The Apostles of our Lord, though inspired men, were teachers; and their highest honors and their mightiest achievements were acquired, not in trade or in politics; not in legislation or in swaying the sceptre of power, but wholly on the field of teaching; and on this field, they gratefully acknowledged as co-workers with themselves, such a one as Lois, the grandmother of Timothy, and other women, who are honorably named as their helpers in the Gospel. Nay, our divine Lord himself came into the world as a teacher. This was his office as the anointed of God. And all the time he spent on earth he went about teaching; unfolding to the minds of men the great truths and duties of his Gospel, and exerting over them an influence to form them for virtue, for happiness and heaven. Indeed, what is the great aim of all the influences which God himself is exerting over his intelligent creatures here on earth? What is it, but to teach, to instruct them; to draw forth, to elevate and ennoble their minds; to re-form them after his image, to educate them, in a word, for a higher and better state of being in the coming world? In this view, it may truly be said, the world, in which we live, is a vast school; men, in their successive generations, are its pupils, and the great God their teacher. Surely to teach, even in the humblest sphere, is an office of sacred dignity, and the responsibilities connected with it might well make an angel tremble.

One other thought I must suggest, as showing the high honor and excellence of the teacher's office; it is the rewards inseparably connected with a faithful

performance of its duties.

These rewards are indeed of but little value, if we refer only to pecuniary compensation. This is, in fact, the merest pittance of what is due for services, so laborious and useful, as those performed by the faithful teacher. Still his rewards are great, and they are certain. Things in this world are great or small by comparison. The rewards of the merchant are great, when his plans of business return thousands of wealth into his coffers, The rewards of the lawyer are great, when his cases multiply and he rises to the head of his profession. The rewards of the politician are great, when his schemes of ambition are successful, and he is crowned with the honors of office. So men judge. But one fact is to be noticed. These rewards while in possession, afford but little satisfaction, and at the close of life, their entire summing up is cypher, is nothing. They pass away with the breath that sought them, with the breath that conferred them, and are no more. Not so the reward of the faithful and devoted teacher. These are great, because satisfying in their nature, and they endure to eternity. I speak only of the teacher who loves his work, and conscientiously devotes his best energies to the duties of his calling. Such a one is rewarded in the conscious approbation of his own mind, as engaged in a high and noble work. He is rewarded in seeing the young and growing minds, committed to his training, unfolding their powers and giving promise of honor and usefulness in future life. This is certainly a source of high and peculiar enjoyment, as I can testify from experience.

Many of the happiest hours of a sufficiently happy life, I have spent in teaching, and never have purer or sweeter joys entered my bosom, than when standing in the midst of a garden of young minds, I have seen them, as plants and flowers of paradise, unfolding their beauties, and shedding their fragrance abroad; preparing, under the hand of culture, to flourish eternally in holier and happier climes. The faithful teacher is also rewarded in the respect and esteem of the wise and good, who know how duly to appreciate his labors. He is rewarded in the affectionate and grateful remembrance of those whom he has trained to virtue, to honor and usefulness; and into whatever lands they may wander, or whatever station occupy in life, no name, except that of parent, will ever sound sweeter in their ears, or awaken warmer emotions of gratitude and respect, than that of the beloved teacher of their youthful days and former of their youthful character. But more than all, he is rewarded in the approbation of Him, whose favor is life, and whose loving kindness is better than life; and who, in the adjustments of the last day, will bestow crowns of distinguished glory, on all those who have faithfully labored in training intelligent, immortal minds for the duties of the present life, and for the higher destinies of the future world.

The teacher's office then, in every point of view, in which it can be contemplated, is one of distinguished dignity and usefulness.

One practical inference from this view of the subject is, that teachers themselves should hold their office

in high respect and honor. They do not always d this. They assume the office with no suitable qual fications for the performance of its duties. The resort to it as a task to be done for so much money they have no spirit of teaching, no interest, no li in the employment, and no sense of the respons bility connected with it. They take it up as a busi ness to be pursued a few months, to get a few dollar in the pocket; and then to be laid aside for som pursuit, which they deem more respectable or mor profitable. This degrades the office, and is a sourc of unspeakable injury to the cause of common edu cation in our land, as well as to the minds immedi ately subjected to this ignorant, incompetent, bad in fluence. I do not say that none should engage in the business of teaching, who do not mean to make it their calling for life. There are many, I know, who resort to it as temporary occupation, who are well qualified for their duties, and do good service to the community during the time they spend in the instruction of the young. But this I say, none should attempt to teach, who have not themselves first been taught; none who have not a high sense of the dignity of the calling; who do not engage in it with earnestness and love; devote to it their best time and talents while employed in it, and perform all their duties with a practical sense of their bearing on the present and immortal well-being of those whom they are called to instruct. If all who engage in teaching did but properly consider the nature of their calling, the qualifications required of them, and the conse

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DIGNITY OF THE TEACHER'S OFFICE.

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quences, temporal and eternal, connected with the manner in which they perform their duties, it would go far to raise their office from that low esteem in which it is now too generally held, and also to engage them to bring to their work the best affections of their hearts and the highest powers of their minds. It was a great stimulus to the genius and power of one of the most distinguished men of antiquity, to reflect, that he wrote for immortality. How should it rouse the talents and fire the energies of the teacher to consider that the inscriptions he draws, the characters he impresses on the minds he is educating, are for eternity, and will hereafter be read before an assembled world?

Another inference from our subject is, that well qualified and faithful teachers deserve much better of the community than they usually receive. The learned Scalliger used to say, we are bound to give thanks to God that he had inspired some men with patience to write dictionaries. And I certainly think thatwe are bound to give thanks to God, when he duly qualifies and disposes some men to devote themselves to the arduous and difficult duties of teaching. They are among the most useful men in the community, and should be held in the highest honor and esteem. And yet in point of fact, how miserably is this class of persons compensated for their toils; and how little are they generally honored, compared with their deservings? The compensation usually given them is altogether inadequate; scarcely more than just enough, even in our highest schools, to afford a scanty living,