help and hope and healing, and says, in effect, let my record be my answer. They tell the story of Giotto, the Florentine artist, that one day Pope Boniface sent a messenger to Giotto informing him that the Pope wished some frescoes painted on the walls of St. Peter's, and that the different artists, including himself, were to submit samples of their work. Giotto seized a brush, dipped it into red paint, and with one sweep of his hand Giotto's Example drew a perfect circle on the canvas, and handed this to the mes The senger, saying, "Here is my drawing." messenger in amazement said, "Am I not to have anything more than this?" The artist replied, "That is enough and to spare." The Pope, pleased with this superb but simple expression of ability, immediately called on Giotto to perform the work. So it seems to me that when John's disciples came to Jesus, instead of sending testimonials and recommendations and declarations of what he was, Jesus, with the superb skill of a great teacher, sent back the disciples to John simply with the evidence of things done. But the incident is not closed. What of the multitude that heard and saw all this? Jesus turns to them, and with three questions of tremendous significance and power shows them that this John who Loyalty to a is now in prison was the power under God that drew them out of the city into the wilderness. And then, with a loyalty and a devotion that beggar all description, Jesus stood before the multitude and announced his allegiance to John. John is in prison; he is waiting the day of his death; he seems to be shorn of all his power; his influence seems to be gone, and but one act remains in the tragedy of his career; and yet Jesus stood up for him with a courage and a conviction that challenges the admiration of every honest spirit. What of this John who, by false process, is condemned to prison and to death? Verily, I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist;" and yet to this motley multitude Jesus is a messenger of hope and of help. Least of all those that step out of the kingdom of sin into the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. There is not in all literature an illustration of an interruption of a great teacher handled with such consummate skill as this. And in the night, when you sit alone pondering over the source of power, of strength, and of guidance in your work as a teacher, call up this splendid scene time and time again until something of its majesty and of its worth becomes the possession of your own spirit. QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. For testing one's grasp of the subject, and for discussion in Teacher-Training Classes. Why is a study of the teaching processes of Jesus of greater significance than a study of the teaching processes of Plato or Quintilian or Varro or Aristotle? What do you conceive to be the end of the education of a soul? Criticise the different ends set forth by the various authorities cited. Why must one have an end in view in order to teach well? Do you think Jesus ever attended school with other youths? If so, what sort of a pupil do you conceive him to have been? How much time did Jesus give to his preparation for teaching? How much are you willing to give? What are the entrance requirements to the school of Jesus? What importance attaches to the will as the soul power to be trained? What test did he impose upon himself as a teacher? Why is he called a great teacher rather than a great scholar? To live under the divine will is to live under restrictions. Is this true? XXIII EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES USED BY JESUS UPON 'PON the laws of the soul rest the laws of teaching. We are limited in our teaching. processes by the possibilities of development that God has set in each soul. To know these limits is the first problem. These limits we have considered. What guidance may we now formulate in harmony with the facts already set forth? When we have answered this question we ought to know both how and why we teach. mastery of educational law is not complete until it influences potentially our actual processes. The aim, then, is to help you to teach better than you now do, to teach more nearly as did Jesus. The Question The We can give only what we have. "Bring your health and your strength to the weak and sickly, and so you will be of use to them. Give them not your weakness, but your energy, so you will revive and lift them up. Life alone can rekindle life. What others claim from us is not our thirst and our hunger, but our bread and our The Answer gourd." Initial energy is always lessened by use. We never teach quite all we are capable of teaching. Our equipment must exceed our pupils' needs. There is an appreciable loss in its use. Be sure you know more about your lessons than your pupils can use. Better be over-stocked than under-stocked with materials and powers of instruction. In its last analysis, is it not true that power to teach is measurable only in quality of soul? It is not what we take on from others, but what we actually are as the result of our own activities, that best equips us to teach. Pay the price of power. Put yourself daily to the test. Keep some great problem constantly before you. We grow slowly but surely into the quality of soul we most steadfastly strive to secure. Challenge things. Interrogate things. Dean John Donne was accustomed to say, "Naturally I doubt and stick, and do not say quickly, good. I censure much and tax." There is nothing quite so hopeless as a puttyand-paste mind. To be passively receptive is to be useless. Hence I urge the constant exercise of your soul's powers upon important themes. Its growth is conditioned by its legitimate use. In John 4:31 the disciples say, "Master, eat." They were justified in saying this because the disciples had gone up into the city to buy meat. Jesus had remained at the well because he |