There is an art called photo-sculpture. The cast is made by throwing light upon the object from a vast number of surrounding points. This brings the subject into prominence. So the lesson should be carried about, so as to obtain the light of all your experience and observations. Take it with you into the street, into the train, into the shop, and wherever you go. It is said that in carriage shops the last and best polish of the spokes is secured after sand paper and all such means have been used, by putting the spokes into a barrel and revolving it rapidly, so that they rub against each other until they are perfectly smooth. So the lesson should be revolved in the mind until it is thoroughly well known and can be readily used. Special attention should be paid to illustrations. Whenever an unknown thing is mentioned the question almost always arises, 'What is it like?' The unknown must be explained by the known, the unseen by the seen. The book of Revelation, for instance, is a great picture book of heaven. Almost all spiritual truth is expressed by comparison and illustration. Our Lord spoke unto the people in parables. If therefore, you would be successful in teaching you must be skilled in illustration. Another requisite in preparation for this work is that of cultivating deep convictions of the truth you have to teach. To get this you may have to pass through deep waters of doubt, and dark scenes of trouble and conflict, still these experiences of perturbation may lead you into the possession of the power of a strong belief, and a vigorous faith. There is a wide difference between saying 'I believe' and believing. Happy is the man who has, not only received the truth into his soul, but put his very soul into the truth To do this there must be much prayer, much faith, much struggle; but once obtain it, and there will be ample compensation for all cost. When Daguerre was working at his sun pictures, his great difficulty was in fixing them. The light came and imprinted the image, but when the tablet was drawn from the camera the image had vanished. But he ultimately discovered the chemical power which turned the evanescent into the durable, and thus accomplished his purpose. So what the teacher requires is a fixing solution, a divine agency, that will fix truth in the heart, so that it shall not be a mere fleeting impression, but a settled conviction. This was the secret of the power wielded by Wesley, Whitfield, Bourne, Clowes, and others, who spoke as though they believed every word they uttered. It is the same today, if you would lead others into faith, you must believe the truth yourself. A highly gifted author who often put true questions in a homely way said: 'Men that do anything in the world must be men of strong convictions. It won't do to go through life like a hen cawing, and lifting up one foot and not knowing where to put it down next.' Not only are we to be sanctified 'through belief of the truth,' but we shall be successful through belief of the truth. I would advise you to do as the prophet Ezekiel was commanded to do. That was to eat a certain roll that was given to him. That roll was the word of God. With that word in his heart, he went in the heat of his spirit to move the captives by the river Chebar. You should remember that like begets like, the stream does not rise higher than the fountain, and if you would move the souls of your children you must feel the inspiration of divine truths you must drink deep at the fountain of those living waters. As the artist studies the masterpieces until the inspiration of the master becomes his own, so must you reverently and patiently study the Divine word until it becomes the absolute law of your inner life. Then and not till then will you be able to move and mould the souls of your children. Another important means of preparation for Sunday-school work would be meeting in conference with your fellow teachers, as often as you can, for counsel and for help. Well conducted teachers' meetings ought to be great helps to efficient working. Teachers' meetings in which you meet not to hold an hours discussion of the question whether you shall burn coke or coal to warm the school-room on Sunday; or whether the first class shall sit in the corner or in the middle of the room; but to 'Provoke one another to love and good works.' The wise man once said, 'How can one be warm alone.' Even in relation to Sunday-school teachers these words are both wise and pertinent. The same great teacher said, "Two are better far than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.' In preparation for Sunday-school work as as well as in other matters, As iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.' Mathew Henry adds, "Two eyes see more than one.' 'Wise and profitable discourse sharpens man's wits.' Be constant then, in your attendance at the teachers' meeting, and go with your stores of wisdom and grace, on your own account, as well as for your humbler fellow teachers; "That now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there may be equality as it is written; he that had gathered much had nothing over and he that had gathered little had no lack.' And now in closing let me urge upon you in all your preparation to rely upon the enlightening and sanctifying power of God's Holy Spirit, without which all will be vain. Your work is to do as Elijah did on Mount Carmel, to build the altar, to lay the wood and sacrifice in order, and then look for the fire to kindle it from above. You know well that the successful lighting of a fire depends much upon its being well laid beforehand, and so in Sunday-school teaching preparation goes before success. Let there be Christian work, Christian teaching and Divine operation, and then results will surely follow. Michael Angelo said to an artist, whose work he was called upon to examine, 'The light of the public square will test its value.' And so, dear friends, I say to you, the light of eternity will soon test the value of your work. Therefore Then 'Work till the days decline, With steadfast heart and true; With heavenly vision clear, Even at the setting sun; The Master's voice shall greet thine ear, MILK FOR BABES. THERE is a good story told of a blunt old sea-captain who was noted for his extreme personal plainness. Being present at a party, he had taken no part in the dance, as his hostess had some difficulty in providing him with a partner. At last she led up to him a prim and aged spinster, at the same time whispering a few words of apology in his ear. 'Oh, you needn't make any apology, madam,' said he, jumping up with alacrity. Any old thing is good enough for me.' One cannot help feeling, as one turns over the leaves of the average Sundayschool volume, or glances at the contents of the singing book,' that the writers of these childish rhymes, sentimental ditties and unnatural stories, were actuated by the same motive as was the captain's hostess; as if 'any old thing' was good enough for the Sunday-school. How many of us have been disgusted and indignant by turns as we sat in the Sunday-school listening to the absurd jumble of worn out allusions to 'fadeless shores,' silvery tides,’ dewy meads,' 'raging billows,' &c., set to music that was but the echo of negro minstrelsy, the dance, or the popular ballad of the day. If we are to put words of praise in the mouths of our little ones, let it not be those of which they shall be ashamed when they come to years of discretion; but let us rather make them familiar with those grand old hymns which they shall but find the finer and the sweeter the older they grow. We do not wish to be understood as undervaluing modern contributions to sacred song. Dykes, Monk, Sullivan, Barnby, and others have proved how worthily the new school of devotional music can supplement the old; we only protest against the indiscriminate expulsion from the Sunday-school and prayermeeting of the utterances of such men as the Wesleys, Bonar, Heber, Newton, Watts, Doddridge, Montgomery, Cowper, and Toplady. What should be thought of the school or college that should discard Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, simply because it had a Tennyson, a Longfellow, an Emerson? Compare that old lyric, Rock of Ages,' with the modern 'Safe in the Arms of Jesus,' or the score of Old Hundred' with that of 'Revive us Again,' with its chorus, Hallelujah, Thine the Glory.' There are but few of us who have not been struck by the absurdity of an entire audience of strong, able-bodied men and women pining in chorus, 'to be nothing, nothing,' when the Creator made and placed them upon this earth for the express purpose of being something. ་ As regards the reading matter of the Sunday-schools, there is a decided improvement on the libraries of a generation ago. We are grateful for the disappearance of the dreadful and depressing' memoirs;' we are thankful for the suppression of prosy histories of early missions and dismal theological treatises. We are encouraged by the fact that a little humour in a story is not regarded, as in days of yore, as a evidence of total depravity on the part of the author. Books for the Sunday-school children should be, above all, life-like, for you cannot impose one whit on the unerring judgment of these keen little critics. Not long ago a fair-haired little boy came running to his mother with a Sunday-school book from which his nurse had been reading to him. 'Oh, mamma,' he shouted, 'did you ever hear of such a goosie? A man was chased by Indians, and instead of running away as fast as ever he could, he just got down on his knees and began to pray! Wasn't he a goosie?' The child's criticism was just, but it was thought well not to lose the opportunity of impressing the propriety of prayer in such a strait. The man could have kept on running all the same,' his mother said, ' and yet have sent up a swift little cry for help.' The contemptuous expression faded from the child's face, and he answered reverently, 'So he could, mamma. God wouldn't have been so very particular if the man didn't get down on his knees just that once.' The old Jewish idea, that the best of everything belonged rightfully to the Lord, and should be used ungrudgingly in His service, was a beautiful one. Let no one presume to bring his hasty, careless, slovenly work as an offering to the Sunday-school. Any old thing' is not good enough for the little ones, of whom the Christ declared, 'Of such is the kingdom.' SUNDAY-SCHOOL INTELLIGENCE. NOTES OF THE UNION. KNOWLWOOD.-We had a Saturday evening conference with the teachers. It might be more proper to say we gave an address for there was not much questioning or expression of opinion on the part of the friends elicited. From private conversation with the minister and officers we gathered that there is a fairly good religious tone in the school, and that some improvement in methods of management and teaching are being effected. The weak point— at least one of them-in many such schools as the one at Knowlwood, is a lack of courteousness. At the same time there is a thorough heartiness in the social relationships of the people. BOLTON 1ST.-Hellawell school is doing a good work, and is in a part of the town where such work is much needed. It has not all the accommodation and appliances to make it a systematic and efficient school. The teaching is not of the highest order, but the young people come under good religious influences, and some of them are getting into Society classes, and promising to become useful. We advised a change in the books used in the infant and elementary classes. It is easier to work with good tools than bad ones. The Folds is in a similar condition to Hellawell. It is doing a kind of mission work in a neighbourhood where there is plenty of scope for operations of that kind. We were pleased with the apparent effort of the teachers to make the children (a large proportion of the scholars were small children) feel that they should love Jesus, and be happy in His favour. While, however, such schools do much good, they do not yield so much fruit to the Connexion as they ought to do. They lack the means to keep the young people just at the time when the world and the devil are most on the alert to get hold of them. We have them while they are infants, but when they are approaching manhood and womanhood, or they think they are, they go either to other churches, or what is worse, into the world, and become lost in not a few instances to virtue and happiness. Bridge-street is a much larger school than either of the others we have named. The defect in its accommodation is the want of a sufficient number of class-rooms. Some improvement in this respect is contemplated, and could easily be made. Some of the teachers are persons of considerable experience in that kind of work. The Connexional Lessons are not worked in the school all round, but most of the teachers aim at them, and use them more or less. The line drawn to the success of this school is a defect in the management and discipline. We do not refer so much to the state the school is in when assembled, as to the little influence the superintendent and teachers have over the scholars to induce them to attend the preaching services and other means of grace. Even the morning school does not come as a school into the chapel. The work closes in time for the service, and we should think most of the teachers come in; but the scholars, even the grown up young people among them, walk away from the house of God to spend the remainder of the forenoon we know not how. When we saw such a host of them in the street, just leaving the school, we thought we were going to have a fine company of youths in the congregation. To our astonishment very few of them turned in with us. We should think not one in six of those we saw in the street attended the service. In the evening service things were no better in this respect. The scholars were conspicuous only by their absence, we judge not more than twenty or thirty out of several hundreds being present. The authorities of the school and the church should set themselves to remedy this evil as soon and as firmly as possible. We trust from what we said to them at the conference on Monday that they will do so. Oct. Nov. Dec. Oct. LESSONS FOR FOURTH QUARTER, 1882. MORNING SUBJECTS. FOR READING. J. W. Golden Texts for Repetition. 1 .............The World's need of the Bible......Psalm cxv. .....................1 Cor. i. 21 15............ 22 ............Rom. xv. 4 29............ 1............ The Anointing in Bethany Mark xiv. 1-11............... Verse 8 8............The Passover...................................................... - - 950 900 294- Mark xiv. 12-211 Cor. v. 7 15............The Lord's Supper .....................Mark xiv. 22-31.1 Cor. xi. 26 22............The Agony in the Garden ............Mark xiv. 32-42 Isaiah liii. 4 29............ Jesus Betrayed and Taken....... Mark xiv. 43-54.......Luke xxii. 48 Nov. 5............Jesus before the Council............ Mark xiv. 55-72...........Isaiah liii. 7 12............Jesus before Pilate Mark xv. 1–15............... Isaiah liii. 3 19............Jesus Mocked and Crucified.......................... .Mark xv. 16-25...............John xii. 32 26............Jesus' Death on the Cross............ Mark xv. 27-37...............1 Peter iii. 18 3............After His Death...........................Mark xv. 38-47............... Verse 39 10............ Resurrection of Christ 17............ After the Resurrection..................Mark xvi. 9-20............... Dec. Mark xvi. 1-8 24............ GLAD TIDINGS I CAN SET AND A LOS ..... Isaiah xxxv. .........1 Cor. xv. 20 Verse 15 |