(f) To neglect thorough study. Wherever there is good teaching there will be at least two students. One will be the teacher. Witness Dr. Arnold, of Rugby.
(g) To neglect private prayer in the teacher’s preparation. Said old Martin Luther, “Bene arâsse est bene studuisse.”
(h) To depend upon lesson-helps in the class. Crutches are not becoming to an able bodied man. But some teachers bring out the lesson crutches on Sunday morning and hobble through Sunday-school on them.
(i) To expect the superintendent to discipline each class. He is no more responsible for class order than a commanding general for the order of a corporal’s guard.
(j) To use the lesson verse by verse, ending each with the Æsopian interrogation, “Hæc fabula docet?”
II. Purpose and Expectation.
It is a mistake (a) to seek only for a scholar’s conversion. If growth does not follow birth, death will. Upbuilding in Christ is one great purpose of the school.
(b) To seek only to create interest in the lesson. There may be deep intellectual interest created, and no spiritual interest.
(c) To teach for the purpose of performing duty. That robs the teacher of one chief essential to success—heartiness.
(d) To teach for the purpose of inculcating one’s own peculiar religious views. Paul’s purpose was the right one—“to know nothing save Christ and him crucified.”