not read the books, study the pictures, go to hear the speakers, or busy
themselves with problems to which their interest does not directly and
immediately lead them. A fine sense of duty and obligation is all very
well, but it never can take the place of interest as a dynamic force in
life.

The number of Bibles sold every year would lead one to suppose that our
people are great students of the Scriptures. Yet the almost universal
ignorance of the Bible proves that it is one thing to own a Bible, and
quite another thing to read it. We may buy the Bible because other
people own Bibles, because we believe in its principles, and because it
seems altogether desirable to have the Bible among our collection of
books. But the extent to which we _read_ the Bible depends on our
interest in it and the truths with which it deals.

Nor should we forget that, while the United States is rightly counted as
one of the great Christian nations, only about two out of five of our
people are members of Christian churches. It is true that this
proportion would be considerably increased if all churches admitted the
younger children to membership; but even making allowance for this fact,
it is evident that a great task still confronts the church in
interesting our own millions in religion in such a way that they shall
take part in its organized activities.

Let each teacher of religion therefore ask himself: "To what extent am I
grounding in my pupils a _permanent and continuing interest_ in the
Bible and in the Christian religion? Growing out of lessons I teach
these children are they coming to _like_ the Bible? will they want to
know more about it? will they turn to it naturally as a matter of course
because they have found it interesting and helpful? will they care