The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-08-26
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION.
The Important Work of Sunday
School Teacher-The Best Way 10
Teach Children kindergarten

(By Miss Kitty Perrin.)

lbJ EulsS rNi0eS 1SiiAb'I
u G. Stanley Hail. the great educator and
Sunday School worker describes Christian ed
ucation in words something like these: Ed.
ucation may be defined as "Righteous anger
at moral evil" Education may be defined a.
"Fear. fear Of dong wrong" Education may
be defined as Love. love OF what IS rlght;
II we feel indignant at moral evil fear To do
wrong and. love the right, the emotional
part OF one nature has been educated, and we
all know that feeling IL the basis OF both the
and will, and in young children the
emotional is the side that is irst developed.
The process how 10 proceed, that this high
attain ment may be reached is that which con.
Germs as as Sunday school teachers.
II we are teach ers In the in FAINT department,
we must understand something OF child ma
ture, the Surroundings OF the children thai
come to Us sunday after Sunday. The great
Philosoph ,r Paul has said, Nv men was
child, thought as child" and the teacher
that touches child life must be able 10 pu'
Z aside her own grown up thoughts and 1eel'
ings, enter the child's world, and see from
his point of view, speaks his language and
thus enlarge the child's ideas, strengthen hls
morals and deepen his spiritual nature. MOI
every one has the proper endowment for thls
work.
: A love Of the Saviour. who took little chill.
Ndren mp in his arms aud blessed them, and q
sympathetic love for the child OF whom the
Saviour said, "Suffer the little children 10
come unto me, and forbid them not" are nee
essary qualifications.
Weneed our very best teaching talent in the
infant department OF our Sunday school, Tor
when the child is young it Is then at the most
impressionable age. IT is more important
that the mind and heart of a child has right
attitude towards spiritual things than any
number of mere Biblical facts that we can
teach him. Give the child new experiences
by which he can enlarge his inner life, re-
mem bering that new knowledge must be
based on old. Like is the key that unlocks
the door to the mind of the child, because we
Cr,tu % pnrTASnnn
Nfe. Two people walking In the woods will
not see the same things; the locks may ap
peal to one, the trees and flowers to another
The child who has been taught 10 reverence
Gods word because through 1t his Heavenly
Father speaks to him gets very different
truths from the child that has not been SO
taught. ,.
Is not, unless 1t becomes part o. the inner life
OF the child. There are three methods used
In Sunday school work. The tistorical-that
is. taking up character lsay PAUL. ana
getting all the truths that we can about him.
anywhere and everywhere in the word OF
God until we have a connected history OF the
man. This method Is not practical for llttle
children. for the child cannot grasp In their
connection with each other the incidents In
the history OF life.
The second method is study ing, one book
independent OF what characters IT treats Of or
doctrines.
This Is often over the heads Of our children,
and we are talking to them In an unknown
language with minds wandering as the re.
suit
Tne third method IL the kindergarten meth
cd. Divide your work up for the year into
topics that appeal to children, such as Cheer
fulness, Obedience, Gods Loving care. and IN
song and story impress the the thought Sun,
day after Sunday. until each little heart shall
respond and feel that everything beautiful
that comes into the lie, every pleasure that
touches them.-the trees, the Mowers, the
birds. the sunshine, mother aud father, our
friends, are given to us by our Heavenly Fa
ther "who glveth us richly all things to en-
Joy" There are so many Bible stories that
appeal directly to little children, that tell OF
this loving care,-Christ feeding the multi
tude, not willing TO send them away hungry.
Loving care bestowed by friends; when the
friends of the paralytic man even tore OF the
roof oithe house and let the sick man dowE in
to the Blessed Presence, and how the Saviour
seeing their faith, and how much they care,
healed the man. Obedience Is topic that
appeals directly to child lie. The first story
we might tell under this topici Is Of "Naaman' s
Reluctant OBEDIENCE" make the picture
vivid to the child. Every child love TO talk
OF soldiers. Introduce your topic by ask ing,
III company OF soldiers err is toId to halt, %ha, what
will tell you. If to march forwcrd, what
Let them understand that this ~ obedience,
but Captain Naamau, though he bad been at
the head OF an army, and his soldiers had 10
obey his every word. did not want to be
obedient to Gods Prophet when he told him
to get cured he must dip himself seven times
in the river Jordan, but he was not healed
until he obeyed perfectly.
The next Sunday give some example OF
perfect obedience. Tell OF Noah =; how obedi.
eht he was TO Gods command In building the
ark, and how God rewarded him forit. Bring
out the contrast In the next lesson. Tell OF
Gods disobedient children, Adam and Eve
Picture the garden as beautifully az you can
how much care God had taken In preparing a
home for his first children, and the simple
thing he asked of them. so simple that q
child need not have disObeyed. The entrance
OF sin into this beautiful garden-Eve listen
ing to and talking with Satan. Make the
child feel the dreadfulness OF the sin OF dis
obedience.
AS soon az a child is conscious OF sin the
great plan of salvation can be taught him
those spiritual truths that make the Bible sc
different from other hooks-Man's a!l,.ano
redemption through Christs atonement fol
Gin. Every lesson, If possible should brne
out these all Important facts. would like Il
lay special em phasis on this Topical plan o
work because SO much of our teaching goes
for nought and for the simple reason thai
we do not get the point of contact with tbt
child. Psychology proves that 1t is an i'm
possibility to teach an Isolated TACT, Let mi
illustrate
"A lew weeks ago visited colored Sunday
Scnool in Atlanta taught by members or th'
Central Presbyterian church-one of it,
missions. / was ask ed TO teach class OF boys
age about twelve The subject OF the lesson
was "Saul Chosen King"
TO try 10 get the point OF contact, reallZinI
that must find something in the mind o
the child to base new knowledge on, ask e'
ifany boy knew what q King was, they
showed me by their faces that they had no
the slightest conception. / then asked aoou
the President, they answered no, then tn
G G,vernor, their faces we're blank, but whel
ask ed them about policeman every %
there held up his hand. ] had gotten m
point Of contact. ] now showed them I