as described in the Gospels; with addition of events in the life of Christ, to show the harmony. References THE IMPROVED UNIFORM LESSONS. "The International Uniform Sunday School Lessons have been the principal factors in the growth of the Sunday School to its present noble proportions. Before these uniform lessons were adopted there was chaos in the Sunday School world, a variety of courses being put forward by many publishers, with only meagre sets of helps for any one course. The coming of the International Uniform Lessons changed all that. The large field thus opened attracted many publishers and the best religious writers. Upon the passages of Scripture chosen for the Uniform Lessons a wonderful flood of light was poured. Lesson helps of the greatest variety and of the highest helpfulness were multiplied. They appeared even in the secular newspapers, and all the religious newspapers treated the Sunday School lessons as a matter of course. Weeklies, monthlies, annuals in abundance contributed their information, guidance, and inspiration. Every teacher and pupil had at hand all the aid needed for a satisfying Bible lesson, studied with pleasure, and taught with all the resources of the religious and scholarly world. These are the admitted gains of the International Uniform Sunday School Lessons." "But grading is a vital principle in Sunday School work. Children cannot be taught as though they were grown-ups, and vice versa. Moreover, the same Scripture material is not always as usable for one age as for another. Hence the emphasis that has been placed in recent years on grading both the pupils and the lessons in the Sunday School. Yet the vast majority of Sunday School workers have been loath to abandon the blessings of a uniform Scripture lesson for the school and the home." One of the greatest advantages of the Uniform Scripture for the Sunday School Lessons for all ages, is the readiness with which such lessons can be taught and studied in Christian homes. While it is most unfortunately true that a far too large proportion of the pupils in our Sunday Schools have no help at home in their study of the lesson, - yet there are still very many homes where the lesson is studied and taught by the parents and children together. With the same Scripture for all, a mother or father can study the lesson with all the children together, no matter how widely apart they may be in age and knowledge. The simple story must be studied, whether the student be old or young. And even if at times the talk goes over the heads of the younger children, there will be much more that they can understand than many realize; and none of it can do them harm, any more than the sermons in the church morning service, which is, and should be, attended by all children old enough to sit still for the time required. "So out of this twofold need — uniformity and grading — have come the Improved Lesson Series for 1918-1925 [the entire cycle, for a part of which only the precise lessons have been selected]: a system by which we have in a single series the advantages of both the old and the new, the single basis of Scripture for all, with the adaptations that different ages require.' The Improved Uniform Lessons present to each grade or department a lesson that can be wisely taught to pupils of that age. These Uniform Lessons recognize every grade or department. In framing the lesson for any week the committee takes up each grade in turn and considers carefully whether the Scripture passage will furnish a thoroughly teachable lesson for that grade. If it will not, another passage is chosen for the grade. This is made possible, without departing far from the principle of uniformity, by the inclusion of rather larger portions of Scripture, often an entire chapter, in the assigned lesson. The older pupils are set to studying the entire chapter, with special emphasis upon the parts that appeal to the mature mind, while to the younger classes are assigned the verses of the chapter that are within their compass.' "It could never be said justly, save of very exceptional lessons, that the Uniform Lessons were not adapted to all ages; now this criticism cannot be brought against any lesson of the uniform series. While the thought of the family, the school, and the entire religious world is centered upon one passage of Scripture, there are drawn from that passage just the truths most helpful to pupils of all ages. We have a graded uniform lesson." See Improved Uniform International Sunday School Lessons, by Amos R. Wells, LL.D., a pamphlet published by W. A. Wilde Co. THE BASIS FOR TEACHING ALL GRADES. This book is for the teachers of all grades in the Sunday School, from the students' adult classes to the smallest primary, save in the rare and exceptional cases where an entirely different passage of Scripture is chosen for the very youngest grades. Its purpose is to furnish the knowledge and the practical applications which must underlie all good teaching, of whatever grade. It is the basis of correct interpretation of the words of the Scripture; of knowledge of the facts of the story, of the history of the times, and of Oriental customs; of statement of principles, or legitimate inferences, on which the teacher may securely stand and adapt his instruction to the particular grade he is teaching. In addition, there is in every lesson some teaching, or some story, anecdote, or poem, especially illustrating each different topic given for the older grades. And these are often as useful, either as they stand, or in some form as adapted by the teacher, to the younger grades. It is interesting to note, in this connection, that an exhaustive examination made a few years ago of the principal graded systems for the younger children, proved that almost all of the Scripture used for these graded systems had been used for the Uniform Lessons; that almost no passage had been used for the Uniform Lessons which was not included in that given for these graded lessons; and that where a passage was given for one and not the other, that used in the Uniform Lessons seemed to us always full as appropriate for the children as for the older grades, and in one or two cases much more appropriate than the passage given for the children which had not been used in the Uniform Lessons. The space in this book prevents a separate treatment of each lesson for each of several grades. It is, however, easily possible for the busiest teacher to cull from it those portions adapted to the needs of his class, and to leave the rest for the teacher of the other grades. EXTENSION WORK BY REFERENCES TO LITERATURE. The limitations of space also compel us to omit many illustrations, poems, etc., that would be very helpful in illustrating the lesson; and also fuller discussions for subjects which adults would like, and ought, to pursue farther. For this reason we not only present as full a list as we can of books upon the general subject of our lessons in the following Bibliography; but also bring to the notice of the teachers with each lesson a list of special helps on that lesson, and also volumes of literature which illuminate the subjects by means of sidelights, literary illustrations, poetic references, and every other help we can find that comes within the limits of the space at our command. These may not only recall familiar passages of literature to the teacher's mind, but may suggest others; for every treasure and every gem points to the mine from which it came; every flower, to the gardens where a thousand more are growing. A book of this sort no more presents "predigested foods or leads the teacher to a cramming process " than does every sermon, or lecture, or volume by a great teacher. On the contrary, it opens doors to further investigation and study far beyond the space possible to any single book, while at the same time it furnishes a supply of the best and choicest aids, in the best form for teaching, to the great mass of Sunday School teachers, who either have no access to large libraries or are "business men and busy women and who must have such aid or do poorer work as teachers. 66 Many teachers or other courses have kept on hand the Select Notes for an entire cycle" of lessons (usually six years; the present one eight years), since in each of these cycles practically the whole of the Bible is studied; and one of the peculiar and most helpful of the aids these Select Notes brings to the teachers and through them to their scholars, is found in the abundance of its illustrations, its applications to daily life, and especially to the daily life of the children, both at home and at school or play. Over the entrance to a certain playground in London is this motto, "No adults allowed to enter here unless accompanied by children." That is the man whom the editors always have in their vision. Never the adult alone, nor the child alone, but the teacher with his class. No adults are allowed to enter into their ideal unless accompanied by children. |