symbol of Christ our pattern, is to appeal to the senses merely, and to run grave risk of a misapprehension of the truth. There is always danger that children will not understand our figures of speech; and we more than double the danger when we present the figure in object form, because of the greater strength with which the object itself will enchain their interest and attention and tie their minds down to its literal presence and quality.*

(2) If symbolic objects be used as illustrations—and there are doubtless times when it is well to use them, despite the danger involved— they must conform to the general principles of effective illustration noted earlier in this chapter. They must be natural, not forced; they must be more familiar than the truth to be illustrated; they must not be incongruous or too suggestive. Perhaps the most common of all "object-lessons" is the use of chemicals by which a colorless liquid turns red when another is poured into it, and becomes clear as crystal again when a third is introduced-it all being supposed to illustrate the effect of sin upon the heart and its purification by the love of God. But such a procedure transgresses the most fundamental principle of teaching. The illustration is not more familiar than the truth to be illustrated. It attempts to explain the unknown by the unknown. It is very apt, moreover, to convey to children a wrong implication— that the operation of God's Spirit is as instantaneous and magical in its character as the change in the liquid appears to them.

(3) The use of symbolic objects takes time and compels a more or less definite centering of the whole lesson about them. Such an illustration is much less economical than one that is verbal. There is always the danger that the illustration may become an end in itself rather than a means.

(4) There is a danger that object teaching may degrade the interests of the children by holding them to a sense plane. Children who have been taught too exclusively by objects become incapable of appreciating anything else. They will always demand "something interesting," else they will not give attention.

"It had seemed to Miss Bessie advisable that the 'children should know something of the world on which they live,' and for purposes of instruction she had selected a geyser and a volcano as important-not to say interesting-features of land structure. By means of a rubber ball with a hole in it, artfully * See the address by Miss Williams, quoted in Du Bois' "Point of Contact in Teaching," pp. 95-99, from which several of the examples used above are taken. Note also what was said about the child's symbolism in Lesson III. of this book.

concealed in a pile of sand, she had created a geyser, and with a bit of cotton soaked in alcohol and lighted she had simulated a volcano. We began our work with geography in ignorance of these facts. After a few lessons on hills, mountains, islands, capes and bays, the children informed us that they 'didn't like those old things.' 'Please, won't you give us the fireworks?' asked Freddie. 'Or the squirt?' added Agnes eagerly." "'*

7. The blackboard is a very important help, which has been much misunderstood and misused. Teachers have often seemed to regard it as the puzzle department of the Sunday school. The real puzzle is to understand how the custom ever got started of attempting to teach religious truths by a jumble of symbols, alliterative enigmas and rebuses.

The true use of the blackboard is "free, living and personal."† A rapid descriptive sketch, an outline map or diagram, an important word or principle written as well as spoken-such is true blackboard illustration, done as the teacher talks, reinforcing the impression of ear with that of eye. If possible, every class should have its own blackboard; for it is as a help in actual teaching that it is most needed -not merely for announcement, review or ornament.

*Carter: "The Kindergarten Child-After the Kindergarten," Atlantic Monthly March, 1899.

† Hervey: "Picture-Work,” p. 85.

QUESTIONS

1. Why should there be continuity in teaching?

2. Why should the teacher study the whole of a series of lessons before he begins to teach them?

3. What are the advantages of correlation of the Sunday school lessons with the rest of the pupil's education? What are the dangers to be guarded against in such correlation ?

4. Discuss the principles of effective illustration-brought out in this chapter.

5. What difficulty do we meet in using the illustrations of the Bible itself?

6. When is an illustration incongruous? When too suggestive? 7. What is meant by the statement that the teaching value of the story is indirect? Why is this true?

8. What are the principles of good story telling set down in this chapter?

9. What values do pictures have as illustrative material?

10. What sorts of pictures are usable in the Sunday school? Discuss the value of each.

II. What are the advantages of object teaching? What dangers must be guarded against ?

12. What is the distinction between objects whose relation to the truth is symbolic and those whose relation is real?

13. Discuss the proper use of the blackboard.

LESSON XVIII

QUESTIONS

There is one other qualification of a teacher quite as important as to be able to tell a story-to know how to ask questions. By stories and other illustrative material the teacher may present the truth clearly and vividly, and appeal to interest and imagination, to feeling and action; but it is by questions that he stirs his pupils to think it over for themselves, to digest and assimilate it and to make it a permanent mental possession. If the story is the most effective means of presentation, the question is the great instrument of association. It is the means by which the teacher arouses the pupil himself to mental activity.

1. Kinds of questions. Questions may best be classified according to the use to which they are put.. We may distinguish six kinds : (1) Preparation questions—those used in the step of preparation. They aim (a) to bring up within the pupil's mind such ideas as he may already possess concerning the truth to be taught, or such as will enable him rightly to apprehend it; (b) to make him feel the need of more knowledge, and so to arouse his interest and give a motive for the work of the hour.*

(2) Recitation questions seek to test the pupil's mastery of the material assigned for study and to bring out clearly its essential facts.† (3) Development questions seek to lead the pupil to think about the facts he has learned, to inquire into their relations and values, to infer from them other facts and truths, and to form ideas and judgments of his own. This is pre-eminently the question of the discussion method. It deals with the organization of tacts.

(4) Review questions have a twofold aim: (a) to freshen and strengthen impressions already made; (b) to organize them into a larger mental whole.

(5) Examination questions should serve (a) as a test of the pupil's knowledge; (b) as a motive to its better organization.

* See the discussion of the step of preparation, Lesson XIV., Section 5.

† See what was said about the recitation method in Lesson XIII., Section 2.

See the treatment of the discussion method in Lesson XIII., Section 3, and of the step of association in Lesson XIV., Section 4.

(6) Personal questions are those that make a direct appeal to the will, search the heart and arouse the conscience. Many of Jesus' questions were such: "But who say ye that I am?" 'Simon, son of John, lovest thou me?"

2. How to ask questions. Questioning is an art, and like all arts can be but imperfectly embodied in rules. Yet there are certain general characteristics of good questions that may be set down.*

(1) The question should be clear and definite. It should ask only one thing, and that so directly that there is no chance of mistake.

(a) Avoid technical expressions and big words; as, What are the conditions of sanctification, and how does it differ from regeneration? Does the divinity of Jesus imply His impeccability? In the Sunday school at least, we need to get away from artificial and technical terminology. If religion means to us what it ought, we can express it in the same language that we use for common, every-day matters. That is what Jesus did. "The common people heard Him gladly.” He always drew the materials for his teaching from the life about Him. And the apostles and evangelists followed His example. In late years scholars have found out that many Greek words which were cnce supposed to be peculiar to the New Testament, belonged in fact to the language of the common people, the colloquial Greek of the day. The Bible was written so that the ordinary man could under

stand it.

(b) Avoid figures of speech, unless the question itself deal with their explanation. Use the most simple and direct statement possible. Do you think the penitent thief will be present at the marriage supper of the Lamb? In what sort of ground did Paul sow the seed at Corinth? are examples of questions made less definite than they might be, because a figure of speech is used to express what could be put in literal terms. We make it worse, of course, if we mix figures ; as, How does the Good Shepherd wash away sin?

answers.

(c) Do not ask questions that are vague because they admit of many A teacher once asked, "What must we do before our sins can be forgiven?"—and a little girl replied quite correctly, "We must * The art of questioning has been well treated by Sir Joshua Fitch in the “Art of Questioning," and by Professor De Garmo, in chapter xiv. of "Interest and Education." We can do little more than attempt to apply to our specific purpose the principles they have brought out. De Garmo's very concrete discussion is of especial value.

† Deissmann: "Light from the Ancient East," pp. 54-142. See also Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, article on “Language of the New Testament."