Page:The Life and Works of Christopher Dock.djvu/114

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THE WORKS OF CHRISTOPHER DOCK

as aforesaid the aim toward which I strive, and to obtain which is dearer to me than all that is visible. As I know that I can do nothing of my own strength without God's help and the strength of His Holy Spirit, and that my best work is incomplete, I give my school management to my friend on this condition: should he find anything therein that would serve for the glory of God or the assistance of others, let him put it where it belongs, and render unto God what is God's. (Psalm cxv, 1.) Also, if my friend during my life-time can give to me or my pupils any useful directions (that will add to the glory of God) I am willing and duty-bound to accept the same with love.

Now to arrive at the request of Friend Dielman, I could begin at once, but as Friend Christopher Saur asked of Dielman a report of everything, including the correspondence of the pupils with one another, I must give Friend Saur an explanation of this latter, so that when we come to it, he may be enlightened.

After I had, as stated above, given up the school at Skippack which I had taught for ten years, and lived ten years in the country, doing farmingaccording to my limited ability, various opportunities for teaching presented themselves, until finally I began teaching again, in the two townships of Skippack and Sollford, three days weekly in each school. But I was already acquainted with keeping school in this country, and knew that it is very different from methods in Germany, where the schools stand upon such pillars as the common man cannot well