Sparks from a superintendent's anvil...

Foreword

This book is the result of thirty-six years of Sunday-school work, and of Bible study. There is in it nothing that has not been tested in actual life. The author is not ignorant of modern Paidology, in both its excellencies and its defects. The matter of teaching, and the manner ^ as well as the development of the child, have all been considered from the practical standpoint. The Bible studies are the outcome of much thought and experience, and have been tested in classes most intelligent, and not so intelligent, and have been found to stand the test of actual work done. That the volume will be most helpful to those who are on the " firing line " of Sunday-school work is the wish of its author.

A. F. SCHAUFFLER.

Contents

PAGE CHAPTER

Book I

The Book or What We Teach i. suggested principles in the study of the

II. BIBLE DRAMAS 17

III. THREE LANDS OF THE BOOK 28

IV. THE LAST WEEK BEFORE THE RESURRECTION . 34 V. THE TEACHER'S LIBRARY 45

VI- ST. JOHN — A CITY OF TRUTH 53

VII. ACTS — BY STREETS 65

VIII. MISSIONARY INSTRUCTION IN THE SUNDAY- SCHOOL 76

BOOK II The Scholar or Why We Teach

i. our spiritual work 89

ii. mistakes that hurt our bible schools . . 100

iii. superintendents' questions 110

iv. fiction or fact ? 123

v. the four personal factors in sunday-school success 134

vi. the point of contact 147

vii. some defects of modern child-study . . 157

viii. the early conversion of scholars . . . 167

6 CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

BOOK III The School or How We Teach

i. the widening horizon ... «, .... 177

ii. organized bible classes 187

iii. grading the sunday-school 199

iv. graded sunday-school lessons ..... 214

v. graded lessons 225

vi. the teachers' meeting 234

vii. gaining and retaining scholars .... 247

Viii. printer's ink 258

IX. THE HOME DEPARTMENT ........ 267

Chapter I Suggested Principles In The Study Of The Bible

All will agree that the Bible is the most important book in the world. On it are based all our modern legislation and our civilization. It reveals to us more of the nature of God than any other book. It points out to us the way of salvation, and makes clear to us our duty toward God and man. It has more of light and comfort in its pages than all other books combined. Its uplifting influence is shown wherever men adopt its principles. If men were to obey the laws that it lays down, this world would be at once transformed, and be like heaven. For these reasons, thus briefly stated as well as for others, the Bible is the best book, and the most precious in the world.

Many Christians believing what has been said above have already tried to study this book so that they may know what it teaches. But they have started in a vague way, not knowing just how to begin or how to continue in their work. As a result, their labor has not been as satisfactory as they had anticipated. Parts of the Word they have found to be dull, and other parts they have not been able fully to master. As a result, they have ceased any systematic study of the Word, and have contented themselves with merely studying those parts that are contained in the lessons that they had to teach from week to week. This is a pity.

It is my hope to aid such students, and to entice them to take up the study of the Word with a more intelligent aim. In the first place, it is well to note that not all parts of the Bible are of equal value. For example, Malachi is not as important a book for us as Matthew, nor is it as needful for us to know the book of Job as it is to know the Gospel of John. Not that Job is not magnificent reading, for it is. But that it does not contain as much practical truth as does the Gospel named. This being true, it remains for us to find out, if possible, what are the most important books of the Bible, and then to concentrate our attention on them. That having been done, we may then go on to study the remaining books at our leisure.

Since we believe that God's Spirit had much to do with the preparation of the Word, it will be our duty to see how he worked in the guidance of the men who gave us this book. One of the first things that will strike the careful reader is that in the Bible history there are some periods that are very slightly touched on, while others are narrated in great detail. Take, for example, the story as given in the book of Genesis. In the first eleven

SUGGESTED PRINCIPLES 9

chapters we have the whole history of the world, including creation, given most briefly. If we accept Ussher's chronology (which we know is wrong, but which is the best we have up to date), these eleven chapters cover a period of not less than two thousand years. On the other hand, all the balance of Genesis, or thirty-nine chapters, covers the histor} 7 of four men, namely, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. This is quite remarkable and calls for some explanation. Why did the writer thus condense one part of the narrative and so expand the other ? The reason for this we shall see presently.

Again, the first chapter of Exodus covers, at the lowest computation, two hundred and fifteen years. But the second chapter covers only eighty years. But (still more remarkable) the rest of Exodus and all of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy cover only forty years. This is a very wonderful discrepancy, and there must be some reason for it. To discover this reason will be our delightful task.

Passing on to the New Testament, we find that in Matthew, chaps. 1 and 2 cover thirty years of our Lord's life, while all the rest of that Gospel covers only three years and a half. The same is substantially true of the Gospel of Luke, while neither Mark nor John tell anything about those thirty years.

Once more. In the Gospels themselves we find more space given to the story of the last few days of our Lord's life than to any other equal portion. For example, Matthew gives us (in my Bible) nineteen pages on the whole of Christ's life up to the last week, and then eleven pages are given to the narrative of about one week of his last days. Surely, there must be some good reason for this great difference in the amplitude of the narrative ! The same is true in the other Gospels. About one-third of their contents is given to the last few days of the Master's life.

Compare, if you will, the space devoted to the story of Israel during the Exodus and that devoted to the three years of the public life of our Lord. In the former we have one hundred and fifty-one pages. In the four Gospels, which, as we have seen, are almost wholly devoted to the story of three and a half years of Jesus' life, we have one hundred and twelve pages. If proportionally as much space had been given to the story of Israel in the desert as has been given to the life of our Lord, it would have been expanded to one thousand eight hundred and twelve pages. Why was the one narrative, then, so contracted, and the other so expanded ? There must be some good reason for this, and it is ours, as we have said, to discover this reason.

Look at this book now from another standpoint, namely, that of miracles. Some people wrongly think that the Bible is full of miracles from one end to the other. This is not so. There are many miracles in the Word, but they are mostly concentrated at a few points. For example, in the first eleven chapters of Genesis there are (outside of the creation story) few miracles. But when we come to the story of the Patriarchs, we find that the miraculous begins to multiply. God speaks more often to men in that period, and his revelations are more abundant. For this, there must be some good reason.

Again, in what we may call the Mosaic period, miracles

SUGGESTED PRINCIPLES 11

begin to multiply as never before. All through those forty years God intervenes constantly, and while he does not break any of nature's laws, he does undoubtedly bring in a higher law in order to prove his revelation to mankind. Here for about forty years we find God's hand very apparent, and that for good reasons, as we shall presently see.

When we come, however, to the period of the Christ, we find that the miraculous multiplies as never before. During the life of our Lord, and that of the apostles, we find at times many scores of miracles in a single day, and at times these are of a very marvelous sort. For this, too, there is a good reason.

From the above the writer draws the conclusion that where the narrative amplifies and at the same time the miracles multiply, there is to be found a period of especial importance. It seems to him that in this way the Divine Spirit tries to call the attention of mankind to the truths that are especially set forth in that period. Note that we insist that the two signs must coincide. The narrative must broaden out, and at the same time the miraculous must be marked. There are some portions of the Word where the narrative amplifies, while the miraculous does not multiply, as in the story of David. But these are not periods of the utmost importance.

Now let us see how this theory works out. — Take the period of the Patriarchs first. Was not this a period of peculiar importance ? We think it was. For, at this time, God was founding that "Covenant People" through whom he was to transmit to future generations his truth. Here is to be found the beginning of that race from whom came all the prophets and all the apostles, and even the Messiah himself. The hope of the world lay in that people, and on that account the story of how God called and cared for the Patriarchs is one of the utmost import to us. Not in all the world has there been found a race on whom so much depended. Nor Greece, nor Rome ever contributed so much to the uplifting of mankind as did this people, whose beginnings we here see set forth. No wonder, then, that the Spirit emphasized so much by narrative and miracle this crucial epoch.

But if this be true in the Patriarchal period it seems to us that it is still more true in the period of Moses. And why ? Because in this period God, after welding the Jewish people together in the fires of affliction as never people was welded, was about to transplant them into the land promised to their great ancestor Abraham. And not only this. He was about to give them his laws, to act as their guide in all their national experience. He was here establishing as never before the worship of one only God. He was here laying the foundation for that national religion which was to contain more of truth than all other national religions put together. He was here giving them a higher legislation than this world had ever seen, and he was giving Israel that system of sacrifice and that tabernacle that was to be a type of him who was to come in God's due time. Here we find the types of the person and the character and mediatorial work of our blessed Lord. Is it any wonder, then, that God emphasized this period in a most marked way ? Is it not just what we might naturally

SUGGESTED PRINCIPLES 13

expect ? When we grasp the significance of the events recorded from Exodus 3 to the end of Deuteronomy, we no longer wonder at the length of the story or the number of divine interventions.

Pass on now to the Messianic period, namely, that of the life of our Lord and his apostles. Here the narrative expands into a fourfold story, (besides the Acts of the Apostles,) told by four different men. It amplifies very largely, most of it referring to only three and a half years. Here, too, we see the miraculous multiplying more than ever. Is there reason for this ? Most assuredly. For this is the most important of all the epochs of human history. In this period we find all the Old Testament history culminating. Here is the fulfilment of prophecy and typology. The law was only a schoolmaster to bring God's people down to Christ. God, who had spoken in times past by the prophets, now speaks by his Son, and well may we expect the story to be told in great detail, and be enforced by signs and wonders as never before. If (as all agree) Christ is the most important personage in the world's history, then it was fitting that his advent should be given in detail, and his coming be signalized by many miracles.

(And just here let us say that the most important period in history is yet to come, and when it does come, there will be a most marvelous outburst of the miraculous once more. Some men say that the age of miracles is past. We, say that it is suspended, but that when he comes again, then will the miraculous reappear as never in all the story of this world.)

Now in view of what we have said regarding the principle of Bible study, it is apparent that the portions of the Word that call for our special attention are those which the Spirit of God has most particularly emphasized. He who knows well the Patriarchal, the Mosaic, and the Messianic periods of sacred history, has made a good start. Then he can go on to study other interesting portions, like that of the monarchy and divided kingdom, or the return from captivity. But if he tries to take all this in before he has mastered in some degree the more important epochs, he will be " putting the cart before the horse. 5 ' Study now the following diagram as illustrative of what we have been trying to make clear. It will help the matter materially. The line represents the time from Adam to Christ, or (according to Ussher's chronology) four thousand years. The upright lines represent each five hundred years of time. The letters of the alphabet are those of the leading men of the time in which they appear. They are as follows, starting from the left. Adam, Jared, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Christ. The dots under some of the names signify that at that period the miraculous multiplied greatly. In these periods, too, the narrative amplifies. Note the setting forth to the eye of the manifest inequality of the space given to parts of the story that are not important to the mind of the Spirit, as we have tried to indicate in what we have said. If you will study the diagram until you are familiar with it, and, indeed, until you can make a similar diagram, you will be able to take in the meaning of what has been said above.

SUGGESTED PRINCIPLES

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The second diagram sets forth the relative space given in the four Gospels to the thirty years of silence, and the three and a half years of activity in the life of our Lord, and is ., meant to empha- Q size what has al- ~ ready been said J along that line. It would be helpful if Oi the teacher would ^ for himself draw ^ out a similar dia- (i^ gram, setting forth Q the relative space given to the three - JM and a half years, ^ and the last three -J days of our Masf ter's life. This j- would setforth the H* estimate of the importance of the Master's death and resurrection, as entertained by the evangelists.

Now if we apply these principles to the lessons of the International Lesson Committee for the two terms, 1900-1905 and 1906-1911, we shall see that they have recognized this division of matter, and have laid much

16 SPARKS FKOM A SUPERINTENDENT'S ANVIL

emphasis on those periods that we have regarded as crucial. For example, in the years 1900 to 1905 inclusive, the Committee gave three years and a half to the Gospels and the Acts, besides giving eleven lessons to the Patriarchal period, and nineteen lessons to the Mosaic period. In this way they gave to the crucial periods 184 lessons out of a total of 264 lessons. (In this count, review lessons and temperance lessons, 48 in number for the six years, have been omitted.)

Taking the second course which we began to study in 1906, and continue through 1911, we find that there has been given to the crucial period the following emphasis. There have been assigned to the Gospels and the book of Acts, three and a half years or 184 lessons. To the Patriarchal and Mosaic periods, we have given 26 lessons.

This makes in all as given to the three important periods a total of 210 lessons out of a total of 264 lessons.

In this way the International Lessons have recognized what is of the highest importance in the Word. At the same time they have not passed by other parts of the Word, but have so dwelt on them as to give the gist of the sacred narrative in measurably proper proportion.

Now if the intelligent teacher has followed us thus far in our statement, he has seen that it is well worth his time to devote much energy to the study of those parjs of the Word to which his attention has been called. If he does this, then he will have laid a grand foundation for the study of those other parts of the Word to which no especial allusion has been made, and in this way he will find that he is a teacher who is able " rightly to divide the Word of Truth " to those under his care.

Chapter II Bible Dramas

In this chapter it will be my endeavor to aid the teacher in the right understanding of the general outline of biblical history that we should study. In the last chapter we gave some suggestions as to why the Bible passes certain periods of history by with such short notice and dwells at such great length on other parts. Might I suggest that the teacher read that over once more so as to have it freshly in mind, for it will help in the right understanding of what is to be said now.

Historians often speak of "The Drama of History" as though it were a play enacted before the eyes of men. If we may adopt this term and apply it to Bible history, then we might say that the Bible presents for our consideration two mighty dramas. One is that set forth in the Old Testament and the other that presented in the New Testament. Generally dramas are in five acts, so, for the sake of clearness, we divide these two biblical dramas into five acts. Let it be said right here that we have no " Thus saith the Lord " for this division, but present it for the consideration of teachers, as a help to clearness of thought in Bible study. Others might make a different, and, perhaps, a better division. But that certain great stages of truth are set forth in the Word admits of no successful contradiction.

18 SPARKS FROM A SUPERINTENDENT'S ANYIL

OLD TESTAMENT DRAMA

First Act. — Creation to Noah (Gen. 1-8). Here we have set forth, in contradistinction to all other religions, the Oneness of God. The first verse of Genesis has more of truth in it than all of the imaginations of polytheistic religions put together. " In the beginning God created." That excludes polytheism, materialism, pantheism, and all other false conceptions of the origin of this world and of man. When all was finished we read " And God saw that it Avas very good."

The end of this act, however, is marked by failure on the part of man. We read that " God saw that the wickedness of man was great and that the imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually " (Gen. 6 : 5). So the end of the first act was the obliteration of mankind with the exception of one family.

Second Act. — Noah to Abraham (Gen. 7-12). Here we have, as it were, a second probation given to man. With the family of Noah, God begins once more ; but this time, too, there is on the part of man failure. Man prospers and his civilization is very great, but with all this material advance he loses his knowledge of Gocl and truth. Man says, " Go to, let us build," while God says, " Go to, let us confound " (Gen. 11 : 4, 7). So the second act ends, so far as man is concerned, like the first, in failure.

This suggests the fallibility of man unless upheld by especial divine grace. We have no confidence in " human nature," unless it is supplemented by divine grace. Man is capable of all things exalted, if God dwell in him. But left to itself human nature tends downward, ever and always.

BIBLE DRAMAS 19

Third Act. — From Abraham to Kings. In this act we see God calling out from heathendom a peculiar people, with whom, through Abraham, he makes an especial covenant. To that people God reveals truth as he does not to the world outside. That this statement is strictly true is evidenced by all history. For, though the Greek and the Eoman worlds produced many wonderful philosophers and statesmen, many artists and orators, they produced no such men as Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Amos. More of divine truth has come to the world through these descendants of Abraham than through all others put together. For no man in his senses would say that even such philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, or Socrates had uttered as sublime truths as did the Hebrew prophets. To Moses alone, of all the Old Testament writers, the world owes more than to any other man before the Christian era.

In this act it is that God gave the grand legislation of Mount Sinai and the whole system of typology that found its fulfilment in the person of the Messiah. This, then, is a most significant act, and to it the world owes more than it ever can rightly understand. Wipe out what we have received through the revelation to Abraham and to his seed up to the times of the kings (to say nothing of later times), and you have an awful abyss of darkness left.

Fourth Act. — From Kings to the Captivity. Mingled success and failure. After the division of the kingdom into two we find in the northern kingdom (Israel) only idolatry. Jeroboam started this evil career by the worship of the golden calves, and (excepting under Jehu) the northern kingdom was given over to idolatry of increasing vileness. It will pay the teacher to draw out of the record the names of all the kings of the northern kingdom, and write opposite to them the chief characteristics of their reign. It is a dismal record. In the end it was the cause of the captivity of Israel, which came much sooner than the captivity of Judah.

In the southern kingdom (Judah) we have mingled godliness and idolatry. Some of the kings, like Hezekiah, Josiah, Joash, were good. Others, like Ahaz and Manasseh, were vile. On the whole, things went from bad to worse in that kingdom, as well as in the northern kingdom. True there were periods of reformation, and there were many prophets who did much to restrain the evil tendency of the people. There was always a "remnant " that held to the true religion. But in the end disaster came to Judah on account of her sins, and she, too, marched off to captivity.

Fifth Act.— Captivity and Keturn. The story of the return of Judah from captivity is told in Ezra and Nehemiah. It is a most fascinating narrative. That which marks it, however, as most peculiar is that from the time of the return, even to the present day, the Jew has not again fallen into the sin which was his prevailing sin, namely, that of idolatry. Strangely enough, in an idolatrous land they learned more of the worship of the true God than they, as a people, seemed to be able to learn in their own land. So far as the writer knows, from that day until this, though scattered through all the world, the Jew has never practiced idolatry in any form. Whatever his faults, in this he has been faultless. God cured his people of their most besetting sin.

BIBLE DEAMAS 21

HEEE FOLLOWS AN INTEKKEGNUM OF 400 YEAES. FEOM MALACHI TO MATTHEW

NEW TESTAMENT DRAMA

First Act. — John the Baptist to Jesus. Preparation. For four hundred years there had been no prophet among the covenant people. Then came John the Baptist. He preached in the wilderness, and to him vast throngs went out. His message might be summed up in two words : Repent, Prepare. At last the long lookedfor Messiah was about to appear, and the types given under the Old Dispensation were to be fulfilled. It was necessary that the nation should be aroused so as to receive rightly their great Messiah. This was John's message, and right well did he deliver it. For six months he preached with great power. John baptized many, they confessing their sins. So great was his influence that many mused in their hearts whether he was not the Messiah himself. To all such John replied that he was not the Messiah, but only a Voice proclaiming the coming of One, the latchet of whose shoes he was not worthy to unloose. Thus ended the first act.

Second Act.— The Years of Christ's Public Ministry. This began with his baptism and ended with his ascension. This was the most important act thus far in all the drama of Old or of New Testament history. For in this act, " God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son " (Heb. 1 : 1, 2). Through the teaching, the suffering, and the personal character of the Lord Jesus Christ we have received more of divine truth than through all the Old Testament prophets put together. For the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Here it is that we have the greatest of all mysteries, " God manifest in the flesh." In the person of our blessed Lord we have the completion of all the types of the Old Testament. He it is who is forever our high priest, so that we no longer need any human priests to intercede for us. He it is who is our Lamb, so that we can say, Now is Christ our Passover sacrificed for us. Through his sacrifice we have atonement and the remission of our sins. If we lost all of the Old Testament, we should lose much. But if we retained the story of the life and death of Jesus, we should still have the best of the divine revelation left to us. Language fails to express adequately what truth has come to mankind through the events of this second act in the drama of the New Testament.

Third Act.— From Pentecost to the Turning to the Gentiles. In the Old Testament we have the foundation of the Jewish church. Through this people we have had preserved to the world true monotheism. In the New Testament we have the foundation of the Christian church. This took place on the ever memorable day of Pentecost. Then was founded that church which under various names and forms still abides and will abide to the end of the age. Endued with power, twelve simple men, without wealth, position, or education, laid the foundation of that church which has been

BIBLE DKAMAS 23

of boundless blessing to the world, and which to-day, in spite of all its shortcomings, is the best thing that this poor world has. At first this church was made up of believing Jews. But soon the "middle wall of partition " between Jew and Gentile was broken down, and Peter received at Cassarea Gentiles into the fold. Thus the world-wide nature of the church of Christ was established, and there was no longer " any difference," and Jew and Gentile were united in one fold. But alas ! the Jewish world, as a whole, was not willing to receive the new truth, and rejected God's messengers so that they " turned to the Gentiles." Paul says to the Jews, "It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you ; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles " (Acts 13 : 46). More and more from that time on the Gospel has been accepted by the Gentile world, and but few Jews have been willing to accept Jesus as their Messiah.