mustered on the battle-field. But to God is all strength to be ascribed. For created strength in all its forms is derived from Him who made the mountains to stand firm, and from whom came all power, from the wing of the fluttering insect upward to the angel who breathed death on the Assyrian host.

And to Him belongeth "power" in the sense of authority or right. To the German monarch there is majesty, to his advisers glory, to his army strength; but the right of the whole matter who shall decide? But to our God pertaineth by right all the glory, majesty, and strength of the ages that have rolled away. His has been an empire based on no usurpation, sustained by no injustice. Clouds and darkness are round about Him; but there is light enough to demonstrate what Scripture reveals to faith-namely, that "righteousness and justice are the habitation of His throne." So has it been.

So is it. To Him glory, majesty, strength, and right before all ages, and now. In the work and revelation of His Son we have the awful but all-animating assurance that the great universe is, by His boundless resources, in all its extent subordinated to an end as good as it is vast. Despite the clouds which sin has thrown about us from the zenith to the horizon, faith discerns an all-central purpose, which is bending all things into subjection to that eternal design. with a view to which all things exist.

And as it was in the beginning, and is now, so shall it ever be. To Him is glory, majesty, strength, and right, to all ages. Amen.

It only remains, my brethren, that we should thoughtfully, intelligently, devoutly, make this lofty anthem ours. By such means we gather up the meaning of all existence. Rise to the climax of created joy, and come into union with Him "of whom, and to whom, and through whom, are all things." Here is the incense of creation in its utmost refinement, the highest reach of the immortal mindeternal life begun below.

222

Hints to Sunday-School Teachers.

I.

HOW TO KEEP ORDER IN A CLASS.

"As the beams to a house, as the bones to the microcosm of man, so is order to all things."-SOUTHEY.

VERY one who has visited a number of schools knows how different they are from each other in the matter of order. No order and no quiet, is your report of one; perfect order and impressive stillness, is your report concerning another. In the one you feel as if you were in a congregation of rooks, each one trying to caw louder than the rest; in the other you feel as if you were in the company of bees, all so busy making honey that they have no time to make a noise.

If a school is disorderly some at once throw the blame on the superintendent; and perhaps he is not blameless. If he be a man of intelligence, influence, authority, he will so rule the school as to promote and almost insure order. But as no general could maintain order in an army without the support of his officers, so no superintendent can keep order in a school without being backed up by his teachers. Unless they keep order in their respective classes, how can any man keep order throughout the entire school? Sometimes one class demoralizes an entire school. The teacher has so little ruling power that its members are a nuisance to all the other classes. It becomes a great question whether one has a call to teach at all if he has not the tact to control his scholars.

Lay it down as a first principle that your teaching is a failure if you cannot keep order. Pope, in his Essay on Man, says, "Order is heaven's first law." However that may be, order should be the first law of every Sunday-school class. Without order kept there can be little instruction imparted. But if all aim to keep order it will be easier for each. Let there be unity in this matter: not the unity of the Scotchman who said that in his church they were quite united, for they were all frozen together; but the unity of a happy family all acting in the harmony of love.

The teacher who is

I. TO KEEP ORDER IN A CLASS, BE ORDERLY. not orderly himself cannot expect to have an orderly class. The orderly teacher makes a point of being in his class in good time. And good time means at least five minutes before the exercises of the school begin. The teacher should wait for his scholars; the scholars should not have to wait for their teacher. The late-coming teacher often finds that disorder has begun before he arrives; and it would have been a good deal easier to prevent it than it is to cure it. There are a good many three-handed teachers-teachers with a right hand and a left hand and a little behind-hand; and their classes are not models of orderliness. The crderly teacher makes a point of never leaving his class during a sitting. As the guard of the train when it is about to start says, "Take your seats," and sometimes shouts to those who are in a great hurry to get out, "Keep your seats;' say to every teacher-Take your seat in good time, and keep your seat to the very close. You may wish to have a word with one friend, or to make an appointment with another; but as you would be orderly and maintain order, don't! The orderly teacher makes a point of promptly obeying the superintendent's call. He may not have quite finished his lesson when the bell rings, and he may wish very much to have a little more time; but he must set an example of prompt obedience, and rather stop in the middle of a sentence or in the middle of a good illustration, than fail to show respect to his superior officer. No man is fit to rule who has not learned to obey.

II. TO KEEP ORDER IN A CLASS, BE WATCHFUL. Some teachers are very innocent, or very indifferent-very innocent, so that they suspect no guile in their scholars, or very indifferent as to keeping order in their classes. They allow their scholars to sit where they cannot all be seen, and, apparently, have not the slightest idea of what is going on beside them. They close their eyes most devoutly during prayer, forgetting that the children may not close theirs, but rather take the opportunity to play most unbecoming pranks. Unless you know from experience that you may trust your scholars, keep a watchful eye on them during the time of prayer. You may think the advice strange, if not irreverent; but oftentimes there are most disgraceful noises during prayer, because the teacher good, easy man-keeps his eyes closed, and sees nothing of what is going on before his nose!

Angels, we are told, are full of eyes within, and that gives us a

wonderful idea of their intelligence. Teachers would need to be full of eyes without, so necessary is it that they should be watchful. "The blind eye and the deaf ear" are useful in their place; for, unless we can see a good many things without noticing, and hear a good many things without heeding, we shall have a bad time of it. But the blind eye and the deaf ear are quite out of place in the Sunday-school teacher in his class. There he must be watchful. His scholars will soon learn that he has the seeing eye and the hearing ear, and conclude that they may as soon think to catch a weasel asleep as their teacher off his watch.

III. TO KEEP ORDER IN A CLASS, BE INTERESTING. "Be interesting!" you exclaim. "That is something easy to put into words, but far from easy to put into practice." Quite true. And yet I repeat-Be interesting. I have a friend who, when I am unusually serious, and, perhaps, engaged with sobering thoughts, sometimes says to me, “Smile now!" And I do not find it easy to smile to order. But my friend repeats the order until smile I must, and smile I do. And so I say and say again, and yet again, to teachers-Be interesting; and if you have the will, you will find the way to make your matter and manner interesting to your scholars. Did you ever notice how good-natured a lot of people are when they are enjoying a good dinner? They may be querulous people, but that is not the time they are likely to quarrel. Well, if you can give your scholars a really good meal, well spiced with illustrations, and pleasantly served up, you will charm them into good-nature, and keep them as quiet as mice are when feasting on a piece of fine old cheese. Be interested, and you will interest. Have you never known a teacher making desperate efforts to say something when he had nothing in readiness to say, and when he had to fling and flounder about like an eel on a sandbank, when a little forethought would have enabled him to move with ease in the clear, sweet waters of Scripture truth? It is a painful exhibition, and the scholars do not like it, and are not edified by it.

Solomon says, "The heart of the righteous studieth to answer;' and when teachers study in their hearts before they answer with their lips, their thoughts come bright with light and warm with love, and impressive with their interest. The teacher who does not study to answer is like "the slothful man who roasteth not that which he took in hunting." Some teachers "hunt" a good deal, hearing this speakər,

and reading that book or magazine; but they do not "cook" what they catch, and cannot serve it up as a relishable meal to their scholars. I say, hunt for good thoughts, by all means-hunt on heathen or on Christian ground; but put the thoughts on the spit of prayer; turn them before the glowing fire of meditation; and, when they are thoroughly roasted, they may be served up as an appetising meal to your youthful guests. Unprepared lessons are like raw meat; and one must be hungry indeed if he can relish such a meal.

Do not pause too long between your sentences. Young minds will soon wander, and, perhaps, not soon come back to the point. The teacher who is slow of speech may be a well-informed man; he cannot, to children, be an interesting man. If you use written notes, have them in order, so as to be able with a glance to catch the points. Do not be above using surprises. If you can say something unexpected and startling, you may arrest their flagging attention, and, having arrested it, you may keep it. A gentleman was riding on a coach one day, and the driver said to him, "You see that off horse, sir?" "Yes." ። "Well, when he gets to the white gate over yonder, he will shy terribly." "What are you going to do with him?" "Just before he gets there, I shall give him something to think about." And sure enough, in several sharp cuts of the whip, he gave him something to think about. If, as you move along the highway of the lesson, some inattentive scholars should shy and threaten to upset the class, give them something special to think about--not something sharp and stinging as the application of a whip, but something as rousing to the mind as that is to the body.

IV. TO KEEP ORDER IN A CLASS, BE FIRM. I daresay Eli was a very good man, but he had one failing as a father: his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. I have sometimes said to myself, in watching a teacher in relation to his class-There is another Eli! His scholars are making themselves vile, and he does not restrain them. Perhaps, you say, he cannot. And that may be true, for there are some who have no authority. But in that case he has mistaken his vocation; for I hold that a firm hand is as necessary as a clear head and a warm heart to the true teacher. "A firm hand!" some one is ready to exclaim; "why, what has a firm hand to do with bringing young souls into sympathy with the Saviour?" At any rate, it has not to use the lash or the rod; for it is as true of the teacher as of the bishop that he is to be "no striker." There have been