The National tribune., 1909-06-03
BIBLE STUDY.
Prreigrsted knowledge Not Morally
Strengthcnins-Met of Teaching
All Wrong

The Presbyterian General Assembly
pondered for hours over why Bible
study seems to be decreasing and also
knowledge of the Bible in general. The
Presbyterians and other denominations
will not have far to go. and have them-
selves to take TO task for the faults
they are pondering over. We teach the
Bible to-day exactly like We get UP a
formula for making bread. only that
the bread recipe has yeast in it, and
there is a sembiance of Il shtness'
which is not to be found in the Bible
study of to-day. There are royal roads
TO learning" now that We did not have
when this writer was young We kid
lets had to learn the shorter catechism
"by heart" We simply had to do it,
so that when the ''elders" or the minis
ter came to the house We could rattle
that catechism off like saying our a, b,
c's. so we did. Maybe We didn't un-
derstand all that the stilted expressions
meant then, but We do now. We had
to learn one chapter in the Bible each
week, and we had to read chapter a
day. or at least portion of a chapter.
We had to learn the te Commandments
and the Lords Prayer. and we knew
all about the creation so far as words
could go, and the IL tribes. and Moses
and Aaron, and Joshua and Jerusalem,
and we knew the dear old hymns, too,
every one of them. We used to sing
them leaning up against grandmother's
knee. while she sang in thin, but mu-
steal voice bar after bar to teach us,
and lined off the verses. You just had
to learn all these things in those days.
1t was task? Oh, yes! We howled,
and wept, and got spanked, and our
ears boxed, and sent to bed without pie.
and were denied fried cakes on Sunday
when We pouted instead of reciting the
'blessed's" properly, and were sent to
bed supperless when we failed to repeat
the text when the minister dined with
us Quarterly Meeting day" We
thought mother as hard task mistress
as ever Pharoah was. and sometimes.
opine, she thought working on our un-
plant minds was like making bricks
without straw; but, indeed, at the end
of the year. when we had big meetings.
family pride kept us up to the mark,
and we got the prizes all right One of
those prizes is in little Old Testament
nova little bookmark. embroidered
with The Rock of Ages" by hands
that are long. long ago gone to dust.
Memory holds this as one of the dear
est pictures on the walls of the castle
of youth.
Children do not learn the Bible in
this way now. We had few charts,
mighty few maps and those were sa-
credly handled, and there were few, very
few picture cards." We had to "see''
things ourselves; crudely, I know now,
but we did see. And all the years since
we have been digesting those Bible les
sons. Then we did indeed see thru a
glass darkly. But the lessons chiseled
on plastic minds stuck there, and with
years came the understanding Of all
these wonderful truths.
Now there are leaflets" and annotat-
ad md ,Iav te
picture cards that are called works of
art" but the artists are not a remove
from whitewashers of fences. Children
go to Sunday School il they have new
hats and frocks and gloves-and feel
like it. The teacher is sorry, but a
bridge" party or theater party or a
lecture on the "Cosmogny of the Cod-
fish" or a lecture on travels to the
North Pole, possibly a picnic, and not
improbably good novel, kept her from
studying the lesson. Maybe the novel
is by some local celebrity. and she hur-
ries thru the lesson so as to be able to
give her pupils a brief Of the novel.
The leafiet itself is few short verses,
and a comprehensive explanation" OF
who "John" was. where ne lived, how
long, and all about what happened to
John and John alone. The next week
the teacher has some more apologies,
the lesson is another bit chipped out of
chapter. with full explanatory notes."
and the next and the next copy each
other fair. At the end of the year the
Sabbath School pupil has string Of
moSaics on his memory string, nothing
is connected, and his predigested Bible
studies have not amounted to a brass
tack in the upbuilding of character,
broadening of judgment or deepening Of
KIN owledge. The pupil has acquired a
panoramic collection OF thoughts and
ideas which he promises himself he
will get better acquainted with next
year." and next year never comes, so
he never does learn his lesson. Never
learns it because the knowledge was all
dumped on him at once, and he never
had to dig it out by himself. If he as
similates any of 1t 1t Is the thought Of
some one else and not his own.
Then, too, the home is a different
proposition. Home life is decaying
Mother has her clubs, her charities and
her philanthropies. but it all takes her
look after her children while she takes
care of the cannibals, the Moros and the
Mahometans. The daughter has her
school work, her music, her painting,
her horseback riding, her automobilng,
her secret societies in the school and
her dancing clubs, and the sons-oh,
we'll, the SONS have exactly what their
idtiieTS nave, ana none OF tne1T daily
duties lead them into the study of the
Bible. Study at home with mother and
father?
Not on your life. Nobody has any
time for home study. In this day of
specializing each hour has its duties,
and reading at home in company with
father and mother, brother and sister
s not one of the things provided for.
Let us drop the idea of sectarianism,
nf dc nd Of cir
ment, and talk one with another on
how to make the world better.
Read the Bible and obey its precepts
and commands. In all the languages,
in all the arts and sciences, there is
nothing to compare with the Bible for
teaching everything that is ennobling
and elevating.
Cease to study The Bible, and those
communities where its lids gather dust
will find their moral tone lowering,
their value as an economic feature in
the plan of life decreasing rapidly.
The Presbyterian Assembly knows all
this, knows it better than I have been
able to tell it, and are simply begging
the question when they seek elsewhere
for the cause of the decline of interest
in the Bible.
In Proverbs we find: "He that spareth
the rod hateth his son. The poet has
twistedI this into Spare the rod and
spoil the child" The Bible and the
poet are right. Sparing the rod doesn't
always signify overweening love of the
parent, but his averseness to scenes"
and his laZiness. He just hates to take
the trouble to reprove and correct. but
the time will come-when 'the trouble"
will take him. and then he fulfills the
proverb and hates his SON.
If the General Assembly of the Pres
byterian Church or the fathers of