Let us add one more illustration, showing how to put questions to help and lead. The manner must, of course, be right, for a clumsy method will hinder rather than help, and if we expect a right answer the question must be a simple one, or one that will not admit of being put as two questions. The following anecdote may serve as the illustration: "A lady came one day to my school and requested me to let her hear the children catechised. The class happened to be reading the third chapter of the Acts, the first of which reads thus: 'Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.' 'Well,' I said to the teacher, 'stop there and question them on that verse.' 'At what time of day?' said he, 'did those things take place which are here set down?' 'At the ninth hour,' replied the class. But then a poor boy became a little frightened at something or other, and consequently puzzled; and after some hesitation said, 'Well, then, at the ninth hour, who went where?' The first boy in the class smiled a little, but made no answer; the next seemed to think a little, but still no voice came. I took care that nobody should answer out of his turn, and the question was put to every boy severally to the bottom of the class. The lady turned to me and expressed her surprise that out of a class of five-and-twenty boys nobody could answer. 'Well, ma'am, I am afraid you will consider these five-and-twenty boys very stupid, but let us look a little further into the matter.' And then, turning round, my eye caught that of Jack Thompson. 'Jack,' said I, 'how many stupid boys have we got in our second class?' 'One, sir,' says Jack. 'And who may he be?' 'The teacher, sir.' 'You must prove your words, Jack: come and teach the class yourself.' Now Jack was not an impudent boy; but as he advanced and saw the lady looking at him, he did not appear so confused as poor Peter had done before, and he betook himself at once to business. 'You have told us,' said he, 'that the things related in this verse took place at the ninth hour of the day; to what was that hour wont to be devoted?' 'To prayer.' 'And what was the building called that was open, at that time, to receive the worshippers?' 'The temple.' 'Are not some persons specially mentioned who came to the temple at that time?' 'Yes.' 'How many?' 'Two.' 'What were their names?' 'Peter and John.' 'Where did Peter and John go at the ninth hour?' 'Into the temple.' 'What for?' 'To pray,' etc. The lady began to perceive that the children did know something about the matter, and Jack Thompson, being concerned for the conduct of his class, proceeded to ask them a great many more questions, to which the answers were very satisfactory. The lady good-humoredly expressed her approval, and I said, 'Now, madam, you see that all that was the matter was, that poor Peter, being a little confused, put his questions in a clumsy manner. Depend upon it, he will not soon do the like again.'"
Questions should be progressive, that is, they should proceed from the simple and the known to the faintly known, and thence to the unknown.
XIX.
THE TEACHERS' MEETING.
A REGULAR weekly meeting of Sabbath-school teachers for conference and prayer about all school matters, and a mutual contribution of thoughts and illustrations and plans of teaching adapted to each and to all the various classes on the next Sabbath's lesson, is now considered an indispensable necessity. And it is a great social and religious privilege as well.
We are all unworthy, and need to learn how to teach Scripture truths attractively to youthful minds. All need training for the work, and the weekly teachers' meetings ought to be the grand normal training-schools for Sabbath-school teachers everywhere. Every Sabbath-school ought also to have a Bible-class or two for the training of teachers. The almost half a million of Sabbath-school teachers in our land—the masses—cannot mingle with us in council in our great Conventions and Institutes, and consequently the few favored ones must imbibe the spirit and avail themselves of ample materials, and carry it down to the quiet, devoted workers in common Sabbath-schools through the means of a well-ordered teachers' meeting. The meeting can be held for one hour and a half on a week-day evening at the lecture-room, or, better yet, at the superintendent's house or that of one of the teachers, alternately. It is conducted usually by the superintendent, but sometimes by the pastor, or by one of the teachers who can sustain the interest.
But we are met at this point with a stubborn and overwhelming fact, viz.: a large proportion of all these meetings attempted to be held have resulted in a failure, and have been abandoned, so that now in some places not one school in ten or twenty holds such a meeting. With such an experience we can never ask Sabbath-school teachers to try the experiment on the old plan. We must count the cost, and Sabbath-school men, with only an hour or two in a week for it, cannot afford to make mistakes or failures. Time is too precious.
The great practical question arises, What are the causes of failure? Is it anything inherent in these meetings? or is it in the wrong mode of conducting them? After a most careful investigation of the subject, especially during the last fifteen or twenty years, I have come to the deliberate conclusion that it is owing almost entirely to the wrong plans on which they are conducted. What have been these wrong plans?