Chapter V: Part 5

#168. A Triumphant Life.#--Therefore, Paul was bound to the whipping-post _eight times_, and suffered shipwreck _four times_, while once he clung to wreckage for twenty-four hours before he could get to land. Yet in spite of all this he could exclaim, "Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Cor. 12:10). And in spite of all that he suffered he could also cry out: "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content" (Phil. 4:11). It seems to us that if the Apostle had been asked, "Where did you learn this truly wonderful lesson?" he might have replied, "The whipping-post was my academy, and mobs with clenched fists and paving-stones were my professors. Fastings and perils in the deep were my college, and my midnight vigils were kept in the inner prison. Weariness and pain were my text-books, and kings and rulers my lecturers. Chained soldiers were my room-mates, a thorn in the flesh was my monitor, and Christ the crucified was Head-master."

#169.# All agree that at last Paul suffered martyrdom in Rome, by being beheaded. So ended the life of the most useful man of that day, and the great leader in work among the Gentiles.

Test Questions

Where was Saul born?

What distinguished Tarsus at that day?

What trade did Saul learn, and how was it useful to him in after-life?

When does he first come before us as a historical character?

What kind of a life did he live after the martyrdom of Stephen?

Give an account of his conversion.

Where did he go from Damascus at once on his conversion?

Give the outline of his first missionary journey.

What remarkable experience did he have at Lystra?

Give the tour of his second missionary journey.

What was the principal city in which he wrought on his third journey?

Give an account of his sufferings as given in his letter to the Corinthians compared with Luke's narrative.

Where did Paul suffer martyrdom, and in what way?

Test Questions for Review

Lessons 6 to 9

1. What were the charges in the ecclesiastical trial of Jesus?

2. What in the political trial?

3. Name the persons who were present at the crucifixion.

4. Give the six truths concerning the resurrection.

5. Mention in their order the various appearances of Jesus to his disciples.

6. What other appearances may be added to these?

7. Describe the Ascension.

8. What are the six pivotal events recorded in Acts?

9. What fact in Saul's conversion is of the utmost importance?

10. What victory did Paul and Silas gain in prison?

11. Give the outline of Paul's first missionary journey.

12. Of his second.

13. Where did Paul suffer martyrdom and how?

How the Bible Came to Us

BY IRA MAURICE PRICE, PH. D.

Professor of the Semitic Languages and Literatures in the
University of Chicago.

#1.# The English Bible is the Bible of the English-speaking world. It is used in several editions or translations. The most prominent of these are the Authorized, or King James Version (of 1611), and the Revised Version (of 1881-5), and the American Standard Revision (of 1901). The recent revisions are supplied with marginal references and notes, both to parallel and to explanatory texts. In addition to these citations we find frequent references to the Heb(rew), Sept(uagint), Vulg(ate), and Syr(iac) readings. That is to say, the translators of the English Bible refer the reader to some variant reading in one of the great Bibles of the ancient world, for some valuable explanation of, or variant from, the reading found on the page of the Bible being read. In other words, we see by the margins of our English Bible, that there are many old Bibles in different languages which scholars must study if they give us the best that can be produced.

#2.# Every one who can read the Bible in English must recognize the fact that our Bible is only a translation from the language in which the books of both Testaments were originally written. The original language of the Old Testament is Hebrew with a few sections appearing in the Aramaic tongue; and the New Testament is Greek. Any translator who wishes to give us an English Bible that will be closest to the meaning intended by the original writers, must translate out of those two languages. If any of us has ever attempted to translate a language, he knows how difficult it is to transfer the exact thought of one tongue into another.

#3.# The Hebrew language of the Old Testament is full of picture-thoughts. It is simple in construction, and has a very small number of words in actual use. It was the language of the Hebrew peoples during the time of their national existence, but degenerated into Aramaic some time after their return from the exile. The tremendous expressive power of the language is seen in the great sermons of the prophets, especially Isaiah, and in the poetry of Job and the Psalms.

#4.# The founding and the growth of Alexandria under Greek influence led to an epoch in the history of the Bible. Facilities for trade and other reasons made this city attractive to the Jews. Greek, however, was the prevailing language of the community. Early in the third century B. C. the proportion of Greek-speaking Jews became so large that there was a call for their Scriptures in their adopted tongue. To supply this religious need of the Jews, the Hebrew Bible was translated (about 280-130 B. C.) into the Greek language. This Greek Bible contained all the books of the Hebrew Bible, and several other small books now called "the Apocrypha."

#5.# This Greek Bible, now called the Septuagint ("Seventy"), so named because it was thought to have been translated from the Hebrew by "seventy" men, became the Bible of the Old Testament for the Greek-speaking world. In the time of our Lord it was largely used by the New Testament writers. It was quoted by them, and especially by Paul, almost everywhere. It was the Bible of the early Christian church until the conquest of Rome and the Latin tongue required a translation into Latin. These early Latin translations of the Old Testament were all made from the Septuagint. There were also some scholars in the church who, not being satisfied with the translation of the Septuagint, made translations of their own. These were of some value to scholars, such as that most famous of all Biblical students, Origen (186-254 A. D.) who were trying to construct the best Greek text of the Bible.

#6.# The many and differing Latin translations that were current in the second, third, and fourth centuries led Jerome, a fully equipped and competent scholar, to translate the whole Bible from the original languages into good idiomatic Latin (384-405). His translation differed so much from those versions in general use that it was sharply and bitterly criticized by the less scholarly and more hostile enemies of progress. But the faithfulness of his translation to the original text commended it to the most thoughtful men of the Christian church, and before many centuries it became the Bible of the Latin-speaking and Latin-using world. That was the Bible adopted by the Council of Trent, April 8, 1546, as the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church. With the exception of the Psalms, which is simply a revision of an old Latin Psalter, and the apocryphal books included in the collection, this is Jerome's translation, made 384-405, which was so drastically condemned when it first appeared.

#7.# In northern Syria there was a body of Christians who used the Syrian language. Somewhere in the second century they made, or had made for them, a translation of the Bible to aid them in their Christian growth. The translation from Hebrew Old Testament into Syriac was a translation from one sister tongue into another, and was thus quite freely rendered. If one should to-day translate from Dutch into German, he would feel free to vary from the literal if thereby he thought he could help bring out the meaning of the original language. This Syriac translation, while a beautiful piece of work, was most too freely done to be of much value to scholars who are to-day trying to find out what the text could have been from which it was made. There are none of the Latin Bible apocryphal books in the Syriac version.

#8.# These facts show us that the early Christian church in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, and Europe used the Bible mainly in three versions, viz.: Septuagint Greek, Latin Vulgate, and the Syriac--all valuable, prominent texts. Of Greek texts there were several translations current among different branches of the early church.

#9.# When the peoples on the outskirts of civilization became Christianized they also were provided with the Scriptures, translated into their tongues from one of the three or four great versions of that day. Thus we have the Bible in Arabic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Gothic, Slavonic and a lot of other border languages.

#10.# The Bible was introduced into England very early in the Christian centuries, and it was one of the Latin versions current in the Western world. This was succeeded by the Vulgate Latin. Preachers and teachers were obliged to interpret this in the language of the native peoples. Some fragments of these interpretations, paraphrases, and translations remain to the present day, preserved in the Anglo-Saxon or early English tongue. In the fourteenth century, Wycliffe (1320-1384) gave us the first English Bible, translated, not from the original Hebrew and Greek, but from the Latin Vulgate,--a translation of a translation. This was received with slight favor by the churchmen of that day.

#11.# Not until the sixteenth century do we have an English Bible translated out of the original languages of the Bible. After great opposition and severe trial Tyndale succeeded in printing in Germany and distributing in England an English New Testament translated from the Greek. But his books were confiscated, and burned in London by the church officials. Remaining on the continent and prosecuting his translation of the Old Testament he was finally kidnapped, imprisoned, strangled, and burned at the stake October 6, 1536--all because he translated the Bible into English so that the common people could read it. Within one year after his martyrdom his translation was published under another name by royal authority, the authority of Henry VIII. For several years English Bibles flowed from the presses of England and the continent in several editions, most prominent of which were "Matthew's," Coverdale's, and the Great Bible. A revulsion against Protestantism cut off Cromwell's head and gave Bible-popularity a setback. Edward VI (1547-3) espoused the cause of the Protestants, while Mary Tudor (1553-8) burned at the stake many of the best men of the times, such as Ridley, Latimer, and John Rogers. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603) Bible translation and publication, both Protestant and Catholic, made rapid progress. There were published the Geneva version (1560), the Bishops' Bible (1568), and the Rheims New Testament (Roman Catholic, 1582). Of all these the Geneva Bible became the most popular.

#12.# Early in the reign of James I (1603-25) a movement was set on foot to provide a new and better English translation of the Bible. Most of the eminent Biblical scholars of England set to work and produced in 1611 the Authorized Version of the Bible; it is a model of good English and a very faithful translation of the original texts known at that time.

#13.# Between 1611, the date of appearance of the Authorized Version, and 1870, the date of the beginning of a revision, a period of more than 250 years, scholars found a large number of very valuable manuscripts of the Bible, older and nearer the lost originals than any hitherto known. The English language, too, in that space of time, had changed in some important particulars. During this same period, several private attempts were made to give us a new and better translation than the Authorized Version. Several works were produced on the added new material of the new manuscripts now known to scholars. In fact, there was agitation toward a new translation on the grounds of the better Hebrew and Greek texts now at hand, of the more thorough and comprehensive scholarship available, and of the obsolete language of the Authorized Version.

#14.# In 1870 steps were taken toward revision, and before many years both a British and American Revision Committee, made up of many of the leading British and American Biblical scholars, were at work. After ten years of most conscientious and careful effort the Revised Version of the New Testament appeared in 1881, and four years later, in 1885, the Old Testament appeared--thus completing a translation on the basis of the best manuscripts now known to the scholarly world.

#15.# The American Revision Committee, not as conservative as the British in the retention of old terms, words and phrases, carefully revised the Revised Version and issued in 1901 The American Standard Revised Version--the best edition of the Bible in the English language.

Test Questions

1. What are the three most prominent of the editions of the Bible in English?

2. What are the two original languages of the Old Testament? The original language of the New Testament?

3. What is a special characteristic of the Hebrew language?

4. What is meant by the Septuagint?

5. Who was the great translator of the Bible into Latin? By what church was it officially adopted?

6. Into what language akin to Hebrew was the Bible translated, and through the agency of what people?

7. What versions were mainly in use in the early Christian church?

8. Who gave us the first English Bible, and when?

9. Who first translated the Bible into English from the original Bible languages?

10. Tell the story of Tyndale's version.

11. What other editions were prominent at about that time?

12. What gave Bible popularity a setback?

13. What Bibles were published during the reign of Queen Elizabeth?

14. In whose reign and by whom was the Authorized Version produced?

15. Why was a revision deemed necessary?

16. In what year did the Revised Version of the New Testament appear? The Old Testament revision?

17. What body of men prepared the Revision?

18. Who prepared the American Standard Revised Version, and in general how does it differ from the Revised Version?

The Gist of the Books

The Old Testament--The Pentateuch

#Genesis#

The book of beginnings--the creation; the fall of man; the
beginnings of the chosen people.

#Exodus#

The story of the _going out_ of the chosen people from Egypt
to Canaan, with an account of God's dealings with his people
in guiding them into national life.

#Leviticus#

Laws and ceremonies of the tabernacle for the priestly tribe
of Levi, as a guide in their service.

#Numbers#

The book of the numbering of the people on two occasions--(1)
At Sinai, in the second year of the wanderings; (2) On the
Jordan, in the fortieth year. Containing the story of the
wanderings, from Sinai to the countries east of the Jordan.

#Deuteronomy#

The repetition of the Law, to the people who had been born in
the wilderness, as applied to the coming life in Canaan;
appointment of Joshua to succeed Moses; the account of the
death of Moses.

Historical Books

#Joshua#

The story of the Conquest of Canaan; distribution of the
land; locating tabernacle at Shiloh; and death of Joshua.

#Judges#

The story of Israel's political and religious decline after
Joshua's death. "There was no king in Israel; every man did
that which was right in his own eyes." A history of the
Judges from death of Joshua.

#Ruth#

The link connecting the period of the Judges with the
Monarchy, giving David's genealogy, and furnishing many
instances of faith, and of the bringing of good out of evil.

#1 and 2 Samuel#

A continuation of the history of the Judges, telling of Eli
and Samuel, and the story of Saul's anointing and reign, and
the rise and reign of David.

#1 and 2 Kings#

The history of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah from the
death of David to the captivity. The story of the conflict
between Jehovah and Baal. The life-stories of Elijah and
Elisha.

#1 and 2 Chronicles#

Giving matter supplementary to the preceding books; the
temple ritual under David and Solomon; restoration of church
and nation after captivity.

#Ezra#

The return of the captives under Zerubbabel; the rebuilding
of the temple; the second return of captives in time of
Artaxerxes Longimanus and Ezra's reformation of the people.

#Nehemiah#

The rebuilding of the city walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah;
reforms, civil and religious; restoration of Temple services;
re-enacting of Mosaic law.

#Esther#

An episode in the history of the Israelites who remained in
captivity, showing the overruling power of Providence.

Poetical Books

#Job#

The story of Job's sufferings and patient endurance; the
wisdom and power of God in dealing with him; his closing days
of peace and prosperity.

#Psalms#

A compilation of songs of praise and devotion, used
especially in the public worship of Jehovah.

#Proverbs#

A manual of practical rules of life setting wisdom over
against folly--principally the work of Solomon.

#Ecclesiastes#

The story of a search for happiness in the things of the
world, concluding with the emptiness of everything but the
doing of God's will.

#Song of Solomon#

There are three principal views concerning the Song of
Solomon or Song of Songs: (1) As a spiritual allegory,
teaching God's love for Israel; (2) As an allegory with
Christ as the Lover and his church as the beloved; (3) As the
story of Solomon's love for the Shulamite.

The Prophetical Books

_The Major Prophets_

#Isaiah#

Prophecies against Jerusalem; a forecast of Messianic days;
the relation of the Jewish nation to its enemies; the
disappearance of national distinctions, and the great future
of the church.

#Jeremiah#

Warnings to the Jews; a survey of all nations; a promise of
return from exile; prophecies regarding Egypt.

#Lamentations#

A pathetic ode, expressing Jeremiah's grief over the
destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, and the miseries of
slavery and famine.

#Ezekiel#

Prophecies before and after the destruction of Jerusalem,
exhorting to repentance; pronouncing God's judgment on the
surrounding nations; and visions of the final glory of God's
people in a new Jerusalem.

#Daniel#

The story of Daniel in Babylon, and particularly noteworthy
because of its Messianic predictions.

_The Minor Prophets_

#Hosea#

Points out the unfaithfulness of Israel; the necessity for
punishment; the final restoration of Israel.

#Joel#

A prophetical description of locusts, drought, and invasion,
with exhortation to fasting, prayer, and repentance; a
promise of blessing; a warning of the destruction of
Jerusalem; a foretelling of the founding of Messiah's
Kingdom.

#Amos#

Denounces sins of nations around Israel and Judah; describes
the state of the two kingdoms, and pictures the coming of the
Messiah and restoration of the people.

#Obadiah#

Predicts annihilation of Edom, and contrasts it with the
future restoration of Israel, who are to possess Edom and
Philistia, and enjoy the promises of the Messiah.

#Jonah#

The story of Jonah's mission to the Ninevites, his
wilfulness, and God's love for the nations.

#Micah#

Depicts the fall of Israel and Judah; the better things to
come; foretells invasions of Sennacherib and Shalmaneser, the
dispersion of Israel, destruction of Jerusalem and Assyria,
and the birthplace and kingdom of Christ.

#Nahum#

A _consoler_ from Jehovah, foretelling the downfall of
Assyria, and repeating Jonah's denunciations of Assyria.

#Habakkuk#

Foretells destruction of the Chaldeans; utters song of praise
for the power and mercy of Jehovah, with confidence in his
mercy on his people.

#Zephaniah#

Prophetic warnings against Judah, and the Baal and Moloch
worship, ending with reproofs to Jerusalem, and promise of
final restoration.

#Haggai#

An arousement of the people to support Zerubbabel and Joshua
(the high priest) in building the Temple.

#Zechariah#

Encourages the Jews to push on in building the Temple;
foreshadows national history and the coming of the Messiah.

#Malachi#

Reproves the profanation of the priests in the New Temple,
and foretells the appearance of the Messiah to purify the
Temple.

The New Testament--Historical Books

#Matthew#

The nature of the Kingdom of Heaven; the miracles to
illustrate Jesus' teachings; the opposition of Pharisees;
Jesus as the kingly Messiah.

#Mark#

Emphasizes the deeds of Christ, the mighty Saviour.

#Luke#

Sets forth the redemptive character of Christ.

#John#

Emphasizes the deity of Christ.

#Acts#

The history of the founding and extending of the Christian
Church--under Peter and Paul.

The Epistles--Pauline

#Romans#

The summary of God's dealings with mankind, from first
adoption to sonship, showing sinfulness of human race; the
way of salvation; the Christian's duty and privileges; the
development of truth; personal messages.

#1 and 2 Corinthians#

(1) The church as it was at that time; reproof of the
factional spirit; intercourse with heathen; words about the
Lord's supper; resurrection of the dead. (2) The model
pastor; thankfulness for the removal of evils against which
Paul had written in the first letter; indignation at the
arrogance of his opponents.

#Galatians#

The "magna charta of Christian liberty." Contains details of
Paul's life. Salvation impossible through works of the law.
Brief outline of plan of salvation as given in Romans. Its
argument makes Christianity not a Jewish sect but a world
religion.

#Ephesians#

On the Ideal Church. Written to strengthen those who had left
heathenism, contrasting their present higher life with the
former degradation.

#Philippians#

On the Ideal Christian. Written during Paul's first
imprisonment in Rome--a letter of grateful affection, of joy
over the Philippian Christians, and comment upon his
imprisonment and prospects.

#Colossians#

On the Ideal Saviour. The supremacy of Christ as the source
of all spiritual blessings; the stimulus of Paul's own
example in pressing on to the truth; a warning against false
teachings; the effect of sharing in Christ's resurrection.

#1 and 2 Thessalonians#

(1) Gratitude for their acceptance of the Gospel; the glories
of resurrection and of the transformed body; (2) To correct
an impression that the resurrection was near at hand;
exhortations to perseverance, and appeals for the prayers of
the Thessalonians.

#1 and 2 Timothy#

To counteract the Judaizing influence at work against Paul's
views of Christianity, and to encourage Timothy in his
duties, with directions as to public worship, and friendly
counsel to Timothy.

#Titus#

Advice as to the course to pursue in helping the church in
Crete to overcome degenerate state; church organization,
qualification of elders, suppression of false teachers;
personal words to Titus; the importance of good works.

#Philemon#

A letter of reconciliation on behalf of Philemon's converted
slave Onesimus, by whom the letter was taken to Philemon.

#Hebrews#

Showing the superiority of the Christian over the Jewish
dispensation, because its Author is superior to Moses;
because the Old Covenant was incomplete; and warnings against
relapses into Judaism.

The Epistles--General

#James#

An Epistle of Faith. Addressed to Jewish Christians, on
sincerity and patience; against hypocrisy, self-deceit,
adulation of the rich, and contempt of the poor; on ruling
the tongue; on false charity; and warning against trying to
serve God and Mammon.

#1 Peter#

The first of two Epistles of Hope. As to earthly trials; a
holy life; duty as citizens, slaves, husbands, wives; pastors
and their duties.

#2 Peter#

Perseverance in faith and good works; punishment of the
impenitent; certainty of the Second Advent.

#1 John#

The first of three Epistles of Love. A doctrinal discourse,
especially to Gentiles in Asia Minor, aiming to show the true
doctrine as to the Person of Christ, and communion with him
as necessary to a holy life, and intended to confirm them in
their faith.

#2 John#

"To the elect lady" (of whom nothing certain is known) and
her children--an exhortation to love, faith, godliness, and a
warning against false teachers.

#3 John#

To Gaius, of whom nothing certain is known, commending him
for hospitality and piety, warning him against Diotrephes,
and asking his help for Demetrius.

#Jude#

Remarkable for an otherwise unrecorded saying of Enoch (v.
14). Warns against false teachers. Cites examples of
impenitence, and affirms certainty of judgment and punishment
of the wicked.

Prophetical

#Revelation#

The only prophetical book of the New Testament. The visions
of John the Apostle on the Isle of Patmos, in his old age.

THE PUPIL

ANTOINETTE ABERNETHY LAMOREAUX

LESSON PAGE
1. Knowing the Pupil 139
2. The Beginners Age--Three to Six 143
3. Beginners Age (concluded) 147
4. The Primary Age--Six to Nine 151
5. Junior Age--Nine to Twelve 155
6. Junior Age (concluded) 159
7. The Intermediate Age--Twelve to Sixteen 163
8. The Intermediate Age (concluded) 167
9. The Senior Age--Sixteen to Maturity 171
10. Maturity 175

Teaching Hints

Leaders of classes, and individuals pursuing these studies
apart from classes, are urged to read the chapter entitled
"Teaching Hints," on page 259, before beginning this
section

Lesson 1

Knowing the Pupil

#1.# There never was a time when so many people were students of human life as to-day. Professional men, business men, politicians, educators, parents, indeed the whole thinking world has apparently matriculated in a college of life. What is it, how does it develop, how may it be influenced, how led to action? These are typical questions to which answers are sought. There would be no value in this study were it not for the fact that life, like all other of God's creations, is under law, and the laws are unchangeable and universal. Certain causes will always produce certain results under normal conditions.

#2.# Since these laws of life may be known, two conclusions follow: first, results which are desired in a life can be intelligently planned for; second, haphazard, ignorant work with a life becomes culpable in proportion to the issues at stake and the opportunity for acquiring skill in the work.

#3. Why the Sunday-school Teacher should know the Pupil.#--Next to fathers and mothers, the duty of understanding life is laid most imperatively upon Sunday-school teachers. Four unanswerable arguments present themselves as proof.

(1) _The issues are the most vital in the world._ The case the lawyer seeks to win is important, but the case the teacher seeks to win involves character, not reputation, and the outcome is eternal.

(2) _A mistake with a life cannot be wholly rectified._ There is a best time for each phase of work with a life--a time to form habits and store memory, a time to shape ideals and to crystallize life purposes, a time to broaden sympathies and to lead to service; if this best time be passed, the results, if obtainable at all later, come with greater effort and with less success.

(3) _The time is short._ Measured on the dial, an hour in a week or a lifetime out of an eternity is too brief to allow of one wasted moment, one experimental or ignorant touch upon a soul. But measured by the duration of a given opportunity the time is shorter still. Conditions in the life are constantly changing, never to return in the same way again. What is done in "buying up the opportunity," must be done quickly.

(4) _Success is largely conditioned upon obedience to God's laws._ Only the Holy Spirit can make spiritual work effective, but he always operates in accordance with God's laws. There are conditions between the teacher and God which must be met before he can work, and conditions between the teacher and the pupil. These conditions or laws are not hidden and mysterious, but may be definitely known, and in proportion as they are obeyed will God have access to the soul of the pupil.

#4. What the Teacher Should Know about the Pupil.#--Every teacher owes to God and to the life he seeks to touch a twofold knowledge: first, a knowledge of the general laws in all life, and second, a knowledge of the individual life of each pupil.

(1) _General knowledge._ Since the purpose of this study of the pupil is to afford a general knowledge of life, four preliminary statements will suffice in this connection.

(a) Life is constantly changing. This change is evident in
growth or increase in size and development or increase in
power. It occurs not only in the body but the soul as well,
or that part of life which is not physical, and is a result
of nourishing food and proper exercise. The Sunday-school has
recognized this fact of change by its division of the life of
the pupil into six periods, Beginners, Primary, Junior,
Intermediate, Senior, and Adult. These periods mark different
stages in development.

(b) Each period has certain predominant characteristics and
out of these characteristics arise definite opportunities and
needs. To meet these opportunities and needs is the goal of
work for each period. The final goal of developed Christian
character can be attained only through reaching the goal of
each period.

(c) Development is gradual, constant and progressive. The
soul comes into the world containing infinite but undeveloped
possibilities. The unfolding is gradual and constant as the
possibilities are called out by the needs of the life. There
is also an order in unfolding. The soul develops power for
simple mental processes first and for the complex later:
interest in self first and in others later; consciousness of
the natural first, the spiritual later. The teacher who knows
God's order, obeys his laws and waits his time is the teacher
whose seed sowing is reaped in the hundredfold harvest.

(d) It is impossible to ignore the physical and mental side
of the pupil and be successful in spiritual work with him.
The lesson cannot reach the soul save by way of physical
senses and a physical brain and mental processes identical
with those necessary in apprehending a history lesson. The
Holy Spirit applies the truth to the life but he has only so
much to apply as has been received into the mind. Therefore
pure air and bodily comfort, acute senses and obedience to
the laws of the mind are as surely linked with spiritual work
as prayer.

(2) _Specific knowledge._ Though all lives possess the same general characteristics and are under the same general laws, no two lives are identical. Some unfold more rapidly than others, some have larger capacity and more latent possibilities than others and all are in differing circumstances. It is this variation that makes individuality, and the more perfect the adaptation of the teacher's work to the individual the greater the teacher's success.

Again, each life is immeasurably influenced by its environment. No teacher can understand a pupil without knowing what has entered into his life. "I am a part of all that I have met." The home and the daily surroundings are the explanation of what the pupil is and an index to what he needs. This specific knowledge can come only through close personal observation and sympathetic intimacy with the pupil. In this intimacy is revealed the pathway to the heart, as it winds through ambitions and interests and love. Unless the teacher find this path to the tender, responsive place whose gateway each soul keeps for itself, the seed must fall on the stony ground where germination is impossible.

Test Questions

1. Since laws of life are known, what two conclusions follow?

2. Give four reasons why the Sunday-school teacher should know the pupil.

3. What twofold knowledge about the pupil should the teacher have?

4. How has the Sunday-school recognized the changing life of the pupil?

5. Give three characteristics of development.

6. How may specific knowledge of the pupil be gained by the teacher?

Lesson 2

The Beginners Age, Three to Six

#5. General Characteristics#

(1) _Absorption._ The Beginners period, together with the Primary, Junior, and Intermediate periods, is pre-eminently the absorptive time of life. As the possibilities of the soul begin to awaken, curiosity, imitation, imagination, feeling and all the manifold expressions of its power, they require food and exercise just as the body requires them to develop strength. Hence these years of most rapid development are the years of greatest hunger, physical and mental, of greatest capacity to receive and assimilate, and of greatest activity.

(2) _Rounded development._ These periods are also the years of rounded development. Every part of the body is growing and every power of the soul. While development is not perfectly symmetrical and balanced, as for example, feeling developing strength before reason, imagination before self-control, it is nevertheless all-sided and requires in consequence nourishment and activity in every part.

Conditions change as maturity approaches and development becomes more and more narrowed to a special line. The muscles of the blacksmith's arm increase in strength, the fingers of the violinist grow more flexible, the imagination of the poet more beautiful, the analytic power of the lawyer more keen, until physical and mental power begin to break; but, outside of the specialty, growth and development practically cease because of the cessation of nourishment and activity on other sides.

#6. Special Characteristics#

(1) _Restlessness_. This is the most restless period of all the Sunday-school life. A surplus of activity is generated in the body, and it must be expended if the child is to be in a healthy condition, as well as in a normal, happy mental state.

But the outgo of this activity should do more than merely reduce pressure, as the escape of steam from a safety valve. It is a law of life that we both understand and retain most thoroughly the thing we do. This abounding activity is God's great provision for enabling the child to make his own that which he is receiving through his senses. It is handling and eating the apple that makes him understand what it is. It is playing that he is the father or the Sunday-school teacher, performing the act of helpfulness and love that enables him to enter into the meaning of these relations and duties of life.

The problem of the Sunday-school teacher then is not "How can I keep the child still," but "How can I make this activity teach the child;" for, re-emphasizing the thought, "The child understands and remembers the action far better than the admonition."

(2) _Imitation._ The activity of this period is distinctly imitative. Just as the child must learn to form letters by copying them before he can develop an individual style of writing, so he must learn right action by imitating it before he can be independent and original. Every time a child imitates an action he understands its meaning better, he fixes it more securely in memory and he also makes its repetition so much the easier.

It is important, therefore, to note what he naturally imitates. In this period it is some definite act, not the spirit nor life of the actor. He does not aspire to resemble the character of the teacher, but he does try to speak and move and look as she does. As the action is performed, the life unconsciously but surely becomes like the one who is imitated.

(3) _Curiosity._ Because the child has everything to learn God has made him want to learn everything. As physical hunger arouses an effort to supply the need for physical food, so mental hunger or curiosity arouses an effort to supply mental food. It is most active in the period of greatest absorption, when the life must store for future use. There are two points in relation to curiosity which it is important for the Sunday-school teacher to remember.

(a) Its field of operation, or that toward which it is
directed. Curiosity is selective, going out only toward those
things in which the life is interested. In this period the
child's interests are in activities in Nature and everyday
life and in the things about him; but he desires to know
only the simplest facts concerning them. What the object is,
where it came from, and what it will do, usually satisfy his
curiosity regarding it. The teacher, therefore, is guided in
the selection of what shall be given the child in a lesson.

(b) Its channels of operation or that through which it acts.
The channels through which curiosity reaches out for
knowledge and brings back the results of its search are the
senses. Every waking moment finds them taking in sensations
which are carried to the brain through the nervous system.
The more perfect the senses in their working the more correct
the message they bring. Failure to learn and inattention are
usually caused by some defect in the senses or other part of
the body.

While an adult can arrive at new ideas through other ideas,
the child must receive practically all his ideas through his
senses. This guides the teacher as to the method of
presenting the lesson.

(4) _Fancy._ This is the early form of imagination, unleashed and untrammeled, which transforms objects, gives soul to inanimate things and creates for the child his own beautiful play world.

(5) _Self-interest._ The beginner himself is the center of his little world. His thinking and his feeling revolve around his own personality, and his own advantage is the thing he constantly seeks. This is God's order of development. The consideration for others will follow later, but even now the child may be led into loving, unselfish acts through imitation and personal influence.

(6) _Faith._ Perhaps the better term in the beginning would be credulity, for faith is confidence which has a basis in knowledge, and knowledge does not necessarily enter into a child's belief. Anything an older person tells him is accepted unquestioningly, no matter of what sort it may be.

This means a great responsibility and an unequaled opportunity in the matter of religious instruction. The stories of God's power and the love of Jesus Christ are absorbed into the life, neither proof nor explanation being necessary nor indeed comprehensible. As the stories multiply in the home and the Sunday-school that which was credulity at first becomes genuine faith. The child does not reason that God will do because he has done, but a feeling of the Divine strength and love grips him and out of this feeling grows loving confidence in the One who first loved him. If a child passes through the Beginners department without this response, his teacher has been out of touch with her Lord.

Test Questions

1. What are the age limits of the Beginners period?

2. What are the general characteristics of the Beginners Age?

3. What are some of the characteristics of these years of absorption?

4. What is meant by rounded development?

5. Name six special characteristics of the Beginners Age.

6. What is the purpose of a child's abounding activity?

7. What is gained by a child when he imitates an action?

8. What two points about a child's curiosity is it important for a teacher to know?

9. Who is the center of the little child's world?

10. By what means is true faith developed in a child?

Lesson 3

Beginners Age (Concluded)

#7. Opportunities of the Beginners Age.#--(1) _Shaping character through influence._ There are two ways of touching a life--the one through definite instruction, which must be understood to avail anything; the other through unconscious influence which is felt, not necessarily comprehended. The mind of the beginner is awake and active, but he can grasp little instruction beyond simplest facts about concrete things. Right and wrong, unselfishness, love, all the abstract standards and principles of life, he cannot comprehend intellectually, but he absorbs the influences that go out from them, and what is felt is always more powerful than that which lodges only in the head. During the first six years of life the child is peculiarly sensitive to every influence that comes to him out of his environment, and these,--not instruction,--determine what he shall be. No amount of teaching upon the subject of flowers and birds and trees can arouse the joy and gratitude which a drive through the country on a glorious spring morning awakens. No number of lessons upon self-control will make the impression upon the heart which the sight of it in another makes. The child cannot understand the nature and necessity of reverence, but he will feel it, if that be the influence of the Sunday-school hour.

(2) _Shaping character through imitation._ The actions in this period which result from instruction are few compared to those which come from the instinct of imitation; therefore what the teacher is unable to do through precept she can accomplish through the power of example and story.

(3) _Imparting simple spiritual truths._ These must be truths with whose earthly likenesses the child is familiar. This will make possible stories of God's power as Creator, his love and care as Heavenly Father, stories of Jesus as the loving Friend and Helper of little children, and the necessity of obedience to his commands.

#8. Needs of the Beginners Age.#--If the opportunities of this period are to be realized, four things are necessary:

(1) _A Christlike teacher._ While influences go out from everything,--people, circumstances, conditions, even inanimate, senseless things,--a human life radiates the strongest influence. It has a twofold effect upon a little child: he not only feels the influence, but it also moves him to imitate the person. He may forget the lesson, he may not have comprehended it at all, but he has absorbed the teacher during the hour and he will try to reproduce what she has said and done even to her very tone, expression, and manner. If his model be a gentle voice or a loving word, the very act of imitating it makes him gentler and more tender, and what exhortation may not secure, influence and imitation will bring. Therefore a teacher will do her strongest work with a beginner by being like Jesus Christ.

(2) _A suggestive atmosphere._ Atmosphere represents the sum total of all the influences at a given time. The soft music of the organ, the dim light, the stillness, the attitude of prayer, all create an atmosphere to which reverence and worship are the natural response. In confusion and bustle, with loud voice and impatient movement on the part of the teacher, there could be only restlessness and irreverence and inattention on the part of the child. The atmosphere must suggest to the pupil that which the teacher desires from him, be he beginner or adult, for feeling and action are more influenced by atmosphere than admonition. The greatest work for the hour will have been accomplished if the child shall feel that the Lord was in that place, though he knew it not, intellectually.

(3) _Right direction of activity._ The activity of the child may prevent his receiving any benefit from the instruction, or it may be the most effective means for fastening impressions. It is such a constant and prominent factor in the problem of the hour's work that the teacher must plan beforehand just how it shall be directed. In addition to opportunities for general movement, such as rising for songs, or marching, every thought given to the child should have some action immediately connected with it as far as possible, both to help him remember it and make it easier for succeeding actions to follow. For example if the lesson is upon helpfulness, each child should be led into doing something for his neighbor before he leaves. A prayer attitude should accompany prayer. As this is the rhythmic period, motions which the children themselves suggest may accompany the songs. The results of directing the activity into helpful channels will be found in better memory of the lesson and in the starting of right habits of action.

(4) _An imitable activity in the lesson._ In simplest facts set forth in a story of a person, not in exhortation, the lesson must make vivid and attractive an activity which the child can imitate. The more realistic the portrayal, the more surely will the child attempt to reproduce it.

#9. Difficulties in the Beginners Age.#--The difficulties of this period arise largely from the child's immaturity and are to be overcome by adaptation of methods and instruction.

(1) _Restlessness and lack of self-control, making sustained attention impossible._ A program consisting of brief exercises, varied in character, full of interest, and permitting frequent movement, will meet this condition.

(2) _Limited experience and scanty store of ideas._ This necessitates careful selection of teaching material, that spiritual truth outside the child's comprehension be not forced upon him, since he can grasp only that which is like something that he knows.

(3) _A limited vocabulary._ This calls for watchful care in language, particularly lest a familiar word be used in a sense unfamiliar to the child.

(4) _A conflicting home atmosphere._ When the child absorbs influences that lack Jesus Christ during seven days in the week, only a teacher filled with Divine life and power can effect counter-conditions more powerful in the brief time of her contact.

#10. Results to be Expected in the Beginners Age.#--Summing up the results already suggested, the work in the Beginners department will make its impress upon the feelings of the child, primarily. He will have learned some truths about the Heavenly Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, and there is an intellectual value in these. But this value cannot compare with that of the love and trust which come unconsciously, yet really, into his soul, if the teacher has done her work with God.

Test Questions

1. In what two ways may life be touched?

2. Give illustrations of what is known as "unconscious influence."

3. What methods accomplish more than precepts with Beginners?

4. What spiritual truths can be taught in this period?

5. Name four needs of the Beginners Age.

6. What is meant by "atmosphere"? How utilized?

7. How may the child's activity be given the right direction?

8. Name four difficulties in the Beginners period.

9. How may restlessness be overcome?

10. What special care is needed in the teacher's choice of words?

11. What are some of the results to be expected in the Beginners Age?

Lesson 4

The Primary Age--Six to Nine

#11. General Characteristics of the Primary Age.#--The Beginner is easily traced in the Primary child, but more developed and stronger. Two general characteristics may be specially mentioned:

(1) _Broader interests._ Curiosity is increasingly active concerning things with which the senses come in contact, yet the child in the Primary period is able to reach beyond that which he can see or handle. He cares nothing for abstractions like missions, or patriotism, or temperance, but his interest is genuine in the people and actions back of the abstraction. It is a law of the soul that interest in a certain thing will extend to other things related to it. This makes it possible for the teacher to take the child far into the field of knowledge, provided the starting-point be something in which the child is naturally interested.

(2) _Greater mental power._ While the child does not reason as an adult, he enjoys thinking for himself. The Primary teacher who gives him predigested lessons, tells him everything in the picture, asks no questions, and does not lead him on to arrive at any conclusions for himself, not only fails to obtain results that are possible, but really retards the child's development. Personal effort must precede increase of strength in soul as well as body.

#12. Special Characteristics of the Primary Age.#

(1) _Physical activity._ In place of the restlessness of the preceding period, activity directed toward more definite ends appears. It is very important that the activity be expended rightly, since its use in every action strengthens some one of the rapidly forming habits.

(2) _Power of perception._ This is the ability of the mind to understand the sensations which senses and nerves send to the brain, or to interpret their meaning; as, for example, to know that the round yellow ball is an orange, or to recognize the different details in a picture. Perception grows constantly more quick and active as the child's store of knowledge increases. Two things must be remembered: (_a_) the teacher must be sure that the first idea of anything is the correct one, for it will be eradicated with difficulty, and upon it all future thinking in that line will be based; (_b_) since each sensation produces an idea embodying itself, and it is on these ideas that the soul is nourished, character must grow in quality like its food. "Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are."

(3) _Memory._ The mind has greater power to retain that which is given to it than in the preceding period, though it holds these facts disconnectedly rather than related into systematic knowledge, as they will be later. But this power of retention must not be abused through storing memory with a quantity of useless material. That which is impressed upon the plastic, non-resisting cells of the child's brain ought to have some immediate meaning and value for the life at a time when the intellectual and spiritual needs are so many.

(4) _Imagination._ This is the power of the mind to make living and real that which is not present to the senses. It is one of the most striking characteristics of the Primary period and one of the most important as well. The imagination works only with concrete things in childhood, making new objects out of the old, making the story and the mental picture as real as the tangible experience, making Jesus an actual present Helper and Friend. Later it will work with abstract ideas and ideals of life formed from the pictures it has cherished.

#13. Opportunities of the Primary Age.#

(1) _Character building through the mental picture._ Abstract ideas about which the mind reasons do not have power over the soul of the child. It is the vivid picture which imagination holds that arouses the feeling and impels the action. So great is the power of the picture that the teacher need not exhort and admonish concerning what ought to be done. She only need set forth the action in a story that appeals, and imagination will do the rest. While very many of these pictures come unconsciously to the child from his environment, it is the privilege of the teacher definitely and carefully to provide the highest type of mental picture through the well-selected story, in order to secure the finest action.

(2) _Increased knowledge of Bible facts._ The lesson may contain more than in the earlier period, because the child's interest in details has increased and he has greater power of attention. It is important to note, however, in what the increase may consist. It is not in the number of truths presented in the lesson, but in the number of details concerning the one truth for which the lesson stands. Since the mind has developed new power to hold the impressions which are made upon it, Scripture verses containing fundamental truths, like God's love and care, the duty of love toward him and others, and the necessity of obedience may be given, with explanation, for memorizing.

(3) _Service prompted through imitation and personal influence._ The activity should even now be tracing pathways in the brain that shall mean life habits of loving service for others. There is this difference, however, between service in childhood and later. The motives must now be supplied and strengthened by others; later the promptings will come from within.

#14. Needs of the Primary Age.#--In addition to the needs mentioned in the Beginners period, and which still obtain, there are two to be especially borne in mind.

(1) _The absolute necessity of knowing how to make spiritual truth live in story form._ The child can receive it in no other way, and there is therefore no substitute for a rightly prepared story given by a spiritually prepared teacher.

(2) _The necessity for the child to learn obedience in the use of his activity._ This is to be secured not by force, but because the one to whom it is to be rendered wins it through love and the power of personality.

#15. Difficulties in the Primary Age.#--There will still be difficulties in attention and in confining the instruction to that which the child can really grasp, but the greatest difficulty will center about the activity. Yet the whole problem will be solved with no harsh question of discipline if the child is kept constantly busy with that in which he is interested.

#16. Results to be Expected in the Primary Age.#--If the teacher has met her opportunity, there will be growing love to Jesus Christ, the beginning of service for him, and deep down in the soul of the child an increasing store of material out of which life ideals are to be fashioned in the days to come.

Test Questions

1. Name two general characteristics of the Primary Age. What years are included?

2. How are the child's broader interests shown?

3. What method of teaching can hinder the child's growing mental power?

4. Name four special characteristics of the Primary Age.

5. What is meant by power of perception? Illustrate it.

6. How may memory be abused?

7. What is imagination?

8. Name three opportunities of the Primary Age.

9. What does a well-defined mental picture lead to in the child's mind?

10. Why may a lesson contain more than in the Beginners period?

11. How does the source of motives toward service differ in childhood as compared with later life?

12. Name two needs of the Primary Age.

13. Name some of the difficulties.

14. What results may be expected?

Lesson 5

Junior Age--Nine to Twelve