Maturity.
The limited space of a single chapter permits only a suggestive discussion of this important period, so often neglected in the study of the pupil.
36. General Survey.—(1) Keyword, "Service." As childhood's task is absorption, and the task of youth adjustment, so the task of maturity is service. That which has been taken in must be given out again, enriched and enlarged by its stay in the soul. This is "the last of life for which the first was made," and to fail here means to miss the meaning of living.
All the factors necessary for service are now ready. Experience and study have supplied something to give, mental discipline and unimpaired physical strength supply the power for service, the broad outlook reveals the need and place of service, and the soul's awakening toward God and the neighbor have supplied the motives for service.
(2) Physical and mental power at the height. Waste and repair in bodily tissues are balanced during the prime of life. If development has been normal, the will is resolute, and judgment and reason are dominating and wise, for experience has given large data from which to draw conclusions. While the "Golden Age of Memory" is far in the past, the power of retaining new knowledge through the old is strong. To enter upon unfamiliar lines of thought, however, at this time and achieve any mastery is a mark of genius at least for hard work. The soul has capacity now for the highest feelings that can stir the heart of man, yet the character of those it really experiences is determined by what life has been feeding upon. The love, joy, and peace which give glory to maturity and old age grow alone out of thought upon true and pure and lovely things and those of good report.
(3) Development specialized, not general. Out of the many calls and lines of interest, each life has made choice of one or more, according to taste and circumstances. Along these lines growth and development proceed. It is not that life could not continue the many-sided expansion of adolescence, but growth demands nourishment, development demands activity. The need for the expert, the multiplicity of cares and the force of habit make it difficult to "keep up" along many avenues.
(4) Time of achievement. Achievement may or may not be that service which manhood owes. The purpose in the task determines that. To souls especially endowed and favorably environed come the riches of intellectual research, of creation in the arts, of successes in the business world. To the many, achievement means only struggle here, but waiting treasures laid up with God.
(5) Time of soul hunger. The teacher of men and women always faces hungry hearts. If the soul has not found satisfaction in God, the pangs of starvation are inevitably there. If the soul does know God, there is unspeakable longing for a clearer revelation and a deeper consciousness that in the midst of life's weakness and aspiring
"God's goodness flows around our incompleteness,
Round our restlessness His rest."
37. Opportunities Presented in Maturity.—But three great opportunities out of the many can be suggested:
(1) The opportunity to be somebody's ideal. Every successful life is the pattern for some eager, ambitious boy or girl. Did not Paul's exhortation to Timothy look toward this as well, when he besought him to "be an ensample in word, in manner of life, in love, in faith, in purity"?
(2) The opportunity to count for the kingdom. There are two lines of Christian work which call loudly to-day to men and women—personal evangelism and the missionary enterprise. These are the doors most imperative for the soul in possession of power, experience, and resources to enter. Beyond these doors lies the solution of every one of the world's problems.
(3) The opportunity to grasp the doctrines of Christianity. The relation of truth to truth cannot come until the mind can deal with the abstract. The little child grasps some of the facts of Christianity, but the adult mind has the power to deal with infinite reaches of truth, interdependent and self-illuminating. This is the "solid food for full-grown men."
38. Needs of Maturity.—(1) Adequate spiritual nourishment.
The time of disillusionment has come, much of the optimism and buoyancy of youth have gone. Life is found to be a struggle even with its victories, and responsibilities and sorrows weigh. The teaching must present a Saviour and a salvation sufficient for great heart needs. It is for the deep things of God that life's experiences have made mature souls hungry, and there is pathos in the superficial dole meted out by so many teachers—superficial because they themselves have never lived "down deep."
(2) The broad outlook. To busy men and burdened women, the class ought to be a place of vision. Absorbed in one's tiny corner through six toiling days, the seventh should give opportunity to lift up the eyes and look on fields glorious in their incoming harvest. There is refreshment and inspiration and incentive now in the news from China and Japan and the islands of the sea. The teacher must bring the world-view to the class if he believes that world service is God's thought for manhood.
(3) Emphasis on personal responsibility. This is the pivotal point upon which a life of service turns, and it ought to be the focal point of teaching. Long enough has stress been laid on the conditions in the world and what ought to be done. The need now is for a prophet to say, "Thou art the man!"
39. Difficulties.
(1) Pre-occupied soil. "The cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it becomes unfruitful."
(2) Fixedness of habit. Life's attitude is settled in thought, feeling, and will, and a change is possible only through the Spirit who can make all things new.
(3) The sin of idolatry. Every life that has not put God first now worships at the shrine of a self-elevated idol, the tangible expression of its ideal. To dethrone it from love and substitute Jesus Christ shakes to the foundations.
(4) Weakness of spiritual aspirations. It is a law of the feelings that repression instead of expression weakens a feeling and tends to its destruction. If the life has refused to act upon its impulses toward God through the years, the task of making the feeling strong enough to lead into action now is one beyond the power of the teacher. It must be done by God, who "is able to raise up even from the dead."
40. Results to be Expected.—As life nears its meridian and the west grows clearer, it ought to be with unveiled face and character changing into His likeness in beauty, love, and self-surrendered service.