teacher without having given the time and effort necessary for complete
preparation.

The teacher and his Bible.--The teacher should know his Bible. This
means far more than to know its text and characters. The Bible is
history, it is literature, it is a treatise on morals, it is philosophy,
it is a repository of spiritual wisdom, it is a handbook of inspiration
and guidance to the highest life man has in any age conceived.

To master the Bible one must have a background of knowledge of the life
and history of its times. He must enter into the spirit and genius of
the Hebrew nation, know their aspirations, their political and economic
problems, and understand their tragedies and sufferings. He must know
the historical and social setting of the Jewish people, the nations and
civilizations that surrounded them, and the customs, mode of life, and
trend of thought of contemporaneous peoples.

Not all of these things can be learned from the Bible itself. One must
make use of the various helps and commentaries now available to Bible
students. The religions of ancient Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Greece,
and Rome should be studied. Ancient literatures should be placed under
tribute, and every means employed to gain a working knowledge of the
social medium out of which the Christian religion developed.

The teacher's knowledge of children.--Time was when we thought of the
child as a miniature man, differing from adults on the physical side
only in size and strength, and on the mental side only in power and
grasp of thought. Now we know better. We know that the child differs
from the adult not only in the _quantity_ but also in the _quality_ of
his being.