a paralytic man, lying on a mattress, how would you feel?

Children. Sorry.

Teacher. Yes: I am sure you would feel very sorry. God has always some wise reason for letting people be lame or helpless; still you would feel pity and compassion for the poor man lying on his little couch with his pale face and palsied limbs. But do you not think you would also feel surprised? You would begin to wonder why the friends of the sick man had brought him into the school-room. Do you not think you would?

Children. Yes.

Teacher. Why?

66

Children. Because you could do him no good. Teacher. Just so. I could indeed do him no good. Were I to say, Get up, poor man, and take up your little bed, and walk home," it would be of no use. The man would remain weak and ill as before. But suppose I were to send for my brother, who is, as you know, a doctor, and suppose he were to come and speak to the man, and tell him to rise and walk, would the man be able?

Children. No.

Teacher. No. Were all the doctors in the world to come, and one after the other bid the palsied man arise, he must still lie on his couch of weakness a helpless cripple. The friends of the sick man mentioned by St. Matthew knew this full well. They did not go to the crowded house at Capernaum seeking the aid of human physicians. Why were they so anxious to go to that house?

Children. Because Jesus was there.

Teacher. Yes. The Great Physician was there. And what did they believe Jesus could do?

Children. Cure the sick man.

Teacher. Did they think any other man could do this? Children. No.

Teacher. But Jesus was a man like your father, or uncle, or any other man, only that he was quite free of sin. Why did they believe the man Christ Jesus could do what no other man had the power to do?

Children. They believed that Jesus was God as well

as man.

Teacher. Quite right. I am glad you answered that question correctly. There was this great difference between the man Christ Jesus and every other man in the world, namely, that Jesus was God as well as man. The meek and lowly Jesus treading, as he did, our earth in form and fashion as a—man,* was also the great and mighty-God; and as God he possessed the power not only to cure the man of his-palsy, but also to forgive him all the sins he had committed. The friends of the palsied man believed this. They had faith in-Jesus. Did the men say they had faith ?

Children. No.

Teacher. How then do we know they had faith?

Children. St. Matthew says that Jesus saw their faith.

Teacher. Yes. Jesus could see into their hearts, and he knew that they believed with the heart. But how were others to know they had faith?

Children. They saw them come to Jesus to be cured. Teacher. Their actions shewed they believed that Jesus had the power to effect a cure, just as your actions sometimes shew that you confide in me, and love me, although you do not come to me and say, "We confide in you, and we love you." Deeds are better than words.

You remember one of the mottos hung up in the school-room among the flowers and ever-greens on the Annual Card Day: "Deeds are fruits, words are but leaves." In the things of religion, it is especially needful we should be convinced that the mere calling our selves Christians is not enough. Look at the sixth chapter of St. Luke, forty-sixth verse, and you will see how Jesus reproved those who professed to follow him, and yet did not the things he told them to do. Children read. 66 Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"

*The words in italics are supplied by the children, the teacher making a pause until the word is given. Ellipses mixed occasionally with questions help to fix the attention, and give variety to the lesson.

Teacher. Look also at the second chapter of the Epistle of St. James, fourteenth verse; and you will see it is not enough to say we have faith unless we prove that we have it by our works.

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?"

(To be continued.)

CATECHISING.

THIS is a term which is generally applied to religious instruction only; but in the remarks which I am about to make, I shall beg leave to use it in its original and wider sense, as referring to instruction of any kind.

And who has not felt it difficult to impart knowledge even on the commonest subjects ? Who has not, at the conclusion of an oral examination, or exhortation, felt dissatisfied with the mode in which he had carried on his instruction? He feels that he may have left an indefinite, where there should have been a clear, impression on the mind. His questions were too elementary, or too intricate; required too little mind, or too much to answer them. He dreads the period when he shall be obliged again to recur to the same subject, because he fears that through some fault or imperfection in his teaching it has not fastened itself upon the memories of his pupils.

Nothing then can be more important among Teachers than a good system of catechising. It is the grand secret of success. The foundation of distinction among pupils in after life. It tells at once whether the Teacher is fitted for his post, or has mistaken his profession.

1. The first great point to be attended to in catechising, is clearness in the comprehension of the subject. A clear and definite idea on which we are going to speak is the most important requisite in the Teacher. It is impossible rightly to explain a problem which our own mind has never thoroughly grasped. Our ignorance may be cleverly concealed; but its effects soon tell on the conceptions of the hearers. Let a schoolmaster stand up to explain the action of the steam engine to his scholars, how useless will be his effort if he has only a general notion of the whole ?

The principle must be known before it can be explained. The connection of every part, and the result of these combined, in propelling the machine, must be entirely comprehended before he can place it clearly be fore the mind's eye of his pupils.

So too with the Bible Teacher. If he has to speak of Christ dying for our sins, according to the Scriptures, he must have a clear conception of that sacrifice before he can hold it up, as a mirror for his hearers to gaze upon and admire. He must know how he is man's substitute, and that substitute accepted by God. He must grasp the idea of a perfect sacrifice for sin being offered up in our behalf before he can simply, and without effort, draw it forth, as the instance which finds its parallel no where else of God's love to a fallen world. Let no Teacher then consider the half hour's preparation for his classes ill spent. Nor let him imagine that what Mr. Bridges calls with reference to a kindred subject, a "pernicious facility of utterance" can allow him to dispense with it. Ideas which are but half comprehended, cannot enter the mind of another without confusion. The ill-assorted phrase, the inappropriate epithet, the obscure and lumbering word, is sure to make its appearance where the point has not stood out in bold relief in the Teacher's mind.

2. Another consideration to be attended to, is method of arrangement. This may seem too formal an expression for short and running comments on God's word, or daily instruction and examination on secular subjects. But a good method of arrangement is indispensable in all. There is no need to divide and sub-divide your thesis so as to render it tedious and stiff. But method leads you to dwell on the important, and pass by the subordinate topic. It tells you which feature of the landscape is to be first sketched, its lights and shades, its front and back ground.

The Teacher's method then must be natural. That is to say, questions must be put in the way that they would naturally present themselves to the mind, and information imparted by the successive steps which would, as a moral fact in the working of the early intelligence, be always pursued.

Thus, to borrow from Mr. Neale's illustration of this point, we are to speak to our scholars of God as our creator. We ask them who made you? Dr. Watts's answer to this question is, "The great God who made