TEACHER TAUGHT; OR, THE SUNDAY SCHOOL INSTRUCTOR FURNISHED WITH MATERIALS FOR HIS WORK, IN A SERIES OF QUESTIONS, TO WHICH Answers and appropriate Texts are appended, ON THE MOST IMPORTANT DOCTRINES AND DUTIES OF THE WORD OF GOD. BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE MINE EXPLORED." THIRD EDITION, ENLARGED. LONDON: JAMES NISBET AND CO; BERNERS STREET; HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO., PATERNOSTER ROW. 1841. 13215. f. 18 PREFACE. THE following Subjects were drawn up for the Author's own use, without the remotest view to publication. Having the direction of a Village Sunday School, in which the only helpers, out of her own family, were of an uneducated class, she soon perceived that but little advantage would arise to the children, unless the minds of the Teachers could be informed, and their method of communicating knowledge improved. She therefore determined to assemble them weekly at her own house, in order to prepare them for their work on Sunday. A friend to whom the design was mentioned, recommended a publication "Manna laid up for the Sabbath," as calculated to meet her views. She immediately procured it, intending to adopt it entirely. Finding, however, after a short trial, that it would not answer her purpose, she resolved to pursue her previous plans, and, having nothing in view but her own Schools, to retain in a great measure the arrangement of subjects in the "Manna." This circumstance is mentioned, to account for a similarity in plan which exists between that book, and the one now in the hands of the reader. In no other particular, and not altogether in this, will the works be found to correspond. The Author has long been of opinion-an opinion confirmed by many Christian friends-that in large Sunday Schools, whether in Towns or Villages, the great majority of Teachers are, if unaided, very unfit for their work. Many of them, though truly pious, are but imperfectly educated, and are therefore destitute of the necessary qualifications for so important an undertaking. Not having been accustomed to draw out the minds of children, they teach them to read, and often attempt nothing more. But surely this is a very small part of a Sunday School Teacher's duty! If children are not taught to THINK, to UNDERSTAND, to APPLY-what they read is of little or no use. No habits of examination or of reflection having been formed, they leave the School almost as ignorant as they entered it, and then the remark is often made that the poor are not the better for education. The Conductors of Sunday Schools therefore, if they would have them efficient, must, in dependence upon the divine blessing, endeavour to TEACH the TEACHERS. With this object in view, the following subjects were originally drawn up; and they are now made public, in the hope that, accompanied by the influence of the Holy Spirit, they may supply those Teachers who need assistance, with useful materials for their important work. The "Teacher Taught" has been used in the following manner. The Teachers assembled and received the questions, which they wrote down in a book, leaving spaces for the answers. The next week they brought their answers on separate pieces of paper; these were examined, and if necessary, corrected, |