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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 ; 4 i • 6 1 EL SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHmo, 'N ITS "'NAPLES AM nACTm. *"! JtDOREss, CANADA .C.O., "s^Zl ,^;«^;;TTKK O. tH« '"'' MlNlSTiai By THE BEV. WILLIAM ARwnT 1845. yiMON. PREFATORY NOTE. I luive felt i^omewlmt of u personal iiitt'rest in the Salbath Sclioold of Canada, ever since I learned that the selection of Scripture Lessons which I had prepared for the use of our own Scliools in Scotland had been re-printed here and used to a considerable extent in the Colony. I suppose it is to this circumstance I owe the invitation to address the Teachers of Montreal at their monthly meeting. I was very willing ta accept that invitation ; and, at their request, to put the sub- stance of the address into their hands for publication. Having been in this country only a few months, on Missionary work, and being just about to return to resume my charge in Scot- land, 1 rejoice in this opportunity of leaving with my friends here, some memorial of my visit. To me it is pleasing ; and I shall hope that it may be profitable to them. Seeing the privilege is given to me of speaking to brethren in this colony after [ have departed, there is no subject in the whole range of Christian practice that I would like better to speak upon, than the work of Sabbath School Teaching In the following address, the reader will find warning and command prevailing, with scarcely a word of direct encour- agement or promised reward. Let it not therefore be thought that the Lord calls to a hard service. " His commandments are not grievous." Those who try the work on the right princi- ple and in the right way, will find out better than I could tell, that these "ways are pleasantnes8"--they vv.ll find that " in keeping of" His commandments, " there is great reward." As I was called to speak to those who are actually engaged ill the \V(i:-k. nottiii'.g h.;s been said din.Ttlv with the n'vu of IV. inducing others to begin it ; but indirectly, the principles on which these rules are founded, should be felt constraining every one who has suitable talents, to lay them out in this de- partment of the Lord's work. As the address was delivered extemporaneously from very brief notes, and written for the press several weeks afterwards, those who were present at the meeting will observe that there is some difference between what they heard, and what they now read ; but they will observe too, that the substance is throughout the snme, and that even in the language the varia- tion is very slight. I have only further to say, that if the style seem curt, and the tone, for a stranger, somewhat dictatorial, my aim was to convey the greatest possible number of suggestions in the shortest possible space. Those parts which to the reader may appear presumptuous, were intended by the writer only to bo plain. W. A. MOFTTREAL, Scpt. 10, 1845. 1 1 I SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHING, IN ITS PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE. ''Apt to Teach:'— 2TiM. ii. 24^. Apt to Teach. This is one in a hst of quali- fications, which "the servant of the Lord" ought to possess and exercise. The servants in God's family are all sons and daughters. There are no slaves. All work from love; none from fear. Some indeed try to serve God from terror. Sullenly they cast offering after offering to the just Judge, by way of sop to soften his anger and shield themselves from his wrath. Such setv ce he does not accent These are the dead works of dead men. You must be purged from these by the blood of the covenant, before you can acceptably " serve the living God." You can never rightly do the work of servants until you attain the sta- tion of sons : but, when you have attained the station of sons, you cannot refrain from doing the work of servants. Privilege possessed sup- plies the impulse to duty prescribed. In the economy of grace, the call precedes the mis- siuii. JcMis lirst tailed liis dis(.'i[)les to liiin- srir, and then rsent thcni out upon the worlij. " Come, I will send thee" — (Acts vii. 31,) — is the motto of the Gospel ministry — the germ of the law according to which the master rules the whole household of faith. " It pleas- ed God to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach Him," Gal. i 15, 16. The first question is, w^hat shall I do to be saved ? and the second, what shall the saved do? When you have gotten from God, you will give to men. The expression " apt to teach" has refer- ence both to the potver and the will. It indi- cates not only skill in the art of teaching, but also a tendency to exercise it, whenever an opportunity occurs. 'J'he servant of the Lord is one who not only can teach if he will, but will teach if he can. The teaching should flow spontaneous from a fountain within, which must and will run over. It should be like those acts that spring from instinct, or invete- rate habit. You observe in every man a lean- ing to some favourite pursuit — a disposition to irlide into it, in season and out of season. You may soon discover a man's profession by ob- serving the bent of his nnnd, as indicated in the tenor of his conversation. You will not^ b(* louiz: in bis comi)anv, when vou will find out to what coutitrv he belonj^s — what side in poli- tiishel'ns nilopfcd — whiit branch of industry he i)lies. jNIost men have a liobhv which tliev cannot long keep olf, Tlie ruling passion betrays itself. So it is with a Christian. With him the peculiarity is, or should be, more powerful and more distinguishing. The con- trast is put in emphatic terms in Phil. iii. 19, 20. On the one side a class " who mind earthly things," on the other " our conversa- tion (politics or citizenship) is in heaven." The citizen of Zion has taken a side with as much zeal as any politician of this world, and you will not be long in his company ere you find out what side he has taken. Faith in his heart sw^ells and streams out. He cannot restrain it. It is not that the man possesses a religion ; but religion possesses the man. It is the ruling power. It gives a bias to the whole course of his life. One who is " taught of God," is " apt to teach" njen. He who has gotten for himself an " unspeakable gift," w ill manifest a tendency to speak about it to his neighbours. The qualifications enumerated (2 Tim. ii. 24, 25) have reference, in the first instance, to office-bearers in the church ; but they are manifestly applicable to all believers, according to the station and circumstances of each. A man of Gadara, who had been possessed by Devils, was delivered by. the power of Jesus, (Luke viii. 26 — 39.) Restored to his right 8 mind, he felt that he owed all to his Deliverer. He saw twelve selected from the number of the Lord's disciples, following him always, preparing to be his witnesses in the world. He desired to consecrate himself to the same work. He presented a petition to that effect — " besought Him that he might be with Him, but Jesus sent him away saying, return to thine own house and shew how great things God hath done unto thee." The Lord did not see meet to accept his offer to be an apos- tle ; but he did not release him from the work of witnessing. He did not send that man into all the world to preach the Gospel to every creature, but he sent him to his own house to talk with his neighbours about the wonderful work of God. He gave that man the same work with the twelve, but assigned him a narrower sphere. So it is with all believers. All whom Jesus delivers from the bondage of Satan, he retains in his own service. All are " apt to teach" what they have learned of Christ. All, like this restored maniac, offer themselves to their Redeemer : and the Lord over all, in his providence, points out the bounds of their habitation. They have gene- rally little difficulty in perceiving what is the field on which the master would have his ser- vant to labour. Some of you serve in more than one capacity ; but you are all fellow servants in this department — you are all Sab- bath School Teachers. You are Teachers. I address you as such. I speak freely and familiarly. I have less fear of criticism than on other occasions, when called to speak where I am a stranger. You know something of the work — something of its pains and its pleasures. If I am enabled to speak to the point, I shall hope to reach your understandings, and gain your sympathies. If ever I can get an audience bent on being profited rather than pteased, surely it is this. I shall not waste your time with speculation. 1 shall try to be practical, even though I should be abrupt I shall mention no difficulties but what I have felt, I shall lay down no prin- ciples but what I find in the Word. I shall prescribe no rules but what I have tested in my own experience. Even if you should learn little or nothing that you did not know before, we may hope to enjoy for a while the svm- pathy of kindred spirits, labouring in *^ , same field, and serving the same Lord. I shall arrange my observations under the following four heads : 1. The Subjects ; ' 2. The Manner; 3. The Matter ; 4. The Motive ; Of the Teaching. 10 You reach. Or, it may be expressed in another form, 1. Whom 2. How 3. What; 4. Why ; I. The SUBJECTS tchereon the operation is to be performed, comprising an answer to the question — Whom are you to Teach ? The first requisite in a Teacher is, that he know well the material on which he is to operate. He should not work in the dark. He should know what the difficulties are, and where they lie. He should know what cha- racteristics hinder, and what favour the ac- complishment of his design, that he may con- centrate his efforts on the most advantageous point, and not spend his strength for nought. 1. With this view, observe for warning, that the children are sinful, though young. You must never omit from your calculat;ons the corrupt nature. They are born in sin. The bitter roots are indigenous in the soil, and spring up spontaneous. If the field be Jet alone, it is sure to be covered with thorns and thistles. The fool savs in his heart, " No God !" and the germ of that folly is bound up in the heart of a child. You must ever remem- ber, when your children are gathered round you, that the carnal mind is enmity against God. In this mould have all these souls been 11 cast at first, and unless they have been made'^ new creatures in Christ Jesus, in that shape they continue still. If you glide into the com- mon infidel conception, that children are in- nocent, and need only some gentle checks and warnings, your efforts will all be directed to the wrong point, and you will be as one that beats the air. The Physician must know the nature and the seat of the disease for which he prescribes. Even though he possess that knowledge, he may not be able to do much good ; but if he is destitute of that knowledge, he can only do evil. There are circumstances, more or less aggravating, producing a great va- riety of cases ; but, in all cases alike, you have the essential features of the dead in sin, and your aim shouM never fall short of the quickening by the Spirit of God. This is the state of all the children. The child even of a converted parent is not a converted child. None of them are born heirs of God, except those who are born again. This being the condition of the children, your work is never accomplished, until they have passed from death unto life. You should know fully the ditficulty of the task, that you may be kept leaning on an Almighty arm. 2. For encouragement observe, that the child- ren are yovngy though sinful. This gives you a great advantage. It is the Lord's will that you should observe it, and take it. His own word 12 prescribes this course — " Train up a child in the way that he should go." — Prov. xxii. 6. The task of training is most easily plied, and the de- sign of training most effectually accomplished, while the subject of the operation is yet a child. Let childhood be compared to a rivulet just making its way from the spring, and ad- vancing life to a river flowing between lofty banks onward to the ocean. If your object be to give a direction to the course of the stream, there is no difficulty in perceiving where you should begin. If you begin near the source, a very slight effort may change the course of the water; but after it has run far, and hollowed out a channel for itself in the soil, and increased its volume by many tributary streams, it is be- yond the power of man to prescribe the direc- tion in which it shall run. It is true the Al- mighty can turn even the rivers of water, but in the experience of the race, this is his strange work. His wonted way is to give them their final direction, ere they have run far, or cut their channel deep. There are many converted old men, but not many old men are converted. There are many fat and full of sap, and flourish- ing even in old age, but examine, and you will find that in most of them the seed of faith was sown in youth. Although the spirit is sovereign and omnipotent, his ministration is conducted in such a way as to encourage the use of means 13 and the seizing of opportunities. " The hand of the dihgent maketh rich." Let Sabbath School Teachers work while it is day. Minis- ters generally find that the eflfort to teach the aged ignorant, is a stumbling in the darkness. But, besides the prospect of immediate success, there is the additional encouragement from a hope that seed sown, though dormant now, may grow hereafter. Naturahsts have observed, that when forest trees that have shaded the ground for more than a century are cut down, certain vegetables which had never before been seen there, spring up in the soil. The seed, prevented from generating by the superincum- bent shade, had lain all that time vital in the earth, and sprung up whenever the obstacle was removed. So the seed that you sow now, may for many years be overshadowed by a thick jungle of cares of the world, and lusts of the flesh ; but it is an " incorruptible seed,^* and you may yet see it growing, and bearing fruit, when God in righteous judgment has taken the hindering things out of the way. Under this head, also, I ought to remind you, that destitute children should be the special ob- jects of your care. In the Sabbath Schools that I have seen here, the children are too well dressed. You must go into tlie lanes, and brinff those who need instruction most. Your work will never be in (ho way of being well ^ :)»! P ' 9 ; *; 14 done, until yuu have portioned the city into districts, and made sure that every child has had the offer of Sabbath School teaching near his own door. The salt should be most assidu- ously applied to those parts of the body politic, which seem most ready to run into corruption. The School-room should as far as possible be in the district where the children reside. Every teacher should have a district, and should be a known and welcome visitant of every household. II. The MANNER in which you are to conduct your operation, comprising an answer to the question — How are you to teach ? On this head I shall suggest a series of prac- tical rules, accompanying each with brief notes of explanation. 1. Study every lesson carefully before you meet your class. You must not think that after you have been a teacher for some time, you can teach without preparation. Possibly you could teach in such a way that the children could not detect your foults ; but that is not enough. It is another standard by which you must be judged. Avail yourselves of every help — reading, taking notes, attending a class for training teachers. Whatever the means you adopt, you should make yourselves familiar with all the doctrines to be taught — have ex- amples to illustrate them, from Scripture or other sources, ready to apply, and even be pre- 15 pared with the principal questions to be put in the class. At the same time, it is necessary to cultivate a freedom and readiness in adapting your questions to the answers of the children. The teacher who never proposes a question, nor quotes an example, except what he has pre- viously prepared, will certainly not teach well. The business of the class will be stiff and con- strained. Let your memory be charged before hand with the substance of the teaching, but be always ready to take advantage of events that transpire in the class at the moment they occur. 2. Let your tcords be simple, but not silly, A Teacher should always remember that he is speaking to children, but he should remember, too, that he is not a child. Beware of the words you employ. If your object be to show off your own learning, you should not be there. At the same time, let your language be digni- fied, that the children may always feel it is something very different from their ordinary amusements. There is a great difference be- tween childlike and childish. The one is sub- lime, the other ridiculous. 3. Cultivate a habit of picturing. Teach as much as possible by throwing the lessons into a narrative, descriptive, or dramatic form. You see children, even after they are able to read, turning over the pages of a book, and looking only at the pictures. This is an instinct of their ^1 16 nature, which you may turn to good account. In surveying a farm that you have purchased, with the view of considering how you may best make your own out of it, you find a stream run- ning rapid from the mountain side. It is there. It will continue to run, whether you will or not. You may turn it to good account. Divert its course a little. Make a new channel. Turn the stream upon your wheel, and it will drive your mill. Try to make nature the handmaid of grace. The children will greedily take stories and pictures : it is your business to give them stories and pictures imbued with the gospel. In your capacity of teachers you may take them by guile. They will hang upon your lips for a story. Let them have it ; but let it be so steeped in the Truth, that while they are listening to the story, they will receive the word of life, which is able to save their souls. In following this method you have the Bible, not only as a source whence to draw your material, but also as an ex- ample to teach you how you should draw it. It is full of historical and pictorial teaching. Wit- ness the parables. Not only teach/rbt to Jesus ; and, as your goodness Teacheth not to him, he has made it payable to the needy near you. As Paul was ** debtor" to Greeks and Barbarians, so yoO, if pardoned and justified like him, are debtors to the children whom you teach. It is no work of supereroga- tion — it is no volunteer exercise that you may perform or not, as you may feel inclined. If it really be the love of Christ that constrains you to go to the class, it is not every trifling motive that will be able to keep you away. 10. Let the prayers in the class be 'very short, and the language very simple. The degree in which this caution is applicable, will vary with the age anbath ministrations, you hear the least* III. The MATTER of the Instruction you com- municate^ comprising an answer to the ques- tion, What are you to Teach 1 On this hcarts. our re- ith the- r class, to Him ing his epared f God" an ani- " travail in birth again." Although you see all these attained, ifyou have been imbued with the apostles' spirit, you will continue to " travail in birth again ;" how long ? " Till Christ he formed in them" Do not take a low aim. Open your mouth wide, and He will fill it. Ask, and it shall be given you. There is reason to fear you often get nothing, because you ask little. Ask for the children nothing less than life from the dead. Beware of substituting the means for the end. Your teaching is nothing, except as a means of setting before them the Word o f God ; and even that Word is but a dead letter — it is of no avail, except in so far as it is the Spirit's instrument to enlighten the mind, and convert the soul. : their thered hem — 1 view f men, in tire led at. peace come, er — to id po- esired Id not In so far as his own instrumentality is con- cerned, the great strength of a teacher lies in the possession of peace for his own soul. You woidd make a poor hand at telling the way fo a wanderer, i( you knew^ it only by hearsay, and had never travelled it yourself. So, those can speak but in vague indefinite terms about " the way unto the father," who have no good hope that themselves have passed IVom death unto life. The " uncertain sound " is not fitted to arrest and arouse souls. Supjjose you find yourself in company with a number of children, in a place of great danger — a danger which 32 you feel, but which they know only by your testimony. Suppose you point to an opening- difficult of access, and forbidding in appear- ance, saying to the children, go up thither and you will be safe, while you stand yourself un- moved in the place of danger. The children will hesitate; they will look shy and suspi- cious; they will not, perhaps, say they dis- trust your word, but without knowing why, they will be very little affected by your en- treaties. Take another way : under the im- pulse of fear, escape in haste into that refuge yourself; thence cry to the children, come, for I am safe here^ They will feel the force of this invitation. " Come to my Saviour," if it can be employed ivith truth, is a much more effective style of invitation, than " go to one Jesus." In conclusion : — Depend for success on tht SpiriVs potcer. While the Bible ascribes to Jesus the whole of the work for sinners, it ascribes to the Spirit the whole of the work in sinners. Whatever change is effected in the human soul, is the operation of the Holy Ghost. If ever an epistle of Christ is written on the children's hearts, ministered by you, it is " the Spirit of the living God " who writes it. 2 Cor. i'lu 3. If ever the children, beholding the glory of the Lord in the glass which you hold up, 33 are changed into the image that they look upon, it is " by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. iii. 18. Let the " ministration of the Spirit," in the work of conversion, be not only a doctrine received, but a principle possessing you. It should be a " present truth " pervading your mind, while the class is round you. Before that little circle of immortals, you should be like Nehemiah before a heathen king. The captive Jew stood suppliant at the throne. The monarch said " for what dost thou make re- quest ?" Nehemiah feared. His answer might please, or enrage, the despot ; it might gain him favour, or seal his doom. Yet an answer on the instant must be given. In the twinkling of an eye, Nehemiah went with a petition to the King of kings, and returned with an answer of peace. Artaxerxes knew not that the sup- pliants soul had left his presence. How quick the process ! The king said unto me, " for what dost thou make request ? So I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said unto the king," &,c. Neh. ii. 4, 5. Friends, faith can still travel as fast, and as far. It has lost none of its power to prevail, now that an Intercessor in our oivn nature is at God's right hand. You might perform this journey — you might hold intercourse with the God of heaven, while you were turning over a leaf, or while a scholar was repeating an answer, and none would know E 34 but God. Realise the need of the Spirit's power, and seek the Spirit promised, while the teaching goes on. When you go aioay, look up. — Have you seen a husbandman returning from his field at night ? He has been toiling with his servants in that field all day. The sun has scorched it for many days. The sky above is like brass, and the earth below like iron. He has broken the hard clods, and committed the seed to the parched soil. He can do no more. He knows the seed will not grow till the rain descend. As he traces his steps slowly homeward, he stops at intervals, and looks up upon the sky. He scans the blue deep from horizon to zenith, and from zenith to horizon He speaks not, but an anxious sigh escapes from his breast. Again he pursues his path, and again stands still, looking up in silence as before. He looks for rain. Friends, it is a hard parched land that you have sown your seed in ; do you look up for the Spirit poured out as floods upon the dry ground! Honour God, and he will prosper you. rit's the een ■ht? that any the the the )WS !nd. he ;ky. ith, [lot, ast. nds oks you the [Iry per