Righteous Padding
It is marvelous how rich in suggestion all passages of the Bible are
to the thoughtful, studious mind. It is no less marvelous how bare and
barren the wealthiest portions become when filtered through a bare and
barren mind.
Truth is valuable only as it is _extended_ into life. "Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God"; that means to the child very
little, packed into this condensed form. But let the teacher set about
_extending_ that blessed truth. Let him picture a man, cross, ugly,
besotted, selfish, greedy, his heart all rotten with passion and
pride. Go through a day with him, from the sullen greetings in the
morning and his breakfast-table quarrels, through his business hours
all stern and crabbed, to his morose and unlovely evening. Ask the
children how much he sees and enjoys of the beautiful world, how much
he gets from noble books, what perception he has of the character of
his charming wife and children. He is blind to all these things. Why?
Because of his impure heart.
Show how this baseness follows him to church, holds him down from
praying, weights his songs, dulls his vision of spiritual things. Ask
them how it will be at death, when he goes out of this world with a
soul taught to see only money and self. _How can he see God?_
Then go on to tell them of their loving, gentle-hearted mothers, and
how much good _they_ can see in this world, in their friends, in their
children, because their hearts are unselfish and pure. How easily they
pray. How cheerily they sing. How near God is to them. Will there be
any difficulty in _their_ seeing God in the next world, when they can
see so much of him in this?
You have made quite a sermon out of that text. It has been extended
largely, and yet the meaning of it has merely begun to dawn on those
childish minds.
Suppose you had taught it in this way: "Verse eight. Read it, Tommy.
Now, who are blessed, Mary? And why are they blessed, Willie? Now
don't forget that, children. Pay attention. Always remember it. The
pure in heart see God. Why should we be pure in heart, Lucy? And how
can we see God, Susy? Now don't forget it, children. Pay attention.
Always remember it. The pure in heart see God. What have we learned in
this verse, Lizzie? Yes, that's right. You all want to be pure in
heart, children, now don't you? Why? Yes, that's right. I see you
have paid attention." But they haven't, as any such teacher may find
out by a question next Sunday.
A teacher of children must learn the art of righteous padding. He must
learn how to fill in outlines, how to expand texts. He must illustrate
with imagery, parable, allegory, personal experience, use of material
objects, pictures, action of the children.
Especially valuable is the last, when it can be used. The teacher's
cry for attention might well be translated into the highwayman's,
"Hold up your hands." At any rate, if you can manage to keep them busy
with their hands, you have their eyes, tongues, and brains.
Set them to hunting up verses in their Bibles. You will have the
experience of a friend of mine who came to me once after trying it,
and despairingly said that the children now wanted to do nothing else.
Nearly every verse can be illustrated by a stanza from some common
song. Get the children to sing it softly, first making them see how
the song fits the Bible. Make liberal use of concert repetition of
Bible verses. There is nothing better than this good old device for
unifying and freshening the attention of a class.
And pictures. Teachers do not yet know one-tenth of the teaching power
of pictures. Take the Twenty-third Psalm for a familiar example. "The
shepherd, want, green pastures, lie down, leadeth me, still waters,
the paths of righteousness, the valley of the shadow, thy rod and
staff, a table prepared, mine enemies, anointing, cup runneth over,
the house of the Lord"--as you read that list did not fourteen
pictures rise at once in your mind? Find them, and show them to the
children. They will pay even better attention to your printed pictures
than to your word-pictures.
Experience will soon teach the teacher, if his eyes are open, the need
of copious illustration. Astronomers tell us that it is very difficult
to see the smallest objects visible to us in the sky, if they are in
the form of little dots. They may have dimensions very much smaller
and still be visible easily, if they are extended into lines of light.
So with the points of our lessons. They will miss attention entirely
or gain it with difficulty, while they remain merely points. We must
extend them, by the use of consecrated wits.