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THE WESLEYAN

SUNDAY-SCHOOL MAGAZINE,

AND

JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.

"JESU

PRACTICAL PAPERS.

"THESE LITTLE ONES."

BY THE REV. WILLIAM O. SIMPSON.

ESUS called a little child unto Him, and set him in the midst of them." Yes: ambitious, contentious, elderly men must make room for a little child. In the time of Advent, and at the birth of a Year, when ambition sleeps, when strifes are healed, when old men would fain feel young again, we rejoice to see the little ones in the midst of us: we cannot spare the music of their voices, or the gladness of their presence. What is the holly or the mistletoe without the berries? Men and women make a dull circle before the blazing yule-log; they want the little ones. Christmas morn would bring no carols if it brought no children. Men and women make no fit festival for Advent; no: "Joseph, and Mary, and the babe." A "generation" that goeth makes mourning for the Old Year, but the New Year is best chimed in by the voices of a "generation" that cometh, commencing their march onward upon "the earth, which abideth ever." Once a year children have their right; they climb upon our knees, and we place them near our hearts. That is where Jesus would have them always. So once more welcome, and

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO THE LITTLE ONES.

These little ones: the Church must keep her welcome warm for them throughout the year. Those who, during the past year, have cared for them, will remember them in the devotions which mark the transition of the years. In pleading the covenant for ourselves, let us remember that the promise "is unto us and to our children.” Let the first and every succeeding Sabbath of the year echo the motto furnished in the address of the Conference, "the children for Christ." Let this picture live in our memory and imagination, -Jesus and the little one.

VOL. V. NEW SERIES.-January, 1870.

B

These little ones: to whom shall we first speak concerning them? To parents, and especially to mothers; for their work precedes the efforts of the teacher. Before a child begins its letters, a tone and tendency have already been given to its character. The education of a very little child may be said to consist in impressions. A child's nature is like a patch of exposed earth which catches the shadow of every passing cloud, and every stream of sunlight, and is influenced by every drop of dew and rain. Could we register the history of grass or daisy, we should find that neither light nor shadow, neither sunshine nor shower, passed without affecting its growth and beauty. Even so, unconsciously, but permanently, the lights and shadows of our homes tell upon the hearts and tempers of our youngest children, and affect their future. "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones."

These little ones: we have made provision for them in the Sabbathschool" Scripture Lessons" for another year. Fourteen of these are taken from the Epistles to the Hebrews and the Romans, and, of course, contain much doctrinal teaching. And to the teachers we would say, be not dismayed at the weight and mystery of much of the truth which you must communicate. The being and character of God, sin and conscience, guilt and atonement, depravity and regeneration, these are great and pregnant words. They have a breadth of horizon which the adult mind can scarcely measure; how, then, can they be taught to a child? To this a prophet answers, "Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little." (Isai. xxviii. 10.) Remember that the law of all finite intelligence is especially the law of childhood. By no intellect but the Infinite is truth grasped in its entirety: even to an archangel there is "line upon line; here a little, and there a little." Your difficulty is common to all subjects of teaching. How great a difficulty is the alphabet! the first sentence in grammar or history! Yet teachers do not give up the thing in despair at the sight of the blank, bewildered face of the pupil; but the sign, mysterious and unattractive, is made the vehicle of teaching the thing signified. The sentence is read, and read again: every word is explained; the dead letters begin to breathe with life, and the happy face of the scholar tells that the thought is mastered at last. Is it not so in numbers?

"Multiplication is vexation,
Division is as bad,

The rule of three it puzzles me,

And fractions drive me mad."

What then? Do we shut up our arithmetics, and wait till John is twenty before we teach him a sum? All the worse for John if we do. No: there is the question, the rule, and the example. Do it again and again, until the reason of the operation becomes as familiar as the form of it, and John becomes an arithmetician. Even so of the great subjects of religious truth. They are deeply interesting to children. God is a real existence to a child long before he learns his alphabet. Sin is a conscious thing long before he traces upon a slate. Christ is a familiar and beloved Example before he dreams of poets and heroes, and heaven seems his peculiar property from very infancy. Thus God Himself anticipates your work. Only remember, "line upon line; here a little, and there a little."

These little ones: we return to the provision made for them, the bread upon the children's table. Eight of the Lessons are taken from the biographies, and several-scarcely less interesting-from the historical portions of the Old Testament. Illustrations of Divine Providence are furnished by the minor prophets, whilst in the continuous history of the Gospels by St. Luke and St. John we follow the footsteps of Him who was "found in fashion as a man... became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (Phil. ii. 8.) But vice, sin, and crime startle the simplicity of childhood, and make havoc of the sweet philosophy of the nursery. These little ones have no poet's world awaiting them. "Forewarned, forearmed: "six of the Afternoon Lessons refer to vices too common in our own time, and in our own country.

...and

These little ones: now a word or two on our mutual relation towards them: that is, we of the Magazine, and you of the school. Our work must not be made a substitute for yours. We offer material for preparation, but the preparation itself is a responsibility of the teacher. It is impossible to combine the exposition of a passage with the style most suitable for teaching the same passage in a class of children and young people. The one is brief and explanatory; the other diffuse, picturesque, and illustrative. Our "Exercises," therefore, presuppose some effort on the teacher's part, that he will secure some opportunity for personal reflection on the passage for the week. He deals, we suppose, with his own faculties as he means to do with those of the children in his class. Imagination creates out of the passage and around it a life-like picture; memory enriches it with illustrations; understanding educes its practical lessons; emotion is quickened and aroused, and new resolutions uttered in the closet indicate that the will has been

influenced. What he has done for himself, he will find no difficulty in doing for the young disciples of the school. The form of our Exercises-exposition, reflection, and interrogation-is well adapted to assist the teacher in a preparation of this kind. As occasion serves, we may add a practical hint on what appears to us the best mode of presenting a given Lesson to the minds of children.

These little ones: in teaching them, beware of mere instruction. This is a sin which easily besets the Sunday-school teacher. He has an hour to fill up, and a class of children before him who will find that hour wearisome, unless he interest them, and he has a Lesson given him by which to interest them. Interest them, we would say, by all means; by descriptions of scenery, by picturepainting, by anecdotes, by snatches of poetry; interest them, for, until that is done, nothing is done. Instruction will not of itself convert, but there is no conversion without instruction. Tools and bricks will not build a house, but there is no building a house without them; but, having tools and materials, man must build. So, having interested his children, the teacher must bring to bear upon them the moral responsibility of the truth of which they have become possessed. They have hearts, he must not rest till he has fired them with penitent desires after a new life; they have consciences, he must not rest till they have answered his appeals; they have wills, he must reckon it his only triumph that those wills are yielded unto Christ. He must not count his work well done until, like the Divine Child in the Temple, each child under his charge commences life with the words, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" Beware of mere instruction; aim at conversion.

These little ones: be encouraged concerning them. Remember the words of the Lord Jesus: "I thank Thee, O Father, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." There is a moral aptitude in little ones for the reception of religious truth; and, as youth passes and years increase, that aptitude diminishes. The mind grows strong, but the heart grows hard; and the very years, which by stern experience have trained the mind to power and sagacity, have pushed the heart further and further from Christ, and placed between the soul and the Saviour a devotionless and godless life. In amongst the wise and prudent the Sacred Form still passes; a little child is called unto Him, and we hear Him say, "Of such is the kingdom of God." Once more we take the little ones, as from the Saviour's hands, and bid them welcome to our closets and our hearts.

5

GOOD THOUGHTS AND BUSY HANDS.

BY THE REV. FEATHERSTONE KELLETT.

Ir is a great mistake, which many people fall into, who excuse themselves from attention to the greatest of all duties by saying they are too busy to think about religion. No doubt anxiety about worldly matters has a tendency to draw away the mind from the interests of the soul; still, if we earnestly endeavour, we may find time every day, if not every hour of the day, for attention to eternity, without diverting our thoughts unduly from the business of daily life. We would have no idlers in the world. A busy hand is a safeguard against the intrusion of foolish or evil thoughts; for one wicked thought indulged by the mind is a greater obstacle to religion than a hundred busy ones. A pious old writer says, "the grand secret to prevent bad thoughts is to have plenty to do; an empty house is everybody's property; all the vagrants in the country will take up their quarters in it." Always, therefore, have something to do, and something to think of. It is well known that habit accustoms us to do many things in our engagements in life which do not occupy our whole attention. A man will often work with his hands, and engage his mind at the same time about another matter. An artisan at his craft, or a woman about her household-work, will frequently sing snatches of songs or hymns without interfering with their duties. Now the thoughts of the head, or the words of the mouth, may as well be sound, sober sense as airy sentiment or senseless jargon.

We have heard of a poor, hardworking man who learned nearly the whole Bible by heart, by having the Holy Book lying open beside him every day at his meals; and so well versed was he in the knowledge of the Scriptures, that his neighbours used to call him "the walking Bible." A text of Scripture could hardly be mentioned

without his being able to tell where it occurs, and with what it is connected. He not only treasured the words in his memory, but found them marrow and fatness to his soul. A similar character we very well knew who engaged his little boys to read the Bible to him, or other good books, while he was himself at work at the carpenter's bench. In this way he mastered the contents of scores of volumes, and was known far and wide for intelligence, industry, and piety. We also knew a tailor who, when the duties of the day were over, read the works of many standard authors by the light of his fire, being too poor to afford a candle; and who became quite an authority in the neighbourhood upon matters of history and geography.

Such examples show what may be done by earnest and persevering effort; and, at least, no person should rest satisfied in having no time for religion who can find hour after hour for folly and vanity. Let any one sincerely endeavour to raise his thoughts to God and heaven while his hands are engaged in daily toil, and he will find it far easier than he thought, and far more exhilarating and happy than it is easy. Nehemiah, although surrounded with crowds of courtiers, and oppressed with care and anxiety, found it possible, when handing the cup to the king at the royal banquet, to raise a secret thought in prayer to God,-"So I prayed to the God of heaven."

The spirit of prayer can be cherished everywhere, and under all circumstances. The voice of prayer need not be loud for God to hear, if it is only the sincere and heartfelt desire of the soul that will find its way to the Ear of Mercy, from the busy workshop or the crowded street; and none but the praying spirit, and the Eye that reads the secrets of the heart, may know what is

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