He had considerable difficulty to find where many lived; some had removed, and one or two had some time since tried some other Sundayschool, which they liked much better. He inquired at one place for Mr. J., and found no such person. When the mother of the boy appeared, he informed her that Joseph had not been to the school the last two Sundays. Joseph being there, said he was at school on Sunday afternoon week; and the teacher just recollected that he himself was absent that afternoon, and could not contradict the child; and after saying a few words on the importance of regular attendance, he went his way.

The next house at which he called, he saw the father of George, and told him that his son had not been to school for a few Sundays past.

'No,' said the father, he has not been for five weeks. Previous to sending him to the Sunday-school, he stayed in the house and read, or went to church with his mother. As we knew much good had been received in Sunday-schools, and many of our rich neighbours sent their children, we were persuaded to send George, and we had him ready every Sunday, and thought that he attended the school regularly; but last Sabbath he came running home, followed by a friend of mine, who informed me that George spent every Sunday with a crowd of bad boys, near his house, and they had just broken his parlour window. And now, as I cannot be certain that he will do any better, I shall keep him in the house.'

At the next place the teacher knocked very gently at the door, for he had lost some confidence in himself. He did not knock again, or wait long, and he had no time to lose; and perhaps quieted his conscience with the thought, 'Well, I have called, and if no one comes, it is not my fault;' and away he went, without even looking back.

We shall only mention one more call, which he had some difficulty in making, not knowing exactly who to ask for. Here he saw the mother of a boy who had been in his class; introduced himself as the Sunday-school teacher, and inquired about her son James, who had been absent from the class. She looked sorrowful, and said she believed 'James was better off, she hoped he was in heaven.'

'Yes,' said his mother, 'he died of a fever from taking a severe cold one Sunday, in the street: he was ill just thirteen days on Thursday week last.' When the teacher recollected himself a little, he said, 'He could not have thought it so long a time since James was at school,' inquired whether he thought he was going to die, and what were his views.' The mother replied, that as he became worse, he was very much alarmed at the thought of death, talked about the Sunday-school, and longed to see the teacher he used to have, and wished me often to read the Bible to him: and when he became very ill, and near his end, he seemed resigned to die. We asked him if we should send for you, and he did not seem to desire it. He said, 'the Sunday-school teacher we have now has never been here, and may be he would not like to come,' and then he held up his poor thin arms, and said, 'I think he would hardly recollect me, I've fell away so much.'

James died without seeing his teacher.

This

teacher !—he seldom thought of James while he lived, but he never forgot him when he was dead!

REWARD-GIVING IN SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

Mr. EDITOR,--As a teacher of eight or nine years' experience, in both Day and Sunday schools, will you allow me to express an opinion on the system of "Reward-Giving."

First, then, I confess that my sympathy is strongly on the side of "An Union Secretary," (p. 42.) In schools, where the ticket system has been used, I have known such a plan as the following adopted :-One boy who has been induced to play truant, meets with another who has attended school and obtained his ticket, and the two arrange so that the truant becomes the possessor of the ticket, and the other tells his mother "he has had a ticket, but that he has lost it." I do not give this as a theoretical plan, but in numerous instances have had personal knowledge of them. In this manner a temptation is put in a child's way for deceit; and which should always be studiously avoided.

I shall always advise, as I have practised myself, never to allow a child to be absent from a class without knowing the reason of it, either by the teacher's personal visiting, or, if the time would not allow of it, to send by a member of the class, (and one may always be found willing to make enquiries.) For the child may be ill-then it is the duty of the Sunday school teacher to visit him; he may be playing the truant, a little private conversation with the teacher would very soon make the tear flow fast from the child's eye, and convince him of his sin, (for it is an act of disobedience to one of God's laws-fifth commandment.)

The teaching of a Sunday school should be of such a character as, of itself, to give the children an intense desire to attend its classes, and to be there in time; and a kind word of commendation from the teacher to his children for being in time, with a few remarks now and then upon the duty of obeying the precept, "Let every thing be done decently and in order," with the evil consequences pointed out of not attending to it, will do more than the rewards. I know one school in which the reward system was discontinued, and the results often were incomparably superior to what they had been before.

The system is unfair; for if the children are rewarded for lessons, which I believe is the general plan, one child with great ability will be rewarded for learning a lesson, over which he has not spent one quarter the time and labor that another child, with less ability, has; and so the latter says "Oh! its no use my trying, for so and so will be sure to do it better than I shall."

But this is but a minor point in the school government or organization. The quality of the results after all depends upon the teachers themselves. No teacher should ever leave his or her house, without imploring the blessing of our Divine teacher to attend the labors of the day, and during the week should be ever devoutly seeking Divine teaching, so that he may `be able more effectively to impart the knowledge of Divine truth, with which it has pleased God to bless them.

The Sunday School Union is doing a creditable work in the establish ment of "Training Classes" for the benefit of those engaged in the work; and the writer's heart will rejoice to see the day, should he ever be per

mitted, when every provincial town will not only possess its "Young Men's Christian Association," after the model of the Parent in Aldersgate Street, but also its "Training Class," after the pattern of those established by the Sunday School Union in various parts of the metropolis. I am afraid that "Brother John " may have added to his list of observations, some such as the following:-"I have known a teacher come to school unprepared with his lesson. These Training Classes' would do much, to lessen such a practice; and your correspondent would take the liberty of suggesting, that those who exert themselves to form such classes would be conferring a blessing on the teachers themselves, and a boon on the country at large. When these results have been attained, "I think this difficulty of "rewards," or "no rewards," will solve itself, the school alone being a sufficient inducement for the children to attend it. In the mean time, let us all, both by our prayers and personal exertions, do what lies in our power to hasten the millennial time. Borough Road.

A WORKING TEACHER.

[From the German of DENZIL.]

For a general rule, the approbation of the teacher is a sufficient reward for all moral conduct. In no case should it be encouraged by a determined premium. No rewards are proper in the religious part of education; for they might lead to the opinion that mankind could merit the favor of God by their works.

LET YOUR AIM BE HIGH.

HAVE you carefully considered what are your responsibilities in the selfimposed duty you have undertaken? If the heart of a child is susceptible of religious impressions, and those impressions do form the germ of a religious character, then your work should have for its object nothing less than the salvation of the children under your care. You have undertaken a duty which never can be properly discharged, if you aim at any less result than bringing them to Christ. Have you considered how responsible such a position is, and how serious are its consequences, both to yourselves and to the children you instruct? Can anything less than persevering earnestness and labour on your part, for their salvation, free you from a responsibility, the burden of which is as heavy as the despair of a lost soul?

We will not affirm that God will hold teachers ultimately responsible for the salvation of their children; but, without doubt, He will hold them responsible for all the consequences of a neglect of their duty to them-and He may see that such neglect has resulted in their eternal destruction.

The only and true mission of a Sunday school teacher is to hold up Christ, as He is revealed in His Gospel, before them continually; to seek to impress them with the loveliness of His character, the power of His claims, the infinite nature of His love, and the exceeding and eternal value of His salvation. And it seems to me, that anything less than this falls below the true standard of duty, insomuch as it falls short of bringing them to Christ, where only salvation can be found.

A true labourer in this vineyard will never labour in vain: such is the nature of the Gospel of Christ, and such is the promise of God to every honest worker, that it will become the wisdom and power of God to their salvation. In view of the nature of the Gospel and this promise of God, not only may the faithful teacher labour for, but may absolutely expect to see, his children coming to Christ as the legitimate result of his faithfulness.

And, on the other hand, that teacher has great reason to doubt either his fitness or his faithfulness when he sees no fruits of salvation as the result of his work.

It is not enough to teach your children the history or the geography of the Bible, the theories of commentators, or the abstract doctrines even of the Gospel itself these are, or may be, all very well and important, too-but they will have time to learn these after they have received other and far greater truths; but seek out of every lesson to find Christ, and hold Him up to them as the great central truth and sun of the whole gospel system; seek to turn that vital light toward them, always letting it rest and settle upon their hearts, and if you are faithful, it will there penetrate and become a fountain of light to guide them safely through this world to heaven.

If every teacher of Sunday schools would so labour as if he considered the salvation of the children depended upon his faithfulness, there would be a directness in his effort, and a solemn earnestness, too, which on the impressible and susceptible mind and heart of a child would have an irresistible power for good. Let once a child feel that you have truths that you consider paramount, and that you are in earnest, and expect that he will yield to and embrace them, and although he may struggle against them, yet the innate power of depravity cannot always hold out against that persuasion to which his reason, his conscience, and his heart invite him to yield; and though you may never witness the surrender of that heart to the claims of God, yet you will there have implanted that leaven of truth, which, sooner or later, will work until the whole nature is renewed and the heart regenerated. If God has ordained the use of human instrumentalities as a means of salvation-as He most clearly and signally has-He has not done so without clothing its use with an almost infinite power; and that not as an exception, but as a result so certain as to be both the unfailing source of encouragement to the one, and the sure channel of blessing to the other.

But remember, teachers, that such glorious results can come from nothing but constant prayer for God's blessing on your labour, and constant faith that that blessing will descend as the reward of your faithfulness.

THE ART OF CONDUCTING A BIBLE LESSON.

IN conducting a Bible lesson, it is very important to remember throughout what is the point of the passage. This should be kept prominently in view. Towards this, the teacher should keep moving step by step; and although on his road to it, he may look sometimes to the right, and sometimes to the left, yet he must not turn off and follow any of the various other roads which branch off from the direct one. What this is, of course must be settled in the teacher's mind before he comes to school; if not,

he will be running off from it at every word, and omitting the main lesson of the passage, which perhaps he never saw. He will draw the same general truths from every text.

Keeping this in mind, the teacher goes to work. The passage is first read sentence by sentence, once or twice; and it will be necessary, with the younger children especially, then to go over it again, with questions and ellipses; inverting the sentences, and, as it were, telling the story, and making it the children's own.

Then comes the explanation of words and ideas. Every WORD must be understood, as the whole gist of a sentence may turn upon one word. And every idea needs to be drawn out: for many a truth, expressed in the simplest words, is nevertheless not grasped by a child's mind. For instance, almost every child if asked "For what purpose did Jesus come into the world?" would answer-" to save sinners;" and yet, if you further questioned them, you would discover that many did not understand what Jesus did what "to save" means, or what SIN is.

The question occurs, How are these explanations to be given?

Every word represents either an object, or a combination of objects. If you had a picture of the object expressed by the word you wished to explain, your end would be gained at once. The thing to be aimed at, then, is to draw a picture before the mind's eye; and this may be done by illustration and analogy.

Suppose for instance, the passage before you was John xvi. 33. “In the world, ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Almost every word needs illustration-the world-tribulation— being of good cheer-overcoming the world.

Let us take one. Tribulation-what is tribulation ?" "Trial," perhaps, would be answered. True; but how does tribulation come to mean trial? Here is a picture for you to draw and illustrate. You must tell them, then, to begin with, that Tribulum means a winnowing machine, and tributlatio the passing through a winnowing machine. And then you may go on, What is the use of a winnowing machine? Suppose you get no answer; then (and this is a general principle) you must go further back, and start from something that is known. Did you ever gather an ear of corn? "Yes." How did you get the grains of wheat from it? "I rubbed them between my hands -so." What came off besides the wheat? "Husks." Called also? 66 Chaff." Is the chaff good to eat? "No." How did you separate it from the wheat? "I blew it away” How came the chaff to be blown away, and not the wheat? "Because it is lighter than the wheat." If you had a barn full of wheat and chaff, how could you separate them? If you were to throw them up in the air where the wind could catch them, what would it do? "It would blow away the chaff. And what would become of the wheat? It would fall down upon the floor." The wind, then, would separate them, or WINNOw them; and this (you may tell them) was the first [method. of winnowing corn. The use of a winnowing machine, then is to? "Separate the chaff from the corn." By exposing it to the "Wind?" And what is the chaff good for? Good for nothing." And what is the use of wheat? To make bread of." Then the winnowing machine tries the good, and sepa