PETERS 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. | 

Chap Copyright No 

Sheli:.i?4^" 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



A 

PRACTICAL HANDBOOK 

ON 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 



REV. L. E. PETERS 

Sunday-school (Missionary and Leader of Sunday-school Institutes 



PHILADELPHIA 

AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY 
1900 



Library C f CoBg fit% 
Office of the 

MAY261900 

RegHier of Copyrtg fcu 

> 

62674 



Copyright 1900 by the 
American Baptist Publication Society 



jfrom tbe Society's own press 



TO 

£>♦ % & ffarrow 

For Twenty-five years 

PIONEER SUNDAY-SCHOOL MISSIONARY 

In West Virginia 



PREFACE 



These lessons have been prepared in compliance with 
the request of A. J. Rowland, d. d., Secretary of the 
American Baptist Publication Society. The author, as 
Sunday-school missionary, has felt the need of such a 
series in his work of holding institutes, and to put into the 
hands of Sunday-school officers and teachers and normal 
classes. 

In the original plan of the book he prepared a series of 
lessons on the facts and doctrines of the Bible, but a simi- 
lar work was in the hands of the publishers covering the 
same ground, and it is deemed expedient to publish only 
one series at present. We recommend students of this 
series to study also the series by Rev. Harold Kennedy, 
entitled "Lessons from the Desk." 



INTRODUCTION 



i. Pedagogy is the science of teaching. It includes the 
principles and methods of teaching, and may be applied to 
teaching of any kind or in any kind of school. 

2. Teaching is causing another to understand (Neh. 8 : 8). 
The Bible is the best book on pedagogics. It not only 
tells us what to teach, but how to teach. Christ is the 
model teacher, in methods as well as in truth to be taught. 

3. Sunday-school pedagogics is the application of the 
laws and best methods of teaching to Sunday-school work. 
The object of these lessons is to present these. 

4. Suggestions in the use of these lessons. 

(1) Personal Study. Let the text of the lesson be 
thoroughly studied and the outline memorized. Then re- 
cite it to yourself or some one else. 

(2) Normal Class Work. Organize a normal class, to 
meet once a week, and furnish each student with a copy of 
the book, and have the lesson recited, as in school, the 
teacher placing the outline on a blackboard or large sheet 
of paper as the lesson proceeds. It will be well before- 
hand for the teacher to make a faint outline on the board 
that cannot be seen by the class ; then trace it. This will 
give better form and proportion to the outline. Drill on 
the outline until the class can readily repeat it without the 
board. The teacher should not be confined simply to the 
text of the lesson, but be free to add additional matter and 
illustrations. This will lighten up the lesson text and make 
it more interesting and impressive. 

5 



6 INTRODUCTION 

(3) Normal Lectures. By this method the teacher only 
uses the book and masters the lesson, using the text and 
outline as the basis of a lecture, which may be extended 
and illustrated according to time and circumstances. This 
is probably the best form to use in Sunday-school institutes 
and conventions. Here only two or three lessons can be 
given to illustrate the whole course, recommending the 
formation of classes for regular systematic study. 



CONTENTS 

. PAGE 

Introduction 5 

PART I 
How We Teach, or Methods of Sunday- 
school Work,. ... . . . . ... 11-97 

I. The Sunday-school Idea 11 

II. Organization 18 

III. Graded Sunday-schools 24 

IV. Supplemental Organization 30 

V. The Superintendent 17 

VI. The Teacher 41 

VII. How to Study a Sunday-school Lesson ... 50 

VIII. The Laws of Teaching 55 

IX. How to Teach a Sunday-school Lesson ... 66 

X. Questioning 70 

XL Illustrations 78 

XII. Methods of Review 83 

XIII. Christ the Great Teacher 88 

XIV. The Holy Spirit as a Teacher .94 

7 



5 CONTENTS 

r 

PART II 

Whom We Teach, or a Study of the 

Scholar 98-1 

I. Childhood 98 

II. Boyhood and Girlhood 104 

III. YOUTHHOOD I IO 

IV. Manhood and Womanhood 117 

V. The Scholar's World 123 



PART I 
HOW WE TEACH 

OR 

METHODS OF SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 



I. 



THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL IDEA. 
Read Neh. 8 : 1-8 ; Matt. 21 : 23-32. 

The Sunday-school idea is the idea of interlocutory 
(speaking between) teaching. The teacher and pupil ask 
and answer questions, make statements, and talk about the 
truth under consideration. It is the school idea and the 
school methods applied to Bible study. The school method 
differs from both lecture and preaching methods, and is es- 
pecially adapted to the instruction of children and youth. 
It may be otherwise denned as the catechetical method. 

The Sunday-school idea is the Bible idea of teaching. 
The word ' ' teach ' ' occurs more frequently in the Bible 
than the word ' ' preach. ' ' This idea may be traced all 
through biblical and ecclesiastical history. 1 

I. The Sunday-school Idea in Bible History. 
Calling to our aid ancient history and Jewish tradition, 
the idea may be definitely traced. 

a For a full discussion of the subject, see Trumbull's "Yale Lectures on 
Sunday-schools," to which we are indebted for the main facts of this lesson. 

9 



10 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

1. Rabbinical Traditions. The rabbis say that Methuse- 
lah taught school before the flood and after it Eber ; that 
Abraham was a student of the Torah, and that he took les- 
sons on the priesthood from Melchisedek ; that Jacob went 
to the Bible school ; that Moses was at the head of a great 
school, and that because Joshua was such a good pupil he 
made him his successor. They say, moreover, that the 
great victory of Deborah and Barak enabled them to open 
the Bible schools which the Canaanites had closed. 

2. Rays of Light from the Old Testament. Gen. 14 : 14 
shows that Abraham had three hundred and eighteen 
trained servants in his household. "Trained," or "in- 
structed," as it is in the margin, conveys the idea of a 
school. 2 Chron. 17 : 7-9 shows that Jehoshaphat sent 
priests and Levites through the country who " taught in Ju- 
dea, having the book of the law with them," and through 
country and city "taught the people." They simply held 
Bible institutes. (See also Deut. 31 : 12.) Neh. 8 : 1-8 is a 
good description of a Sunday-school. We find in it the 
place, organization, superintendent, teachers, devotional ex- 
ercises, and class work. Ver. 8 gives us the best definition 
of teaching that can be found. The teachers "caused them 
to understand the reading." Teaching is causing another 
to understand. 

3. Light from Contemporary History. Josephus claims 
that from the times of Moses it was the custom of the Jews 
to assemble every Sabbath, not only to hear the law read, 
but "to learn it accurately." Philo, antedating Josephus 
about seventy-five years, calls the synagogues " houses of 
instruction," or, as we would say, "schoolhouses." Trum- 
bull says, from 80 b. c. to A. d. 65, schools were established 
throughout Palestine and teachers were appointed in every 
principal town. The evidence of Jewish schools is the evi- 
dence of the school idea as applied to religious instruction. 



THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL IDEA II 

The method in these schools was substantially the Sunday- 
school method. In the primary grade, from five to ten 
years of age, the work was learning the simple text of Scrip- 
ture. After this the Jewish commentaries were studied. 
The work was laid out in courses of study, and the schools 
were graded. The method of teaching was interlocutory, 
and great importance was attached to these schools by the 
Jews. Jewish schools for Bible study were regarded as the 
life of the nation. " Tf you would destroy the Jews you 
must destroy the schools, ' ' was a maxim. 

4. This Sunday-school Idea in the New Testament. 
The system of schools mentioned above was in vogue in 
Palestine in the time of our Lord, and it has been inferred 
that he attended them while "subject to his parents" in 
Nazareth. We see him at the age of twelve years ' ' in the 
midst of the doctors (teachers) asking and answering ques- 
tions. ' ' Christ was an itinerant teacher, for Matthew says 
he "went about in all Galilee teaching in their synagogues. ' ' 

Christ' s method of teaching was chiefly the interlocutory. 
We have only two continued discourses recorded as coming 
from him, the Sermon on the Mount and his farewell ad- 
dress to his disciples. But we have many interlocutory 
lessons recorded. Study Matt. 21 : 23-32 with this idea in 
view. The Gospel of John is a series of ' ' conversations of 
Jesus," as it has been not inappropriately called. The 
Great Commission is given in the phraseology of inter- 
locutory teaching, ' ' Go teach, ' ' make disciples or learners, 
"train," etc. 

Not only Christ, but the apostles, largely followed the 
interlocutory method of instruction. "They ceased not to 
teach and preach Jesus ' ' (Acts 5 : 42) ; ' ' Paul and Barna- 
bas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word 
of the Lord (15 : 55)." Paul's custom was to go into the 
synagogue on the Sabbath and teach and preach. Thus in 



12 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

the days of Abraham, Moses, Ezra, Christ, and the apos- 
tles, the Sunday-school idea prevailed to a large extent 

// The Sunday-school Idea in Ecclesiastical History. 

In the first two decades of Christianity, when most of its 
converts were from the Jews, it would be natural for them 
to follow the synagogue method of teaching ; but when 
Gentile communities were reached, there would be some 
modification of methods, yet the catechetical method largely 
prevailed. Baron Bunsen says : ' ' The apostolic church 
made the school the connecting link between herself and 
the world." So popular and influential were the Christian 
schools in the fourth century, that Julian the Apostate 
issued an edict suppressing Christian teachers from the 
schools, which he sought to take under his control. Chris- 
tians were persecuted, and accused of propagating their 
cause by getting the children into their schools. 

Schafif, in his "History of the Christian Church," makes 
this significant statement, which shows the value of inter- 
locutory teaching : 

It is a remarkable fact, that after the days of the apostles 
no names of great missionaries are mentioned till the open- 
ing of the Middle Ages. . . There were no missionary socie- 
ties, no missionary institutions, no organized efforts in the Ante- 
nicene age ; and yet in less than three hundred years from the 
death of St. John the whole population of the Roman Empire, 
which then represented the civilized world, was nominally Chris- 
tianized. 

This marvelous success is attributed to the use of the 
Bible method of teaching. This Sunday-school method 
was largely followed in the first three centuries. The great 
teachers of these early centuries, as Clement, at the head of 
the Alexandrian School, Origen, and Augustine, all attribute 
their success to catechetical teaching. 



THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL IDEA 1 3 

From a survey of ecclesiastical history from the days of 
Christ and the apostles we glean the following summary re- 
specting the value and influence of the Bible idea of teaching : 

i. Bible facts were most effectively lodged in the mind, 
and practical truths impressed on the heart, by this method 
of teaching. 

In the ecclesiastical records of the fourth and fifth cen- 
turies illustrations abound showing that large portions of 
the Bible, and in some instances the whole Bible, Old and 
New Testaments, have been memorized. It is also a recog- 
nized fact in ecclesiastical history that the highest and 
purest types of Christian life are found where Bible-schools 
prevailed. This is the secret of that type of life found 
among the Albigenses, Waldenses, Lollards, or Wyclifntes, 
and the Bohemians. 

2. When the catechetical teaching has been supplanted 
by ritualism, piety declined and a fossilized formalism took 
its place. 

Just in proportion as the Sunday-school idea was ignored 
or recognized, declension or advancement followed, and the 
church lost or gained spiritual power. This fact is most 
forcibly illustrated in the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- 
turies, when there was a decline in interlocutory teaching in 
Protestant Europe, Great Britain, and America. The ra- 
tionalism that followed the French Revolution swept over 
Germany. England had reached probably her lowest point 
in moral tone and the waves of these corrupt waters were 
beginning to sweep over the new world. In the latter part 
of the eighteenth century and first of the nineteenth, great 
revivals broke out under Zinzendorf in Germany, Wesley 
and Whitefield in England, and Edwards and Whitefield 
in America. With these came the revival of interlocutory 
teaching, and the Sunday-school idea. During this period 
Robert Raikes began his work at Gloucester, England. 



14 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

. 3. While the preaching of the gospel in sermonic form 
always has been, and always will be, the greatest power in 
Christianity, history shows that it must be sustained by in- 
terlocutory teaching. It was preaching, faithful, earnest, 
warm-hearted, majestic preaching, that brought about the 
great Reformation of the sixteenth century ; but it was the 
faithful teaching which followed that sustained it From 
such teaching the Reformation obtained its best fruits. 
Rome was quick to learn this lesson from the Reformation 
and returned to the school idea ; and the secret of her 
power to-day is not so much her pulpit as her parochial 
schools. 

4. The Sunday-school idea practically applied has had 
great influence in national reforms and national prosperity. 
Lord Mahon points to the Sunday-school as the beginning 
of a new era in the national life of England in the days of 
Robert Raikes. Green, the English historian, speaking of 
the dark days following the American Revolution, just after 
the beginning of Raikes' work, says : "It was then that 
the moral, the philanthropic, the religious ideas which have 
molded English society into its present shape, first broke 
the spiritual torpor of the eighteenth century." 

John Bright attributes much of the good of millions of 
England's people to Sunday-schools. Sunday-schools led 
to penny postage in England, and paved the way to the or- 
ganization of British Bible and missionary societies. What 
Sunday-schools have done for England they have done, and 
much more, for America. Says Trumbull: "America has 
been practically saved to Christianity and the religion of 
the Bible by the Sunday-school." 

5. The great men of the world have been identified with 
and advocated the Sunday-school idea. We have seen 
how inspired men, in the Old and the New Testament, 
taught and advocated teaching. In Christian history, men 



THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL IDEA . 15 

of all the leading professions and callings have been advo- 
cates of the Sunday-school idea. When Celsus, the pow- 
erful enemy of Christianity, accused Christians of advan- 
cing their cause by getting hold of the children in their 
schools, Origen, in his reply, admitted the charge, but 
showed how the children were improved and benefited by 
the teaching. St. Francis Xavier said: "Give me the 
children until they are seven years old and any one may 
have them after that. ' ' Luther said, ' ' For the. church' s 
sake, Christian schools must be established and main- 
tained," and wrote a catechism for the use of his people. 
Bishop Andrews, of the Church of England, in the study of 
ecclesiastical history found that interlocutory teaching was 
the secret of the church's success. Scotch and English 
church councils have declared in favor of it. In later days, 
such men as Lyman Beecher, Francis Wayland, E. N. 
Kirk, Doctor Doddridge, Albert Barnes, and many others, 
have been the warmest advocates of Sunday-schools. To- 
day we have men of all ranks and professions, from the 
president of the United States down, actively engaged in 
Sunday-school work. The Sunday-school idea has grown 
into such vast proportions in organization and methods of 
work that at present it encircles the entire Christian world. 

BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 

THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL IDEA IN 

C I. Rabbinical Tradition 

I. Bible History J 2 ' The Old Testament 

1 I 3. Contemporaneous History 

[_ 4. The New Testament 

f 1. Effective in Early Centuries 
II. Ecclesiastical I 2 ' Catechetical Teachings ^. Ritualism 
History 1 3- To Sustain Preaching 

3 ■ I 4. In National Reforms 

[5. Advocated by Great Men 



1 6 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

II. 

ORGANIZATION. 

Definition. Organization is systematic preparation for 
work, or the systematic arrangement of the several parts of 
a whole so that each part contributes to the object of the 
organization. The organization of a Sunday-school is the 
arrangement of all its component parts and exercises in the 
best way to accomplish the greatest good upon the part of 
the school as a whole. It may be well to study first : 

I. The Principles of Organization. 

There are fundamental principles that are essential to the 
proper and complete organization of any body. 

i. Purpose. Organization is not undertaken for its own 
sake, but has a purpose. Each part also has its purpose. 
The human body is an organization as a dwelling-place and 
convenience of the human soul while in this present state 
of existence, and each part of the body is organized for a 
given purpose, as the eye for seeing, the ear for hearing 
the foot for locomotion, the hand for handling, etc., yet 
all work together, animated by a common purpose and 
toward a common end. 

2. The organization must conform to the purpose in 
view. No one would organize an army, an engineer corps, 
a steamer's crew, a "gang" of railroad men, a set of har- 
vest hands, or a business corporation alike, for the simple 
reason that they are to accomplish different ends. Each 
should be organized for the special end in view. 

3. Organization is a means, not an end. The reason 
why so many organizations fail is not because the organiza- 
tion is not good, but because it is not properly employed. 
Organization is simply preparation for work, and when the 
organization is complete the work should begin. 



ORGANIZATION 1 7 

4. Organization means division of labor. Each part 
does what no other part can do. The eye, the ear, the 
foot, the hand, as well as every other organ of the body, 
has each its specific functions (1 Cor. 12 : 12-20). Organi- 
zation seeks to find the right part for the right place and 
properly adjust it in relation to the other parts in the whole. 
When the organization is composed of men, women, and 
children, there must be such a division of labor that each 
one will be placed where he can contribute most for the 
accomplishment of the whole. 

5. The power of organization is unity. "How should 
one chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight ? ' ' 
(Deut. 32 : 30.) By an organization which has God behind 
it as its life-giving power. If each part works out of har- 
mony with the other parts the friction lessens the power ; 
but when all work together the power is increased. When 
each part of the organization has a will of its own, as in 
any organization of human beings, one purpose must domi- 
nate all. Then the organization is a power, while otherwise 
it will soon become a failure. This makes it especially neces- 
sary in the organizations of human beings that the body 
have a head, one whom all will joyously follow. The 
achievements of an organization are often due to the leaders 
more than to any other cause. Obedience here is the 
principle. 

6. Flexibility is also a fundamental principle in organiza- 
tion. The hand has a unity in its organization, yet it is so 
flexible that it can be turned from the simplest, crudest 
labor to a work demanding the utmost delicacy and skill. 
If it becomes stiffened by age or disease, it loses the deft- 
ness it possessed. So with an organization ; it must be 
fitted to the end to be accomplished, and it must preserve 
intact its capacity to attain that end. If it becomes weak- 
ened by disuse or dissensions it must fail. 

B 



1 8 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

7. Finally, organization implies life. It is essential both 
to its formation and perpetuation. Aristotle said, " Life is 
the cause of organisms. ' ' Take away the life and the or- 
ganization dissolves. Take the life from the human body 
and it becomes dust. 

Especially is the principle true and essential in the or- 
ganization of religious bodies as churches and Sunday- 
schools. If the organization is social, then a social spirit 
or life will support it ; if it is political, a political spirit or 
life will sustain it ; and if it is Christian, a Christ spirit or 
life must dominate it, or it will die as a distinctive Christian 
organization. It may exist as a social compact, but like the 
church of Laodicea, it may "have a name to live, but be 
dead." See Ezekiel's vision of dry bones (Ezek. 37 : 1-14). 

II. These Principles Applied to the Organization of the 
Sunday-school. 

This brings us at once to consider : 

1. The purpose of the Sunday-school. This must be 
clearly understood before we can proceed to form an organ- 
zation. This purpose is four-fold. (1) To give instruction 
in the Bible. (2) Through this instruction to lead persons 
to Christ. (3) To develop in these persons, who have been 
led to Christ and have accepted him, a symmetrical Chris- 
tian character, and (4) To train them for efficient and use- 
ful service. 

2. The organization of the school must conform to this 
four-fold purpose. (1) As the first great aim is to give in- 
struction in the Bible, the organization must be a school, 
with such facilities as are necessary to give this instruction. 
(2) As its second aim is to bring persons to Christ, it must 
be a school of Christ, with teachers who have been to 
Christ themselves. (3) As its pupils are to be built up in 
Christian character, its teaching and influence must all be 



ORGANIZATION 1 9 

turned in that direction. (4) As it is to train for useful- 
ness, it must have a distinctively training department for 
the preparation of teachers, that it may become self-perpet- 
uating. 

3. As the school is a means and not an end, it must : 

(1) Constantly replenish its spent energies, keep down fric- 
tion, and keep the organization intact, always ready for the 
best service and results. (2) It must not consider its work 
as done so long as it can find one person to lead to Christ, 
and whom it can develop and train. 

4. As organization means division of labor, the greatest 
care should be taken to get the right persons in the right 
place. Some persons who make splendid secretaries, treas- 
urers, or librarians, would be failures as teachers, while the 
converse is likewise true. In the application of this prin- 
ciple, assign work to the worker that (1) He wants to do ; 

(2) That he can do ; or (3) That he is willing to learn 
to do. 

5 . Since unity is an essential principle in organization, 
in its application to the Sunday-school, it must have : (1) 
An organization preceding and dominating it in order that 
there shall be unity and harmony in its teaching. This 
preceding and dominating organization is the church, 
which must organize the school as a department of church 
work, by selecting the superintendent and other officers, or 
at the least by approving them. (2) These other officers 
then become the superintendent' s cabinet, to unify the man- 
agement of the school ; and he should have (3) a teachers' 
meeting, to unify the teaching and keep it in harmony with 
the standards of the church. 

6. Variety. Since flexibility is a principle in organiza- 
tion, the organization of the Sunday-school should be such 
as to give the greatest variety in its movements. No un- 
yielding constitution should be adopted. Its government 



20 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

should be more by principles than rules. The order of ex- 
ercises should be varied and changed from time to time as 
necessity requires. The various departments should have 
ample liberty and latitude. 

7. As organization implies life, the most systematic 
and complete will fail without it. The organization of the 
Sunday-school must have the Holy Spirit as the vital power. 
The life of Jesus Christ in officers and teachers will insure 
the Holy Spirit's aid in the prosecution of the work. 

III. A Suggestive Organization. 

We say suggestive, because no one can in his study or- 
ganize every Sunday-school that should be formed in the 
country. The organization in its details must vary with 
circumstances. We must have in nearly every school some 
such organization as the following : 

1. The Scholars. "Men, women, and children, all who 
can understand" (Neh. 8 : 3). 

2. Officers. Pastor, superintendent, assistant superin- 
tendent, secretary, treasurer, chorister, organist, librarian, 
chalk-talker, and committees for special work. These 
should be appointed or approved by the church, except the 
committees. 

3. Teachers. These should be appointed by the super- 
intendent and officers in consultation with the pastor. 

4. Classification. There are usually four grades : Pri- 
mary, intermediate, advanced, and adult, according to age 
and attainment. (This will be fully considered in the 
lesson on grading.) 

5. Course of Study. We must have a course of study. 
There may be more than one course of study pursued at the 
same time. (1) The international uniform lesson series. 
(2) A course of supplemental lessons. (3) A normal course 
for teachers. (4) A catechetical or doctrinal course. 



ORGANIZATION 



BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 

ORGANIZATION 

1. Purpose 

2. Conformity to 

3. Means not End 

4. Division of Labor 

5. Power of Unity 

6. Flexibility 

7. Life 



I. Give Instruction 

< I D^ctracte, 
4. Train for Service 



1. Being a School 

2. A School of Christ 

3. Trend of Teaching 

4. Training Departm't 



2. Conformity in 



3. As a Means 



4. Assign to Worker 



5. Unified by 






Repl. Spent Energies 
Never Stop. 

What Wants to Do 
What Can Do 
What Learn to Do 

Church as Basis 
Sup'ts Cabinet 
Teachers' Meeting 

6. Flexibility by Lib. of Depts. and Vari. Ex. 

7. Life from Holy Spirit 

1. The Scholars (Neh. 8 : 3). 

2. Officers: Pas., Supt., As. Supt., Sec, Treas., 

Org.. Chor., Lib., Ch. T., Com. 

3. Teachers : App. by Off. and Pas. 

4. Classification : Pri., Int., Adv., Adult 

{I. International 
t No P r^r ental 
4. Catechetical or Doctrinal 



22 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

III. 
GRADED SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 

In the organization and management of Sunday-schools, 
two essential characteristics must be kept in view, viz, 
that the Sunday-school is both a religious assembly and a 
school. Neither must be neglected or sacrificed for the 
other. The worshipful and devotional character can be 
maintained to a very high degree without sacrificing the 
instructive, and may be made very helpful to it. A system 
of grading is essential to the school idea. We may learn 
much from the methods of grading in the public school, 
yet there is an essential difference. In grading a Sunday- 
school three difficulties confront us that are not found in 
the public school: 

i. Voluntary Atte7idance. We do not have the authority 
of the State to put a pupil where he properly belongs. In 
the public school the sole basis of gradation is the pupil' s 
attainments, irrespective of size, age, or social conditions, 
while in the Sunday-school we must needs give some con- 
sideration to these. However, if we begin with the pupil 
from early childhood, there will be no difficulty here ; but 
this we cannot do with all our Sunday-school scholars. 

2. The Bible is not a graded text-book. The grading 
must be done in the selection of the portions that are to be 
taught and in the teaching, especially in the latter. 

3. All grades study the same lesson. This fact is not 
found in any other school in the world that claims to be a 
graded school. The grading here must be done in the 
teaching in the International Lesson system and in courses 
of supplemental lessons. 

I. Principles of Grading. 
1. Classification. No school can be properly graded 



GRADED SUNDAY-SCHOOLS 23 

without proper classification. The classifications should 
have respect chiefly to attainments and age. 

2. Assigned Work. A definite amount of work should 
be assigned in each grade, and that work should be com- 
pleted before the pupil leaves that grade. 

3. Promotion. There should be a fixed day each year 
for promotion of pupils. This will give them something to 
look forward to with pleasing anticipation and will tend to 
hold them in the school. It is no wonder so many scholars 
drop out of Sunday-school in their teens when there is no 
inducement for them to remain, nothing to stimulate ambi- 
tion and desire for higher attainments. 

4. Examination. Promotion should be made on exami- 
nation, oral in the lower and written in the higher grades. 

5. Graduation. This does not mean that the students 
in the Sunday-school are to cease to attend it, any more 
than graduates from college are to lay aside all books and 
cease to study. They are only prepared to commence 
to study. That is what "commencement days" mean. 
But it means, when a certain amount of work is done, a 
certain course of study is taken, that there should be a 
recognition of it in some way that will give pleasure to the 
graduates and stimulus and encouragement to the under- 
graduates. 

The graduation point may be when a scholar has studied 
all the lessons, or, say, seventy-five per cent, of the Inter- 
national Lessons in a six or seven years' series. These 
series are arranged so as to cover the whole field of the 
Bible in outline. Then, also, an examination may be 
given on the supplemental lessons that may be adopted. 

II. Methods of Grading. 

We lay down here no inflexible rule, but give only sug- 
gestions. The superintendent and teachers of each school 



24 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

must determine the details of grading according to the cir- 
cumstances of each school. Yet in all grading we recog- 
nize several great departments, and the grading in these 
departments will be left to the judgment of those who have 
charge of them. 

1. The Primary Department. Age from four to eight 
years. If this department is large it may be divided into 
small classes, with assistant teachers over them. As the 
pupils are to remain in this grade four years, it might be 
a good plan to subdivide according to the years and put 
them into four classes. These will seat all first-year, 
second-year, etc., together, which will represent the grade 
to the eye. 

First Year. Titles, Golden Texts, and simple facts of 
the International Lessons. 

Second Year. In addition to the first, the Ten Com- 
mandments, the Lord's Prayer, Twenty-third Psalm, and 
Beatitudes. 

Third Year. Teach most of the regular lessons and 
begin the work in a good primary catechism — Broadus' 
"Catechism," first grade — and memorize other portions of 
Scripture that the teacher may select. 

Fourth Year. In addition to regular lessons and memo- 
rizing Scripture, finish Broadus' "Catechism." 

The instruction in this department should all be oral, 
using blackboard, charts, and objects. 

2. The Intermediate Department. Age, eight to twelve 
years. In passing from one grade to another there will 
necessarily be a change of teachers. When it is generally 
known that this is the rule of the school there will be no 
objections. 

In large schools, where there will be a number of classes 
in each department, it will be well to have a superintend- 
ent of each one. 



GRADED SUNDAY-SCHOOLS 2$ 

First Year. The International Lesson is studied more 
thoroughly. The ' ' Intermediate Quarterly ' ' is used and all 
the blanks filled up in writing. The supplemental work 
here may be learning the books of the Bible in order and 
such other memory work as the teacher may assign. 

Second Year. In addition to the regular lessons, the 
books of the Bible reviewed, giving their classification, 
authors, dates, and design of each book. 1 

Third Year. In addition to regular lessons, select por- 
tions of Scripture to be memorized. Teach the names and 
characteristics of the patriarchs, judges, kings of Israel and 
Judah, and the twelve apostles, teacher arranging so much 
for each week. 

Fourth Year. Here the pupil is in the twelfth year of 
his life and eighth year of his Sunday-school life, and, if 
the work in previous grades has been well done, you can 
give as the supplemental lessons this year a brief outline 
of the life of Christ. It may be easily arranged by quar- 
ters, as : First quarter, from his birth to his baptism ; second 
quarter, Judean ministry ; third quarter, Galilean ministry ; 
fourth quarter, Perean ministry. 2 

3. Advanced Department. Age, twelve to sixteen. This 
is the most important grade in the school because it is the 
hardest age at which to hold pupils. The best and wisest 
teachers should be selected for this grade. It is usually 
the largest department of the school, and will be in the 
same room with the seniors. They like, at this age, recog- 
nition, and in the opening and closing exercises they should 
receive such as may be suitable. In the regular lessons 
they study the ' ' Advanced Quarterly, ' ' and work should be 



!For this work, " Lessons from the Desk," by Rev. Harold Kennedy, and 
published by the American Baptist Publication Society, will prove invaluable. 

2 "The Life of Christ," by O. C. S. Wallace, d. d., will be found very help- 
ful in this work. 



26 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

assigned in the lesson to each pupil, as to one the places of 
the lesson, to another the persons, etc. The supplemental 
lessons may be : 

First Year. Outline O. T. history from creation to 
exodus from Egypt. 

Second Year. O. T. history from exodus from Egypt to 
the coronation of King Saul. 

Third Year. Finish O. T. history. 

Fourth Year. New Testament history. Of course the 
history in this grade will be only in brief outline, so that it 
will leave with the pupils of this grade the framework of 
Bible history. 

4. Senior Department. Age, sixteen to twenty. In 
this grade the " Senior Quarterly " will be used and all the 
matter worked up that it suggests in the way of special 
topics along the line of the International Lessons. For 
supplemental work, take something like the following : 

First Year. "The Dawn of Christianity," Vedder. 

Second Year. "Short History of Baptists," Vedder. 

Third Year. Christian evidence. 

Fourth Year. Christian evidence. 

Or, for the whole four years, the Christian Culture 
Courses of the B. Y. P. U. This latter course would keep 
the young people's society and Sunday-school together 
during a most important period of life. 

5. The Normal Department. From the senior depart- 
ment pupils may be graded and promoted to the normal 
department. Put into this department all who are willing 
to become teachers and to prepare themselves for the work, 
or those who wish to study more systematically the Bible. 
Of this department we may notice : 

(1) The Teacher. The pastor, superintendent, or a 
practical teacher from the public schools may be placed as 
teacher of the normal department. 



GRADED SUNDAY-SCHOOLS 2/ 

(2) The Course of Study. The Chautauqua Normal 
Union Course is the best Then each student may be en- 
rolled as a Normal Union student, and, on finishing the 
course, receives a diploma from the Chautauqua Normal 
Union. 

(3) Time and Place of Meeting. If the time can be 
given to it, take a week-day evening or an hour on Sunday, 
and, if neither of these can be had, take the regular Sunday- 
school hour and drop the regular lessons. 

6. The Lecture Department. This takes in every one 
over twenty years of age and during the remainder of life, 
if the scholars choose. There is no formal organization as 
in the other departments. The method of teaching is by 
practical running comment on the lesson, bringing out the 
spiritual lessons, and with forcible incident and illustration 
impressing them on the heart. This department should 
meet in the main audience room of the church if it is ar- 
ranged in apartments, and the pastor will probably be the 
best teacher. If the superintendent has charge of it he 
must do it while the class-work is going on in the other 
departments under the supervision of his assistants. Every 
one not in the other departments may attend this. They 
may or may not study the lesson previously. Strangers 
may drop in here and be greatly benefited. It is more like 
a preaching service with an expository sermon. The lecture 
on the lesson may often take on the evangelistic form and be 
a real soul-winning sermon. Special features may be intro- 
duced, from time to time, to awaken and keep up interest 

BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 



GRADING 

T , ix. Vol. Attendance 

TYffi if- \ 2 - Bible not Gr - Text-book 

'.3. All Grades have same Lesson 



it 



28 



HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 



f I. Class, by Age and Att. 
Def. Work Assigned 
Principles for -| 3. Day of Promotion 

4. Examinations 

5. Graduation 



Methods for - 



1. Pri. Dep't 



2. Int. Dep't 



3. Adv. Dep't 



4. Senior Dep't 



First Year 
Second Year 
Third Year 
Fourth Year 

First Year. 
Second Year 
Third Year 
Fourth Year 

First Year 
Second Year 
Third Year 
Fourth Year 

First Year 
Second Year 
Third Year 
Fourth Year 



5. Normal Dep't 

6. Lecture Dep't 



{'t 



Teacher 
Course of Study 
Time and Place 



IV. 



SUPPLEMENTAL ORGANIZATION. 

In addition to the organization and grading considered in 
the two preceding lessons, there are other means of per- 
fecting the work of the Sunday-school. These it is not 
proper to omit in a manual of this kind, and as they may 
be briefly treated under the head of organizations we in- 
clude them in this lesson. 



SUPPLEMENTAL ORGANIZATION 29 

I. Class Organization. 
The school and its work will be helped greatly by proper 
class organization. It will promote a wholesome class 
spirit, unity, and acquaintance. The organization may be 
simple. There should be : 

1. A Preside?it. This should as a rule be the teacher, 
yet it would be proper to elect any other member president. 

2. A Secretary, to keep the class records, call the roll, 
and mark the attendance. 

3. A Treasurer, to take the collection in the class and 
keep the account of all contributions, which he will turn 
over to the treasurer of the school. 

4. Committees, to look up absent scholars, bring in new 
ones, and introduce strangers to the teachers, who will in- 
troduce them to the class. 

5. Class Meetings. These may be held at such time 
and place as is most convenient for social purposes, and to 
cultivate a better class acquaintance and class spirit. If 
the school is in city or town, class outings in the summer 
will be pleasant and profitable. 

II. The Teachers' Meeting. 

No Sunday-school is properly organized that does not 
sustain a weekly teachers' meeting. 

When ? Every week, as near the middle of the week as 
convenient, so that the teachers will have time to prepare 
for it, and time to work up the suggestions they receive at 
the meeting. 

Where ? At the most central point for all the teachers. 
This may be a room in the church, the pastor' s study, or 
the home of one of the teachers. Sometimes it works well 
to meet at the homes of the teachers in rotation. 

Why ? We should have a teachers' meeting : 1. Be- 
cause it promotes mutual acquaintance, sympathy, and fel- 



30 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

lowship among the teachers. 2. It unifies the teaching. 
3. It improves the methods of teaching. 4. It secures 
better results to the school. 

How ? How shall the teachers' meeting be conducted ? 
1. Have a season of prayer. 2. Study the next Sunday's 
lesson. 3. Discuss methods of teaching it in the various 
grades. Let teachers be appointed the week before to 
present plans for teaching — a plan for teaching it to adult 
classes, another for the intermediate classes, and another 
still for the primary. 4. Then consider any difficulties 
which any of the teachers may be laboring under, any en- 
couragements they may be having in their classes, or inci- 
dents connected with their class-work. Remember that it 
is a teachers' meeting and it is proper to consider all ques- 
tions relative to teaching. It will be well for the teachers 
to prepare questions for this part of the meeting. 

III. The Home Department. 

The Home Department is the "pick-up" train of the 
Sunday-school. It gathers in all that cannot, or think they 
cannot, attend the regular sessions of the school, but want 
to study the Bible in a regular and systematic way. When 
there are a sufficient number who are willing to join the 
Home Department, it may have an organization of its own. 
We here briefly describe it : 

1. The enrollment. The community is canvassed, and 
all who will agree to study the Sunday-school lessons thirty 
minutes each week at home are enrolled as members of the 
school. 

This will reach (1) Those who live at too great a dis- 
tance from the school to attend regularly. (2) Mothers 
with small children and no one to care for them in their 
absence. (3) The "shut-ins," who will be glad to occupy 
a portion of their weary hours in this way. (4) Servants 



SUPPLEMENTAL ORGANIZATION 3 I 

and employees whose time is not their own. (5) Traveling 
men who cannot be at home, save at intervals. Those 
who are enrolled are to have all the privileges of the school. 
Lesson helps and papers are to be furnished them, and 
a catalogue of the library to which they may have access, 
and the privilege of making regular contributions to the 
work of the school. 

2. Officers. A superintendent, and visitors who make a 
thorough canvass of the community and induce all not at- 
tending the school to join the Home Department. The ter- 
ritory is divided into districts, and one or more visitors 
assigned to each district. 

3. Classes. There may be four kinds of classes formed : 
(1) Individual classes, who live in the same district, under 
the supervision of a visitor, who corresponds to the teacher. 
They study independently of each other, and have no class 
meetings. (2) Family classes. In some instances there 
will be families too remote from the school to attend, and 
will agree to study the lesson together. (3) Neighborhood 
classes, where several families may agree to study the lesson 
together. There are not enough to organize and support 
a school, and are too remote from the main school to at- 
tend. They may be formed thus into a neighborhood class. 
(4) Correspondence classes. Any one may start, in connec- 
tion with the Home Department, a correspondence class of 
persons who are scattered and too far away for visitation. 
Correspondence may thus be opened with lumber and min- 
ing camps and remote communities. 

4. Supplies. Home Department supplies consist of a 
visitor's book, with full instructions, circulars explaining 
the work, pledge cards, membership certificates, report 
cards, etc. 1 The quarterlies and papers are also furnished. 

1 All of these supplies can be obtained from the American Baptist Publica- 
tion Society, Philadelphia, or from the nearest Branch. 



32 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

A collection envelope accompanies the report card, for a 
contribution to be sent in with the quarterly report of the 
student. 

5. Advantages of the Home Departmetit. (1) It takes 
the school to the homes of those who do not attend it at 
the church. (2) It solves the vexed problem, "How can 
we get all our church-members into the Sunday-school?" 
(3) It increases the attendance of the main school. (4) It 
is an evangelizing agency for the community. (5) It is a 
good help to the pastor in his work of visitation. (6) It 
promotes Bible reading in the family. (7) It develops 
Christian workers. 

IV. House to House Visitation. 

This visitation is different from that in the Home De- 
partment — different visitors, different objects, and different 
methods. It may be accomplished by an individual 
school, but it is probably better to make it a general work 
by a union effort of all the schools in a town, city, district, 
or county. It is more a department of international work 
than that of any one school. In such union there will be 
both strength and impressiveness. To prosecute it success- 
fully there must be : 

1. Organizatioji. This organization should represent 
the pastors and superintendents of all the schools of all de- 
nominations in the community. Then, 

2. District the Territory. In the town or city it may 
follow wards or streets ; in the country the school districts 
would be a natural and convenient division. 

3. Appoint visitors, and furnish each with a visitor's 
book and a list of questions on slips of paper to be filled 
up by each family visited, for the purpose of obtaining de- 
sired information, as whether they attend Sunday-school 
anywhere, and if so, what school ; if not, what school they 



SUPPLEMENTAL ORGANIZATION 33 

would prefer, and whether they are supplied with Bibles, 
and what church they attend, etc. 

4. Appoint a Visiting Day. Then let all the visitors 
assemble for a season of prayer before they start out, and 
when the canvass is complete have another meeting for 
reports. The information obtained will be astonishing. 
Whole cities and counties have been visited in a day. 
Every house in the community should be visited. Much 
care and judgment should be exercised in prosecuting the 
work. Visitors must not be abrupt nor canvass in the 
spirit of a governmental census taker or commercial agent, 
but be polite, kind, and winning. Such a day' s work can- 
not fail to make a most favorable impression on a commu- 
nity, especially when it is known that every house has been 
religiously canvassed. 

5. Let this be done frequently enough to have the work 
efficient and impressive. The information obtained can be 
distributed to the various schools and made useful in their 
special work. Those, for instance, that would prefer the 
Baptist school or church can have their names and ad- 
dresses given to the pastor or superintendent of the Baptist 
church, and so on of each denomination. 

6. The advantages of such a work would be : (1) To 
awaken the whole community religiously and show the 
people that the churches were really interested in them. 
(2) It would be a revelation to the churches of the religious 
condition of the community. (3) It would awaken an 
interest in the churches themselves for the community they 
never had before. (4) It would bring all the churches and 
Sunday-schools of the community into closer touch, sym- 
pathy, and co-operation with each other. (5) It would 
destroy a great deal of denominational prejudice and nar- 
rowness. (6) It would increase the number and develop 
Christian workers. (7) It would prove a great blessing to 



34 



HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 



the workers themselves as well as increase attendance upon 
the Sunday-school and church. 

BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 

SUPPLEMENTAL ORGANIZATION 



I. 

Class Organiza- ■ 
tion 


1. President 

2. Secretary 

3. Treasurer 

4. Committees 

5. Class Meetings 




' When? 




Where ? 


II. 

Teachers' Meet- ■ 
ings 


Why? ■ 


1. Promote Acq., Symp., Fel. 

2. Unifies Teaching 

3. Improves Methods 

4. Secures Better Results 




How ? 


[" 1. Prayer 

2. Study Lesson 

3. Discuss Methods of Teaching 
L 4. Questions 



III. 

Home Dep't 



IV. 

House to House 

Visitation 



1. Enroll: Dist., Mothers, " Shut-ins," Serv., 

Trav. 

2. Officers : Sup't, Visitors 

3. Classes : Ind., Fam., Neighb., Corre. 

4. Supplies : Vis. Book, Cert., Cards, Helps, 

etc. 

5. Advantages : R. Homes, R. All, Incr. 

Att., Evan., Helps Pastor, Bible R., 
Dev. Workers 

1. Organization 

2. District the Territory 

3. Appoint Visitors 

4. Visitors' Day 

5. Distribute Inf. 

{Awake Com., Inform Ch's, 
Stim. Interest, Co-op. De- 
stroy rrej., Dev. Workers, 
Benefit Workers 



THE SUPERINTENDENT 35 



THE SUPERINTENDENT. 



A large Sunday-school which is thoroughly organized 
may have several superintendents. If the departments 
are large, with a number of sub-grades and classes, each 
department may have its own superintendent. Yet all are 
subordinate to the chief superintendent, who is installed 
into his office by the authority of the church. What we 
say of the superintendent here may apply to all. Notice : 

I. His Qualifications. 

We may not find in one person all the desirable quali- 
fications that may be mentioned, but we should find in the 
assistants what is lacking in the principal. 

To avoid mistakes in his selection we may consider the 
superintendent' s qualifications : 

1. Negative. (1) We do not want a loiterer, one who 
is habitually behind time. Tardiness is a crime, and the 
superintendent must not be a criminal, a time-stealer. 
(2) We do not want a "lemon squeezer," a sour, sullen 
disposition, always finding fault with everybody and every- 
thing, whose forte is scolding. A superintendent with too 
much acid in his nature will sour every one else, keep every 
one in pickle, and fail to sweeten any lives of those he 
comes in contact with. {3) We do not want a Solomon in 
his own esteem, a self-conceited man who knows more than 
"seven men who can render a reason." He takes no sug- 
gestions from any one, favors nothing that he does not 
originate, reads nothing on Sunday-schools, makes no im- 
provement. (4) We do not want one of porcupine nature, 
whose forte is criticism. His sharp quills are always out ; 
you are afraid to come near him, for you are sure to be 
stabbed by some sharp remark that hurts for days afterward. 



36 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

(5) We do not want a talking machine. The talkative 
superintendent may be a good-natured man, but he is af- 
flicted with the gift of speech. He opens the school with a 
lecture, he exhorts between every verse of the hymns, he 
preaches in the review. 

I know a school that elected a good business man super- 
intendent, "because he could not make a speech." They 
succeeded. 

2. Positive. Having seen what we do not want in a 
superintendent, it will be more pleasant to search for the 
qualities that we do want. 

(1) Cheerfulness. Cheerfulness is the bright sunlight 
of the soul. He who possesses it makes every one happy 
with whom he comes in contact. The cheerful super- 
intendent never shows discouragement in his face. If it 
is a dark, gloomy, rainy day, he commences his school, 
by saying in fact, if not in words, "It is very dark and 
gloomy on the outside to-day, but I am so glad that it is 
so bright and cheerful in here." His face is a benediction 
on the school. 

(2) Teachableness. The good superintendent is a thorough 
Bible student, and hence he is teachable. He never feels 
that he knows enough. He is always open to suggestions. 
He reads the best books on Sunday-school work, and 
attends all the institutes and conventions that he can. 
Being teachable he is a teacher. He is up on all the 
latest approved methods of teaching. 

(3) Lovableness. That quality that excites love. Loveli- 
ness is moral magnetism. Add to this deep piety and we 
have a superintendent who is a moral and spiritual magnet. 
He has a most tender regard for the feelings of others, 
studiously avoids saying or doing anything that will disturb 
uneasy tempers. He is an amiable gentleman. He wins. 

(4) Gentleness. Gentleness has been defined as love in 



THE SUPERINTENDENT 37 

society holding delightful intercourse with those around it. 
This quality in a superintendent gives him a permanent 
popularity. The virtue that includes in it softness of man- 
ner, tenderness of feeling, kindness of action, mildness of 
speech, and docility of spirit, cannot fail to render its 
possessor lovable and attractive. As the mission of the 
Sunday-school is to win to Christ, the more of this quality 
in the leader, the greater will be the number of those who 
will be won. 

(5) Firmness. The superintendent has much to test him. 
He is the sovereign in the government of the school, and 
his management depends upon firmness as well as kindness. 
He must first be sure that he is right, and then, when he 
takes a position, he must maintain it at all hazards. 

(6) Executive Ability. As the superintendent is the chief 
executive officer, he should possess a large share of execu- 
tive ability. This is the ability to foresee, plan, and exe- 
cute. He must have a will of his own and know how to 
use it. He must be a man who brings things to pass. 
This quality includes in it promptness and perseverance. 
No one who is not prompt and persevering will bring 
things to pass. 

(7) Piety. There are many other desirable traits in the 
superintendent that might be considered, but our space for- 
bids, and we close this part of our lesson with the perfect 
number seven. Piety includes so many good traits, and 
covers so many defects, that we may regard it as the one 
essential qualification of the superintendent. If he is 
pious he will be prayerful, patient, and powerful. 

// His Work. 

1. In the School. By "in the school" we mean during 
the session of the school, and in order to perform his duties 
there properly he should be in the room fifteen or twenty 



38 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

minutes before the time to open the exercises, in order to 
see that the sexton has done his duty and everything is in 
order for the session. Then his work in the school is : 

(i) To begin on time. One tap of the bell should be 
the signal for order ; then taking his place on the platform 
he should wait for quietness. The hymn should be an- 
nounced distinctly, or place the number on the board. 

(2) The superintendent should lead all the general exer- 
cises according to a well-arranged order of exercises, which 
may be changed from time to time. It should contain the 
elements of appropriateness, unity, variety, and impressive- 
ness. Especially should he make the opening prayer, for 
he knows best the spiritual needs of the school. 

(3) During class-work he should remain at the desk, 
where he can see all that is going on, and keep a note-book 
to make a record of anything he may wish to call attention 
to in future conferences with officers or teachers. If the 
different departments meet in different rooms, a visit from 
the superintendent for a few moments, if it is only to say, 
"How do you do," will be welcomed. Five minutes be- 
fore class-work closes he should give a signal, usually one 
tap of the bell, that all may close on time. 

(4) The platform review should be given by the super- 
intendent, using a blackboard. This review should be 
short, pointed, practical, impressive, bringing out a practi- 
cal summary of the lesson. The acrostic form will appeal 
to the eye and aid the memory. 

(5) He should aim to make the closing exercises helpful 
in impressing the teaching of the hour. Abruptness in 
closing should be avoided. The secretary's report should 
be placed on the board that all may see it, the papers 
distributed in the classes to avoid confusion. 

2. Out of the School. As the superintendent can be 
with his school only an hour in the week, it is evident that 



THE SUPERINTENDENT 39 

most of his work must be done out of the school. It may- 
be summarized as follows : The work of the superintendent 
is to prepare for the work in the school. But to specify : 

(i) Hold cabinet meetings. His cabinet is composed 
of all the officers of the school and the pastor — who is 
really an officer of the school. They should meet at least 
once a month, and consider all questions of interest to the 
school, decide on new methods that are to be employed. 
No new method should be employed as a mere experiment, 
but should be first considered in the cabinet meeting, then 
submitted to the teachers, then put into practice. It will 
be well for members of the cabinet to visit other schools, 
observe their methods, and report. The cabinet meeting 
can be made very helpful to the school. 

(2) To hold a weekly teachers' meeting. If the superin- 
tendent is determined to have a teachers' meeting, he can 
have one. The best and only way to have a teachers' 
meeting is to have it. If the teachers cannot meet every 
week, meet every other week and take up two lessons. 

(3) The superintendent should visit his pupils as often 
as possible. If the plan of house to house visitation is 
adopted, he can occasionally go with the visitors. Children 
will be delighted to see their superintendent in their homes. 

(4) Out of the school the superintendent should read 
and study along the line of his work, keeping up with the 
latest and best books on the subject of Sunday-schools. 

(5) He should also attend Sunday-school institutes and 
conventions, both as a worker and a learner. The super- 
intendent who does not attend such meetings will soon win 
for himself the appropriate title of a "back number." 

(6) Out of the school the superintendent should prepare 
all the details of work in the school, as the lesson review, 
selection of hymns, Scripture passages that are to be used, 
and notify persons whom he wants to take part in the exer- 



4Q 



HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 



cises in any way. Then after the school has closed and he 
returns home, let him review all the work of that session, 
and ask himself where he could have improved it. 

Suggestions : 

The Superintendent' s Library. Every wide-awake, up- 
to-date superintendent should have a library. I suggest 
the following : "The Baptist Superintendent," a monthly 
magazine, published by the American Baptist Publication 
Society, 25 cents a year; "A Model Superintendent," 
Trumbull, $1.00 ; "The Church School, and its Officers," 
Vincent, 75 cents ; "Ways of Working," Shauffler, $1.00; 
"Sunday-school Success," Wells, $1.25 ; "How to Make 
the Sunday-school Go," Bener, $1.00; "Seven Graded 
Sunday-schools," edited by Hurlbut, 60 cents ; "Teaching 
and Teachers," Trumbull, $1.00. "The Sunday School 
Times" and "International Evangel," are among the best 
periodicals outside of the regular denominational papers, 
quarterlies, and teacher's journal, with which the superin- 
tendent should be familiar. 



BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 



THE SUPERINTENDENT 



His 

Qualifications 



Negative 



Positive 



1. Slow 

2. Sour 

3. Solomon 

4. Sharp 

5. Talking Machine 



Cheerfulness 

Teachableness 

Lovableness 

Gentleness 

Firmness 

Executive Ability 

Piety 



THE TEACHER 



41 



His Work 



In the School 



Out of the School 



Begin on Time 

Lead General Exercises 

During Class Work 

Reviews 

Closing Exercises 

Hold Cabinet Meeting 
Hold Teachers' Meeting 
Visit Pupils 
Read and Study 
Attend Institutes 



6. Prepare all Details 



His Library 



VI. 



THE TEACHER. 

While the office and work of the superintendent cannot 
be too highly regarded, we must not underestimate the 
sacredness and power of the office and work of the teacher. 
What the teacher needs first and foremost is a just concep- 
tion and appreciation of his sacred office and God-given 
work. In this lesson we notice six things concerning the 
Sunday-school teacher. 

I. His Calling. 

Alas, too many Sunday-school teachers never have a 
serious thought about their work, and teach simply because 
they have been asked to ' « take a class ' ' and can give it 
up as easily as they take it, Our teachers never will be 
brought up to the fullness of their efficiency until they feel 
that they are called of God to teach. Hence we announce : 

1. This calling is of God. All Christians are called of 
God to some purpose : 1 Cor. 1 : 26, "For you see your 
calling, brethren." Then in answer to prayer he designates 



42 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

some particular work. Paul's first prayer was: "Lord, 
what wilt thou have me to do ? " and the Lord answered 
by calling him to be an apostle (Rom. I : i). The Holy 
Spirit said to the church at Antioch : "Separate me Bar- 
nabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called 
them." This was not the general call of all Christians, 
but a special call to these two men and no one else. But 
this calling was to ministers or missionaries ? In this same 
church there "were certain prophets and teachers" (Acts 
13:1). In 1 Cor. 12 : 28 the office of teacher is distinctly 
pointed out : " God hath set some in the church, first apos- 
tles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers." The teacher 
must realize this and feel that he is teaching because God 
wants him to teach. 

2. This calling is often made known through the church. 
The church is instructed to pray for workers : ' ' Pray ye 
therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth 
laborers into his harvest." The church at Antioch sent 
out Saul and Barnabas as missionaries and the Holy Spirit 
made it known to them that he had called them. A pray- 
ing church will be sure to find workers. The teacher 
should regard the voice of the church as the voice of God. 
Yet he should feel impressed in his own heart that God has 
called him to teach ; one is the internal, the other the 
external call. They corroborate each other. 

77 His Qualifications. 

Since the office of teacher is a divine calling, it follows 
that he who fills it must possess proper and essential quali- 
fications. The Sunday-school teacher should be 

1. A Christian ; not a mere professor, but a true Chris- 
tian in belief, experience, and life. He should believe the 
truth he is to teach, he should feel its power in his own 
soul, and live it every day before the world and his class. 



THE TEACHER 43 

2. He should be a consistent church-member. This 
means that he should have a church preference, with con- 
scientious beliefs concerning its doctrine ; that he should 
belong to the church with which the school is connected, 
and that he should be loyal to it in its doctrine, officers, 
and work. He is expected to lead his pupils into the 
church, and he cannot do it unless he goes into it himself. 

3. He should be pious, prayerful, and punctual. His 
piety will show him his own weakness, keep him close to 
God, and warm his heart. Prayerfulness will establish 
pious habits in the teacher, keep his class constantly be- 
fore a throne of grace as their intercessor, and give him the 
light of the Spirit for study and teaching. Punctuality will 
show him the value of time and enable him to economize 
every moment. 

4. Personal magnetism and enthusiasm will add im- 
mensely to his power. He will draw his pupils to him and 
kindle a flame of zeal in them that will glow in the study of 
their lessons and warm a frozen recitation. 

5. The teacher must love his work. If he loves God 
and feels that he has called him to his work he cannot help 
loving it. It should be a part of his very being. The 
expression ' ' wedded to one' s work ' ' has more in it than 
we think. The relation between the teacher and his 
work is a most tender and loving relation. Divorce means 
death. Teacher, if you would succeed, learn to love your 
work and value it as your own life. 

6. The teacher should be friendly, one who can make 
friends, appreciate friends, and keep friends. Each mem- 
ber in the class should feel that the Sunday-school teacher 
is a friend at all times, and that he can go to him with 
any trouble or at any time. The teacher should also en- 
courage these friendly feelings, sympathy, and helpfulness 
between himself and his class. 



44 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

7. Finally, on this line the teacher should be a teacher 
not simply in name, but in knowledge, skill, tact, and 
power. A natural teacher with all the acquired qualifica- 
tions is the best. If we would rely more on God to make 
and choose our Sunday-school teachers for us we should 
have fewer failures, for he knows whom to call. A teacher 
is one who wants to teach, loves to teach, can teach, and 
does teach. 

III. His Preparation. 

Preparation means getting ready. By preparation here 
I do not mean the preparation of a given lesson, but the 
general preparation in getting ready to prepare and teach 
any lesson. The minister' s preparation for his work does 
not consist in making sermons, the lawyer's in trying cases, 
nor the physician' s in writing prescriptions, but in getting 
ready to do these things. The teacher, in preparing to 
teach, should take three courses of study : 

1. He should study what he is to teach. A course of 
outline study of the Bible as a whole, its origin, interpre- 
tation, structure, history, geography, institutions, doctrine, 
etc., such a course as is outlined by the companion volume 
to this, "Lessons from the Desk," by Mr. Kennedy. 
This general outline study of the Bible will make the study 
of a given lesson much easier. 

2. He should study how he is to teach. In these days of 
advanced methods of Sunday-school work and the many 
helpful books on the subject brought within easy reach of 
the teacher, he is inexcusable for ignorance. Besides, most 
of our children are taught in the public schools according 
to the latest and best methods, and they will soon detect 
poor teaching in the Sunday-school, and it will fail to 
hold them. A course of study in the principles and 
methods or science of teaching is essential to efficiency in 



THE TEACHER 45 

the Sunday-school. This course of study it is the purpose 
of this manual to furnish. 

3. The teacher should study whom he is to teach. It is 
not enough for the teacher to know the truth he is to impart 
and the method of imparting it, but he must know the per- 
sonality he is to teach. He is to use all the pupil's powers 
of thinking, feeling, and willing, and how can he do this if 
he does not know these powers, their strength and laws of 
operation. He must know how to reach his pupil's mind, 
heart, and will. A course of study in human nature, and 
especially child study, is essential. Part II. of this manual 
is a mere outline of this branch of study. We hope the 
teacher will greatly extend it. 

IV. His Study. 

We do not give here the method of the teacher' s study, 
but the general characteristics of it. Five points may be 
given the teacher : 

1. He should study prayerfully, that is, he must ask 
God to help him understand the spiritual truth he studies. 
The Bible is unlike all other books in that it has a spiritual 
interpretation that can be discerned only by the spiritually 
minded, and the spiritually minded teacher is the prayer- 
ful teacher. Hence prayer helps him to study. 

2. He should study reverently. It is a serious matter to 
prepare to teach God' s word. The teacher is dealing with 
divine truth and immortal souls with a view of bringing 
the two together. How reverent we should feel in the 
bodily presence of Jesus. We are no less in his presence 
when we come before his open word to get a message to 
deliver to precious souls. Study reverently. He should 

3. Study habitually. Mental habits may be easily formed 
as well as physical, and by training the mind to think 
habitually along certain lines, it will naturally recur to those 



46 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

topics. If the teacher will form the habit of studying his 
Bible every day, and especially along the line of the lessons, 
he can utilize many moments that would otherwise be lost. 
When he once has formed the habit of finding spiritual 
lessons from the text of the lesson, they soon become easy. 
Besides this he will begin to turn everything else into les- 
sons, as the preacher turns everything he learns into ser- 
mons. Form studious habits. 

4. The teacher should study systematically. Study along 
similar lines, collecting and arranging similar truths in their 
proper relations to each other. Systematic study is the 
easiest and most aids the memory and prepares it best for 
teaching. Many an otherwise good sermon has been lost 
to the audience because it had no system in its make-up. 
The same is true of a lesson that is to be taught. Much 
depends on arrangement. 

5. The teacher should study thoroughly. Superficial 
preparation discourages, if not disgusts, an intelligent class, 
and is very harmful to the teacher. Thorough preparation 
in our Sunday-school work is the remedy for many an ill. 
Thorough preparation gives the teacher self-confidence 
when he comes before his class, and inspires confidence on 
the part of the class. This also "increases their faith" in 
the word and its author. Be thorough. 

V. His teaching. 

Three points will describe in a general way the teaching 
of the Sunday-school teacher. 

1. It should be sound in doctrine. We are often asked 
if we should teach doctrine in the Sunday-school. My re- 
ply is, that if we teach at all we must teach doctrine. But 
what is sound doctrine ? It is evangelical : a proper con- 
ception of God, our relations to him, his love, and our re- 
lations to it, proper conceptions of ourselves, proper con- 



THE TEACHER \J 

ceptions of Christ, the work of the Spirit, and the way of 
salvation. For a Baptist, sound doctrine includes that sys- 
tem of belief held by the denomination. Teach the dis- 
tinctive doctrines of Baptists ? Certainly, that is what they 
are for. The Jews were instructed to teach their distinctive 
doctrines to their children, and why not we ? We should 
hold no doctrine that we are not willing to teach in the 
Sunday-school or elsewhere. Let the teaching be sound in 
doctrine. 

2. // should be natural in method. There is a natural 
way to teach all truth and a natural way to teach every lesson. 
The teacher must find that way, and follow it. There is a 
natural point at which to begin every lesson, a natural way 
to proceed to unfold it, and a natural way in which to reach 
every heart. The skillful teacher will soon find it. There 
is a natural way to reach the child mind, the boy mind, 
the girl mind, the youth' s mind, and the mind of the adult 
and aged ; the same is true of their hearts. Teaching 
should be natural. 

3. // should be practical in application. The Sunday- 
school class is not a debating society for the discussion of 
knotty theological questions, nor a factory for spinning fine 
theories, nor a social club for "a good time," but a con- 
flict in which head and heart come in contact with head 
and heart, where souls are to be won as the fruits of the 
greatest victories, and lives are to be made better and hap- 
pier. Let much time be given to the practical lessons. 
Better take only one or two and impress them well than to 
skim over a large number. Practical teaching is clear, im- 
pressive, and moves to action. If your teaching causes the 
pupil to think, understand, feel, and act, it is practical in 
the highest sense. 

VI. His Pastoral Work. 

The teacher bears something of the relation to his class 



48 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

that the pastor does to his congregation. He is their shep- 
herd in spiritual things. This relation readily suggests 
duties in this direction. 

1. He is to know his flock. The shepherd of Palestine, 
of whom Jesus spoke, knew the name and face of every 
sheep in his flock. So the teacher must know his class, 
their names, places of abode, dispositions, and the world 
in which they live, their home life, school life, street life, 
social life, business life — must know their moral and spirit- 
ual condition. To do this he must visit them at their 
homes, their school, in short, must go into the world in 
which they live. 

2. He is to lead his flock. The shepherd went before 
his flock, never driving, but leading them. The teacher 
must lead his class, in thinking, study, and living, influ- 
ence them for good. Often he will lead them out of the 
world in which he finds them into a better world, or life. 
To do this it is well to have them at his home and cul- 
tivate a good social atmosphere for them. This will be 
leading them into "green pastures and beside the still 
waters." Lead them to Christ and into the church. 

3. He is to feed his flock. The shepherd made every 
preparation to feed well his flock. So the teacher must 
prepare out of school to feed well his "little flock" in 
school. 

4. This pastorate means to care for the flock. The shep- 
herd nurses the sick of his flock and carries the lambs in 
his bosom across the streams. So there is much pastoral 
work for the teacher, in looking after the sick, and helping 
the lambs over the many streams of trial and doubt. 

5. // means to defend the flock. In the East the sheep 
were in danger of being attacked by wolves, and the shep- 
herd would hazard his life in defending them. How many 
ravenous beasts seek to prey upon our children and youth, 



THE TEACHER 



49 



as the saloon, the theater, the ballroom, and many other 
social evils! Let the teacher be found on the right side of 
these questions and ready to defend his class from them. 

BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 

THE TEACHER 



HisC; 



ailing {*] 



I. From God 

Made Known Through the Church 



Qualifications - 



1. A Christian 

2. Consistent Church-member 

3. Pious, Prayerful, Punctual 

4. Personal Magnetism 

5. Must Love the Work 

6. Be Friendly 

7. Natural Teacher 



Study What 
Preparation -J 2. Study How 
3. Study Whom 



Study 




Teaching 



1. Sound in Doctrine 

2. Natural in Method 

3. Practical in Application 



Pastoral Work 



1. Know 

2. Lead 

3. Feed 

4. Care for 

5. Defend 



50 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

VII. 

HOW TO STUDY A SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON. 

I once visited a mansion on a hill near a town in the 
mountain region of West Virginia. My object was pleasure 
and information. I made a study of the building and 
premises. In doing so I did three things : (i) I went all 
around the building, viewing it from every point of the 
compass. (2) I went all through it from cellar to dome, 
getting a magnificent view of the surrounding country from 
the observatory ; I also studied the plan of its construction, 
the great halls and stairways, the various apartments and 
rooms and their relations to each other. (3) Then the 
gentleman who showed me through told me all he knew 
about it. That visit and study suggested to me three rules 
for the study of a Sunday-school lesson, which I give in the 
following outline : 

I. Study all Around the Lesson. 

If I had viewed the mansion from only a single point, I 
should have gotten only a partial view of it. So with a 
Bible lesson, we must study the lesson text in all its sur- 
roundings, look at it from many points of view. 

We should study the lesson 

1. /;/ its historical surroundings. For illustration, we take 
a passage from some portion of one of the Minor Prophets, 
e. g., Hosea. We cannot understand it until we know 
when Hosea prophesied, and what was the object of his 
prophecy, determined only by a study of the condition of 
Israel at the time of his prediction. In other words, we 
must know the history that called forth the lesson text. 
The same is true of many of the psalms. If the lesson 
be Ps. 137, we must study the condition of the Jews in 



HOW TO STUDY A SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON 5 I 

Babylon, or we cannot understand it. This is what is 
called "the historic setting of the lesson." 
But we must also study the lesson 

2. In its logical surroundings, that is, study it in relation 
to the context. Get the connection between the present 
and the preceding lesson. If we are to take a few verses 
from a given book, we must study these verses in relation 
to the book as a whole. It is often necessary to read the 
whole book through, as one of the Minor Prophets, or 
Epistles, to get the logical connection of the lesson text. 

Again, it is often essential to an understanding of a lesson, 
to study it 

3. In its geographical surroundings. Many of the allu- 
sions and figures of Paul' s Epistles will be much better un- 
derstood when we know where he was and how he was 
situated when writing. When a prisoner, surrounded by 
soldiers and military accoutrements and weapons, it was 
natural for him to describe the Christian as a soldier and 
the Christian life as a warfare. Dr. David Gregg has drawn 
a most interesting, as well as strong and conclusive, argument 
for the divine inspiration of the whole Bible from the setting 
of its revelation, the testimony of the land to the book in 
its geography and history. This method applies to the 
study of any given portion of the Bible. 

Study all around the lesson. 

II Study all Through the lesson. 

To study all through a lesson is to study it from begin- 
ning to end, to explore every part of it and note carefully 
the relations of these parts to each other, to thoroughly 
analyze it. It is said that in every lesson there are seven 
elements : time, place, person, fact or thought, difficulty, 
doctrine, duty. To study all through a lesson involves 
several distinct processes. They may be briefly mentioned : 



52 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

1. Read the lesson and its setting until the mind is 
familiar with it. 

2. Make a paraphrase of the facts of the lesson in your 
own language, either oral or written or both. 

3. Be sure you understand the meaning of every word 
and phrase of the lesson text. Here use the helps. 

4. Find all the practical lessons that are taught in the 
lesson text and context, and write them out in a brief con- 
cise statement, placing them in their natural order. 

5. Then go over the whole lesson with your class before 
you, and select such truths as you think they most need 
and that you will have time to teach. 

6. Then make a plan of teaching it to your class. The 
plan must suit the grade of the class ; a primary plan, an 
intermediate plan, an advanced plan. 

7. Pray before you begin the study. Pray all through it, 
and enfold it with prayer two or three days before you 
teach it. 

III. Study all About the Lesson. 

By this I mean that the teacher should study the lesson 
independently all that he can, and then use the best helps 
available. It is a very poor teacher who will use no helps 
at all ; it is a worse one who depends entirely upon helps. 
If the teacher can find for himself what is in the help, so 
much the better. The helps are a great convenience and 
time-saver. We offer here a few suggestions in regard to 
lesson helps : 

1. Use the best of your own denomination. The quar- 
terly your class uses, and the teachers' magazine, — for the 
teacher should study the lesson in line with the pupil, only 
more extensively and thoroughly. For that reason he 
should have the teachers' journal and a good lesson commen- 
tary. While denominational helps should come first, the 



HOW TO STUDY A SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON 53 

teacher is not confined to them. There are some excel- 
lent undenominational lesson helps, as " Peloubet' s Select 
Notes," "The Sunday School Times," and "International 
Evangel. ' ' 

2. Use lesson helps as helps. Do not depend too much 
upon them. Study independently until you get all you can, 
then use the helps to perfect your work. Or study the 
lesson independently until you get hungry, then read about 
it until you get full. 

3. Use the helps in the study of the lesson, and not in 
the teaching before the class. The questions in the helps 
are to stimulate study upon the part of the teacher. He 
should use nothing before the class but the Bible, neither 
should the class use anything else. 

4. In addition to the usual periodical lesson helps, the 
teacher should use maps, charts, and commentaries, and 
especially a good Bible dictionary, or an encyclopedia, if 
he has access to one. 

5. But the best help is the Bible itself. What the Bible 
says about the lesson in other passages is most helpful. 
Consult the parallel passages. This is especially necessary 
when the lessons are from some of the historical books of 
the Old Testament or from the Gospels. 

In conclusion, let me suggest another form of presenting 
the three rules I have given for the study of a lesson ; this 
will give the heart preparation as well as the intellectual. 
Memorize them in this form : 

FIRST. 

1. Study all around the lesson. 

2. Study all through the lesson. 

3. Study all about the lesson. 

SECONDLY. 

1. Pray all around the lesson. 



54 



HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 



2. Pray all through the lesson. 

3. Pray all about the lesson. 

Additional Hints on Preparation. 

1. Begin early. 

2. Read often. 

3. Prepare much more than you expect to teach. 

4. Make several plans of teaching, then adopt the best. 

5. Talk with others about the lesson, especially at the 
teachers' meeting. 

6. Remember that a studious teacher makes a studious 
class. 

7. Remember also that a full teacher makes a full class, 
and an empty teacher an empty class. 

BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 

HOW TO STUDY THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON 



I. 

Study All Around 



1. Historical Surroundings 

2. Logical 

3. Geographical 



II. 

All Through 



Read Less. Fam. 

Make Paraphrase 

Und. Meaning Word and Phrase 

Find Prac. Lessons 

Select Truths 

Make Plan : Pri., Int., Adv. 

Pray 



III. 

All About the Lesson 



1. Use Best Denom. Helps and Others 

2. Helps as Helps 

3. Helps in Study not Teaching 

4. Use Com., Map, Bible Diet., Encyc. 

5. Bible Best Help 



Memorize : Study, Pray 



Hints on 
Preparation 



THE LAWS OF TEACHING 55 

1. Begin Early 

2. Read Often 

3. Prepare More Teach 

4. Several Plans 

5. Talk — Teachers' Meeting 

6. Studious Teacher, Studious Class 

7. Full Teacher, Full Class 



VIII. 

THE LAWS OF TEACHING. 

What is teaching ? The Bible, to my mind, furnishes the 
best definition. We may formulate it from Neh. 8:8: 
"They (Ezra's teachers) read in the book in the law of 
God distinctly, and gave the sense and caused them to un- 
derstand the reading." Teaching is causi7ig another to 
understand. As it is a cause of which learning is the 
effect, it must be governed by law. Teaching is as much 
governed by law as are ' ' the circling planets above us or 
the growing organisms beneath us." If we would teach 
we must know and observe these laws, then we cannot fail 
to teach. For a full, thorough, and philosophical discus- 
sion of these laws we refer the student to Gregory' s ' ' Seven 
Laws of Teaching." In this lesson we can do no better 
than to give a summary of them, stating them in Doctor 
Gregory's own language, and illustrating them from our 
own experience in teaching. There are seven factors in all 
teaching, no matter what the subject may be. There must 
be a teacher, a learner, a medium of communication be- 
tween teacher and pupil, a lesson, a teaching process, a 
learning process, and a test. These he formulates into 
laws as follows : 

I. The Law of the Teacher. 

It is so simple and self-evident, that a mere statement of 



56 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

it would seem all that is necessary. It is thus : The 
teacher must know what he would teach. How often we 
attempt to teach what we do not know, that is, understand. 
If we do not understand a truth ourselves, how can we ex- 
pect to make others understand it ? When we have studied 
a lesson until we are so full of it that we feel we must teach 
it, then we have the law, though reversed in terms, in its 
deepest significance. But there are degrees in knowledge. 
We may know a truth so as to be able 

i. To simply recognize it. This is the degree of a 
knowledge of thousands of persons whom I have simply 
met once or twice. This is the lowest degree of knowledge. 
Any teacher should be ashamed not to go beyond this. 
The teacher should know the truth so as to be able 

2. To reproduce it at will. This requires a degree of 
familiarity with it. It may be only a surface knowledge of 
it, — ability to state the facts of a truth or lesson without the 
reasons therefor. This degree is insufficient for a teacher. 
He must know the truth so as to be able 

3. To explain it. They "gave the sense" in Ezra's 
Bible-school. The inquiring pupil always wants to know 
the whys. The teacher must be able to give them, or to 
confess ignorance. There are some Bible truths that must 
be taught without explanation, as the Trinity and the 
nature of Christ. But this does not change the law. But 
no truth can be fully understood by itself. The teacher 
must 

4. Know it in its relations, beauty, and power. All truth 
is related. This is especially true of Bible truth. How often 
do we get new views of old and familiar texts. These views 
have always been there, we have simply discovered their 
new relations. Only thorough and persistent study dis- 
covers them. The Bible is a great kaleidoscope — every 
time we turn it we get a new view of truth. 



THE LAWS OF TEACHING 57 

IL The Law of the Learner. 

No matter how much a teacher may know, and how well 
he can impart it, there can be no teaching without an at- 
tentive and interested pupil. Hence the law of the learner 
is as follows : The learner must attend with interest to the 
fact or truth to be learned. There can be no teaching 
without attention, and hence it is sure failure to attempt it. 
Under this law we may inquire 

i. What is attention? It has been defined as "mental 
attitude, ' ' the attitude of the whole mind toward the thing 
to which it is attending, "the will power marshaling all 
the faculties of the mind for some expected onset." Or to 
avoid all technicality, attention is being ' ' ready to learn. ' ' 
The mind aroused, active, and eager for work. 

2. W hat kinds of attention do we have ? Two, com- 
pelled and attracted. The first is forced by an effort of the 
will in obedience to a command. It is short-lived and 
easily exhausted. Attracted attention is full of power and 
is long-lived. Forced attention is wearisome to the mind. 
This is why so many people get tired in church and Sun- 
day-school scholars in class. The preacher, or teacher, 
fails to interest, and attention is forced for courtesy's sake. 
Attracted attention is strengthening to the mind and de- 
lightful to give. Forced attention may be made to grow 
into the attracted, or the attracted may degenerate into the 
compelled. 

3. Upon whom devolves the responsibility of attention ? 
With the teacher, if it is attracted attention. It is his duty 
to win and hold the attention of the class. Of course it is 
the duty of the scholar to give respectful attention. But 
the teaching should be of such a character that it is de- 
lightful to attend to it. 

4. What hinders attentioti ? Lack of interest upon the 



58 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

part of the pupil, and interruptions, such as taking collec- 
tions or distributing papers during class work, or receiving 
visitors. The teacher must awaken interest in the subject, 
and remove the first hindrance, and then suppress all inter- 
ruptions or distractions. Attention must be a unit ; if there 
is division in the mental forces, there will be failure, hence 
the preachers say, "give us your undivided attention." It 
is a law of the mind to attend to that which interests it ; so 
the one sovereign remedy for inattention is interest. 

5. Violations of this law. The law of attention is violated 
when an attempt is made to teach without it ; when an effort 
is made to hold it after the mind of the pupil is exhausted ; 
when no interest in the subject is excited ; when the teacher 
reads a list of questions out of a lesson help, never raising 
his eyes from work or paper. To win and hold attention, 
know and obey its laws. 1 

III. The Law of the Language. 

We may have a teacher with head and heart full of 
knowledge, a pupil eager to learn and all attention ; but 
there can be no teaching, without a medium of communi- 
cation between them. This medium must be physical and 
be a sign, object, motion, written or spoken language ; but 
both teacher and pupil must alike understand it. Hence, 
the law of the language is : The language used in teaching 
must be common to teacher and learner. Words are signs 
of ideas. If the idea is wanting in the mind, the word is 
a senseless sound to the ear. I may use a combination of 
sounds, as, auto, igna, inpo, solga, dib, sur ; but what sense 
is there in them ? But if both the speaker and hearer recog- 
nize an idea in each sound, thought is communicated. In 
the application of this law 

1. The teacher must keep within the vocabulary of the 

J See Lesson IX. 



THE LAWS OF TEACHING 59 

pupil. The teacher usually knows many more words than 
his pupil, and is constantly violating this law, and failure 
in teaching is the result. I heard a preacher "explain (?) 
hope" to a class of little girls in this way : "Children, you 
know this beautiful stream of water running behind the 
meeting-house is composed of oxygen and hydrogen ; so 
hope is composed of two elements, desire and expectation." 
It would have been a good illustration for a class that had 
been studying chemistry. 

2. Words of double meaning must be explained. A boy 
hitched his horse to a post, and then read to his mother in 
the Bible, "My days are swifter than a post," and he was 
puzzled, for the post did not go ahead. Another boy read, 
"The wicked flee when no man pursueth," and said he 
would like to see that wicked flea that no man pursueth. 

3. The figurative language of the Bible often puzzles 
children, because they give to words their literal meaning. 
Trumbull says, when he was a boy in Sunday-school 
they told him he had to be either a sheep or a goat, and 
he wanted to grow up and be a man. 

4. The teacher should avoid high-sounding words, or 
"big words," just for the sake of using them. A story is 
told of a teacher who asked the following question on the 
« ' husks ' ' that the swine did eat in the parable of the 
Prodigal Son : • ' Boys, are you of the opinion that the custom- 
ary aliment of swine is congenial to the digestive apparatus 
of the genus homo f ' ' All the answer he got was, ' ' Eh ? ' ' 
No law of teaching is more violated than this law of the 
language. Teacher and learner must perfectly understand 
each other if there are to be the best results in teaching. 

5. It must also be remembered that the language of 
things is as forcible in expression as that of words. The 
eye is often more eloquent than the voice ; the expressions 
of the face, the movement of the limbs and body, aid the 



60 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

words in expressing their ideas. A German described 
John B. Gough as "the man what talks mit his coat-tails." 
Use objects and pictures, which make the most lasting im- 
pressions on the child mind. 

6. A few suggestions grow out of this law. (i) The teacher 
should know, improve, and use the pupil' s vocabulary. Use 
child language with children, and technical language with 
scholars and critics. (2) Use short words and sentences. 
(3) Use variety of expression. (4) Use objects, pictures, 
and illustrations. 

IV. The Law of the Lesson. 

The lesson is the center of the teacher's work. It is the 
truth that is to be transferred from the mind and heart of 
the teacher to the mind and heart of the pupil. It has to 
do with the known and the unknown. With the teacher it 
is known, and the pupil unknown. It is a fact that we can 
learn the unknown only by comparison with what we already 
know, hence, Doctor Gregory's fourth law is : The truth 
to be taught ?nust be learned through the truth already 
known. "Knowledge is truth discovered and understood." 
Hidden truth is not knowledge until it is revealed and ex- 
plained. Truth is like the precious metal, it may be hid 
in a deep mine, known only to God who put it there ; but 
when it is discovered, mined, and put to use, it is the 
known, or knowledge. The known to an individual is what 
he has mastered and made his own. With this we must 
begin to teach. In the application of this law we must 

1. Begin with what the pupil knows. What he knows of 
the lesson, or what he knows that is like the lesson. Find 
what the pupil knows and make use of it. 

2. Proceed step by step by comparison, comparing the 
known with the unknown, connecting lessons already learned 
with those to be learned. 



THE LAWS OF TEACHING 6 1 

3. Make the steps short, easy, and natural. Learning is 
like climbing a ladder, but the rungs must not be too far 
apart. Yet these steps must be in proportion to the ability 
of the student to climb. 

4. Avoid violations of this law. They are many, as, as- 
signing too long and too difficult tasks, attempting to 
teach too much at a time, attempting to explain the un- 
known by the unknown, by using strange illustrations, fail- 
ing to use the pupils' knowledge, or to show the connection 
it bears to the new truth. 

V. The Law of the Teaching Process. 

The first four laws of the teacher, the learner, the lan- 
guage, the lesson, show the nature of teaching ; the next 
three, the processes or these laws in motion. Truth cannot 
be conveyed from one mind to another as a basket of po- 
tatoes can be emptied into another basket, but it must 
' ' be recognized, re-thought by the receiving mind. ' ' There 
is no teaching unless the pupil' s mind is active on the same 
thought of the teacher. Hence, the law of the teaching 
process is : Excite and direct the self-activities of the 
learner, and tell him nothing he can learn for himself 

By careful study of this law of the teaching process, we 
may find the function of the teacher — not to tell a truth, 
nor read a truth out of a book, but to lead out the pupil to 
discover the truth for himself. This he may do by creating 
in him a desire to know, by showing him the value of 
knowledge, by being thoroughly familiar with the truth 
himself, by waking up the mind and setting it to work by 
proper questions, by setting before the pupil the knowledge 
he wants to teach as a prize and encouraging him to win 
it, by keeping constantly in mind that the great aim of 
study and teaching is to acquire knowledge and to develop 
power. Many learn without a teacher, which shows that 



62 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

the work of the teacher is not to cram information into the 
mind of the pupil but to aid him to self-learning, and 
strengthen him in self-confidence. 

The function of the Sunday-school teacher is wider and 
deeper than that of any other teacher, except the gospel 
minister, because he not only excites and directs the intel- 
lect of his pupil, but has an influence over all his powers, 
moral and religious. By the exercise of these the pupil's 
intellectual powers are more evenly adjusted, and he is much 
more of a man for this symmetrical development. 

From this law we may deduce a few practical suggestions 
for the teacher : 

i. Do not mistake telling for teaching. You may tell 
the same fact ten times and no one will learn it. You only 
have to teach it once. 

2. Thorough teaching aids the memory. If the pupil 
fails to remember the last lesson it is because he failed to 
learn it well. 

3. In the recitation do not be in too great a hurry for 
answers. Give the pupils time to think. 

4. Do not put the answer into the question ; that is only 
another way of telling. 

5. Do not exhaust the subject of the lesson, but raise 
additional points for pupils to look up afterward. 

VI. The Law of the Learning Process. 

On the learning process we pass to the side of the pupil. 
The law of the teaching process shows the means of self- 
activities, and the law of the learning process the manner 
of employing these activities. Doctor Gregory thus states 
the law : "The learner must reproduce in his own mind the 
truth to be acquired. ' ' 

This law can be of great service to the pupil in studying 
his lesson. Simply repeating back to the teacher in the 



THE LAWS OF TEACHING 63 

same words what has been told him, is no evidence of 
learning on the part of the pupil. The pupil must re-think 
and reproduce the lesson in his own words, is the meaning 
of this law. Yea, more, the learner must use the new 
truth thus gained in investigating for himself the dis- 
covery of additional new truth. Both teacher and pupil 
should be investigators. 

Doctor Gregory makes five stages in learning a lesson : 

1. Memorized and recited word for word. 

2. Understanding the thought of the lesson. 

3. Translating the thought into the pupil's own words. 
Here the work of discovery begins. 

4. Proving the statements made in the lesson. Espe- 
cially the Bible student should see that "these things are 
so." 

5. The highest stage is to see the uses and application of 
the knowledge thus learned. 

No lesson is completely learned that does not pass 
through these five stages. 

To this law there are two limitations : 

1. The age and power of the pupil. 

2. The kind of knowledge studied. 
Suggestions. 

This law suggests : 

1. Slow, patient, thorough study, until clearness is 
reached. 

2. Avoiding the slavish habit of clinging to the language 
of the book or teacher. 

3. Original thinking. 

4. Finding the whys and wherefores of the lesson. 

5. Above all to find the practical applications of the 
truth learned. There is always more in a Bible lesson than 
lies on the surface of its facts. 



64 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

VII The Law of Review. 

We might think that when the processes of the foregoing 
laws have been employed by teacher and pupil together 
that the work would be done. Not so. One more thing, 
often the most difficult to do, must be done. The work 
must be tested. This is done only by review. The law is 
stated as follows : The completion, test, and confirmation 
of teaching, must be made by reviews. 

The law states : 

i. The aim of reviews, which is three-fold, (i) To com- 
plete knowledge, dressing it up, putting on "the finishing 
touches," polish. (2) To confirm knowledge. "Line 
upon line, and precept upon precept," is the Bible injunc- 
tion. Continuous drill on the same truth confirms it, and 
fixes it in the mind. General Grant said, that he was kept 
saying for six years in school, that "a noun is the name of 
a person, place, or thing," and after a while he came to be- 
lieve it. (3) To facilitate the use of knowledge. The reason 
why a skillful musician can "run the scales" of a piano so 
rapidly and gracefully, is that the hands have gone over 
that keyboard thousands of times. I have learned that the 
oftener I teach the same lesson, or preach the same ser- 
mon, the better I can do it. It is the result of review. 

2. The nature of review. (1) It is more than mere rep- 
etition. Review is a new view in many respects. A ma- 
chine repeats exactly the same process, but a teacher should 
not be a mere machine. Review in different forms of ex- 
pression. (2) Reviews may be partial or complete. In 
our Sunday-school system, we should have a weekly re- 
view of every lesson, and a quarterly review of all the 
lessons of the quarter. (3) Reviews often bring out new 
truth. This is especially true in Bible study. Our last 
study of a given passage is the be c t. 



THE LAWS OF TEACHING 



65 



BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 



LAWS OF TEACHING 



I. 

Teacher 



Recognize 

Reproduce 

Explain 

Relations, Beauty, Power 



II. 

Learner 



1. What is Attention? 

2. Kind of Attention 

3. Responsibility for Attention 

4. Hindering Attention 

5. Violations 



III. 

Language 



1. Pupil's Vocabulary 

2. Double Meanings 

3. Figures of Speech 

4. Big Words 

5. Of Objects 

6. Suggestions: Use 



1. Pupil's Vocabulary 

2. Short W T ords and Sentences 

3. Variety of Expression 

4. Objects, Pictures 



f 1. Begin with the Known 

IV. J 2. Steps of Comparison 

Lesson 1 3. Make Short, Easy, Natural 

[ 4. Violations 



V. 

Teaching 
Process 



Function of Teacher : Aid, Strengthen 

1. Telling Not Teaching 

2. Thorough Teaching Remembered 
Suggestions -J 3. Don't Hurry 

j 4. Answers in Questions 
[ 5. Don't Exhaust Subject 



VI. 

Learning 
Process 



Memorize, Recite 

Understand 

Translate 

Prove 

See Uses 



f Age of Pupil 
Limited by < Kind of 

Knowledge 



66 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 



VII. 

Reviews 






To Complete Knowledge 

To Confirm Knowledge 

To Facilitate Use of Knowledge 



I. More than Repetition 
2. Nature *j 2 - Partial or Complete 
Develops New Truth 



IX. 

HOW TO TEACH A SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON. 

If the teacher will master the principles of teaching as 
outlined in the last lesson, he will have but little difficulty 
in teaching any lesson. We assume that the teacher and 
class are both prepared on a given lesson, and are now 
brought face to face in the class. To secure the best re- 
sults of a recitation, we must 

I. Have Favorable External Conditions. 

There are some circumstances under which it would be 
impossible to teach. If the house were on fire we should 
not attempt it. If everything around us is in confusion it 
were almost as useless. To do my best in teaching, I would 
want : 

1. A classroom for ?nyself and class alone. If it were 
only curtained from the main room I would want this. 
That I could have in connection with almost any school. 

2. A blackboard. Semelroth' s endless, gum-cloth roller- 
board is the best. I would make my own maps on the 
board or large sheets of paper. 

3. Freedom from interruption. Register attendance, 
take the collection, and introduce visitors or new scholars, 
all before the teaching begins. After beginning allow 
nothing to interrupt the class-work. 



HOW TO TEACH A SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON 6 J 

II. Get and Hold the Attention of the Class. 

This is absolutely essential, as there can be no teaching 
without it. Never begin without it. It is the "Law of the 
Learner, ' ' and if it is violated, failure will be the inevitable 
result. How ? 

i. Through the eye. Exhibit an object, no matter what ; 
make a mark, or even feign to make one on the board, and 
it will attract the attention of the class at once. 

2. By startling or odd questio?is. I once got the atten- 
tion of a wriggling class of boys, on Easter Sunday, by be- 
ginning with the question: "Boys, do you like eggs?" 
"How do you like them cooked ?" etc. 

3. Hold the attetition by keeping up the interest in the 
lesson. If any one pupil seems to grow inattentive, wake 
him up with a question. The question is the instrument to 
awaken interest. Encourage the pupils also to ask ques- 
tions. But avoid discussion for discussion' s sake. 

III. Review the Last Lesson and Comiect it with the Present. 

This is in accordance with the "Law of the Lesson." 
New truth is learned from the truth already known. If the 
lesson is the beginning of a new series, then begin with the 
approach to the lesson. This approach should always be- 
gin with something the pupil knows. 

IV. Bring Out by Questions the Facts of the Lesson. 

The facts must be gotten as the basis of doctrinal and 
practical teaching in the lesson. This may be done 

1. By questioning from the pupils what they know. 

2. By questioning into them what they do not know. 

3. By questioning out what has been questioned in. 

4. By letting in the light through the windows of illus- 
tration. 



68 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

V. Then Find and Formulate the Great Doctrinal Points 
of the Lessson. 

Do not aim to bring out every doctrine and formulate it, 
but a few of the most prominent. This may be done in 
two ways : 

i. Get each pupil, if possible, to find and state a doc- 
trine. If several find the same thing so much the better. 

2. Or ask, "How does this lesson teach the doctrine of 
'the atonement' ?" for instance. 

VI. Find and Apply the Practical Lessons. 

This is the part of the teaching most important and most 
neglected. Never consider the lesson taught without the 
practical lessons applied. 

Illustrations that move the heart make the best applica- 
tion. The aims of the application are : 

i. To awaken the impenitent. 

2. To lead the inquirer to Christ. 

3. To encourage, comfort, and consecrate the believer. 

VII. Review and Leave the Lesson as a Whole on the Mind. 

This can be done best by putting it on the board. Allit- 
eration aids the memory. I used with good effect in the 
lesson on The Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace, the fol- 
lowing summary : 



: 



[URIOUS 

IERY FURNACE 
EARLESS 
AITHFUL 
OUR 



The furious king had the Hebrews thrown into the fiery 
furnace because they would not worship his image ; but they 
were fearless and faithful, and the fourth person, the Son of 
God, was with them and protected them. 



HOW TO TEACH A SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON 69 

I have also used the following in teaching the lesson on 
Philip and the Eunuch. 

After getting the setting and circumstances of the text, 
note that here we have 



Seeking T 

Instructed in t R 
Believing h U 



„ Obeying e T 

S Rejoicing in H 

Hints on Teaching the Lesson. 

1. If in a separate room begin and end the lesson with 
prayer. Yet that may be done anywhere. 

2. Make the recitation sprightly. Don' t let it drag. 

3. Preserve a reverent spirit throughout the lesson. 
Avoid frivolity, but be cheerful. 

4. Encourage the class to ask as well as answer questions. 

5. Assign work to each pupil on the next lesson. 

BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 

HOW TO TEACH A SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON 

I. f I. Separate Room 

Favorable Ex- -j 2. Blackboard 
ternal Conditions ( 3. Freedom from Interruptions 



II. fl. Through the Eye 

Getting and -I 2. Startling Questions 
Holding Att'n ( 3. Keep up Interest 



III. f See " Law of Lesson " 
Connec'g Rev'w\ Use " Law of Approach" 

IV. f 1. Questioning Out What Pupil Knows 
Question on J 2. Questioning in What Pupil Does Not Know 

Facts j 3. Questioning Out What Pupil Has Learned 

[ 4. Illustrations 



70 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 



V. 

Doctrinal Prints 1 2> H ° W is the Doctrine Tau g ht ? 



^ v " f i. Each Pupil Find One 

Formulate 1 2 „_ ._ £„ o-.hj.. ^ 



VI. r I. To Awaken Impenitent 

Practical -I 2. To Lead Inquirers to Christ 
Application (3. To Encourage, Comfort, Consecrate, Believers 



VII. Review, Whole Lesson, Examples 
Prayer 
Sprightliness 
Hints -J Reverence 

Questions by Class 
Assign Work 



X. 

QUESTIONING. 

There is nothing so important, so essential, and difficult 
in teaching as questioning. The question may be said to 
be the instrument in teaching. 

Definitions. The question has been variously defined, 
as : "an incomplete statement," the teacher stating part of 
a proposition in such a way that it requires the answer to 
the question to complete it, e. g., "Who baptized Jesus?" 
Ans., "John the Baptist" ; putting it in the declarative 

form, we would say : "Jesus was baptized by ." Here 

it takes the addition of John the Baptist to complete the 
statement. Again, a question is " a corkscrew" to draw 
out thoughts from the pupil ; "a shuttle" flying back and 
forth between teacher and pupil, weaving the warp and 
woof of the lesson; "a pickaxe" to dig into the deep 
mine of Bible truth ; " a probe " to prick the conscience 
of the pupil. 

I. The Value of the Question. 

1. // awakens attention. A question being "an incom- 



QUESTIONING Jl 

plete statement," and the mind recognizing only a part of 
the statement, at once interest arises to know the remainder 
of it, or the answer. Nothing wakes up a drowsy, listless 
audience in public address so quickly as for the speaker to 
throw in a few sharp interrogatives. If a pupil becomes in- 
attentive, fire a few questions at him. 

2. // tests the pupil* s preparatio7i of the lesson. The pu- 
pil cannot complete the statement of a partial proposition 
unless he knows it, and he cannot know it without previous 
study. If he knows that his knowledge is thus to be tested, 
it will also stimulate him to study. If the teacher lectures 
to his class, the pupil may depend upon him to tell every- 
thing about the lesson. 

3. It develops thought. If the mind does not, at the 
time the question is propounded, recognize the answer that 
completes the partial proposition, it goes at once in search 
for it. Thus it awakens desire, prompts inquiry, directs 
research, and is " a positive teaching power." 

4. // tests the teacher s work. The question is espe- 
cially valuable in review. The teacher cannot know 
whether he has imparted a single idea until the pupil gives 
it back to him. The teacher, especially in a Sunday- 
school class, where study is voluntary, must necessarily tell 
much of the truth he wants to communicate, but he should 
never leave the lesson until he has gotten it all back from 
the class by questions. 

5. // arouses the coiiscience. Here is where it is "a 
probe." I was first awakened to a sense of the need of 
conversion, by the minister coming to me in the congrega- 
tion, taking me by the hand, and looking me straight in 
the face, saying, "Young man, are you a Christian?" It 
went to the heart. A superintendent once asked his secre- 
tary, amoral young man, "What became of Noah' s car- 
penters?" That question led to his conversion. He felt 



J 2 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

that he was helping to build the ark without any hope of 
getting into it. (See John 6 : 67 ; Luke 10 : 36, 37.) The 
teacher has no more powerful instrument in reaching the 
heart of his pupil than the question. 

6. The question is also valuable in correcting the pupils' 
mistakes. When pupils answer wrongly, do not flatly con- 
tradict them, but lead them to see the errors by a series of 
questions. It is much better to lead pupils to find their 
own mistakes than directly to point them out to them. 

// The Preparation of Questions. 

"Any fool can ask a question," says an old proverb, but 
the question of a fool will be a foolish question. It takes a 
wise man to ask wise questions. To learn the art and wis- 
dom of questioning : 

1. Study the questions of children. They go directly to the 
point. A minister once, after preaching a very noisy sermon, 
went home with one of his deacons for dinner, who had a 
bright little girl, five or six years old. The minister took 
her on his lap to talk to her, when she looked up into his 

face, and said : "Mr. , what for you scream so?" 

That was sufficient. Arouse the questioning spirit in a child, 
which is easy to do, then watch it work. Then think how 
you can apply what you have learned to teaching. I learn 
some of my most valuable lessons from children. 

2. Ask questions with others. For instance, at teachers' 
meeting let all take their turn in asking questions on the 
lesson. At first the exercise will drag, but after a little 
persistence it will begin to grow, and become an easy and 
delightful exercise. The same may be practised in any so- 
cial gathering on any subject. We used to have spelling 
matches and pronouncing "bees," why not get up a ques- 
tioning "bee" ? 

3. Write questions on the lesson. If the teacher will 



QUESTIONING 73 

write twenty-five or thirty questions on the lesson, keeping 
in mind the needs of his pupils, the scope of the lesson, 
and the line he proposes to pursue, he will find it exceed- 
ingly profitable in acquiring the art of questioning. 

4. Study the published questions in the lesson helps. As 
we have said before, and cannot too often insist upon, 
these printed questions are for the teacher's study of the 
lesson at home, and not for his use before the class. They 
are helpful in awakening thought, stimulating inquiry, and 
directing a line of preparation. If the teacher will prepare 
a list of questions on the lesson, before he examines those 
in the helps, he will be encouraged with his own work, and 
find valuable aid in revising and perfecting his own list. 
He may not use exactly either list before the class, but the 
preparation will make him able to use what at the time of 
teaching he feels is necessary. 

III. Some Characteristics of Good Questions. 

It must be borne in mind that good questions and good 
answers come out of a thorough and complete knowledge of 
the subject upon which they are asked. The following are 
some of the characteristics of good questions to a Sunday- 
school class : 

1. Originality. They are to be bred and born in the 
teacher' s brain, not read from a printed list. I once heard 
a man give a "model lesson" (?) in a Sunday-school con- 
vention. He copied verbatim the list of questions in the 
quarterly on the blackboard, and read them off to the 
class. If he had simply handed the printed list to the 
class it would have saved him that labor. No one knows 
so well as the true teacher what questions should be pro- 
pounded to his class, for no one knows the class as he is 
supposed to know it. Hence, he should seek to make his 
questions his own. 



74 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

2. Clearness. The word clear (from clarus, bright, bril- 
liant), originally refers to that which shines and impresses 
the senses through the eye without any obstruction. A 
clear question is one that comes to the mind of the pupil 
without dimness, dullness, obstruction, or obscurity. The 
pupil must know what the teacher means by the question, 
and this he cannot know if the question is not clear. It 
should shine with divine truth as the subject of its inquiry. 
If the teacher would be called a "bright" teacher, let him 
ask clear questions. 

3. Simplicity. That is singleness. A simple question 
contains a single idea and requires but one answer. "Con- 
junctions," says W. T. Young, on the art of questioning, 
"should never be employed in crowding several details into 
one question ; too many points presented at once to the 
mind of the pupil distract his attention, and render an 
answer, if not impossible, at least slow and uncertain." 
Suppose a teacher should ask concerning John the Baptist. 
"Who was John the Baptist, and what was his mission, 
how did he dress, and where and how did he preach, and 
how did his plain preaching cost him his life, and at 
whose hands?" At once the mind of the pupil is con- 
fused at so long a compound question. Break it up into 
simple questions and he will easily and readily answer all 
of them. 

4. Variety. The same question may be put in a variety 
of forms. If it is not understood because the teacher has 
made it too difficult, then it should be stated in an easier 
form ; or it may contain language familiar to the teacher, but 
unknown to the pupil, then the phraseology must be 
changed. Again, the same thought in a question may be 
put in a variety of ways, when the teacher wants to impress 
it on the memory, e. g. t 

What prophet was taken to heaven without dying ? 



QUESTIONING 75 

Elijah. 

Who was taken to heaven in a chariot ? 

Elijah. 

Who besides Enoch was translated ? 

Elijah. 

5. Suggestiveness. Not so much should the question 
suggest the answer as thought along the line of the answer. 
If, for instance, you want to make the pupil think of the new 
truth you want to teach, ask him questions about something 
he knows that is like the new truth. Thus according to a 
law of the mind you help the pupil to make a comparison 
between "the known and unknown" himself, which is far 
better than making it for him. 

6. Practicalness, or the quality of being practical. The 
aim of teaching in the Sunday-school is broader than that 
of the secular school. The aim of the latter is to develop 
and instruct the mind, while that of the former, in addition, 
is to reach the heart and the moral and religious life of the 
pupil. This is its main aim, and hence the teaching must 
largely be practical, and the questions must not only test 
the intelligence of the pupil, but the state of his heart as 
well. Here the question is a probe. 

IV. Suggestions Concerning Answers. 

Good questioning brings as a rule good answers, and 
poor questioning poor answers. Note a few suggestions : 

1. The answer should be clear, direct, and understood by 
the whole class. 

2. As a rule the answer should be given in the pupil' s 
own language. Proof-texts should be an exception. They 
should be given in the exact words of Scripture. 

3. The answer should be in as few words as will express 
it, and in the best phraseology that the pupil can command. 
Encourage this always. 



?6 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

4. Allow no guessing as answers. 

5. Do not be in too great hurry for your answer. Give 
pupils time to think ; especially favor timid and dull ones. 
In review the questions may be put more rapidly. 

6. Correct incorrect answers by helpful questions. 

7. Commend occasionally especially good answers, and 
if an answer gives part of the truth, give credit for that 
part, and say ' ' yes, but ' ' 

V. Cautions and Hints. 

1. Avoid foolish and frivolous questions. I once knew 
a class to spend the whole time of the lesson discussing the 
question, "How did Nebuchadnezzar know that the fourth 
person in the fiery furnace was like the Son of God ? ' ' 

2. Avoid loading down the question with big words and 
high-sounding phrases. 

3. Avoid questions that can be answered by "yes" or 
"no." That is putting the answer in the question, e. g., 
Was Jesus born in Bethlehem ? Yes. Was Bethlehem in 
Judea ? Yes. Was he born in a stable ? Yes. Was he 
not cradled in a manger ? Yes. There is no teaching in 
such questions, no matter how many may be asked. 

4. Avoid routine questioning or questioning "up and 
down" the class. Only the one whose "turn" it is to 
answer will give attention. Put the question to the whole 
class, then call upon some one to answer. 

5. Avoid confining your questions to the bright and bold 
members of the class. Give the timid and dull ones a 
chance. 

6. Avoid puzzling questions to make it appear that you 
are very smart. 

7. Grade your questions in words, thoughts, and spiritual 
application. 

8. Put questions before explanations. 



QUESTIONING 



77 

and do not 



9. Go after something in every question, 
come away until you get it. 

10. Rub in the truth thoroughly with questions. Some 
one has said, "Grease the class with new truth, then while 
they shine with intelligence and are warm with interest, rub 
it in with questions." 



BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 



? 



Def. : Inc. Stat., Corksc, Shuttle, Pickaxe, Probe 



I. 

Value 



Awakens Attention 
Tests Preparation 
Develops Thoughts 
Tests Teacher's Work 
Arouses Conscience 
Corrects Mistakes 



II. 

Preparation 



1. By Children 

2. Practice with Others 

3. By Writing on Lessons 

4. By Those in Helps 



III. 

Characteristics 
of Good 



Originality 

Clearness 

Simplicity 

Variety 

Suggestiveness 



6. Practicalness 



IV. 

Answers 



1. Clear, Direct, For All 

2. In Pupil's Own Language 

3. Few Words, Best Phrase 
- 4. No Guessing 

5. Don't Hurry 

6. Correct by Questions 

7. Commend Good Ones 



78 



HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 



V. 

Cautions 



Avoid 



1. Foolish Questions 

2. Big Words 

3. Putting Answer in Question 

4. Routine Questions 

5. Partial Distributing 

6. Puzzling Questions 

7. Grade Questions 

8. Put Question Before Explanation 

9. Get Something 
10. Rub in Truth 



XI. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

I have seen dwelling-houses without windows, but they 
were built in Indian times, when it was better not to have 
such openings than to have the Indians in the house. But 
that day has passed. A lesson without illustrations is like 
a house without windows. Illustrating means to let in the 
light. After the teacher has thoroughly mastered the les- 
son in his own mind, the next step in preparation is, "How 
can I make this truth clear to my pupils' mind?" By 
letting the light in through appropriate illustrations. 

I. The Value of Illustrations. 

1. They appeal to the two senses most used in conducting 
impressions to the brain, sight and hearing. The first 
thing a young child notices is a bright light. It soon 
learns to cry for it. The mind is always craving light ; let 
it in. Knowing that these are the two senses that he must 
most use, especially in the instruction of children, the good 
teacher will soon learn the value of appropriate illustra- 
tions. From this fact, it follows that 

2. Illustrations win and hold the attention. It is a good 



ILLUSTRATIONS 79 

plan to begin a lesson with an illustration. A material ob- 
ject is always the best with young pupils ; for more ad- 
vanced, a story or incident will answer. Tell of something 
you have seen or heard that is like the truth you want to 
illustrate. If during the lesson the interest lags, use a 
bright illustration. Light wakes up. When I want to rise 
early to make an early train, I leave the window shade up, 
and I am sure to wake at daylight. 

3. Illustrations make the teaching easy. They follow a 
law of the mind that we learn by comparison. The propo- 
sition is self-evident. Light reveals, and as illustrations let 
in light they reveal the truth to the pupil. The masses 
like illustrative preaching because it is easy and delightful 
to follow. I once heard a masterly argumentative discourse 
before a popular audience of eight thousand people, and 
more than two thousand five hundred left before the close. 

4. Illustrations aid the memory. When the mind fails 
to hold the whole truth of a lesson, sermon, lecture, or 
book, the illustrations hold part of it and suggest the re- 
mainder ; that is, if they are well chosen. It is said that 
a preacher may repeat frequently the same sermon to the 
same congregation if he will change the illustrations. I 
knew a college student who frequently prepared his lessons 
while taking a walk, associating the different points to be 
remembered with some object he saw. Then when he 
went to the recitation room, he simply took his walk over 
again. 

5. Illustrations impress the truth. Nothing is so im- 
pressive as a well-told incident or story, especially if it is 
pathetic. This is also the secret of holding it in the 
memory. 

6. Finally, illustrations awaken the conscience. This is 
the secret of evangelistic preaching. The great soul-win- 
ners have been powerful in illustration. The picture that 



SO HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

is so well drawn as to reveal the soul to itself will be sure 
to reach the conscience and move the will. Many Chris- 
tians attribute their first conviction of sin to a well-put 
illustration in sermon or lesson. 

// Kinds of Illustrations. 

i. Those which appeal to the eye, as material objects, 
pictures, actions. 

2. Those which appeal to the imagination. They are 
word-pictures and stories. 

3. Those which suggest comparison, as similes, meta- 
phors, and parables. 

4. Those which appeal to the love of facts, as incidents, 
history, scientific truth, etc. 

III. Sources of Illustrations. 

Their source is inexhaustible. The teacher has the 
world before him. 

1. The world of material objects. Nature is profuse in 
her supply. A flower, a twig, a leaf, a spear of grass, 
plucked by the hand of the teacher on his way to the 
school, may be made a splendid messenger of divine truth. 
Our Lord drew more from this source than from any other. 
He proceeded from the natural to the spiritual. But the 
teacher must learn while passing through the material 
world to keep his eyes open. Let him get the facts of the 
lesson well in mind early in the week, then the remainder 
of the week keep watch for illustrations. I once was at- 
tending a Sunday-school institute when the next Sunday's 
lesson was on "Jesus and Zaccheus," and a very short man 
— a dwarf — came into the room. The first thing my mind 
said to me was, "There is Zaccheus." If the truth we are 
to teach is impressing us, the illustrations will be more 
easily found. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 5 1 

2. The world of human life. There is no more fruitful 
source than the manifold affairs of everyday life in its social 
relations, varied callings and pursuits, its business, man- 
ners, and customs, etc. Here too, the teacher can draw 
from his own experience, which is one of the very best 
sources of illustration. The great preachers excel here. 
How much more forcible is an incident from human life if 
the teacher is able to say, "I saw it," "I heard it," "I 
felt it," for then it is more real to the class. The narration 
of our own Christian experiences is especially effective. I 
knew a man who had been under deep conviction of sin 
for months and was brought into the light by hearing a 
lady relate her conversion before a Baptist church prepara- 
tory to membership. There is no phase of human life 
that does not abound with illustrations of Bible truth. 

3. The world of literature. History, biography, arts, 
sciences, poetry, fiction, and every form of literary produc- 
tion may be used as illustrations. There are many valu- 
able books of illustration, from a small handbook up to the 
encyclopedia, that may be consulted with much profit. 

Yet we must not forget that the Bible itself affords the 
best illustrations of its own truth. It has been said that 
for every abstract truth the Bible teaches it also furnishes 
an illustration. The profound doctrine of election and 
predestination is forcibly illustrated by reference to the 
homely art of the potter. A professor once advised his 
class to read the eighth and ninth chapters of Romans, and 
then go down to the pottery and see how the designer had 
power over the same lump "to make one vessel unto honour 
and another unto dishonour." Where do we find better 
illustrations than our Lord' s parables ? The miracles of the 
Bible are but « ' acted parables, ' ' and are very forcible as 
illustrations. The healing of blind Bartimeus is a most 
excellent illustration of conversion. 



82 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

IV. Suggestions in the Use of Illustrations. 

1. Use appropriate illustrations. Illustrations must illus- 
trate, fit the point. They should, if possible, focus the light 
on that particular point, by having a single analogous point 
to the truth to be illustrated. Then the mind cannot help 
seeing it, for it can see nothing else. 

2. Do not make the illustration more prominent than the 
truth illustrated, else the mind will retain the illustration 
and forget the truth. 

3. Do not use too many illustrations. Too much light 
dazzles and blinds. The illustrations will be remembered 
while the truth taught will be forgotten. 

4. Never use a?i illustration for its own sake, or just be- 
cause it is a good story and you want to tell it. Teaching 
is not telling stories. I knew a teacher in the primary de- 
partment of a city Sunday-school who carried magazines to 
the classroom and read stories to the children ! 

5. Do not be afraid of homely illustrations. They are 
far better than the "classic." Jesus used them. 

6. Gather and preserve objects, incidents, etc., and have 
them ready for future use. When you go to the seashore 
from an inland country school, supply yourself well with 
new objects for illustration, especially if you are a primary 
teacher. Make a scrap-book of the good things you read in 
papers. 

7. If possible, begin and close with an illustration. An 
illustration at the beginning that will open up the subject, 
will at once awaken attention and interest. One at the 
close that gathers the whole subject up, and holds it before 
the mind in its unity, and impresses it, makes the whole 
subject stick. Christ closed his Sermon on the Mount with 
the illustration of the two builders, one on the rock and the 
other on the sand. 



METHODS OF REVIEW 



83 



BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



I. Value 



II. Kinds 



III. Sources 



IV. Suggestions 
as to Use 



1. Appeal to Two Senses 

2. Win and Hold Attention 

3. Follow Law of Mind 

4. Aid the Memory 

5. Impress the Truth 

6. Awaken Conscience 

1. Appeal to Eye 

2. Appeal to Imagination 

3. Suggest Comparison 

L 4. Appeal to Love of Facts 

1. Material Objects 

2. Human Life 

3. Literature 

1. Appropriateness 

2. Prominence 

3. Number 

4. Telling Stories 

5. Homely, Classic 

6. Gather and Preserve 

7. Begin and Close With 



XII. 

METHODS OF REVIEW. 

Probably no work in our Sunday-schools is more impor- 
tant and more neglected or poorly done than stated reviews. 
The value of review in general was considered in the 
lesson on "The Science of Teaching." Here we shall 
consider principally methods, not of class review, which 
belong to the class-work, but of the review of the whole 



84 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

school. These are of two kinds and may be considered in 
their order. 

I. The Weekly Review. 

No session should ever close without a review of the 
lesson. It tests the teachers' work in the classes, and 
gathers up the points in the lesson as a whole and im- 
presses them on the whole school. 

i. Who should conduct it? The superintendent. But 
what if he can't? Then get a superintendent who can. 
But what if he won't ? Then get one who will. He wants 
to know what his teachers have done, and he wants his 
school to be impressed with the truth of the lesson accord- 
ing to their spiritual needs, which he knows or should know 
better than any one else. It is his only opportunity to 
teach the whole school. He may teach it indirectly 
through the teachers' meeting, but he wants to come in 
direct contact with the minds and hearts of all in his 
school. 

2. What time should be given to it? From five to 
eight minutes at the close of the class-work. 

3. What should be its character? 

(1) A summary of the truth of the lesson. 

(2) A practical application of the central truth of the 
lesson. 

(3) A forcible and affectio7iate expression of the central 
truth of the lesson. 

4. By what method should it be conducted ? 

(1) By question and answer. 

(2) By statement and exhortation. 

(3) By illustration. A good illustration at the close may 
be made very effective. The superintendent should always 
have one ready. 

5. Put the outline on the blackboard as the review pro- 
ceeds. 



METHODS OF REVIEW 85 

6. How should it close f With prayer and the lesson 
song. If the pastor is present, and in the ideal church 
and school he is always present when at home, he should 
make this review prayer. Let the spirit and aim of the 
prayer be to bring God and the school together through the 
medium of his truth. 

Then if the lesson can be clinched with an appropriate 
song, the review will be a success. 

II. The Quarterly Review. 
A good fire-view will help the re-view. If an outline of 
the quarter' s lessons could be given to the school such as 
appears in the « ' Baptist Teacher " or " Sunday School 
Times," putting it on the board and spending a little time 
on it, it would help the review very much. As in the 
weekly review, the quarterly review should be conducted by 
the superintendent. We may consider : 

1. Its value. (1) It secures better study. The very fact 
that there is to be a review at the close of the quarter 
stimulates it. If soldiers did not expect dress parades and 
inspection of arms, they might not keep their guns clean 
and uniforms in order. (2) It tests and completes the teach- 
ing work of the school. (3) It exhibits to the church and 
community what the school is doing, and thus gains their 
sympathy and co-operation. (4) It helps to present Bible 
truth as a whole, especially if the review is topical. (5) It 
is made a blessing to those who take part in it. 

2. Method of conducting it. I have known one super- 
intendent who has made the quarterly review a success, 
and kept it up for twenty years. He has kept up an inter- 
est in the quarterly review according to the following general 



A drill in the lesson titles and Golden Texts. Place 



86 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

catch-words of titles and Golden Texts on the blackboard. 
Suppose the title to be, The Resurrection of Jesus, and the 
Golden Text, " I am the resurrection and the life." You 
place on the board, if it be the first lesson in the quarter, 

I. Res. Je. "I am the " and so on with all the lessons 

in order. Drill on it in this form. Then erase catch- 
words of Golden Texts, and drill until all can repeat. 
Then the same with the catch-words for the titles — leaving 
only the number of the lesson on the board. Then clear 
the board and repeat all from memory. 

IT. 

A word picture review. The superintendent then gives 
one or more word pictures on each lesson, in promiscuous 
order, and calls upon the school to name the lesson. Thus : 
" I see a pit ; it is full of wild beasts, and I see a great 
crowd of men around it, and there are soldiers there. See, 
they have a man bound. What lesson is it ?" 

"Daniel cast into the lions' den," will be the answer he 
will receive. 

In this way the lessons are brought again before the 
school in pleasing pictures. The children can play this at 
home, drawing pictures and calling for the lesson. 



Practical lessons recited. The Sunday previous to review 
the superintendent assigns each lesson in the quarter to 
different members of the school, some to teachers and 
some to scholars, to find, prepare, and recite from the les- 
son assigned a practical, spiritual lesson, and thus we 
have twelve short practical sermons preached. Additional 
thoughts may be given by other members of the school ex- 
temporaneously from the same lesson or from the quarter's 
lessons as a whole. 



METHODS OF REVIEW 



87 



Suggestions : 

1. The quarterly review should be previously arranged 
for and well prepared. 

2. It is usually given in the time of the school session. 

3. It may be made to take the place of a preaching 
service of the church, and the congregation and parents 
invited to attend. 

4. The exercises should be interspersed with lively, spirit- 
ual songs. 

5. An occasional short, spiritual prayer may be thrown in 
as the exercises progress. 

BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 



Weekly 



Quarterly - 





REVIEWS 


' I. 


Conductor 




2. 


Time 


' 1. Summary 


3- 


Character . - 


2. Application 
_ 3. Expression 
r I. Question and Answer 


4- 


Method . . - 


2. Statement and Exhortation 


5- 


Blackboard 


3. Illustration 


1 6. 


Closing 


1. Secures Better Study 

2. Tests and Completes Teaching 




Value 


3. Exhibits Work of School 

4. Presents Bible Truth as Whole 
_ 5. Blesses Participants 

SCHEME 
I. 

Drill on Titles and Golden Texts 


2. 


Methods ■ 


11. 

Word Pictures 

in. 

Practical Lessons Recited 

1. Prepare Well 

2. Instead of Lesson 


3- 


Suggestions - 


3. Instead of Preaching Service 

4. Songs 

5. Prayers 



88 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

XIII. 
CHRIST THE GREAT TEACHER. 

" Never man spake like this man." While the Sunday- 
school teacher may be greatly benefited in the study 
of the world's masters in the art of teaching, nothing will 
be so helpful and inspiring as a study of Christ as the world' s 
great Teacher. He represents himself as teacher and his 
followers as disciples. His life record was one of doing and 
teaching (Acts i : i). He is our model, not only in what 
he taught, but in the spirit and manner of his teaching. 
We may say of him, as the Roman orator to his emperor : 
"Those who dare to speak of you are ignorant of your 
greatness, those who dare not are equally ignorant of your 
goodness." As the great Teacher, we may consider — 

I. His Knowledge. 

Christ knew what he taught. His knowledge was both 
intuitive and acquired. As divine, he knew intuitively ; as 
human, "He grew in wisdom," or knowledge. What did 
he know ? 

i. He knew God. He said of himself : "All things are 
delivered unto me of my Father : and no man knoweth the 
Son, but the Father ; neither knoweth any man the Father, 
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal 
him" (Matt n : 27). He knows God with power to reveal 
him to us, or in pedagogical terms, " to cause us to know" 
him, and to experience the fullness of his love. "That the 
love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them" (John 
17 : 26), he prays to his Father. 

2. He knew himself. He knew that he was the Son of 
God, that he came from the Father, and what his mission 
was in the world, and that when that mission was accom- 
plished he would return to the Father. He knew his own 



CHRIST THE GREAT TEACHER 09 

spotless character, and challenged the world to convict him 
of sin ; he knew his own power and exercised it in working 
miracles and forgiving sins. 

3. He kttew man. He knew man better than man knew 
himself. He knew his physical limitations, his mental 
weakness, his moral unsoundness, his corrupt heart, and 
his greatest spiritual needs, and came to minister unto 
them. He knew the motive of Nicodemus, who came to 
him by night ; the avarice of the young ruler, who wanted 
eternal life without the consecration of his wealth ; and the 
heart of the Samaritan woman who talked to him at the 
well. The secret of his teaching was his deep insight into 
human nature, a knowledge of which is as essential to the 
best teaching to-day as it was then. Though we must not 
expect to have it to the degree of the divine Teacher, we 
may know more of it than we do. 

4. He knew nature. His life and teachings, as seen in 
the Gospels, which show that he was familiar with the birds 
of the air, the trees of the forest, the beasts of the field, the 
fishes of the sea, and the insects and creeping things of 
earth, as well as "the times and seasons." He used more 
effectively his knowledge of nature in teaching spiritual 
truth than any others, because he knew nature better. 

5. He knew the Bible. He quoted it in proving his doc- 
trine, resisting temptation, and urged all to "search the 
Scriptures," for they bore testimony of him. He knew the 
Old Testament prophecies so well and minutely that he ful- 
filled them to the very letter in his life, and made an ad- 
vanced revelation upon them in his own teaching. Even 
at the age of twelve years he astonished the Jewish doctors 
with his questions and answers concerning the Jewish relig- 
ion. If Christ studied and learned the Bible in order to 
teach it, how much more should we ! 

6. He knew the people. Not only did he know their 



90 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

nature and constitution, as shown above, but he knew the 
special people among whom he labored and taught. He 
knew their affairs of government, manners, and customs, 
methods of business, the history of their country, current 
events, as well as their religious opinions. (See Matt. 17 : 
24-26 ; 25 : 1-12, 14-18 ; Mark 12 : 15-17 ; Luke 7 : 
44-47 ; 16 : 1-8 ; 13 : 1-5 ; John 3 : 14 ; 14 : 22.) 

77 Characteristics of His Teaching. 

1. Originality. We must teach what we learn from 
others ; but Christ was absolutely original. We may dis- 
cover truth, Christ creates it ; we may learn the truth, but 
Christ is the truth. In this characteristic we do not despair 
of our own teaching, but are greatly encouraged. When we 
teach the truth he taught we may know it is not tradition, 
but absolutely original. This we should not try to imitate, 
since the truth we teach is not ours, but his. 

2. Authority. "He taught them as one having author- 
ity, and not as the scribes." He made assertions solely 
upon his own authority. "Moses said unto you, so and 
so, but I say unto you," etc. (See Sermon on the Mount.) 
He left the impression that a truth was so because he said 
so. This manner we should imitate ; make our pupils feel 
that when the Bible speaks on any subject, that is final. 

3. Simplicity. Though he uttered the most profound 
truth ever taught, every word was brought within compre- 
hension. Hence, " the common people heard him gladly." 
He made no pretensions whatever to science, philosophy, 
or oratory. He was a plain "meek and lowly" man and 
simple gospel teacher and preacher. He taught only adults, 
so far as the record of his life shows, yet a child can under- 
stand his teaching. His thought was profound, but lan- 
guage simple. This is the highest characteristic of good 
teaching — "to cause another to understand." 



CHRIST THE GREAT TEACHER 9 1 

4. Adaptability. His teaching suited his pupils. The 
question he virtually asked in contemplating his learners, 
was not, what do / want especially to teach them ? nor what 
will be most popular? but, What do they need? What is 
best suited to their mental capacities and spiritual needs ? 

He adapted his teaching to the capacity of his pupils. 
Some he taught by parables, because they could learn best 
by that way, and in that way he could win their attention ; 
others he taught more plainly, because they could under- 
stand. We see this degree of adaptation in the many ways 
in which he set forth the kingdom of heaven. 

He also adapted his teachings to the spiritual needs of 
his pupils. These needs he knew. He prescribed accord- 
ing to his spiritual diagnosis. He was a "Great Physician." 
If we would study more the needs of our classes as well as 
individual pupils, we would be more successful in our teach- 
ing, because we could better meet their spiritual needs. 

III. The Spirit of Teaching. 

The influence and results of a teacher depend largely 
upon the spirit that pervades his work. If he has "an 
excellent spirit ' ' in him he will have power. ' ' Never 
man" had such a spirit as Christ. His was : 

1. An unselfish spirit. He sought not his own will, but 
the will of his Father. He pleased not himself. His work 
was one of ministering. He "came not to be ministered 
unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for 
many" (Matt. 20 : 28). His first recorded words were, 
' ' Know ye not that I must be about my Father' s busi- 
ness?" (Luke 2 : 49.) He was so deeply and entirely ab- 
sorbed in his work that he lost sight of self. 

2. A catholic spirit. He was not prescribed and nar- 
row, like the scribes and Pharisees. He fearlessly over- 
rode their customs, and publicly exposed their bigotry. 



92 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

He broke down the walls of sectional and national prej- 
udice, and gave his gospel to the whole world. He knew 
no bounds along the line of the useful and right. We want 
to learn from him to be broad-minded teachers, because 
there is no measuring the breadth of divine truth. 

3. A patient spirit. Although many disciples "went 
back and walked no more with him ' ' (John 6 : 66), and others 
rejected him openly, while very many entirely ignored him, 
he never became discouraged nor grew lax in energy. When 
the authority of his teachings was called in question he did 
not lose his temper, as we so often do, but patiently rea- 
soned with his opponents (Matt. 12 : 24-26). 

4. A prayerful spirit. Jesus communed much with his 
Father. He spent whole nights in prayer. He went "from 
closet to desk" as a teacher. He not only prayed for him- 
self, but for his disciples, that they might be sanctified 
through his teaching. (See John 17.) 

5. A lovely spirit. Not only lovely, but loving, — loving, 
because he was " the fairest among ten thousand, and the 
one altogether lovely." His teaching was with power, be- 

• cause he knew ; but his greatest power was heart power. 

IV. His Method of Teaching. 

We should expect one who knew his subject and his 
pupils as Jesus did to employ the best methods of teaching. 
His method might be described in one word, natural. He 
taught according to the nature of his subject and the nature 
of the human mind. There is always variety as well as 
unity in nature. His method was : 

1. Interrogative. He asked and answered questions. 
"He started the questioning spirit." He was a master in 
the art of questions. He encouraged his pupils to ask ques- 
tions. He knew when and how to answer. His teaching 
of individuals and groups of persons was much like the 



CHRIST THE GREAT TEACHER 93 

class-work in our modern Sunday-school. The interroga- 
tive method can never be dispensed with without changing 
the constitution of the human mind. Christ knew this and 
employed it, which fact becomes to us a perpetual example. 

2. Illustrative. He was a master in illustration. Should 
we say he excelled more in one thing than another we 
should instance illustration. We cannot too thoroughly 
study his method. He used nature, the manners, customs, 
and character of the people ; all kinds of human industry, 
history and government, signs and symbols. Take the fol- 
lowing partial list and see how readily you can recall the 
truth illustrated : Birds, bottles, candlestick, corn, child, 
cloth, dog, eagle, eye, fishes, foxes, figs, fields, grapes, gate, 
hill, holes, journey, light, lightning, lily, leaven, market, 
night, platter, reed, sower, seed, soil, sparrow, serpent, stars, 
sheep, vine, viper, yoke, wind, wedding, etc. 

3. Demonstrative. He reasoned out his conclusions and 
then he demonstrated the truth before the eyes of his dis- 
ciples. Jesus as a divine teacher had a mission to perform, 
a message of truth to deliver ; it was a divine message, and 
the world required superhuman proof. He demonstrated 
his teaching before men's eyes by miracles. It was this 
demonstration of the truth that convinced Nicodemus. In 
this three-fold method we see the wisdom of the great 
Teacher. Some accept the truth in answer to a few ques- 
tions ; others, when it is made clear by illustration ; but 
there are still others for whom it must be demonstrated. 
The beloved disciple readily accepted the truth of the res- 
urrection when hearing it ; Peter was more fully convinced 
when it was illustrated on the shore of the sea of Tiberias ; 
but Thomas would demonstrate it by putting his fingers in 
the nail holes of our Lord' s body. 

But, above all, behind the teaching of Christ was A holy 
life. He was and did what he taught. This was the 



94 



HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 



secret of his power. Sunday-school teacher, this will be 
the secret of your power and influence. Be and do, "as 
far as lieth in you," what you teach. 



BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 

CHRIST, THE GREAT TEACHER 



His 



I. Knowledge ■ 



II. Characteristics 



III. Spirit 



IV. Method in Teaching 



Behind 



He knew 



God 

Himself 

Man 

Nature 

Bible 

People 



i°g \ 



1. Originality 

2. Authority 

3. Simplicity 

4. Adaptability 

1. Unselfish 

2. Catholic 

3. Patient 

4. Prayerful 

5. Lovely 

1. Interrogative 

2. Illustrative 

3. Demonstrative 

A Holy Life 



XIV. 
THE HOLY SPIRIT AS A TEACHER. 

Jesus could not remain with his disciples on earth as 
a teacher, but "must needs suffer and enter into his 
glory," and at the right hand of God, where he now sits, 
receive his conferred title of Lord. But before he went 
away he promised to send another Teacher, Guide, and Com- 



THE HOLY SPIRIT AS A TEACHER 95 

forter. This promise is fulfilled in the gift of the Holy- 
Spirit, who came in specially manifested power and in pe- 
culiar fullness on the day of Pentecost, and has been in the 
world since, administering the affairs of Christ' s kingdom. 
His general work is the application of redemption. In- 
cluded in that is his work as teacher. 

i. As teacher the Holy Spirit makes no new revelation. 
Redemption in its facts and doctrines, is already revealed 
in the Bible. No new revelations will be made until Christ 
shall return. But the Spirit recognizes the revelation al- 
ready made. The Bible is his text-book just as it is ours. 

2. As teacher the Holy Spirit illumines our minds to 
understand the revelation already ?nade. Bible truth is 
"spiritually discerned," and only the spiritually minded 
can discern it. Hence we need to be "filled with the 
Spirit" In performing this office he acts upon the several 
faculties of the soul. They are weakened by sin. 

(i) He quickens the perceptions. Jesus said to Nicode- 
mus, ' ' Except a man be born again, he cannot see the 
kingdom of God. ' ' The word ' ' see ' * here is not used lit- 
erally, "for the kingdom of God cometh not with observa- 
tion," but in the sense of perception. The Holy Spirit not 
only gives new hearts but new eyes. 

(2) He aids the memory. "He shall bring all things to 
your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you." 
This promise was made before his crucifixion. Its fulfill- 
ment is the written life and words of our Lord, as well as 
other Scriptures. There were not in the days of the apostles 
the facilities we now have for recording oral addresses, and 
the legitimate explanation of these detailed records is that 
we have them by the aid of this divine Teacher. 

(3) He purifies the imagination. The human heart is 
very frequently represented in the Bible as possessing an 
evil imagination: "Every imagination of the thoughts of 



g6 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

his heart was only evil continually " (Gen. 6 : 5), and that 
men walk "after the imagination of their evil heart" (Jer. 
7 : 24). We are exhorted not " to imagine evil in our hearts 
against our neighbor" (Zech. 8:17). When the Spirit re- 
generates the soul the imagination is cleansed. A foul im- 
agination has led to many an open sin. 

(4) He corrects the judgment. Through the Prophet 
Isaiah (11 : 2), we are promised "the spirit of wisdom and 
understanding." The judgment is corrected by having the 
understanding enlightened. This is the real office of the 
teacher, "to cause to understand." The Spirit will help the 
human teacher to cause his pupils to understand spiritual 
truth, for that is a part of his mission. Rely upon him. 

(5) He emancipates the will. This is the last power of 
the soul reached in teaching. When we can reach the will 
of our pupils then we can lead them to Christ and all 
Christian duty. We must pray for and rely upon the Spirit 
to help us. He not only emancipates the will, but sets it 
upon proper objects. In this way the Spirit helps us to lead 
our pupils, not only to Christ and duty, but to complete 
consecration, which is an act of the will. 

3. As teacher the Holy Spirit is the best i?iterpreter of 
the word of God to us. Jesus said: "He shall receive of 
mine and shall shew it unto you" (John 16 : 13-15). 
"The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of 
God" (1 Cor. 2 : 10). Not only does he illuminate our 
minds, but also the sacred page. It is a recognized prin- 
ciple, that the author of a book is its best interpreter. If 
you receive a letter from a friend you do not understand, 
you go to him for explanation. The Holy Spirit indited 
the Scriptures, and hence he is their best interpreter. "He 
will guide you into all truth" (John 16 : 13). 

4. As teacher the Holy Spirit is our best guide. The 
good teacher not only instructs his pupils mentally, but 



THE HOLY SPIRIT AS A TEACHER gj 

seeks to guide them into the right pathways of life. Many- 
are the promises in the Bible that God will guide his peo- 
ple: "My father, thou art the guide of my youth," "The 
meek will he guide in judgment," " I will guide thee with 
mine eye," "The Lord shall guide thee continually," he 
will ' ' guide our feet in the way of peace. ' ' 

5. The Holy Spirit as teacher illustrates the truth in our 
hearts. Through his agency ' ' the outer revelation becomes 
the inner ' ' and we not only know the truth, but we feel it 
in our hearts. Thus in Christian experience, the truth of 
the Bible is tested and proven in the heart. In this way 
the Spirit is also the best interpreter of Providence by en- 
abling us to apply the Scripture promises to the present 
condition of our experiences. We may be in deep sorrow, 
under some trial or affliction, and the Spirit takes that, to 
me one of the most comforting promises (Rom. 8 : 28), 
"All things work together for good to them that love God," 
and applies it with precious comfort. Speaking of the 
Psalms, a great exegete said : "No man can understand 
them who has not had his heart broken by some great sor- 
row. ' ' 

BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 

THE HOLY SPIRIT AS A TEACHER 

I. Makes no New Revelation 

f 1. The Perceptions 

II. Gives Understanding of 2. The Memory 

Present Revelation by \ 3. The Imagination 

Illumining j 4. The Judgment 

[5. The Will 

III. The Best Interpreter of the Scriptures 

IV. The Best Guide 

V. Illustrates the Truth in Our Hearts 



PART II 
WHOM WE TEACH 

OR 

A STUDY OF THE SCHOLAR 



I. 

CHILDHOOD. 



It is not enough that the teacher in any kind of school 
should know what he is to teach and how he is to teach ; 
but if he wants to be a successful teacher he must know 
whom he is to teach — not simply the faces and names of 
his pupils, but their natures and powers. This branch of 
the Sunday-school teacher's preparation is too often 
neglected. Not only is the course of study graded, but 
the pupil is graded. The two should fit. The teacher can- 
not fit them unless he knows both. A helpful way in which 
to study the pupil is to consider the periods of his develop- 
ment separately, then combine them. 

The age of man may be divided into six periods : 

1. Infancy, from birth to three years of age. 

2. Childhood, from three to seven years of age. 

3. Boyhood and girlhood, from seven to fourteen years 
of age. 

4. Youthhood, from fourteen to twenty years of age. 

5. Manhood, from twenty to sixty years of age. 

6. Old age, from sixty to death. 



CHILDHOOD 99 

The study of the first period is more appropriate to the 
nursery than the Sunday-school, and we begin our study 
with the second period, somewhat including the first 

Childhood is the most important period in human life. 
It requires more care, because of its delicate physical con- 
dition. The death rate in this period is greater than that 
of any other period of the same length. It is the period 
of most rapid physical development 

It may be well to note here : 

I. Some Physical Facts. 

1. As to height. The average height of a male child at 
birth is nineteen and five-tenths inches ; of the female, 
nineteen and three-tenths inches. At the age of seven the 
male has multiplied his height two and one-third times 
and the female two and three tenths times. 

2. As to weight. The average weight of the male at 
birth is seven and one-tenth pounds ; that of the female, 
six and nine-tenths pounds. At seven the male has multi- 
plied his weight six and nine-tenths times and the female 
six and nine-tenths times. 

3. As to the brain. Without distinction of sex, the 
average weight of the brain at birth is thirteen and one- 
half ounces. At seven years it has multiplied three and 
one-half times. 

II. Heredity. 

The child brings into this world what has been trans- 
mitted to it by its parents or ancestors, immediate or re- 
mote. It will be of great advantage to the teacher to know 
something of the hereditary tendencies of his pupils. 
These tendencies are : 

1. Physical. They enter into the organic structure of 
the body. There is seen in every family more or less of the 
family type in general, in feature, form, and action ; certain 



u**T£|. 



IOO HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

peculiarities of sight, left-handedness, etc. , are seen through 
several generations. So also with disease. 

2. Mental. The question is often raised as to whether 
talent is inherited from mother or father. The mental 
tendencies usually descend from both parents in different 
proportions ; sometimes they "are divided among the off- 
spring, one child inheriting one quality and another a dif- 
ferent one from either or both parents." 

3. Moral. Virtues and vices are both transmitted. It is 
easy to train and use the transmitted virtuous tendencies. 
" Evil hereditary tendencies," says S. Meredith, " if dealt 
with in early youth, can be successfully controlled." Nu- 
merous observations of children taken in infancy from the 
most abandoned mothers, and trained without knowledge of 
their parents, he says, assure him "that the whole ten- 
dency of organization can be conquered." The practical 
use of some knowledge of heredity upon the part of the 
teacher is to make use of these tendencies in his teaching, 
encouraging and developing the good and seeking to con- 
quer the bad. Yet he must remember that he cannot suc- 
ceed thoroughly without the grace of God in the pupil's 
heart and that some natures seem to require more grace 
than others. Doctor Mason used to say : ' ' The grace that 
would make John a saint would hardly keep Peter from 
knocking a man down." 

III. The Natural Senses. 

While, as has been said, we should begin to study a 
man one hundred years before he was born, yet we prac- 
tically begin at birth. We can only teach a child, or adult 
either, by using the powers he possesses. As the senses 
are first developed, we must begin with these. 

1. Those active at birth, as touch, taste, and smell. 

2. Those which are exercised afterward — seeing and hear- 



CHILDHOOD IOr 

ing. The first thing a child notices is a bright light, after- 
ward it will recognize objects. At three months old it will 
recognize its parents. Hearing is gradually exercised as 
the air passages are cleared by breathing and swallowing. 

3. These senses or avenues to the soul are called into 
activity by coming in contact with the outside world. Hence, 
the teacher of a child must use them, for they are all the 
powers the child possesses in a sufficient state of activity 
that he can use. The main senses to be used in teaching 
are the eyes and ears, especially the eyes. It is said that 
eighty times as many impressions are received through the 
eye as through any one of the other senses, and twelve times 
as many as through all the others. If this is true, how 
important that the eyes of the child should be used. 

IV. Instincts. 

The child from birth to seven years is a mass of instincts, 
governed by impulse rather than reason. These instincts 
must be recognized, understood, and used in teaching, espe- 
cially at this age. The most important are : 

1. Hunger. It has been said that " the child's first idea 
of the world is that it is something to eat. ' ' It is evident 
that if it could get possession of ' ' the whole world ' ' in its 
little fist it would put it directly into its mouth. The pic- 
nic is a great event in the Sunday-school life of the child. 

2. Activity. The child kicks and claws without method 
or aim at first ; but how soon those restless limbs are di- 
rected in play. This activity is the result of the restless 
soul struggling for a wider sphere of life. It will find it. 
Use this activity to help it find the right sphere of life. 

3. Fear. The small child is afraid of strange objects 
and faces. We always tell it that sin is ugly. Never 
frighten a child, or tell it frightful stories, or punish it by 
imprisonment in dark closets. It is cruel and dangerous. 



102 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

4. Anger soon shows itself in kicking, screaming, and 
fighting. It is easy to distinguish between the cry of anger 
and the cry of pain. Anger needs no cultivation, nor 
should it have any provocation. 

3. Imitation. This instinct is soon seen in the child. 
How soon the little one will imitate you in " making faces." 
It is a great power in teaching. Seize it and use it. 

6. Curiosity. This trait shows itself in the tendency to 
ask questions. It shows that the mind is being wakened 
to know. Encourage the child to ask questions by answer- 
ing its questions, if you can. 

7. Affection. Very early the child begins to love. This is 
the strongest impulse of the soul. Cultivate it From love 
of parents it goes next and naturally to love of teacher, 
then to the one the teacher talks most about and most 
loves, Jesus. We may say of this instinct in comparison 
with all the others, as Paul said in his comparison of the 
Christian graces, ' ' The greatest of these is love. ' \ These 
instincts lie along two lines of the child' s nature, the emo- 
tional and intellectual. Use them to develop both. 

V. The Religions Nature of Childhood. 

What we find in more mature manhood must be in an 
undeveloped state in childhood, and since in all ages and 
conditions and among all nations man is found worshiping 
some superior being, we conclude that he has a religious 
nature. This religious nature is present in childhood. 
With respect to it four theories have been held : 

1. That the child is wholly bad. This view doubtless 
grew out of an extreme view of the doctrine of human de- 
pravity. It ignored the fact of human affection and a sense 
of justice. Then the sentimentalists swung off to the op- 
posite extreme and advocated the view, 

2. That the child is wholly good. This, pushed to its 



CHILDHOOD I.O3 

logical consequences, would destroy human accountability, 
at least for race sin. 

3. Then Locke, as if to avoid these extremes, taught that 
the child is neither good nor bad ; that the mind is like 
a blank sheet, upon which may be written either good or 
bad matter. But this theory seems not to agree with human 
nature. We develop what is in the mind. If there is 
neither good nor bad in it, we can get neither out 

4. The fourth theory is that the child is both good and 
bad. Using the terms good and bad in a relative sense, 
this seems to be the true theory, for we have seen that the 
child inherits both good and bad traits. 

VI. How to Teach Childhood. 

1. The teacher must study it in its diversified nature, 
as physical, mental, moral, religious. To teach a child we 
must know the child. To know childhood we must be 
children again ourselves. Go back to our child ideas and 
modes of thought, adding to them our present knowledge 
and experience. Study children. Get down into their 
world and live with them. 

2. Attempt to use only, on the pupil' s side of teaching, 
the child' s powers. That is, the powers in it that are de- 
veloped and active. Overtaxing the child's mental powers 
is as much a defect in mental exercise as overtaxing its phys- 
ical powers in physical exercise. 

3. Use the child' s moral and religious nature, his sense 
of right and wrong. Make much use of the conscience. 
You will be surprised to find how acute is the child's moral 
sense, far more so, often, than that of an adult, for it has not 
been blunted by sin. The first lesson to teach a child in 
religion is that it is sinful and needs a Saviour. Make 
much use of the cross. I shall never forget my first im- 
pressions of the crucifixion. 



104 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 

CHILDHOOD 

T . , .. f I. Importance of Studying Pupil 
Introduction | 2 Di £ i(m of Life into ' p| rio{ £ 

As to Height 
I. Some Physical Facts -! 2. As to Weight 



{I 



3. As to Brain 

' I. Physical 
II. Heredity -J 2. Mental 
Moral 



Those active at Birth 
III. The Senses \ 2. Those Called Out Afterward 
How exercised 



1. Hunger 

2. Activity 

3. Fear 
IV. Instincts \ 4. Anger 

5. Imitation 

6. Curiosity 

7. Affection 

THEORIES 
Wholly Bad 
V. Religious Nature -j 2. Wholly Good 

3. Neither Good nor Bad 

4. Both Good and Bad 

Study It 
VI. To Teach X 2. Use Its Powers 



(l. St 

\ 2. U: 

1 3. Ui 



Use Moral and Religious Nature 



II. 
BOYHOOD AND GIRLHOOD. 



This period is regarded as between the ages of seven and 
fourteen. It is the period of the child's life in which the 
Sunday-school teacher can have most influence and during 



BOYHOOD AND GIRLHOOD IO5 

which he can do the best work. Yet it must be remem- 
bered that it is the same child, with precisely the same 
powers, passing through another stage of development, and 
that this development is molded largely by contact with the 
teacher and outside world. 

I. Physical Development. 

1. Physical growth is now less rapid. In the first period 
the male increases in height one hundred and thirty-six per 
cent. , and in weight six hundred per cent ; the female in 
height, one hundred and thirty-one per cent. , and in weight 
five hundred and eighty-eight per cent In this period the 
boy increases in height thirty-one per cent, and in weight 
eighty-four per cent, and the girl in height thirty-four per 
cent, and in weight one hundred and four per cent 

2. It is readily seen from these statistics that the girl 
grows more rapidly than the boy, while in the first period 
the boy grows the more rapidly. The boy grows most in his 
fourteenth year, the girl in her twelfth year, and hence is 
more precocious. It is said that from ten to fifteen the 
girl' s heart grows more than twice as fast as the boy' s, and 
the boy' s lungs more than twice as fast as the girl' s. 

3. The girl and boy are less subject to disease either of 
mind or body than the child. While in the first seven 
years of life the death rate is the greatest, in the next seven 
years it is less than in any other equal period. This is the 
rugged period of life and the time to lay the foundation for 
a good body. Hence much attention should be given to 
physical culture during this period. This is the work of 
parents and weekday school teachers. All the Sunday- 
school teacher can do is to encourage this development. 

4. This is pre-eminently the training period. During 
this period the boy and girl get possession of themselves. 
The boy learns the use of tools in the man' s sphere of life 



106 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

and the girl in the woman's. Here is the value of indus- 
trial schools. In this period the use of musical instru- 
ments is best learned. A sad neglect in this period is the 
development and training of the organs of speech. But few 
people can talk as they should. In our present methods of 
church work all are expected to speak more or less in pub- 
lic, but only a few can be heard, simply because they do 
not have full possession of their powers. 

II. Mental Development. 

The period of childhood is the period of instinct, but 
with the boy and girl it is more the period of intelli- 
gence. "The psychology of this period centers in the 
growth of intelligence. " It has been truly said that " most 
people get their education in this period in many schools." 

We can notice here only some of the fundamental char- 
acteristics of the boy and girl mind to be used. 

i. Curiosity. Here the mental activity of life begins. 
Curiosity is fundamental to interest and attention. The 
teacher will have no difficulty in winning and holding the 
attention of boys and girls if he only uses their curiosity. 
" They lay their whole environment under tribute to this 
instinct." Boys and girls want to know about everything 
and everybody. How constantly do they inquire into the 
affairs of their parents or older brothers and sisters. This 
is a God-given power ; seize it and use it wisely. Encour- 
age them in the persistent disposition to ask questions. It 
is the interrogative period of life. 

2. Imitation. This is also fundamental. It is present in 
childhood, and remains to an extent throughout life, but it 
"comes to full fruition" in boyhood and girlhood. The 
simple acts of childhood in imitation become more elabo- 
rate in the boy and girl, and as they advance toward ma- 
turity, more and more approach the real in life. The stick 



BOYHOOD AND GIRLHOOD IO7 

used for a horse, gives place to the dog or goat. The doll 
now must have a house, with parlor, chamber, and kitchen 
complete. 

The teacher in the intermediate grade must study this 
period, and adapt the instruction accordingly. 

3. Playfulness. As in imitation, this instinct changes in 
the boy and girl to a higher sphere of development. The 
child, from four to seven years, is content with physical 
plays alone, but the boy and girl must have mental plays. 
It is the period of puzzles, riddles, enigmas, and conun- 
drums. These are mental plays. If the teacher can put 
the truth to be taught in this form, he will find no difficulty 
in getting boys and girls to work at it. I have known a 
group of boys and girls to spend hours over the game of 
Bible characters, whom you could not induce to sit down 
and read the Bible ten minutes. 

4. Imagination. During this period the imagination is 
very active. It is the wonder period and picture-making 
period. Use pictures and stories, but be careful that they 
tell the truth. Two boys, who had never seen the ocean or 
a ship, had a strong desire to be sailors, and did become 
sailors. This desire was produced by the picture of a ship 
at sea that hung in their parlor at home all through their 
boyhood. Put the right pictures before the boys and girls, 
and it will help to make the right men and women of them. 
The imagination of our boys and girls needs to be well 
guarded, and we see the need of right teaching and preach- 
ing here. 

5. Meiiwry. This is emphatically the memory period 
of life. What is learned in this period is better retained. 
Boys and girls can learn language easier than adults, be- 
cause so much of it is memory work. It is the time to 
store the mind with useful facts. We would enumerate 
here, and say, store the mind of the boy and girl — 



108 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

(i) With facts of language. 

(2) With facts of history. 

(3) With facts of science. 

(4) With facts of morals. 

(5) With facts of the Bible. 

6. Reason. Reason grows rapidly in this period, more 
rapidly than we are wont to think. Some of our best edu- 
cators say that the boy and girl make their greatest mathe- 
matical improvement in their twelfth and thirteenth year. 
Go into any good grammar grade in the public school and 
see it verified. At thirteen the boy and girl begin to be 
critical. Here doubt begins to arise, and the mind wants 
to know the "whys and wherefores." This doubt may be 
made the basis of wholesome progress. The teacher must 
be able to explain and show why certain things are so. 

7. Faith. This is the period of faith as is that of child- 
hood. As a girl and boy begin to pass into their teens, 
they are subject to doubt, before this they take things 
for granted or believe what is told them by parent and 
teacher, because they have confidence in them. As a rule, 
in this and childhood's period, our pupils will believe what 
we tell them. How important, therefore, that we teach 
nothing but the truth. The responsibility in teaching this 
grade is much greater than in teaching adults, for the adult 
who thinks for himself may see or find out our error, and 
reject it ; but the boy and girl will not question it. Is 
it not well to remember this fact in teaching boys and 
girls ? 

III. Moral and Religious Development. 

How can the teacher use these instincts and peculiar 
traits in the boy and girl for their moral and spiritual good ? 
This is the great aim in teaching in the Sunday-school, and 
if we miss this aim our work is a failure. 

1. Use the vivacity of this age to show that life really 



BOYHOOD AND GIRLHOOD 109 

consists in doing right and pleasing God. Boys and girls 
live. They eat, they digest, they grow, they act. They 
want to be men and women. Link this desire for life with 
morals. Show that bad habits and sinful lives bring pre- 
mature death, linking the most forcible examples under 
their observation with it. To be "big" means to be right. 

2. Use their interest in nature to find God. What do 
you see ? Where did it come from ? Who made it ? What 
is it for ? Why is it made like this rather than in some 
other way ? Show how wonderfully made are all things 
about them, and how wonderful they themselves are, and 
that no one but a great, good, and wise Being could accom- 
plish all they behold. Boys and girls will be honest and 
believing. There is a plain connection to them between 
everything they see and God. Find it and show it to them. 

3. Boys and girls are fond of biography. They like to 
learn about people. Then Bible characters will interest 
them. But the one absorbing person in the Bible is Jesus. 
Select the proper book from the Sunday-school library for 
your boys and girls. Remember that the boy especially 
likes the heroic in character. There will be no trouble to 
get boys interested in the exploits of Samson and David, 
Ruth and Naomi, Mary and Martha ; and the needle 
woman, Dorcas, will attract the admiration of the girls. 
But be sure to present Christ as the hero of the Bible. 

4. Make much use of their natural affection. Their 
hearts are tender and impressible. Win them first to 
yourself, then with that lead them to the One you love most. 
Heart power is the great power in teaching. " First that 
which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual," is 
a law in Christ' s kingdom ; observe it From the natural 
affection lead to the spiritual. 

5. Finally, use the instinct of imitation in the power of 
example. The teacher must be what he teaches his pupils 



IIO HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

to be. But still above yourself hold up Christ as the one 
and only perfect model. 

BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 



BOYHOOD AND GIRLHOOD 



I. Physical Development 



II. Mental Development 



III. Moral and Religious 
Development 



1. Growth Less Rapid 

2. Girl More Precocious 

3. Less Subject to Disease 

4. Training Period 

1. Curiosity 

2. Imitation 

3. Playfulness 

4. Imagination 

5. Memory 

6. Reason 

7. Faith 

1. Vivacity 

2. Interest in Nature 

3. Biography 

4. Natural Affections 

5. Imitation and Example 



III. 



YOUTHHOOD. 

The period of youthhood is variously fixed by different 
customs and countries. In the United States adolescence 
extends from fourteen to twenty-five for the male, and from 
twelve to twenty-one for the female. It describes the pe- 
riod of the beginning of manhood and womanhood to the 
completion of physical growth. It is a period of great im- 
portance to parents and teachers, and should be carefully 
and thoroughly studied. We may treat this period as we 
have the two preceding periods, and notice : 



YOUTHHOOD III 

I. Physical Yonthhood. 

If this were observed and studied more, and the laws of 
growth and physical development more carefully regarded, 
the health and longevity of the race would be increased. 
A few characteristics of this period may be interesting and 
helpful. 

i. The growth of the body as a whole is less rapid in this 
period. The average growth of both sexes in the last period 
(from seven to fourteen) was about thirty-one per cent, in 
height, in weight ninety-four per cent. ; in this period it is 
an increase in height of a little less than ten per cent., and 
in weight about forty-three per cent. 

2. But the male in this period grows more than the fe- 
male. We have found previously that from birth to seven 
the male grows the faster, and from seven to fourteen the 
female grows the faster. In this period it is reversed 
again. In the earlier period the growth of the male 
in height is thirty per cent, and in weight eighty-four 
per cent, while that of the female is thirty-four per cent, 
in height, and one hundred and four per cent in weight. 
In this period the growth of the male in height is four- 
teen per cent. , and the female a little more than five per 
cent ; and in weight the male sixty per cent , while the 
female is only twenty-five per cent. The brain weight in 
this period is increased very little. 

3. While the externals of the body grow less, the in- 
ternal organs grow more in this period, especially the heart, 
lungs, and liver. The muscles grow by new fiber and in 
length, the quantity of blood is increased. In the earlier 
periods the heart is smaller and blood vessels relatively 
larger, in this the reverse is true. The heart beats slower 
in this period but with more intensity. The rate of breath- 
ing is slower but deeper. The temperature of the body is 



112 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

also increased. The hair grows ' ' darker and glossier, the 
eyes brighter, and the complexion clearer." 

II. Mental Youthhood. 

We have seen that in childhood and in boyhood and 
girlhood certain characteristics are prominent and hold 
sway, so here certain characteristics of human nature are 
prominent, and when properly regarded and used greatly 
affect the whole being. The being is the same, but the 
personality becomes more distinct. A child is more an 
organ than a person, but here individuality becomes more 
pronounced, for this period terminates in maturity. It is 
marked by characteristics not found in the others. 

i. // is the social period. The social instinct first ap- 
pears in the attraction of one sex for the other. Boys and 
girls play together and study together without thinking 
much of themselves as male and female. But as the ado- 
lescent period arrives, they begin first to be shy of each 
other, then strive to please each other. New emotions and 
passions begin to possess them and change their whole 
bearing toward each other. New views and objects of life 
arise. Both sexes begin to be more careful about their dress 
and personal appearance in each other's presence. They 
are fond of bright and gay colors and jewelry. Give a 
child money and its first thought is to buy sweetmeats or 
candy ; give it to a young girl and her first thought is 
something to adorn herself with. These traits need culture 
and direction by parents and teachers. Sunday-school 
teachers, especially in city mission schools, may use their 
influence with pupils of this age to good advantage, teach- 
ing, however, more by example than precept. Teachers of 
the opposite sex from the pupils are often more successful 
in this grade. There is no time in life when guidance is 
more needed than at this time. 



YOUTHHOOD 113 

These social yearnings of youthhood are God-given and 
healthful, and, if properly encouraged and used, beautify 
and ennoble character, and thus become a blessing to soci- 
ety and the world. Let them be brought under the best 
moral and religious influences. Young girls and boys fail 
to get the sympathy and guidance they need at this period 
of their lives. Better be guided than left to chance. 

2. It is the altruistic period. The altruistic feeling is 
care for others. It naturally rises here, and if cultivated 
and directed leads away from the spirit of selfishness to the 
spirit of self-denial for the sake of others. It finds many 
examples and illustrations in the great men and women of 
the world. The parents of Savonarola designed him for a 
physician, but in early youth his deep sense of the general 
evils of the world and the special evils of the church of his 
times, in spite of all efforts in other directions, led him to 
be a reformer. • « George Eliot, at sixteen, founded socie- 
ties to help the poor and care for animals. ' ' Tolstoy con- 
ceived the idea in youth of becoming a great humanitarian. 
While a young man, Benjamin Franklin founded the first 
public library in Philadelphia ; and Peter Cooper resolved to 
give boys and girls in New York a free education, if he 
ever became rich. "At sixteen, Ida Lewis saved the lives 
of four men who were adrift. ' ' 

Let teachers keep a sharp lookout for this trait in the 
young men and women under their influence, and turn it to 
good account in their lives. It is this kind of material in 
young men and women that makes the greatest and most 
successful missionaries, as statistics show. 

3. It is the period of creative imagination. The great 
poets, artists, musicians, and dramatists, distinguished 
themselves in youth, which shows that their creative imagi- 
nation was their characteristic trait. Bryant wrote "Than- 
atopsis" at seventeen. Whittier's poetic genius was dis- 



114 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

covered and brought out by reading Robert Burns when he 
was fourteen. 

The familiar hymn, 

Jesus, and shall it ever be, 

A mortal man ashamed of thee, 

was written by a boy ten years old, Joseph Grigg. What 
is true of poets is true of musicians. "Handel wrote a 
mass at thirteen and directed an opera at nineteen. * ' Bee- 
thoven wrote "sonatas" at thirteen, while Weber com- 
posed his first opera at fourteen. 

These facts may be used to encourage and stimulate 
youth, as well as their teachers, in finding their strongest 
traits and encouraging their cultivation. It could be used 
in greatly improving the hymnology and music in our 
churches, and the young artist put to work illustrating Sun- 
day-school lessons. Davenport, one of our most popular 
cartoonists, would spend hours, lying on the floor, when a 
boy, drawing. Could not his talents be useful in other 
fields as well as in politics ? 

4. // is the ainbitious period. Biographical history 
teaches us that the achievements of great warriors, states- 
men, and philosophers are the results of ambitious plans 
laid in youthhood, and many of their great achievements 
were wrought out before they reached their majority. "The 
average age," says Professor Dawson, " at which one hun- 
dred heroes of the American frontier became distinguished 
was a little over seventeen years ; and at which one hun- 
dred professional men achieved success was twenty-four 
years. ' ' 

III. Moral and Religious Youthhood. 

Satan has created the impression in many minds that re- 
ligion is something that is needed only when we come to 
die. This error is closely related to another, popular 



YOUTHHOOD 1 1 5 

even among professing Christians, that the object of the 
Christian life is that one may go to heaven when he dies. 
The truth is we need religion all through life to prepare us 
for the "life to come." Of all periods in life, youthhood 
seems to need it most. Professor Dawson quotes ' ' the 
greatest living psychologist" as saying : "If there were no 
such thing as religion, we should have to invent one in order 
to save young men and young women from the dangers of 
adolescence." 

My observation, as well as established facts, has taught 
me that youthhood determines largely, and in very many 
instances wholly, what the whole after life will be. 
Strange to say, youthhood determines often one of two ex- 
tremes, morally or religiously, or if it does not either, it 
settles the individual down into a state between the two ex- 
tremes that practically is, in the end, as bad as the worst 
extreme. Three things characterize the youthhood of our 
present day. 

i. It is the cri?ninal period. This is not the result of 
sudden impulse. It usually begins in disobedience to 
parents, then practising deception upon them and their 
teachers, then giving way to youthful emotions and pas- 
sions, until the worst types of immorality are found among 
our fast young men and society-intoxicated girls. I have 
visited, several times in my life, State prisons, and am 
always impressed with the sad fact that a majority of the 
inmates are young men. The prevalence of crime in 
youthhood is seen also in the fact that the State has been 
led to establish reform schools for both boys and girls. 
According to the census of 1890 there were in the reform 
schools of the United States, fourteen thousand juvenile 
offenders. Out of twenty-six thousand arrests in Paris in 
one year, sixteen thousand of them were under twenty 
years of age ! How is this sad condition of youthhood to 



Il6 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

be improved or remedied ? Not by increasing the police 
force and building more prisons, but by awakening in the 
heart a sense of responsibility to God. This must be done 
too, before the sensibilities are blunted and deadened by sin. 
This fact brings us to an opposite statement. 

2. Youthhood is the period of conversion. Religious 
consciousness is awakened at this time of life more easily ; 
religious impressions are more readily made and are more 
lasting. I have taken the record of large audiences fre- 
quently, with uniformly the same result. The great ma- 
jority of persons are converted before they are twenty years 
old. Of seven hundred and seventy-six graduates from 
Drew Theological Seminary, the great majority were con- 
verted between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, the larg- 
est number falling in the sixteenth and seventeenth years. 
Of five hundred and ninety members of the Y. M. C. A., 
sixty per cent, were converted between fourteen and twenty, 
and seventy per cent, under twenty. These figures are 
from an article in the "National Evangel," by Professor 
Dawson. Observation, statistics, and my own experience, 
show me that between the age of twelve and twenty is a 
natural time for religious awakening in the human soul. 
And if this natural awakening is not taken advantage of by 
Christian teaching and influence, there is a tendency to go 
to the opposite extreme. Yet if the young are not con- 
verted to Christianity and there has been sufficient moral 
teaching coupled with a hereditary tendency that is good, 
the young will settle down into another state — a state of in- 
difference, which will characterize, religiously, the re- 
mainder of their lives. Hence I announce my third and 
last characteristic of youthhood is, that 

3. It may lead to a life of religions indifference. Indif- 
ferentism is one of the greatest difficulties and dangers of a 
nominally Christian community. The life is not criminally 



MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD WJ 

bad, neither is it exemplarily good. The person in this 
state is given up to the pleasures of the world, lives only 
for this life, and hence is getting all out of it he or she can 
in worldly pleasure, wealth, and fame. 

Our conclusion is that of Solomon : ' ' Remember now 
thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days 
come not, . . when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in 
them. ' ' 

The Saviour of the world was a young man, and they 
who have after him profoundly moved the spiritual life of 
the world have begun as young men. 

BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 



{•: 



Growth Less Rapid 
I. Physical \ 2. Male Grows More 
Growth Internal 



II. Mental 



u 



Social 

Altruistic 

Creative Imagination 

Ambitious 

Criminal Period 



1 2. Period of Conversion 
I 3- 



III. Moral and 

tj l- • ■? z. jrenou oi conversion 

religious ^ ^ May Lead tQ a Life of Indifference 



IV. 

MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD. 



Much is said and written in pedagogy, both of the secu- 
lar and Sunday-school, concerning the three periods of life 
already considered, because these are the school periods. 
At the arrival to manhood and womanhood, pervons are 



I 1 8 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

expected to leave school and follow the various pursuits of 
life for a livelihood. But in the Sunday-school we know 
no period of graduation. Men and women should study 
the Bible as long as they live. Why not? When they 
leave the secular schools they are not supposed to give up 
all study, but are only prepared to study independently of 
teachers and schools. 

There is a marked difference in the modes of thought 
and manner of life between childhood, youthhood, and 
mature manhood and womanhood. Paul said, "When I 
was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, 
I thought (margin, 'reasoned') as a child; but when I 
became a man, I put away childish things." He here 
recognizes these stages of development, and applies them 
to religious life and a cultivation of the Christian graces. 
We are writing these lessons for Sunday-school teachers, 
largely from experience for a quarter of a century in special 
Sunday-school work, and we never think of teaching a class 
of children, boys and girls, young men and women, and 
adults, especially advanced Christians, in the same way ; 
yet the truth to be taught is precisely the same. The differ- 
ence of method grows out of the difference in the persons 
taught. Two extremes that are not uncommon should be 
avoided. First, attempts to teach children as though they 
were adults, and second, attempting to teach adults as if 
they were children. Adults should remain in Sunday- 
school throughout life, and their teachers should regard the 
peculiar characteristics and experiences of their advancing 
years. 

I. In Manhood and Womanhood Physical Growth Ceases. 

The functions of the body have reached their highest 
development. The only change in the body is that of 
weight, caused by more or less flesh, or disease. The body 



MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD II9 

must be kept up. Four simple rules of health may be 
helpful here both to teacher and pupil. These four rules 
are the corner-stones of good health. Take 

1. Pure air. The laws of ventilation should be under- 
stood and observed in the home, especially in the sleeping 
apartments, in the schoolroom, and in the church. In 
every inhalation and exhalation the air loses one-sixth of 
its oxygen. We should only have to breathe the same air 
six times to instantly die. 

2. Wholesome food. As soon as food passes from the 
mouth to the stomach we have no more control over it. 
The stomach will make out of what we give it the best 
material it can, but if we give it unwholesome food it will 
make unhealthy bodies. Some kinds of food make muscle, 
some make brain and nerve, some bone, and some fat. We 
should know which is most needed, and take it accord- 
ingly. Some foods create more animal heat than others, 
and hence the weather should to an extent regulate the 
diet. Old age requires different food from that which 
youth demands. 

3. Proper exercise. Not too violent nor too light, but 
that kind of exercise that affects all the physical organs 
and keeps them strong and healthy is what is needed. 
Laborers as a rule get enough exercise. Brain workers and 
indoor laborers need more outdoor exercises. 

4. Cultivate a cheerful disposition. You can worry out 
your life quicker than you can wear it out. The family 
meals should especially be made seasons of cheerfulness and 
good humor. Cheerfulness is the bright weather of the 
heart. No matter what may be the condition of the ther- 
mometer or barometer, be cheerful at meals and promote 
digestion. Sunday-school teachers should make a special 
effort to be cheerful during the school hour. It is good 
medicine for both the soul and body. 



120 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

II. Intellectually, Manhood and Womanhood is 
Characterized 

i. By more mature judgment. The teaching here must 
commend itself to the judgment of the class. The teacher 
should show due respect for the opinions of his class. Each 
member having an opinion of his own, there will naturally 
be more difference existent. More liberty in discussion 
should be allowed because of this. Let divergent thought 
express itself. The lesson often should take the form of 
an "open parliament" more than that of a recitation. In 
this age of life, students in the Sunday-school do not formu- 
late the doctrines so much as they are confirmed in them. 
They should grow into "the stature of the fulness of 
Christ" ; men and women in Christ. 

2. This period of life is, or should be, characterized by a 
broader and more general intelligence. If men and women 
will continue to study and read all through life, especially 
Christians, they will not be so apt to drop out of the Sun- 
day-school when they reach their majority or middle life. 
This general and broader intelligence may be made very 
helpful in Bible study. If our churches would only provide 
a library that would attract, interest, and instruct the intel- 
ligent community, or organize Chautauqua circles, or other 
reading circles, it would help to hold the men and women 
in the Sunday-school. 

3. Yet it must not be forgotten that manhood and woman- 
hood is the busy period of life. The business activity and 
competition in it these days have overworked very many 
persons through the week, so that it is impossible to get 
them to the Bible study on Sunday. We may reach some 
through the Home Department. Many enter upon this 
period poor and are raising a family, and if they have a 
competency for them, and something for old age or sickness, 



MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD 121 

it must engage most of their time. But this is not a good 
excuse to give for neglecting the Sunday-school and Bible 
study. Sunday-school workers must recognize these facts 
as necessarily belonging to adult life, and make the best 
they can of them. 

4. Manhood and womanhood have more of the cares of 
life than come at any other period. The care of a family, 
the care of business enterprises, the care and responsibility 
of laboring or managing for others, the care of public duties, 
often for the good of the country at large, and a thousand 
other things that young people know nothing about. All 
take time and often distract thought. The Bible school 
and church should be made the place where they can go 
and find sympathy and helpfulness, which would give va- 
riety amid these cares and burdens of life. 

III. Moral and Religious Manhood and Womanhood. 

We have in mind here our scholar, who has gone through 
all the grades of the school as a child, a boy, or girl, and a 
youth. He has been converted and is in manhood and 
womanhood morally and spiritually. I present this view 
for the encouragement of both scholar and teacher. 

1. Manhood and womanhood are less subject to temptation. 
Many of the follies of youth have been seen and interest 
therein has been lost ; what once was a great temptation 
has now no power. They have grown in grace too, and 
gained power to resist evil. They have rebuked Satan so 
often and ordered him to the rear that he has found it of 
little profit to tempt them, and so he lets them alone. They 
have become strong in the Lord and are now able ' ' to bear 
the infirmities of the weak. ' ' What a power these advanced 
Christians can be in the church and Sunday-school. 

But we must remember that mere maturity of years with- 
out maturity of knowledge and grace does not give Christian 



122 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

strength. Paul had some who ought to be able to eat meat 
whom it was still necessary to feed on milk. The teacher 
must discriminate between growth in years and growth in 
grace. 

2. In manhood and womanhood it is expected that Chris- 
tians shall have a wider and deeper Christian experience. 
This experience can be made very helpful in teaching. The 
teacher should often appeal to the "higher life" of the 
advanced Christian which, by progressive advancement, 
should be attained, and make it helpful in encouraging the 
younger and weaker. The teacher himself should have 
it, and then he can be a spiritual power. There is probably 
not enough made of Christian experience in our Sunday- 
schools. We must teach the heart as well as the head. 
The greatest power in the world is heart power, and that 
is the power of experience. 

3. Old age is the crown and glory of human life. It is 
an error altogether too common that men, soon after they 
pass fifty years of age, begin to lose their mental vigor. 
There is no greater mistake. History shows that a few 
prodigies have accomplished wonders in childhood and 
youth ; but they soon died. They lived their three-score 
and ten years in five or ten years. History also shows that 
the greatest mental achievements have been won by men 
who have passed the meridian of life. Examples are found 
in Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, Kant, 
and Reid. This may be shown in all departments of life. 
With proper cultivation all through life superior wisdom 
and knowledge attend old age. We find here a stability of 
character that is lovely. The intelligent old man rests his 
views on a broader basis of experience than the young can 
know anything about. Around him gathers a bright con- 
stellation of virtues that makes his pathway shine with glory. 

But that which beautifies old age most \s piety. "The 



THE SCHOLARS WORLD I 23 

hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of 
righteousness" (Prov. 16 : 31). But if it be found in the 
way of the wicked it is a shame. The psalmist says, "The 
righteous shall flourish as the palm tree. " It is said that 
the palm tree bears its best fruit in its old age. So does the 
Christian. It is the harvest time of life. 

The physical vision of the old man may grow dimmer, 
but his vision of the glory land is brighter ; his physical 
hearing may grow dull, but the sounds of melody come 
more distinctly from the glory world ; though he may close 
all the windows to this world, he opens his spiritual senses 
to a higher and more glorious life beyond where he par- 
takes of the "Tree of Life." 

BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 

MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD 

{I. Growth Ceases f-i. Pure Air 
J 2. Wholesome Food 
2. For Good Health 1 3. Proper Exercise 
[ 4. Cheerful Spirit 

{1. More Mature Judgment 

2. Broader Intelligence 

3. Busy Part of Life 

4. Cares of Life 

III. f I. Less Subject to Temptation 

Moral and < 2. Deeper Christian Experience 
Religious [ 3. Old Age Crown and Glory of Life 



V. 

THE SCHOLAR'S WORLD. 

The scholar's world is where he "lives, moves, and has 
his being," his daily surroundings. And as we have seen 



124 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

that he learns by coming in contact with the world outside 
of his own consciousness and that he is largely molded by 
the influences of his environment, the great question for us 
as teachers to consider is, What world ? 

Although often only a few squares, in the great city, from 
each other, the teacher' s world and the scholar' s world may 
be as far apart as were Lazarus and Dives. No teacher can 
be successful who does not study his scholar's world. He 
must know the influences under which his scholars are 
living, whether good or bad, for these forces are either sup- 
plementing his instruction or undermining it. The teacher 
who studies only the lesson will fail. 

I. What is the Scholars World? 

i. His home world. He came into this world in his 
home. His eyes first opened upon mother and father. 
The first influences exerted were in his home. These influ- 
ences began before the Sunday-school teacher had anything 
to do with him. They have more power than the influence 
of teacher. He is under them, especially in his earliest life, 
seven days in the week. The home life, with all its influ- 
ences, good or evil, enters into him and becomes a part of 
his being. No institution has so much influence in forming 
the character of the young pupil as the home. If the home 
is what it should be, and the child can be kept under its 
influence, it will be a great blessing and help to the teacher. 
But, alas, we all know that often too soon the child, and 
especially the boy, gets beyond his home world. In fact, 
he must get beyond it. Then we find him next in 

2. His school world. That is, in the secular, or public 
school. Here he spends one-third of his waking hours, 
and what the "teacher says" or does in this school to him 
is law. The day-school teacher may be the most helpful 
ally that the Sunday-school teacher can have, or his worst 



THE SCHOLAR'S WORLD 1 25 

antagonist I have known one skeptical secular teacher to 
poison the minds of the whole community of young people 
by sowing in them the seeds of unbelief. 

3. His social world. The companions of childhood exert 
a great influence in the formation of character. Every child 
has two classes of companions, those older than himself and 
those younger than himself. The older class are his teach- 
ers ; he is constantly imitating them. What they are and 
do he wants to be and do. The younger companions are his 
pupils. He is to them what the older ones are to him, and 
like all other teachers, he hands down to the younger what 
he gets from the older. If the older companions are bad, 
how soon is their influence felt among the younger ! 

In his social world the pupil finds his recreations. 
Recreation is necessary. Children must and ought to play. 
Some plays are harmless, some are doubtful, for they lead 
to bad companionships, while others are positively sinful. 

4. His literary world. All children and young people 
read. Some are great readers. The great question is, 

What do they read? What we read shows what we are, 
because our reading helps to make us what we are. Many 
lives have been made a blessing or a curse to the world 
by it. All books are either helpful or harmful, and the 
child and youth will be made better or worse by what they 
read. What a mistake many Sunday-schools make by fur- 
nishing the scholars only a few lesson helps, especially 
country schools, when our bright, illustrated Sunday-school 
papers would quicken mind, touch and impress heart, and 
help to form character for usefulness and happiness. Every 
church and Sunday-school should have a good library. 

5. His street world. Between the scholar's home world 
and school world lies his street world. This is the school 
of all who live in town or city, for they must go on the 
street The pure, innocent girl or boy must often pass the 



126 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

open saloon, the vile show bills, hear profanity and vul- 
garity, witness quarrels and fighting, meet drunken men 
and base women. This school of the street is a great edu- 
cating influence on the characters of our youth. Fortunate 
the boy and girl who are born and raised in the country, 
and are not compelled to attend this school. 

II. The Duty of the Teacher in Relation to the 
Scholar's World. 

1. He should know the scholar* s world. As the environ- 
ment of the scholar is a part of his life, the knowing of it is 
involved in a knowledge of the scholar. The teacher 
wants to know the good in the scholar' s world to use it, and 
the bad, to try to correct it. He should know the influence 
that the scholar's home, school, companions, books, and 
the street is having upon him — what is helpful and what is 
harmful. To know the scholar' s world, 

2. He should go into the scholar* s world. It cannot al- 
ways be learned by hearsay. No matter what the differ- 
ences may be between the teacher's own home and the 
homes of his scholars, he must go into the scholar's home. 
Both will be greatly benefited by the visit. The teacher 
gets acquainted with the parents of his pupils, and becomes 
interested in them and they in him, or her, as most likely 
it will be. A single visit to the home of the scholar will 
often be a revelation to the teacher. 

3. He should utilize and improve the scholar" s world. 
A wide-awake teacher, by regular excursions to the scholar's 
world, will observe much that will be useful in his teaching. 
He can make much use of what he finds that is helpful, and 
have an opportunity to improve the surroundings of his 
pupils by getting them away from their evil companions. 
Especially may he help the working classes by getting boys 
into employment where their whole world may be changed 



THE SCHOLARS WORLD 12/ 

for the better. Working girls may often, through the influ- 
ence of their Sunday-school teacher, be placed in good 
Christian homes instead of encountering the temptations of 
hotels and boarding houses. 

4. He should adapt his teaching to the scholar' s world. 
This is an essential matter. He must go into the 
scholar' s world and begin, because he can begin nowhere 
else. The more illustrations he can draw from his scholars' 
surroundings the more he can interest his class. Pupils like 
to be told what they know as well as what they do not know. 
A very popular lecturer gave to a friend the secret of his suc- 
cess thus : said he, "I find out what the people want me 
to tell them, and tell it." Children like to have the teacher 
draw from their sources of information. 

5. Finally, the teacher should, as much as possible, 
live in the scholar' s world. If he goes into the scholar's 
presence only for an hour on Sunday, and that to deplore 
his condition often, and dismiss it from his mind until the 
next Sunday, living only in his own world, which may be 
at a great distance, figuratively speaking, he will never 
bring his pupil out of his world. 

While the teacher may not be able to visit his pupils 
through a whole week or more, in his mind and prayers he 
can live with them in their humble world. Jesus said to 
his disciples, when he went away nineteen hundred years 
ago : " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the 
age." Jesus still lives in this world with his people, and 
we realize his presence with us, comforting and guiding us. 
In the same sense must the Sunday-school teacher con- 
stantly live in the world of his scholars. By so doing, after 
a while he will be able to bring them into his world, just 
as Jesus came down into our world that he might lift us up 
to his world. Just as he came we must go. ' ' As thou hast 
sent me so have I sent you," he said. This is the church's 



128 HANDBOOK ON SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

commission. No difficulty should daunt, no condition 
forbid. Into any world Christ's servants should enter that 
they may redeem therefrom rich trophies of his grace. 

BLACKBOARD EXERCISE 

THE SCHOLAR'S WORLD 

C I. Home 

I 2. School 

I. What Is It? 1 3. Social 

4. Literary 

[ 5. Street 

II. Know 
2 ' ?UV n{0 A T 
3. Utilize and Improve 
4. Adapt leaching To 
5. Live In 



1900 



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