The New Way shall be sure not to do. There was a time when the public school teacher felt that he should announce at the opening of his school a long list of rules telling children what they should not do, but experience soon taught that no number of rules could possibly cover all the difficulties that would arise in the school. For that reason this plan was long since abandoned, and to-day we put before the children no formal and extended list of "Thou shalt nots;" but instead, we appeal to the common element of justice and equity which is everywhere innate in the soul, and which the pupil is just as likely to know as the teacher. One teacher who thought he would avoid any possible wrong-doing on the part of his pupils noticed in a school-yard a wood-shed. Thereupon he announced to the children that they must not play on the roof of that wood-shed. It had not entered the minds of the children that that was a good place to play, but at the suggestion of the teacher they soon found out that that roof was the only spot on earth that would the Wrong Way Two Examples of afford adequate pleasure. Sometimes as many as seventeen were found upon it! A very well-disposed mother, but not wise, on leaving her home one day, said to the older children, Now be sure to put no beans in the baby's ears." The children had never thought of such a thing, but when she returned the baby's ears were well filled with beans! Over against this sort of thing, and in harmony with the example of Jesus, the better way is to tell the child plainly just what he should do. May I safely assume that, as a result of our ordinary method of teaching, we make the child more familiar with the evil to be avoided than with the good to be performed? Is this wise? Some negative teaching is undoubtedly necessary. It has a preventive value. But my notion is that the best teaching is that which gives to our boys and girls guidance in the things to be done. We no longer lay emphasis upon false syntax to teach correct English. We no longer make the misspelled word the most prominent one. We lay the burden of our effort upon securing correct forms of words and sentences. We should commend the good more than we condemn the evil. This builds usable ethical and religious concepts in the soul. The effect of this is significant. How often the Christian leaders denounce evil things with merciless energy! How seldom do they know how to give wise guidance in reforming the world! Let us pray for power to guide the world to the right things, to the Great Teacher, to the Father-soul. The Christ Way QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. For testing one's grasp of the subject, and for discussion in Teacher-Training Classes. What values attach to the quality of patience in teaching? Have you ever become angry with your pupils? What was the net result? Make a list of common objects that you can readily use to illustrate great religious truths. Did Nicodemus get information or inspiration from Jesus? Which is worth the more? What is the value of individual teaching? Of class teaching? How did Jesus change his method in teaching different persons? Point out just the difference between positive and negative guidance. In teaching, do you use don't or do most frequently? How did Jesus modify the form of moral and religious instruction? Is it wise to tell children everything they are not to do? A great reformer always has a positive remedy for evil. Measure Jesus by this standard. XXV SOME ASPECTS OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING I AM a believer in personal interviews. I think Personal a Sunday-school teacher should in some way plan to have a brief talk with each member of his class, at irregular intervals, as occasion opens the way. In these talks there should be no attempt to criticize or to scold or to find fault, but a very honest attempt, and a frank one, to point out to the child certain things which, in years that are to come, he will find to be of some use to him. I recall some such interviews as that between good men who were my teachers and myself, and the power of those interviews has rested upon me in all the years that have followed. It is a well-known fact that a child is more impressed in a personal interview than by any amount of class instruction. It is this personal concern for the child, this willingness to act as friend and adviser, this deep-seated concern which reveals itself in the personal quality of interest and help, that sobers the child's thought, steadies his conduct, and stimulates his regard for the things that are sweet and clean. and right. There is much warrant for this in the example of Jesus. How often he had personal interviews that are recorded in the Gospels, and how many more he probably did have that are not recorded! The burden of the whole world was upon him, and yet he had time to turn aside from the multitude and give to one soul personal help and comfort and guidance. How to Use In a preceding chapter I called attention to the fact that scholarship was not an end with Jesus. I wish now to say that this is no evidence that he himself was not a scholar. He was not only familiar with the law of his own people, but he knew the law of the Roman conquerors, and he knew the customs, habits, and modes of life of all the different peoples that thronged the great cosmopolitan city of Jerusalem. With his scholarship, therefore, he was able to command respect, but he did not obtrude this quality of his equipment as a teacher upon his hearers. It was simply used to answer those who came to him to confuse him, and to instruct those who came to him to be guided of him. This seems to me to be an ideal use of knowledge. When a teacher is more anxious to impress a pupil with what he knows than he is to incite his pupil to right living, when, in other words, the emphasis of his thought and effort is directed to himself in |