parry, and the superior wisdom of which they must ultimately yield to. And what is more than all, they are found to be all partakers of the DIVINE NATURE, which they have brought down with them to be unfolded in their history and make it powerful. Having in itself elements of power and precedence like these, not to believe that the heavenly colony will finally overspread and fill the world, is to deny causes their effects, and pronounce a sentence of futility on the laws of nature themselves. God, too, has testified in regard to this branch of his planting-THEY SHALL INHERIT THE LAND. The Difficulties and Encouragements of Sabbath-school Work. WE are under a deep impression that the magnitude and glory of this work have not yet been adequately unfolded and described. It is a work that challenges the best ability of the Christian world. We shall see this truth by a further illustration of the subject:— I. First. The difficulties of the work. These range themselves under two classifications-those in the teacher himself, and those in the child We shall take the latter class first. In children you have undeveloped intelligence, a depraved bias, and a great variety of character. A word on each of these points: We have to speak of the child's undeveloped intelligence. This every teacher meets with in discharging his duty. Our statement holds good, to say the least, in reference to the majority of those brought under Sabbath-school influence, and it is with this fact that we have to do, and not with any contingency in the work. When the teacher takes a child under his care, he finds its best nature imprisoned in the cell of ignorance and animalism, and the work of that individual is to thread his way up the avenue of that soul and introduce the light of heaven into it. We admit that the remark applies to adults as well as children, but with this difference:-In the case of adults you have judgment matured and reason in exercise; but in reference to children you have neither. The teacher has to unfold the bud of intellect into a perfect flower, and bring it into contact with the sun of eternal love. We conclude, hence, that in a certain sense the work of the teacher is more difficult than that of a minister of Christ. There are germs glory in every child, but to develop these in all their beauty, and supply them with nourishment from the Fountain of life, requires the tact of no one less than that man who has himself been under the instruction of God's Spirit. of We feel, in the attempt to write this paper, as we have ever felt, that there is a 'something' about children of an indescribable character. Such, for example, is the elasticity of their minds, that they require a constant urging on, as it were, to a certain course of action, or all good impressions vanish as quickly as the dewdrop disappears before the beams of the rising sun. The mind of the child, like the sponge, is ready to receive, but the slightest external pressure will remove all that it has received. Souls live and grow upon thoughtfood, just as flowers, bloom with beauty by means of the sun, shower, and breeze; and the difficulty in the child's case is, to make it retain the thoughts communicated to its mind that it may grow thereby and unfold its beauties to the world. There is a difficulty in stirring the powers of the mind into action, and when done, of keeping up that action. The greatness of the difficulty is enhanced, too, by the depraved bias of the child. It has elements in its constitution that are vitally opposed to infinite love. Say, for the sake of argument, that the element of good preponderates over the evil, our statement is not affected by the consideration, for as long as any particle of evil remains in the soul of man or child, it will stand opposed to goodness. Light and darkness, purity and impurity, can never agree. There is a corrupt fountain in the heart, and evil inclinations and tempers are streams flowing from it. The teacher has to purify that fountain, and ever to supply it with a flow of affectionate thought from the mind of his Lord and Master. This has to be done, too, for a mind incapable, to a great extent, by reason of its immature state, of seeing the immeasurable superiority of the spiritual over the material, and future glory over the false glitter of the present time; for a mind which, by reason of its depraved bias, has strong predilections for those things, which, in their tendency, are ruinous, and with a strong aversion to the great truths of Divine revelation that ennoble and give distinction to character. Moreover, the teacher meets in the same class with a great variety of character. Take a class of twelve, and there are no two children alike; hence, at every step, the difficulties of the work increase. To adapt our teaching requires skill and patience. Some children are patient, some are passionate; some are quick, some are dull; some are cheerful, some are stupidly heavy; some are loving, some are obstinate and daring; some have retentive memories, and some have not. Now, all this variety of character has to be moulded and fitted for action in life, but it can never be accomplished by teaching all according to the same rule and making use of the same appliances for one as for the other. We should deem that physician very unskilful who made use of the same medicine for the fever as for apoplexy; for consumption as for cholera. We should condemn such a man as a most incompetent practitioner. In matters spiritual it is precisely the same. Here are two children under the care of a teacher for spiritual cure, with minds, temperaments, and tendencies altogether different. To treat these alike would be consummate folly. To treat a loving soul as you would an ill-tempered one would be to display great imbecility. And yet there is a great danger on the part of the teacher of showing favour to the one and disregard to the other. The true-spirited teacher will show his real character in endeavouring to save the worst, and building up from the worst material a temple in which God will deign to dwell. There is little or no praiseworthiness in winning the affections of a loving child; but should a teacher lead a rebel to a recognition of our Divine religion, the victory gained will be a great one. It is in such triumphs that the glory of Sabbath-school work appears. That soldier who appears in uniform and assumes the air of a patriot in times of peace, but in the hour of anarchy and bloodshed abandons the field, has not the blood and spirit of a soldier. That sailor who is all brave and jovial in calm weather, but in the hour of storm leaves the reeling barque to sink beneath the black wave, has not the pluck of a sailor. That, in our opinion, is the real sailor, who will either save the ship or go down with her. That young man, too, has the blood and sinew of a teacher who feels that the greater the sinner, the deeper and stronger ought his affections to flow-the more defiant the child, the more intense ought his anxiety to be for the salvation of that child. There is charm-there is chivalry in such a teacher's life. He not only appears in uniform and rank on the Sabbath day, but he lives out what he professes. And although the three great difficulties hinted at in the work of the Sabbath-school be insuperable to any other spirit, yet he will triumphantly level them to the dust. The next class of difficulties is in the teacher himself. It is difficult to realize the idea of a teacher at first to be thoroughly and constantly prepared for the work, and to live in sympathy with it. No rightminded teacher can deny the fact but what he has had to fight a hard battle with self before he could realize this thought. 'I have to discipline souls of priceless worth for the scenes of immortality' Viewing his work from this standpoint, he has ever felt that such a work demands careful preparation to discharge it well, and that his sympathies can only go with it upon the following conditions: There must be pre-eminent piety. Without it, no real good can be expected. We expect no rain from clouds without water; nor do we expect streams of holy thought from a corrupt heart. A teacher without piety is like a system without a sun-like a flower without bloom, and like a tree without fruit. The individual worthy of the name of a teacher is like a richly laden tree in a garden, he affords fruit for all who like to take it. With goodness both men and children get enamoured. An epistle of Christ is easily read even by children. The teacher whose soul is filled with the light of heaven will be like the sun in creation, he will give light and beauty to all around him. The teacher whose character we are sketching, will have a deep acquaintance with God. This can only be had by prayerful study and action. 'If any man,' says Christ, will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of my self.' There are mighty thoughts in the Divine mind about every good work, but in order to know them, there must be action in life and earnest supplication. These are the two instrumentalities by which a man and his God are brought together. What we want to teach our juvenile population is,-to get lofty ideas of God. The most perfect idea of him has been brought down from heaven by Christ, and the teacher's object, who has seen it, is to take his class back upon its wings. In the revelation God has thus made, we find him a being possessed of supreme, divine excellence; and this is expressed by Robert Hall with unrivalled beauty. Our conception of God,' says he, 'is continually receiving fresh accessions by attracting to itself, as a centre, whatever bears the impress of dignity, order, and happiness. It borrows splendour from all that is fair, subordinates to itself all that is great, and sits enthroned on the riches of the universe.' To understand this sentence, we must feel the grandeur of the truth contained in it in our hearts, and as it rises gradually up before our gaze, we shall ever rise with it, and yet it will eternally tower above us. The teacher who would live on the ascending scale must understand these things, and he will be able, step by step, to take his class into new and higher regions of thought, and to nearer approaches towards the standard of perfect excellence. This can be done by prayer and study, for it is a fixed law, that if we ask we receive, and that if we seek we find. The advice of Cowper shall be ours 'Acquaint thyself with God, if thou wouldst taste II. Secondly. The encouragements of the work. three. We shall pen 1. It is a work for the good of society. We do engage in some enterprises which are simply for our own personal benefit, but Sabbath-school work is for the general good. The religious education of our juvenile population cannot fail to strengthen the future framework of society, and hasten the development of social excellence. The seeds of vice are generally sown in youth, and the harvest is reaped in advanced life, which is inevitably one of crime and infamy. To prevent such a work is the aim of every Sabbath-school, and that, too, by imparting right ideas of God, and the nobility of man's highest nature when ransomed and beatified by Christ. We would here remark, that the Sabbath-school is doing what the State has failed to accomplish, that is, to make mankind feel the worth and immortality of good character. This country has had three schemes. for the suppression of crime-the punishment of death, banishment for life, and partial forgiveness. For a very long period, indeed, the punishment of death was the only treatment that offenders met with from the hands of the State. We scarcely need say that time has written Failure on the front of the scaffold. When men were most numerously executed, crimes were most numerously committed. Banishment has also been tried. America was the land for many a long year to which we transported our living vice, but when that country declared her independence, we sent it to Australia; and it is supposed that slavery has taken such a strong *hold through the slaveholders springing up from such immoral ancestors. And in reference to Australia, this country saw at length a black cloud arising in the distance that threatened destruction to our interests and suspended its operations in that direction. Well, there is the system again of partial forgiveness [the ticket-of-leave system]; why, it is a miserable failure. The leaders of the land thought that gratitude would compel such offenders to act aright in future, but we have had evidence demonstrative that men of decidedly bad principles cannot stand too much kindness.* Since these schemes have failed, what can be done to make our generation good? Give the young a religious education. That is the foundation for the future superstructure of society. sentiment, and punishment, can never correct. The gallows, Those persons who preach the gospel in all its beautiful simplicity to children in our Sabbath and ragged schools are striking at the rootevils of the world;† and if ever taxation and crime are to be reduced, we must commence at the foundation; that is to say, we must begin with children. Look for a moment at Ireland and Scotland in contrast. In the one instance a youthful and religious education has been entirely neglected, but in the other it has been attended to. What is the condition of Ireland? Why, its inhabitants are degraded, wretched. superstitious, and oppressed. Ireland has ever been the stronghold of the man of sin. What of Scotland? Why, the Scotch are decent, active, free, and intelligent. The physical advantages of Ireland over Scotland are great. The soil and climate of the former are much superior to those of the latter, but with this vantage ground, the Irish are distinguished for all that is low, a fact that must strike every reflective mind with the great importance of religious culture in the youth, and the truth of Solomon's declaration, That the soul be without knowledge is not good.' 6 2. The work is most successful. The work is God's, and his works are always prosperous. The flower never fails to blow, nor the landscape to bloom, nor the sun to shine; nor has Divine truth ever failed to advance the happiness of man. The true-hearted teacher may rest assured that he has planted his foot on reality. We feel honoured to be identified in opinon with the men who believe that real success in a work is not proclaimed by the jubilee of thousands who flock to see mountebank performances in the pulpit, and on the platform. It is only to penetrate below mere show, and you will see that success consists in the myriads of Divine influences that flow from the Sabbath-school centre to the world's circumference. Many a man will make a brilliant effort for once for some good object, and then retire to rest in solitude, and by some is applauded as a benefactor to the race; but we beg to dissent from the conclusion. That is the successful man who steadily pursues a course of Divine action for life. The virtue of such men's lives goes down to the very heart of society, and makes it throb with new life. We feel persuaded that all good * Vide Hepworth Dixon's Life of Howard. † Vide Hall's Discourse on the Advantages of Knowledge. |