’That is my notion too,’ she added, ’and therefore I think he should not hold the hay so high that the sheep cannot reach it.’  This admonition was kindly received, in the spirit in which it was given, and had an influence in making him afterwards ‘hold the hay lower.’” This fact should cause you to see to it, as the old lady did with her pastor, that your teachers present their instructions in such a form that you will understand them.  The hay may be of very good quality, but it will give no nourishment to the hungry sheep if it is beyond their reach; it will not benefit them any more than if it were not provided at all.  So with your lessons.  If you do not feel an interest in them, if they are beyond your reach, they may be of no benefit to you.  No lasting principle is gained, but the whole may be lost, as the words of the lesson are lost to memory and forgotten.

Eld.  B. What are the results of attendance on the Sabbath school?

Teach. That question we answer, partly in faith, and partly by knowledge.  Faith is good;—­and we know that our school is a good school; we know that we enjoy ourselves there; and we know what is learned there is good.  It is there that divine influences and joyful communions fill with gladness the hour.  We enjoy them, and if we could say no more, we think that this would be sufficient.

Eld.  B. That is true.

Teach. But that is not all; the results go still further.  They are not confined to the hour passed in the schoolroom.  The scholar is better and happier for having been there.  Is it not so with you?

Eld.  B. Yes sir; I always feel better when I have been to the school.  When I have said my lesson, conversed upon the subject of it, and obtained my library book, I am always glad to have been there.

Teach. Your answer is full of hope and promise; for if you now find your enjoyment in learning the things of the Kingdom of God, those evil days will never come to you, when you will say you have no pleasure in them.  The Sabbath school scholar who is prompt in his duty is in a safe path,—­one which, while affording happiness by the way, results in the fulness of joy.  To him the example of Christ is an example of love and goodness, drawing him to the Father by these divine influences and attractions.  “He sees God, not only as the Creator, but as he is manifested in the world, by his providence, which shows us that he not only made the world, but that he makes the world; that he is the same in the creation of the flowers and streams as in the creation of storms and tempests; that he is not far off, but near, ever blessing us with the favors of his parental providence; that his power is over everything; that motion is his power, for there can be no motion without mind; that God is present in the child.  It cannot live by bread alone.  Communion must be held with God—­spirit with spirit.”