ledge. There ought
also to be frequent returns upon the sections formerly mastered, so that
the truths be more and more firmly fixed upon the memory. This will also
be accomplished by means of the lessons from the several moral truths
taught, and by their application to the circumstances of ordinary life.

It is also a matter of great practical importance, in teaching any
subject, that the teacher confine himself strictly to it, avoiding all
kinds of "Catechetical Wandering," by which the minds of his pupils will
be distracted and enfeebled if they _cannot_ follow him, and by which
their attention will be powerfully drawn away from the lesson, if they
_can_.--For example, if the subject to be taught be the "Good
Samaritan," nothing can be plainer than that the mind of the pupil ought
to be concentrated upon the subject, till it be "grouped," and fixed
upon the mind and memory as one combined and moving scene, so that one
circumstance in the story will conjure up all the others.--This is
Nature's plan.--But if the teacher, at the very commencement, when the
child has read that "a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho,"
shall call his attention from the story itself, to ask where Jerusalem
was? What was Judea? Who dwelt there? Who was their progenitor? From
what bondage were they saved? Who conducted them through the wilderness?
Who brought them into Judea? requiring the whole history of the Jews,
their captivity, and restoration; the effect is most pernicious, and is
fatal to the great design intended by the teacher. It is destructive of
that habit of concentration of mind upon a particular subject, which is
always the accompaniment of genius; and which ought to be cultivated in
the young with the greatest assiduity and care. But this habit of
"Catechetical Wandering," does not stop here, for the teacher has yet
another word in this first sentence which admits of a similar treatment;
and instead of returning to the lesson, he takes up the word "Jericho,"
by means of which he follows a similar course; "riding off" from the
original subject, and leaving the child bewildered and confused, to
commence again, to be again interrupted and distracted by other
irrelevant questions. Many evils result from this practice; and the
cause is obvious. For if the child has been taught these irrelevant
truths before, this is obviously not the time to introduce them, when
he is in the very act of _learning a new subject_;--and if