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Principles and ideals for the Sunday school
Principles and ideals for the Sunday school Author:Ernest De Witt Burton Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE INFLUENCE OF THE TEACHER'S STUDY UPON HIMSELF. Shall the The attentive reader of the preceding chapter study "only oiay perhaps have turn... more »ed its pages with the ques- inteiiecwaiiy? tion more or jess distinctly in his mind : Is the teacher's study, then, to be a purely intellectual work, a mere search for meanings? If so, whence is there to come to him any spiritual benefit, whence is the pupil to gain that spiritual help which is the ultimate end of all teaching of the Bible? The question is a fair one. It is axiomatic that the teacher who gains no spiritual help from his study will impart none in his teaching. If his method of study is such that it brings him no uplift or strength, it can hardly have a different effect upon his pupil. Is the method which we have been describing, then, one which will be barren of spiritual result for the teacher himself? investigation First of all, let it be answered that the rUy "eKg method, looked at purely on its intellectual side, is not guaranteed to produce spiritual results for either teacher or pupil. The interpretative process has in itself no moral virtue over and aboveany other form of mental activity. Nor is the interpretation of the Bible certain to lead to obedience to the truth it may discover, or fellowship with the God who gave the truth. Interpretation can of itself give only perception of the truth, not acceptance or assimilation of it. To a mind in spiritual sympathy with God, and in love with truth, interpretation will so present the truth as to make possible the assimilation of it and an obedience to it. Without such spiritual sympathy, interpretation can only flash the light ineffectually upon a mind insensitive and irresponsive. Indeed, more than this is to be said. The lack of sympathy dulls even ...« less