PART I.

THE CHILD.

THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES.

A CHILD!—this is the subject of our study. An infant is a bud to be unfolded, but, sad thought! a cankered bud to be healed also. Every child possesses a threefold nature-physical, intellectual, moral,-and the future character of the being will depend upon the training which these receive. In most cases the physical nature is well cared for. No unfriendly blast is allowed to reach the frail body; no doubtful aliment is administered; no treacherous influence suffered to approach; and no amount of watchfulness is considered too great. If symptoms of disease appear, the most skilful advice is sought, and the most tender nursing secured. All this is right as far as it goes. But in regard to the intellectual and moral nature it is often otherwise. There we but too frequently see no parental wisdom, care, forethought, or effort, and the result is that the intellect is left undeveloped, and the moral feelings untrained; or if trained, unconsciously and inadvertently trained to evil.

Many of our readers may remember the disappointment which they experienced when they saw the great koh-inoor diamond in the Exhibition of 1851, and perhaps they may have said, Is that the koh-i-noor? Is that all there is to see? Many may also remember the same koh-i-noor in the Exhibition of 1862. How different! Surrounded as it was then by the choicest gems, it excelled them all,

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and even gained glory by their presence. It was indeed beautiful. And all who saw it at once admitted that it was rightly named koh-i-noor, mountain of light. What effected this change? The skilful hand of the lapidary. It had been recut upon scientific principles by one who understood his work. And so with the human soul-that priceless gem: left in its natural state it does not reflect the image of its Maker; and as we view it in its dulness and deformity, we may well exclaim, Is that the human soul? But let that gem be cut and polished, as it were, then it will reflect the divine light, and we shall see its beauty and trace its heavenly lineaments. Look at the difference between the highly cultivated and accomplished gentleman, and the rude, ignorant, and brutalized youth who pains us equally by his uncouth language, his manners, and his conduct. This is the work of the human lapidary. Think of a soul educated by the Divine Teacher -what a gem of priceless worth! In many instances, the entire discipline of the mind and the cultivation of the heart are left to the teacher, and it is the privilege of the Sunday school teacher to share in that noble work. In other words, he has to help to fashion, to furnish, and to adorn the mind; and if his efforts are sanctified by the Spirit of God, he will help to polish a gem for the walls of the spiritual temple.

The human soul, the material on which a teacher has to work, has received from its Creator a certain nature and constitution. According to the laws stamped upon it will it be affected for good by certain modes of treatment; other modes have a natural tendency to affect it injuriously, and neutralize all efforts made in connection with the purest motives, the best intentions, and the most fervent prayers. Zeal, with knowledge to guide it, is sure of success; but zeal and effort may both be lost, if unaccompanied by skill and judgment.

In communicating general knowledge, the well-qualified professional teacher ever keeps before him the fact that external nature and internal mental phenomena are adjusted to each other; that the mind is suited by its

structure and its organs to all objects which it is expected to contemplate and use in the acquisition of truth,—and he acts accordingly.

For example: is there an external world presenting existence, quality, the circumstances of place, time, and number, activity, and change? He directs the mind to look out through the senses, and study and admire them. Does he know that time exists in its successive stages of past and present? Then he is careful to make the past to reappear, and to image the absent as if present by the exercise of the appropriate faculties. Does he know that nature is a complex structure, yet composed of elements which are few in number? Then he leads the mind to analyze that which is complex, discover the resemblances which may exist even amidst differences, and group all into the principles which are the foundations of science or the springs of conduct. Does he know that effects are everywhere seen, whose cause is not immediately recognised? Then he leads the mind to trace each effect to its cause, though unseen and remote, and to argue from the known past to the unknown future. Does he know that there is order and fitness in all the arrangements of the universe? Then he assists the mind to take cognizance of these manifestations of design, and to detect imperfections when only part is exhibited. Nor does he rest here. He knows that the mind, having come in contact with the world without through the organs of the senses, can form ideal worlds of its own, people them, fill them with events, roam through them, and feel enraptured with their sights and sounds. He therefore assists the mind to enjoy this pleasure by the proper cultivation and exercise of ideality. All this is the work of the enlightened and accomplished teacher.

To prepare the Sunday-school teacher for the same line of conduct, our study must commence with an investigation of the nature, operations, and laws of

THE HUMAN MIND.

What, then, is the mind? Without being metaphy

sical, we may describe it as the incorporeal part of man, -that living, active principle within him which thinks, feels, and wills. Of the essence of mind we know nothing; we can only describe it by its operations. Yet as in the operations of the mind there is necessarily implied the possession of power to act, its operations are called powers or faculties. Still we know nothing of the mind but by its operations, and we mean nothing further by faculties than these operations. That which acts is, properly speaking, the mind. The operations of the mind that consist in thinking are called intellectual powers or intellectual faculties, and those which consist of feeling, i. e., desires, affections, emotions and passions (according to the old nomenclature), are called the moral powers, or moral faculties. In this classification the will is included among the moral feelings, and the religious sentiments are merely the moral in a religious direction. In education they are placed in the same category, or rather are regarded as identical.

The Intellectual Faculties are Observation, or Perception; Attention; Conception; Imagination; Memory; Association of Ideas, or Simple Suggestion; Abstraction; Generalization; Judgment, or Relative Suggestion Reasoning Powers, and Consciousness.

THE PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES.

The Faculty.-Certain sounds are heard, and on the mind an impression is made of their force, volume, or pitch; certain odours are emitted, and an impression is received of their nature and intensity; certain substances are tasted, and a sensation is gained of sweetness, bitterness, saltness, &c.; certain substances are felt, and the impression of softness, hardness, coldness, &c., is formed. All this is the work of the senses. The five senses, as they are usually reckoned, are the avenues to the mind, and through their instrumentality a child gains all his knowledge of the external world. Perception or observation is but a general name for the five senses. When we see, we perceive or observe; when we smell, we equally perceive or observe;

and in like manner, when we taste, touch, or smell, we are performing acts of perception or observation. The faculty may be thus defined :—the mind, thinking of that which is present by means of the senses, is said to observe, or perceive, or have a perception. It is through perception that the world of mind comes in contact with the world of matter. It is a fundamental faculty; it is the purveyor of those facts on which the other faculties act. It provides those materials from which the ideal pictures of conception and imagination which are produced by self, or understood if produced by others. It furnishes, also, the materials for those connections or associations which are afterwards to aid in forming chains of thought. In like manner, it furnishes those particulars which, when laid up in the memory, constitute the stores to be produced for pleasure or utility, and operated on by abstraction will produce general truth, the possession of which is alike the accompaniment and the test of genuine intelligence. It is very important, therefore, that the perceptive faculties should be cultivated in young children; and if not cultivated, at least made the auxiliaries to apprehension and judgment. If neglected, the understanding becomes enfeebled, and a foundation is laid for those false associations which are so prevalent in youth; also, that quick discernment which is necessary to acquire a just notion of the nature of those things by which the child is surrounded, will be very much aided by the proper use of the observing faculties. This applies with great force to the study of the sacred Volume.

The Bible.-The Bible appeals to the observing powers both for the apprehension and the communication of truth. Much of its contents consists of detailed histories and incidents of single persons, and descriptions of particular things, places, and events; whilst its glorious heavenly truths are not only illustrated by, but even set forth in, the attributes and circumstances of natural things. These have been or are matters of observation. Moses revealed spiritual truths through persons, places, and things the prophets taught by actions, and predicted by the phenomena of geography and astronomy, which at the