THE NEW SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS' BIBLICAL DICTIONARY: A COMPENDIUM OF INFORMATION ON THE THE HOLY SCRIPTURES: ARRANGED FOR READY REFERENCE, AND ILLUSTRATED WITH WOODCUTS. INTRODUCTION. "WHATSOEVER thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." (Ecclesiastes ix. 10.) The rule is very important and far-reaching. It applies to religious work quite as much as to secular, and to voluntary efforts fully as much as to paid services. Our own half-heartedness is a surer sign of weakness, and a more certain cause of failure and disaster, than the hostility of enemies, however powerful, and the bitterness of foes, however fierce. Difficulties often stimulate effort and call out enthusiasm ; indifference destroys our own earnestness, and checks and stifles the zeal of others; and, of course, the more arduous and the more important our work, the more the need for diligence and thoroughness in the doing of it. He who is careless in the presence of large responsibilities, dishonours his cause and degrades himself. "He that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame." (Proverbs x. 5.) Now, teaching is confessedly a most difficult work, demanding the full exercise of all our intellectual powers. For in teaching it is not enough that we should ourselves appreciate the value of the truths which we teach, but we must also exercise such influence upon the mind of another as to enable and dispose him to receive the same truths. And this task becomes the more difficult in proportion to the depth and greatness of the subject which we are given to teach. But what subject can be more profound and more magnificent than that with which the Sunday School Teacher has to deal! His work is not merely to inform the mind, but to direct the affections and to influence the soul. He teaches not only that he may convey certain truths to the mind of another, but also in order that these truths may be as the seed of eternal life. The result of his teaching is not transitory, but eternal. It affects not only the welfare of the body, but also of the soul. In such work, how much need is there of ardour and earnestness and enthusiasm; how little room for half-heartedness and carelessness and indifference. If, then, the Sunday School Teacher wishes to be successful, he must adopt the ordinary means to attain success. It may B |