XI ON DIFFERENT KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE IF F I SAY that Ruth, a Moabite woman, the daughter-in-law of Naomi and Elimelech, the widow of Mahlon, was the support of her widowed mother-in-law, my knowledge is clear. I know Ruth, and not some other person in her stead. My facts are, so far as they go, correct. My statement is lucid. This is the simplest form of knowing with which the soul should concern itself. If, now, I wish to add to this clear knowledge, the second form of knowing, I must see Ruth in relation to other facts of knowledge. I must put my clear knowledge into its appropriate class. I must find Ruth as the support of Naomi, the faithful gleaner in the fields of Boaz, the wife of Boaz, the mother of Obed, and thus in the ancestry of the Christ of the world. I must see her steadfast, kindly considerate, devout, humble, and possessed with an almighty love for all that is best in the Distinct womanhood of Israel. Thus my knowledge of Ruth becomes not only clear, but also distinct. Ruth is seen in her relation to other persons and events in the sacred narrative. She is no longer an isolated element of knowledge. She forms part of the larger system of truth with which she has to do. Thus I indicate the kind of knowing the teacher should impart to his pupils. To do this well, the teacher's know!edge should rise above clearness and distinctness. It should become adequate, by which I mean seeing the thing in its elements, in its parts, in its analysis. Take again this illustration. To know Ruth adequately I must study her in her homeland, in her sorrow at the loss of her husband, in her firm resolve to follow Naomi, in her willingly assuming the rôle of gleaner-beggar under the law of Israel, in her glorious selfsurrender that she might care for an old and helpless woman, in her daily industry in the harvest field, in her subsequent discovery by Boaz, in her splendid exaltation, in her new home, in her piety, her perfectness, her motherhood. Thus by an analytic treatment of the theme I am made familiar with details of great value to me as I teach, and even if I do not attempt to lift my pupils to adequate knowledge, my own mastery of this form of knowledge is the best guarantee on the intellectual side that I am fitted to give to my pupils clear and distinct knowledge. This Adequate additional form of knowledge is analytic beyond the ability of the pupil below the Bible-class grade. But it is, in my mind, the absolute prerequisite of successful teaching. Master the subject in detail, if you would teach well. Then, too, you will find in this added increment of power the secret of control. It is relatively an easy task to control a class if the teacher's knowledge is at once so clear, so distinct, and so adequate as to challenge the respect and the admiration of the pupils. Never use notes in your teaching, either printed notes or written notes. Master all these aids before you go to the class. take up the lesson and develop it. mental elements clearly in mind, Face to face, Fix its funda and so teach. You will find that it is a travesty on teaching to ask printed questions from a lesson-leaf, and expect to secure prepared answers, and at the Teacher's same time secure the attention and interest of your pupils. They soon detect the insincerity of an incompetent teacher, and are likely to make for such a teacher the lesson hour a time of sore trial and useless effort. I wonder what our honest opinion is in respect to all this. Do you honestly feel just right before your class if you know you have slighted the preparation of the work? Can we truly commend our efforts to God for his blessing, when, forsooth, our efforts have been practically nothing? Here is a responsibility, an opportunity, an obligation to be met. We can ill afford to pass this by unnoted. Exhaustive There is only one other form of knowing,— knowing the thing in its causes. This is exhaustive knowledge, and belongs only to the expert. But it is an ideal worth keeping in mind, a goal worthy our efforts. It is a great thing to know some one fact of knowledge exhaustively, to be an authority upon it, to master it as others do not, and so stand in some authoritative relation to that thing. We all respect expert knowledge. It is the final guidance. To cite the opinions of others is well, but to create opinions for oneself -that is best. Jesus was supremely great as a teacher. He taught as one having authority. His knowledge was exhaustive. It touched the remotest causes. He left nothing to be said. Luke 4: 18-27 is a fine example of good teaching. Jesus read a Scripture that was well-known to his hearers. He read it from a familiar place, -the reading-place in the synagogue. He used a familiar scroll. He stood to read, as did every priest. He was known perhaps by all those who gathered that day to worship. Everything was familiar, save only one thing. He read the lesson with a new emphasis. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he hath anointed me, he hath sent me." It was this designation of himself as the fulfilment of the prophecy that stirred his hearers. There is always something unique, strong, original, in a great teacher. Be sure to find this element. Fasten upon it. Follow its guidance. Thus will you catch in your own spirit some of the power and majesty and dignity of great teaching. You will also note that the distinguishing quality of fine teaching is not in the fact that it is radically and wholly unlike other teaching. It is using the same data, but in Good Teaching versus Poor Teaching a way unknown to blundering and untrained teachers. I have seen thousands of teachers at work with tens of thousands of pupils. I have but rarely found wholly and absolutely worthless teaching. Almost as rarely have I found absolutely faultless teaching. Most of it contained at least some elements of worth. Much of it was really commendable. But I wish I could clearly characterize the stupendous gain to the pupil whose teacher is superbly equipped, over and above the worth to the pupil of that teacher whose work is only fairly good. It is a question largely of margins. The difference between the way we do our teaching and the way we might do it is not great measured in terms of effort on our part; it is great measured in results upon the souls of |