educational principles determine methods of teaching. Threefold A complete recognition of this threefold aspect of the problem of teacher-making is found in the teaching of Jesus. It is said that he taught in parables. That is, his method of teaching was in the form of the parable. The parable method of teaching rests upon the well-known educational law that we should proceed from the concrete to the abstract. He saw the kingdom of heaven in a mustard seed; in a man that is a householder; in a man which sowed good seed in his field; in leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal; in a treasure hid in a field; in a merchantman seeking goodly pearls; in a net which is cast into the sea; and so on through the series. In each case it is to be noted that he presents the concrete, the familiar, easily understood experiences of the every-day life of his hearers, and upon these he builds their understanding of the abstract and new knowledge of the kingdom. It is becoming increasingly clear to educational experts that no finer example of teaching is to be found anywhere than that exemplified by the Great Teacher, Jesus of Nazareth. We shall find in the method of others many valuable applications of educational law. We shall learn from the long array of educational reformers many broken fragments of good teaching. But the perfect ideal, the rounded model of all wise teaching, is found only in the activities of Jesus of Nazareth. Some Defects Our Sunday-school teaching is even now too frequently simply the interpretation of a lesson. It is, I fear, quite generally an attempt, successful or otherwise, to explain the meanings of terms; to locate, geographically and historically, the events of the lesson; to memorize some Golden Text; to strain to the limit the language of the Bible in an effort to find in each lesson some all-comprehensive guidance; and to bring about these results under conditions of instruction and of discipline that defeat whatever of virtue such a process might have. It is not the fault of the Sunday-school teachers that this has been possible, it is the result of our system. We have frequently given over to wholly untrained teachers the immature mind, the mind that is not able to reject or to accept, but is wholly without an experience against which to measure the quality of its instruction. To teach a mature mind the truth of God is a noble work. To teach a child the truth of God is a nobler work. For the Sunday-school teacher there opens a splendid prospect, a glorious possibility. To see a human soul open clear and sweet in the light of His truth, and to be conscious, as the gardener is, that it is your planting, your watering,—that exalts teaching. II HOW KNOWLEDGE REACHES THE SOUL How We Know KNOWLEDGE arises in the human soul through the special senses. These senses are sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Some object in the external world comes within the range of the activity of one or more of these senses. Instantly a nervous excitation is occasioned. The nerves of the senses affected carry the impression made upon them to the brain. This impression is a sensation. The body is literally packed with these sensation carriers. Taken as a whole they are the nervous system. This includes the brain, the spinal marrow, ganglia, the nerves proper and the senses above referred to. A critical study of this nervous system in such a treatise as Carpenter's1 would be interesting and profitable, if one wished to understand the physical basis of the mental life; only a few of its manifold aspects can here be considered. The relative value of these special senses in Principles of Mental Physiology, by William Benjamin Car penter. education is in direct ratio to the range of their activity. We see farther than we hear. Education through the eye is perhaps better education than any other. "Seeing is believing." It is well, however, to consider how valuable are the sensations of touch in the right. education of the mind. If under Value of the Senses touch we group the sensation of temperature, this sense falls within the law announced. When these senses operate in conjunction, the value of the sensation each conveys is increased. For this reason illustrated addresses are effective. If a child handles an object as he hears of it from his teacher, the value of the instruction is enhanced. The thing to bear in mind is that these special senses complement one another. Note the highly significant value of the sign at the railroad crossing: "Stop, look, listen!" Here, too, the thoughtful teacher will see reasons for variety in presentation of truth, and also for the value. of concrete illustration in teaching. It is well to consider the value of these sense-organs, and to note that each sensation must be a vivid one if the mental result is to be educationally valuable. If you have children with defective vision. or impaired hearing, the problem of their education becomes a special one. They should have all the skill and patience and sympathy that a |