The Sabbath school teacher; designed to aid in elevating and perfecting the Sabbath school system

Front matter

I ii!

I

Mill

Preface

TO THE AUTHOR'S EDITION.

Few things strike the Christian traveller with more force than the fact, that let him go where he will, the Sabbath School has gone before him, and meets him on his arrival. The Church of God, however her separate branches may differ on small unefsentials, has come to the firm conviction, that this is a mighty inftrumentality, which she cannot forego without heavy lofs, and which she cannot faithfully use without great succefs. And this succefs, like everything else that is valuable, must be the child of patient toil and earnest effort. The whole plan of God in redeeming, enlightening, and training men up for heaven, involves individual responsibility and individual labor.

Were it in my power to mark out a plan for a Sabbath School, which would promise great success with little or no labor and anxious responsibility, my little book would be hailed through the world as a great benefactor. This I cannot do. I know of no way to rear a beautiful flower, or a fruit-bearing tree, but by careful planting, till— (3)

4 PREFACE TO THE AUTHOR'S EDITION.

ing, and training. I have not, in this unpretending volume, undertaken to diminifh labor ; but to show how it may be most available. Not how the tree, full grown, may spring from the ground, at the touch of the teacher's wand ; but how he may plant the seed, and watch its growth, and rear it to be a tree, that shall eternally grow in the garden of the Lord.

The author cannot feel too thankful that this little work has found so much favor on the other side of the waters, and has pafsed through so many editions. It is iiow reduced in size and price, and sent forth again into the world, with the hope that many will find in it hints that will aid them, or facts that will encourage them to rely on the great promise, " In due season we shall reap, if we faint not."

Pittsfield, March, 1856.

Sabbath School.

Chap. XL — Encouragement to Faithfulness.

SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER.

Chapter I. First Principles In Christian Education

In every science, and in every department of knowledge, there are certain points, or what may be called First Principles, which must be definitely understood, and which must be used as starting-points by all who would succeed. These are not theories which each one adopts for himself, but they are discoveries of the combined wisdom and experience of all who have examined the ground. Some of these first principles I wish to present to the Sabbath School teacher. I take pains to present these clearly and distinctly, because I deem them of great importance.

1. Lay it down as a first principle in Christian education, that the first object of the teacher is to form right habits in the scholar.

Were you to give the most solemn and impressive instruction possible, to a company just as they were about going into the theatre, it would do no good. The impressions would all be gone in an hour, and

THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER.

First principles— rigid habits. Experience of men. Amount of knowledge.

other and deeper impressions would take their place. The same feelings awakened in an audience who were in the habit of daily prayer, would be likely to abide, and to bring forth the fruits of eternal life. Those children who are prodigies of learning and attainment in early life, often prove to be very ordinary men ; and the surprise is, that a tree so full of blossoms should produce so little fruit ; while, in other cases, a child giving but faint promise of mind, in early life, frequently becomes great, and wise, and good, in mature years. This difference is not merely to be attributed to the slowness with which these minds were developed, but to the habits formed in early life. A child may acquire thought slowly, yet if he has formed the habit of acquiring each thought fully and distinctly, and of retaining it when acquired, he will eventually become a wise man. On the other hand, that boy so bright before you now, who commits to memory so readily, or who is so prompt in undersanding and so quick in answering your questions, may be forming habits which will more than destroy all that he now obtains. All great men have attributed their success more to the mental and moral habits acquired in early life, than to any thing else. Even the temper, — the disposition, is formed by acquired habits, so that one who is naturally irritable, may become a calm man.

Let it be impressed on the mind of the teacher, that it is not so much the amount of knowledge which

THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER.

Illustrated by the orphan. Want of right habits lamented.

you communicate to each scholar, that is to make your teaching a Messing, as are the habits which you aid him in acquiring.

He may or may not have gone over much ground, — but has he subdued it 1 Have you created in him a taste for patient thought and investigation, till he has thoroughly understood every idea, and mastered every subject presented ? Here was one great error in the old system of committing an amazing amount to memory, when the child was praised or blamed according to his success or want of success in loading the memory.

You will frequently meet with a man who in early life was left an orphan. You see that he has risen up from obscurity, through difficulties and trials, till he has become successful in his pursuits. The facts, on investigation, would be found to be, that on being thrown upon his own resources in early life, he was compelled to form habits of sober thought, of prudence, foresight, economy, and diligence, which in more indulgent circumstances he could not have acquired. These habits made the man. And it is of unspeakable importance that the child now under your care form right habits. Do you not yourself daily lament that you have some wrong habits hanging about you which } r ou acquired in childhood ? I have not unfrequently met with men who would readily acknowledge that thousands of money would be no object, could they, with it, purchase such habits, mental and moral,

10 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHEK.

Necessary to meet temptations. Example of Daniel. Perseverance.

as might and ought to have been formed in the days of childhood.

It ought never to be forgotten, that right habits are indispensably necessary to enable a child, or even a man, to meet and resist temptation. Piety and courage were prominent in the character of Daniel ; but after all, I should tremble to place any man in his circumstances, with the lion's den before him, who had not Daniel's habit of daily prayer. " The man," says the venerated Porter, " who is so much the slave of circumstances in common affairs as to forego his regular food, and exercise, and rest, may live, but cannot enjoy life ; he cannot for any length of time possess vigorous health of body. He who has so little firmness of religious principle as to intermit his regular, secret devotions, from indolence or hurry, or complaisance to friends, may be a Christian still, perhaps in a state of temporary but woful backsliding. But certainly he is not a decided, consistent Christian. He does not " keep his own heart with all diligence." He is not prepared for his upward flight to live in heaven, like Enoch, who " walked with God." Nor yet is he prepared to live in Babylon, like Daniel, who " kneeled upon his knees three times in a day, and prayed and gave thanks." The habits so beautifully described above, are as essential to the well-being of the child, as to the man and the Christian.

The habit of perseverance should be cultivated with unremitting assiduity. It is what every child,

Curious illustration.

and I may add, every teacher, needs. The habit, once acquired, is invaluable, though exceedingly difficult to be attained. Take every method to encourage the child, and to show him the possibility of producing very great changes from slight beginnings. I cannot better illustrate this point than by telling the short story, from the London Quarterly Review, as related by Lochman. * A Visier, having offended his master, was compelled to perpetual captivity in a lofty tower. At night his wife came to weep below his window. " Cease your grief," said the sage, " go home for the present, and return hither when you have procured a live, black beetle, together with a little ghee, (or buffalo's butter), three clews, — one of the finest silk, another of stout pack-thread, and another of whip-cord ; finally a stout coil of rope." "When she again came to the foot of the tower, provided according to her husband's commands, he directed her to touch the head of the insect with a little of the ghee, to tie one end of the silk thread around him, and to place the reptile on the wall of the tower. Seduced by the smell of the butter, which he conceived to be in store somewhere above him, the beetle continued to ascend till he reached the top, and thus put the Visier in possession of the roll of silk-thread. He then drew up the pack-thread by means of the silk; — the small cord by means of the pack-thread, and by means of the cord, a stout

Second principle— fixed principles. Taste of the age.

rope capable of sustaining his own weight, — and thus he escaped from the tower.'

2. That the teacher* should endeavor to fix the great principles of God 's truth in themind of the child.

What I mean by this, is, that while you lead the child to commit to memory, do not fear that he cannot be made to comprehend and embrace the great principles of revealed religion. The fashions, the plans, I had almost said, the rage of the present day, is to bring every thing in mechanics, literature, morals, and religion, down to the test of present effect, and present apparent good. As if God had not wisely ordained that good shall always flow from the embracing great, fixed principles. We feel that it is a loss of time to pause long enough to give or receive deep, solid instruction, or to endure the task of thinking. How difficult to get men to sit down and read a sober, original, deep book ! Our ideas must all be thought out for us, and poured into the ear just as a song would be. In our preachers, we demand men who have popular talents, — who can electrify, lighten and thunder, sweep like a whirlwind, carrying men into the kingdom by violence and before they know it, and move them on in the growth of grace by successions of powerful impulses. Our teachers must be men of popular address, with the power of communicating knowledge, which can be obtained in the least possible time, and at once be applied to use.

Dangers of the times. Should Catechisms be used ? Public opinion.

As if men, in this agitated state of the world, could come up amid the rockings and the storms of the age, without deep, fixed principles for a sheet-anchor. The waves of excitement already run high, and will run still higher ; and he who acts as a teacher in the theological School, or as an author, as a teacher in the day or Sabbath School, who does not try to lay the foundations of character on fixed, definite principles, even the everlasting foundations of truth, falls far short of his duty. You might as well neglect to place anchors in the bow of your ship, as you send her from her moorings, because she does not now need them, as to neglect to fix deep and definite principles in the mind of the child, because he has not immediate use for them.

This leads me to take this opportunity to answer the question so frequently asked in Sabbath Schools, is it best to teach Catechisms in these schools 1

Till within a short time, Catechisms of all kinds have nearly been proscribed in most of our schools, and the impression seemed to be gaining ground, that they were to be laid aside with the rubbish of other times, with things and modes, good, perhaps in their day, but not adapted to the day in which we live. The objections seem to be, that the memory alone is cultivated by learning catechisms ; that the child cannot understand them, and that they are sectarian in their tendency.

After looking at this subject long, and in various 2

Answer to objections. How to teach Catechisms.

lights, I am not altogether certain that these objections are not directed chiefly, if not solely, against the Assembly's Shorter Catechism ; and that a sort of tacit compromise has not been made, that all catechisms should be laid aside for the sake of getting rid of that.

In regard to the two first objections, I believe they may be reduced to one and the same : viz., that the memory is burdened, because the child does not comprehend what he tries to learn. The answer to these objections, is two-fold. First, that it is one very important part of education to exercise and cultivate the memory; and few things will do it better or faster than the Catechism. Secondly, that it is not true that the child cannot be made to understand the Catechism. Till within a few years it was thought that a mere child could not be made to understand Arithmetic, Grammar, or Geometry. He was told to commit the rules to memory, to be applied to use at some future time. But all this is justly exploded. The child of six years old can now be taught Arithmetic on the plan of Colburn. It is only the substitution of things, for the signs of things. I do not believe there is any greater difficulty in teaching a Catechism, than in teaching many parts of the Bible. The book of Romans, for example, is a very difficult part of the Bible; and yet I have never seen a school more interested in any study, than in this book. The great obstacle with which I have met,

Mrs. Sherwood. Assembly's Catechism. Third principle— power of example.

has been, that the teachers seemed to make up their minds that the Catechism must be difficult to teach, and thus made it difficult. But let any one begin and proceed just on the plan of Colburn's Arithmetic, and I will warrant success and pleasure. Let any one read Mrs. Sherwood's beautiful stories on the Church Catechism, and he will be satisfied that even catechisms can be made bewitchingly interesting. The man who shall make the Shorter Catechism equally interesting, will do a great work for his fellow-men.*

Then as as to their being sectarian, — if this be so, let each sect select its own catechism. While T frankly say that I prefer the Assembly's Catechism before any other, and, indeed, before any other uninspired compendium of revealed religion, I should indeed sink low in my own estimation, did I not feel willing that every one should enjoy the same liberty of choosing ; and I trust I should love no one the less for the exercise of such a right. Perhaps those schools which have the Catechism taught in short lessons once a month, are wise in their course ; for it ought not to be taught every Sabbath.

3. A process of education, from example, is continvally going on in the mind of every child.

* By the experiment of delivering a few lectures on the Shorter Catechism, 1 am satisfied that it may be brought down to the comprehension of every person, though I had many doubts when I commenced.

Example of a real Christian.

The parent who supposes the few lessons of instruction which he bestows upon his child, constitute any considerable part of the education of that child, is greatly mistaken. The child is at play in the corner of the room, with his blocks or his toys, and the parents are talking together without heeding him. But ever now and then the little prattler stops talking to himself to catch the tones and thoughts of his parents, and he is there receiving impressions which form his character, and which will abide with him through life. It is on this principle that example is so powerful a teacher ; and that a real Christian can do so much for his Master. " God has not permitted the world to despise a true Christian ; they may pass by him with a haughty and supercilious coldness, they may deride him with a taunting and sarcastic irony ; but the spirit of the proudest man that ever lived will bend before the grandeur of a Christian's humility. You are at once awed, and you recoil upon your own conscience, when you meet with one whose feelings have been purified by the Gospel. The light of a Christian's soul, when it shines into the dark den of a worldly heart, startles and alarms the gloomy passions that are brooding within. Is this contempt 1 No: but all the virulence which is excited by the Christian graces can be resolved into envy — the feelings of devils when they think on the pure happiness of angels ; and to complete their confusion, what is

Watching over example. Teachers watched.

that moment the feeling in the Christian's heart? Pity, most unfeigned pity."

Those influences hardly noticed or thought of, the every-day acts of parents, and teachers, a word, or a look even, may permanently and mightily influence the character of the child. What then 1 Must we so reverence that little one, as to be always subject to painful restraint and anxiety in his presence ? The little mimic would be sure, in that case, to " catch the truth" of concealment, and would never grow up with an open countenance, or an ingenuous mind. There is no way but to be, habitually and permanently, such as the child ought to see you appear. You must be in the law of justice, truth, love, holiness ; not under it. It must be the perfect law of liberty to you ; so as to manifest its presence, not as an outward, restraining power, but as an inward, well-spring, whose waters flow out freshly and pleasantly in all the channels of social life and Christian duty.' A teacher who has not carefully noticed the fact, will be surprised to find how narrowly he is watched, how every part of his character, and almost every habit of his, becomes a part of his pupil's. You will frequently see a class eyeing their teacher as he delivers an exhortation, or tries to impress a truth of great importance upon them, just as a child will eye a father when he receives a command, — not because he does not fully understand the icords of the command, but because he wants to know just how much 2#

Influence of little things. Adam Clark. Story of the young lady.

his father means. A congregation will look at their minister in the same way, and are impressed, not more certainly by what is said, than by the looks and appearance of the preacher. These little folks cannot reason about great principles of action, — cannot make allowances for the temperament of their teacher, but they judge of character and of religion by looking at small things, and receiving repeated impressions. A word too much, or a word too little, may be forgotten ; but impressions made upon a child by example are at once moulded into his character. What Adam Clark so pertinently says of a minister, is wonderfully applicable to a Sabbath School teacher. ' It is impossible that he should ever be a private man ; even in his most trivial intercourse with others, it is never forgotten what his office is : the habit of every one's mind, is to expect information or example from his company and conduct ; he is constantly living under the observation of mankind, and he who is always observed, should never venture on dubious conduct, or suppose for a moment that what he does in the view of another can ever for a moment be a matter of indifference, or be regarded as a trifle. I will tell you a curious circumstance that happened to me some years ago. In a day or two from the time that I refer to, I was about to set off from London to Ireland: a friend desired me to take charge of a young lady to Dublin, to which I readily agreed, and she was sent to me at the coach. I soon found from

Moral honesty to be observed.

her conversation that she was a Roman Catholic, and also quickly perceived that she had heen led to entertain a very high opinion of me. After we had travelled some distance, talking occasionally on various subjects, the day-light began to sink fastly away, when she took out of her reticule a small Catholic book of prayers, and commenced seriously her evening devotions. While she was reading, such thoughts as these occurred to me, — ' I believe this lady to be sincere in her religious creed, which I think to be a very dangerous one ; she appears to be of an ingenuous temper, and to feel much personal respect for me ; is there not here, then, a good opportunity, as well as subject, to exercise my influence, and to deliver her, if possible, from her erroneous creed V But, continued I in my thoughts, ' was she not entrusted to my care ? would her friends have so entrusted her, had they ever suspected that an attempt at proselytism would be made ? Would not the attempt be a breach of trust, and should I, even were ultimate good to accrue to her, be a morally honest man V I instantly felt that my own honesty must be preserved, though the opportunity of apparent good might be apparently

lost. In a short time Miss closed her book with

this observation, * We Catholics, Dr. Clarke, think it much better to believe too much than too little.' I replied, ' But, Madam, in our belief, we should recollect that we never should yield our assent to what is contradictory in itself, or to what contradicts other

Interesting result of the story.

ascertained facts.'' This was the only observation that I made that looked at all towards Catholicism. In process of time we arrived at our journey's end, and I deposited her safely in the hands of her friends.'

'From that time till about two years ago, I never heard of her, till we met in the following way. I had been preaching at Chelsea Chapel, and on entering the vestry after service, a lady followed me, shook hands, spake with much emotion, and said : ' Do you not recollect me, Dr. Clarke ? I am

Miss , whom you kindly took care of to Ireland :

I was then a Catholic ; now I am a Protestant, and have suffered much in consequence of the change.' I inquired how the alteration in her views was effected, and she gave me in detail the account which I will shortly sum up to you. When she heard to whom she was about to be entrusted, she resolved to observe and watch closely this eminent Protestant minister ; she was pleased with the conversation and friendliness shown her ; and was so struck with the observation I had made in the coach, that she said it afterwards absolutely haunted her, caused her to examine and think for herself, aud at last led her to freedom from her thraldom : ' but,' said she, ' I should never have been induced to examine, had it not been for the previous examination. I had made of you. From the first moment you entered the coach, I watched you narrowly ; I thought, now I have a fair opportunity of knowing something of these Protest-

Convert of behavior. Inference from the story. Power of a good name.

ants ; and I will judge if what I have heard of them be true. Every word, every motion, every look of yours, Sir, was watched with the eye of a lynx ; 1 felt you could not be acting a part, for you could not suspect that you were so observed ; the result of all was, your conduct conciliated esteem, and removed prejudice; your one observation on belief, led me to those examinations which the Spirit of God has blessed to my conversion; and I now stand before you, the convert of your three days' behavior between London and Dublin.' You see from this account, how all ministers should ever feel themselves to be public men ; how cautious should be their conduct, and how guarded their conversation. Had I attempted to proselyte this lady, all her prejudices would have been up in arms ; had my behavior been unbecomingly light, or causelessly austere, she would have been either disgusted or repelled, and her preconceived notions of Protestants would have been confirmed ; she saw and heard what satisfied her : thus, even in social intercourse, the public teacher should always be the Christian instructor.'

If the above account cannot be commended for the modesty of the narrator, it certainly contains sound sense, and ought to be well weighed by those who, in any sense, are teachers of God's word. The reader should observe too, what is always true, that a Christian is more likely to do good, if he has earned a good reputation by his life and conduct. It

Patrick Henry. Fourth principle — religion early taught. A wrong notion.

is thus that " a good name is better than precious ointment," and the example of such an one grows more and more influential till he reaches the grave, and has finished his work on earth. A young man might make the remark, and probably hundreds of young men might make the remark, and it would be forgotten, — ' that every man makes his own character ;' and it makes no deep impression. But see the father of the late Dr. Rice leading his son, just as he entered manhood, and introducing him to the venerable Patrick Henry, that he might receive some impression that would do him good. The father introduces his son, and the venerated Henry turns his kind and powerful eye upon the stripling, and in tones full of benevolence says, " My son, remember that every man is the maker of his own character !" This falls from one who made his own character, — from one whose life entitled him to speak with meaning. The sentence sank deep into the soul of young Rice, and was probably the means of leading him to make his own beautiful and symmetrical character.

4. Religion should be taught from the very earliest dawn of intelligence.

Among the many crude notions which prevail among men, we often hear it gravely advanced, that a child ought to grow up unbiassed, without having his head filled with creeds and religious impressions ; so that when he becomes mature in after life, he may make his own choice in religion. I verily believe I

Why children early taught religion. First reason.

have heard people advance these sentiments who would be exceedingly mortified to have views imputed to them on any other subject, equally superficial and puerile, — views as far from common sense, as they are from the Bible. The mind of every child must and will be growing and strengthening every day ; and daily, too, will it receive new impressions and new thoughts. These must educate that mind ; and a child who sees his parents and teachers careless about religion, and ignorant of God and of his government, is not left to choose for himself, — he is educated to forget his Maker, and to trample on his laics and commands. But without stopping to discuss this point, and without more than alluding to the severe reproof of Coleridge, who showed one of these wise ones his garden full of weeds, saying * he was leaving it without bias, and letting it choose for itself,' I would mention a few familiar reasons why religion should be the first thing taught to a child.

(a.) It is the most important thing with which the child becomes acquainted.

The warrior feels that war is the highest end of man, and the noblest employment of a being bearing the image and likeness of God, is to destroy his fellow-man. This highest end of man he wishes his son to pursue, and for this he educates him. Now how does he begin, and when does he begin ? He would rear that child up to be a man of blood, a terror to men, and a destroyer of all that is fair and

Education of worldly people. We educate for eternity. Second reason.

beautiful and good. We know how he does it. He makes the very play-things of the nursery to consist of drums, and plumes, and mimic guns, and the splendid glitter of the warrior. He teaches him to lay his hand on the cannon, to shout at its roar, and to have his soul speak through his sparkling eyes at the sight of the sword and the weapons of death. The son of Buonaparte was walking his post as a centinel, in the ranks, as a common soldier, at the age of seven years. And Hannibal made his son swear on the altars of his gods, at the age of twelve, that he would be the everlasting enemy of Rome. These men understand what they do ; and they begin the work in early life.