Have he has sown his grain in the field? Does the gardener imagine that the seed which he plants in the earth will grow up at once into a beautiful flower? "Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain; be ye also patient." You have trials and difficulties to contend with-where is the teacher who has not?--but they are not insuperable if you will meet them with prayer and patience. Irregular attendance, inattention, disobedience, and every other wrong feature which marks your little class, may be, and must be altered, but do not expect to transform your childrens' had habits instantaneously into good ones. you ever tried to conquer a bad habit or feeling in yourself? You know full well the repeated effort which was required before it could be surmounted. And is a more rapid improvement to be looked for from children; from children, whose early training and home life, probably surrounds them with far more obstacles than ever stood in your way ? You must have patience; you must wait a little while before you seek for the fruit of your labours. But do not infer, as some teachers practically do, that patience is synonymous with idleness or indifference. You are not to give up striving because you give over complaining. Patient waiting must be combined with diligent working. Will you bear in mind two considerations which will help to increase your patience? Look first, at the magnitude of your expectations! What is the hope and aim of Sunday school teachers? Is it not the salvation of their children? Yes; this is the hallowed motive which inspires them in their work; this is the glorious result which they ardently desire and anticipate. And is not the attainment of such an object worth far more patient waiting than you have yet been called upon to endure? Were your pursuit a trifling and an indifferent one, it would be of little consequence if you then became tired and relinquished it; but the hope of winning souls to your Saviour, and of guiding your children to everlasting happiness, is surely too magnificent and momentous to lose its sustaining power. For even suppose that you toil on in weariness and sorrow for many years, and on the termination of your labours can point to only one soul that has been saved from sin and ruin, through the blessing which God has vouchsafed to your feeble ministrations, will not that one soul be a rich recompense for your past exertions? If you want a motive for patience, or an inducement to "press forward," contemplate more earnestly, "the prize of your high calling." Lose not your crown of rejoicing through an unwillingness to strive and wait for it. "He that goeth forth Dwell next on the certainty of your success. and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." "Doubtless!" Thank God, dear friends, for this precious little word, and let it animate and sustain you amidst your present discouragement. If you had no assurance of ultimate triumph; if the accomplishment of your hearts' desire were at best, but a matter of probability, the failure of your patience might be excusable; but when the positive declarations of the God of truth are given as the pledge of your success, should you not calmly repose upon His promise? It is a dull and wintry day with you now; you are casting your seed into the barren soil, with a trembling hand and a tearful eye; "but be not weary in well-doing, for in due season you shall reap if you faint not." The harvest of autumn will assuredly repay the toils of spring; and you may count as confidently on its golden sheaves, as if you were now bearing them to your peaceful home. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." "Therefore be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." will Cultivate more and more, dear reader, the spirit of patience, for it prove of inestimable value to you in your education of the young. It will give you that calm self-possession which is so requisite for an efficient instructor of others; it will bear you up under heavy trials and disappointments, and will keep you faithful and undaunted at your post, when others, gifted perhaps with more brilliant talents than your self, have relinquished their work in despair, or are pursuing it in despondency. "When overtasked at length, Both Love and Hope beneath the load give way, And both supporting does the work of both." Anna M LOOK AT SELF. Teachers should bear in mind their own waywardness when little. A lady once went to a poor woman to complain of the very bad conduct of her little boy; the mother freely confessed he was a very naughty child, but added by way of palliation-" O, do remember Ma'am (the lady had resided from infancy in the parish,) how very naughty you used to be, you were always in punishment!" M. G. THE PARENTAL CHARACTER OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. THE importance of acquired relationships is but too little realized and felt. Whilst we all acknowledge and act up to the responsibility of those relationships which are known and natural, we oftentimes will not acknowledge, and do not act upon those which at first sight do not appear to be ours by nature. The relationship between father and child is not acquired, but natural, and scarcely any man is found to deny it, the very dictates of nature are a security for his assumption of his parental character; but the relationships of master to servant, teacher to pupil, employer to employed, and a thousand more, are all forgotten, the responsibilities attached to each are unrecognised, and the opportunities for doing good contained in each, are prodigally cast away, because they do not as it were, thrust themselves upon our notice, and by the manifest importance and justice of their claims, demand the attention which is their due. And yet it almost seems as if a moment's reflection ought to suffice for shewing any thinking man, with what a host of responsibilities he is surrounded, and that he can assume no new station in life, without an assumption of these along with it. By the influence of example alone, we are connected with those around us, and have a vast relationship to them, either for evil or for good. Nor is it to be at all supposed that these relationships are acquired only by men in leading situations and that the solemn responsibility is entailed upon them alone. Far from it. If they press with a solemn weight upon the minister of a parish, they press with a proportional weight on every member in it, and on none more heavily than on him, for whose perusal these lines are written "The Sunday School Teacher." I look upon the recognition of his parental character by the Sunday school teacher as a matter of the greatest moment, and from an experience of the state of the manufacturing towns, I conceive it to be in the present day a matter of 'peculiar importance.' There are four particulars connected with this subject to which I would draw his attention. The first is, "The causes of this importance at all times." The second," The peculiar causes of its importance in the present day." Then, "How this character is to be fulfilled," or wrought out. As to the causes of this importance at all times, I think they are to be found in the character of the young people themselves, whom we are called upon to teach. This claims, as it were, a parental character from those who are set over them as teachers in the great concerns of God, of eternity, of heaven, and of hell. First of all, look at the natural dependency of children, it is with children that the Sunday school teacher has to do, and they are by nature dependent. I believe that many and many a Sunday school child finds himself dependent on his teacher; his ignorance depends on the teacher's knowledge to enlighten, and his doubts on the teacher's wisdom to direct. What the Sunday school child seeks at his father's hands in temporal things during the week, he often seeks at his teacher's hands in spiritual things on the Sabbath, and he seeks it moreover with a feeling of dependence, as if he were an inferior, and the one to instruct were a superior. It is the nature of the young to feel this, and if the instructor will but skilfully avail himself of the pliability of the material thus fitted to his hand, and this can be done only by assuming a parental character towards the one he instructs, then he bends the very nature of the child into an instrument for his own good, and makes his very weakness the element of his greatest strength. Then look at the natural affections of the young, we must never forget how strong the affections of the young really are, and how closely they cling to those whom once they love. The affections of a child, if gained by those set over him, afford a facility in teaching, which, perhaps, cannot be attained in any other way. Where a threat is impotent because it appeals to the fear of a proud spirit, a look of kindness will succeed, and a word of gentleness subdue, because it appeals to the tenderer emotions of the heart, which are manifestly the most powerful in us all. It is affection, not fear, that induces the obedience of most children, and it is from affection, and not fear, that God would be served by us. Now we say to the Sunday school teacher, win your children's affections, put yourself into the place of a parent as regards their spiritual existence and provision, and future hopes and prospects, shew them that you love them with a tender regard, and that you are affectionately solicitous about their souls' eternal welfare, and as the minds of the young are naturally open to affection, your exhibition of love will work beneficially upon them. Depend upon it that your position demands this from you, and that much of your permanent success depends upon it. And once again, we believe that the natural shrewdness of the young, is another reason why the teacher should assume a parental character towards them. If we do not give the young, generally, credit for a considerable amount of shrewdness, we make a great mistake. They are very tolerable judges of the dispositions of those with whom they are more immediately brought into contact, and they soon perceive whether we teach as a matter of cold duty in which we are but very partially interested, or whether we enter on it as a matter of real interest, and with all our hearts. The natural tendency of the child's mind, is to open itself towards the teacher, to encourage this, a warmth of manner and the interest of love, must be shewn in return, or else this delicate feeling is chilled, and the very acuteness of the child's perception, you turn into an injury to himself. These are some of the reasons why we would have the Sunday school teacher assume a parental character towards the children, placed by Providence beneath his care. There are other reasons also, derived from the peculiar state of things in the present day, which in manufacturing towns especially, renders this a matter of very great importance indeed. One of these is, that from many concurring causes, the natural parents of the child have not fulfilled their duty, nor have they shewn towards their offspring that peculiar character which we wish the Sunday school teacher to supply. In manufacturing towns and indeed in agricultural districts also, we find the children separated from their parents during the entire day, and when they meet again at night, the time is too short, even where the inclination is felt, for any useful demonstration of parental sympathy, affection, or control. In some instances, mere children are from their earnings independent of their parents, and are uncontrolled by them, lest they should seek a lodging elsewhere, and so withdraw their contribution to the expenses of the house. We can point out many instances where the parent knowing that he is, to a certain degree, indebted to his child for a portion of his living, dares not rebuke that child with honesty or vigour lest it prove his own loss; and so little is the control in many instances exercised, that such children spend much of their nights away from home, without being subject to any account, much less to rebuke. Now, we believe that there is, in many instances, an opening for the faithful Sunday school teacher to step in, and take the unfaithful parent's place. He can with all kindness and honesty rebuke. He has this advantage on his side, that it must be plain to his scholar that no benefit can accrue to any one but himself from it, and he can point out the evil of sinful ways with a considerable degree of advantage from his mere position "A Teacher." Thus too with regard to affection. In how many instances do children realize but little affection from their parents, as |