loves them," or simply to assure them 
 that He died in their stead. Had this been the Divine 
 method a very small tract would have sufficed to be the 
 Bible of mankind. But " the foolishness of God is wiser 
 than men " — even than many good Christian men. A 
 collection of books, ancient, oriental, varied, elaborate, 
 unique, constitute the Volume of revealed truth, and 
 a large portion of this Volume has to be explained, 
 
24 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 expounded, and enforced in the Sunday school class. To 
 revert to Augustine's metaphor, the teacher should at 
 least know something by experience of " second draughts " 
 of the Bible spring. 
 
 A Common Difficulty. — Perhaps the reader is dis- 
 posed to reply, " I admit all that is thus urged in reference 
 to Scripture study. I am conscious of my own defi- 
 ciencies, and would gladly continue a learner for the 
 present, rather than become a teacher. But our school 
 is in need of agents, and pressure is being put upon me, 
 so that I feel constrained to render what little assistance 
 I can." 
 
 Suggestion to Intending Teachers. — We admit the 
 force of a plea which is only too familiar to our ears. 
 Nor can we take upon ourselves to decide a question of 
 personal duty between the soul and God, between the 
 Divine Master and the human servant. We only know 
 that insufficient Bible knowledge in the teacher is destruc- 
 tive of comfort and efficiency, and a formidable obstacle 
 to success. And we honestly believe that three or six 
 months devoted to the acquisition of such knowledge, 
 before entering upon actual work, would be a vast gain, in 
 all respects, to thousands of Christian young men and 
 women, whom worried and perplexed superintendents are 
 only too ready to thrust into vacant places in the teachers' 
 ranks. Such a prayerful and studious, though brief, 
 retirement, rightly used, would prove to them what the 
 Midianite pasture-lands were to Moses, the Judsean wilder- 
 ness to the Baptist, and the solitudes of Arabia to St. 
 Paul — the training-school for grand and noble efforts, not 
 the less grand or noble because the world, and perhaps 
 the Church, would hear little about them. 
 
 Claims of Sunday School Lessons. — It must also 
 be remembered that, when once entered upon, the charge 
 of a Sunday school class brings with it, among other claims 
 on time, thought, and effort, the necessity for preparing 
 
CHIEF QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. 25 
 
 one, and often two, lessons every week, upon specific 
 portions of Scripture. Now, while it is true that these 
 portions, if thoroughly studied, will supply, in the course 
 of time, much information of the kind we are commending, 
 yet they will not secure competent Biblical knowledge for 
 a teacher. For these lessons, though prepared in the form 
 of series, and rightly so, must, from the nature of the case, 
 be selective rather than consecutive. There are portions 
 of the New Testament, and much larger portions of the 
 Old, which are quite unsuited for any but adult scholars in 
 Sunday schools ; and when, as in the " International " and 
 other " uniform " systems of lessons, the same topic is 
 taught simultaneously throughout the school (except 
 perhaps in the senior department) it is manifest that such 
 a plan, with its many and obvious advantages, involves the 
 sacrifice of consecutive lesson-subjects. 
 
 Mode of Bible Study. — Having regard, therefore, to 
 the scanty leisure of the average teacher, we might suggest, 
 as a practicable method of attaining this most important 
 object, that, after making himself acquainted with the 
 general scope and connection of the inspired writings, and 
 the history of the formation of the Canon, systematic study 
 might be pursued along the lines indicated by the current 
 Sunday lessons, with a view of gaining a thorough ac- 
 quaintance with the particular book from which those 
 lessons have been selected, instead of merely " skipping " 
 from one to another of the latter. 
 
 To offer specific hints on this branch of study does 
 not fall within our present limits ; but some information 
 as to the nature and accessibility of the helps now pro- 
 vided for those who desire an ampler grasp of the Holy 
 Scriptures in their several parts and connections, will be 
 given in a subsequent chapter of this little handbook. 
 
 But, by whatever means — whether by special self- 
 preparation for a given period, or by a diligent economy of 
 spare minutes ; by early rising in the morning, or by the 
 
26 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 consecration of a quiet and solitary hour at night ; or even 
 by the sacrifice of lawful amusements and indulgences ; 
 let a vigorous, earnest, and prayerful effort be made by 
 every young Christian teacher to acquire such a knowledge 
 of his Text-book as shall enable him without timidity or 
 embarrassment to " speak " of God's testimonies — if not, 
 like David, " before kings," yet before critics as keen and 
 observant as their elders, and perhaps less charitable in 
 regard to errors and deficiencies. 
 
 A New Movement. — There has lately been" inaugu- 
 rated in Russia a movement which is exciting considerable 
 attention. A number of Christian people have agreed 
 together to devote an hour daily to the perusal of the 
 Bible; and the moral and spiritual results already ob- 
 servable are becoming matters of public comment and 
 interest. One would hope that in Protestant England such 
 a practice would be too widespread to awaken special 
 notice ; yet there is too much reason for thinking that the 
 example of these " Stundists," as they are called, is by no 
 means generally followed, even among recognized disciples 
 of Him who is the central theme of revealed truth. Might 
 we not, then, inaugurate a timely adoption of the Stun- 
 dist principle, in the more congenial soil of the British 
 Sunday school ? 
 
 Why should not our intending teachers, and our actual 
 teachers — the young Christians for whom the present 
 normal series of handbooks is designed, as well as those 
 who have already begun to instruct others — unite in one 
 vast band of " Half-hour Students " ? The following 
 might be the basis of association : A promise to devote 
 one HALF-HOUR daily to Bible study ; and four HALF-HOURS 
 per week, in addition, to the reading of other books adapted 
 to assist in the work of Sunday school teaching. The 
 benefits which a fellowship so hallowed and so practical 
 would confer alike on teachers and taught could hardly be 
 estimated, while it would seem only the fitting sequ »1 to 
 
CHIEF QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. 27 
 
 the " International Bible Reading Union " for scholars, 
 lately organized by the Sunday School Union, and now 
 (Jan., 1884) numbering above forty thousand children 
 and young people among its members. 
 
 We trust, however, that we have said enough to 
 induce our readers to put forth earnest and persevering 
 efforts for the attainment of so fundamental a condition of 
 clear, efficient, and unembarrassed teaching. 
 
 Active Qualifications. — Thus much may be comprised 
 under the head of passive intellectual qualifications — the 
 knowledge which must be possessed before it can be put 
 in exercise. "We come now to a very brief mention of 
 certain Active Qualifications, which seem to the writer 
 to be of primary importance. 
 
 It may be convenient to enumerate these under three 
 heads : — Power to Acquire ; Power to Communi- 
 cate; Power to Control. 
 
 Power to Acquire. 
 
 How to Learn. — The actual knowledge possessed by 
 a teacher at any one period is of less importance than what 
 may be termed his intellectual attitude in relation to know- 
 ledge in general. In other words, he may forego a reputa- 
 tion for being learned, if only he is constantly learm'wgr. 
 The well-known remark of Dr. Arnold — that he studied, 
 not because he would otherwise be unable to teach his pupils, 
 but because he " preferred that they should come to a 
 running stream instead of a stagnant pool " — may well be 
 laid to heart by every instructor of the young. It is not 
 desirable that he should " seek and intermeddle with all 
 wisdom; " but it is essential to the freshness and impres- 
 siveness of his class-teaching that he should keep all the 
 avenues of knowledge continually open for the ingress of 
 new facts and ideas. There is abundant evidence to show 
 that this mental attitude has often led to the most remark- 
 able acquisitions of learning and to the most useful inven- 
 
28 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 tions and discoveries. We Lave only to turn to Dr. 
 Smiles's volumes on " Self-Help " to find striking ex- 
 amples of the manner in which, combined with persever- 
 ance, it has overcome the most formidable obstacles, and 
 raised the obscure and untaught to fame and fortune. 
 
 Like Hunter, the great surgeon and anatomist, a 
 Sunday school teacher should go about in the world with 
 th.e question perpetually in his mind, if not on his lips, 
 "What can I learn, now, and here, which will tend to 
 assist me in my chosen sphere of action ? " Not only the 
 printed book and periodical, but the grander book of 
 creation, and the endless phases of that human life of 
 which the newspaper is a partial reflection, will supply 
 continual accessions of helpful knowledge — either directly 
 adding to his present information on specific topics, or 
 indirectly supplying illustrations of moral and religious 
 truths. How such information may be conveniently stored 
 for Sunday school purposes, we shall attempt to show 
 hereafter. 
 
 Reflection. — In these educational days it is perhaps 
 scarcely necessary to remind the reader that all knowledge 
 requires to be made our own by reflection. A fact or idea 
 is not truly ours when we have merely seen or heard it, or 
 even when we can remember it. It must be built into the 
 mind — laid side by side, as it were, with kindred truths, as 
 a block of stone is fitted into its appointed place in a 
 material building; not "shot," like rubbish, upon an 
 existing heap, without order or unity. This " reflection " 
 does not imply prolonged meditation in the retirement of 
 a " study," or in lengthened and solitary walks through 
 lane and field, or beside old ocean's pebbly marge ; else it 
 would hardly be recommended here. We merely wish to 
 enforce the importance of looking at facts and circum- 
 stances as they present themselves — " handling " them, so 
 to speak, with invisible fingers, or, to vary the figure, 
 tasting them with our inward palate. Thus we form a 
 
CHIEF QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. 29 
 
 judgment of their truth and value, and allot them a 
 place, if we deem them worthy of preservation, in our 
 mental storehouse. 
 
 Association of Ideas. — That such "reflection" is in- 
 dispensable may be inferred from the familiar truth, that, 
 of the vast multitude of things which we see and hear, 
 only a very small proportion are securely retained in the 
 mind; the majority are at least so far lost to us as to be 
 beyond the power of voluntary recall.* One reason for 
 the difference may be found in what is termed the prin- 
 ciple of Association. Our thoughts, and our feelings also, 
 exist in the mind, not as isolated experiences, but linked 
 together in what is expressively, though familiarly, termed 
 " chains " of ideas and emotions. We have only to watch 
 the current of these mental movements to perceive that, 
 without any effort of the will, endless series of thoughts 
 and of feelings pass in succession within us, each leading 
 forth the next bv some invisible connection. Nor are these 
 two chains separate and distinct, but interwoven together; 
 thought calling up feeling, and feeling thought. These 
 phenomena are too familiar to need illustration here, and 
 it is equally needless to remind the reader how such 
 associations contribute to our inward pleasure and pain. 
 Some commonplace object or casual circumstance, noticed 
 or remembered, will stir our whole nature to its inmost 
 depths : — 
 
 " You wonder that my tears should flow, 
 
 In listening to that simple strain ; 
 That those unskilful sounds should fill 
 
 My soul with joy and pain. 
 How can you tell what thoughts it stirs 
 
 Within my heart again ? 
 
 * It is needful to make this qualification, because there is reason 
 to think that no impression is ever wholly effaced from memory. It is 
 quite certain, however, that no effort of our own can recall such 
 vnpressions, except to a very limited extent. 
 
30 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 " You marvel that I turn away 
 
 From all those flowers so fair and bright, 
 
 Arid gaze at this poor herb, till tears 
 Arise and dim my sight. 
 
 You cannot tell how every leaf 
 Breathes of a past delight." 
 
 This principle of association, while it is invaluable, 
 as we shall hereafter see, to the teacher of others, is equally 
 so to those who are seeking to acquire knowledge for them- 
 selves. By reflecting on what we hear, or see, or read, we 
 are enabled to connect each item of our information with 
 kindred facts already known, so welding the new links to 
 the old, and not merely placing them side by side. 
 
 Power to Communicate. 
 
 Ability to transfer our knowledge is quite distinct from 
 the power to acquire it. A prodigy of learning may be 
 utterly incapable as a teacher. The most accomplished 
 scholars are often excelled by far inferior men as preachers, 
 professors, and lecturers. In some minds knowledge appears 
 to lie so deep, that the bringing of it to the surface is 
 a tedious and difficult process. This may be due to a 
 want of readiness in the memory — facts being but slowly 
 recalled, so imposing a heavy tax on the listener's patience. 
 But more commonly it arises either from (1) an inability 
 to marshal truths in a manner adapted to the comprehension 
 of a learner ; or (2) an inability to translate them into 
 language sufficiently simple for the purpose. 
 
 Danger in Religious Talk. — Either of these defects 
 is, of course, a serious obstacle to a Sunday school teacher, 
 yet all may be overcome by practice. Probably few of 
 those into whose hands this work will fall suffer from 
 excess of learning ; while most of those who have enjoyed 
 the privileges of a home where children have formed part 
 of the household have acquired, almost unconsciously, the 
 art of using simple language in the affairs of daily life. 
 
CHIEF QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. 31 
 
 Yet it should be borne in mind that many who can speak 
 with " sweet simplicity " on common subjects, drift away 
 into a ponderous theological dialect as soon as they are 
 called upon to talk on Bible themes. We have known 
 youths and young men whose ordinary conversation was 
 rational and intelligible, not to say commonplace, but who 
 appeared to be transformed into divinity professors as 
 soon as they sat down in the presence of their unfortunate 
 classes. 
 
 Simple Language. — The above-named tendency 
 should be firmly resisted, since two things are certain, viz. 
 that not even inspired truths can affect the heart until 
 they have been apprehended by the understanding ; and 
 that grandeur of style in a teacher of the young is an 
 utter " weariness of the flesh " to his pupils. Simplicity 
 of language is, therefore, an absolutely indispensable 
 condition of efficient instruction in the Sunday school — a 
 simplicity proportioned, of course, to the ages and attain- 
 ments of the scholars. If you do not know how to talk 
 simply to young folks on Scripture subjects, you must set 
 yourself to learn. Read Dr. Todd's or Dr. S. G. Green's 
 '" Addresses," or Rev. B. Waugh's " Talks with my Chil- 
 dren " ; or among newer works, " Jesus the Carpenter " and 
 "Joseph the Dreamer," by Bird; Milligan's " Golden Nails " ; 
 " Sermons for Children," by Mark Guy Pearse. These will 
 help you to speak on grand themes in simple words. 
 
 Order and Disorder of Ideas. — The other defect 
 we have mentioned is the most common of all — a want of 
 orderly arrangement of truths, so that they are not intelli- 
 gently grasped by the learner. Every one knows how 
 differently a skilful and an unskilful advocate will put the 
 same case : the one marshalling his facts and arguments 
 so as to carry conviction to the mind ; the other handling 
 the same facts, yet leaving his hearers unconvinced. It 
 matters not only icliat you say, but in ivhat order you say 
 it. A well-arranged speech, or sermon, or Sunday school 
 
32 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 lesson flies like a well-aimed arrow to its mark ; while one 
 promiscuously spoken may be compared to an ill-balanced 
 kite, which, after careering wildly in mid-air, pitches 
 ignominiously to the ground. Lord Bacon's well-known 
 axiom, that " writing makes an exact man," may be sug- 
 gestive here. Want of that mental discipline which true 
 education imparts, is one cause why young teachers are 
 weak in power of communicating. Their lessons have no 
 proper beginning, middle, or end, because they have not 
 learned to think, in an orderly manner, on a definite sub- 
 ject. Such will need resolute effort and some persevering 
 industry to conquer this defect; but success is quite 
 attainable, and will abundantly reward exertion. 
 
 There are many ways of promoting orderly thinking. 
 Young men may join a debating society (if one which they 
 can conscientiously approve be available), and accustom 
 themselves to watch and to analyze the arguments of the 
 best speakers. Or they may with great advantage read 
 carefully such a book as " Whately's Logic," or Archbishop 
 Thomson's " Outlines of the Laws of Thought." But, to 
 come to helps more generally accessible, a careful listen- 
 ing to Sermons of average ability and excellence, taking 
 written notes of the divisions and arrangement (not in a 
 carping supercilious temper, but with a desire to invigorate 
 the mind, while gaining spiritual benefits), will soon pro- 
 duce a more orderly condition of the mental furniture. 
 Above all, every Sunday lesson should be sketched in 
 writing, as the best means of showing where improvement 
 is called for, and how it may be attained. Examples of 
 such notes will be given in a later section. Enough, it is 
 hoped, has been advanced, to indicate that an acquaintance 
 with " the art of teaching " is no unimportant or even 
 subordinate qualification for the work of a Sunday school 
 class. Happily, any young Christian of ordinary intelli- 
 gence and earnest purpose may expect to attain it. 
 
CHIEF QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. 33 
 
 Power to Control. 
 
 Class Rule. — We have spoken of self-control as among 
 the indispensable qualifications of a religious teacher, and 
 a condition of being able to govern others. For govern- 
 ment is as needful as instruction in a Sunday school class ; 
 which is a little community in itself, and should be a little 
 empire ; having one absolute ruler, whose sway should be 
 based on a combination of firmness and love. The former 
 is necessary, that there be no anarchy in the class, with 
 its inevitable disturbance of educational work, to say 
 nothing of religious influence ; the latter is equally impor- 
 tant, that those who render obedience may do so without a 
 sense of constraint. The state of things described in the 
 Book of Judges, where " every man did that which was 
 right in his own eyes," is not more inimical to national 
 progress than a like absence of authority is to the well- 
 being of a class of children. An insubordinate class is 
 a continual source of irritation to the teacher, of discom- 
 fort to the scholars, and of annoyance to the school officers 
 as well as the members of surrounding classes. More- 
 over, spiritual impression is impossible where inattention 
 and disorder prevail ; and a teacher's words fall with 
 little effect where his authority is disputed. There, as in 
 a family, it is a mistaken kindness to allow unlimited 
 freedom of action to young people, but a salutary policy 
 to train them to obey those who are set over them. And 
 this is especially needful at the present time, when a ten- 
 dency to resist lawful restraint is lamentably characteristic 
 of our rising youth. 
 
 The power to control and govern others is due, primarily, 
 to Strength of Will ; and such strength exists in different 
 persons in widely different degrees. Those who possess 
 it in more than average vigour become leaders of others 
 in their several spheres of action ; as we may observe in 
 the family or the school, as well as in more public posi- 
 
 D 
 
34 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 tions j while those in whom it is comparatively weak, are 
 content to follow and obey. Of conrse the will-force may 
 be directed to good or to evil ends. 
 
 The will, like other faculties, may be strengthened by 
 effort and exercise. When we speak of " forming a reso- 
 lution," or " coming to a determination," we are indicating 
 a mode of strengthening this inward power. Clear and 
 definite convictions exert a like influence : if we are con- 
 vinced that a course is right or wise, we gain thereby a 
 measure of strength to resolve on corresponding action. 
 So also, if we feel deeply in reference to such a course, the 
 will is stimulated to form purposes accordingly. 
 
 Let every young teacher, therefore, be assured that 
 the power to control a class is indispensable to comfort, 
 efficiency, and usefulness ; that it may be attained, when 
 it is not already possessed, and improved when it is ; and, 
 consequently, that no effort should be spared until it is 
 secured. 
 
 Desirable Qualifications. 
 
 Thus far our attention has been confined to those 
 qualifications of a Sunday school teacher which appear to 
 the writer to occupy the first rank — to be indispensable, 
 more or less entirely, to efficiency and success. We have 
 now to mention a few others, which, though not abso- 
 lutely necessary, may be fitly commended as highly desir- 
 able, and conducive, in a greater or less degree, to the 
 " thorough furnishing " of a Christian man or woman for 
 this " good work." 
 
 Following the previous order, we name first such as 
 may be classed as Passive qualifications. 
 
 1. General Knowledge. — It is desirable, then, that a 
 Sunday school teacher should possess a fair amount of 
 General Knowledge, so r as to be above the level of his or 
 her pupils in all ordinary matters. Two advantages will 
 result from such superiority: The scholars will be en- 
 
CHIEF QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. 35 
 
 couraged to look up to their sabbath, instructor as one able 
 to help them on other points of information besides that 
 which may be called " official " knowledge, and so will feel 
 the greater respect and confidence. The teacher's instruc- 
 tion, on the other hand, will be marked by a wider range, 
 and an increased variety of fact and illustration, if his 
 reading and observation have been considerable. It is a 
 further advantage, though a subsidiary one, if such general 
 knowledge can be made manifest on the Sunday school 
 platform, in the popular lecture, the paper read at the 
 Mutual Improvement Society, or perhaps the week-even- 
 ing class for the study of some branch of science or lite- 
 rature. And while we are far from recommending our 
 young fellow-workers to be readers of anything and every- 
 thing which comes in their way, we would confidently 
 affirm that there is scarcely any department of knowledge 
 which may not, somehow and somewhere, be made available 
 in the service of the Sunday school. 
 
 2. Biblical Knowledge. — It is desirable that a teacher 
 should give particular attention to those topics which are 
 most closely related to Holy Scripture. While all know- 
 ledge may be of some use, these are of especial value, 
 because they throw light upon the Bible itself. We refer 
 to such subjects as the Geography of Palestine and the 
 surrounding countries ; their Natural Features ; their Pro- 
 ducts, animal and vegetable, and the Manners and Customs 
 of their inhabitants. Critics of Sunday school work — and 
 there are a sufficient number, whose confidence in asser- 
 tion is generally proportioned to their practical ignorance 
 — have rounded off many a paragraph by reminding the 
 teacher that " the geography of Palestine has no direct 
 relation to the betterment of character ; and the costume 
 of an Oriental, or even of a high priest, is in itself no 
 more reb'gious than the costume of a Scotch Highlander." 
 Our own experience and observation lead us to think that 
 the teachers who substitute such matters for direct reli- 
 
36 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 gious instruction are to be found in the imaginations of 
 newspaper writers much more frequently than within the 
 four walls of a Sunday school. The writer just quoted 
 admits that these side-lights " may add not a little to the 
 vividness of the teaching," and the concession is amply 
 sufficient to justify all that is recommended for a teacher's 
 adoption. For surely it is no small matter to impart 
 " vividness " to that which we desire to engrave on the 
 memory and conscience, from which ordinary impressions 
 are so soon and so easily effaced ? But there is a deeper 
 reason than this, which is readily overlooked, viz. how 
 much of spiritual truth is embodied in metaphors and 
 parables, for the right understanding of which the very 
 knowledge which is depreciated as all but useless, is abso- 
 lutely necessary ! How is the child or the adult to appre- 
 ciate the twenty-third psalm, or the Sermon on the Mount, 
 or the trinity of parables in Luke xv., without some ac- 
 quaintance with Eastern lands and Eastern life? And 
 where, if not in the Sunday class, should that knowledge 
 be imparted ? In teachers of more advanced classes it 
 is also needed both to meet the difficulties of youthful 
 thinkers, and to rebut those quibbles which a certain class 
 of sceptics are never weary of repeating, not to speak of 
 the indirect evidence which Eastern lands and modern 
 Oriental life afford to the truthfulness and accuracy of 
 the sacred writers. There is no excuse nowadays for a 
 Sunday school teacher to imitate a certain Oxford tutor 
 quoted in Rev. T. Mozley's "Reminiscences," and who, 
 "lecturing" on the second chapter of St. John's Gospel, 
 enlightened his pupils with the comment, that from the 
 phrase " Draw out now" it would appear that the Jews 
 used " spigots " / A " spigot " in an Eastern water-jar 
 would certainly be a curiosity ! 
 
 3. Personal Intercourse. — It is desirable, most desir- 
 able, that a Sunday school teacher should be acquainted 
 with the home life of the members of his class. The mere 
 
CHIEF QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. 37 
 
 contact with boys or girls for an hour or two on the Lord's 
 day will scarcely yield, even to an acute and observant 
 teacher, anything like a full or just comprehension of their 
 individual characters. Yet, without these, his sabbath 
 bow is indeed " drawn at a venture." Much has been said 
 in commendation of a "house-going minister;" but the 
 importance and the benefits of personal intercourse with 
 those whom we instruct are just as real in the case of the 
 teacher of youth as in that of the teacher of adults. We 
 may talk, and talk wisely and practically, to a congregation 
 or to a class, as a whole, without knowing more of them 
 than this — that they are partakers of ordinary human ex- 
 periences and dispositions ; but we can never consciously 
 strike home to the individual heart with a " Thou art the 
 man," unless we know something of the inner thoughts 
 and feelings of the hearer. It is this which imparts such 
 unspeakable value to the visitation of scholars at their 
 homes — a duty and a privilege which nothing but absolute 
 inability should permit us to neglect. A chance remark, 
 or even a silent look, in the course of a ten minutes' un- 
 constrained chat, has often supplied a key to unlock the 
 dormant interest, or the concealed desires and aspirations, 
 of a young nature wholly unappreciated, perhaps entirely 
 misunderstood, before. 
 
 A writer in the American Sunday School Times has 
 most truly observed — " A teacher's study of his every 
 scholar is quite as important as his study of the lesson ; 
 and it ought, in fact, to precede it ; for until you know 
 whom you are to teach, how can you judge what is to be 
 taught ? It has been said that ' a sick soul needs not a 
 lecture on medicine, but a prescription.' If you are to 
 prescribe for a moral patient, you need to get down along- 
 side of that patient, and to feel his pulse, and to look at 
 his tongue, in order to know what is his precise condition, 
 and what are his present requirements. With the highest 
 attainable medical skill, and with a well-supplied apothe- 
 
38 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 cary's shop at his service, no physician could ever ad- 
 minister a prescription intelligently unless he knew who 
 was his patient, and what was the nature and stage of his 
 disorder. Nor is a teacher more potent in his sphere than 
 a physician in his. The best teacher in the world is not 
 prepared to teach a Sunday school class until he knows 
 the members of that class. He must know whom he is to 
 cause to know a truth, before he can fairly begin to cause 
 that truth to be known." 
 
 Personal Culture. — Turning now to qualities of a 
 more Active kind, we may perhaps condense a few remain- 
 ing suggestions on the qualifications to be desired in a 
 Sunday school teacher, under the head of Personal Culture. 
 
 A brief reference was made at the close of the preced- 
 ing chapter to the influence of the life and character of 
 the Christian teacher upon those whom he is called to 
 instruct, and in the earlier pages of the present chapter we 
 have spoken of some of the chief elements included in such 
 character. It has also been urged that the information 
 which the teacher of the young possesses should be con- 
 stantly increasing ; that he should " grow in knowledge," 
 especially such as pertains closely to his chosen work, and 
 cultivate the powers of his intellectual nature. The like 
 counsel is now affectionately offered in relation to the 
 moral and religious nature. He must " grow in grace " as 
 well as in knowledge, become better as well as wiser, as 
 days and years roll on, if he would become a true educator 
 of his youthful charge. For the end of all education is 
 character, and the end of our department of education is 
 moral and spiritual character. Now, we educate more 
 powerfully by what we are than by what we say ; and we 
 are most mighty when our life supplies a commentary on 
 our words. 
 
 Character and Manners. — But the question is well 
 worth asking, What do the members of an average Sunday 
 school class know of the moral and religious life, the 
 
CHIEF QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. 39 
 
 " walk and conversation," as the old and expressive phrase 
 has it, of their teacher ? They rarely see him in his 
 home, and then only under somewhat restricted condi- 
 tions, while his business habits and conduct are, in nearly 
 every case, quite beyond their limit of observation. The 
 like rule applies, in an almost equal degree, to the other 
 sex. How, then, can these boys and girls be consciously 
 or unconsciously affected by the lives and characters of 
 those whom they so imperfectly know ? How, but through 
 the outward manners and bearing, which, to the keen and 
 seldom-mistaken eye of youth, are the true index of the 
 spirit and temper within ? The ancient proverb, " Man- 
 ners makyth man," was based on no narrow philosophy, 
 and it is a pity that so many religious people, in and out 
 of the Sunday school, neglect the cultivation of these 
 external means of commending the faith which they 
 profess. We are not speaking of mere superficial polish — 
 the " deportment " which used to be taught in boarding- 
 schools — a thin veneer of shallow politeness ; but that 
 outward bearing, that mode of speaking and acting, which 
 is the fitting expression of kindred thoughts and feelings 
 within. It is a miserable blunder, as well as a serious 
 fault, to hide a noble and kindly spirit by a harsh, rude, 
 or coarse mannerism. True Christian courtesy and polite- 
 ness are the exponents of Christ-like love and sympathy. 
 We are bound, as indeed we profess, to be imitators of 
 Him whom the old English poet quaintly, but not irreve- 
 rently, styles — 
 
 " The first true Gentleman that ever breathed ; " 
 
 and all our self- culture ought to be undertaken with Him 
 as our perfect Pattern. Then let us also assiduously cul- 
 tivate the expression of that likeness in so far as we attain 
 to it. Let the inward grace be shown in outward grace- 
 fulness. Every Sunday school teacher who is a true 
 Christian, ought to be also a true gentleman or gentle- 
 
40 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 woman, reflecting the " gentleness of Christ," first in the 
 spirit and then in the manners; and this gentleness, 
 courtesy, and refinement will be a mighty power for good 
 over the minds and hearts of the young. 
 
 Sincerity and Purity. — So also the teacher mnst 
 cultivate purity, reverence, truthfulness, and all the "fruits 
 of the Spirit ; " bat let the expression of these in word and 
 conduct be also a matter of cultivation. Let the " words 
 of the lips," and even the outward aspects of the bodily 
 frame, correspond with the character within. Let the 
 teacher willingly sacrifice for Christ any habit or indul- 
 gence which will tend to make him less agreeable to his 
 youthful charge, and therefore diminish his influence on 
 them. Let even such external matters as dress be regu- 
 lated by Christian principle ; and let breath redolent of 
 alcohol or clothes perfumed with tobacco have no place 
 in the Sunday class. 
 
 A half -friendly writer has remarked, " There are many 
 [Sunday] schools where the teachers and scholars vie 
 with each other in dress, vanity, and flirtation. ... A 
 professor of religion may be a coxcomb or a coquette." 
 !No doubt a "professor" may; but a sincere follower of 
 
 the Redeemer ? Not often, we think ; certainly not 
 
 often in the ranks of an English Sunday school. Yet 
 there is some ground for the criticism in the silly rivalry 
 of " gay clothing " (mostly in very bad taste) which here 
 and there finds an illustration among Sunday school 
 teachers. Let such censure provoke our readers each to 
 say, with the old Greek, " I will live so that none shall 
 believe it." 
 
 Our Standard. — We have thus, briefly and very 
 imperfectly, reviewed some of those qualifications which 
 appear to the writer more or less necessary and important 
 for the efficient discharge of the duties of a Sunday school 
 teacher. It would, of course, have been perfectly relevant 
 to our subject to have enumerated as " necessary " the 
 
CHIEF QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. 41 
 
 whole round of religions and moral excellences, and as 
 " desirable " the entire circle of intellectual accomplish- 
 ments. For teaching is the highest of all professions, and 
 religious teaching is its highest form. But such a cata- 
 logue would have only served to discourage the majority 
 of young men and women for whose use this little work 
 is designed ; whereas our object is to afford both en- 
 couragement and help to beginners in Christian life and 
 Christian work. 
 
 Our Example. — If, however, we have still seemed to 
 set up a standard too lofty for attainment, we can only 
 plead our Divine Master's authority. For our individual 
 imitation as disciples He has set before us a pattern 
 absolutely perfect, saying, "Follow Me;" and for our 
 work in His name among the young we can but call 
 to mind His own commission, " Lovest thou Me more 
 than these ? Feed My lambs." A low spiritual life will 
 never lift us to His side as " good shepherds " and co- 
 labourers with Him. If we would save the children, we 
 must seek to be something more than to be merely saved 
 or "converted" ourselves. 
 
 We could also plead that no worthy results can ever 
 be obtained without earnest work and patient plodding. 
 Kay, it involves what is expressly termed drudgery, and 
 drudgery involves sacrifice. But " part of the very nobility 
 of the devotion of the true workman to his work consists 
 in the fact that a man is not daunted by finding that 
 drudgery must be done." And if we can find abundant 
 instances of such nobility among those who work from 
 lower and self-interested motives, should the spirit of 
 sacrifice be wanting where " the love of Christ con- 
 straineth " ? 
 
 It is, indeed, in the highest degree probable that most, 
 if not all, of the qualifications above enumerated are already 
 possessed, in some degree, by each reader of these pages. 
 The great need, therefore, is progress, the noble dis- 
 
42 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 satisfaction with present attainments ; and the desire to 
 go on unto perfection. But however that may be, let this 
 hope nerve our arms and cheer our hearts — he who works 
 for God works with God. His Spirit is with us in the 
 humblest and feeblest effort which we put forth for His 
 cause and kingdom. We look within and around us, and 
 ask, almost despairingly, " Who is sufficient for these 
 things?" We look above, and with grateful courage 
 respond, " Our sufficiency is of God ! " 
 
 " Mighty Spirit, dwell with me ! 
 I myself would mighty be ; 
 Mighty, so as to prevail 
 Where, unaided, man must fail ; 
 Ever with a mighty hope 
 Pressing on and bearing up." 
 
 KEFERENCES. 
 
 " Manual," chaps, ii., iii. 
 
 " Counsels to Sunday School Teachers." By J. A. Cooper. Is. Qd» 
 
( 43 ) 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF INSTRUCTION, AND THEIR RELATION TO BIBLE 
 
 TEACHING. 
 
 The young readers who have given us their attention thus 
 far will have learned what are the main objects of Sunday 
 school instruction, what instrumentalities are to be 
 employed, and what knowledge and personal qualifications 
 are needed by those who engage in this Christian enter- 
 prise. They will now be prepared to consider, in this and 
 the succeeding chapter, those general Principles upon 
 which all right teaching must be based, and the Methods 
 which naturally arise out of them ; and then to apply both 
 principles and methods to the special work of religious 
 teaching in a Sunday school class. 
 
 " Principles " and " Methods." — To prevent, how- 
 ever, the possibility of misunderstanding the few technical 
 terms which it is convenient to use, let us illustrate what is 
 meant by " principles " and " methods " of instruction,* and 
 show, at the same time, why we are inviting attention to so 
 11 scholastic " a topic in an elementary handbook for young 
 Bible-teachers. 
 
 An Illustration. — Three persons are suffering from 
 an attack of the same disorder. The first calls on a 
 physician, to whom he details his symptoms, and who, after 
 
 * For definitions of " instruction " and " education " the reader ia 
 again referred to the footnote on page 10. 
 
44 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 due examination of the case, writes out a prescription and 
 gives it to his patient. The second goes to a neighbour- 
 ing chemist and asks for a " bottle of stuff: " for his malady. 
 The chemist consults his book, and finding that certain 
 drugs are often efficacious in the removal of like 
 symptoms, makes up a mixture, and hands it to the appli- 
 cant. The third " does not wish to be bothered with 
 doctors," and remembering that he has somewhere a box 
 of pills from which he derived benefit on a former occasion, 
 searches them out and takes a dose as before. All three 
 patients recover, and it turns out that the medicines were 
 essentially the same, though somewhat differently com- 
 pounded. Thus the results were identical, yet how 
 different the steps which led to them ! The physician 
 understood the nature of the disease, the properties of the 
 drugs, their ^mode of action on the affected organs, and 
 their adaptation to restore the system to a healthy con- 
 dition. He therefore intelligently selected means suited 
 to given ends. In the second case, the apothecary knew 
 little of the disease or even of the kinds of action of the 
 drugs ; but he had learned that the latter were often ad- 
 ministered under such circumstances, and therefore con- 
 cluded that they might be safely given again. In the 
 third case, the patient simply remembered that he had had 
 a similar attack before, and judged that what answered his 
 purpose once might be expected to do so again ; but he 
 knew nothing of the disease, the remedy, or the relation of 
 the one to the other. 
 
 The Illustration applied. — In not a few Sunday 
 schools, teachers may be found corresponding to each of 
 the above class of " doctors." Here and there (would that 
 their number were multiplied a hundredfold !) are those 
 who have studied the foundation principles of teaching — 
 the relation of truth to the mind — as the physician studies 
 the relation of medicine to the body ; and the ways in 
 which truth may be most skilfully applied, just as drugs 
 
PRINCIPLES OF INSTRUCTION. 45 
 
 are combined in due measure, strength, and frequency. 
 Hence they not only can teach, but can assign a reason for 
 teaching in this or that manner under given conditions. 
 Others have learned that it is a good plan to use questions, 
 to illustrate Bible truth, to recapitulate a lesson, and so 
 forth ; but they do not know why such plans are "good." 
 They find that such a " prescription " is recommended 
 by the educational " faculty," and so they adopt it. While 
 others, again (we fear there are many) , teach in this or that 
 method simply because they have " found it answer pretty 
 well " themselves, or because Mr. A. or Miss B. does the 
 same with apparent success. 
 
 It is needless to point out the moral of the foregoing 
 illustration. Children are taught, and, what is far better, 
 they are brought to the Divine Healer, by those who know 
 nothing of the principles and methods of teaching, though 
 they unconsciously use and apply them ; but surely we 
 cannot doubt into whose hands the young "patient" can 
 be most safely committed. 
 
 Principles of Instruction. — Principles, then, are to 
 the mind what tbe " laws of health " are to the body. If 
 we act in accordance with them, whether we know it or 
 not, we are likely to succeed in our object ; if we act con- 
 trary to them we are on the road to failure. They never 
 alter, because they are founded on the constitution of 
 things. The laws of health are the same for a modern 
 doctor of medicine as they were for Galen or Hippocrates ; 
 and the principles of teaching on which Socrates, and 
 a Greater than Socrates, carried on their conversations 
 and discourses with their disciples, hold good for every 
 Christian worker in every modern Sunday school. 
 
 Methods. — Methods, however, are liable to variation. 
 They are modes of applying principles — sets of rules which 
 arise out of them, and hence differ under different circum- 
 stances. One physician, from a study of the laws of health, 
 will prescribe for a patient a course of tepid baths ; 
 
46 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 another will administer, in a precisely similar case, daily 
 doses of quinine. So in teaching, — one will adopt a lec- 
 turing style, another will question ; one will adopt simul- 
 taneous reading; another will make large use of objects 
 and pictures, and so on. This liberty is of great con- 
 venience, and adds to the ease and comfort of the work of 
 instruction ; nor, if the principles be well understood, is the 
 free use of different methods in danger of being abused. 
 
 Following the order, though not adopting the precise 
 language of the author's larger work,* eight Principles 
 of Teaching may now be briefly explained and illustrated. 
 They will be found easy to remember and as easy to com- 
 prehend. In fact, there is nothing unfamiliar about them 
 but the names. 
 
 First Principle — Co-operation. 
 
 By this we mean that teacher and scholar must work 
 together. Unless the learner's mind is active, there can be 
 no teaching, however much there may be of telling or 
 talking. If a scholar's mind is in a purely passive con- 
 dition, he may see and hear, and even answer questions, 
 " after a fashion," but he is acquiring little, and will 
 remember little of what is being said. There is no 
 more common error among young teachers than the sup- 
 position that what they have given out must of necessity 
 have been taken in, by their scholars ; whereas, the ablest 
 instructor knows well that a considerable part of every 
 discourse — be it lecture, sermon, Bible lesson, or individual 
 conversation — fails to find a lodgment in the memory of 
 the hearers. Our object should be to lead our pupils along 
 the paths of sacred knowledge, so that they may, with our 
 assistance, pluck the flowers and fruits of Bible truth 
 for themselves. There is far too much of mere telling 
 
 * " The Sunday School Teacher's Manual." Sunday School Union. 
 Price 2«. 6d. 
 
PRINCIPLES OF INSTRUCTION. 47 
 
 in Sunday school classes, and too little interchange of 
 thought. 
 
 This co-operation is the more needful, because, unless 
 the body or the mind is really fatigued, children and 
 young people seldom choose to be in a passive condition. 
 True, a too hearty dinner, or an ill-ventilated schoolroom, 
 will often induce drowsiness, both in scholar and teacher ; 
 but, as a rule, the latter is more frequently annoyed by 
 misdirected mental activity, than by none at all. The 
 pupils' thoughts are active enough, and their tongues also ; 
 but, unfortunately, it is towards anything but the lesson of 
 the day ; except, perhaps, that dull, heavy-eyed boy or girl 
 in the corner, whose countenance is scarcely ever lit up by 
 interest, or rippled over by a wave of emotion ! 
 
 Do you ask, " How is this passiveness to be overcome, 
 and the activity of young minds guided in a desired direc- 
 tion ? " The answer is to be found in a simple and oft- 
 quoted rule : Give each scholar something to do. Question 
 vigorously. Strive to prompt conversation about the lesson. 
 Give them the larger share of the talking. To read a verse, 
 to hunt up a fact, to find a reference — even to relate some 
 recent occurrence in the family or neighbourhood, — any- 
 thing which can be turned to account (as most things may 
 by a little tact and ingenuity), will engage the attention, and 
 counteract misapplied energy on the part of the children. 
 
 Second Principle — Sympathy. 
 
 "We use this word for want of a better, but do not em- 
 ploy it in that restricted sense in which we are wont to 
 
 smg- 
 
 " He sympathizes with our grief, 
 And to the sufferer sends relief; " 
 
 but in that " oneness " of thought and feeling on a given 
 subject which is always so agreeable and interesting to 
 
48 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 those who share it. Take a familiar example. Two per- 
 sons, strangers to each other, meet by accident and fall into 
 conversation. A few remarks are interchanged concern- 
 ing the weather and other indifferent subjects ; presently 
 a chance remark discloses the fact that they spent their 
 childhood in the same country town, attended the same 
 school, have pursued the same branch of scientific research, 
 or are engaged in the same philanthropic enterprise. In- 
 stantly all is changed ; they have ceased to be strangers, 
 conversation no longer flags, and they part with cordial 
 good will, and perhaps mutual invitations for a future 
 meeting. Why is this ? Simply because they have found 
 a common ground of thought and feeling, and therefore a 
 common interest. This is the sympathy we are writing of. 
 Examples. — In the recently published memoir of the 
 writer's lamented friend, the late Sir Charles Reed, it is 
 truly remarked, as one cause of his singular acceptableness 
 and influence as a public speaker, that " he seemed instinc- 
 tively to find common ground with his audience, and seized 
 on the humour of the moment in a way that quickly put 
 him on the best of terms with them." For an opposite 
 example, we may quote from another recent memoir, that 
 of the late pious and accomplished Archdeacon Hare. His 
 work as rector of a Sussex village was felt, it is said, " to 
 be the least successful portion of his life's task," because, 
 though " he loved his people, and they loved him, yet they 
 never got thoroughly to know and understand each other. 
 His thoughts and theirs ran in different grooves. He 
 would sit by them, almost weeping in his sympathy, and 
 yet found it hard to say the words they war ted, to talk to 
 them about their ailments, to meet their religious difficul- 
 ties." Many earnest friends of the young have this true 
 sympathy of feeling, but lack the mental Sympathy on 
 which we are insisting. Yet it is essential to success in 
 every department of religious teaching, and in every Bible 
 lesson that is given. In order to secure interest in the 
 
PRINCIPLES OF INSTRUCTION. 49 
 
 subject of instruction, there must be something in common 
 to serve as a starting-point. This sympathy ought to be 
 twofold. If the scholars are personally attached to their 
 teacher there will be sympathy of feeling between them 
 and him, and this will dispose them to sympathize with the 
 subject-matter of his instructions ; but it will not suffice of 
 itself. They need an interest to be created, in the par- 
 ticular lesson. Even pious scholars, who of course have 
 a prior sympathy with religious truth, will require a 
 stimulus to attract them to at least some of the subjects 
 which occur from time to time in our lesson series ; while 
 mere children — not to speak of scholars who are careless 
 and godless — must be drawn to almost all sacred themes 
 by skilful adoption of this principle of sympathy. 
 
 There are very few Scripture subjects occurring in the 
 course of a year's lessons, drawn from the " International " 
 or any other carefully prepared series, which do not fur- 
 nish points of interest from which teacher and scholar 
 may, as it were, start together in each Sabbath's conver- 
 sations. These lessons are chiefly of a personal or historical 
 nature, and so human and many-sided are Bible narratives 
 that it needs but a little thoughtful scrutiny to find some 
 incident, or place, or character which may serve as a meet- 
 ing-point of interest for the class. 
 
 Third Principle — Gradation. 
 
 a 
 
 Step by step " we all acquire knowledge, and hence 
 we must teach on the same principle. We must bear in 
 mind the poet's lines in relation to the intellectual stores 
 amassed by the " great," and apply it in seeking to add to 
 the stores of the " little "— 
 
 " The mighty pyramids of stone, 
 
 That, wedgelike, cleave the desert airs, 
 When clearer seen and better known, 
 Are but gigantic flights of stairs. 
 
 E 
 
50 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 " The heights by great men reached and kept, 
 Were not attained by sudden flight ; 
 But they, while their companions slept, 
 Were toiling upward in the night." 
 
 We have spoken of the common ground of " sympathy " 
 from which teacher and learner should start in every 
 lesson, whether secular or religious. It is equally impor- 
 tant that they should proceed step by step together ; and 
 here, as in actual walking or climbing, the teacher should 
 make his steps conform to those of his pupil, taking short 
 and easy stages, " leading on softly," like the shepherd 
 patriarch, " according as the children be able to endure." 
 
 There is, perhaps, no law which intelligent and well- 
 informed instructors more frequently infringe, quite un- 
 consciously to themselves, than this making sure that each 
 scholar is accompanying them as they proceed. Their own 
 lengthy strides deceive them, as the old makers of school- 
 forms were wont to construct them with legs tall enough 
 for the use of adults. "We have heard of a professor who, 
 in the midst of some figuring which he was carrying on 
 with the help of a blackboard, turned round to one of the 
 students and inquired, pointedly, " Are you following me, 
 
 Mr. ? " " Well, yes, sir," dryly responded the pupil, 
 
 " but Ws a very long way off." Let those who have to lead 
 younger minds endeavour to prevent them from falling so 
 far into the rear ! 
 
 Thoroughness. — It is far wiser and better to teach 
 half the lesson than to shim the whole of it ; to carry your 
 pupils through a passage of six or eight verses, or a single 
 Bible incident, and make sure they understand it, than to 
 read a chapter and leave the readers' minds in a state of 
 chaos as to its contents. The annual examinations of Sun- 
 day scholars offer only too frequent proofs of the need to 
 adopt the maxim, " Slow and sure," in imparting Bible 
 knowledge to the young. The wildest ideas exist in the 
 minds of boys and girls on such topics, for instance, as 
 
PRINCIPLES OF INSTRUCTION. 51 
 
 the position, size, and general features of Palestine, the 
 nationalities of its inhabitants in Old and New Testament 
 times, and the languages in which the Bible was written. 
 Young teachers should resolutely probe their pupils on 
 these matters ; digging down, so to speak, till they reach 
 the solid ground of actual knowledge, through whatever 
 accumulations of ignorance and misconception they have 
 to pierce. It is best to get at +he real facts of the case, 
 however astonishing or disheartening they may appear; for 
 only thus can we reach a sure foundation on which to build. 
 
 Fourth Principle — Association. 
 
 Link each new truth with what is already known. The 
 mind holds its knowledge, not in isolated fragments, but 
 linked together by the Law of Association, which has been 
 explained in a former page. If we would have new facts 
 retained we must fasten them on securely to others which 
 are already in the memory. Hence the wisdom of adopt- 
 ing courses of Bible lessons, connected together in order 
 of time or by some other obvious bond of union. It is 
 scarcely prudent for young teachers to select their own 
 lessons ; the temptation is so great to move in a narrow 
 round of favourite topics — Moses in the Bulrushes, the Call 
 of Samuel, David and Goliath, the parables of the Lost 
 Sheep and Prodigal Son, and a few others, which every one 
 thinks he can teach " easily." Lesson subjects should be 
 connected either chronologically, doctrinally, or by some 
 slighter but not less obvious principle of conjunction, and 
 this will be found the case with most printed series. Not 
 only each lesson of a course, but each part of a lesson, 
 should be united by association ; so that the remembrance 
 of one section may suggest the others. There should be a 
 few clear and natural divisions, or " heads ; " and though it 
 is not always necessary to announce these, sermon-wise, to 
 the hearers, yet they should be thoroughly grasped by the 
 teacher's own mind, and form one harmonious whole. If 
 
52 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 the several parts of a lesson are " all sixes and sevens " to 
 the instructor, what possible chance can there be of 
 implanting them in a logical and orderly manner in the 
 understandings of the pupils ? Yet instruction, to be 
 instruction, must consist in " the orderly placing of 
 knowledge " in the scholar's mind. 
 
 It is obvious that this principle and the foregoing are 
 very intimately connected together ; they are both just as 
 closely united to the one which is next to be mentioned. 
 
 Fifth Principle — Analogy. 
 
 Teach the unknown by comparing it with that which iV 
 known. This is only recommending, for class-teaching, a 
 plan which we are all accustomed to adopt in ordinary 
 conversation, whether with children or adults. If we desiro 
 to give some idea of an absent stranger, or unfamiliar 
 locality, or singular object, we instinctively say that he, or 
 it, is " like " some one or something already known to our 
 hearer. All that is now urged is simply to apply this 
 principle to Bible teaching. It is necessary, for there is no 
 other method of explaining " things unseen and eternal ; ' 
 and it is judicious, for the mind always finds a pleasure in 
 recognizing resemblances, especially when " all the world 
 is new " to the learner. The attractiveness of figures of 
 speech, parables, and allegories is due to this principle ; 
 and of course the use of illustrations, in speaking or writing, 
 whether in order to elucidate, or to enliven, the subject- 
 matter, rests on the same basis. And the very terms in 
 which we describe moral and spiritual, as well as mental 
 phenomena, are derived from outward things which have 
 some resemblance to these inward existences. Let the 
 reader turn to the Book of the Revelation, chap, xxi., and 
 note the manner in which the apostle attempts to depict 
 the glories of the heavenly state, and it will be seen how 
 dependent even an inspired writer is upon comparisons for 
 the materials of his descriotion. 
 
PRINCIPLES OF INSTRUCTION. 53 
 
 Sixth Principle — Repetition. 
 
 Repeat ! Recapitulate ! Review ! Tell the same truths 
 again and again. Truth, especially moral and spiritual 
 truth, is not laid hold of by the mind, much less incor- 
 porated with the character or exemplified in the life, by 
 being once heard ; and the leading truths of the gospel 
 need to be reiterated again and again. 
 
 In proportion to the youthf ulness of the learner is repe- 
 tition needful, and even pleasurable. 
 
 But there is a limit to this principle. We may weary 
 by repetition. When, and why ? When we repeat the 
 same facts or doctrines in the same form, so that they 
 suggest no new ideas, and thus have lost all the charm of 
 novelty. But if the theme be one which appeals to the 
 sympathies of the pupil, you may safely reproduce it again 
 and again, up to the point where the mind grows fatigued 
 and weary ; then all effort to listen or learn is distasteful, 
 and no judicious teacher will continue his instructions. 
 
 Reviewing. — It is a good plan in Sunday school 
 teaching to recapitulate the previous divisions of each 
 lesson, as the exercise proceeds; and to recall the last 
 Sunday's lessons before commencing those of the day. 
 The principles of Gradation and Association suggest this 
 course ; and it is desirable, if only to show how much (or 
 how little !) has been thoroughly learned, understood, and 
 retained. 
 
 The companion principle to Repetition is next to be 
 mentioned : — 
 
 Seventh Principle — Variety. 
 
 Give sufficient variety in matter and style. The safest 
 way to avoid prosiness and wearisomeness in Bible in- 
 struction is to study variety. Clothe the same truths in 
 different garbs, and add new truths to the old ones. Don't 
 relate the same anecdotes over and over again — they will 
 
54 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 be recognized as old, and despised accordingly. If you 
 repeat a lesson, study it afresh, and arrange it differently. 
 Don't use your old notes if your pupils are to be the 
 same ; and if they are not, it will be better for your own 
 mind and heart to search again in the divine " treasury " 
 for " things new " as well as " old." 
 
 This is an additional argument for paying attention 
 to the methods of presenting Scripture truth ; because, 
 without deviating from sound principles, we may vary our 
 methods of teaching to almost any extent. To use a 
 familiar comparison, we may build any style of house upon 
 the same foundation, and according to the same laws of 
 architecture. And if a scholar knows that there will be 
 this variety, and not a constant repetition of the same 
 matter in the same form, it will afford an element of 
 attraction which may often outweigh inducements to be 
 an absentee. 
 
 We have but one other principle of instruction to 
 mention, but it is all-important : — 
 
 Eighth Principle — Adaptation. 
 
 The teaching rriust be adapted, in quantity and quality, 
 to each of the pupils. Easy to recommend — true beyond 
 all contradiction; but the question is, how shall it be 
 secured ? Of course there are two principal requisites — 
 to know the scholars, individually as well as collectively ; 
 and to be able to present different aspects of sound truth, 
 suited to their several requirements. A few remarks and 
 suggestions may be offered on each of these points. 
 
 First, what is it to know our scholars f 
 
 Child Character. — There are, of course, certain 
 characteristics which they have in common with all young 
 people.* Their knowledge is but very limited; their 
 
 * It will, of course, be understood that we are not now speaking 
 of senior or of adult classes in Sunday schools. 
 
PRINCIPLES OF INSTRUCTION. 55 
 
 minds are more or less active ; both body and mind are 
 restless, and need frequent change; they are quick to 
 receive impressions, but these are apt to be transient, 
 and need repeating; they are curious, and struck with 
 novelties ; they are lively, and like liveliness in those who 
 teach them ; they like pictures, both visible and verbal^ 
 the former preferred, especially in early childhood ; they 
 need control ; their moral and spiritual convictions are 
 genuine but not deep, and the conscience needs to be 
 educated and enlightened. 
 
 Such are a few of the general characteristics of an 
 ordinary Sunday school class, and it is of no small im- 
 portance that they should be understood and remembered 
 by a teacher. 
 
 Mental Stages of Growth. — There are also stages of 
 growth through which the child passes, as the mental and 
 moral nature develops, from infancy up to youth. With- 
 out entering upon a systematic account of the process, 
 we may note one or two leading features, referring our 
 readers to more advanced manuals for a fuller account 
 of this interesting department of a teacher's studies. 
 
 Age of Perception. — Those who have the care of 
 an infant class are accustomed to nse pictures or black- 
 board figures in the instruction of the little ones. The 
 reason for this is to be found in the fact that, in early 
 childhood, the eye is a more prominent channel of know- 
 ledge than the ear; things rather than words, are the 
 instruments of instruction. This is termed the Age of 
 Perception. At this period of life, it is needful to appeal 
 to the feelings rather than to the reason. The teacher 
 expresses certain feelings, and the children catch the 
 influence by sympathy. Hence, " the Age of Perception " 
 is also called " the Age of Sympathy." 
 
 Age of Imagination. — A year or two later, and 
 the Imagination becomes active, the child likes to " fancy " 
 and " make believe ; " and he dearly loves a fairy tale. 
 
56 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 He is, therefore, less dependent on visible pictures and 
 objects for gaining knowledge ; and a wise teacher will 
 therefore make less use of them. At the same stage of 
 progress, the Desire of Praise becomes a prominent motive 
 of action, and must be employed by the teacher as an 
 incentive to right action. 
 
 Ages of Reason and Reflection. — Later still, the 
 Age of Reason and the Age of Reflection are reached. The 
 mind becomes stronger, and the judgment more active. 
 The boy or girl thinks, reasons, argues, reflects ; and we 
 learn, by manifest signs of mental vigour, that childhood 
 is for ever past. 
 
 Similarly, Conscience becomes a director and a guide, 
 while it continues to approve or condemn ; the lad or lass 
 shows signs of independence and responsibility ; and pays 
 less deference to the opinions of others. This is the 
 stage at which the .tie which binds the scholar to the 
 Sunday school is too often strained and broken — all too 
 soon for his moral and spiritual well-being ; but the subject 
 does not demand discussion here. 
 
 Individual Character. — Leaving, however, these 
 collective peculiarities, important as they undoubtedly 
 are, we hasten to indicate others not less vital in the work 
 of education. 
 
 A teacher needs fco be acquainted with his own scholars 
 individually. However skilfully the school may have been 
 divided by the superintendent and secretary, there will 
 be differences in every class, both intellectual and moral, 
 besides those which are distinctively religious. A teacher, 
 therefore, needs to know each scholar's capacity and 
 attainments, natural temper and disposition, tastes and 
 habits, and spiritual condition ; and these can only be 
 ascertained by personal communication. An American 
 writer quotes a telling anecdote to enforce this point. He 
 says: "Nor is it only in the measure of his knowledge, 
 that a scholar is to be studied, and to be knowm by his 
 
PRINCIPLES OF INSTRUCTION. 57 
 
 teacher. It is in his personal tastes and peculiarities, in 
 his feelings and desires, in his methods of thought and 
 his modes of action, in his characteristics and tendencies, 
 and in the nature of his home and week-day surroundings, 
 that a scholar must be known before he can be taught 
 intelligently. It is related of Professor Orfila, the great 
 French chemist, that when he was giving evidence in a 
 court of justice, as to the relative power of minute doses 
 of a particular poison, one of the lawyers in the case 
 inquired of him derisively, * Could you tell us, Professor, 
 the precise dose of this poison which a fly could take 
 safely ? ' 'I think I could,' was the cautious answer ; 
 * but I should need to know something about the particular 
 fly under treatment. I should want to know his size, his 
 age, his state of health, his habits of life, whether he was 
 married or single, and what had been his surroundings 
 in life so far. All these things bear on the size of the 
 dose to be administered in any case.' Surely a scholar 
 deserves as much study, and as wise and as cautious 
 treatment, as a fly. But not every teacher is as wise or 
 as cautious as Professor Orfila." 
 
 Home visitation is undoubtedly the best possible means 
 of gaining this acquaintance ; and next to visiting is 
 letter-writing ; indeed, a letter will sometimes elicit what, 
 through natural shyness, would not have been disclosed 
 in conversation. Something may be learned from the 
 testimony of parents and other relatives ; and vigilant 
 observation of a scholar's manner and conduct during the 
 hours of teaching will supply indications of the bent of 
 the mind and character ; but nothing is so helpful as 
 personal intercourse. It will supply not only materials 
 and hints for direct instruction, but guidance as to the 
 control and treatment of the class ; and beyond all, it will 
 be found, if faithfully pursued, to yield continued encour- 
 agements and incentives to faithful and persevering effort. 
 Let the "wise steward," then, become so intimately 
 
58 . THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 acquainted with the members of his little " household," 
 that he may, indeed, be qualified to give to each of them 
 "his portion in due season." 
 
 Our Model in Teaching. — We have already remarked 
 that the principles of instruction are invariable, and that 
 all true teaching is carried on in accordance with them. 
 It should excite no surprise, therefore, if we find, in the 
 recorded discourses of the Great Teacher, continual examples 
 of the use of these principles. Doubtless few, if any, of 
 our Lord's " Bible lessons ' : ' have come down to us in a 
 complete form; and of these, the majority are incidental 
 "talks," rather than systematic addresses, though of 
 inimitable beauty and adaptation. Still, the underlying 
 principles may be easily traced by a careful reader. 
 
 Examples from Christ's Teaching. — Let us take, 
 for instance, the grand yet tender utterances contained 
 in the earlier portion of the tenth chapter of St. John's 
 Gospel. The previous chapter explains the occasion and 
 circumstances. A blind man who had been healed by the 
 Saviour, and had openly intimated his conviction that 
 his Healer's mission was divine, had been promptly ex- 
 communicated by the Jewish Church authorities. The 
 latter had also asserted that they only were the successors 
 of Moses, and the doorkeepers of the divine fold, while 
 as for this unauthorized teacher, no one knew whence 
 he had sprung, and he could therefore be only an alien 
 and an impostor (ix. 28, 29.) With admirable dignity 
 and calm severity, our Lord retorts upon Scribe and 
 Pharisee the charge they had brought against Him. He 
 proclaims Himself the only " door " of the sheepfold, 
 while they who neglect or despise Him are but " thieves 
 and robbers," whom the true sheep would not regard or 
 obey. He is also the Good Shepherd, faithful in feeding 
 and defending His flock, while the hireling shepherds 
 neglected and forsook them — a true picture of the relations 
 of the Jewish teachers to the common people, whom they 
 
PRINCIPLES OF INSTRUCTION. 59 
 
 abandoned to ignorance and then despised for their 
 lack of knowledge (vii. 49; Matt, xxiii. 13, etc.). With 
 snch wondrous tact and pointedness, yet with an entire 
 absence of the revilings of his adversaries, did the Great 
 Teacher exhibit the vast gulf between Him and them. 
 Here was Adaptation. 
 
 The season was winter (vers. 22, 23), and the flocks, 
 no longer allowed to sleep on the hillsides, had been 
 everywhere gathered into folds, as those devout Jews who 
 had come up from their country homes to keep the 
 Dedication festival at Jerusalem would have noticed, over 
 and over again. Our Lord began His discourse by finding 
 a common ground of thought and feeling ; every Jew 
 could understand, and feel interested in the objects and 
 details of pastoral life. Here was Sympathy. 
 
 The interest which His hearers could not but feel in 
 the outward form of the discourse, would be increased by 
 the knowledge that, in accordance with the Saviour's own 
 practice, as also with Eastern modes of thought and 
 expression, there was a hidden meaning beneath His 
 figures of speech. "We may marvel that what appears so 
 plain to us, should have been veiled to them ; yet we are 
 assured (ver. 6) that they understood not the inner 
 significance of what was outwardly so simple and familiar. 
 Hence, curiosity would be assured, and curiosity, "the 
 parent of attention," invokes that wakefulness of mind in 
 the pupil which tends to secure Co-operation. 
 
 A happy combination of Repetition with Variety 
 is noticeable in this as in the other discourses of the 
 Great Teacher. The same leading truths are reiterated, 
 yet not so as to weary, because the form is varied, as a 
 study of the passage will show. 
 
 The Gradation of the teaching is equally observable 
 on attentive perusal of the verses. The parable begins 
 with the simplest truths about the way into the heavenly 
 fold, and the mutual confidence and affection between the 
 
60 *HE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 Shepherd and the sheep. Then it rises to the gift of 
 salvation, freedom, and spiritual support, with a life that 
 broadens and deepens as it progresses (vers. 9, 10) ; then 
 higher still, to the voluntary atoning sacrifice (that hardest 
 of lessons to the Saviour's disciples) ; the mutual know- 
 ledge of God the Father and God the Son, and the bringing 
 in of the Gentile sheep of other folds (vers. 11-18). 
 
 We do not know what had been the previous lessons 
 given by the Great Teacher to the same hearers, unless 
 John viii. 12-59, represent the latest. If so, we have in 
 the parable before us a reassertion, under new emblems, of 
 the claim to Messiahship so fiercely denied and denounced 
 in the foregoing passage. The truths here are therefore 
 linked on by Association to the truths there (compare 
 viii. 12, 32, 36, with x. 9, 10 ; viii. 18, 26, 29, 55, with 
 x. 15, 17, 18; viii. 47, with x. 4, 14, 27; viii. 51, with x. 
 10, 28 ; viii. 28, with x. 11, 17, 18). 
 
 In the conversation which immediately follows the 
 parable (vers. 22-30), the new statements made by Christ 
 are closely and manifestly linked on to what He had 
 previously taught on both occasions above quoted (see 
 viii. 28; ix. 4, etc.). Here was Association. 
 
 The principle of Analogy — teaching the unknown by 
 comparison with the known — is one of the chief character- 
 istics of our Lord's instructions ; and His similes, allusions, 
 metaphors, and parables exhibit this principle, combined 
 with variety, in a matchless degree. If the hearers failed 
 to understand Him, the obstacle was moral and spiritual, 
 not intellectual, and still less was it due to any imper- 
 fection in the mode of presenting the doctrines. Every 
 person and thing employed here as emblems of religious 
 truths were simple and familiar to those who heard. 
 
 We need not multiply references ; enough, it is hoped, 
 has been quoted to show how fruitful in educational 
 lessons — lessons even in the science of teaching — the 
 recorded sayings of Him who was emphatically the 
 
PRINCIPLES OF INSTRUCTION. 6L 
 
 Divine Word may become, to thoughtful and earnest 
 readers. He is the only Model Teacher; and it will be 
 our highest wisdom to sit at His feet, that we may learn 
 from Him, not only the " words " which are " spirit and 
 life," but the way to implant them in the minds and 
 hearts of others. 
 
 KEFERENCE. 
 
 "Manual," chaps, iv.-ix. 
 
62 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 METHODS OF INSTRUCTION: THEIR USE IN BIBLE TEACHING. 
 
 ISTo young teacher, we hope, will infer from the preceding 
 chapter that the Principles there set forth are intended 
 or adapted to cramp or fetter those who expound the 
 written Word of God to children and young persons. 
 They impose some limits, it is true, such " limits " as the 
 parapet of a bridge or the railings erected along the edge 
 of a cliff impose on pedestrians — limits of warning and 
 protection. If you do not teach in accordance with these 
 laws, you are on the road to failure instead of success ; 
 as that physician would "be, who should disregard the 
 laws of chemistry or the laws of health. 
 
 Flexibility of Methods. — But though the Principles 
 of Teaching are inflexible, the Methods which are founded 
 upon them afford, as previously stated, full scope for 
 freedom of action. Truth, moral truth especially, may 
 be presented in a variety of modes, all in accordance with 
 sound principles. When we attempt to classify these 
 modes of presentation we find ourselves among what are 
 termed "Educational Methods." Methods make up the 
 Art of Teaching, as Principles constitute the Science 
 of Teaching. 
 
 Chief Methods— Telling and Questioning. — Now, 
 if we consider the matter, we shall come to the conclusion 
 that there are just two leading methods of instruction : 
 
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION : THEIR USE IN BIBLE TEACHING. 63 
 
 yon may either tell the pupil what you wish him to 
 know, or you may, by Questions closely put, lead him to 
 find it out for himself. This seems obvious enongh : and 
 writers on education accordingly recognize the former 
 as the Didactic, or Lecturing, method, and the latter as 
 the Interrogative, or Catechetical, method. 
 
 Interrogative Method. 
 
 Looking at these two modes of instruction by them- 
 selves, apart from special circumstances and conditions, 
 we can be in no doubt as to which is the more stimulative 
 and awakening, and therefore the more educating. "What 
 we merely tell may fall on dull ears and passive minds ; 
 whereas, if we lead the mind to discover truth for itself, 
 we secure that activity which our first Principle, co-opera- 
 tion, demands, and without which there can be no mind- 
 development — in other words no education. Hence, 
 great teachers have usually been great questioners. The 
 greatest of heathen teachers, Socrates, was so addicted to 
 this method that "socratic " has become synonymous with 
 "interrogative." And One, yet greater than he, while 
 He answered what Socrates could only ask, was a ques- 
 tioner of wondrous power and depth. And it cannot be 
 too often urged upon young Sunday school workers, that 
 the most common fault of method in those who teach the 
 Bible to the young, is to tell too much, and question too 
 little. 
 
 There are several forms in which a teacher should 
 employ this method, and also some common mistakes in 
 its use which it will be well to avoid. 
 
 Four Uses of Questions. — Questions are needed, 
 First, to ascertain what the pupil knows at the outset, 
 so that the " common starting-point," of which we have 
 spoken in a previous page, may be clearly ascertained. 
 A few plain, direct questions, 'previously prepared^ should 
 
64 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 find a place at the beginning of every Bible lesson. These 
 we may term Preliminary Questions. 
 
 Secondly, there are questions which enter largely into 
 what one may call the main body of the lesson ; and which, 
 by skilfully guiding the class-conversation, lead the pupils 
 to find out one point after another, so instructing them- 
 selves, and fixing truths on their own minds in the surest 
 possible way. The name given to these is Questions of 
 Instruction. 
 
 Thirdly, at the close of a lesson, or, better still, at the 
 close of each section of the lesson, questions are needed 
 to ascertain how much has really been learned by the 
 scholars. Such are termed Examinatory Questions. 
 
 There is a fourth class, which the moral and religious 
 instructor should by no means overlook, as they con- 
 tinually occur in the teaching of Christ and His apostles. 
 We refer to those which require no verbal answer, but are 
 designed to stimulate reflection or to quicken the con- 
 science. The following will serve as examples : — If I have 
 told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall 
 ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things ? " " If the 
 righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and 
 the sinner appear ? " " How shall we escape, if we neglect 
 so great salvation ? " Such questions, which may be 
 termed Applicatory, are most impressive and salutary, 
 when wisely introduced. 
 
 Abuse of Questioning. — There is an abuse as well 
 as a use of the Interrogative method. A question must 
 be in accordance with the great principle of Adaptation, 
 and be suited to the comprehension and attainments of the 
 scholars. If too difficult, the learner feels unfairly treated, 
 or perhaps discouraged and humiliated ; if too simple, 
 there is no stimulus to thought, and the scholars, unless 
 very young, are offended at such a "babyish" exercise. 
 But beside these two extremes, the following are equally 
 objectionable : — 
 
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION : THEIR USE IN BIBLE TEACHING. 65 
 
 " Leading " questions, which put the answer into the 
 pupil's mouth, and give him no mental exercise at all. 
 For instance, " John the Baptist was a good man, wasn't 
 he ? " " And he lived — where ? In the wilderness, wasn't 
 it ? " " Yes ; he didn't live in a nice comfortable house, 
 as we do, did he ? but away out by himself." " And 
 what used he to do ? preach, didn't he ? " " Yes, preached 
 to the people," etc., etc. This may be teaching, though in 
 very bungling fashion ; but it certainly is not questioning. 
 It is merely asking assent to what is told ; and this 
 children soon learn to give without paying the slightest 
 attention to what is being said. Indeed, questions re- 
 quiring only " Yes " or " No " for an answer are, as a rule, 
 to be avoided. They are allowable, however, if they 
 serve as stepping-stones to more genuine interrogation. 
 Thus — "Did Christ comply with the disciples' request? " 
 (" Yes ") " Tlien, what do you suppose He thought of 
 it?" 
 
 Ambiguous questions are equally common, and equally 
 objectionable. Except when a teacher specially desires 
 a variety of replies, in an enumeration of objects or 
 qualities, or an expression of choice or opinion on the part 
 of his class, each question should admit of but one answer, 
 and therefore be so framed as to exclude a larger number. 
 Hence such inquiries as " What was David? " " Wliat did 
 Joshua do when Moses was dead ? " " If people love God, 
 what will God do to them ? " " Where do good children 
 love to go ? " etc., are indefinite and unfair, because two 
 or three equally correct answers may be given, and yet 
 if the teacher condemns as " wrong " all but the one he 
 wants, the other pupils feel discouraged, and say within 
 themselves, " My answer was just as good as that." 
 
 In order to avoid these and similar mistakes, the youiig 
 
 teacher should mentally go over his questions beforehand 
 
 and see where they need mending. The perfection of 
 
 interrogation is by means of a chain of questions to bring 
 
 F 
 
66 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 out every point in succession which you desire to be 
 elicited. And this is far from being difficult, while every 
 exercise will bring an increase of skill. It is also desirable 
 as a matter of prudence, for this method requires careful 
 handling ; and we have often seen a whole school thrown 
 into confusion by random or vague inquiries, which brought 
 out all sorts of replies except the ones hoped for, and 
 finally set the entire assembly of juveniles in a tumult 
 of hilarity. 
 
 Elliptical Method. 
 
 There is a modification of questioning which is called 
 the Elliptical method, and consists in leaving out words 
 or parts of sentences for the pupils to fill in. Thus — 
 "When Jesus came down from the" (Scholars: "moun- 
 tain") " he saw a poor man who was called a " (" leper") 
 " who said to Jesus, Lord, if thou " (" wilt ") " thou canst 
 make me " (" clean ") ; and so on. This method is scarcely 
 suited to any but mere children, as it is but a mild sort of 
 stimulant, and has an infantile sound. Its real place is in 
 going over a lesson to see if it has been remembered. It 
 saves time, and it calls forth co-operation. It excites some 
 curiosity, and if carefully used involves gradation of teach- 
 ing also. But the ellipses (i.e. the words or phrases left 
 out for the children to supply) should be essential ones, 
 not mere particles or catchwords ; and to give the first 
 syllable as a crutch to help them is specially weak and 
 unsatisfactory. 
 
 Didactic Method. 
 
 Limits of Interrogation. — Stimulating and invalu- 
 able as the Interrogative and Elliptical Methods un- 
 doubtedly are, when used with care and judgment, it must 
 be obvious that there are limits to their employment. You 
 cannot " question out " of a pupil's mind any fact which 
 is not already there, or which may not be inferred from his 
 
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION : THEIR USE IN BIBLE TEACHING. 67 
 
 previous knowledge. You may lead him. to new thoughts 
 concerning what he knows, and yon may help him to draw 
 new conclusions from the materials previously stored in 
 his understanding. But new facts must be communicated 
 by telling in some form or other. Again, the process of 
 reasoning out by the interrogatory method, is often lengthy 
 and more or less complicated. Sometimes this is worth 
 while ; as, for instance, if the truth reached be of special 
 importance, and doubts and difficulties have to be met 
 and overcome; but often it is not worth the time and 
 trouble. No general rules can be laid down for either 
 course ; but it may be remarked that moral 'principles are 
 best worked out by questions, while historical events and 
 other matters of fact are best given in a didactic form. 
 For example, we are teaching from the Acts of the Apostles, 
 and the subject is, we will say, the sin and punishment of 
 Ananias and Sapphira. Now, the aim of a wise Christian 
 teacher will be to engrave on the scholars' minds, not the 
 mere circumstances and surroundings of the narrative, 
 but the moral lessons with which those facts are fraugrht. 
 To show that lying in any form, hypocrisy, religious hypo- 
 crisy — are abominations in the sight of a God of infinite 
 rectitude ; these are the truths to be brought home to the 
 learner's mind and conscience. Hence, the outward facts 
 may be told indirectly by reading the passage with a few 
 explanatory remarks ; or directly by relating the story in 
 simple language. (The latter plan is best when the scholars 
 are not yet able to read with facility.) But the moral 
 principles involved in the conduct of Ananias and his wife 
 could be most impressively taught by questioning out. 
 
 It would, doubtless, be possible by elaborate questioning 
 to show that Sapphira was likely to support her husband 
 in the garbled statement which they had agreed to 
 make, and also that it might have been expected that a 
 severe example would be made of these first and dangerous 
 •offenders. But the time thus spent would be almost thrown 
 
68 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 away. On the other hand, the moral aspects of the case 
 might be simply asserted — " They were guilty of this and 
 that sin, and so they richly deserved their fate," etc. But 
 it would be far more forcible and convincing to lead the 
 scholars, by a few prepared questions, to pronounce judg- 
 ment for themselves.* 
 
 The Didactic Method is the most natural and direct, 
 and though often abused in the Sunday school class and 
 elsewhere, has most important uses in Bible instruction. 
 In the case of historical and biographical lessons, in 
 descriptions of places, natural objects, and striking pheno- 
 mena, and in statements of size, distance, colour, etc., 
 telling in simple language, and then questioning on what 
 has been so communicated, will be found, on the whole, 
 the most manageable method of teaching. Of course this 
 telling is often indirect, as above stated, the portion of 
 Scripture read being the actual instructor. Yet so 
 numerous are the errors into which children of all asres 
 fall in interpreting the language of the Old and New 
 Testaments, that it is always needful either to repeat the 
 chief particulars in simple, every-clay English, or, better stilly 
 to get the scholars themselves to reproduce what they 
 have read in their oivn language. If they can do this, they 
 understand the lesson. 
 
 The Illustrative Method. 
 
 This is a well-known and popular form of Didactic- 
 instruction founded upon the principles of Analogy and 
 Association. It is telling by the help of comparison ; 
 and all figurative language, similes, metaphors, fables, 
 
 * The late Jacob Abbott has some useful remarks on this point 
 in his little work, " The Way to do Good "—a book which, like his 
 " Young Christian " and " Coiner Stone," is far too little known on 
 this side of the Atlantic. 
 
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION: THEIR USE IN BIBLE TEACHING. 69 
 
 parables, and allegories are examples of the above-named 
 method. Material Illustrations, such as Pictures, Drawings 
 (on paper or blackboard), and Objects, fall under the same 
 head. And it is much to be desired that religious teachers 
 of the young would make fuller and more frequent use of 
 such visible aids to instruction. 
 
 Even a poorly executed sketch seldom fails to excite in- 
 terest; and the process of outlining a figure, however simple 
 or inartistic, will usually quiet a restless class of children. 
 
 The first attempt to expound and enforce this method, 
 in relation to Sunday School work, was made, the writer 
 believes, in a little tract now out of print, entitled, 
 11 Illustrative Teaching." The substance of the latter 
 will be found in the " Manual," but a few hints are 
 here appended. 
 
 Twofold Uses of Illustration. — The chief uses of 
 Illustration are to explain and to attract. When a fact 
 or truth is obscure, the readiest way of illuminating it is 
 to use a comparison. For popular use, and therefore in 
 teaching the young, an apt illustration has tenfold the 
 power of an argument. No theological propositions have 
 ever so exhibited the evil of sin, and the Father's love to 
 the sinner, as the three matchless parables of Luke xv. 
 The doctrine of the new birth was brought home to the 
 mind of Nicodemus by reference to " the way of the wind," 
 and the unwelcome doctrine of salvation through the death 
 of the Saviour was pictured in the corn of wheat dying in 
 the ground to live again in harvest. 
 
 And with this illuminating power comes an attractive- 
 ness in well- chosen illustrations which is felt by old and 
 young, though for the latter it is more indispensably 
 necessary. If we would be interesting teachers of children 
 and young people, we must illustrate freely and skilfully. 
 It is useless to expect that their minds will appreciate or 
 remember moral and spiritual truths unless these are 
 linked to familiar objects and events. It was thus that 
 
70 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 our Lord deigned to deal with, those who, while men in 
 years, were but children in spiritual understanding. By 
 making all nature and all human life eloquent with in- 
 struction, He took captive the attention of His hearers, 
 and wrung praise from the admiring lips of those who 
 would have laid hands upon Him. The sky above, the 
 ground beneath, the cattle on the hillsides, the sun in its 
 splendour, the lilies in their silent beauty, the grass in its 
 lowliness, the gorgeous temple, the village well, the fishers 
 on the lake, the shepherds beside the folds, the children 
 playing in the market-place, the noble at his banquet, the 
 beggar by the wayside,- — all these, and many more, were 
 associated by Christ with things unseen and eternal, in 
 words such as " never man spake " before. In this, as in 
 relation to His own spotless character, He says to every 
 Sunday school teacher, " Follow Me." 
 
 Kinds of Illustration. — In classifying illustrations 
 it may perhaps be safe to assert that short Anecdotes are 
 the easiest to manage, and the most attractive to young 
 children. Of these, such as have come under the teacher's 
 own observation, or have recently occurred, especially if 
 in the scholar's neighbourhood, are the most telling. Next 
 come Bible incidents, particularly from less familiar parts 
 of Scripture. (The former excite sympathy, the latter 
 awaken curiosity.) Then events from English or general 
 history. Then simple comparisons, drawn from nature, 
 art, or everyday life (such as may be found in abundance 
 in Scripture), e.g. "He shall be like a tree planted by the 
 rivers of water." " The wicked are like the troubled 
 sea," " What is your life ? it is even as a vapour," " He 
 shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver," " He shall dash 
 them in pieces like a potter's vessel," etc., 
 
 " So, like the sun, may I fulfil 
 The business of the day ; 
 Begin my work betimes, and still 
 March on my heavenly way." 
 
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION : THEIR USE IN BTBLE TEACHING. 71 
 
 In using metaphors, "where an object is said to be what it 
 represents, e.g. " I am the door," " Ye are God's building," 
 "Ye are the epistles of Christ," etc., care must be taken 
 with younger scholars to prevent confusion of ideas. It is 
 better to open out such figures by turning them into 
 simpler comparisons and explaining how the one is " like " 
 the other. The small boy who was found crying because 
 he had been told that he must be " Christ's little lamb," 
 and who objected to wearing a fleece and a tail, may be an 
 apocryphal character ; but his mistake is certainly of no 
 very uncommon kind. 
 
 Hearers' Misconceptions. — In the sketch of the life 
 of Archdeacon Hare, already quoted, it is related of his 
 pulpit illustrations, that the rustics who heard him fell 
 into errors much less excusable. " He spoke of the danger 
 of men ' playing at ninepins with Truth,' and they thought 
 he was warning young labourers against beer and skittles. 
 He likened fiery controversialists to men who ' walked 
 with lucifer matches in their pockets,' and the farmers 
 thanked him for the zeal with which he watched over their 
 farmyards and stacks. He referred, by way of illustration, 
 to the devotion of the Italian peasants to the Madonna, 
 and he was reported to have told his congregation that 
 they ought to worship the Virgin Mary." Such instances 
 as these will not, we trust, be lost upon our readers. They 
 eloquently echo the old maxim, " Strive to teach, not 
 only so that the children can understand you, but so that 
 they cannot m ^understand you ! " And this applies more 
 to illustrations. Figures of speech gratify the imagination 
 of a child, and are therefore allowable and useful, but 
 fancy must not be allowed to run riot. 
 
 Parables * and Allegories are, for the most part, too 
 
 * This remark is intended to apply to parables of human composi- 
 tion. Those of our Lord are, of course, introduced into the Sunday 
 school lesson series from time to time as subjects for special study. 
 
72 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 lengthy and complex for use in class-teaching ; but a short 
 fable will often point a moral with advantage, and it is 
 sure to be enjoyed if quaint and humorous. 
 
 In the choice of illustrations, preference should be given 
 to those which are short. As each Bible lesson should 
 include several, no one anecdote or comparison should be 
 of undue length. It should be familiar, by which we 
 mean that as it is intended to cast light on something else, 
 it must not need to be itself explained. It should be 
 strictly appropriate, not far-fetched or seemingly pointless, 
 and it should be kept subordinate to the truth it illustrates. 
 Do not let the incident or comparison overtop that for the 
 sake of which you relate it, otherwise you will be in danger 
 of putting a six-foot frame round a miniature, or hiding 
 the jewels by a too showy casket. Do not elaborate your 
 illustrations. Bring them in sharply and forcibly ; relate 
 them in few words ; show clearly what point they bear 
 upon, and pass on. 
 
 The collecting of illustrations will be referred to in a 
 subsequent page. 
 
 Vary your Methods. — A skilful teacher will use the 
 above-named methods as an able workman uses his tools, 
 taking up first one and then another, as necessity de 
 mands or taste suggests. No Bible lesson should be given 
 by means of any one method alone. Questions and Illustra- 
 tions will always be requisite, and more or less of Didactic 
 teaching is also needful. This interchange is called a 
 " Mixed Method," and it will be a useful exercise if our 
 readers will apply the hints given in the present chapter 
 to some particular discourses of the Great Teacher, remem- 
 bering that probably few of these divine compositions are 
 related in full. The following may serve as examples : — 
 
 Then the whole exercise is devoted to explaining and enforcing theii 
 meaning. The mode of doing this will be pointed out in the next 
 chapter. 
 
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION : THEIR USE IN BIBLE TEACHING. 73 
 
 Matt, vii,, xi., xviii. 1-14, xxiv. 23-51 ; Luke iv. 16-27, 
 vi. 17-49, x., xii., xiii. 18-35, xv., xvii. ; John iii. 1-21, 
 iv., vi., x. 1-30, xii. 20-36, xiv., xv., xvi. A reverent ex- 
 amination of passages such as these will do more to 
 help a teacher of the young than many pages of formal 
 counsel. 
 
 Only let the Principles and Methods already denned 
 be kept fully in view, and used as keys, to unlock, as it 
 were, the secrets of those " Model Lessons." 
 
 REFERENCES. 
 
 "Manual," chap. x. 
 
 *' Test-Book," sects, xiii.-xvii. 
 
 "The Art of Picturing." By W. H. Groser. 3d. 
 
74 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 BIBLE LESSONS, AND HOW TO PREPAEE THEM. 
 
 Weekly Preparation. — In speaking of Scripture know- 
 ledge as a qualification for Sunday school teaching, re- 
 ference was made to the duty of weekly preparation, 
 which devolves on every one who has been intrusted with 
 the care of a Sabbath class. One, and often two, lessons 
 have to be studied and prepared every week; and until 
 some facility has been gained in this work the labour is 
 not inconsiderable. Hence, we have urged the importance 
 of ample Biblical knowledge being acquired before begin- 
 ning to teach in a Sunday school. 
 
 The necessity for such preparation will hardly be 
 gainsaid by any of our readers. Just as the physician or 
 the barrister must study each " case " submitted to him, 
 and the minister must devote close attention to the 
 subjects of his pulpit discourses, independently of their 
 previous professional training, — so the Bible teacher of 
 children must give his mind, week by week, to those 
 sacred topics which he is to unfold to his young disciples. 
 Neglect of this duty will insure failure, and probably 
 humiliation; while the ease and comfort of the class 
 exercises will largely depend on the fidelity and thorough- 
 ness with which it has been performed. But argument is 
 scarcely needed to defend the practice; what is really 
 
BIBLE LESSONS, AND HOW TO PREPARE THE1I. 75 
 
 required (and, in the writer's experience, is usually appre- 
 ciated) is a rough outline of the conditions to be fulfilled 
 — a sort of ground plan from, which the inexperienced 
 teacher may build up the fabric of instruction. Such we 
 will now endeavour to supply. 
 
 Sympathy with the Lesson-subject. — The import- 
 ance of sympathy has been dwelt on more than once in the 
 preceding chapters. We have spoken of that heaifc- 
 sympathy with children and with Sunday school woik 
 which is essential in a teacher; and we have also 
 endeavoured to enforce that general sympathy between 
 teacher, scholar, and Bible-subject, which is requisite for 
 commencing a lesson on a satisfactory basis. There is yet 
 another aspect of the oneness of mind and heart which we 
 call by that name, not less essential to usefulness and 
 success : the teacher must be in moral and spiritual, as 
 well as intellectual, sympathy with each lesson, before he 
 begins to communicate it to others. It is something to 
 feel that we have " mastered the passage " in all its facts 
 and details, its history and connections ; but it is im- 
 measurably more important to feel that the passage has 
 mastered us, — has taken possession of mind and heart, so 
 that it seems fuller of light and life than ever before, and 
 we are eager to impart our knowledge and our convictions 
 to our youthful charge. 
 
 Divine Aid. — But this can only be when sacred 
 truth is studied with earnest and prayerful desire for the 
 Spirit's teaching — " Make me to understand Thy precepts, 
 so shall I talk of all Thy wondrous works." " In Thy 
 light shall we see light." We have no right to expect the 
 11 baptism from on high " for our scholars unless it has 
 first descended upon our own souls. We may, like 
 Apollos, be "mighty in the Scriptures, skilful in utter- 
 ance, and trained in the way of the Lord," but we need 
 also to be like him, "fervent in the Spirit," in order to 
 " speak " and " teach " " the things of the Lord." And 
 
76 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 this " fervour " is not mere emotion — still less is it mere 
 excitement; but that glow of mind and heart which 
 results when the spirit of truth reveals the truth to us. 
 
 Early Preparations. — The preparedness which we 
 are commending will be promoted if the study of each 
 sacred theme is begun early in the iveek. It is a good plan 
 to read one or both of the selected passages at the close of 
 the Lord's Day, so that they are lodged in the mind, at 
 least in their leading features, when the working week 
 begins. An early period, however brief, should also be 
 secured for private prayer and meditation on the lesson ; 
 after which it may be allowed to shape itself in the 
 thoughts before it is finally sketched on paper. But 
 writing materials should be always available — if they are 
 only a pencil and a scrap of paper — to catch the passing 
 ideas which, in these busy days, are so apt to elude our 
 recollection. Our Bible lessons ought to be continually 
 before our minds, so that we may be ever on the watch for 
 facts and illustrations adapted to sustain or exemplify the 
 testimony of Holy Writ. 
 
 Practical Hints. — In offering suggestions on the 
 work of lesson-preparation we desire to keep in view the 
 average young teacher, whose resources and attainments 
 are moderate, whose library is far from large, and whose 
 time for study is broken and limited. In not a few cases, 
 also, the mental faculties have been so imperfectly dis- 
 ciplined in early life that the effort to study at all is a 
 somewhat painful one, — though, be it remembered, that 
 effort forms a most valuable means of self-training. 
 Happily, such obstacles are not fatal to progress or even to 
 excellence and success : singleness of aim and earnestness 
 of purpose will far more than compensate for the lack of 
 literary advantages. Very few books indeed are indis- 
 pensable for the weekly task. A Bible with clear print, 
 marginal references, and maps ; a "Cruden's Concordance," 
 unabridged; and one of the Sunday school periodicals 
 
BIBLE LESSONS, AND HOW TO PREPARE THEM. 77 
 
 which give lesson notes,* will generally suffice in the way 
 of printed helps The writer would urge with all possible 
 emphasis the wisdom and duty of searching the Scriptures 
 by themselves, before appealing to human comments and 
 opinions. Let the Bible be its own expositor, first and 
 chiefly ; the Concordance will soon demonstrate its ex- 
 cellence over every other commentary. A much larger 
 part of the contents of our Biblical Cyclopaedias and 
 Handbooks than is usually supposed consists of Scripture 
 statements rearranged, and might be obtained from the 
 inspired Volume at first hand. If this be true of geogra- 
 phical and historical facts, much more fully does it apply 
 to doctrines and precepts. There is real danger lest in 
 the multitude of " cisterns " we lose sight of the great 
 "fountain of living waters." 
 
 Views and Aims.— With Bible, Concordance, and 
 two or three works of reference before him, the young 
 teacher sits down to study and prepare the lesson which 
 is to be the subject of instruction on the coming Lord's 
 Day. Let him once more lay to heart the great fact that 
 he is about to employ spiritual truth for distinctly spiritual 
 ends. The object of meeting that band of youthful 
 learners is not simply to impart information, but to mould 
 character. We teach "the truth as it is in Jesus," in 
 order to lead the children to love and trust Him, and so to 
 be made like Him. Instruction, even Bible instruction, 
 is only a means to an end ; and we fail, where failure is 
 most disastrous, if we rest satisfied with the means alone. 
 If, however, our aims are right, we shall deeply feel the 
 need in our preparation, as much as in our actual teaching, 
 of that divine enlightenment and inspiration without 
 which nothing attempted for God can be truly strong or 
 truly enduring. Yet this conviction should never make 
 
 * The Sunday School Chronicle (weekly, Id.) and the Sunday School 
 Teacher (2d. monthly) may be specially mentioned. Tho monthly 
 " Notes on the Lessons " are appended to the latter. 
 
78 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 ns less orderly or diligent in the use of arts and methods. 
 The heart and conscience must be reached through the under- 
 standing,m order that religious decision may rest on rational 
 conviction, and not be the mere product of passing emotions. 
 We honour the God of grace when we work in accordance 
 with the laws which the God of nature has ordained. 
 
 Leading Inquiries. — Three questions may now be 
 proposed, as waymarks to guide in the study of the 
 selected passage — 
 
 What does it mean ? (Explanation.) 
 What does it teach ? (Exposition.) 
 To whom does it apply P (Application.) 
 This is the natural and necessary order of things. For, 
 on the one hand, as before remarked, neither we nor our 
 scholars can be impressed by truths which we do not first 
 understand; so, on the other, each must perceive their 
 application to his own character and conduct in order 
 to render them practically useful. 
 
 Lessons Classified. — Nor is there any essential 
 difference in studying or teaching the different kinds of 
 Bible lessons which from time to time are placed before 
 us. They consist of Historical, Doctrinal, or Figura- 
 tive passages of Scripture. Three-fourths, perhaps, are 
 historical narratives, which must obviously be treated on 
 the above plan. The meaning of the facts stated must 
 first be ascertained. This is the true foundation ; but of 
 itself it is of little religious value. The chief use of all 
 history lies in its moral teachings, and apart from these 
 the mere events of past ages, even if they be Bible events, 
 are but baggage with which to load the memory and 
 understanding. Hence, after the facts are grasped, their 
 moral and spiritual lessons must be unfolded. Another 
 step follows: the many truths to be elicited from a 
 Scripture narrative have various applications. Some will 
 suit one class and some another. A selection, therefore, 
 needs to be made, and the practical lessons so selected 
 
BIBLE LESSONS, AND HOW TO PREPARE THEM. 79 
 
 must be adapted and enforced in a manner specially fitted 
 to our own particular hearers. 
 
 Doctrinal subjects are those in which moral and 
 spiritual truths are more or less explicitly stated. Some- 
 times it is a direct announcement, e.g. " God so loved the 
 world," etc. ; sometimes a precept, " Commit thy way unto 
 the Lord," etc. ; sometimes a promise, "Whoso hearkeneth 
 unto Me shall dwell safely; " sometimes a prayer, " Create 
 in me a clean heart, God ! " etc., etc. Here again, there 
 must first be a clear understanding of what is stated, — 
 the terms used must be explained; then the truths them- 
 selves are opened out or expounded, and finally applied to 
 the particular cases of our pupils, individually as well as 
 collectively. 
 
 Figurative subjects are either parables (which have a 
 narrative form with an underlying spiritual meaning) or 
 shorter emblems, which consist of comparisons between 
 material things and their spiritual antitypes. Here, again, 
 the outward story or natural object must be first explained, 
 then the spiritual meaning brought out, and then this 
 meaning applied. 
 
 Plan of Lesson-study. — Whatever class of subject 
 is to be studied, the young teacher should follow some 
 definite plan, however simple, so that he may not overlook 
 important matters connected with it, and be found want- 
 ing when his scholars and he are talking together. The 
 following " heads " of inquiry may serve as guideposts : — 
 
 1. Persons; 2. Places; 3. Bates; 4. Doings; 5. Doc- 
 trines; 6. Duties. Or, 1. Surroundings; 2. Scope; 3. 
 Persons; 4. Places; 5. Criticism; 6. Customs; 7. Diffi- 
 culties; 8. Doctrines. Or again, 1. Authorship (when a 
 new book is commenced) ; 2. Scope; 3. Parallel Passages ; 
 4. Words and Phrases (to be explained) ; 5. Manners and 
 Customs ; 6. Difficulties ; 7. Doctrines. 
 
 The results of the orderly study of the passage after 
 some such plan as the foregoing will be jotted down 
 
80 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 roughly on paper. Then will come the final arrangement 
 of the lesson for teaching. Here young workers often 
 find considerable difficulty. The passage gets "all of a 
 tangle," and will not shape itself into a manageable form. 
 There is no need for surprise or for discouragement. 
 Look steadily at the subject as you would through a 
 telescope or microscope, and focus while you look. Con- 
 tinued attention will resolve mists into stars gleaming 
 with heavenly brightness ; and shapeless dots and patches 
 into living creatures " fearfully and wonderfully made." 
 
 Look specially at what you have set down as the 
 Doctrines taught by the passage. Consider these, and 
 divide your lesson accordingly. If you have four, five, or 
 six leading truths which the passage seems fairly to teach, 
 put them down in the order of the verses out of which 
 they most directly arise, and make a corresponding number 
 of " sections," or " divisions," to your lesson, each section 
 leading up to a " Doctrine." (Sometimes two doctrines 
 will be taught by the same section ; but one is preferable, 
 as more easily remembered.) Thus, suppose there are 
 eighteen verses to be read (and generally that is more than 
 sufficient), the best arrangement for you might possibly 
 be — Section I., vers. 1, 2 ; Section II., vers. 3-8 ; Section 
 III., vers. 9-13 ; Section IV., vers. 14, 15 ; Section V., 
 vers. 16-18. Usually, the number of sections will be found 
 to vary from three to six ; but of course all depends on 
 the character and teaching of the particular passage. 
 
 The leading divisions being decided upon, a suitable 
 Introduction to the lesson must be prepared with care. 
 Enough, it is hoped, has been said in a previous chapter, 
 under the heads of "Sympathy" and "Adaptation," to 
 show how essential it is to start a Bible lesson with the 
 wakeful interest of our scholars. It has also been shown 
 that we may gain that interest by referring to something 
 familiar, which touches their sympathies, or to something 
 unknown, which tends to awaken curiosity. But, in order 
 
BIBLE LESSONS, AND HOW TO PREPARE THE.U. Si 
 
 to retain what we have gained, our introduction must 
 lead on to the lesson itself. As a rule, an Illustration, 
 whether a suitable anecdote or some striking comparison, 
 makes the best kind of introduction for an ordinary 
 Sunday school class. 
 
 The Application of the Doctrines taught by the 
 passage should also receive careful thought. It should 
 follow each Doctrine as it is brought out, so that there 
 will be as many Applications as Doctrines, and (generally) 
 as many Doctrines as there are Sections to the lesson. This 
 will avoid a common source of failure — a hurried applica- 
 tion at the end of the class exercises, falling too often 
 upon wearied, and therefore listless, ears. Let the special 
 points to be applied be jotted down with the doctrines out 
 of which they arise. 
 
 Keeping up Attention. — Every teacher knows, 
 generally by stern experience, that it is in the Application 
 of religious truth that attention is most difficult to retain, 
 and impression to be made. To counteract this, we have 
 just suggested that such application should not be post- 
 poned to the end of a lesson, but " worked in," so to 
 speak, as the exercise proceeds. We would also point 
 out the value and importance of the " Illustrative method " 
 at these stages of instruction. Moral and spiritual truth 
 is more interesting and impressive, and therefore retained 
 more firmly in the mind, when illustrated by apt comparison 
 or striking ancedotes. Hence, when doctrines are applied, 
 such illustrative matter should be introduced. Doubtless, 
 this will add something to the work of preparation, but 
 the reward will be proportioned to the trouble taken. 
 
 Examples. — It may now, perhaps, be helpful to the 
 reader, if we give a sample or two of such " Lesson Notes " 
 as have been above described. There lies before us, as we 
 are writing, the " International " Lesson for the coming 
 Sunday. It is entitled " The Last Days of Joshua," and 
 comprises vers. 14-29 of Joshua xxiv. 
 
 G 
 
82 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 A young teacher preparing for his class might possibly 
 sketch out his lesson somewhat as follows : — 
 
 ROUGH LESSON NOTES. 
 
 The Last Days op Joshua (Josh. xxiv. 14-29). 
 
 Scope. — About thirty years between entry into Palestine 
 and Joshua's death. This shortly before the latter event 
 (ver. 29). Gathering at Shechem, where law had been 
 read to all Israel (viii.) ; natural amphitheatre ; voices 
 distinctly heard (xxiii.) ; a previous gathering only of 
 representatives ; this of all adult males. Joshua gives 
 rapid sketch of past history and deliverances ; urges 
 them to renew promise; gives warnings and counsels. 
 People respond zealously. Stone erected as memorial. 
 People dismissed. Joshua's death. 
 
 Parallel Passages. — Comp. Last Words of Jacob (Gen. 
 xlix.), Moses (Deut. xxxiii.), Samuel (1 Sam. xii.), David 
 (2 Sam.xxii.). Choosing : comp. 1 Sam. vii. 3; 1 Kings 
 xviii. 21 ; Mark x. 21. Self-confidence : Matt. viii. 19 ; Luke 
 xxii. 33. Memorial Stones : vers. 26, 27 ; Jndg. ix. 6 ; 
 ver. 29. Servant of the Lord : comp. chap. i. 1. 
 
 Words and Phrases. — Ver. 14, Flood, Euphrates ; ver. 
 26, the booh, Deut. xxxi. 24. 
 
 Manners and Customs. — Ver. 23, Put away. Perhaps 
 teraphim, like Laban's, or some other relics of idolatry. 
 
 Ver. 25, Statute. Recorded as part of the nation's 
 history. 
 
 Ver. 26, Stone. Like Jacob and Samuel, Oak — the 
 oak; places often so indicated. Sanctuary, not ne- 
 cessarily a building ; a place u holy " by its asso- 
 ciations, Gen. xii. 6-8. 
 
 Difficulties. — Ver. 19, Cannot. Not without spiritual 
 change and divine strength; comp. Peter (Luke xxii. 
 33, 34). 
 
BIBLE LESSONS, AND HOW TO PREPARE THEM. H'6 
 
 Doctrines. — 1. Ver. 14. We all are servants of some 
 Master (John viii. 34). 
 
 2. Ver. 15. All have the power to choose whom they 
 will serve. 
 
 3. Vers. 16-18. Reason for serving God (Rom. xii. 1). 
 
 4. Vers. 19, 20. Easy to resolve, but not easy to do. 
 
 5. Vers. 21-25. How to make the choice. 
 
 6. Vers. 26-29. Silent witnesses. 
 
 From the above rough notes, a Lesson might be 
 arranged in various ways. The above scheme would give 
 six Doctrines, and therefore six Sections to the exercise. 
 Nos. 1 and 2, however, might fairly be placed together 
 in one section, and No. 6 suggests some "last words " that 
 will be easily illustrated and applied. This will give five 
 Sections ; all the above Doctrines being suitable for the 
 young, and capable of application to youthful life and 
 character. 
 
 The title of the Lesson suggests an Introduction — " The 
 Last Words of Great Men " — which offers a wide field for 
 selection. There is so much of bright and striking 
 incident in the facts of the narrative itself, that com- 
 paratively few additional Illustrations are absolutely 
 required. One or two may be introduced, however, to 
 give increased interest and impressiveness to the Doctrines 
 and the application of them. 
 
 Sketch op Lesson. 
 
 Introduction. — Last Words always impressive — re- 
 membered — those of great men not always striking. 
 Nelson's : " I thank God I have done my duty." "Anchor ! 
 Hardy, anchor ! " We are going to read the last words 
 of a greater commander than Nelson — why greater, we 
 shall presently see [Passage read first time']. 
 
 Recapitulation. — We have followed the career of 
 this great soldier, from his first appointment to his final 
 ■victory. Had had perhaps seventeen or eighteen years of 
 
84 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 quiet after the weary wilderness and the fierce tumult of 
 conquest. Now he feels he is getting old ; not much longer 
 to live ; past one hundred ; and like to meet the people 
 once more; old comrades. Mr. Herkomer's picture, "The 
 Last Muster ; " old soldiers at Chelsea. (Read ver. 1, 
 and picture the scene.) What would it remind them of ? 
 (viii.). They would think how their leader was altered 
 in outward appearances; but the voice has the old, brave, 
 cheery ring about it. Joshua speaks to the chiefs, the 
 judges, and the councillors ; and they repeat it to those 
 of the vast multitude who cannot hear it for themselves. 
 He told them the old story of which they were never 
 tired — how they had risen, from being a crowd of slaves, 
 into a great nation. And then come the words of our 
 lesson. 
 
 Sect. I. Vers. 14, 15. — Refer back to Introduction. 
 What did Nelson mean by having " done his duty " ? 
 (Conquered the enemy.) Yes ; and so he died satisfied. 
 Had not Joshua done the same ? Yet, if you look carefully 
 at these verses you will see that Tie was not satisfied. In 
 fact, he was very anxious. Can you find out what about ? 
 Turn to Deut. xxxi. 29. Had that come true yet (chap, 
 xxiii. 8) ? How old did we say Joshua was ? What was 
 he now expecting would happen to himself ? Yes ; and 
 so he was afraid that after he was gone the people he 
 
 cared so much for would ? Remember what good and 
 
 wise advice he had given them long before ; and ver- 15 
 shows he had given them something better even than 
 counsel. But now he calls this great meeting to spend 
 a few parting words. They are just like those of a soldier 
 — short, plain, and to the point ; but they came from his 
 heart. Look at them carefully. First, ver. 15. " Fear," 
 "Serve," "Put away;" and again, "Serve." [Explain 
 and illustrate each. " Fear ," not fight ; "serve," not like 
 slaves in Egypt, but as Joshua served Moses, " for the 
 love of it;" "put away" dangerous things — like fire- 
 
BIBLE LESSONS, AND HOW TO PREPARE THEM. 85 
 
 arms, gunpowder, or infected clothes.] Why so mnch 
 about " serving " — almost every verse in our lesson has 
 something about it ? Two reasons — because Joshua knew 
 that every one must serve some master. Jesus said, " No 
 man can serve two masters," and yet there are only two 
 we can serve, either God or sin. (See John viii. 34.) 
 Perhaps Joshua recollected how once, when he was young, 
 the people had risen in rebellion against Moses, and had 
 made one of the gods of Egypt, and worshipped it ; and 
 how Moses had cried out, " Who is on the Lord's side ? " 
 and there was a great division into two parties, one for 
 God, the others for the idol (Exod. xxxii.). It looks as if 
 Joshua had this in his mind when he spoke (ver. 16). 
 And it is the question which comes to all of us, some 
 time or other ; and which no one can answer but our- 
 selves. No one can choose for us. This was the other 
 reason why Joshua pressed so earnestly for an answer; 
 and it is why we, your teachers, keep pressing on you the 
 need for prompt decision for God. Youth is the chief 
 choosing time ; few come to God in middle life, fewer still 
 in old age. 
 
 Apply. Which service will you choose ? You must 
 serve some master. You must choose which master it shall 
 be. Christ's service is the only true freedom. Satan's 
 is slavery worse than that of Egypt. 
 
 (The remaining sections may be similarly worked out 
 in free conversation.) 
 
 Sect. II. Vers. 16-18. — God's mercies. His preserving 
 care, His gracious protection, His special deliverances. 
 Similar blessings now. "Therefore" (ver. 18). See 
 Rom. xii. 1. " Reasonable " to serve our best and kindest 
 Friend. 
 
 Sect. III. Vers. 19, 20. — Easy to resolve, not so easy 
 to keep good resolutions. Need for strength beyond our 
 own. Strength to do right, and strength to resist evil. 
 The Israelites' special temptations. What " strange gods " 
 
86 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 are worshipped now ? Always resolve in dependence on 
 God's help. 
 
 Sect. IV. Vers. 21-25. — Making a promise. How 
 promises are often made and broken. Here we have a 
 whole nation making a promise. What called in ver. 25 ? 
 What is a " covenant " ? (Explain by reference to an 
 apprentice's] indentures, or " covenants " in a lease.) Im- 
 portance of covenants. The people's covenant with ? 
 
 A solemn matter. " Blue ribbon " covenants, covenants 
 with God. Practice of Philip Henry's family, etc. 
 
 Apply. The covenant should he made seriously, intelli- 
 gently, deliberately, and finally. You will never repent 
 it in after days. See what David said about this when 
 he was old, and had many troubles (2 Sam. xxiii. 5). 
 
 Sect. V. Vers. 26-29.— " Witnesses." Illustrate by 
 court of law. " Covenants " always are " witnessed." So 
 here. Joshua had already mentioned one class of witnesses 
 (vers. 22, 23) ; now another (ver. 17) ; and there would 
 be a third (vers. 25, 26). He seemed to say to them, "My 
 voice and the voice of these ' elders ' will soon be silent in 
 the grave. Yet if you leave the God who has done so 
 much for you and bow down to idols of wood and stone, 
 your memories and your consciences will be witnesses to 
 condemn you for your broken promise. Whenever you 
 pass this stone, it will seem to cry out against you. And 
 this book in which I have written an account of your 
 covenant will be a silent witness too. And now, farewell 
 for ever on earth. Be faithful and obedient to God, and 
 He will bless you and defend you from all your enemies." 
 
 Apply. Read ver. 29. — Parents, ministers, teachers, 
 die ; but there are silent witnesses to the good resolutions 
 you make. The quiet bedroom where you prayed, the 
 old place in the class, the worn Bible and hymn-book, the 
 old sanctuary, the old home, the mother's grave, and, above 
 all, the voice of conscience, will speak of resolutions happily 
 kept, or the covenant broken and forgotten. 
 
BIBLE LESSONS, AND HOW TO PREPARE THEM. 87 
 
 "Notes" Written and Printed.— The fore^oin^ 
 roughly condensed sketch will serve to exemplify the 
 manner in which a sacred narrative may be prepared for 
 the purpose of class-instruction. It will be seen that the 
 methods employed are chiefly the Didactic, the Illustrative, 
 and the Interrogative ; but it must be understood that in 
 actual teaching a larger number of questions would be 
 asked, it being most desirable to induce the scholars to 
 contribute as much as possible to the conversation. The 
 writer has always advocated the bringing of turitten notes 
 into the class, unless a teacher's memory is very tenacious 
 and reliable. Notes counteract the tendency to wander 
 from the subject, and prevent the loss of the " thread of 
 discourse." Printed notes of any kind are objectionable, 
 as suggesting to the scholars that their teacher is a mere 
 retailer of other men's thoughts and words, but written 
 notes imply that he has at least thought his pupils worth 
 taking pains for. 
 
 Proportion of Illustrative Matter. — Tt was re- 
 marked in a previous page that the amount of illustration 
 needed in a given lesson must depend chiefly on the 
 presence or absence of such matter in the portion of 
 Scripture read. The Sermon on the Mount, a chapter in 
 Romans or Ephesians, or a selection from the Psalms or 
 Proverbs, would generally require much more illustrative 
 material to be supplied from without, than a historical 
 narrative like the above, or a fictitious narrative, such 
 as the parable of the Wedding Garment or the Prodigal 
 Son. In other words, when moral and spiritual truth is 
 stated in a direct form, with nothing of the " story " about 
 it, it must be " clothed upon " with anecdotes and other 
 illustrations to render it intelligible and attractive to the 
 young. 
 
 For example, the Sunday School Union "Morning 
 Lessons " for the month in which we are writinsr, are taken 
 from Matt. v. and vi., and bear the following titles : " The 
 
88 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 Blessed Life," " The Law and the Gospel," " Giving and 
 Praying," " Care and Trust." Now, while it is true that 
 these chapters include some very striking and beautiful 
 figures and emblems, which in themselves illustrate the 
 inner truths our Lord was uttering in respect to His 
 kingdom, yet there is nothing of the historical or narra- 
 tive element, nothing about particular persons or their 
 actions and characters. Hence, such material must be 
 supplied by the teacher; and accordingly, we find the 
 Sunday School Chronicle and other periodicals giving 
 samples of anecdotes and other illustrations for use in 
 the class. 
 
 In arranging such passages for teaching (especially 
 where the scholars are mere children), it will be advisable 
 to select such verses as appear the most simple and suit- 
 able; group them in "sections," as in a narrative lesson; 
 bring out and dwell upon one doctrine in each section ; 
 illustrate it, and apply it to juvenile character and experi- 
 ence. The most difficult of the four subjects above cited, 
 for junior class instruction, is undoubtedly the second, 
 "The Law and the Gospel" (Matt. v. 17-24; 38-48). 
 What is a young teacher to do ? Try to " get through " the 
 whole nineteen verses, or throw up the subject altogether 
 and fall back on Moses or Joseph, David or Timothy ? 
 We would reply, Neither The former course would violate 
 the principle of adaptation ; the latter would furnish a 
 dangerous precedent for evading any subsequent lesson- 
 subjects which might appear more difficult than ordinary. 
 Nor is there solid ground for diverging so far from the 
 passage before us. Vers. 17-19, 38, 39, and 43-45, 
 might be made to yield truths simple and practical. For 
 example : 
 
 I. Vers. 17, 18. — All that God says is sure to come 
 true. 
 
 IT. Ver. 19. — The way to be really great is to do the 
 little things which God has told us 
 
BIBLE LESSONS, AND HOW TO PREPARE THEM. 89 
 
 III. Vers. 38, 39. — Great fighters are not great in. 
 God's sight. The followers of Christ must bear rather 
 than revenge injuries. 
 
 IV. Vers. 43-45. — The greatest of all those who love 
 all, and try to do good to all ; because they are most like 
 •Christ. 
 
 No attempt needs to be made to explain the Oriental 
 allusions in vers. 21-24, and 41, since junior scholars would 
 not possess the knowledge requisite for understanding 
 and appreciating them. They should, therefore, be passed 
 over with some such remarks as, " You will understand 
 these verses when you are older." 
 
 Parables and Emblems. — A lesson on one of the 
 Parables would be treated, as already intimated, in the 
 same manner as a real narrative, dividing it into sections 
 for the sake of convenience, and observing carefully in 
 each to follow the true order, viz. : (1) The ontivard 
 -emblem ; (2) the spiritual meaning ; (3) the 'practical 
 application. 
 
 Shorter figurative lessons, so abundant in Christ's 
 teaching, but occurring also in all the didactic portions 
 of the Old and New Testaments, should be similarly 
 treated — the natural object first ; then its spiritual signifi- 
 cation ; and then the application to everyday life and 
 -conduct. A common fault with young and earnest 
 teachers is to rush too hastily to the second stage ; for- 
 getting that (on the principles of association and analogy) 
 it is only when the outward figure is securely lodged in 
 the scholar's memory and understanding that the inward 
 meaning and application can be retained also. The anclior 
 must hold, or that which is fastened to it will soon 
 drift far away. 
 
 Blackboard Lessons. — Now that Blackboard Plans 
 for Bible lessons are so frequently offered for use in 
 junior classes, it may be well to remark that a " Black- 
 board Lesson " does not represent any peculiarity of 
 
90 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 subject or even of method. The " board " is simply a 
 * note-book " of wood on which catchwords or short 
 sentences, representing the " heads ' or " points " of a 
 lesson, may be written so that the eye may aid the ear, 
 and the points be more fully committed to memory. The 
 method of preparing a given lesson-subject is in no way 
 affected by the use of a blackboard, more than by the use 
 of a slip of paper, or by dispensing with writing alto- 
 gether. It is a valuable help in junior-class teaching, for 
 the reason just given, and also because the process of 
 writing the key-words excites a measure of curiosity, if 
 too much time be not occupied therein. 
 
 The use of Pictures and Objects as aids to Sunday 
 school instruction is better known than practised. It 
 needs care and judgment where a separate room is not 
 provided, as the production of a coloured print may 
 divert the attention of neighbouring classes. Yet in the 
 present day so many pictorial illustrations of sacred truth 
 are continually published in one form or another, that 
 opportunities of " illuminating " a text of Holy Scripture 
 by engraving, photograph, or natural object, continually 
 present themselves to our observant teacher, and should 
 not be neglected for fear of being " singular." Drawings 
 on a blackboard fall, of course, under the same head as any 
 other drawings. In all cases such appliances should be 
 used simply as illustrations of Scripture truth, and be laid 
 aside as soon as that purpose has been accomplished. 
 
 In bringing this chapter to a close, the writer would 
 affectionately urge upon his younger co-workers the 
 wisdom and the duty of grudging no pains in seeking to 
 prepare for each sabbath's hallowed toil. Early, ample, 
 prayerful, preparation is one of the chief essentials of 
 comfort in teaching, as it is one of the indispensable con- 
 ditions of success. But surely the highest motives may 
 be appealed to here. " I think," said the noble Living- 
 
BIBLE LESSONS, AND HOW TO PREPARE THEM. 91 
 
 stone, "that we ought never to apply such a word aa 
 sacrifice to anything that we can do for Him who laid 
 down His life for ns ; " and the sentiment should find an 
 abiding-place in the hearts of all who labour in the 
 pleasant mission-field at home. It is little enough that we 
 can do for Him, at the best ; brief at most can be our 
 term of earthly service, briefer still the period during 
 which we can hold our young hearers beneath the sound 
 of our voices. They must be won for Christ now, or 
 the golden hour of decision will, in too many cases, have 
 passed for ever. Could we view our work in the light 
 of history — the history of many a guileless child who once 
 sat on the forms of the Sunday school — we should need no 
 human exhortations to fidelity as we gazed on the wreck 
 of all that was once so fair. In wisdom and in love, the 
 results of our labour are as yet hidden from our view; 
 but down the long: asres come the solemn words of Him 
 who is our Pattern as well as our Lord, and from whom 
 we draw our motive, our strength, and our inspiration : 
 " I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is 
 day ; the night cometh, when no man can ivork." 
 
 " How can I, Lord, withhold 
 Life's brightest hour 
 From Thee ? or gathered gold, 
 Or any power? 
 Why should I keep one precious thing from Thee, 
 When Thou hast given Thine own dear Self for me ? " 
 
 KEFEKENCES. 
 
 " Manual," chap. xi. 
 
 " Text-Book," sect, xviii., xix. 
 
 "Eye Teaching in the Sunday School." By K. W. Sindall 
 Is. 6d. (Sunday School Union.) 
 
 " Blackboard in the Sunday School." By the late Benjamin Clarke. 
 Is. 6(7. (Sunday School Union.) 
 
 "Bible and Blackboard." By F. F. Belsey. Is. 6cl (Sunday 
 School Union.) 
 
92 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CLASS TEACHING. 
 
 Excusable Hesitation. — No thoughtful young Christian 
 who has pondered the nature and capabilities of his 
 chosen work, can enter upon the duty of instructing a 
 band of children in any portion of Holy Writ, without 
 some measure of shrinking and hesitation. The know- 
 ledge that those youthful spirits are immortal; that the 
 truths to be communicated are essentially divine ; that 
 the lesson about to be given must inevitably draw the 
 learners nearer to, or repel them further from, God and 
 His ways, and that its issues will reach beyond the present 
 state of being ; such considerations as these, combined 
 with a sense of personal inadequacy, may well solemnize the 
 mind as each sabbath's engagements return. But while 
 they inspire the question, " Who is sufficient ? " they ought 
 also to suggest the answer, " Our sufficiency is of God." 
 He, who regards the children with infinite love and com- 
 passion, will not fail to work in and with those whom 
 He has called to tell them the story of that love. It is 
 ours faithfully to plant and tend and train; it is His, 
 and His alone, to give the increase. 
 
 Manner in School. — With such views and feelings 
 a teacher will not need to be reminded that his de- 
 meanour in the school and in the class should be reverent 
 and earnest. The humblest Sunday school is a con- 
 
CLASS TEACHING. 93- 
 
 secrated spot ; and the nature of its exercises should 
 exclude all frivolities from its sacred precincts. Gossip 
 and small-talk should find no place within its walls ; and 
 every teacher should remember that his or her bearing, 
 in word or in act, constitutes an open book, which the 
 children will be only too quick to read. 
 
 Towards the young people under their care, teachers 
 should behave with an earnest kindness which expresses 
 true sympathy and interest in all that concerns them. 
 Anything approaching to an " official " mannerism or the 
 (supposed) air of a theological professor, must be banished 
 from the class; while the other extreme, of over-fami- 
 liarity, is also to be carefully avoided. A scholar's love and 
 confidence may be won without permitting any approach 
 to rudeness ; indeed, genuine friendship must ever rest on 
 mutual respect as well as mutual affection. 
 
 Punctuality. — Early arrival at the school affords to 
 a teacher' legitimate and convenient opportunities for 
 friendly inquiries, both personal and domestic, relating 
 to each of his pupils, and so for the manifestation of 
 sympathy, both verbal and practical, in their everyday 
 affairs. Such personal interchange is no unfit preparation 
 for teaching, since the moral sympathy awakened by 
 kindly words smooths the road for the mental sympathy 
 which the lesson will need. It may be added that the 
 course now recommended is far preferable to that gossip- 
 ing among the teachers which, in some schools, regularly 
 precedes the " opening " of each sabbath's session. 
 
 An orderly, reverent, and cheerful interest should be 
 taken in the devotional exercises of the school, both before 
 and after class instruction ; and by precept as well as 
 example all the children should be encouraged to take 
 part therein. The possession of a hymn-book by each 
 scholar should be insisted on until that desirable end has 
 been attained ; and reference should be made, whenever 
 opportunity occurs, to the hymns and prayers. 
 
94 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 Physical Conditions. — Beforecommencing to teach, 
 the physical comfort of the class should be attended to. 
 If the privilege of a separate room be enjoyed, the ventila- 
 tion will be under the teacher's control, and should be 
 looked after carefully and regularly. The most impres- 
 sive admonitions will be thrown away on pupils who are 
 being gradually stupefied by the carbonic acid exhaled 
 from their own lungs in a closely shut apartment; and 
 even a bright and earnest teacher soon becomes, in point 
 of energy and liveliness, "a spring shut up — a fountain 
 sealed" (though not in the scriptural sense), under the 
 influence of a worse narcotic than tobacco ! An ill- 
 ventilated schoolroom should be made the subject of 
 remonstrance and suggestion at teachers' meetings, since 
 the matter has a far more intimate connection with atten- 
 tion and impression than is generally recognized by busy 
 superintendents and secretaries, too often " cumbered," 
 like Martha, with " much serving." 
 
 The size, construction, and position of seats is another 
 material point. Many a well-prepared lesson has been 
 robbed of its due influence by over-long legs, ill-sloped 
 backs, or the absence of backs altogether, in the forms 
 allotted to the juvenile hearers. So also the seats should 
 be placed where every scholar can see and hear, and be 
 seen and heard, without change of posture. Much im- 
 provement has been effected in educational furniture 
 during the past ten or fifteen years, but many glaring 
 defects are still observable in the fittings of our Sunday 
 schools. 
 
 Devotional Exercises. — Preliminary also to actual 
 instruction are the devotional exercises with which all 
 Sunday schools commence, and to which the young 
 teacher's earnest consideration should always be given. 
 More "reform" is perhaps needed here even than in the 
 matters of light, ventilation, and fittings. A few hints, 
 extracted from a larger manual, may be repeated : — 
 
CLASS TEACHING. 95 
 
 " There is no need, however, for the teacher to be mute. 
 The interval offers an excellent opportunity for friendly 
 interchange of kind inquiries between himself and his 
 scholars, and for reference to other matters of interest 
 which too often are thrust unseasonably into the brief 
 season allotted to actual instruction. This can easily be 
 managed without noise, and will exert a favourable in- 
 fluence on both early and late comers. 
 
 " At the first signal from the superintendent's desk all 
 conversation and all movements from place to place should 
 instantly cease. The hymn-books, if not already produced, 
 should be called for by a gesture, and any attempt to talk 
 or whisper promptly and gravely repressed. It must be 
 admitted that the bearing and attitudes of Sunday scholars 
 during school worship are seldom devotional, and often un- 
 seemly and irreverent. Many have no hymn-books, and 
 some who have hold them in positions where they cannot 
 be read. Many — the elder lads especially — do not sing at 
 all ; a few bawl loudly or chime in at intervals, in a style 
 which is either simply frivolous or intentionally mis- 
 chievous. Some loll, some sit, some talk, some pinch or 
 pommel their companions — their teachers, good easy souls ! 
 singing heartily with eyes averted from their charge, or 
 with eyes closed, uniting fervently in the uttered prayer. 
 The remedy for this common but most pernicious state of 
 things is to be sought, not in remonstrances or appeals 
 from the desk, but in reformation in the class. Each 
 teacher should not only set an example of earnest interest 
 in the acts of united praise and prayer, but resolutely 
 endeavour to excite similar feelings in his scholars. He 
 should stand perfectly upright, and at a spot whence he 
 can see every member of the class. Every tendency to 
 levity must be instantly checked by a movement of the 
 hand or a glance of the eye ; and if the tendency to dis- 
 order is persistent, after the fault has been kindly pointed 
 out, it will be advisable to keep the eyes open during 
 
96 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 prayer-time ; afterwards telling the children that this was 
 necessary because they " could not be trusted," but will 
 be gladly discontinued as soon as they are prepared to act 
 in a more seemly manner. Devotion cannot be implanted, 
 but habits of decorum should be perse veringly enjoined, 
 and the duty and privilege of genuine worship frequently 
 urged upon thoughtless youth." 
 
 Of course, the foregoing hints apply to the closing 
 equally with the opening exercises of the school. 
 
 Our reader may perhaps be thinking that we have 
 lingered too long on the threshold of actual lesson-giving. 
 But, since there are always enough unavoidable obstacles 
 to be confronted, it is no waste of time to remove those 
 which may be averted by a little care and foresight. We 
 "will now, however, proceed to offer a few counsels on the 
 practical use of a lesson prepared as already described. 
 
 Reading Round. — Most teachers begin a lesson by 
 "reading round," whatever the appointed passage of 
 Scripture may be. The practice seems to us to be of 
 doubtful expediency. Unless the children are already 
 still and attentive, it appears hardly reverent to Holy 
 Scripture to read verse by verse in order to produce quiet- 
 ness; nor is such reading likely to be "with the under- 
 standing." Besides, on principles which will need no 
 further exposition here, a passage of the Bible is much 
 more likely to be understood and appreciated when the 
 scholars have some idea of its bearings, than when they 
 plunge, as it were, into a subject entirely new. Wherever, 
 by the use of lesson-papers or other means, the children 
 can be induced to prepare for the sabbath conversation 
 beforehand — a most desirable step — this argument will 
 not apply. Yet, on the whole, we consider that it is 
 better to give the Introduction of the lesson before " read- 
 ing round." It is not needful, however, to adopt an 
 unvarying rule. Change is sometimes good, even for its 
 own sake. 
 
CLASS TEACHING. 97 
 
 The Introduction. — In the Introduction itself, care 
 will be required to avoid two common faults — undue length, 
 and wandering from the subject of the lesson, towards 
 which and not from which the introductory remarks ought 
 to lead. It is essential that this " key-note " should be 
 struck in a lively tone. As we are all aware, by ex- 
 perience, the first five minutes of any spoken address will 
 usually determine the degree of attention which it will 
 gain. It should, therefore, be always a prepared section, 
 designed, as shown in the preceding chapters, to arouse 
 the interest of the scholars, and enlist it for the sacred 
 theme which is to be unfolded. It may be an anecdote, a 
 fable, a quaint proverb, a pithy saying, a wayside observa- 
 tion ; but an Introduction is not the place for doctrine or 
 precept, — these will follow in due course. 
 
 Class Conversation. — It is in the instruction of the 
 class through the various stages of the prepared lesson 
 that the teacher's abilities and resources will be most 
 severely taxed. To attain the art of skilfully guiding a 
 conversation is an invaluable gift — as difficult as that of 
 driving "four-in-hand;" yet, like it, to be reached by 
 practice and perseverance, and by these alone. 
 
 The interrogative method should be adhered to with 
 full determination to draw out the thoughts of the children 
 in words, and so to ascertain the limits of their knowledge 
 and their ignorance. In senior classes, particularly of 
 girls, it is often difficult and sometimes impossible to 
 overcome the silence caused by bashfulness ; but among 
 juniors no such reticence exists. The embarrassment felt 
 by those who teach children interrogatively is due to the 
 number and variety of the answers, and the confusion 
 which they often seem to produce ; hence, young teachers 
 are tempted to fall back on the didactic method, so as 
 to be able to "lecture" without awkward interrup- 
 tions. But the gain is more than counterbalanced by the 
 loss. A mere talker never knows how much of his talk is 
 
 H 
 
98 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 received by his hearers ; and instruction didactically given, 
 soothes those it onght to awaken, and leaves in a merely 
 passive condition the energies which need to be called into 
 activity. 
 
 Random answers are often but the natural results of 
 random questions. Queries should be made as definite as 
 possible, and then careless answers can be firmly but kindly 
 checked. The general line of the questions should be 
 arranged beforehand, though, of course, it is not necessary 
 to prepare every single question that may be put, — indeed, 
 it is impossible, for the scholars' answers constantly suggest 
 questions not previously decided on. 
 
 The questioning should be interspersed with instruc- 
 tion and comment from the teacher, and pointed inquiries 
 be put after each section, or as each important fact or 
 doctrine is brought out, to ascertain if the pupils have 
 really learned what has been communicated to them. 
 
 A cardinal maxim in all teaching (our readers will 
 forgive the repetition of so important a precept) is, Give 
 every pujpil something to do ; and this should be a matter 
 of special endeavour in class conversation. " How is this 
 to be accomplished ? " will naturally be asked. Not, 
 certainly, by the antiquated plan of individual teaching — 
 calling up each child in rotation to read, while the others 
 amuse themselves as best they can. Nor by adopting the 
 simultaneous system, wherein all the scholars read and 
 answer in chorus ; since, although this kind of exercise is 
 useful in infant classes taught in separate rooms, it is far 
 too noisy under ordinary conditions. But while it is a 
 mistake to teach our scholars one by one, we should keep 
 each before our mind's eye, and intersperse questions and 
 remarks addressed to one and another child, among the 
 more general interrogations or instructions addressed to 
 the whole class. We must try and foster the timid, while 
 gently checking the too impulsive ; for, as was said of the 
 two Greeks, we shall meet with the " dull horse that needs 
 
CLASS TEACHING. 99 
 
 the spur," as well as the " restive steed that requires curb 
 and rein." JSTo scholar should be unduly patronized and 
 none feel neglected, or even overlooked. We can frame 
 more difficult questions for the forward, and easier ones 
 for the less advanced. Then, such a personal acquaintance 
 with each child as has been enjoined already will enable 
 the teacher to provide special portions for different pupils. 
 A word of counsel ; a familiar and well-understood re- 
 ference to affairs at home ; an illustration drawn from 
 a particular trade, or favourite amusement, or juvenile 
 "hobby," to this scholar or that; a sympathetic or 
 encouraging word oi interest for any in trouble or 
 difficulty ; — these and other simple expedients will augment 
 the teachers' influence and facilitate the work of instruc- 
 tion. Almost every sacred narrative will be found to 
 touch, at some point or other, the everyday life and ex- 
 perience of one or more members of a sabbath class, and 
 it needs no extraordinary abilities to discover such points 
 of contact when the habit of seeking them has been 
 acquired. 
 
 Thus the minds of the scholars may be kept in an 
 active condition, both by the stimulus of questions, and 
 by the sympathy awakened through familiar and personal 
 allusions, as the lesson proceeds. 
 
 Adaptation of Bible Scenes and Incidents. — 
 In the presentation of Bible truth it must be constantly 
 borne in mind, that, while Scripture is wonderfully human 
 and many-sided, as just hinted, yet its histories and biogra- 
 phies relate to ages long past and to modes of life widely 
 differing from our own. To render such scenes vivid and 
 real to the mind without sacrificing accuracy will need 
 some care and painstaking. It will not do to follow the 
 example of some of the old artists, and describe the lives 
 of patriarchs, prophets, and apostles as if they belonged 
 to the nineteenth century — to dress Adam and Eve, Moses 
 and Elijah, in the costumes of Belgravia or Kensington, 
 
100 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 and lodge them in suburban villas or English farmhouses. 
 Yet they ought to be as real living personages as any 
 whom the children of our classes meet in their own town 
 or country abodes — not mere shadowy ghosts of the 
 distant past. How shall this realization be secured? 
 First, by honestly describing Bible scenes as they actually 
 were, whether by words alone or with the help of pictures 
 or other illustrations. Secondhj, by using the principle of 
 analogy, and explaining the oriental and ancient by what- 
 ever most resembles it in modern life. Thirdly, by bring- 
 ing out the moral qualities and motives, the virtues and 
 the faults, which underlie the facts of Biblical, as of all 
 other history. The externals of human life are always 
 changing, but moral principles are ever the same. When 
 these are brought out, Jacob's deceit, Moses' forbearance, 
 Samuel's integrity, Peter's self-confidence, are seen to be 
 qualities familiar enough even to a child's mind, and hence 
 those who manifested them become no longer myths but 
 realities.* 
 
 Technical Terms in Religious Teaching.— But 
 the Bible has not only its peculiarities of historical colour- 
 ing ; it has also its great spiritual doctrines — its revelation 
 of good tidings concerning God and things unseen. 
 Hence it has also its technical terms — new words, and 
 words used in new senses, to express new ideas. By the 
 time we have reached adult age we become so familiar 
 with most of these Scripture technicalities that we are apt 
 to forget that we once had to learn their meaning. And 
 so in instructing the young we often make use of terms 
 which are wholly unintelligible to them until explained. 
 This is one of the commonest errors on the part of theo- 
 logical teachers of all grades and titles ; and nowhere do 
 they more frequently or more unconsciously mislead their 
 hearers. For where the true meaning is not known, the 
 
 * The author's little tract, " The Art of Picturing," will be fouud 
 to offer more detailed hints on the subject. 
 
CLASS TEACHING. 101 
 
 imagination usually supplies an erroneous one — often a 
 caricature. Nowhere so much as in religious phraseology- 
 is the duty of being simple ignored by Sunday school 
 teachers. All ivords and phrases peculiar to Scripture or to 
 religion should he explained clearly, and the more important 
 terms repeatedly . It was one of the excellences of the 
 old catechisms that they defined these terms with pre- 
 cision ; though it was one of their defects that the defini- 
 tion was couched in language as unintelligible as the thing 
 defined, and often much more so ! A sound rule for the 
 teacher of children to follow, is to communicate first the 
 idea, and then the technical word which expresses it. 
 
 It is to be feared that, through oversight or slovenliness, 
 not a few Sunday scholars (even those beyond the age of 
 childhood) have been allowed to remain with the vaguest 
 of notions, and in some cases no notion at all, of the 
 meaning of terms so important as disciple, apostle, judg- 
 ment, righteousness, repentance, faith, kingdom of heaven, 
 justification, grace, gospel, and many other Bible words and 
 phrases, not to speak of current expressions, as "under 
 conviction of sin," "coming to Christ," "yielding them- 
 selves to the Lord," " giving the heart to Jesus," "having 
 the assurance of faith," " setting the face Zionward," and 
 so forth. To these may be added a host of figurative modes 
 of speech found chiefly in hymns of the revival and 
 evangelistic type, and reaching their climax of extrava- 
 gance in the ditties of the Salvation Army. Most of these 
 metaphors are strongly sensuous, not to say coarse ; and 
 some appear to ordinary minds to border very closely on 
 profanity. They tend, however, not merely to diminish 
 reverence on the part of those who use them, but are a 
 fruitful source of error and niisconcej)tion, especially with 
 children. Hence the teacher should be on his sruard 
 against the common delusion that the shouting of strongly 
 worded choruses is necessarily connected with an intelligent 
 comprehension of the sentiments expressed. 
 
102 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 Simple Language. — The language used in the scrip- 
 tural instruction of the young should be studiously simple 
 — adapted, of course, to the ages and capacities of the 
 particular pupils ; yet, on the whole, embodied in plain 
 Saxon — homely, without any slang or vulgarisms ; familiar, 
 yet not babyish. Long words and grandiose phrases are 
 as objectionable as technical terms. The latter cannot be 
 avoided, but, as we have pointed out, must be interpreted 
 by translation into ordinary language ; the former are to 
 be excluded altogether from the Sunday school. 
 
 Aspects of Divine Truth. — A volume might be 
 devoted to a topic which we must needs pass over with 
 but a few desultory suggestions — " the aspects of Scripture 
 truth best adapted to the young." In what light should 
 we present to children and youth the Divine character, 
 the nature of sin, the atonement, conversion, practical 
 religion, heaven and hell, the final judgment, and similar 
 momentous topics ? 
 
 Perhaps the safest general answer may be somewhat as 
 follows : — We must exhibit these spiritual realities in the 
 aspects in which Scripture itself presents them, in the 
 particular passages which we have from time to time 
 allotted us for exposition ; for all these aspects are true 
 and just. Since, however, we live under the new and 
 final dispensation, not the patriarchal or Jewish economy, 
 we are permitted, nay, bound, to dwell specially upon New 
 Testament aspects of truth, rather than Old, as being both 
 higher and milder. Dr. Watts appears to have reached 
 this conclusion in the composition of his version of the 
 Psalms, if we may judge from the well-known extract so 
 often prefixed to modern editions of his devotional poetry. 
 He says, " Where the Psalmist describes religion by the 
 fear of God, I have often joined faith and love to it. 
 Where he speaks of the pardon of sin through the mercies 
 of God, I have added the merits of a Saviour. Where 
 he talks of sacrificing goats or bullocks, I rather choose to 
 
CLASS TEACHING. 103 
 
 mention the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God. Where 
 he promises abundance of wealth, honour, and long life, 
 I have changed some of these typical blessings for grace, 
 glory, and life eternal." 
 
 To come, however, to particulars. It is of supreme 
 importance that the Divine character be so presented as 
 to inspire right feelings in the youthful heart, as well as 
 correct ideas in the mind. We cannot hesitate to affirm 
 that the utmost prominence should be given to that aspect 
 which it is the peculiar glory of the gospel to reveal — 
 " Our Father " in Christ Jesus — the God who is all that a 
 Father can be to a child, and who so loved us as to give 
 His only Son for us. At the same time all the Divine 
 attributes, of majesty, holiness, omniscience, omnipresence, 
 etc., should have their place in Sunday school teaching. 
 Indeed, it is to be feared that a desire to show forth the 
 Divine love and compassion towards the ungodly, has led 
 to unintentional suppression of correlative truths, as clearly 
 enunciated by Christ and His apostles. We need not 
 revert to Old Testament language to learn that " all things 
 are naked and opened in the eyes of Him with whom we 
 have to do," and that it is a fearful thing " to fall," un- 
 pardoned, "into the hands of the living God." The most 
 scathing denunciations of sin and insincerity fell from lips 
 of infinite tenderness, even as we are taught by " His 
 cross and passion " the infinite hatred of God to all evil. 
 And it is an error which may prove of serious practical 
 moment to permit even children to think lightly of sin, 
 because of that other truth that " God is love." 
 
 Side by side with the evil of sin, and its grievousness 
 and hatefitlness on God's right, the inevitable loss and 
 injury which it must always bring to the sinner should be 
 plainly enforced. Wrong-doing should be exhibited as a 
 real " sowing of wild oats " in a deeper sense than the 
 world attaches to that phrase, and also as ingratitude 
 towards our best Friend. It will often prove a help in 
 
104 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 inducing conviction of sin, if we dwell upon the sinful- 
 ness of bad tempers and sins of omission — the passions 
 which make us unlovely in word and deed, and the good 
 which we fail to do. It is scarcely necessary to add that 
 a teacher should point especially to youthful faults and 
 sins, and such as his own scholars are likely to be charge- 
 able with, instead of denouncing transgressions peculiar 
 to the mature in years, or the wealthy and influential in 
 station. A child cradled in poverty is not likely to be 
 led away by worldly pride ; nor does one who has never 
 known want need warning against distrust ot Providence. 
 But let them exchange places, and the counsel may be 
 timely enough. 'Repentance and faith must not be sepa- 
 rated. The former must be shown to be, not a mere 
 feeling, but a turning away from sin. 
 
 " Tis not enough to say, 
 We're sorry, and repent," etc., 
 
 is a hymn which, like many others, needs to be graven on 
 youthful minds more extensively than modern neglect of 
 such memory lessons seems to allow. 
 
 The sacrificial idea of Christ's atonement is not a very 
 easy one for children to grasp, unless carefully pictured 
 out, because altars and offerings are no longer familiar 
 objects, but its essential element — substitution of the inno- 
 cent for the guilty — may be illustrated in many ways ; and 
 the innocent Saviour should be shown taking our place 
 and suffering in our stead, having fulfilled the " righteous- 
 ness " of which we all have " come short." 
 
 The manner in which the Lord Jesus is " openly showed 
 forth " before the mental eye of childhood is of primary 
 importance. The young mind cannot realize the God who 
 is a Spirit, either in nature, providence, or grace. It is 
 "the only-begotten Son" who has "revealed Him" to 
 mortal understandings. " He that hath seen Me, hath 
 Seen the Father," should be a motto constantly in the 
 
CLASS TEACHING. 105 
 
 teacher's view. Gazing into His character as manifested 
 in His earthly ministry, we learn what God is. 
 
 The Lord Jesns shonld also be presented as the Friend 
 Guide, Companion, and Example of youth. " He will be 
 to ns what He was to His disciples ; we can go to Him in 
 •all our troubles and difficulties ; He will, by His Holy 
 Spirit, counsel, direct, strengthen, and comfort us ; He is 
 always able, always near, and always willing — ' a Friend 
 that sticketh closer than a brother.' " 
 
 Saving faith may be accurately exemplified by the 
 putting of the hand into that of another, trusting Christ 
 for forgiveness, and strength, and guidance. 
 
 Religion should be always presented as a happy and 
 privileged service. Children delight to do anything for 
 those they love, and so the " light and easy yoke " of 
 Christian service should be offered to them. At the same 
 time, the obligations of a true follower of the Redeemer 
 should not be concealed. Self-sacrifice for Christ will not 
 be a burdensome duty to those who have learned to love 
 ■and trust Him, however young they may be. 
 
 Heaven and hell are frequent themes of comment. The 
 former should be pictured to the young as a place, not of 
 enforced rest, but of glorified service and unwearied occu- 
 pation. The late Dr. Southon, who met his death by an 
 accident after the brief but devoted service in the 
 missionary field in South Africa, wrote in his last letter 
 home, " Oh ! if He calls me to help Mullens, and Thompson, 
 and others gone on before, how gladly will I respond, and 
 knock off work here ! " Every pure and innocent enjoy- 
 ment here is to have its counterpart in our heavenly home, 
 only in a fuller and more exalted form. This idea is im- 
 pressively worked out in an American work which attracted 
 considerable notice some years back, entitled " The Gates 
 Ajar ; " while a theologian of much greater eminence, 
 even Luther himself, did not hesitate to exhibit the same 
 view of the celestial world, when, in writing to his little 
 
106 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 son, he tells him of a garden fairer than any on earth, and 
 of playthings so curious and beautiful as to make a child's 
 heart leap for joy. These he promises to little Hans by- 
 and-by, if he is a good boy. 
 
 The New Testament reveals a hell, as well as a heaven ; 
 and in terms sufficiently solemn even when we set aside the 
 mediaeval notions which have incrusted the actual teaching 
 of Scripture. Since the immature minds of children are as 
 yet unable fully to realize the evil of sin, — and, indeed, what 
 finite understanding can do so ? — it seems most judicious 
 to represent the state of f utnre punishment nnder negative 
 rather than positive aspects, as a condition in which sin 
 works out its bitter fruits, and shuts out the soul from 
 God, and gladness, and the companionship of the good, 
 in darkness and banishment. Happily, there is no need to 
 make this awful and mysterious topic a prominent theme 
 of conversation in a Sunday school class. 
 
 Let us add that all Bible truth should be presented in 
 view of the mission and work of the Lord Jesus Christ — 
 in the light that streams from the cross and sheds its 
 radiance over all the ages. 
 
 Adaptation to Different Temperaments. — 
 Throughout his instructions, the teacher must be prepared 
 to meet and to make due provision for those diversities of 
 temperament which occur in every class, even of young 
 children, and which place each individual, so to speak, in 
 a different attitude from the rest, in relation to spiritual 
 truth. The gospel never comes to two persons in precisely 
 the same aspect, and hence, without sacrificing fidelity, 
 there is needed a special adaptation of the gospel to each 
 particular mind and heart. Each " case," as in medical 
 practice, must be studied and dealt with on its own 
 grounds. 
 
 One type of juvenile character is the slow, heavy, and 
 apparently unimpressible ; at the opposite extreme is the 
 lively, volatile, thoughtless, easily affected nature ; and be- 
 
CLASS TEACHING. 107 
 
 tween these poles lie many intermediate zones of disposition. 
 From the resources of the inspired volume, we may draw- 
 instruments of impression and conviction adapted to all 
 shades of character and temperament. The Apostle Paul 
 will furnish an admirable model for imitation. We find him 
 not only varying his modes of presenting Divine truth, 
 but also employing different motives to persuade to re- 
 pentance, faith, and holiness. He appeals now to gratitude 
 and now to fear ; now he exhibits God's authority, " com- 
 manding men everywhere to repent," and now to God's 
 condescending love, "beseeching" the rebellious, through 
 His "ambassadors," to be "reconciled" to Himself. He 
 exhorts to godliness, at one time in view of the example of 
 Christ, at another because of His atoning sacrifice; and 
 again, because of the brevity of life, and the certainty of a 
 judgment to come. Now he entreats his readers to strive 
 to please their Master, and then exhorts them to shun 
 any conduct which would bring reproach on Christ and 
 Christianity. So, they who teach the gospel to the young 
 must seek to find and to touch, by suitable appeals, the 
 unseen springs of thought, feeling, and will. 
 
 Manner in Teaching. — We have adverted in a pre- 
 vious chapter to the importance and influence of the 
 manners of a teacher ; manner in teaching is a part of the 
 same subject, and will need but few additional remarks. 
 
 That a devout and earnest bearing should accompany 
 the delivery of inspired truth, whether in the pulpit, the 
 platform, or the class, every reader will admit. Indeed, 
 if a Bible lesson has been thoughtfully and prayerfully 
 studied, a deep sense of responsibility can hardly be absent, 
 and the outward manner will correspond with the inward 
 feelings. And without such convictions it is as useless as it 
 is culpable to assume earnestness and solemnity of deport- 
 ment ; our insincerity will be detected and despised even 
 by the youngest. Anything, therefore, which approaches 
 a " professional " or artificial mannerism, must be utterly 
 
108 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 repudiated ; the candour and simplicity of childhood recoil 
 from all such unnatural airs. " Be what thou seemest " 
 and "seem what thou art," are precepts never to be 
 forgotten, in or out of school. 
 
 A sense of responsibility, however, may in some cases 
 induce an excessive gravity of manner, tending to repress 
 and repel the innocent liveliness of youth. This is a 
 mistake ; a teacher may be bright and cheerful without 
 indulging in unseemly lightness or frivolity. Indeed, a 
 funereal bearing, if persisted in, will soon disperse a juvenile 
 class, inasmuch as the teacher violates thereby the great 
 principle of sympathy. We must try to be childlike with 
 children. Dulness is an unpardonable fault, for it misre- 
 presents the true cheerfulness of Christian life, and fosters 
 the error — too common, alas ! with old as well as young 
 people — that religion's "ways" are anything but "ways 
 of pleasantness." 
 
 A loving and sympathetic manner, when it is the outcome 
 of like dispositions, is among the strongest and most 
 enduring of the many ties which bind teacher and scholar 
 together. To gain a child's affection is not a difficult task. 
 Love evokes love ; and when obtained, places in the 
 Christian teacher's hands a mighty influence for good, 
 Let it be treasured with unceasing care ; let it be wisely 
 and perseveringly employed ; and as in the past so in the 
 future, and far more abundantly, will the response be heard 
 from thousands of youthful lips, " Where thou goest I will 
 go ; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." 
 
 REFERENCES. 
 
 " Manual," chap. xii. 
 " The Art of Picturing." 3d. 
 
 Rawlings' " Practical Hints for Sunday School Teachers " (B. C. 
 Hare), chaps, viii.-x. 
 
( 109 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CLASS MANAGEMENT. 
 
 A Distinction drawn. — The management of a class of 
 children is something entirely distinct from the work 
 of instruction ; and many teachers, by no means unskilled 
 in the latter art, fail of success through a want of aptitude 
 in the former. We can scarcely take a critical survey of 
 any Sunday school without coming to the conclusion that 
 the authority in many of the classes sadly needs strengthen- 
 ing, while closer observations would probably suggest 
 that skill in government is partly natural and partly 
 acquired. There are some persons who appear to possess 
 an innate faculty of managing children, which in others 
 seems entirely wanting ; gentlemen fail here much more 
 than ladies, womanly tact being far more efficacious than 
 masculine force ; yet, on the whole, few of our schools aro 
 as orderly and well disciplined as they might be. 
 
 Caus6 of Lax Authority. — One of the chief causes 
 of this laxity of government lies on the surface. The 
 authorities of the Sunday school have to depend mainly on 
 the voluntary attendance of the scholars, and they have no 
 power to compel obedience like their co-workers in day 
 schools. Corporeal punishment is felt to be repugnant to 
 the very spirit of a religious institution ; to impose tasks 
 as a penalty for misconduct is equally objectionable ; and 
 the severest infliction at their disposal is suspension or 
 expulsion, either of which may do more harm than good. 
 
110 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 If we add to this the infrequency of the regular 
 engagements as contrasted with the daily attendance at 
 secular schools, we shall cease to wonder that the latter 
 are far in advance in point of discipline. As, however, 
 there are well-ordered Sunday schools and classes, showing 
 that improvement is quite practicable, a short chapter is 
 here devoted to a consideration of the subject. 
 
 Causes of Disorder. — The causes of disorder are 
 numerous and varied. Some are physical, such as impure 
 air, uncomfortable seats, awkward positions during teach- 
 ing, overcrowding of classes, etc. These were referred to 
 in the preceding chapter as obstacles to instruction. Some 
 are mental, such as unsuitable matter or style in the 
 teaching, rendering it unintelligible or uninteresting. 
 Thence arise inattention and restlessness, and the next 
 step is confusion and insubordination. This defect has 
 also been pointed out in a former page. 
 
 Among the chief moral causes of disorder are, laxity 
 in home discipline (or sometimes the opposite extreme, of 
 over-severity) ; the example of other scholars' frolicsome- 
 ness ; love of mischief ; vanity, and a desire to appear 
 conspicuous ; self-will ; obstinacy of temper ; and some- 
 times, though not often with mere children, deliberate 
 refusal to recognize a teacher's authority. 
 
 Of these, the first is one of the hindrances for which 
 neither scholar nor teacher is responsible ; nor can it be 
 dealt with except by seeking to gain an influence over 
 the parents. The second is a too familiar occurrence in 
 Sunday school experience, and one which requires tact 
 rather than punishment. The placing of the members of 
 a class should not be left to the children themselves, 
 unless no ill result follows the arrangement. All " higher" 
 and " lower " seats should be repudiated, and all " taking 
 of places " for correct answers to questions should be re- 
 mitted to the day school. Two persistent little chatter- 
 boxes should be kept separate, and any " ringleader " in 
 
CLASS MANAGEMENT. Ill 
 
 gossip or fidgets be seated next to the teacher, who should 
 decline to give reasons for such classification. 
 
 That volatility and love of fan, graduating into mis- 
 chievous practical jokes, by which so many children are 
 characterized, need gentle and kindly, though resolute, 
 treatment. The injury done to a class by the overflowing 
 animal spirits of one small boy or girl is vastly more 
 serious than the offence committed. The evil must there- 
 fore be suppressed, but not dealt with as if it was a delibe- 
 rate moral offence. In most cases the child requires more 
 occupation ; but if this be not sufficient, he or she should be 
 taken in hand privately, and talked to in a quiet and earnest 
 manner. Generally such children are affectionate, and 
 kind words will " enter in," where a solemn lecture would 
 be forgotten as soon as delivered. 
 
 Principles of Class Government. — The other 
 sources of disorder are of a much more serious kind, and 
 almost every case will need some peculiarity of treatment. 
 TVe can only, therefore, lay down some general principles 
 for a teacher's guidance, it being understood that the 
 government of elder scholars does not fall within the scope 
 of the present work, but will be found treated of in the 
 author's larger manual. 
 
 Subordination Essential. — It is of vital importance 
 that every teacher, young or old, should be supreme in his 
 own class. It is essential to the welfare of the scholars, 
 as well as to his own self-respect and comfort, that it 
 should be so. Appeals to the higher authority of the 
 superintendent are almost invariably recognized as signs 
 of weakness, and increase the evils they are meant to cure. 
 It has been truly observed that if " the virtue of Paganism 
 was strength, the virtue of Christianity is obedience; " and 
 never was the lesson of submission to lawful authority 
 more imperatively demanded than in the present genera- 
 tion. It is incalculably mischievous to allow a class of 
 children, or any one of them, to get the upper hand ; since 
 
112 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 this is to train them in wrong- doing, while the example 
 set is only too contagious. 
 
 Firmness of Will. — Let every reader therefore resolve 
 to have order and obedience at any legitimate cost. It is 
 certainly possible ; let him resolve to realize it. And to do 
 this, it is not needful to assume a despotic air, or sit down 
 with an " I-am-not-to-be-trifled-with " look of defiance. 
 The firm hand should be gloved with velvet. Having first 
 sought to gain the sympathy of his little flock, he should 
 be ready to check the first signs of wandering and self- 
 will. They should be given to understand that obedience 
 is the condition of their remaining in the class, and if the 
 instruction is made so interesting that attendance is felt 
 to be a privilege, a stronger motive to orderly conduct will 
 seldom be required. 
 
 Prompt Interference. — While it is sometimes wise 
 to shut the eyes to effusions of juvenile fun, provided the 
 teaching is not obstructed, yet no act of wilful insubor- 
 dination should be passed over. Promptly and firmly, 
 though gently, the offender should be checked, and nothing 
 else be proceeded with until obedience has been rendered. 
 A boy, for example, changes his seat, and takes a place 
 which he knows he has no business to occupy. The 
 teacher requires him to return. He refuses ; or, perhaps, 
 complies for an instant, and then repeats the offence. 
 What is the teacher to do ? Certainly not to yield, even 
 though the offence be again repeated, in the hope of eluding 
 him or tiring him out. The scholar must be made to obey, 
 or be sent out of the class. And why ? Not because it 
 matters much where a child sits, but it matters everything 
 whether teacher or pupil rules. So with such frequent 
 tricks as pushing or pommelling other scholars, snatching 
 caps or books, upsetting forms, passing written notes from 
 hand to hand, and the more trivial fault of surreptitiously 
 eating cakes or sweetmeats during teaching. All these 
 sources of disturbance must be noted and stopped, with 
 
CLASS MANAGEMENT. 113 
 
 vigilant eye and unfaltering hand, the alternative offered 
 simply being, " Yon must desist from these practices, or 
 quit the class." The maxim that we should " check the 
 beginnings of evil," forcibly applies to order and discipline 
 among the young. Much trouble may be prevented by 
 vigilance, but many teachers appear to be afflicted with 
 chronic defects of vision. They either do not see, , or, 
 "seeing, they do not perceive," the rising symptoms of 
 disorder which to a bystander are patent enough ; and 
 only wake to a full consciousness of their existence when 
 a continuance of instruction is no longer possible for 
 the hurly-burly. A skilful teacher takes care to see and 
 know everything that occurs in his class, though he 
 may not take notice of all that he perceives. 
 
 Isolate the Offender. — An important principle in 
 cases of actual insubordination is to deal with the offender 
 alone, and therefore removed from the stimulus to resist- 
 ance which the presence of other children affords. A 
 letter to those who can read it, or for younger scholars 
 a quiet conversation, will generally accomplish far more 
 than any public reproof, and is always preferable, provided 
 that the offence is not wholly passed over at the time it is 
 committed. Even if reproofs are given in secret the rest 
 of the class must not be allowed to suppose that the teacher 
 did not notice the fault. 
 
 " Rules of the Class." — It is well to have a few well- 
 known, though unwritten, " rules " to which the teacher 
 can refer in place of a mere utterance of his own will and 
 pleasure. " Charlie, you know it is against the rules of our 
 class to snatch things from one another. Give Harry his 
 cap, and don't let us see you behave so rudely another 
 time." So also there should be efforts to create a sort of 
 class patriotism — a general desire to maintain a good re- 
 putation in the school. Thus, " I was sorry to see some of 
 you so restless and fidgety during prayer. Tou reminded 
 me of some water-birds, who are always standing first on 
 
 i 
 
114 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 one leg and then on the other; and very awkward it 
 looks. I am afraid Mr. Jones will call us ' the awkward 
 class.' But it is not right to act so when we are speaking 
 to God in prayer." 
 
 Motives to Obedience. — But the most powerful 
 motive to obedience is undoubtedly personal attachment. 
 When we have found the key to a child's heart the battle 
 of authority is more than half won. Faults will be com- 
 mitted, ill tempers appear, and restlessness break forth 
 on warm afternoons ; children will be troublesome, play- 
 ful, mischievous ; but if they truly love and respect tha 
 teacher, there will be no wilful resistance to his authority. 
 Physical Force. — Our readers will infer from what 
 has been advanced that we condemn, almost wholly, the 
 use of physical force in the Sunday school. It may be 
 sometimes needful to take an obstinate child by the arm 
 and place him or her in the place assigned. But the 
 teacher must be " no striker." Boxing and slapping are 
 as mischievous as they are unseemly, and a wrestling- 
 match, however ignominiously it may end for the pupil, is 
 scarcely less so to his conqueror, whose ruffled temper and 
 excited countenance will assuredly lower him in the esteem 
 of the spectators, young as well as old. In those rare and 
 extreme cases where the teacher's best efforts to win the 
 child have failed, an appeal to the superintendent becomes 
 inevitable. It should be made, however, not in the humi- 
 liating tones which are sometimes thoughtlessly used, " I 
 have brought you this scholar, for I can do nothing with 
 him," and so forth ; but rather, " This scholar refuses to 
 abide by the rules of the class ; I cannot consent to let her 
 remain with me any longer, unless her conduct is com- 
 pletely changed." It is to be hoped that this "last 
 resource " will seldom be reached in the experience of 
 those who read these pages. 
 
 Summary. — To conclude — the discipline of a Sunday 
 school class should be founded on sincere affection and 
 
CLASS MANAGEMENT. 115 
 
 kindly interest, tempered by a wise and judicious firmness. 
 There is a nappy medium between severity and laxity, 
 and this the ruler of children must seek to maintain. A 
 humble recognition of the Divine forbearance, and the 
 "gentleness " that "makes great," will enable a Christian 
 teacher to bear with the frailties and follies of youth ; to 
 control the rising indignation and suppress the angry- 
 word, when his spirit is vexed by waywardness or obstinacy ; 
 to check with mild dignity the impertinent word or ges- 
 ture; and so to show his young disciples that he has 
 himself graduated in the school of Christ. 
 
 REFEKENCES. 
 
 " Manual," chap. xiii. 
 
 " Text-Book," sect, xxvii. 
 
 Rawlings' " Practical Hints," chaps, ii.-vi 
 
116 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HELPS AND HINDRANCES — ENCOURAGEMENTS — CONCLUDING 
 
 HINTS. 
 
 Our Advantages. — Half a century, or even a generation, 
 ago, a chapter devoted to a consideration of the " Helps " 
 provided for Sunday school teachers would have been a 
 very short one indeed. Happily, this is no longer the case. 
 Ample assistance is available, and much of it is placed 
 within reach of the poorest of workers in the Sunday 
 school field. Books, periodicals, pamphlets, note3, lesson- 
 papers, and other written aids to efficiency, abound ; while 
 oral help, in the form of lectures, addresses, specimen 
 lessons, and classes, may be had for the seeking. In fact, 
 there is far greater need of a more general desire to learn, 
 than of means for supplying the want where it is felt. 
 Our references, therefore, will be selective rather than 
 comprehensive. 
 
 Biblical Helps. — To begin, then, with boohs. As 
 already stated, the Bible and Concordance stand first, 
 the latter being but a classification of the former. A good 
 Bible, with large clear type, references, and maps, is most 
 desirable ; and among the vast variety offered, the Cam- 
 bridge " Teacher's Bibles," prepared by the Queen's 
 Printers, and those issued by the University of Oxford' 
 and by Messrs. Bagster, stand in the foremost rank for 
 condensed excellence. They are also published at prices 
 
HELPS AND HINDRANCES, ETC. 117 
 
 to suit all teachers, as a reference to the advertising 
 columns of the Sunday School Chronicle will show. 
 
 An interleaved copy of the Bible may be made of great 
 value by an industrious teacher, as it enables him to enter 
 his own notes and comments opposite to any given passage. 
 Second-hand copies may be had at very low prices. Among 
 Concordances, we have used for years an old edition of 
 " Cruden," unabridged. " Condensed " Concordances are 
 a delusion. You want to know all the passages on a par- 
 ticular topic, not an arbitrary selection of them. Dr. 
 Robert Young's "Analytical Concordance" is well worth the 
 price asked for it — and far more, as it gives the Hebrew 
 and Greek original of every word in the English version. 
 
 The " Scripture Text-Book " and " Scripture Treasury," 
 published by the Dublin Tract Society, are cheap and use- 
 ful classifications of Bible topics, both doctrinal and ma- 
 terial. We have found them of much practical assistance. 
 
 To assist in the understanding of Holy Scripture, a 
 good Cyclopaedia is very useful, but not indispensable. 
 Dr. Smith's is the most recent and scholarly ; but Kitto's, 
 Eadie's, Fairbairn's, and others have their peculiar excel- 
 lences. The Cambridge " Companion " and the Oxford 
 " Helps," often bound up with the " Teacher's Bibles," 
 are practically cyclopaedias of much worth. The following 
 also can be recommended : — 
 
 For Geography and physical features of Bible 
 lands : Conder's " Primer of Bible Geography " (Sunday 
 School Union), 2s. 6d. "Palestine," by Dr. A. Henderson 
 (T. & T. Clark), 2s. 6d. Conder's "Handbook to the 
 Bible" (Longmans), 7s. 6d. "The Fifth Gospel" 
 (Palestine), by Otts (Oliphant), 5s. 
 
 For Eastern manners and customs there are Dr. Tris- 
 tram's "Eastern Customs in Bible Lands " (Hodder), Mac- 
 kie's "Bible Manners and Customs" (A. and C. Black). The 
 late Dr. Thomson's " Land and the Book " is well known ; 
 
118 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 and, though very discursive, contains a vast number of 
 illustrations of Scripture, drawn from modern Eastern 
 life. The price is 7s. 6d. in cloth. 
 
 On the botany and zoology of Palestine, there are 
 " Trees and Plants of the Bible," by W. H. Groser ; 
 " Animals of the Bible," by H. Chichester Hart (R.T.S., 
 " By-paths " Series), each 35. ; Canon Tristram's " Natural 
 History of the Bible," 7s. 6d. 
 
 The "Biblical Treasury," originally issued by the 
 Sunday School Union as a monthly serial, has lately been 
 revised, and republished in a condensed form at two 
 shillings per volume. This work is devoted to Biblical 
 illustration in all its departments, critical, expository, 
 topographical, social, historical, and incidental, and has 
 proved a storehouse of useful material to many a teacher 
 and preacher. There are numerous engravings. 
 
 The question of " the best Commentary " is often a 
 perplexing one to young Christian students, and the field 
 is so wide that no two counsellors would give precisely the 
 same advice. Most teachers have some commentary or 
 other in their home library, often of not very recent date. 
 Yet there is no reason why seventeenth or eighteenth 
 century commentaries should be discarded. Pool, Trapp, 
 Patrick, Henry, Scott, Adam Clarke, though most of them 
 wrote in days when Biblical criticism was but in its 
 infancy, and Oriental discovery had scarcely begun, were 
 able and scholarly students of the Word ; and for forcible 
 and practical expositions of Divine truth have never 
 been surpassed. Nor, in these hurrying times, are we 
 likely to approach them in excellence. To our own 
 mind, Matthew Henry is still the prince of expositors, 
 and no one can read what he has written on a given 
 passage without being the better prepared to appreciate 
 its spiritual bearings and to apply it to life and character. ' 
 Scott is much less lively, but always sensible and judicious;. 
 Clarke, learned ; Pool, ingenious ; and Trapp, quaint. 
 
HELPS AND HINDRANCES, ETC. 119 
 
 Since the first edition of the present work was issued 
 a flood of valuable help in the way of commentaries, 
 large and small, has been poured forth for the benefit of 
 Sunday School teachers and other students of Scripture. 
 
 The following is a brief selection : — 
 
 Bishop Ellicott's "Commentary for Schools" (Cassell), 
 " Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges " (Cambridge 
 University Press). These are perhaps the simplest and 
 cheapest, considering that a volume is, as a rule, devoted 
 to each book of Scripture. Messrs. T. and T. Clark 
 issue, among their " Handbooks for Bible Classes," 
 several small and excellent commentaries on various 
 books of the Old and New Testament. To these we may 
 add, " Introduction to the Old Testament," by Dr. Wright, 
 2s. 6d. ; " Introduction to the New Testament," by Dr. 
 Marcus Dods, 2s. 6d. (Hodder) ; on Joshua to 1 Samuel, 
 " Joshua and his Successors," by the present writer, 
 2 vols., 3s. ; on the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon, 
 "The First Three Kings of Israel," by Rev. R. Tuck, 
 2 vols., 3.§. ; on the succeeding history to the Captivity, 
 Dr. S. G-. Green's " Kingdoms of Israel and Judah," 
 2 vols., 3s. For the Gospels and Acts, Mr. Eugene Stock's 
 admirable " Notes " (3 vols, in all) are among the best 
 condensed helps for teachers yet issued. 
 
 Among works on the Sacred Writings and their study 
 may be mentioned " The Bible the Sunday School Text- 
 book," by Rev. A. Holborn, Is. 6d. (S.S.U.), Professor 
 Paterson Smyth's "How we got our Bible" (Is.), and 
 "The Old Documents and the New Bible" (2s. 6d.), 
 which are cheap and most interesting ; also Girdlestone's 
 "How to Study the English Bible," Is. (R.T.S.) ; "The 
 Study of the Bible," by Professor Findlay, 6d. (Kelly); 
 "The Written Word," by Dr. S. G. Green, 2s. 6d. (S.S.U.) 
 
 There are two series of valuable little handbooks 
 issued by the Christian Knowledge Society, at 2s. each ; 
 the one on "Ancient History illustrated by the Monuments " 
 
120 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 of Assyria, Egypt, Greece, and Persia respectively, the 
 other on the " Heathen World and St. Paul." Both sets 
 are full of information, throwing light on Scripture 
 history and Biblical allusions. The same remark may 
 be applied to the "Bible Handbooks" (2s. 6d), and 
 " Bible Primers" (Is.), published by Messrs. T. and T. 
 Clark, and to the " By-paths of Bible Knowledge" Series 
 issued by the Religious Tract Society. 
 
 Periodicals. — Periodical literature for Sunday school 
 teachers may be described, with but little exaggeration, as 
 the product of the Sunday School Union and its younger 
 contemporaries. School organization led to a demand for 
 school literature, and an effort to supply it soon followed. 
 Now papers and magazines for the assistance of teachers 
 are happily both cheap, abundant, and, what is of more 
 importance, exhibit marked and varied excellences. A 
 very few pence weekly will secure the best ; and in these 
 the results of judicious gleaning from more expensive and 
 permanent publications are provided, more or less ready 
 for use. To mention only two or three. For one penny per 
 week the Sunday School Chronicle, with its varied stores of 
 Biblical and educational papers, lesson helps of all kinds, 
 and intelligence, may be obtained through any bookseller ; 
 while for threepence per month the Notes on the Lessons 
 and the Sunday School Teacher are also to be had. Nor is 
 it a wise economy, but, on the contrary, a foolish parsimony, 
 or still more culpable indifference, for a young worker to 
 ignore the printed helps from which he might learn so much. 
 
 Only let one rule be steadily borne in mind. Whatever 
 books or periodicals we consult, nothing can till the place 
 of earnest, individual study of the lesson from week to 
 week. Balusters are very useful to rest the hand upon as 
 guides in descending a staircase, but riding on balusters is 
 a dangerous experiment. Some young teachers " ride on " 
 printed helps ; who can wonder that they come heavily to 
 the ground as a consequence of such misuse ? 
 
HELPS AND HINDRANCES, ETC. 121 
 
 Pictures — a Suggestion. — Most of the above-men- 
 tioned works are embellished with pictorial illustrations, 
 as auxiliaries to verbal description, and exemplify the mar- 
 vellous progress of the engraver's art during the past 
 quarter of a century. But still further use may be made 
 of the same class of helps by a teacher whose " eyes," like 
 " the wise man's," " are in his head." The constantly 
 widening intercourse of Western nations with the East, 
 and the increased interest taken in all manners connected 
 with Palestine and the surrounding kingdoms, whether 
 ancient or modern, result in the introduction of woodcuts, 
 topographical, archaeological, and scientific, illustrative of 
 sacred history, into periodicals of a purely secular class. 
 These should be made available for Sunday school purposes. 
 Collected and preserved, they may be pasted into scrap- 
 books of convenient size, and if the texts which they bear 
 upon are written below them, an Illustrated Bible of a 
 peculiarly interesting and instructive character may easily 
 be compiled. Such a book occasionally introduced into the 
 class, or opened and commented on during a social evening, 
 would prove "a thing of beauty and a joy for ever." 
 
 A Teacher's Museum. — The suggestion is not a new 
 or original one, but a hint has been thrown out which 
 might be made more fruitful than at first sight appears. 
 It is that each Sunday school teacher should try to form a 
 little "Biblical Museum" of his own. "What would it 
 contain?" and "How could objects be procured?" are 
 questions which would naturally be asked in reply. To 
 this it might be rejoined, that the products of the East 
 are continually making their way into English markets ; 
 and, moreover, that many of the plants named in Scripture 
 grow wild in this country or are cultivated in gardens. 
 Suppose, for example, that the Sunday lesson is on the 
 "Visit of the Wise Men to the Infant Saviour;" how 
 much it would interest a class of children to see and 
 handle a piece of " frankincense " or a sprig of " myrrh ! ' : 
 
122 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 Yet it would not be difficult to procure specimens of both 
 of these. So if the story of " Esau and Jacob " be the 
 subject, a few real lentils would give point and interest to 
 the lesson. In like manner the history of " Joseph in 
 Egypt " may be illustrated by a real specimen of Egyptian 
 wheat — a product frequently seen in this country. And it 
 is surprising how many objects of interest will turn up 
 when once we set ourselves to seek for them. 
 
 Classes. — Glasses for the instruction of Sunday school 
 teachers in the matter or methods of their work are the 
 growth of the last thirty or thirty-five years. Of these 
 "Preparation" classes are the oldest, and "Normal" or 
 "Introductory " classes the most recent, while "Training" 
 classes occupy an intermediate place. It is well that the 
 reader should understand what these terms represent* 
 A " Preparation " class is one in which teachers meet 
 together for mutual study of a given passage of Scripture 
 — generally one of the next Sunday's lessons. In the 
 " Training " class, lectures and specimen lessons are 
 given for the purpose of showing how to teach a class of 
 Sunday scholars. A " Normal" class is designed, primarily, 
 to train those who intend to become teachers for the work 
 to which they are looking forward, giving them informa- 
 tion on what to teach as well as how to teach it. Such 
 classes are held in different parts of London and the pro- 
 vinces, either independently or under the auspices of the 
 Sunday School Union, during the winter months ; and our 
 readers are earnestly recommended to avail themselves of 
 such help whenever they find it within their reach. The 
 course of study will be found to coincide, more or less 
 closely, with the subjects contained in the present little 
 volume, and the other issues of the series, while mutual 
 study will afford both pleasure and encouragement. 
 
 Home Visitation and Personal Intercourse. — 
 Reference has been made in an earlier chapter to the value 
 and importance of personal intercourse between teacher 
 
HELPS AND HINDRANCES. ETC. 123 
 
 and scholar, as a means of gaining both insight into cha- 
 racter and influence over conduct. Home Yisitation was 
 specified ; but this is only one form, though perhaps the 
 chief, in which contact may be secured. A knowledge of 
 each scholar in the sabbath class will soon su^o-est modes 
 
 DO 
 
 of friendly interchange and individual help ; and this 
 again will indicate various directions where united asso- 
 ciation may prove pleasurable and beneficial. 
 
 To take a few examples. Two or three home visits, or 
 conversations on the road to or from school, will not only 
 bring to light details of daily occupation, but also disclose 
 a boy's or girl's particular tastes and aspirations : these 
 may tend towards mechanics, chemistry, or natural 
 history ; boating, cricket, tennis, or chess-playing ; litera- 
 ture, elocution, or music. Here at once a field opens 
 for kind interest and practical assistance. The loan of a 
 book, pamphlet, magazine, or musical composition; the 
 gift or exhibition of specimens; the communication of new 
 facts gleaned from time to time by observant sympathy ; 
 and even the mere inquiry about progress made, or the 
 encouraging commendation of earnest efforts to excel — 
 such acts, while they broaden the teacher's comprehension 
 of his pupils' characters and habits, furnish him with new 
 claims on their respect and new ties to bind their affections 
 to himself. 
 
 Where a teacher can not only manifest sympathy for, 
 but personally join in, his scholars' amusements, whether 
 indoors or out, like benefits will be conferred on all con- 
 cerned. The presence of an elder will check irregularities, 
 whether of temper or outward wrong-doing ; while it will 
 silently but not less powerfully convince light-hearted 
 children that it is not only possible to be merry and wise, 
 but that the mirth which is dissociated from folly and 
 irreligion is the heartiest and most genuine of all. We 
 are not unmindful of the fact that many young teachers 
 are unable to show hospitality to their sabbath pupils, 
 
124 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 and where this is the case individual interviews must 
 suffice. But the idea that young folks require elaborate 
 entertainment is quite erroneous, and should never stand 
 in the way of an invitation when it can he given. "Very 
 lew teachers have resources so limited as to be unequal to 
 the ensuring of an evening's enjoyment to half a dozen 
 boys or girls. The " Illustrated Bible " above recom- 
 mended would of itself be a source of lively interest on 
 such an occasion. 
 
 Co-operation. — In this, as in other efforts for the 
 benefit of his own class, a teacher may often be guided 
 and assisted by the co-operation of one or more fellow- 
 workers ; while there are some in which the school com- 
 mittee or officers may deem it advisable to secure the 
 action of the whole body of teachers. It is not wise to 
 work in secret, but rather freely to interchange ideas and 
 suggestions with our associates. It is well to know what 
 has been tried already, and what is, or seems to be, new 
 and original; only thus can we hope to avoid repeating 
 the mistakes and incurring the failures of our predecessors. 
 And it is not only an error, but a fault, to lose the oppor- 
 tunity of consulting those who are more skilful and ex- 
 perienced than ourselves. 
 
 Hindrances. — Having dwelt thus upon the manifold 
 helps placed within the reach of a young Sunday school 
 worker of the present generation, we should be wanting 
 in candour did we suppress or pass over the unquestion- 
 able truth that he must also be prepared to encounter 
 Hindrances in his chosen field of labour. We would em- 
 phasize the last word. Sunday school teaching, like all 
 other teaching that is worth the name, is a labour — a toil, 
 not a pastime or a recreation. To engage in it with the 
 idea of treading a flowery path, or winning admiration or 
 applause, or gratifying taste by cultivating a sort of 
 religious fine art, is as delusive as it is culpable. Upon 
 every enterprise undertaken for the glory of God and the 
 
HELPS AND HINDRANCES, ETC. 125- 
 
 extension of His kingdom on earth., the stamp of the cross 
 is deeply impressed; and there are seasons in the ex- 
 perience of every true labourer when " the burden and 
 heat of the day " weigh down both body and mind; when 
 the flesh grows weary, and the heart is sick and sad; 
 when the confession is wrung from the lips, "I have 
 laboured in vain, and spent my strength for nought." 
 And although the hindrances are fewer, and the toil is 
 lighter, when our sphere is among the young and im- 
 pressible, instead of the old and hardened, yet a few weeks 
 of practised experience will suffice to prove that even here 
 "there are many adversaries." 
 
 Children's Faults. — The faults and sins of early life 
 — the volatility, the thoughtlessness, the self-will and 
 impatience of control, the untruthfulness, the weakness of 
 moral and spiritual perception, and so on — constitute a 
 class of obstacles which every faithful educator must 
 resolutely face, and with which he should, in dependence 
 on Divine aid, prepare to grapple. Let him never forget 
 that there is a corrective as well as a directive element in 
 his work, and he must prepare to be a physician as well 
 as a guide. The human heart, whether in early or in later 
 stages, turns away from God, and neither responds to His 
 claims, nor acknowledges His authority. The will of self, 
 not the will of God, is the law of unregenerated humanity, 
 and from this root of self-will spring the bitter fruits of 
 evil tempers and dispositions — only too conspicuous even 
 in childhood's sunny morning. 
 
 In seeking to rectify what is thus wrong and mis- 
 chievous, conflict and opposition must needs arise. Hence 
 the argument for commencing the work of religious train- 
 ing as. early as possible. The shallow plea that children 
 " should not be biased " is met by the obvious fact that 
 they are biased already, and that towards evil, not good. 
 To supplant that bias by a mightier tendency is a work 
 which cannot be begun too soon. 
 
126 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 Moral Hindrances. — To those faults, so common in 
 Sunday schools which tend to disorder and anarchy in 
 the class, such as restlessness, volatility, and impatience of 
 control, reference has been made in the preceding chapter. 
 There are others, however, which often startle, and as 
 often discourage, the pious and devoted teacher of the 
 young ; and some of these it may "be well briefly to consider. 
 
 At the close of Chapter VI. some remarks were offered 
 on types of natural temperament as affecting the attitude 
 of the mind and heart towards the claims of the gospel, 
 and the consequent necessity for the specific treatment of 
 each individual case. We have now to observe that almost 
 every type of moral character presents some peculiar hin- 
 drance (though varying widely in degree) to the reception 
 and acknowledgment of the Divine claim to obedience. 
 It is obviously so with the heavy, stolid, apparently unim- 
 pressionable temperament on which sacred truth falls like 
 good seed on the beaten path. But it is so, too, though 
 less obviously , with the susceptible/lively, emotional nature ; 
 for here impressions, though easily made, are as easily 
 effaced, like footprints on a sandy shore, which the first 
 wave blots out as though they had never been. Easily 
 influenced for good means easily influenced for evil. The 
 former may harden into obstinate indifference, the latter 
 may fly off into utter thoughtlessness of mind and fickle- 
 ness of character. 
 
 Slow Scholars. — In dealing with the first class, much 
 patience and gentleness are demanded. The intellectually 
 slow need waking up from their torpor, as hibernating 
 animals are aroused in springtime by the warmth and 
 brightness of sunshine. They need lively instruction and 
 sympathetic kindliness, so that they may first perceive 
 and then admire the beauty of religion. The morally slow 
 must not be driven towards Christ — indeed, they cannot — 
 but drawn towards Him, by presenting His graciousness 
 and loving compassion towards children. 
 
HELPS AND HINDRANCES, ETC. 127 
 
 Quick Scholars. — As to the second class, the quick 
 and volatile pupils, we must distinguish between the im- 
 pressible, whose emotions are as changeful and unstable 
 as the clouds, and the sensitive and timid, who seem to 
 lack fibre and firmness. The former need a strong hand, 
 and to be taught even in early years the solemnity of life, 
 the authority of law, and the reality of things unseen. 
 They must see that we are in earnest, that we feel strongly, 
 and that, while sympathizing sincerely in all their sunny, 
 light-hearted glee, we are supremely anxious that they 
 should even now yield to Christ's claims on their love 
 and obedience. They must learn that indifference to those 
 claims, however due to mere thoughtlessness and frivolity, 
 is a sin in God's sight, and a grief and disappointment to 
 us ; and this should be pointed out both privately and in 
 the more public instructions of the Lord's day. 
 
 Sensitive Children. — Sensitive and timid children 
 need strengthening and encouraging, lest they should grow 
 up weakly and stunted in character. They require " the 
 wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ " as their 
 spiritual food, rather than emotional and exciting hymns, 
 and such like, in order that they may not shrink back 
 from trusting and confessing Him. 
 
 Conceit. — Pride and unbelief as motives for resisting 
 the gospel are not sins of childhood, but belong to a later 
 stage. Nevertheless, vanity and conceit are sometimes 
 manifest enough in little people, and cannot but be a 
 hindrance to the teacher's work. They should be kindly 
 but pointedly dealt with, n^t by scolding or denunciation, 
 much less by satire or ridicule, but indirectly, by pointing 
 out the folly and sin of being proud of what we owe to 
 the labour or the love of others, or to the undeserved mercy 
 of our Father in heaven. 
 
 Untruthfulness is one of the darkest of juvenile faults. 
 "Children," says one writer, "are habitual liars," — too 
 sweeping an assertion, yet lamentably approaching the 
 
128 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 actual fact, as most schoolmasters and schoolmistresses 
 could testify. Yet this discreditable tendency is compara- 
 tively seldom due to either malice or a preference for false- 
 hoods. There is usually some inducement, more or less 
 influential, to deviate from the truth, and the moral 
 strength to resist the temptation is wanting. Such is the 
 simple history of most juvenile falsehoods. Sunday school 
 teachers must deal, more frequently and more severely 
 than they have been accustomed to do, with this crying 
 evil, which infests the family and the workshop as well as 
 the school, and permeates all classes of society. English- 
 men are seemingly losing sight of the good old-fashioned 
 maxim that a lie is a mean, contemptible, inexcusable 
 thins: ; and the sooner our children are re-educated in that 
 sound doctrine the better for them and for the nation to 
 which they belong. There are texts and illustrations 
 enough in Scripture to point our instructions on this head, 
 and the utter incompatibility of falsehood and godliness 
 should be exhibited, not once or at rare intervals, but 
 frequently, and with all the force of language which the 
 teacher can command. 
 
 External Hindrances. — There are other hindrances 
 to the work of the Sunday school for which the children 
 themselves are in a less degree or not at all responsible. 
 For example, Irregularity of attendance, and consequent 
 diminution of the opportunities of instruction ; frequent 
 change of residence; poverty, and its social temptations ; 
 unfavourable domestic conditions, whether mere formal reli- 
 gion, indifference, or hostility on the part of the parents ; 
 to which may be added, though more applicable to a 
 so'mewhat later stage, improper companionship and impure 
 literature. Most of these obstacles can be dealt with only 
 by indirect means, such as are employed to a greater or less 
 extent in connection with most of our Sunday schools, and 
 which scarcely lie within the province of the individual 
 teacher. But the latter may exert a powerful and salutary 
 
HELrS AND HINDRANCES, ETC. 129 
 
 influence over the reading and the companions of his 
 scholars, if he will but take the trouble to learn what they 
 really are, remembering that these evils can be remedied 
 only by replacing them by something better of the same 
 kind. Give the children better reading, introduce them to 
 other and more suitable companions, and we may hope 
 that a blessing will attend our efforts to supplant the evil 
 by the good. In thousands of instances Bunyan's parable 
 of the burning fire is reversed in Sunday school experience. 
 The oil of Divine truth is dropped upon the flame ; but the 
 fire is quenched, or at least suppressed, by the foul waters 
 which books, periodicals, and street associations are con- 
 tinually pouring into it. "We must supply an antidote, and 
 seek to correct the mental and moral appetite. 
 
 Encouragements of the Sunday School Worker. 
 — No doubt it would be possible to add to the list of 
 Sunday school hindrances ; but even with such additions 
 the fact would still remain indisputable that work for 
 God among the young is the most hopeful and encouraging 
 of all spheres of religious effort into which His Church 
 has been called. 
 
 Impressibility of Childhood. — Inferior only to 
 parental education, it offers the greatest advantages with 
 the fewest drawbacks. Under whatever figure we may 
 view Christian instruction and training, its vantage-ground 
 must be found in child -culture. Are we builders of cha- 
 racter ? The materials are close at hand, and not yet 
 mutilated by the rude touch of vice or crime. Are we 
 soul-gardeners ? The ground is almost clear of weeds, and 
 the saplings may be bent to our will. Is our art compar- 
 able to that of the potter, the sculptor, or the painter ? 
 The plastic clay is responsive to our fingers, the marble is 
 fresh from the quarry, the canvas is yet undisfigured by 
 other hands. Are we musicians ? Though the harp be 
 unstrung, we have a key by which it may be tuned to the 
 undying harmonies of truth and righteousness. 
 
130 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 Again, in childhood the affections guide the whole 
 nature ; they are the rudder which controls the course of 
 thought and will. Those affections it is not difficult to 
 gain ; the love and trust of a child are soon yielded to kind- 
 ness and sympathy, and the citadel of character is won. 
 
 Parental Sympathy. — The parents, too, of our 
 scholars, in the large majority of cases, cherish a degree of 
 respect for us and of appreciation of our work and its 
 objects, which secures us a welcome, more or less cordial, 
 whenever we visit their abodes, and, indirectly, a certain 
 amount of co-operation and assistance. Very rarely indeed 
 will a father or mother feel anything but goodwill towards 
 the friend who takes so kindly an interest in Tom or 
 Harry, Emma or Mary Jane; and the school, with its 
 executive, comes in for a share of esteem, if not of grateful 
 recognition. The lower aspects of Sunday school effort 
 are appreciated even where there is no true understanding 
 of the higher. 
 
 Public Sentiment. — Public opinion is also in favour 
 of the enterprise. Its philanthropic and educational influ- 
 ence is admitted and approved, even if its spirituality is 
 regarded by only a comparative few. We may not place 
 this among our highest sources of encouragement, yet it is 
 a factor not to be overlooked. 
 
 Benefit to the Teacher. — Of the good accomplished 
 through the instrumentality of Sunday schools, the benefits 
 conferred upon the teachers themselves form no small or 
 unimportant part. The well-worn quotation — 
 
 " In teaching others we ourselves are taught,'* 
 
 represents very imperfectly the reflex influences of this 
 work. It is most true that in imparting information of 
 any kind the facts are impressed upon the mind of the 
 giver as much as or more than on that of the receiver. 
 But the necessity of engaging in more or less systematic 
 study of Holy Scripture, and of books bearing on Biblical 
 
HELPS AND HINDRANCES, ETC. 131 
 
 topics, is an inestimable blessing to a young Christian. 
 Every one knows the advantage of reading with a definite 
 object and on a definite plan, in place of mere discursive 
 perusal of different books. This a good lesson series of 
 Bible subjects effectually supplies. Then, also, the know- 
 ledge acquired has to be arranged and adapted, the mental 
 faculties of judgment and reflection are trained, as esti- 
 mating the relations of one truth to another, and their 
 application to daily life and conduct. Observation is 
 demanded for the gathering of illustrations of sacred doc- 
 trine, and the imagination is exercised upon those analogies 
 of natural and revealed truth which are so attractive and 
 enlightening to young and opening minds. 
 
 Beyond and above these intellectual benefits, the 
 teacher's sympathies are both broadened and softened by 
 contact with childhood and youth ; while, best of all, his 
 own spiritual life can hardly fail to be stimulated and 
 strengthened by seeking to lead others to the Fount of 
 all blessedness. Such considerations should elevate our 
 estimate of the great and glorious enterprise in which we 
 are permitted to bear a part, and encourage us to a fuller 
 consecration to our ministry. 
 
 Motives to Consecration. — Many and powerful are 
 the motives which urge us to such self-devotion. On all 
 hands it is admitted by statesmen, philanthropists, and 
 educators, that the Sunday school was never so needful to 
 the well-being of our country, or so pressing in its claims 
 upon the sanctified talent of Christ's disciples, than in the 
 present age. The soil is rich in moral and spiritual pos- 
 sibilities, as yet unrealized. Young people flock into our 
 Sunday schools to an extent which far more than keeps 
 pace with the increase of population. There is no need to 
 cry " More scholars," but the cry for " more teachers who 
 are efficient instructors as well as pious Christians," grows 
 more urgent and more plaintive every year. We gain the 
 children, but do we keep them ? Do we store their under- 
 
132 THE YOUNG TEACHER. 
 
 standings with, divine truth in so intelligent and winning 
 a manner as to bind them by the golden cords of respect 
 and affection to ns and to our schools ? The fields are 
 white unto harvest, but in comparison with their needs 
 the labourers are but few. 
 
 And are these not motives which should animate every 
 young teacher to " attempt great things for God" ? He 
 will not lack companions in this hallowed toil. The sun 
 never sets on the Sunday school teacher's work , when 
 the voice of instruction is silent, thousands and tens of 
 thousands of busy minds and fervent hearts are studying, 
 planning, praying, on behalf of the young ones for whom 
 the Saviour died. But there is a higher and nobler fellow- 
 ship even than this. Every work for God is a work with 
 God. Our Master has not left us alone. It is His to stand 
 by our side in every toil and conflict for His cause and 
 kingdom ; His to quicken the intellect and cheer the 
 heart ; His to hold us as we stand, and to raise us when 
 we fall ; His to comfort us in our failures and to show us 
 the secret of our successes ; His to give us patience and 
 meekness towards the weak and wayward, the ignorant 
 and unruly ; His to set before us His own glorious ex- 
 ample, to bestow present encouragements, and to lift our 
 weary eyes to the full recompense of reward. Such 
 rewards, both present and future, His infinite merit has 
 purchased for the lowliest worker in His cause. " When 
 Mary anointed our Lord's feet, the act was transient ; it 
 was done ' for His burial ; ' the holy feet which she anointed 
 ceased soon after to walk on earth. Tet He declared that 
 ' wheresoever His gospel was preached in the whole world,' 
 that act should also be ' told as a memorial of her.' So' 
 has it ever been with what has been given to God, albeit 
 blindly and erringly. While all other things have perished, 
 this has endured." 
 
 Not less fragrant in His esteem, not less permanent in 
 their issues, are the humble deeds wrought for Him in the 
 
HELPS AND HINDRANCES, ETC. 133 
 
 obscurity of many a Sunday school class ; not less gracious 
 His approval, not less glorious their reward. 
 
 Lay no faltering hand, young Christian, to this great 
 enterprise ; yield to it no divided heart. Consecrate all 
 your powers unreservedly to it, or reverently seek some 
 more congenial sphere of labour. Yet ask again, on bended 
 knees, " Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? " And if 
 the answer be, " Feed My lambs," go — go in His name ; 
 go in His strength ; go in conquering faith and brightening 
 hope, and " seek and save that which was lost." 
 
 REFERENCES. 
 
 " Manual," chap. iii. 
 
 "Ways of Working." By Eev. A. F. Schauffler, D.D. Is. 6d. 
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 "Week-day Effort in Relation to Sunday School Labour." By 
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