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The Bible Lesson
In all that men have written, where can be found anything that
has such a hold upon the heart, anything so well adapted to awaken
the interest of the little ones, as the stories of the Bible? In these
simple stories may be made plain the great principles of the law of
God. Thus by illustrations best suited to the child’s comprehension,
parents and teachers may begin very early to fulfill the Lord’s in-
junction concerning His precepts: “Thou shalt teach them diligently
unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in the
thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest
down, and when thou risest up.”
Deuteronomy 6:7
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The use of object lessons, blackboards, and maps will be an aid
in explaining these lessons and fixing them in the memory. Parents
and teachers should constantly seek for improved methods. The
teaching of the Bible should have our freshest thought, our best
methods, and our most earnest effort.
In order to do effective study, the interest of the child must be
enlisted. Especially by the one who has to do with children and
youth differing widely in disposition, training, and habits of thought,
this is a matter not to be lost sight of. In teaching children the Bible,
we may gain much by observing the bent of their minds, the things
in which they are interested, and by arousing their interest to see
what the Bible says about these things. He who created us with our
various aptitudes has in His word given something for everyone. As
the pupils see that the lessons of the Bible apply to their own lives,
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teach them to look to it as a counselor.
Help them also to appreciate its wonderful beauty. Many books
of no value, books that are exciting and unhealthful, are recom-
mended, or at least permitted to be used, because of their supposed
literary value. Why should we direct our children to drink of these
polluted streams, when they may have free access to the pure foun-
tains of the word of God? The Bible has a fullness, a strength, a
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