Simplicity of Manner by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 13, 1882

Simplicity of Manner.

By Editor

AFTER all the rules and directions which we or others may prescribe for the teacher's guidance, a multitude of difficulties will arise which will call for the exercise of judgment and prudence, without reference to rules or the experience of others. We avail ourselves of the following very useful suggestions, from an intelligent, practical teacher, on a few points not distinctively presented in the preceding pages.

"I strive," he says, "to keep out of view my office as an examiner or lesson-hearer, and appear to propose the questions as if for my own information, or for a mutual discussion of the passage. I avoid asking leading questions on casuistical and other points, thinking it best, in every instance, to obtain the actual sentiment of the scholars, that, if erroneous, they may be shown to be unreasonable or contrary to revelation; and that, as far as possible, their minds may be brought to coincide with the principles of the Bible and to acknowledge the unerring wisdom of God. Cant terms and epithets, and all the ordinary technical language of theology, are avoided, that the children may understand what is spoken, by receiving it in a dialect which they are accustomed to hear. The greater part of my duty consists in oral instruction. If I see evidence that the lesson has been carefully studied, I find it the most effective plan to make a direct moral and religious improvement, not by a formal address but by an easy conversation, in which the duties of religion are presented as matters of actual importance, and as much interwoven with our interests as any of the functions or occupations of life. I find that the common declamations on the subject of sin and piety, make no perceptible impression, but that the attention of boys of all grades of intelligence, is best secured, and their feelings most interested, by plain, appropriate reasoning. It seems to me of great importance to avoid artificial manners in speaking to them on these topics. The (in most cases unconscious) affectation of discoursing on religion in peculiar tones, and with a sanctimonious countenance, has always appeared to me a serious disadvantage in all the methods of inculcating Christian truth, whether in the pulpit, the Sunday-school, or in conversation. The claims of God are reasonable, and they should always be exhibited in that light; they are plain, and should not be mystified. Of course there should be no departure from strict sobriety of manner, and the pious teacher will not be guilty of levity and flippancy in endeavoring to treat the subject familiarly. His manner and language should always manifest that this subject is transcendent in magnitude, and that the Bible is to be opened and examined with reverence. Children are rational beings, and should be treated as such." —The Teacher Taught.