violation of an important law works disaster to the offender. So important has this law become in the minds of thoughtful men that they have builded around it a doctrine of punishments of far-reaching significance. The best statement of this doctrine is in the chapter on "Moral Education" in Herbert Spencer's "Education." Mr. Spencer points out the fact that punishment should be natural; in other words, that the punishment should have some relation to the offense committed. He calls this the doctrine of natural consequences. It has received much attention and wide acceptance. Beyond two important limitations I wish to commend it. These limitations, however, are vital in the acceptance of the theory. The first of these is that natural law takes no note of motive. Spencer's Doctrine punishes all alike, the teacher should not. Some pupils do wrong deliberately, others accidentally. There should be a very marked distinction in the treatment of the two cases, and this consideration of motive is a distinct limitation of the general doctrine of natural consequences. of Punishment It The second of these limitations lies in the fact that the business of the teacher is to anticipate wrong-doing for the purpose of preventing its commission. It is not the function of the religious teacher simply to punish the wrong-doer. Limitations of He must wound the inclination to do the wrong thing. He must make wrong-doing impossible to the extent of his ability. It is this ability to anticipate trouble, the power to foresee wrong tendencies, that makes the preventive qualities of moral teaching of great significance. We aim to fit the child when he is a child to overcome the tendency to do wrong before the act is committed. We should aim, by appeals to his feeling as well as his thought, to construct a system of moral and religious truth within which his soul is protected from wrong-doing. It should be the purpose of the teacher to make it hard for the pupil to do wrong. For that reason another important matter must be considered. The soul must be instructed in moral ideals and their spiritual significance. The child needs to be led to an understanding of what a moral ideal is. He needs also to be shown the value that comes to him in the possession of such ideals, and he needs further to be helped in applying the moral ideals in concrete cases. I would therefore commend the following order in presenting moral and religious truth to the mind of the pupil. First, the story, rich in concrete detail, should stir the emotional life of the child to quicken his vision and intensify his appreciation. Moral Ideals Second, in order to heighten the effect of the story, follow it with poetical selections that reenforce the ideas contained in the story. Third, further intensify the story by the singing of such songs as bear directly upon the incidents of the story, and, in the fourth place, building out of all this concrete threefold, presentative knowledge, clear judgments in the form of maxims, principles, rules, law of conduct. To put this into a sentence, the thought is,-tell it, rhyme it, sing it, formulate it. I believe the day will come when we shall study the four things which are indicated, and group our materials in harmony with this classification. Then we may with some degree of confidence lay our nutritional elements. upon the soul, confident that its fruitage in conduct will surely follow. QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. For testing one's grasp of the subject, and Why should the mind be trained to form correct judgments, and what is the significance of this in religious training? Make a list of what you consider to be fundamental moral qualities. Do you see clearly the difference between a decision by the judgment and a decision colored by feeling? Why should accidental qualities be fully set aside in forming correct judgments? What is your opinion of John at 9 A. M.? at noon? at 4.30 P. M.? Write a diary of a day in some boy's life, and study it in the manner indicated in the exercise in this chapter? Why should the story end with an appeal to judgment? Should this appeal be used with children under the age of ten? What things stand opposed to clear judgment? What weakness may be discerned in Sunday-school teaching as a means of training judgment? If concrete material should be presented first, what should it lead to? What is more important than the training of the judgment? Why? Discuss the doctrine of natural consequences, and point out its limitations. What makes a moral idea spiritually significant? In what way do the rhyme and the song enforce the story? XXII JESUS THE IDEAL TEACHER IT SEEMS fitting that this discussion should include the presentation of some of the salient characteristics of the principles and methods of teaching used by Jesus. In its last. analysis the true training of the teacher for the Sunday-school must be a training that fits him to follow in some degree the perfect example of the greatest teacher that ever stirred the heart and stimulated the mind of a pupil. In measuring the worth of any teacher three things must be considered; (1) the purpose or end which the teacher aims to accomplish, (2) the equipment of the teacher, (3) the material employed to achieve the end. The Great All great teachers have set before them at definite end. This end is the goal of all effort, and when the pupil attains it, it is his good. In what, then, may this good be said to consist? Buddha makes it consist in the complete suppression of self. Plato makes it consist in the vision of eternal ideas. Aristotle makes it consist in the exercise of man's highest faculty,-his reason. |