XIII

THE SCRIPTURE AND CHILDHOOD

THE purpose of this chapter is to lay stress upon certain points in teaching that may be regarded as constituting its strength and strategy. It is impossible to overestimate the teaching function of the church. The main business of the church is to teach, either directly or indirectly. That this truth has been but dimly perceived and realized goes without saying. The church has had its Age of Preaching, its Age of Organization, its Age of Missionary Expansion, its Age of Evangelism, its Age of Social Service. It has never yet had a great Age of Teaching. Surely there is something more than the baseless fabric of a dream in the hope which many indulge, that the coming age of the church will be marked no less by intensive application to its inward life and growth, than by extensive application to its outward growth and expansion.

The main reason for this hope is found in the appreciation of the child that marks present-day thought and plan. Dante was far ahead of his time when he said, "Faith, art, and innocence belong to little children." All the centuries have known the child, but it was left to the nineteenth century to acknowledge him as a leading factor in human life. Pestalozzi and Froebel made it impossible to ignore the child. Much of the new spirit that has come

into modern life, especially as it is interpreted through literature and education, is due to the freer and wiser recognition of the importance of childhood. It is difficult to estimate the value of the revolution that has been wrought in this subject. Formerly the world's systems of education were evolved from certain preconceived theories by a process of deduction, and the child himself was lightly considered. Latterly induction has come into play, and our present systems of education are based upon the study of the child and his need.

Slowly the church is coming to feel the presence of this new and better-informed spirit. Not to do so is, indeed, an easy method of self-extinction. We have heard of a church in which a Teachers' Meeting was regarded as an anachronism, and a Normal Training Class as a mistaken enthusiasm. When the church grows wise enough to take more pains in planning for the children than for the adults committed to its care, it will have come at last to the viewpoint of the Master who "set a child in the midst of his disciples." The child, indeed, is the chief asset of the church. The new appreciation of childhood has constituted one of the marked changes of recent years. The plaint of the old man that when he was a child nobody was interested in childhood and everybody was reverential to old age, and now that he had become old nobody was interested in old age, but everybody was reverential toward childhood-is almost pathetic; nevertheless, it describes a very important difference that has transpired in the estimate of life. Commenting upon this change, an editor discriminatingly says, "Age has lost its

terrors since men have learned that it is the heart of the child in the man that keeps him fresh, inventive, creative, and interesting." Slowly, almost painfully, the fuller meaning of the Lord's words dawns upon our consciousness "Except ye become as little children." Certain elements of childhood must be perpetuated, both in education and religion. Keep the child alive in the man, and you have already dispensed with some of life's problems. James Russell Lowell was once passing a large building in London, when his attention was attracted by an inscription over the entrance: "Home for Incurable Children.” Turning to his companion he said, with a whimsical smile, "They'll take me there some day." That the childhood of the race is incurable, especially in the case of selected individuals, is a constant ground of hope for mankind. While men still keep youth within their hearts, all kindly things of life, things that are simple, brave, pure, imaginative, hopeful-things that are of the fabric of faith, will appeal to them. Thus it is that the words of Christ, "Except ye become as little children," have behind them the argument of the facts and needs of life itself.

It is an impressive fact that the Bible exhibits peculiar adaptations to the needs of childhood. We do not mean that the entire contents are level to the understanding of children; but that the Book as a whole is calculated to captivate the child mind, while many separate features of it are especially adapted to his sense of appreciation. In short, the approach of the Bible to the child is easy and natural, and the points of contact are numerous. This statement in itself is conclusive as to the laws that

should govern Scripture pedagogy. Childhood and youth present a preëminent opportunity for instruction in the Word, and not alone for instruction; but also for laying upon the mind a permanent spell of fascination. If the church truly covets the best gifts, it will not be indifferent to the skill that interests children in the Bible. For this is in reality the laying of foundations for the Kingdom. The church could plan no better strategy than the strategy of intensive application to the problem of teaching the Bible to children. The Book itself invites the church to this task. The arrangement of the Bible falls in readily with pedagogical laws and methods. That is, it is easily taught-it yields without difficulty to the natural processes of the mind. Its pages are crowded with material that adapts itself without strain of effort to the comprehension of a child. It is truly wonderful how easily the Bible lodges itself in the memory and imagination of children. Its appeal is natural and irresistible. Its variety, its movement, its incident, its spectacles of men and affairs, its imaginative quality, its large element of narration, its underlying power of history, its gift of surprise, its initiative of courage, daring, and adventure such qualities as these give the Book a natural vogue with children, that is possessed by no other literature in an equal degree. This remarkable adaptation of the Scripture to the task of teaching is almost the most impressive fact with which the church has to deal. It may be said without exaggeration that an adequate comprehension of this fact would fairly revolutionize the work of the church. It would at least change the points of

emphasis; it would reveal hidden possibilities and would tend to develop latent powers. We return again, from the view-point of the child and his interest, to our oft-repeated statement-the chief problem of the church is the application of the Book to human life. In the case of the child this problem is acute and pressing. To possess the minds of children with the fascination of the Book, to entwine their young associations "about the felicities and majesty of biblical phraseology," to give them, with their mother's milk, a feeling of interest and affection for the Book such as later and colder studies cannot develop-it is impossible to over-emphasize the anxiety and toil which the church ought to give to this part of its task. Paul congratulates Timothy that from a babe he has known the Holy Scripture (II Timothy iii: 15).

There are four points of contact with the child upon which the church must bring to bear its growing intelligence and its enlarging skill. These are the Home, the Sabbath School, the Young People's Society, and the Pulpit. Each of these furnishes a field of study sufficient to occupy the best minds of the church. We have no new instruction to offer upon these oft-discussed topics. We are, however, concerned to emphasize again the view-point that has been assumed throughout this volume, viz., that the chief strategy of the church lies in captivating the mind with interest. All methods are insecure and inadequate that fail to awaken interest. However we may have failed to make the value of this thought appear in relation to the adult mind, it must certainly enforce itself in its application to