THB PRIZE LESSON ON FAITH IN CHRIST. BY MISS MARY ANNE DRAWBRIDGE; A TEACHER IN ST. NICHOLAS'S SUNDAY SCHOOL, ROCHESTER. THE following Lesson is intended to illustrate the nature of "Faith in Christ," under the similitude of a "child learning to walk." Its sense of its own weakness, and its mother's ability and willingness to take care of it, pourtray the experience of a sinner when first awakened by the influences of the Holy Spirit, to see his own sinfulness and weakness, and then led by Him to view God as "Mighty to save;" having beheld God as the Saviour who suffered and died for him, he will fling himself at the foot of the Cross, trusting in Christ's merits alone, for pardon and peace. Teacher. Have you ever seen a little child learning to walk ? All. O yes, teacher. T. Did it seem afraid? T. Was it afraid when it had hold of its mother's hand? C. No, teacher; it did not mind then. T. Susan, how did your mother teach your little brother to walk? S. She put him against the wall, teacher, and then she told him to come to her. T. And was he eager? T. What made him so? C. Because she called him, teacher. T. What is the reason that little children depend so much upon their mother? C." Because they cannot take care of themselves" "Because they cannot help themselves." T. If they cannot help themselves, what are they called? C. Helpless, teacher. T. Then why do they trust in their mother? C. Because she is strong, teacher. T T. But suppose a little child were to think that its mother was not strong enough to take care of it, would it come to her ? C. No, teacher. T. But are not other people strong? Why should it trust so to its mother? C. Because she loves it, teacher. T. Yes, that is the reason: does the child know this? C. Yes, teacher. T. How does it know? C. Because she is kind to it. T. Yes; then you have told me three reasons why a little child should trust to its mother: the first is, that it feels itself weak and helpless: the second is, that it knows its mother is able to take care of it, and the third, that it knows she loves it. Now what are they? (The Children repeat.) T. Now, you have told me the reasons why the child comes to its mother Can you tell me the way in which it would come? Do you think it would try to come to its mother unless she held out her hand to it? C. No, teacher. T. What would happen to it, if it were to take hold of anything that came in its way, instead of its mother's hand? C. It would fall, teacher. C. Yes; I know a little girl who fell when she was learning to walk, and she would not walk again for more than a year. Suppose the child thought that it would wait to come to its mother till it could walk by itself; would it ever come? C. No teacher; it would never learn. T. Then it must come to its mother at once if it wishes to come at all; must it not? C. Yes, teacher. T. What is it that gives the little child such confidence in its mother? C. It is her love, teacher. T. Now my dear children, I have been talking to you about this little child, to explain what believing in Jesus Christ means. How are we like this little child? (A pause.) T. You will remember that we found three reasons for the little child to come to its mother: the first was- C. It was helpless, teacher. C. It knew that its mother was able to take care of it. T. And what was the third? T. How are we helpless ? C. We cannot do any thing of ourselves. T. Yes, can you tell me of any one in the Testament, who because he trusted in himself, was tempted to deny his Saviour whom he really loved? C. Yes, teacher, it was Peter. T. Then if we are all helpless, we must feel that we are so; the little child felt that it was, did it not? C. Yes, teacher. T. Let us read a text to show that we must feel our weakness. All of you repeat, "Ho, every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters." (Children repeat this.) T. We must feel a desire to come to Jesus. Who is it that puts this wish into our hearts ? C. The Holy Spirit. T. What are we to come to Jesus for? T. Yes, my dear children, He is Almighty. Give me a text to prove that He is able to save every one that comes to Him. C. "He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him." T. Yes, though we are weak and helpless sinners, Christ is Almighty to save us. But will Jesus receive us if we come to Him? C. O yes, teacher. T. How do we know that He will? C. Because He calls us. T. Has Jesus Christ called come to Him? C. Yes, teacher. T. Where has He called us? C. In the Bible, teacher. us to C. "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God." T. Yes! there Jesus calls children to come to Him, can you tell me a text where He calls every one? C. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." T. How can we come to Christ? T. What is it that gives us confidence in coming to Him? C. It is because he loves us, teacher. T. And how do we know that He loves us ? C. Because He gave Himself for us. T. Yes, could He have done more for us ? C. O no, teacher. T. No, there is no love like that of Jesus, not even that of the best of mothers. He died for us. Did He die for those who loved Him? C. No, teacher. T. Who did He die for, then? C. For sinners. T. Yes; can you tell me a text to shew this ? C. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." T. What made Him die for those that hated Him? C. It was his love, teacher. T. Yes, my dear children, we should think it shewed very great love for one friend to die for another, should we not ? C. Yes, teacher. T. Then you see the wonderful love of our blessed Saviour, who left his happy home in Heaven, to suffer and die for his bitterest enemies. Then do you not think He will be sure to receive us if we come to Him, when He loved us so much as to die for us? C. O yes, teacher. T. This then, dear children, is Faith -we must first see how sinful and helpless we are, then that God is strong enough to save us, and then that He loves us, and will save us, if we come to Him. Now suppose we should trust to anything besides Jesus Christ, what would happen to us? C. We should go to hell, teacher. T. Yes; none but Christ can save; so if we think by being what is called good, we can get to Heaven, we should be much more certain to perish, than the little child would be to fall, by trusting to a stool or chair. And then, we must come to Jesus just as we are; can we ever make ourselves fit to come ? C. No, teacher. T. What will be the consequence if we wait for that? C. We shall never come. T. Then we must look to Jesus alone Let to save us and just as we are. us repeat a text to shew that Jesus is our only Saviour.-"There is none other name under Heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Children repeat it.) T. Now my dear children, how must C. That Jesus is able to save us? C. "That Jesus loves us -"That Jesus will save us." T. Then are we to trust in anything else besides Jesus Christ? C. No teacher, only in Jesus. T. Then can you put off coming to Jesus, believing and trusting in Him? you are helpless, sinful, and lost, but Jesus longs to receive you and bless you. He calls you now to come to Him, it may soon be too late, not one of you is too young to die, and Jesus may not call you much longer. O pray to Him to give you his Holy Spirit to make you love your Saviour, and to bring you to Him. Follow the example of that little child we have been talking about, and cast yourselves just as you are, on the love of Him who died for you. [While we hope it will be clearly understood that the foregoing Lesson best fulfils the condition on which the prize has been awarded, and also possesses considerable intrinsic merit, we yet feel bound in candour to say, that we do not think it so perfect as such a Lesson might be made. The Authoress has fairly earned her prize by the relative excellence of her Lesson; but there are some points in it, viewed by itself, which require criticism. And such criticism is a thing of great importance to those who have to prepare such Lessons. We would suggest to teachers that, after drawing up Lessons, they meet together, and with a kind severity, test each other's exercises by the few great principles which we have already laid down. We will do something similar with the Lesson before us. In the first place, has the MENTAL OBJECT been well chosen? We are disposed to think that a better one might be selected ;—better we mean in that the general idea of a child learning to walk, does not point at all strikingly to the power of Faith in saving the soul. The analogy would seem to require that—" Christ saves sinners from great peril, just as a mother saves her infant from great peril." A child's learning to walk cannot sufficiently exhibit this idea of alarming danger, and so we perceive it has not been brought out in the Lesson. The attention of the children had not been fixed upon the fact, how much we need the atoning blood of the crucified Jesus. We must have a deep sense of the evil of sin, and its fearful penalties, before we shall perceive the value of a Redeemer. The Lesson is deficient in such a representation and as a child learning to walk would scarcely allow of such an application, we consider that it is not an adequate foundation for those spiritual truths which are associated with Faith in Christ. : Another question is, Have the QUALITIES of THE OBJECT, or the chief circumstances of a child's learning to walk, been rightly developed? The first three circumstances a child walking towards its mother indicating, helplessness, trust in power, and assurance of love-may be allowed to pass; this question merely being asked-Has a child that mental exercise before it totters to its mother? We pass on to demur somewhat to the assertion that a child would necessarily fall, if it attempted to walk independently of its parent. We have seen children getting on very well, by means of the wall, a chair, &c.; and therefore we do not think that a child "would never learn" if it had not the mother's help. We plainly see that the writer wishes to show that the infant must have some help; and a chair would be help, just in the same manner as a mother would be. But this is fatal for the analogy, for the sinner's help can come only from Christ. But, thirdly, have the points developed been PROPERLY APPLIED? They have been applied simply, clearly and scripturally: but not so fully, nor with so much attention to the mental process going on in the scholars' minds, as they ought to be. The children are told many things which they ought to have been made to find out. This is where most teachers fail. It is difficult to make a child reason out for himself what you wish him to know-but if he can do it, he ought to be made to do it. Some things a child could not find out, and these must be told. In the Lesson before us, a little carefully prepared questioning would have brought the children to the point which their teacher wished to put prominently before them. The difference between these two methods, is pretty much the same as that between a traveller's reaching a certain point in his journey, by his own gradual efforts, and another's being caught up into the air, and after a rapid whirl, finds himself where he scarcely knows, and how, he is too bewildered to understand. We might make other comments--for instance, on the quotation of " every one that thirsteth" as a proof that we feel our weakness—but we have touched upon the points of chief importance. We again repeat that we are, on the whole, perfectly satisfied with the above Lesson in respect to its claims for the prize. And we ought not to omit to observe that it is not the production of a teacher trained in an Educational Institution to give Pestalozzian lessons, but, a teacher in a Sunday school; we therefore regard it with especial pleasure, as indicating future increased skill.-ED.] A LESSON ON A GARDEN, INTENDED TO EXHIBIT THE NECESSITY AND BENEFIT OF A CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. T. Now we are going to talk about a garden. Tell me what a garden may be compared to. C. "The Church "-" A School." T. Yes, to both. Holy Scripture compares the Church to a garden; but I mean to day to compare it to the heart. Let us see how far it resembles the mind and heart. What must be done in a garden to make it productive ? C. "It must be dug up"- "It must be sown with seed." T. And this is called cultivation. What must be done to the mind which answers to cultivation ? must be given. Suppose a garden is not cultivated, but neglected; what will grow there then ? C. "Weeds"-" Thorns and thistles." T. Repeat that verse of the hymn which describes the state of the sluggard's garden. C"I past by his garden, I saw," &c. T. How is it that weeds only grow, and not potatoes, fruits, and flowers, when a garden is left to itself? C. Because, after the fall, God Almighty cursed the ground to make man sensible of his sin. T. Repeat the text on this subject. C. "Because thou hast done this, cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life"-"Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee." T. Now what may the thorns and thistles be compared to? What springs up naturally in our hearts ? C. Sin and wickeness. T. Why do sin and wickedness spring up of themselves in the heart? C. Because man is "born in sin." T. Yes; man like the earth, is not in the same state as that in which he was created; and so, if left to himself, only brings forth the fruit of sin. This |