The child should be saved the comfortable assumption so tragically prevalent that religion is chiefly a matter for Sundays; that it consists largely in belonging to the church and attending its services; that it finds its complete and most effective expression in the observance of certain rites and ceremonials; that we can serve God without serving our fellow men; that creeds are more important than deeds; that saying "Lord, Lord," can take the place of a ministry of service.

Religion defined in noble living.—There is only one way to save the child from such crippling concepts as these: that is to hold up to him the challenge of life at its best and noblest, to show him the effects of religion at work. What are the qualities we most admire in others? What are the secrets of the influence, power, and success of the great men and women whose names rule the pages of history? What are the attributes that will draw people to us as friends and followers and give us power to lead them to better ways? What are the things that will yield the most satisfaction, and that are most worth while to seek and achieve as the outcome of our own lives? What is true success, and how shall we know when we have achieved it? Why does the Christ, living his brief, modest, and uneventful life and dying an obscure and tragic death, stand out as the supreme model and example for men to pattern their lives by?

These are questions that the child needs to have answered, not in formal statements, of course, but in terms that will reach his understanding and appreciation. These are truths that he needs to have lodged in his mind, so that they may stir his imagination, fire his ambition, and harden his will for endeavor. These are the goals that the child needs to have set before him as the measure of success in life, the pathways into which his feet should be directed.

The qualities religion puts into the life.—What, then, are the things men live by? What are the great qualities which have ruled the finest lives the world has known? How does religion express itself in the run of the day's experience? What are some of the objective standards by which religion is to be measured in our own lives or in the lives of others, in the lives of children or in the lives of adults? What are the characterizing features in the life and personality of Jesus? What did he put first in practice as well as in precept?

Joyousness. No word was oftener on the lips of Jesus than the word "joy," and the world has never seen such another apostle of joyousness. The life that lacks joy is flat for him who lives it, and exerts little appeal to others.

Good will. The good will of Jesus embraces all manner and conditions of people. His magnanimity and generosity under all conditions were one of the charms of his personality and one of the chief sources of his strength.

Service. Jesus's life was, if possible, more wonderful than his death, and nothing in his life was more wonderful than his passion for serving others. The men and women whom the world has remembered and honored in all generations and among all peoples are the men and women who found their greatness in service.

Loyalty. Steadfastness to the cause he had espoused led Jesus to the cross. Great characters do not ask what road is easy, but what way is right. Where duty leads, the strong do not falter nor fail, cost what it may. They see their task through to the end, though it mean that they die.

Sympathy. Jesus always understood. His heart had eyes to see another's need. His love was as broad as the hunger of the human heart for comradeship. We are never so much our best selves as when self is forgotten, and we enter into the joys or the sorrows of one who needs us.

Purity. Sin has its price for all it gives us. We cannot stain our souls and find them white again. We later reap whatever now we sow. Jesus's life of righteousness, lived amid temptations such as we all meet, is a challenge to every man who would be the captain of his own soul.

Sincerity. No man ever doubted that Jesus meant what he said. No man ever accused him of acting a part. His enemies, even, never found him misrepresenting or speaking other than the truth. All truly fine characters can be trusted for utter sincerity of word, of purpose, and of deed.

Courage. Jesus was never more sublime than under conditions that test men's courage. Did he face hostile mob and servile judge? did he find himself misunderstood and deserted by those who had been his friends? must he bid his disciples a last farewell? did he see the shadow of the cross over his pathway?—yet he never faltered. His courage stood all tests.

Vision. A distinguishing quality of the great is their power to put first things first. Jesus possessed a fine sense of values. He willingly sold all he had that he might buy the pearl of great price. His temptations to follow after lesser values left him unscathed, and he refused to command the stones to be made bread, or to do aught else that would turn him from his mission.

God-Consciousness. Those who have most left their impress upon the world and the hearts of men have not worked through their own power alone. They have known how to link their lives to the infinite Source of power; the way has been open between their lives and God. Jesus never for a moment doubted that all the resources of God were at his command, hence he had but to reach out and they were his.

* * * * *

It is evident, as before stated, that this functional definition of religion, this great program of living, cannot be thrust on the child all at once—cannot be thrust on him at all. But day after day and year after year throughout the period of his training the conviction should be taking shape in the child's mind that these are the real things of life, the truest measure of successful living, the highest goals for which men can strive. The definition of religion which he forms from his instruction should be broad enough to include these values and such others of similar kind as Christianity at its best demands.

KNOWLEDGE OF THE BIBLE

A knowledge of the essential parts of the Bible is indispensable to Christian culture. The Bible is the storehouse of spiritual wisdom of the ages, the matchless textbook of religion. Great men and women of all generations testify to its power as a source of inspiration and guidance. To be ignorant of its fundamental spiritual truths is to lack one of the chiefest instruments of religious growth and development. Not to know its teachings is to miss the strongest and best foundation that has ever been laid for fruitful and happy living. To lose a knowledge of the Bible out of our lives is to deprive ourselves of the ethical and religious help needed to redeem society and bring the individual to his rightful destiny. Yet this generation is confronted by a widespread and universal ignorance of the Bible, even among the adherents of the churches.

Making the Bible useful to the child. The child cannot be taught all of the Bible as a child. Indeed, parts of if dealing with the ideals and practices of peoples and times whose primitive standards were far below those of our own times are wholly unsuited to the mind of childhood, and should be left until maturity has given the mental perspective by which to interpret them. Other parts of the Bible prove dry and uninteresting to children, and are of no immediate spiritual significance to them. Still other parts, which later will be full of precious meaning, are beyond the grasp or need of the child in his early years and should be left for a later period. But with all these subtractions there still remains a rich storehouse of biblical material suited for all ages from earliest childhood to maturity. This material should be assembled and arranged in a children's Bible. This abridged Bible should then be made a part of the mental and spiritual possession of every child.

The knowledge of the Bible which will be of most worth to the child must be a functioning knowledge; a knowledge that can and will be put at work in the child's thought, helping him form his judgments of right and wrong and arrive at a true sense of moral values; a knowledge that stirs the soul's response to the appeal God makes to the life; a knowledge that daily serves as a guide to action amid the perplexities and temptations that are met; a knowledge that lives and grows as the years pass by, constantly revealing deeper meanings and more significant truths.

The test of useful knowledge.—This is all to say that the knowledge of the Bible given the child must in no sense be a merely formal knowledge, a knowledge of so many curious or even interesting facts separated from their vital meaning and application. It must not consist of truths which for the most part do not influence thought and action. Not how many facts are lodged in the mind, nor how many have passed through the mind and been forgotten, but how many truths are daily being built into character—this measures the value of the knowledge we teach the child from the Bible.

KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE CHURCH

The church represents religion organized. Because of our social impulses we need to worship together in groups. Many religious activities, such as education, evangelism, missionary enterprises, and reforms, can be successfully carried out only by joint action; hence we have the church, a means of religious culture, and the instrument of religious service. Few there are who, outside the church, maintain their own religious experience or carry the ministry of religious service to others. A knowledge of the church is therefore an essential part of the child's religious education.

What the child needs to know about the church.—This does not mean that the child needs to know the technical and detailed history of the Christian Church; this may come later. Nor does it mean that the child needs to know the different theological controversies through which the church has passed and the creeds that have resulted; this also may come later. What the child needs first to know is that the church is the instrument of religion, the home of religious people; that the Christian Church began with the followers of Jesus, and that it has existed ever since; that it has done and is doing much good in the world; that the best and noblest men and women of each generation work with and through the church; that the church is worthy of our deepest love and appreciation, and that it should command our fullest loyalty and support.

Besides this rather general knowledge of the church, the child should know the organization and workings of the present-day church. He should come to know as much of its program, plans, and ideals as his age and understanding will permit.

Even the younger children are able to understand and sympathize with the missionary work of the church, both in home and in foreign lands. Missionary instruction offers a valuable opportunity to quicken the religious imagination and broaden the social interests. Lessons showing the church at work in missionary fields should therefore be freely brought to the child.

Knowledge of the church's achievements.—The part the church has taken and is to-day taking in advancing the cause of education will appeal to the child's admiration and respect. A knowledge of its philanthropies will make a good foundation for the later loyalties to be developed toward the church as an institution. The important influence of the church in furthering moral reforms and social progress is well within the appreciation of adolescents, and should be brought to their recognition.

Especially should children know the activities of their own local church; they should learn of its different organizations and of the work each is doing; they should know its financial program—where the money comes from and the uses to which it is put; they should know its plans ahead in so far as their participation can be used in carrying out its activities. All these lines of information are necessary to the child in order that his interest and loyalty may have an intelligent and enduring basis.

Knowledge of one's own church.—The first knowledge of the church as an institution given the child should be of the church as a whole, and should have no denominational bias. We should first aim to make out of our children Christians, and only later to make out of them Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, or Congregationalists.

There comes a time, however, when the child should become informed concerning his own particular church or denomination. He should learn of its history, its achievements, its creeds, its plan of organization and polity. This is not with the purpose of cultivating a narrow sectarianism, but in the interests of a self-respecting intelligence concerning the particular branch of the church which is one's spiritual home. That the great mass of our people to-day possess any reasonable fund of knowledge about the Christian Church or their own denomination may well be doubted. This is a serious fault in religious education.

KNOWLEDGE OF RELIGIOUS MUSIC AND ART

Not all of the child's religious impressions come through direct instruction in the facts and precepts of religion. Religious feeling and comprehension of the deeper meanings and values often best spring from their expression in music and art.

Music essential to religion.—No other form of expression can take the place of music in creating a spirit of reverence and devotion, or in inspiring religious feeling. So closely is music interwoven with religion that no small part of the world's greatest musical masterpieces have a religious motive as their theme. Even among primitive peoples music is an important feature of religious ceremonials. The Christian Church has a large and growing body of inspiring hymnology.

The child needs to be led into a knowledge of religious music. He needs this knowledge as a stimulus and a means of expression for his own spiritual life. But he also needs it in order to take part in the exercises of his church and its organizations. He needs it in order to enjoy music and do his part in producing it in the home and the school. This means that children should come to know the hymnology of the church; they should know the words and the music of such worthy and inspiring hymns as are adapted to their age and understanding. They should finally, during the course of their development to adulthood, learn to know and enjoy the great religious oratorios and other forms of musical expression.

The place of art in religion.—Art, like music, owes much of its finest form and development to religion. Religious hope, aspiration, and devotion have always sought expression in pictorial or plastic art and in noble architecture. We owe it to our children to put them in possession of this rich spiritual heritage. They should know and love the great masterpieces of painting dealing with religious themes. They should not only have these as a part of their instruction in the church school classes, but they should also have them in their homes and in their schools, and see them in public art galleries and in other public buildings suitable for their display.

Wherever possible the church building should in its architecture express in a worthy way the religious ideals of its members. It should first of all be adapted to the uses expected of it. It should be beautiful in conception and execution, and should allow no unlovely or unworthy elements to enter into its structure.

We should teach our children something of the wonder and beauty of religious architecture as represented in the great cathedrals and churches of all lands, and lead them to see in these creations the desire and attempt of great souls to express their appreciation for God's goodness to men.

1. It will help you to understand the child's idea of God if you will think back to your own childhood and answer the following questions: Just who and what was God to you? Was he near by or far off? When you prayed, to what kind of a Being was the prayer addressed? Did Jesus seem more near and friendly to you than God? What were (or are) the most outstanding attributes of God's nature to you? Did you ever have any disturbing ideas about God?

2. Now, suppose you attempt to answer these same questions about the children in your class. You will have to remember that the child may not be able to explain just what God seems to him—perhaps you can hardly do this yourself. Further, a child may often have some notion that what he feels is queer or would not be well received, and hence he will not fully express it to others.

3. Just what does religion seem to you to be? Is it largely a way of living or a set of conventions and restraints? How did religion appeal to you in your childhood? Are you able to tell how the children of your class understand religion? What definite help are you giving them toward broadening and enriching their concept of religion? Are you leading them to see that religion is a way of living the day's life?

4. To what extent do you feel that you really know the Bible? Could you give a sketch of twenty of its leading characters, describing the strengths and weaknesses of character of each? Could you describe the great biblical events, and draw the lessons they teach? Could you compare and characterize the Hebrew religion and the religion of Jesus? Are the pupils in your class going to be able from the work of the church school to answer favorably these and similar questions?

5. We expect good citizens to know something of the history of their country and their commonwealth. Is it too much to ask members of the Christian Church to have the same information about the church? Could you pass a fair examination on the history and achievements of the church? Of your own particular church? Are the children of your church school growing in this knowledge? The children of your class?

6. To what extent do the children of your class know the hymns of the church? Is care taken to give them such hymns as are suited to their age? Are worthy hymns taught them, or the silly rimes found in many church song books? (This does not mean that children should be taught music beyond their comprehension; there is much good music suited to different ages.) Are your children having an opportunity to know the great religious pictures? Religious architecture? (Here also the work must be adapted to the age.)

FOR FURTHER READING

Coe, Education in Religion and Morals.

Brown, The Modern Man's Religion, chapter on "The Use of the Bible."

Fosdick, The Manhood of the Master.

Weld and Conant, Songs for Little People.

Bailey, The Gospel in Art.



CHAPTER V

RELIGIOUS ATTITUDES TO BE CULTIVATED

Life never stands still; especially does the life of the child never stand still. It is always advancing, changing, reconstructing. Starting with an unripe brain, and with no fund of knowledge or expression, the child in the first few years of his life makes astonishing progress. By the time he is three years old he has learned to understand and speak a difficult language. He knows the names and uses of hundreds of objects about him. He has acquaintance with a considerable number of people, and has learned to adapt himself to their ways. He has gained much information about every phase of his environment which directly touches his life—his mastery of knowledge has grown apace, without rest or pause.

Nor does the development of what we have called attitudes lag behind. Parallel with growth in the child's knowledge, his interests are taking root; his ideals are shaping; his standards are developing; his enthusiasms are kindling; his loyalties are being grounded. These changes go on whether we will or not—just because life and growth can not be stopped. The great question that confronts teacher and parent is whether through guidance, that is through education, we shall be able to say what attitudes shall arise and what motives shall come to rule, rather than to leave this all-important matter to chance or to influence hostile to the child's welfare.

The teacher of religion, like all other teachers, must meet two distinct though related problems in the cultivating of attitudes. These are:

1. The creation of an immediate or direct set of attitudes toward the school and its work. This is needed to motivate effort and insure right impressions.

2. The development of a far-reaching set of attitudes that will carry out from the classroom into the present and future life of the pupil. This is needed as a guide and stimulus to spiritual growth, and as a foundation for character.

ATTITUDES TOWARD THE SCHOOL AND ITS WORK

The older view of education sought to drive the child to effort and secure results through pain and compulsion. It was believed that the pathway to learning must of necessity be dreary and strewn with hardships, if, indeed, not freely watered with the tears of childhood.

Now we know better. A knowledge of child psychology and a more sympathetic insight into child nature have shown us that instead of external compulsion we must get hold of the inner springs of action. No mind can exert its full power unless the driving force comes from within. The capacities implanted in the child at his birth do not reach full fruition except when freely and gladly used because their use is a pleasure and satisfaction. If worthy results are to be secured, the whole self must be called into action under the stimulus of willingness, desire, and complete assent of the inner self to the tasks imposed. There must be no lagging, nor holding back, nor partial use of powers.

Religious education is, therefore, not simply a question of getting our children into the church schools. That is easy. Parents who themselves do not attend feel that they have more fully done their duty by their children if they send them to the Sunday school. After securing the attendance of the children the great question still remains—that of the response, their attitude toward the activities of the school, the completeness with which they give themselves to its work.

A friend who is a State inspector of public schools tells me that the first thing he looks for when he visits a school is the school spirit, the attitude of the pupils toward their teachers and the work of the school. If this is good, there is a foundation upon which to build fruitful work; if the spirit is bad, there is no possibility that the work of the school can be up to standard. For it is out of the schoolroom spirit, the classroom attitudes, that the effort necessary to growth and achievement must come.

The spirit of the classroom.—Do the children enjoy the lesson hour? The first of the motivating conditions to seek for our classroom is a prevailing attitude of happiness, good cheer, enjoyment. These are the natural attributes and attitudes of childhood. Unhappiness is an abnormal state for the child. The child's nature unfolds and his mind expands normally only when in an atmosphere of sympathy, kindness, and good feeling. Our pupils must enjoy what they are doing, if they are to give themselves whole-heartedly to it. If loyalty to the school and the church is to result, they must not feel that the Sunday school hour is a drag and a bore. If such is the case, they cannot be expected to carry away lasting impressions for good. They must not look upon attendance as an imposition, nor wait with eager impatience for the closing gong.

While loyalty should be permeated by a sense of duty and obligation, and even of self-sacrifice, it cannot rest on this alone. Most children and youth are loyal to their homes; but this loyalty rests chiefly on a sentiment formed from day to day and year to year out of the satisfying experiences connected with the love, care, protection, and associations of the home. Let these happy, satisfying home experiences be lacking, and loyalty to the home fails or loses its fine quality.

In similar way, if the experiences in the Sunday school and the church continuously yield satisfaction, enjoyment, and good feeling, the child's loyalty and devotion are assured; if, on the other hand, these experiences come to be associated with dislike, reluctance, and aversion, loyalty is in danger of breaking under the strain.

The response of interest.—Are the children interested? While, as we have seen, the atmosphere or spirit of the classroom supplies the condition necessary to successful work, interest supplies the motive force. For interest is the mainspring of action. A child may politely listen, or from a sense of courtesy or good will sit quietly passive and not disturb others, but this does not meet the requirement. His thought, interest, and enthusiasm must be centered on the matter in hand. He must withdraw his attention from all wandering thoughts, passing fancies, distracting surroundings, and concentrate upon the lesson itself. There is no substitute for this. There is no possibility of making lasting impressions on a mind with its energies dispersed through lack of attention. And there is no possibility of securing fruitful attention without interest.

Interest therefore becomes a primary consideration in our teaching of religion. The teacher must constantly ask himself: "What is the state of my pupils' interest? How completely am I commanding their enthusiasm? Suppose I were to grade them on a scale with complete-indifference as the interest zero, and with the 'exploding-point'-of-enthusiasm as the highest interest mark, where would the score mark of my class stand? And if I cannot reasonably hope to keep my class at the high-water mark of interest at all times, what shall I call an attainable standard? If one hundred per cent is to represent the supreme achievement of interest, shall I be satisfied with fifty per cent, with twenty-five per cent, or with complete indifference? If the minds of my pupils can receive and retain lasting impressions only under the stimulus of the higher range of interest, in how far am I now making lasting impressions on my class? In short, is the interest attitude of my class as good as I can make it?"

The sense of victory.—Is there a feeling of confidence and mastery? Do the children understand what they are asked to learn? Without this the attitude toward the class hour cannot be good, for the mind is always ill at ease when forced to work upon matter it cannot grasp nor assimilate. Nor is it possible to secure full effort without a reasonable degree of mastery. The feeling of confidence and assurance that comes from successful achievement increases the amount of power available. The victorious army or the winning football team is always more formidable than the same organization when oppressed and disheartened by continued defeat.

If the task is interesting, children do not ask that it shall be easy. Once catch their enthusiasm and they will exert their powers to the full, and take joy in the effort. But the effort must be accompanied by a sense of victory and achievement. There must always be immediately ahead the possibility of winning over the difficulties of their lessons. Except in rare moments of emotional exaltation the most heroic of us are not capable of hurling our best strength against obstacles upon whose resistance we make no impression. And the child possesses almost none of this quality. Without a measurable degree of success in what he attempts to learn his morale suffers, enthusiasm fails, and discouragement creeps in to sap his powers.

Kept in the presence of mental tasks he cannot master nor understand, the child will soon lose interest and anticipation in his work. Without mastery intellectual defeat comes to be accepted and expected, and the child forms the fatal habit of submission and giving up. Because he expects defeat from the lesson before him, the learner is already defeated; because he has not learned to look for victory in his study, he will never find it.

Preventing the habit of defeat.—This is all to say that in teaching the child religion we must not constantly confront him with matter that is beyond his grasp and understanding. That we are doing this in some of our lesson systems there can be no doubt. The result is seen in the child's hazy and indefinite ideas about religion; in a later astonishing lack of interest in the problems of religion on the part of adults; in the child's unwillingness to undertake the study of his lessons for the Sunday school; in the fact that to many children the Sunday school lesson hour is a task and a bore; and in the fact that the Sunday school does not in a large degree continue to hold the loyalty of its members after they have reached the age of deciding for themselves whether they will attend. Fundamental to all successful classroom results with children are enjoyment, interest, and mastery. How these are to be secured will be developed further as the text proceeds.

ATTITUDES THAT CARRY INTO LIFE BEYOND THE SCHOOL

The great problem of every teacher is to make sure that the effects of his instruction reach beyond the classroom. While the immediate attitudes of the classroom are the first great care, they are but the beginning. Growing out of the work of the church school must be a more permanent set of attitudes that underlie life itself, give foundation to character, and in large degree determine the trend and outcome of achievement. The cultivation of moral and religious attitudes is probably the most important aim for the Sunday school. As already explained, the word "attitudes" is used to cover a considerable number of qualities and attributes.

A continuing interest in the Bible and religion.—On the whole, people do not concern themselves about what they are not interested in. They do not read the books, study the pictures, go to hear the speakers, or busy themselves with problems to which their interest does not directly and immediately lead them. A fine sense of duty and obligation is all very well, but it never can take the place of interest as a dynamic force in life.

The number of Bibles sold every year would lead one to suppose that our people are great students of the Scriptures. Yet the almost universal ignorance of the Bible proves that it is one thing to own a Bible, and quite another thing to read it. We may buy the Bible because other people own Bibles, because we believe in its principles, and because it seems altogether desirable to have the Bible among our collection of books. But the extent to which we read the Bible depends on our interest in it and the truths with which it deals.

Nor should we forget that, while the United States is rightly counted as one of the great Christian nations, only about two out of five of our people are members of Christian churches. It is true that this proportion would be considerably increased if all churches admitted the younger children to membership; but even making allowance for this fact, it is evident that a great task still confronts the church in interesting our own millions in religion in such a way that they shall take part in its organized activities.

Let each teacher of religion therefore ask himself: "To what extent am I grounding in my pupils a permanent and continuing interest in the Bible and in the Christian religion? Growing out of lessons I teach these children are they coming to like the Bible? will they want to know more about it? will they turn to it naturally as a matter of course because they have found it interesting and helpful? will they care enough for it through the years to search for its deeper meanings and for its hidden beauties? and because of this will they build the strength and inspiration of the Bible increasingly into their lives?"

And, further: "Are my pupils developing a growing interest in religion? Do they increasingly find it attractive and inspiring, or is religion to them chiefly a set of restraints and prohibitions? Do they look upon religion as a means to a happier and fuller life, or as a limitation and check upon life. Is religion being revealed to them as the pearl of great price, or does it possess but little value in their standard of what is worth while?" These questions are of supreme significance, for in their right answers are the very issues of spiritual life for those we teach.

Spiritual responsiveness.—The teacher must accept responsibility for the spiritual growth as well as the intellectual training of his pupils. There is no escape from this. We must be satisfied with nothing less than a constantly increasing consciousness of God's presence and reality in the lives of those we teach.

As the child's knowledge grows and his concept of God, develops, this should naturally and inevitably lead to an increasing warmth of attitude toward God and a tendency to turn to him constantly for guidance, strength, comradeship, and forgiveness. Indeed, the cultivation of this trend of the life toward God is the supreme aim in our religious leadership of children. Without this result, whatever may have been the facts learned or the knowledge gleaned, there has been no worthy progress made in spiritual growth and development.

The evolution of spiritual responsiveness.—The realization of this new spiritual consciousness in the child's life may not involve any special nor abrupt upheaval. If the child is wisely led, and if he develops normally in his religion, it almost certainly will not. Countless thousands of those who are living lives very full of spiritual values have come into the rich consciousness of divine relationship so gradually that the separate steps cannot be distinguished. "First the blade, then the ear, and then the full grain in the ear" is the natural law of spiritual growth.

The bearing of this truth upon our teaching is that we must seek for the unfolding of the child's spiritual nature and for the turning of his thought and affections toward God from the first. We must not point to some distant day ahead when the child will "accept Jesus" or become "a child of God." We must ourselves think of the child, and lead the child to think of himself, as a member of God's family.

This does not mean that the child, as he grows from childhood into youth and adulthood, will not need to make a personal and definite decision to give God and the Christ first place in his life; he will need to do this not once, but many times. It only means that from his earliest years the child is to be made to feel that he belongs to God, and should turn to him as Father and Friend. Day by day and week by week the child should be growing more vitally conscious of God's place in his life, and more responsive to this relationship. Only by this steady and continuous process of growth will the spiritual nature take on the depth and quality which the Christian ideal sets for its attainment.

Ideals and ambitions.—In order that religion may be a helpful reality to the child it must extend to his developing ideals and ambitions. For even children have ideals and ambitions, however crude they may be, or however much they may lack the serious and practical nature they later take on. Probably no child reaches his teens without having many times secretly determined that he would do this or become that, which he has admired in some hero of his own choosing from actual acquaintance or from books or stories. There is no normal child but who has his own notions of greatness and importance, of success and fame, and who wishes and longs for certain things ahead upon which he has set his heart, and which he purposes to attain. The things that he thus values are his ideals, goals to be reached. Ideals are, therefore, guides to action and effort, something to be striven after and sacrificed for. They are the things most worth while, for which we can afford to forego other things of lesser value. It was the force of a great ideal which led Paul to say, "This one thing I do"; and to the attainment of that ideal he gave all his purpose and effort.

To form true ideals requires a trained sense of values; one must develop a power of spiritual perspective, and be able to see things in their true proportions. He must know what things rightly come first if he is to "put first things first;" He must have some training in recognizing the value of "pearls" if he is to see that it is a good exchange to "sell all that he has" in order to "buy the pearl of great price."

This all suggests that one of the responsibilities resting upon us as teachers of religion is to guide the child in the forming of his ideals. We must help him form his notion of what is worthy and admirable in character. We must see that he develops high standards of truth, honesty, obedience, and the other moral virtues which lie at the foundation of all vital religion. We must make certain that his ideals of success and achievement include a large measure of service to his fellows. We must ground him in right personal ideals and standards of purity and clean living. We must make him feel a deep sense of responsibility for the full development and fruitful use of his own powers and abilities. In short, we must with all the wisdom and devotion we possess bring him to accept the life of Jesus as the ideal and pattern for his own life.

Fine appreciations.—What one admires is an index to his character. More than this, the quality and tone of one's admirations finally build themselves into his nature and become a part of his very being. Life is infinitely enriched and refined by responding to the beauty, the goodness, and the gladness to be found around us. In Hawthorne's story of The Great Stone Face, the boy Ernest dwelt upon and admired the character revealed in the benignant lines of the great face outlined by the hand of the Creator on the mountainside until the fine qualities which the young boy daily idealized had grown into his own life, and Ernest himself had become the "wise man" whose coming had long been awaited by his people.

It is not enough therefore to learn the facts about the lives of the great men and women of the Bible or of other times. The story of their lives must be presented in such a way that admiration is compelled from the learner: for only the qualities the child appreciates and admires are finally built into his own ideal. It is not enough that the child shall be taught that God created the world and all that is therein; he must also be brought to appreciate and admire the wonders and beauties of nature as an evidence of God's wisdom, power, and goodness. It is not enough that our pupils shall come to know the chief events in the life of Jesus and the outline of his teachings; they must also find themselves lost in admiration of the matchless qualities of his great personality.

And so also with music, art, architecture, with the fine in human life and conduct, or with great and noble deeds. Inherent in them all are spiritual stimulus and food for the young life, manna upon which the growing soul should feed. But here again the law holds: in order to assimilate them to his life the child must appreciate, enjoy, admire. To bring this about is one part of our task as teacher.

Worthy loyalties and devotions.—Every worthy character must have in it a certain power of resistance, a quality that makes it able to withstand hardship for the sake of an ideal or a cause. It is easy enough to be heroic when it costs nothing of effort or sacrifice. There is no trouble in securing supporters for a cause that is popular, or workers when the work called for is interesting and attractive. We are all willing to stand for the right if to stand is agreeable and exhilarating, and does not bring us too much of unpleasantness, pain, or suffering.

But life at its best and noblest does involve some hardship. Much that is best in human experience has come to us through hardship, toil, and suffering cheerfully endured by heroic souls who counted their own lives as naught so that the cause to which they gave themselves might win. The comforts, freedom, and opportunities we enjoy some one paid for, bought with endless effort and sacrifice. Our very religion, the symbol of life, gladness, and salvation, has as its background tragedy, suffering, death, the cross.

The quality that makes us willing to endure and resist for the sake of a cause or an ideal we call loyalty. The high value set upon it is seen in the fact that loyalty is the first test of citizenship required; it is a quality admired and praised among all peoples in all relations of life; it is the quality we demand and prize in our friends and associates. On the other hand, disloyalty to country, friends, or trust is universally looked upon as despicable, and punished with contempt, scorn, and hatred.

The appeal to the heroic.—One of the ends of religious teaching is to cultivate in our youth the spirit of loyalty to worthy ideals and causes. Loyalty rests on a stratum of heroism, which is to be found deep down in every normal human being. We must stimulate and appeal to the heroic in the child's nature. We must make him see that the strong and fine men and women are willing to meet much that is hard and disagreeable, so that they may be loyal to their task. We must make him realize that the greatest and most worthy thing one can do is to "endure hardship" for a cause; that to be willing to suffer for an ideal is a mark of strength and courage; and that "having done all to stand" is often the best test of character.

Nor must the thought of loyalty be presented to the child only in the abstract. Concrete examples are worth much general explanation and laudation. The loyalties of the great characters of biblical and other times can be made the source of great inspiration; the supreme loyalty of Jesus to his mission will exert a powerful appeal. But loyalty must be made immediate, definite and concrete to the child in his own life; he must not simply admire it afar off. Loyalty must be to him not something to learn about and praise in others, but something he can make use of himself each day without waiting to grow up or become famous. So we will teach the child the loyalties due parents and the home; loyalties to friends and comrades; loyalties to school, community, and country; loyalties to Sunday school, church, and the cause of religion; loyalties to self; loyalties to duty wherever found; and, above all, loyalties to the Christ and his ideals.

1. Do your pupils enjoy the church school, and like to come? Do they enjoy the lesson hour? By what means do you tell? Is the spirit of the class good toward the school and toward the class? How do you judge this?

2. Do your pupils come to the lesson hour full of expectancy? Or is there an indifference and lack of interest with which you have to contend? If the class fails in some degree to manifest expectancy and interest, where do you judge the trouble to lie? What is the remedy?

3. To what degree do you think your pupils are comprehending and mastering what you are teaching them? How does their mastery compare with that secured in the public schools? Have you plans for making their mastery more complete?

4. Do you judge that your pupils are developing such an attitude toward the Bible that their interest will carry on beyond the time they are in your class? Do you think they have an increasing interest in religion? Are you making these questions one of the problems of your teaching?

5. Are your pupils developing through the work you are doing a growing consciousness of God in their lives? Do they count themselves as children of God? Just what do you believe is the status of your children spiritually? Do they need conservation or conversion? What difference will your answer make in your teaching?

6. To what degree are your pupils loyal to the church school? To their particular class? To the church? What are the tests of loyalty? Do they come regularly? Do they seek to promote the interests of the class and the school? Do they do their part? What can be done to increase loyalty?

FOR FURTHER READING

Wilber, A Child's Religion.

Bushnell, Christian Nurture (Revised Ed.).

Betts, The Mind and Its Education, chapter on "Interest."

Fisk, Boy Life and Self-Government.



CHAPTER VI

CONNECTING RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION WITH LIFE AND CONDUCT

We have now come to the third of the great trio of aims in religious education—right living. This, of course, is the aim to which the gathering of religious knowledge and the setting up of religious attitudes are but secondary; or, rather, fruitful religious knowledge, and right religious attitudes are the means by which to lead to skill in right living as the end.

In the last analysis the child does not come to us that he may learn this or that set of facts, nor that he may develop such and such a group of feelings, but that through these he may live better. The final test of our teaching, therefore, is just this: Because of our instruction, does the child live differently here and now, as a child, in all his multiform relations in the home, the school, the church, the community, and in his own personal life? Are the lessons we teach translated continuously into better conduct, finer acts, and stronger character as shown in the daily run of the learner's experience?

It is true that the full fruits of our teaching and of the child's learning must wait for time and experience to bring the individual to fuller development. But it is also true that it is impossible for the child to lay up a store of unused knowledge and have it remain against a later time of need in a distant future. The only knowledge that forms a vital part of our equipment is knowledge that is in active service, guiding our thought and decisions from day to day. Unused knowledge quickly vanishes away, leaving little more permanent impression on the life than that left on the wave when we plunge our hand into the water and take it out again. In similar way the interests, ideals, and emotions which are aroused without at the same time affording a natural outlet for expression in deeds and conduct soon fade away without having fulfilled the purpose for which they exist. The great thing in religious education is to find immediate and natural outlet in expression, a way for the child to use what he learns; to get the child to do those things pointed out by the lessons we teach him.

Religion drawing closer to life.—This is the only method of religious education that will meet the requirements of these times upon the Christian religion. The unmistakable trend of modern Christianity is to connect religion more closely and vitally with life itself—to make it a mode of living in a deeper sense than has obtained since the days of Christ upon earth. This is a very hopeful sign, for it accords completely with the spirit and message of Jesus. When he said, "By their fruit ye shall know them," what did he mean but that the quality and value of a man's religion is to be known by its outcome in, deeds and action? When he said, "Not everyone that saith. Lord! Lord! but he that doeth..."; and again, "He that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them...," was he not again emphasizing the great; truth that one's religion is tested only by the extent to which it is tied up with his daily living?

The teacher will, therefore, say to himself, The religious knowledge I am putting into the minds of my pupils is of supreme importance—if it makes them live better and act more nobly; the religious attitudes and emotions I am cultivating in my class are full of value and significance—if they cause their possessors to live more broadly, sympathetically, usefully, and happily. The true teacher will then add, And it is my task to see that this result follows without fail!

RELIGIOUS HABITS AS AN AIM

Indirectly all this is to say that our first care in teaching the young child religion should be to lead him to form religious habits. For our lives are controlled by a great network of habits which come to us as the result of acts often repeated, until they have become as second nature. There are many things about the child's religion that should become second nature; that is, should become habit—and which are not certain and secure until they have grown into habits. For example, it is wholly desirable to have the habit of attending church, of personal devotions, and of resisting temptation, so well fixed that the acts required for each take care of themselves with a minimum of struggle and decision each time the occasion arises. Not only will this method require less strain and compulsion on our part, but it will result in more uniform churchgoing, attention to devotions, and the overcoming of temptation.

The age for habit forming.—The principle, then, is simple and clear. At the beginning of the child's contact with the church school he cannot grasp the broader and deeper meanings of religion; but he can during this period be led into the doing of right acts and deeds, and thus have his religious habits started. At a time when his brain is yet unripe, and hence unready for the more difficult truths or the more exalted emotions of religion, the child is at his best in the matter of habit-forming. For habits grounded in early childhood are more easily formed and more deeply imbedded than those acquired at any later time, and they exert a stronger control over the life.

How habits grow.—But habits do not come of their own accord; they must be gradually acquired. Immediately back of every habit lies a chain of acts out of which the habit grows. Given the acts, and the habit is as sure to follow as night the day. Hence the great thing in religious instruction of the young is to afford opportunity for our teaching to be carried as immediately as may be over into deeds.

As we make the desired impressions upon the minds of our pupils, we must see that the way is reasonably open for expression. The lessons should be so direct, simple, and clear that there is no difficulty in connecting them immediately with the daily life, and then we should do our best to see that the connection is made.

As we teach we should have in mind the week that lies ahead in the child's life—in the home, the school, on the playground, in the community, and in whatever personal situations and problems we may know are being met. Then we should use every power as a teacher to make sure that we help the child meet the challenge of his daily life with the finest acts, best deeds, and noblest conduct possible for him to command.

APPLICATION OF RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION TO THE DAILY LIFE

One great purpose, then, in religious instruction is to attach the stimulus and appeal of religion to the common round of daily life and experience of the child. As Christ came that we might have life, not a future life alone, but a full, happy, and worthy life in the present as well, so we come to the child as a teacher to help him in his life here and now. Our task at this point is to lead him to practice the great fundamental virtues whose value has been proved through ages of human experience, to incorporate directly into his living the lessons learned slowly and with great sacrifice by generations which have preceded him. Our aim will be to lead our pupils, out of their own choice and conviction, to adopt and follow a code of action such as the following:

I will respect and care for my body. I will keep my body clean and pure. I will try to avoid sickness and disease. I will breathe good air day and night, and live out of doors all I can. Because I shall need all my strength and endurance at their best, I will pay no toll to the poisons of alcohol and nicotine. I will be temperate in my food, and eat such foods as will favor growth, health, and strength. I will bathe often, play and work hard, and get plenty of sleep and rest. My character will be judged by my poise and carriage; therefore I will try to walk, stand, and sit well, and not allow my manner to show slouchiness and carelessness. Both because of my own self-respect and because I owe it to others, I will strive to make myself neat and attractive in dress and person. I will treat my body right so far as I can know what is best for it, and will do nothing to defile or injure any part of it. I will try to keep my body a fit dwelling place for my soul, for God gave them both to me. And I will do all I can to make my home, school, and community a beautiful and healthful place for others to live.

I will keep good-natured, cheerful, and responsive. Tasks grow easier and loads lighter when one is cheerful. I will therefore guard against gloomy and sullen moods, which not only make me unhappy, but cause unhappiness to those about me. I will watch that I may not be cross and irritable at home, and shall do my part to make home the bright and happy place I wish it to be. I will be careful not to grumble nor whine when things go wrong, or when I cannot have my own way. I will remember that troubles flee when we refuse to think about them. I will refuse to give way to ill temper, for I would not become its slave; rather will I learn to laugh at small troubles and annoyances that cannot be cured. If I am feeling sad or unhappy, I will stop to speak a kind word or do a fine deed, and the gloom will disappear.

I will take pride in work and thrift. The world has no place for the one who shirks. Some one toiled for every comfort I enjoy; some one worked for the clothing, shelter, food, and all the other good things that come to me. I must do my part, work, help others, and especially help in the home. I will not slight my tasks, but say; "I can!" and go at my work with a will. What though the task be hard—if it is mine, I'll do it! What though the lesson be long—if it is to be learned, I'll master it! If I can stand at the head of my class, I will, but only when I have earned the right by honest effort. Because the world contains so many who must go hungry for want of food, and who lack other necessities and comforts, I will not needlessly spend nor waste anything of value. I will take pride in thrift and saving, and do all I can to encourage this spirit in others. I will respect and honor all worthy toil. I will thank the good God every day that he allows me to take part in the work round about me, and ask him to help me to do my share well in each seen or unseen part of every task.

I will be honest and speak the truth. Only one who is honest is worthy of trust, and he who tells a lie confesses that he is a coward and afraid to let the truth be known. I will be honest even in little things, and will have no "white lies." Though it may seem a trifle to cheat in school or not play fair in a game, I will be above all trickery and deceit. Both in play and in work my fight must be clean and fair; I shall ask but for an even chance. I will give full value for whatever I receive; if I work for wages, I must make sure to earn them; if I secure honors or grades at school, I must win them. I will let alone all games of chance, for gambling takes what one has not earned, and is therefore stealing.

I will be obedient to the rules of my home and school and to the laws of my country. The rules of home and school and the laws of state and nation are made for the good of all; and wherever freedom rules there laws must be obeyed. I will not quibble nor seek to evade, but give prompt and cheerful obedience wherever my duty is to obey. I will honor the law and respect those in authority over me. I will not be one of those who must needs be watched, and narrowly held to right paths. I will obey not because of fear or compulsion, but gladly, because I choose to do the right. I will not tempt others to disobedience, nor to the violation of the law. I will be a loyal member of my home and school and a patriotic citizen of my country, doing all in my power to advance their welfare and interests.

I will be courteous and kind. The men and women whom people love and admire are courteous and kind. The strong and the brave are never cruel, they do not willingly injure others nor hurt their feelings. I will strive each day to be courteous at home, kind to those who are nearest to me, and helpful to my friends and companions. I will not knowingly cause pain or suffering to any person. I will extend my protection and kindness to all animals and every dumb and helpless thing, remembering that pain is pain wherever felt, in a worm as well as in a man. Especially will I show my best courtesy to aged and infirm persons, and to all such as may need help. It will be my high privilege to render service to any who are unfortunate, crippled, or in distress, I will do unto others what I would have them do unto me.

I will show courage and self-control. I should not want to be a coward, for cowardice always brings pity and contempt. I know that all must at times meet pain and suffering; and when the time comes to me I must not lose my courage and self-control; I will not shrink nor cringe, but find strength in remembering that many have suffered and endured without complaint. I will avoid danger and unnecessary risk whenever possible, but if accident or duty puts me in a place of danger, I must try to keep a cool head and to show my mettle by doing my full duty bravely. When sometimes things go wrong, and I cannot have my own way, I shall show my courage and self-command by keeping my temper and tongue under control; I will be a good sportsman and not complain, nag, nor find fault. I will make it a rule, if I feel my anger rising, to think twice before I speak or act. If I have wronged or offended anyone, I will be strong enough to go and make it right, confessing my fault. When I am tempted to think or do or say what I know to be wrong, I will ask my heavenly Father for strength to overcome the temptation. It will be my constant purpose and care to keep myself pure in thought, word, and deed.

I will be dependable and do my duty. The world needs men and women on whom it can depend, and who are not afraid to do their duty at whatever cost. I must learn to face hardship and to meet the disagreeable without giving way before it. I must not ask what road is easy, but what way is right—and then do my duty. When I know I ought I must be able to say I will, even if the choice brings me pain and trouble. If I have undertaken any trust or task, I must not lag nor weaken nor grow careless, but faithfully see it through to the end. When my country calls, or the world needs my services, I must not consult my own wishes or convenience, but unfalteringly follow where duty leads. Whenever I can with justice and self-respect, I will avoid a quarrel; but I will not sit idly by and see injustice and oppression brought on the weak and helpless if I can prevent.

I will love and enjoy nature. The birds, the flowers, the trees and the brooks make the best of friends. I will study the great book of nature around me, and seek to learn the secrets of its many forms. I will live as much as I can in the great out-of-doors, finding in its beauty and freshness new evidences of God's wisdom and goodness. I will never injure nor destroy, but do all I can to protect the beautiful living and growing things about me. I will find joy in the storm, the rain, and the snow, and then no day will seem dreary or dull to me. I will seek for some good purpose in all harmless created things, making comrades of my animal playmates, and taking an interest in all such things as creep or crawl or fly; and need then never be lonely nor lack good company. I will look upon the glory of the sunset, the wonder of a starlit night, the sparkle of the dew, and then reverently thank God that he has made the great world so beautiful and good.

I will each day turn to my heavenly Father for help, strength, and forgiveness. I know I cannot live my life as I should live it without God's help and counsel. I will therefore turn to him in prayer that he will guide me when I am puzzled or uncertain, that he will give me victory when I am tempted to do wrong, that he will give me courage when I falter or am afraid, that he will forgive me when I have sinned or failed in my duty. I will take for my standard of life and action the example of Jesus, and show my love and appreciation by living as fully as I can the kind of life he lived. I know that I cannot have God's presence in my life unless I keep my heart pure and my conduct right; I will therefore, with his help, as nearly as I can, live from day to day as I think God would have me live, I will take time morning and evening of each day for a few moments of prayer, quiet thought, and for the study of the Bible. I will do my best to be a worthy Christian.

* * * * *

The teacher, of course, will need to adapt the application of such principles as those we have been discussing to the age and the needs of his pupils. Such lessons cannot be presented as so much abstract truth. The purpose, as we have already seen, is to lead the child to make such high ideals his habit of life and action, so that at last they may govern his conduct and become an inseparable part of his character. To do this, such ideals must be made desirable and attainable.

PARTICIPATION IN THE WORK OF THE CHURCH AND SOCIAL SERVICE

The forming of religious social habits is as important as the forming of religious personal habits. From his earliest years the child should come to look on his church, his Sunday school, and the class to which he belongs as a responsibility in which he has a personal share. His experience in connection with these organizations should be so interesting and satisfying that his attendance does not have to be compelled, but so that his loyalty, affection, and pride naturally lead him to them.

When this is accomplished, the basis of good attendance is secured, and the foundation laid for later participation in all forms of church work. Once the right spirit is created and right habits developed, unpleasant weather, bad roads or streets, getting up late on Sunday mornings, nor any other obstacles will stand in the way of regular church and Sunday school attendance any more than of day-school attendance. And until the church has its children (and their homes) so trained that attendance on the church school is regular throughout the year, our instruction must of necessity fail to reach its full aim.

Learning to take responsibility for others.—One of the greatest lessons a child can learn from his lessons in religion is that he is his brother's keeper. The instincts of childhood are naturally selfish and self-centered; the sense of responsibility for others must be gradually trained and developed. A double purpose can therefore be served by enlisting the children of our classes as recruiting officers to secure new members, and to look up any who may have dropped out or whose attendance is irregular. The sense of pride and emulation in such work, and the feeling on the part of our pupils that they are actually accomplishing something definite for their class or school will do much to cement loyalty and train the children to assume responsibility for their comrades.

This pride of the group is a strong force during later childhood and adolescence, and can be fruitfully used in religious training. The boy or the girl Scout takes great pride in doing acts of kindness and service without personal reward, just because that is one of the things that scouting stands for. "Scouts are expected to do this," or "Scouts are not expected to do that," has all the force of law to the loyal Scout.

The Sunday school class can command the same spirit if the proper appeal is made. In its neighborhood work and on many special occasions the church and the Sunday school will have need of messenger service. Errands will have to be run, articles will have to be gathered and distributed, calls will have to be made, funds will have to be collected, and a hundred other things done which children can do as well or better than anyone else. And it is precisely in these practical acts of homely service that the child gets his best training in the social side of religion.

Laboratory work in religion.—The wise teacher will therefore seize upon every opportunity to find something worth while for his pupils to do. He will have them help with the distribution of supplies in the classroom; he will see that they volunteer to help the super-intendent or other officials who may need assistance; he will give them responsibility in decorating the church or classroom for special occasions; he will leave to their cooperation as large a measure as possible of the work to be done in arranging and carrying out class or school picnics, excursions, social gatherings, and the like; he will arrange for special groups to visit the aged, sick, or shut-in for the purpose of singing gospel songs, and will open the way for those who are qualified to do so to read the Bible or other matter to the blind or those whose sight is failing. In short, the devoted teacher who understands the laws of childhood will make his instruction as nearly as possible a laboratory course in religion, finding the material and the occasion in the human needs and the opportunities for loving service which lie closest at hand.

Assuming personal responsibility.—The sense of the child's responsibility for his class and school must also carry into the exercise of the school itself. The boy should be led to prepare his lesson because of the truth it contains; but also because a recitation cannot be a success unless the pupils know their lesson and do their part. He should pay his share toward the running of the school and church because it is our duty to give, but also because he feels a personal responsibility for his church and his class. He should take part in public prayer or the leadership of meetings, when asked to do, because it is right and proper to do these things, but also because he realizes that each member of the class and school owes it to the organization to do his share.

Nothing can take the place of whole-hearted, joyous participation in the real activities of the Sunday school as a means of catching the interest of the members and securing their loyalty; for interest and loyalty finally attach to those activities in which we have a share. The school in which the child finds a chance to express the lessons and put into practice the maxims he is taught is the school which is building Christian character and providing for future religious leadership.

Participation in singing.—Especially should we develop in our children the ability and will to engage in religious singing. Almost every child can sing, and all children respond to the appeal of music adapted to their understanding. The most expert and inspiring leadership which the church can command should be placed in charge of the children's singing in the Sunday school.

If it comes to the question of selecting between a director for the adult choir and a soloist for the general congregation on the one hand, or an efficient organizer and director of children's music on the other hand, there should not be a moment's hesitation on the part of any church to supply the needs of the children first. The aim should then be to have all the children sing, and allow none to form the habit of depending on the older members or on a few leaders to supply the singing for the entire school. Those who possess special ability in music should be formed into choruses, orchestras, school bands, or similar organizations. Not only will all this add to the interest and effectiveness of the school itself, but, not less important, will be helping to form the music habit in connection with sacred music.

Training in giving.—The missionary enterprises of the church afford one of the best opportunities for giving the child practical training in the social aspect of religion. It is not enough that the children shall be told the stories of the missionary heroes and given the picture of the needs of the people in far-away lands. Once the imagination is stirred and the emotions wanned by this instruction, an immediate and natural outlet in expression must be found if these lessons are to fulfill their end.

Children should early be led into giving money for missionary purposes, and this as far as possible should be their own money which they themselves have earned. For the child to go to his father on a Sunday morning for money for the missionary collection does not answer the need on the educational side; it is the child's real sharing that leaves the impression and teaches the lesson.

There is also real educational value in leading children to give clothing, food, or other necessities for the use of the needy. Here, again, the giving should involve something of real sacrifice and sharing, and not consist merely in giving away that for which the child himself no longer cares. The joint giving by a class or the entire school for the support of a missionary worker whose name is known, and a somewhat detailed report of whose work is received, lends immediateness and reality to the participation of the pupils. A strong appeal can be made to the spirit of giving by the adoption by the class of some needy boy or girl whose Christian education is provided for by the efforts of the class, and to whom personal letters can be written and from whom replies may be received.

Social service.—The children of our Sunday schools should be given an active and prominent part in all forms of community welfare service. The successful enlistment of the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts in many valuable forms of community enterprises contains a vital suggestion and lesson for the church school. Wherever good deeds need to be done, wherever help needs to be rendered, wherever kindness and service are necessary, there the children should be called upon to do their part. If the tasks and responsibilities are suited to the various ages, there will be no trouble about securing response. Nor, on the other hand, will there be any doubt but that the lessons learned will be entirely vital and will serve to connect the religious motive with everyday life and its activities.

Religion finding expression in the home.—No system or method of religious instruction is effective the results of which do not find expression in the life of the home. It is here in the intimate relations of children with each other and with their parents that the moral and religious lessons of forbearance, good will, and mutual service find most frequent and vital opportunity for application.

Children need early to be made to see their individual and joint responsibility for the happiness, cheerfulness, good nature, and general social tone of their home; and to help at these points should become a part of their religion. They should be stimulated to share in the care of the home, and not to shirk their part of its work. They should be interested in the home's finances, and come to feel a personal responsibility for saving or earning as the situation may require. They should have a definite part in the hospitality which the home extends to its friends and neighbors, and come by experience to sense the true meaning of the word "neighborliness."

The appearance and attractiveness of their home should be a matter of pride with children, and this feeling should cause them to be careful in their own habits of neatness, cleanliness, and order about the home. All these things have a bearing on the foundations of character and are therefore a legitimate concern in religious instruction.

The final tests of our instruction.—In such things as we have been discussing, then, we find one of the surest tests of the outcome of our teaching the child religion—Are the lessons carrying over? Is the child, because of our contact with him, growing in attractiveness and strength of personality and character? Is he developing a habit of prayer, devotion, spiritual turning to God? Is he doing a reasonable amount of reading and study of the Bible and the lesson material of the school? Is he taking such personal part in the various social and religious activities of the church and the community that he is "getting his hand in," and developing the attachments and loyalties which can come only through participation? In short, is the child given a chance to apply, and does he daily put into practice and thus into character, the content and spirit of what we teach him?

The answers we must return to these questions will measure our success as teachers and determine the value coming to the child from our instruction.

1. To what extent do you believe your pupils are living differently in their daily lives for the instruction you are giving them? Do you definitely plan your teaching to accomplish this aim? For example, what definite results are you seeking from the next lesson?

2. Can you think your class over pupil by pupil and decide which of these points in the code of action most needs be stressed in individual cases? Do the topics in this code suggest points of emphasis which might serve for many different lessons? Is there danger of loss in efficiency if we try to stress too many of the points at one time?

3. Are the children of your class interested in keeping up the membership and attendance? What specific part and responsibility do you give the members in this matter? Is it possible that you could plan to use their help more fully and effectively?

4. Suppose you try making a list of all the different lines of participation in religious activities directly opened up to the pupils of your class by the church and the church school. Is the list as long as it should be? What further provision could be made for the children to have definite responsibility and activity?

5. Do you think that your pupils are becoming increasingly inclined to look upon religion as a mode of living? For example, will your children be more agreeable, responsive, obedient, and helpful in the home next week for the lessons you have been teaching them? Will they have higher standards of conduct in the school and on the playground?

FOR FURTHER READING

Dewey, Moral Principles in Education.

Sharp, Education for Character.

Partridge, Genetic Philosophy of Education, chapters on "Moral and Religious Education."

Mumford, The Dawn of Character.

Richardson, The Religious Education of Adolescents.

Alexander, Boy Training.



CHAPTER VII

THE SUBJECT MATTER OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

We have seen in an earlier chapter how the subject matter of religious education must be selected in accordance with the aims we would have it accomplish in the lives of our pupils. We have also considered in separate chapters the religious knowledge required, the religious attitudes demanded and the practical applications of religious instruction to be made or the expression to be sought in the everyday life. Let us now examine somewhat more completely the particular phases of subject matter which should be used to attain these ends—To what sources shall we go for the material for the religious instruction of our children? What subject matter shall we put into the curriculum of religious education? This is a question of supreme importance to the individual, to the church, and to civilization.

SOURCES OF MATERIAL

First of all we must realize that the sources of religious material are almost infinitely broad and rich. They are much broader than the Bible. I would not be misunderstood on this point. I conceive the Bible as the matchless textbook of religion, the great repository of spiritual wisdom through the ages. It is the primary source to which we must go for material for religious instruction, not just because it is the Bible, but because its truths are the surest guide ever formulated for spiritual development.

Yet human experience and human problems are broader than the Bible. New ages bring new conditions and new needs. Eternal truths may take on new forms to meet new problems. God inspired the writers of his Word, but he also inspires other writers, whose works are not included in the canon. He echoed in the voice of Isaiah and Jeremiah, but he also touches with the flame of eloquence other lips than those of the prophets. He spoke to the child Samuel, but he also speaks to-day to every heart that will hear his voice. He flamed from the burning bush for Moses, but in like manner he shines from every glowing sunset for those whose eyes can there behold his glory.

Breadth and richness of religious material.—The sources of material available for the religious education of childhood are therefore as broad as the multiform ways in which God speaks to men, and as rich as all the great experiences of men which have left their impress upon civilization. Besides the beautiful story of God creating the earth, we have the wonderful miracle of constant re-creation going on before our eyes in the succession of generations of all living things.

Besides the deathless accounts of the heroism of such men as Elijah, Daniel, and Paul, we have the immortal deeds of Livingstone, Taylor, and Luther. Besides the womanly courage and strength of Esther and Ruth, we have the matchless devotion of Florence Nightingale, Frances Willard, Alice Freeman Palmer, and Jane Addams. Besides the stirring poetry of the Bible, and its appealing stories, myths and parables, we have the marvelous treasure house of religious literary wealth found in the writings of Tennyson, Whittier, Bryant, Phillips Brooks, and many other writers.

Material to be drawn from many sources.—The material for religious teaching lying ready to our hand is measureless in amount, and must be wisely chosen. In addition to material from the Bible, which always must be the center and foundation of the religious curriculum, should be taken other material from nature; from biography, history, and life itself; from literature and story; from science and the great world of objects about us; from music, and from art. All of this multiform subject matter must be welded together with a common purpose, and so permeated with the religious motive and application that it will touch the child's spiritual thought and feeling at many points of his experience.

At no moment, however, must we forget that our primary purpose is not simply to teach the child stories, literature, history, or science, but religion. By the proper use of this broader field of material religion may be given a new and more practical significance, and the Bible itself take on a deeper meaning from finding its setting among realities closely related to the child's daily life.

MATERIAL FROM THE BIBLE

The very nature of the Bible requires that we make the most careful selections from it in choosing the material for religious instruction of children. Not all parts of the Bible are of equal value as educational material, and some parts of it have no place in the course of study before full mental development has been reached.

How we came by the Bible.—It will help us to understand and apply these principles if we remember how we came by the Bible. First of all is the fact that the Bible grew out of religion and the life of the church, and not religion and the church out of the Bible. The Bible is not one book, as many think of it, but a collection of sixty-six books, which happen to be bound together. In fact, all sixty-six of these books are now printed and bound separately by the American Bible Society, and sold at a penny each. These sixty-six books were centuries in the making, and they came from widely separated regions. Different ones of them were originally written in different tongues—Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic.

The earlier Christians had, of course, only the scriptures of the Old Testament. It was nearly four hundred years after Christ had lived on earth before we had a list of the New Testament books such as our Bible now contains. In the middle of the second century only about half of the present New Testament was in use as a part of the Scriptures. Some of the books which we now include were at one time or another omitted by the Christian scholars, and several books were at one time accorded a place which are not now accepted as a part of the Bible. The authorship of a considerable number of the books of the Bible is unknown, and even the exact period to which they belong is uncertain.

The different writers wrote with different purposes—one was a historian; another a poet; another, as Paul, a theologian; another a preacher; another a teller of stories and myths, or a user of parables. Paul wrote his letters to local churches or to individuals, to answer immediate questions or meet definite conditions and needs. Jesus left no written word, so far as we know, and the first written accounts we have of his life and work were begun forty or fifty years after his death.

The problem of selecting Bible material adapted to children.—The Bible was therefore a slow growth. It did not take its form in accordance with any particular or definite plan. It never was meant as a connected, organized textbook, to be studied in the same serial and continuous order as other books. It was not written originally for children, but for adults to read.

Its enduring quality proves that the writers of the Bible lived close to the heart and thought of God, and were therefore inspired of him. But we can grant this and still feel free to select from its lessons and truths the ones that are most directly fitted to meet the needs of our children as we train them in religion. We can love and prize the Bible for all that it means and has meant to the world, and yet treat it as a means and not an end in itself. We can believe in its truth and inspiration, and still leave out of the lessons we give our children the sections which contain little of interest or significance for the child's life, or matter which is beyond his grasp and understanding.

Material which may be omitted.—This point of view implies the omission, at least from the earlier part of the child's religious education, of much material from different parts of the Bible; these irrelevant sections or material not suited to the understanding of childhood may remain for adult study.

For example, we may leave out such matter as the following: The detailed account of the old Hebrew law as given in Leviticus; much of the Hebrew history which has no direct bearing on the understanding of their religion; details of the institution of the passover, and other ecclesiastical arrangements; the philosophy of the book of Job; genealogies which have no especial significance nor interest; the succession of judges and kings; dates and chronological sequences of no particular importance; any stories or matter clearly meant to be understood as allegory or myth, but which the child would misunderstand, or take as literal and so get a mistaken point of view which later would have to be corrected; the theology of Paul as set forth in his letters; matter which shows a lower state of morality than that on which we live; and such other matter as does not have some direct and discoverable relation to the religious knowledge, attitudes, and applications which should result from the study.

After all such material of doubtful value to the child has been omitted, there still remains an abundance of rich, inspiring, and helpful subject matter.

The principle on which to select material from the Bible is clear: Know what the child is ready for in his grasp and understanding; know what he needs to stimulate his religious imagination and feeling and further his moral and religious development. Then choose the material accordingly.

Bible material for earlier childhood.—For the period of earlier childhood (ages three or four to eight or nine) we shall need to omit all such material as deals with the broader and deeper theory of religion. This is not the time to teach the child the significance of the atonement, the mystery of regeneration, the power of faith, nor the doctrine of the Trinity. Those sections of the Bible which deal with such far-reaching concepts as these must wait for later age and fuller development.

The child is now ready to understand about God as the Creator of the earth and of man; he is ready to comprehend God as Father and Friend, and Jesus as Brother and Helper; he is ready to learn lessons of obedience to God, and of being sorry when he has done wrong; he is therefore ready to understand forgiveness; he is ready to learn all lessons of kindliness, truthfulness, and honesty, and of courage; he is ready to learn to pray, and to thank God for his care and kindliness. The Bible material taught the child should therefore center upon these things. The simple, beautiful story of the creation; stories of God's love, provision, and protection and of Christ's care for children; incidents of heroic obedience and of God's punishment of disobedience; stories of forgiveness following wrongdoing and repentance; stories of courage and strength under temptation to do wrong; lessons upon prayer and praise and thanksgiving—this is the kind of material from the Bible which we should give our children of this younger age.

The greater part of the material for this stage of instruction will come from the Old Testament, and will make the child familiar with the childhood of Moses, Samuel, Joseph, David, and other such characters as possess an especial appeal to the child's sympathy and imagination. The New Testament must be drawn upon for the material bearing upon the birth and childhood of Jesus.

Material for later childhood.—In the period of later childhood (ages eight or nine to twelve or thirteen) the child is still unready for the more difficult and doctrinal parts of the Scriptures. Most of the impulses of earlier childhood still continue, even if in modified form. Types of Bible material adapted to the earlier years, therefore, still can be used to advantage.

A marked characteristic of this period, however, is the tendency to hero worship and to be influenced by the ideals found in those who are loved and admired. This is the time, therefore, to bring to the child the splendid example and inspiration of the great Bible characters. The life and work of Moses, the story of Joseph and his triumph over discouragements and difficulties, the stern integrity and courage of Elijah and the other prophets, the beautiful stories of Ruth, Esther, Miriam, and Rachel, but above all the story of Jesus—the account of these lives will minister to the child's impulse to hero worship and at the same time teach him some of the most valuable lessons in religion.

During later childhood, the sense of personal responsibility for conduct is developing, and the comprehension of the meaning of wrongdoing and sin. This is the time, therefore, to bring in lessons from the Bible showing the results of sin and disobedience to God, and the necessity for repentance and prayer for forgiveness. During this period also, while the social interests are not yet at their highest, the narrow selfishness of earlier childhood should be giving way to a more generous and social attitude, and a sense of responsibility for the welfare and happiness of others.

To meet the needs of the growing nature at this point many lessons should be provided containing suggestions and inspiration from high examples of self-forgetfulness, sacrifice, and service as found in the life of Jesus, Paul, and many others from the Old and the New Testament. The child's growing acquaintance with the world about him and his study of nature in the day schools prepare him for still further deepening his realization of God beneficently at work in the material universe. Abundant material may be found in the Bible to deepen and strengthen the learner's love and appreciation of the beautiful and good in the physical world.

Material for adolescence.—The adolescent period (ages twelve or thirteen to twenty or twenty-two) is the transition stage from childhood to maturity. The broader, deeper, and more permanent interests are now developing, and character is taking its permanent trend. Conduct, choice, and decision are becoming more personal and less dependent on others. A new sense of self is developing, and deeper recognition of individual responsibility is growing.