He is engaged in a work always wearisome, oftentimes trying, and sometimes painful to mere flesh and blood; and if nature only supported him, his would indeed be a very undesirable post. But if a Teacher's heart is in the work, actuated by the love of God, his post becomes one of tender solicitude, approaching very near to that of a parent. The minds of children are volatile, light like a feather, blown about by every little puff of amusement; and the Teacher cannot but see that his words and all the efforts which he uses are apparently useless. If he takes his station at the school doors on a Sabbath afternoon, and watches the children as they each leave the school, what levity, idleness, and carelessness, he must be witness to! How little effect have the serious things which they have just been taught taken upon them? Ah! he well may sigh when he sees all this heedlessness to their best interests. He well may be cast down. Many a Sundayschool Teacher, after working hard all day, endeavouring to lead his class to the Lord Jesus Christ, when he sees the inattention which they manifest, goes home discouraged, and thinks he has laboured in vain; and so the Teacher doubts that God approves of his work, and begins to despair that God will bless his labour; though, perhaps, he does not quit the work, but goes on "sowing in tears:" and there is at the present moment, I have no doubt, many Teachers who are undecided whether they shall give up or continue their Sunday-school work; but I hope that any that are in this state of mind, after reading this, will at once decide to "continue in well doing." It may be well to remember, in the first place, that we are but instruments: see 1 Cor. iii. 5.; and though a "Paul may plant, and Apollos may water, yet God only can give the increase." Without the sun, all creation would be stagnant: without the Sun of Righteousness, all your teaching will be in vain. Then let every Sunday-school Teacher earnestly seek the presence and blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he may shine on you and bless you in your work; for unless he is with you, all your efforts will be useless; but if he be with you, then you "may cast the bread on the waters, and shall find it after many days." you God has said, "sow the seed:" the duty is yours, the event is God's. Many a stubborn heart has left the school to all appearances as hard as the "nether millstone." But does it always remain so? No; something that his Sunday-school Teacher has said to him when at school, suddenly recurs to memory and arrests him, and brings him to the foot of the cross, crying, “What must I do to be saved?" And then that stubborn heart is subduedthat hard heart is broken, and is humble, penitent, and believing. Facts, numberless facts, might be adduced in support of this; but I will only refer you as far back as the last month's "Visitor," where you will see an instance. Then cheer up, O sorrowful Teacher, your "labour is not in vain in the Lord." Sometimes God does not permit the Teacher to see the fruit of his labours for wise reasons. For human nature, if it be renewed, is alas! human nature still, and too much success might be productive of pride. God, therefore, who knows the inmost recesses of the heart, foresees, and orders everything for the good of those that love him. Will you then be discouraged? No, rather say, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Be assured, therefore, that you shall not labour in vain; you shall not "lose your reward;" for there is a day coming, when God shall "render to every man according to his work." And shall the Teacher be forgotten then? Oh no! God will own before angels, men, and devils, that you did not "labour in vain." And many a face will the Teacher then see, whom he never expected to see, and own him as the instrument whereby God was pleased to convert their souls; and then the once sorrowful Teacher will meet many of his scholars, "washed, purified, and sanctified, by the blood of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God," and present them to God, saying, "Behold, I and the children whom thou hast given." Then will the Teacher find, surely find, that alhtough when on earth he "sowed in tears," yet then, to his unspeakable comfort, "he reaps in joy." Let me then urge upon you all to labour for the souls of the children with greater energy. Let me recommend to your notice four very essential requisites for a Sundayschool Teacher, that is— 1. Prayer. Without these, a Teacher will be very inefficient for his work. And oh, if you pray fervently, if you pray with faith, will it not quicken your activity? And will not these two make self-denial the consequence? Yes, they will: but if love be absent, all will be cold and formal. Every Sunday-school Teacher has need daily of the prayer "Come, Holy Spirit, heav'nly Dove, In these cold hearts of ours."-WATTS. And if the Holy Spirit dwells within your breast, it will enliven your zeal, quicken your diligence, and give prayer its efficacy. Oh! remember that "time is short," and "death is near!" when, if you are one of God's people, prayer will then receive its accomplishment, and your activity will die, your self-denial will be turned to enjoyment, and love shall be the atmosphere in which you shall eternally dwell. This is a prospect which the real Christian Sunday-school Teacher cannot contemplate without emotion! and as he muses, the fire will kindle-kindle a desire that all his dear children may reach that happy place-kindle the flame of zeal, and the flame of love. Oh! that it may burn in the heart of every Sunday-school Teacher, till death shall put on the extinguisher! and then the flame of love will be relighted with greater vigour, and burn with greater lustre, in a far more brighter and glorious world. Let all then unite in saying from the heart, USEFUL HINTS FOR TEACHERS. 1. CONSIDER the duty you have undertaken as one for which you are responsible, not only to the governors of the school, but also, and above all, to God. 2. Be careful that your example corresponds with your instruction; and, for this end, let your temper be gentle, your manner kind, your speaking on sacred subjects serious, your behaviour at public prayers devout, your dress plain, and your atttendance at school punctual. 3. Consider the children you have to teach as God's children; yourselves, as set over them by his Providence. Train them up, therefore, for his service, that they may be glorified with Christ, and through Christ hereafter. 4. Be equally anxious for their welfare out of school as in school; once in the year (oftener if possible) visit the parents of each child; and when they have left the school, still endeavour to keep up friendly intercourse with them, and to advise and influence them for their good. 5. Be kind to all; anxious for the welfare of all; have no favourites; show no partiality; repress the forward; encourage the timid; the tractable you are sure to love; take care not to dislike the careless; the quick you are sure to prefer; take care not to despise the dull. 6. Keep these two chief blessings of the Christian dispensation continually before the minds of the children: the remission of sins, through the blood of Christ, and the sanctification of the soul, by the Spirit of God. 7. Pray that God may enable you to teach with good temper, and with good effect, and remember to pray earnestly for the constant blessing of God on your own souls; ever bearing in mind, that unless you feel yourselves the importance of the truths you teach, your teaching is not likely to be very profitable to others. 8. Never threaten what you do not mean to perform : remember, the less your word is doubted, the more it will be respected. 9. Attend daily yourselves to each class of the school, and attend to them especially when engaged in their religious instruction and reading the Scriptures. 10. Have respect, in your choice of Teachers, to Christian knowledge and Christian temper, more than to quickness and cleverness, and never allow in them either tyranny or partiality. 11. Never correct in anger: never, with undue severity; of no one's improvement despair, but hope the best of all. To all do diligently what in you lies, and pray to God to bless your diligence. 12. Keep up the authority which belongs to a master or mistress, but exercise it with such tenderness and affection as a father or mother would feel; remembering that the grand object of education is, with God's blessing, to make them good Christians: it is to train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In conclusion, I would say, let all engaged in this delightful work unite as a body in earnest prayer one for another; for I feel convinced, if such were the case, our feeble efforts would be more abundantly blessed by God. HUMBLE MEANS EFFECTING GREAT GOOD. THE following story was related to me in course of conversation, without the remotest idea of it ever passing further; but I have since obtained the narrator's consent to make this use of it, as it appeared to me an interesting and striking illustration of a truth we are slow to remember, that God hath "chosen the weak things of the earth to confound the mighty," and that the "morning and the evening seed may both alike be good." It is beautiful and humbling to trace the footsteps of Omnipotence, and mark how feeble the instruments which he often condescends to use. A youth was living in the family of a master, to whom he was apprenticed to learn the business of printing, &c. He had in infancy and childhood been taught to repeat prayers, which practice he continued when separated from his friends and home, but in the lifeless, careless manner we might expect from one whose only religious education had consisted in being taught to observe the |