Few, even of teachers, appreciate fully the influence of the heart upon the head. How slow the mind is to receive or understand that to which the heart is averse. On the contrary, how readily we take in knowledge which is pleasing. Aversion to a subject, or to the person who presents it, has a sort of blinding influence upon the mental vision. A wise ancient has told us, indeed, that it is right to learn even from an enemy. But it is the very difficulty of so doing which has given to this saying its chief celebrity. Much of the up-hill work in the training of the young has been because the young have regarded, and often with good reason, the race of teachers as their natural foes. This unhappy idea, when it once takes possession of a child, has the effect of placing him in an attitude of resistance against instruction. Whatever knowledge the teacher succeeds in putting into the mind of such a child, is by the hardest labor. The skillful advocate before a jury knows that much of his success in producing conviction, depends upon his first creating a pleasant impression on their minds. Those advocates who are most successful, always pave the way for their arguments by adroit speeches, intended simply to gain the confidence and good will of the hearers. To the public speaker of any kind, the willing ear is an indispensable element of success.
Religious teaching, beyond every other kind of teaching, depends for its success upon the good will and affection of the pupil. There are many reasons for this. In the first place, attendance upon religious instruction is voluntary to a much greater extent than attendance upon other studies. Then, it is one of the direct effects of sin to make the mind averse to religious knowledge. Sin moreover has vitiated the taste, and corrupted the judgments, so that there are no topics on which even children have so much to unlearn, as they do on those connected with religion. The subject, therefore, more than most subjects, needs to be made attractive. Now nothing so gilds any theme, as love for the one who propounds it. Love is indeed a great beautifier. It makes the plainest picture comely, the dullest subject entertaining. The teacher who has the love of his scholars, may lead them through almost any path, however hard or strait. Wherever he goes, they will follow.—J. S. Hart, in Thoughts on Sabbath schools.