Km 
 
 ADULT 
 
 CLASS 
 STUDY 
 
 BY 
 
 IRVING F. WOOD 
 
ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
Edited by CHARLES FOSTER KENT 
 
 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 IRVING F. WOOD 
 
 THE PILGRIM PRESS 
 
 BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 
 
Copyright, 1911 
 By Irving F. Wood 
 
 THB • PLIMPTON • PRESS 
 
 [■W -D -O] 
 HORWOOD • MASS • U • S • A 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The adult class is a distinct division of the 
 Sunday-school. Neither in purpose nor in method 
 should it be dominated by the rest of the school. 
 It is as distinct as a debating club or a Chautauqua 
 circle is from a grade school. It is essential, there- 
 fore, that in the present series of Manuals the 
 problems of the adult class should have separate 
 treatment. 
 
 Questions regarding the organization and man- 
 agement of the class are considered in another 
 volume. This book deals simply with the subject 
 of adult class study. It attempts to suggest 
 what can be done in various types of classes 
 with various types of subjects. Variety in the 
 adult class is the key to the highest usefulness. 
 Classes differ as much as individuals, and no two 
 ought to be treated alike. For the leaders and 
 members of classes, then, a consideration of what 
 lines of study are available and how they may be 
 used so as to obtain the best results is a matter 
 of fundamental importance. 
 
 That this little book may be helpful in aiding 
 adult classes to become more useful factors in 
 
VI PREFACE 
 
 building up the kingdom of God is the hope of 
 the writer and the editor. Rev. Newton M. 
 Hall, D.D., of Springfield, Mass., has read much 
 of the manuscript of this book. I wish to 
 acknowledge my debt for this kindness, as well 
 as for much help in the past from Dr. Hall's 
 experience and publications in the field of adult 
 class teaching. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PART ONE 
 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I The Psychology of the Adult Class . . . 
 
 II The Purpose op Adult Class Study .... 
 
 III The Principles op Adult Class Study . 
 
 IV The Use of the Bible by the Adult Class 
 V The Adult Class and Extra-biblical Subjects 
 
 VI The Religious Value of the Study .... 
 
 PART TWO 
 
 COURSES FOR ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 VII The International System 75 
 
 VIII The Bible Study Union Lessons 86 
 
 IX The Young Men's Christian Association Courses 92 
 
 X The Constructive Bible Studies 97 
 
 XI Additional Bible Study Courses 104 
 
 XII Bible Reading Courses 114 
 
 XIII Extra-biblical Courses 126 
 
 vu 
 
PART ONE 
 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE 
 ADULT CLASS 
 
 A COLLEGE professor of much experience said, 
 "In my earlier years of teaching I thought most 
 The Study of my subject. Now I think most of 
 of Pupils jj^y pupils." This change is to be 
 expected. The efficient teacher will try to gain 
 a reasonable mastery of his subject, but he will 
 never forget his class, and as his experience grows, 
 his class will become far more interesting than 
 his subject. This is as true of Sunday-school 
 as of any other teaching. There has been a great 
 demand of late years for better lessons. The 
 demand came because the need existed. But 
 the Sunday-school teacher above all teachers 
 should think most of his pupils. He ought to 
 have some clear knowledge of the Bible. He 
 ought also to have some clear knowledge of the 
 peculiar needs and limitations of the persons 
 who make up his class. For the teacher of 
 adults, this is a task of greater difficulty, with 
 less outside aid, than for other teachers. 
 
 3 
 
4 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 The difficulty lies in the greater differentiation 
 and individuality of adults. Children, considered 
 
 one by one, are very unlike, but averages 
 lemwith of groups are startlingly alike. An 
 an Adult educator arranged to have the same 
 
 story told to groups of children in an 
 English city, an inland American town, and an 
 East-side school in New York. The story told 
 how a little boy, Johnny, was abused by a big 
 boy, Billy. Later Johnny had a chance to 
 avenge himself on Billy. What ought he to 
 have done? The percentage of children who 
 thought Johnny ought to have taken vengeance 
 varied with the ages, but for the same age it 
 was the same in all the groups. Child psychology 
 taken on the whole is uniform, that of adults less 
 so. High school classes differ more than classes 
 in the grades, college classes more than those 
 in high school, adult classes more than those in 
 college. It is on this account that teachers and 
 classes must be more closely fitted to each other 
 in the adult section than in any other part of 
 the Sunday-school. Unless a teacher is unusually 
 adaptable, the very fact that he has succeeded 
 with one adult class creates a presumption that 
 he will not succeed so well with another adult 
 class of a different type. "Why did Dr. A make 
 such an absolute failure as a college president?" 
 asked one educator of another. "He had been 
 
PSYCHOLOGY OF ADULT CLASS 5 
 
 a very successful pastor and thought he could 
 run a college like a church," was the reply. 
 It will seldom be possible for a teacher to run 
 class B like class A, in spite of the fact that all 
 adult classes have certain qualities in common. 
 
 There is less help for the understanding of these 
 common qualities than for those of any other 
 kind of students. The recent liter a- 
 erature on ture of education is abundant. Child 
 Adult Psy- psychology and the problems of adoles- 
 cence have been most carefully studied. 
 Every teacher dealing with pupils to the close 
 of the adolescent period may be supplied with 
 the richest fruits of modern educational study, 
 but there is almost nothing for the teacher of 
 adults. At the same time, it is recognized as 
 never before that education does not cease with 
 adolescence. It continues to the end of life. The 
 attitude of educators is expressed by President 
 Eliot. "It has been too much the custom to 
 think of education as an affair of youth, and even 
 of the earlier youth; but it really should be the 
 work of the whole life. . . . The prolongation of 
 the period of formal education for a considerable 
 minority of American children, and the provisions 
 of summer schools, evening schools, trade schools, 
 correspondence schools, business colleges, and 
 reading circles of many sorts, with public libraries 
 and book clubs, illustrate the increasing prevalence 
 
6 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 of the new idea that education is to be prolonged 
 through adult life, and may be carried on in a 
 systematic and active way long after the individual 
 has begun to earn his livelihood in whole or in 
 part." ^ Why, then, have we no study of the 
 psychology of adult education? Mainly because 
 the literature of education is based on the secular 
 schools, not on the Sunday-schools. When the 
 work of the church in education becomes as 
 scientific as the work of the school is today, we 
 shall have as careful studies of adult education as 
 we now have of the education of the child. This 
 will come in time. 
 
 The common qualities of adult classes grow 
 out of the common relations of men and women 
 to life. Their peculiarities depend on 
 Character- differences of education, occupation, 
 AduUs^ habits of thought, and religious and 
 cultural development. The common 
 qualities are fundamental. They are deeply 
 seated in the emotional nature. They have to 
 do with those relations to life which, as the years 
 go on, all men and women enter. Life presents 
 its lessons in a thousand ways, but the great 
 facts of feeling and will which make life worth 
 living do not greatly differ. The adult class of 
 the fashionable church on the avenue and of the 
 little country school at the Four Corners are much 
 
 * Education for Efficiency, p. 2. 
 
PSYCHOLOGY OF ADULT CLASS 7 
 
 more alike, in their feeling toward life, than they 
 seem to be. It is with these common qualities 
 that the psychology of the adult class deals. 
 
 Much educational psychology is concerned with 
 what is called mental processes; that is, the way 
 Adult Men- ^^^ niind works. Adult life modifies 
 tal Proc- mental processes. The mind is the same 
 
 ACQ AQ 
 
 machine, its general method of working 
 is the same, but it has numberless slight variations 
 from its own working at an earlier age. As in 
 all complicated machines, use has produced a 
 variety of effects. 
 
 The power of attention has grown. The child 
 can give attention to an object for only a short 
 period of time. The mind rests upon a point; 
 then, like a butterfly, it flits elsewhere. Educa- 
 tion is in part an attempt to train the power of 
 attention. The men who accomplish great things 
 are in general those who have the power of atten- 
 tion best under control; but in all ordinary persons 
 it still keeps much of its butterfly quality. With 
 most, its training results in the power to make 
 only short flights and often come back to its 
 former position, rather than in the power to rest 
 long on any one point. Test it for yourself. 
 Look steadily at any word on this page — like 
 "test," "training," "butterfly" — for five minutes 
 and note the result. "In the first minute we 
 see the word and understand its meaning, but 
 
8 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 soon our attention cannot persist, the meaning 
 fades away; our eyes still see those dead letters, 
 but there is no longer a word.*'^ Our attention 
 takes a series of short vacations by flitting to 
 other realms and coming back again. In this 
 way it meets the natural strain of fatigue. Such 
 an experiment shows us that it will not do to 
 assume that because people are grown up we 
 can expect any prolonged strain upon attention. 
 Test this in another way. Recall your own feel- 
 ing after listening to some address or sermon 
 filled with close reasoning and relieved by no 
 humor or anecdote. Did you not find the effort 
 to follow it growing greater, and at the end, if 
 your interest or your will power had held your 
 attention through it, were you not tired? "Were 
 ye tired after that sermon .f^" was asked of a Scotch 
 minister. "No, but it would a' done ye good to 
 see how tired the congregation was," he said. 
 If that sermon had been so good as to compel 
 their attention, they would not have been in the 
 least tired. 
 
 The wise teacher of adults will remember that 
 he, no less than the teacher of children, must 
 
 A*x X.. allow for the fatigue of attention. Even 
 
 Attention . , , , . . , 
 
 with adults, attention cannot be strained 
 
 too much. The method of relief will be different 
 
 from that of the teacher of children, but relief 
 
 * Miinsterberg, Psychology of the Teacher, p. 164. 
 
PSYCHOLOGY OF ADULT CLASS 9 
 
 must be studied none the less. Here lies the 
 function of the illustration, of humor, of the 
 *' aside," of the suggestive phrase which calls up 
 a picture for the mind to dwell upon for a moment 
 in the midst of abstract reasoning. A large part 
 of the value of discussion in the adult class lies 
 in the perpetual variety which furnishes a relief 
 to the attention. The eager teacher is often 
 prone to demand too much concentration. Re- 
 member that the mind is like a horse, which 
 cannot live on oats alone, but must have some 
 hay. This also furnishes one reason for lessons 
 with considerable variety and fulness of content. 
 The old International lessons often erred in 
 presenting too small a surface of subject matter 
 for the average class. After the attention was 
 exhausted, simply a rambling discussion followed. 
 Another universal quality important for the 
 adult class is association. The psychologists tell 
 
 us that intelligent children make con- 
 Association . . 
 
 Crete associations — cat recalls some 
 
 particular cat — and that adults are more apt 
 to make abstract associations. This is particu- 
 larly true in religious realms, where adults have 
 had training in abstract concepts. Again, test 
 it with yourself. Give attention to the ideas 
 which come into your mind as you read the words 
 "church," "love," "prayer," or "worship." Was 
 it the church in general, or some particular edi- 
 
10 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 fice; love as the Christian virtue, or some loving 
 person of which you thought? Now while the 
 adult is more inclined to think abstractly than 
 the child, two things remain true : concrete associa- 
 tions still retain a certain picturesque attract- 
 iveness which makes it wise to encourage them 
 in teaching; and there are always some adults, 
 often those who profit most by the class, who 
 retain all their life a tendency to concrete associa- 
 tions. The teacher of an adult class ought to 
 make a study of the associations of the class, 
 both individually and in common. Think, for 
 example, of your last Sunday's lesson. If there 
 was, as there always should be, freedom of dis- 
 cussion, what was the final subject which the 
 class considered.'^ What led to it.^^ What were 
 the steps by which the discussion developed, and 
 what subject in the lesson furnished the point 
 of departure for the discussion .^^ Write out the 
 chain of association, if you can. If you cannot, 
 give attention to it next Sunday and write it 
 out after you come home, putting down merely 
 catchwords of what led from point to point. Do 
 this for several weeks. Note how the different 
 members of the class associate subjects. Note 
 what points which might have been expected to 
 lead to discussion were not followed up by the 
 class. You will find in such a study a marvelous 
 revelation of the mental habits and the real 
 
PSYCHOLOGY OF ADULT CLASS 11 
 
 interests of your class. When your class dis- 
 cusses religion, do they show most interest in 
 the personal or the social aspect of it? When 
 they start with a Bible story, do they see its 
 bearing on any special elements of modern life? 
 Many a class failure could be turned into a success 
 if the teacher would study the free, unrestricted 
 association of ideas in its discussions. 
 
 Another difference is the shorter time needed 
 for association in adults. The adult mind usually 
 
 passes from one idea to another more 
 quired for rapidly than the child. This also has 
 o/ldeas'°'' its effect in teaching. There may be 
 
 more "touch and go" in adult class 
 teaching. The teacher may safely pack more 
 into a given time. Explanation and elaboration 
 may be curtailed. Discussions may wander wider 
 and move more rapidly from point to point than 
 would be profitable with a younger class. Perhaps 
 in no part of the teaching is a successful teacher 
 of children more likely to fail with an adult class 
 than here. 
 
 A third point is that association moves over a 
 wider range in an adult than in a child, be- 
 Wider cause of broader experience. "Sweet" 
 Range j^^ longer suggests only "candy" or 
 "sugar," or some other object in the realm of 
 taste, but may suggest a bird-song, a little 
 child, the face of Jesus ("Celestial sweetness sits 
 
12 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 enthroned"), Matthew Arnold's "sweetness and 
 light," Jonathan Edwards' characteristic word 
 ** sweetness," or many other things in many 
 fields. This breadth of association also bears on 
 adult teaching. It makes a wide range of sub- 
 jects natural to the adult class. It leads us to 
 beware of criticising a class discussion because 
 it seems to go far afield; perhaps it only follows 
 the natural course of association in the minds of 
 the class. This suggests the wisdom of consider- 
 able freedom in the development of discussion, 
 and the recognition that a close following of the 
 logical order of a subject may not be the most 
 profitable method of class discussion. 
 
 Another element of common psychology is the 
 rhythm of work and fatigue. We are familiar 
 Mental with it in physical labor. Anyone can 
 Rhythm j-^g^ jj- jj^ mental labor. Read ten unre- 
 lated words, as, for example, the words under each 
 other at one margin of this page; then try to 
 repeat them from memory. The first effort will 
 not be so successful as the fifth or tenth. But 
 continue it for fifteen minutes, and success will 
 begin to wane. This is the principle of accelera- 
 tion and fatigue. It holds as well of adult class 
 effort as of all other labor. A teacher will not 
 expect thought to move rapidly at the beginning 
 of the hour. If he wishes to start a discussion, 
 his suggestions must be more explicit than they 
 
PSYCHOLOGY OF ADULT CLASS 13 
 
 need to be a little later. The mind will not take 
 the bait quite so eagerly. Then the teaching 
 should be adapted to the growing mental alertness 
 of the class. Notice for yourself if the discussion 
 in your class is not very different in character 
 at the beginning and fifteen minutes later. Has 
 it not increased in alertness and suggestiveness? 
 Later still comes mental fatigue. That is the 
 time for review or for illustration. It is better yet 
 if the class closes before the least hint of mental 
 fatigue is visible, with all the senses alert for the 
 next lesson. The time will vary with different 
 classes, and with different lessons in the same 
 class. This matter is worthy of careful study, for 
 the conditions differ in each class. 
 
 No difference between the youth and the adult 
 is so great or has such far-reaching effects as 
 Adult ^^^ difference made by the relations 
 
 Slffe°^ in life. Self-support; the relation to 
 necessary labor, whether in the home 
 or outside; the obligations to varying groups of 
 friends and to the social community; the recog- 
 nition of social, civic, and church duties all make 
 radical differences in the adult point of view. 
 Obligations to husband or wife and children are 
 of the same nature, but more intimate and more 
 pressing, and so more weighty in their conse- 
 quences. All these affect the attitude toward 
 life so deeply that adult teaching must take 
 
14 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 them into careful account. The first thing is to 
 find, so far as may be, what is the attitude of 
 the class in these matters. The class stands in 
 the following relations: employment, home, rela- 
 tives, friends and acquaintances, civic and politi- 
 cal, church. Make it your business as teacher to 
 learn in a general way how the members of your 
 class stand in these relations. To watch the 
 course of discussions in the class for half a dozen 
 Sundays will usually reveal the trend of interest. 
 Do they respond with more alacrity to sugges- 
 tions of church duties than of home duties, or 
 the opposite.^ Are they interested in matters of 
 civic betterment.'^ Do they care to discuss the 
 relation of religion to the problems of their indus- 
 trial life.? A wise teacher need seldom seek per- 
 sonal information to learn how most of the class 
 view their relation to the various obligations of 
 life. As he learns, he can strengthen that which 
 is weak, lead from one interest to another, help 
 each member of the class to emphasize the sacred- 
 ness of his own special interest, and make every 
 hour of the class work throb with the good red 
 blood of actual life. The adult class cannot 
 afford to remain in realms remote from daily 
 living. Children can properly be interested with 
 fairy stories, but any abiding interest in the adult 
 class must come from a bearing of the lesson in 
 some way on actual life. 
 
PSYCHOLOGY OF ADULT CLASS 15 
 
 Certain rules in teaching grow out of this 
 fundamental fact of adult psychology. 
 
 The chief aim of education is efficiency. That 
 is the keynote of all modern education. The 
 ^^ . adult teacher must keep very close to 
 
 Efficiency . rw^^ - <• 1 1 1 . 1 . 
 
 it. Ine mterest oi the adult mmd m 
 the relations of life is so great that you cannot 
 long command its attention with things wholly 
 apart from these relations. These relations can 
 all be viewed from the religious standpoint. All 
 adult Sunday-school teaching must increase relig- 
 ious efficiency in the actual relations of life. 
 
 The group interest is worthy of special atten- 
 tion in adult teaching. The child, impulsively 
 
 loving and generous though he may 
 Impulse^ often be, is naturally self-centered, but 
 
 the adult is so placed in life that he 
 can seldom miss some perception of the value of 
 the social group. Even the most selfish adult, 
 whether sheltered in a self-centered home or 
 fighting alone a hard battle with the world, 
 recognizes group obligations. It is the work of 
 religious teaching to seize upon this group inter- 
 est, strengthen its obligation, broaden its range, 
 uplift its motive. Here lies psychologically the 
 strongest basis of appeal for the home, the 
 church, the town, the native land, and the mis- 
 sion enterprise. Carried to its highest develop- 
 ment, the social group is the kingdom of God. 
 
16 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 The kingdom of God cannot be made to reveal 
 its full meaning to a child, but the group inter- 
 est of the adult mind leads directly to it. 
 
 Adult experience often results in certain atti- 
 tudes toward life which differ radically from those 
 Psychologi- ^^ ^^ earlier age. One is the attitude 
 cal Effects of disillusion. No one reaches adult 
 Experience: ^^^^ without seeing some hopes fail. 
 Disillusion- gome promises lack fulfilment. An 
 ment • i «. • • i , 
 
 attitude of caution, with a tendency 
 
 toward general skepticism, is a frequent result. 
 Youth also has a period of skepticism and dis- 
 trust. Most thinking young people pass through 
 such a period, as a part of normal growth; but 
 the skepticism and distrust of adult life is differ- 
 ent. That of youth belongs to the period of 
 storm and stress. It is hasty, passionate, indis- 
 criminating. That of adult life is cautious, delib- 
 erate, willing to make many exceptions. It grows 
 out of the hard experiences of life, and so I have 
 called it disillusion. It has sundry manifesta- 
 tions. Sometimes it issues in a general pessi- 
 mistic attitude, the contrast of the natural 
 optimism of youth. This varies from the sneer- 
 ing, bitter kind, which does not often find its 
 way into the adult class, to a good-natured doubt 
 as to whether anything will turn out quite as 
 well as people expect. The attitude is often 
 uncomfortable for the adult teacher, especially 
 
PSYCHOLOGY OF ADULT CLASS 17 
 
 if that teacher has anything new to propose to 
 the class, for it is apt to be fond of spreading 
 wet blankets; however, it is seldom vicious and 
 is often an attitude not in the least blameworthy. 
 We must recognize it as a perfectly natural reac- 
 tion of certain types of mind in contact with 
 certain facts of experience. This pessimism never 
 yields to a deliberate attack. The wise teacher 
 will let it alone, but will try to build up by the 
 side of it a recognition of all the good things in 
 the world: high motives, unselfish deeds, gener- 
 ous judgments. No field supplies these as does 
 the Christian religion. If the adult class can 
 only bring the goodness of God and the love of 
 Christ to bear on daily life, pessimism will soon 
 disappear. Here is one power of the study of 
 missions. Often the story of mission devotion 
 and its result has touched persons in this attitude, 
 and given them such a faith in God and man as 
 not even the story of the life of Christ could 
 produce. It is the old tale of how the wind and 
 the sunshine contended to make the traveler 
 throw off his cloak. If the class can be filled 
 with the sense of the real nobility and heroism 
 which is in the world, the pessimistic attitude, 
 even if it persists, will be carried like a cloak on 
 the arm. 
 
 Akin to this is the frequent adult tendency to 
 the distrust of emotion. It is natural that in 
 
18 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 youth emotion, with other experiences of life, 
 should be taken at its face value. A few people. 
 Distrust of not always the strongest, never lose that 
 Emotion youthful attitude. Most adults learn to 
 be a little suspicious of emotion. Nowhere is this 
 suspicion so strong as in religion. The emotional 
 side of religion has appealed to many young people. 
 They have been swept away by it, and when they 
 found it unstable and evanescent, have settled 
 down to an abiding distrust of anything emotional 
 in religion, and often to a distrust of religion 
 itself, supposing it to be nothing but emotion.* 
 Now religious emotion, sadly overworked as it 
 has been, has its place. Happily for this kind of 
 people, its place is not in the adult class. Here 
 is the very place where those with this attitude 
 of distrust should find their best religious help. 
 Here they may learn that religion is not emotion, 
 but life. Here the intellectual and the ethical 
 may receive large emphasis. Here the pleasant 
 interchange of thought, the calm discussion, the 
 humorous turn, will often result in placing religion 
 on a new basis. In time, religious emotion may 
 be again trusted, but put in its proper place as a 
 by-product of the religious life, not as its main 
 content. 
 
 1 For many cases in point, see Starbuck, The Psychology of Relig- 
 ion, Chaps. XVIII-XIX. The experience is more common than is 
 usually supposed. 
 
PSYCHOLOGY OF ADULT CLASS 19 
 
 The class ought to welcome, then, people who 
 are pessimistic or distrustful of emotion. Of all 
 our Christian institutions, a good adult class is 
 the best and most helpful place for them. Very 
 often, too, they can bring to it a clear-sighted 
 view of life which no other type of person can 
 offer. On the whole, I am not sure but the best 
 teachers need them quite as much as they need 
 the teachers; for the best teachers are idealists, 
 and an idealist is always most useful when some- 
 one stands by and insists that he keep his feet 
 on solid earth. 
 
 Another result of experience is the ready 
 response which the adult mind gives to appeals 
 The Place to the will. A large part of the skill 
 of the Will Qf ^ teacher of children lies in knowing 
 how to move the will by motives which suit 
 varying types of pupils. Life has still more ways 
 of teaching the lesson, so that most of the adult 
 class have learned the value of the will in life. 
 This fact makes the teaching in some ways easier. 
 It transfers much of the emphasis of teaching. 
 The teacher can assume that if a thing is shown 
 to be worth knowing or worth doing, a large 
 part of the class will without urging put forth 
 the effort which will result in the knowledge or 
 the deed. The successful teacher of youth uses 
 all sorts of means to urge them to do the thing 
 that is worth while. Merely to show that it is 
 
20 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 worth while is jiot enough. The successful adult 
 teacher tries to show that the thing is worth while, 
 and is willing to trust largely to the experience 
 of life to teach that what is worth while ought 
 to be done. If, for example, it can be shown 
 that missions really have good results, it is not 
 necessary to spend time on the proposition that 
 missions ought to be supported. 
 
 Another result of experience is the recognition 
 of the value of habit. A large part of the educa- 
 The Value tion of children consists in inciting them 
 of Habit ^Q form useful habits. The habits may 
 be bodily, like the movements of sewing or piano 
 playing, or mental, like the habit of reading 
 or of logical thinking, or moral, like the habit 
 of truth-telling or of prayer. The education of 
 adults is directed not so much to form new habits 
 as to adapt those already formed to more useful 
 purposes. The habit of sewing is already formed, 
 and the woman takes a course in dressmaking. 
 The habit of manual labor is formed, and the man 
 takes a course in wood-carving. Now the object 
 of the Sunday-school adult class, defined in terms 
 of habit, is to turn habits of the religious life 
 to more useful purposes. It is a great help to 
 adult education that life has taught the value 
 of habits. Think of the things in religious life 
 which ought to become habits: Bible study, 
 prayer, public worship, truth-telling, trustworthi- 
 
PSYCHOLOGY OF ADULT CLASS 21 
 
 ness, cheerfulness, kindly judgment of others, 
 sympathy, helpfulness — a long list could be 
 made. You might try an experiment in your class. 
 Make a list, during perhaps three months, of 
 qualities and actions, as they arise in class dis- 
 cussions, which ought to be habitual for the 
 religious person. Such a list would be a more 
 powerful sermon than any minister could preach, 
 because for long years life itself has been preach- 
 ing daily of the power of habits. You need not 
 say much. Anything you can say will be weak 
 beside the insistent voice of experience. 
 
 Lastly, the adult class benefits by the past 
 development of religious experience. Religious 
 Religious experience is of various kinds. It can- 
 Expenence j^^^. ^|j ^^ gauged by one standard. 
 Even the member of the class who seems most 
 indifferent to religion has really had a great deal 
 of religious experience. What else were the 
 large hopes of youth, the half-unconscious trust 
 in a guiding Providence, the inarticulate prayers 
 when sorrow and disappointment came.^^ The 
 whole fundamental structure of most lives is 
 religious, whether the persons themselves realize 
 it or not. 
 
 In the ordinary sense of the word, the adult 
 class usually has a rich body of religious experi- 
 ences to build upon. The teacher ought always 
 to keep this in mind. The class is both to acquire 
 
22 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 new experiences, and to enrich, broaden, and rein- 
 terpret experiences already precious. The teacher 
 should study those experiences. Where have 
 they departed from conventional lines .^^ — for you 
 may be sure that they have been unconventional 
 in some persons. Has the experience been fairly 
 uniform, or does the class present various types .^ 
 Has it been developed in the church or not; under 
 emphasis on ritual or creed or emotion or on none 
 of these .^ How would the religious life differ if 
 it had been developed under other circumstances? 
 Is it unbalanced in any direction.^ How can its 
 strength be emphasized and its weakness over- 
 comes^ No teacher has so rich a past to work 
 upon as the Sunday-school adult teacher, and no 
 one has so fine an ideal to work toward. His 
 ideal is *'the development of the Christ-life" in 
 himself and in the class. 
 
 Books bearing on adult class psychology: 
 
 James, "Talks to Teachers on Psychology." Holt, 
 
 1900. 
 MuNSTERBERG, "Psychology and the Teacher." 
 
 Appletons, 1909. 
 Starbuck, "The Psychology of Religion." Scribners, 
 
 1899. 
 CoE, "The Spiritual Life; Studies in the Science of 
 
 Religion." Eaton and Mains, 1900. 
 "The Religion of a Mature Mind." RevelU 
 
 1902. 
 
II 
 
 THE PURPOSE OF ADULT 
 CLASS STUDY 
 
 Every adult class should have its distinct 
 purpose. This does not mean that every class, 
 
 even in the same Sunday-school, should 
 of a Defi- have the same purpose. Rather, it 
 pos^e^"^" i^^aiis the exact opposite. Each class 
 
 should study to individualize itself and 
 to see exactly what its proper object is as distinct 
 from that of every other class. The adult adher- 
 ents of any church are of various tastes and 
 spiritual needs. Often they are of very different 
 intellectual training. The pastor in the pulpit 
 must deal with them more or less in the mass. 
 He is often conscious that what is strong meat 
 for one will be rather watery milk for another. 
 There are reasons why a church should cut 
 through all classes and conditions in a community. 
 The church represents the comprehensive king- 
 dom of God. But the adult class, which is not 
 the church, but only a means of most effectively 
 accomplishing certain results in the church, may 
 
 23 
 
24 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 well adjust itself more specifically to the particular 
 needs of certain groups. 
 
 Should the adult class, then, aim to be as large 
 as possible, to comprehend all the adults in the 
 „ , church? Should it be the adult class 
 
 and Pur- of the Sunday-school? I answer with- 
 ^°^® out hesitation. No. It is true that 
 
 there is a glamour about mere numbers which 
 makes a large class, like a rolling snowball, in- 
 crease in proportion to its size. There are certain 
 cases where the strong personality of a teacher 
 gathers a large class who would not otherwise be 
 drawn together. Such cases are neither common 
 nor ideal. In recent adult class movements, with 
 machinery largely designed to multiply numbers 
 and with much emphasis on attractive features, 
 classes of a hundred and a hundred and fifty are 
 not unknown. The need of adult classes is so 
 great that one hesitates to criticise them because 
 they seem to succeed too well, but we must look 
 upon such overgrown classes as a means to some- 
 thing better in the future. The experience of 
 colleges and universities is of value for the 
 Sunday-school. These institutions, with trained 
 teachers and all the aids which professional edu- 
 cation can give, regard forty as about the largest 
 size for a properly conducted class. Of course 
 mere lecture classes may increase indefinitely. 
 True, the adult class is not a college class, and 
 
PURPOSE OF STUDY 25 
 
 has no "recitation," but it has, if it is an ideal 
 class, discussion, which limits the convenient size 
 in much the same way. The rule is this: The 
 ideal class will not be too large for free, indi- 
 vidual discussion. This will limit the convenient 
 membership to forty or fifty. Above that num- 
 ber it is not a class, but an audience. Better 
 six classes of twenty-five than one class of one 
 hundred and fifty. 
 
 The ideal for adult classes is found in graded 
 groups of people, each group pursuing its own 
 purpose, even though all may be study- 
 ing the same lessons. It is not essential 
 that the group be large. Half a dozen people 
 may make a class which is quite as successful and 
 quite as useful as the class of fifty. It depends 
 (1) upon grading, (2) upon the adaptation of the 
 teacher to the class, and (3) upon its purpose. 
 To be successful it must have a purpose. 
 
 What purpose, then, may the adult class have? 
 Its main purpose may lie entirely outside its field 
 Different of study. Its purpose may be to 
 Purposes stimulate interest in church work among 
 its members and others who may be drawn into 
 the class. This is a perfectly legitimate purpose, 
 and, for young people, married or unmarried, is 
 often of great use. It may be a pastor's class, 
 where he tries to place himself in personal rela- 
 tions with a group of people. It may exist to 
 
26 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 provide a Christian social center for its members. 
 In these cases the class is an arm of pastoral 
 work. But all classes must have a course of 
 study, and if they are to hold their membership, 
 the study must have its definite and valued 
 purpose. The purpose of the study of all classes 
 falls under one of two general heads: (I) infor- 
 mation, or (II) inspiration. 
 
 I. The class may very properly desire to know 
 some particular group of facts. There are a 
 Informa- large number of things about which 
 **°^ Christian people ought to be informed. 
 
 In some cases practical action would be very 
 different if people only knew the facts involved. 
 In other cases knowledge is a part of intelli- 
 gent Christianity. Some of these things are not 
 appropriate subjects for pulpit consideration. 
 Where they are, it is often much better to present 
 them under the conditions of free discussion in an 
 adult class. Where can you find a better place 
 to obtain and discuss the facts about the modern 
 study of the Bible, or the teaching of Jesus 
 concerning wealth, or the real meaning of the 
 book of Revelation, or the actual relationship of 
 socialism and Christianity, or the enforcement of 
 liquor laws in your own town.^^ These subjects, 
 and a hundred others, need discussion. The 
 average man has questions about them which 
 books and lectures do not answer. If he is to 
 
PURPOSE OF STUDY 27 
 
 be an intelligent member of a Christian com- 
 munity, he needs a chance to consider them from 
 all sides. We have hardly yet begun to use the 
 adult class as we might as a means of Christian 
 education. 
 
 Here is a partial list of subjects on which a class 
 may seek information: 
 
 A. Biblical Subjects. 1. The geography of 
 Palestine. 2. The history of Israel, or some 
 Biblical part of it. 3. The religion of Israel, 
 Subjects JQ some of the periods of its growth. 
 4. The characteristics of some group of biblical 
 books; history, prophecy, wisdom, apocalypse, 
 gospels, or epistles. 5. The origin, meaning, 
 and contents of some one of the greater books 
 of the Bible, like Samuel, Isaiah, Job, Proverbs, 
 Mark, Romans, or Hebrews. 6. The life and 
 times of a biblical character; as, for example, 
 David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, Christ, or 
 Paul. 7. The teaching of Jesus, in general or 
 on special subjects. 8. Paul's system of thought, 
 or that of the Johannine writings. 9. The early 
 church (with an attempt to realize its life and 
 thought, its limitations and triumphs). 10. The 
 modern way of looking at the Bible: what it is 
 and how it compares with the older way. 
 
 These subjects need not call for special courses 
 of study. The class which is pursuing, for exam- 
 ple, the International Uniform Lessons may well 
 
28 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 consider at the beginning what it will try to get 
 out of the lessons for the coming quarter. The 
 purpose may be very simple. The class may 
 decide that at the end of the course of lessons 
 the members will know at least how the towns 
 mentioned are situated on the map of Palestine, 
 the order of the places visited in Paul's missionary 
 journeys, the elementary outlines of Hebrew his- 
 tory, or the great divisions of the life of Christ. 
 A simple purpose is not necessarily a silly purpose. 
 Every portion of the Bible will open up its own 
 possibilities, and each class will have its own needs, 
 but some definite purpose the class ought con- 
 sciously to have. 
 
 B. Historical Subjects, 1. The history of the 
 Church. 2. The history of some particular period 
 Historical of the Church, as the Reformation. 
 Subjects 3 'pjjg lives and characters of great 
 men, as Augustine, Luther, or John Knox. 4. 
 The history of a special denomination. 5. The 
 growth of doctrines and ideas in the Church. 6. 
 An outline of missionary history. 7. The history 
 of religious reforms. 
 
 History is a great balance-wheel. Half the 
 religious fads would disappear and most of the 
 fretting alarms about the decay of religion would 
 lose their power if people knew the history of 
 religion. 
 
 C. Subjects Concerned with Present Day Re- 
 
PURPOSE OF STUDY 29 
 
 ligion. 1. The present attitude toward religion. 
 2. The churches in America. 3. Social, municipal, 
 Present ^^ national problems studied in the 
 Day light of Christianity. 4. The doctrines 
 
 e igion ^^^ church life of particular denomi- 
 nations. 5. Reforms: temperance, philanthropy, 
 and other movements. 6. The individual Chris- 
 tian life in relation to present social and business 
 conditions. 7. Mission work, home and foreign. 
 
 Biblical and historical knowledge is not an end 
 in itself. It exists for the sake of life. The 
 complex life of the present day has many problems 
 on which intelligent Christians need information. 
 To take a very simple illustration, how many of 
 your own class know what missions your denomi- 
 nation is supporting, or what is the present 
 status of temperance legislation in this country .^^ 
 
 Some of these subjects would call for special 
 courses of study, others would not. The Inter- 
 national and other systems often present material 
 which leads directly to the treatment of some of 
 these subjects. The temperance lessons of the 
 International system are often — and not with- 
 out reason — regarded as a bore. The time 
 allowed for them might well be used, for a year, 
 in gathering information about the local condi- 
 tions concerning temperance legislation and edu- 
 cation and the best ways of dealing with the 
 great evil. 
 
30 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 II. Inspiration. After all, the thirst for 
 information is neither profound nor universal. 
 . . Adult classes usually consist of busy 
 people. They often come to the class 
 tired, with no time to contribute to its informa- 
 tion, and little inclination to assimilate what 
 others may contribute. Inspiration and not 
 information is what they want, and, whatever 
 may be the case elsewhere, the adult class should 
 have what it wants. Its wants usually measure 
 its needs as well as its capacity. The members 
 come worn with the week's work. They want to 
 get into a different atmosphere from that of their 
 labor. They want to be brought into touch, in 
 a more informal way than by the church service, 
 with the things of the spirit. They want to be 
 lifted a little in their religious life. The adult 
 class may be made a very valuable means of 
 grace. This the class of information ought to be, 
 and the class of inspiration must be. The leader 
 is a minister of the Word as much as if he stood 
 in the pulpit to preach. He ought to look on his 
 task as holy work. Inspiration ought always to 
 be his ultimate purpose. Sometimes it must be 
 his only purpose. 
 
 It is impossible to classify or subdivide this 
 purpose, as one may the purpose of information. 
 The forms it will take will be determined not by 
 subjects, but by persons; and they will not be 
 
PURPOSE OF STUDY 31 
 
 arranged beforehand with the class. The wise 
 teacher, however, will look ahead over the lessons 
 and see that no member of the class misses his 
 own needed inspiration. Patient Mrs. Smith, 
 whose only wealth is her houseful of children, and 
 whose clothes look just a little shabby — will not 
 some lesson have a helpful message for her? 
 Mr. Jones, whose business is in danger of absorb- 
 ing him, body and soul — what lesson will water 
 the withering plant of his spiritual life.^^ The 
 local election comes soon, perhaps, with its vital 
 moral issue. Does any lesson lead naturally to 
 its full and frank discussion? 
 
 Some teachers may have the satisfaction of 
 saying, "My class knows this and this which it 
 did not know six months ago." The teacher 
 whose purpose is only inspiration will think, 
 though he may not say, "I believe that A and B 
 and C have been helped in their lives by being 
 members of my class for the last six months." 
 
 May the two purposes be combined ? Certainly. 
 That is the ideal way. Then the class will have 
 before it the object of gaining information, and 
 the teacher, when he sits alone with his lessons, 
 will think most of inspiration. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF ADULT 
 CLASS STUDY 
 
 Modern educational literature lays down few 
 
 principles which will apply unchanged to the adult 
 
 class. This is partly due to the fact 
 
 New Prin- j-j^^j. j-jj^ literature deals almost exclu- 
 
 ciples 
 
 Needed for sively with childhood and adolescence, 
 
 Study ^^^ ^^^ partly to the fact that the majority 
 
 of adult classes are not classes in any 
 
 proper sense. Their aim is not educational, in 
 
 the strict meaning of the term. They are more 
 
 properly clubs, whose object is the mutual benefit 
 
 of their members by the discussion together of 
 
 religious subjects growing out of the lessons. 
 
 Most of the classes whose purpose was described 
 
 in the last chapter as inspirational would fall in 
 
 this group. The adult class needs a set of 
 
 principles all its own. These principles are in 
 
 the main obvious enough when once stated, 
 
 though some of them are very easily violated in 
 
 practise. 
 
 Some of the principles are the following: 
 
 32 
 
PRINCIPLES OF STUDY 33 
 
 1. The adult class must choose its subjects of 
 study with reference to its own needs. 
 
 This does not necessarily mean that the adult 
 class must have a different course from the rest 
 of the school. That may or may not be. It 
 means that what is done with the course must 
 be what is appropriate to the class. The school 
 may all be studying the life of David. It will 
 profit the adult class little to repeat for the fiftieth 
 time that David reigned seven years in Hebron 
 and thirty and three years in Jerusalem; but the 
 ideals which guided his public and private life, 
 the Nemesis of sin and suffering, the likeness of 
 his character and statecraft to the life of today — 
 these are adult subjects. In the life of Jesus 
 younger classes will study the picture which the 
 incidents present. The adult class will press 
 behind the picture to the meaning of his life 
 and teachings. The doom of thousands of adult 
 classes has been fixed when their teachers forgot 
 that they must study adult subjects and proceeded 
 to feed them with milk and not with meat. Noth- 
 ing is more pitiful than to see grown men and 
 women, to whom the stories of the Bible have been 
 familiar for decades, sitting down wearily once 
 again in the outer court of biblical incident. 
 
 2. The adult class methods of study are radically 
 different from those of the rest of the Sunday-school. 
 
 Certainly, you say. This fact is too plain to 
 
34 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 need statement. To which I reply, It ought to 
 be, but it is not. We are the heirs of practise 
 formed in the early days of the International 
 Lessons, when all the school used the same lesson 
 papers and gray haired men and women patiently 
 asked and answered the printed questions set 
 before them — "What did Jesus say.?" "What 
 did the disciples reply .'^" "What did Jesus then 
 say.f^" It is to be hoped that such inanities are 
 now things of the past, but their influence still 
 remains in too little differentiation of the methods 
 employed by the adult class. The principles which 
 follow aim to suggest proper adult class methods. 
 
 3. The adult class should he a forum for the 
 discussion of subjects of real social, moraly and 
 religious importance. 
 
 There is a place for the lecture and address in 
 adult class teaching, but the normal method is 
 that of discussion. These classes are not little 
 pitchers to be filled up; no class of any age is, for 
 that matter. The members of an adult class may 
 have as much knowledge as their teacher. Even 
 if not, they usually do not wish to listen to a 
 lecture. They want to talk things over fully and 
 frankly. Only the class which discusses vital 
 themes in a sane and constructive way has a 
 permanent lease of life. Such a class will survive 
 a change of teachers or any other shock. But 
 what is discussed must be of real value. How 
 
PRINCIPLES OF STUDY 35 
 
 determine what is of value? There is an objec- 
 tive test: Does the subject make hfe better? 
 There is a subjective test: Is the class capable 
 and desirous of discussing the subject? Many a 
 valuable subject is profitless for a particular 
 class, but no teacher ought to be satisfied until 
 his class has formed the habit of talking things 
 over. The habit may not be attained this week 
 or next or for several months, but that is an 
 important goal to be reached. For this reason a 
 class must not be too large; it must be congenial; 
 it must have a teacher skilful enough to introduce 
 subjects of value and self -rest rained enough not 
 to say himself everything that can be said about 
 them. 
 
 More important still is another principle: ' 
 4. The discussion in an adult class must he 
 absolutely free. 
 
 Every member must be free to express his own 
 ideas. These ideas may be totally different from 
 those of anyone else. Never mind. Others may 
 think them "heretical" or "dangerous" or what- 
 ever other choice epithet they choose to apply 
 to opinions they do not hold. That makes no 
 difference. He has a right to the expression of 
 his opinion. If everyone else thinks differently, 
 still his expression does others no harm and does 
 him a vast amount of good. The adult class is the 
 last place in the world in which to say "Hush." 
 
36 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 Still further, if some member holds an unpopular 
 opinion the teacher must see that it is fully and 
 fairly presented. He must help to bring out its 
 strong points. He ought to aid everyone in the 
 class to do this, even though the teacher may 
 not himself hold those views. The teacher can, 
 at the same time, protect the class from the 
 talkative man who consumes time without profit. 
 Having made an opinion clear, the class will pass 
 on to other matters. All must understand that 
 extensive argument is not in place in the class. 
 From this principle comes directly the next: 
 5. The adult class is not the place for the settle- 
 ment of questions. 
 
 When a subject has been thoroughly discussed, 
 and the teacher has seen that all sides have been 
 justly presented, drop it. It is not necessary 
 that the class should come to an agreement. If 
 there is a difference of opinion in the class, there 
 certainly must be no pressure to secure absolute 
 agreement. You are, for example, studying the 
 story of Christ's infancy. To some the virgin 
 birth seems necessary to Christian faith; to 
 others it seems only a beautiful legend. Give 
 each side expression and leave it. In this way 
 a class may be harmonious and yet contain most 
 radical differences on even "vital" subjects. Let 
 toleration begin with the house of God; for if it 
 does not, be sure that judgment will. 
 
PRINCIPLES OF STUDY 37 
 
 6. The adult class may often profitably pursue 
 independent subjects of study. 
 
 I have pleaded for freedom of discussion; I 
 would plead for equal freedom in the choice of 
 subjects of study. An adult class cannot afford 
 to be bound to any inflexible procedure, unless 
 for very good reasons. No matter what course 
 it is studying, subjects will come up which are 
 worth looking at more closely. A class has often 
 just got well into the consideration of a subject 
 when the time is up. "Let us continue it next 
 Sunday," someone proposes. The regular lesson 
 may be postponed, omitted, or disposed of briefly, 
 as desired. Short courses of lessons up to a dozen 
 in number may often be arranged with great 
 profit. Some special field of Bible study, or the 
 study of a social problem, or of the forces of good 
 and evil in the local community, may often be 
 most profitably treated in such courses. Aside 
 from these, which might be called parenthetical 
 courses, every adult class ought to consider 
 whether or not it should pursue permanent inde- 
 pendent courses. I do not say that all classes 
 ought to pursue such courses. There may be 
 very good reasons against it. But the sub- 
 ject ought to be considered; and the greater 
 the capacity of the class for study, the more 
 the presumption in favor of the independent 
 course. 
 
38 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 7. The class may exist without study. 
 
 Many classes exist for other purposes than 
 study. Many other classes are made up of 
 members who have no taste or even capacity for 
 study. Others are made up of people who, in 
 our rushing modern life, are utterly exhausted 
 with their daily work and, with the best will in 
 the world, would find adequate study impossible. 
 What can such classes do ? Why, come together 
 on Sunday and talk things over. Will it not be 
 profitless ? No, not if their teacher is willing to 
 work faithfully in their behalf and so arrange the 
 lessons that they will lead into profitable fields. 
 Let no teacher think that if his class does not study 
 he need not. Quite the contrary. In that case 
 the teacher must be a "business committee" and 
 so arrange beforehand the treatment of the lesson 
 that it will lead naturally and easily into subjects 
 possible and profitable for class discussion. 
 
 8. Some members of the class may study and 
 others not. 
 
 Most classes, especially if large, are very mixed 
 bodies. Some members are able to give time 
 to study and delight to do it. Others are not 
 able. And yet the last usually need what the 
 class can give more than the first. In such 
 a class the natural tendency is often to exalt 
 study unduly, until those who do not study are 
 made to feel uncomfortable and out of place. 
 
PRINCIPLES OF STUDY 39 
 
 That will never do. It is neither kind nor wise. 
 Often those who do not study cannot or ought 
 not to do so. Even if that is not the case, they 
 are adults and have a right to do as they please. 
 The demand that everyone in a class shall study 
 is on a par with the request one sometimes hears 
 in a meeting, "Everybody sing; and if you can't 
 sing, read the words." Impertinence! Suppose 
 I want to worship and not to sing.^^ Not less is 
 it impertinence to demand that no one shall be 
 in your class who does not study. If you can 
 win them to study, well ; but they must be made 
 to feel at home, even if they do not study. Often 
 the class is most helpful to those whose lives are 
 so busy or so limited that study is impossible. 
 The class may be their one window into a brighter 
 and more intellectual hfe. They have a right 
 there. The teacher of children should not be 
 satisfied unless the whole class studies. The 
 teacher of adults must welcome members who 
 never intend to study a lesson. 
 
 9. The study must he planned as a course, not 
 as a series of detached lessons. 
 
 This involves looking ahead. Mere "reviews" 
 are not enough. "What was our last lesson 
 about.f^" may or may not be a useful question, 
 but the teacher must already have asked himself, 
 "What are the rest of the lessons of this course 
 about?" Then he must plan this day's teaching 
 
40 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 with reference to what he wants to do the next 
 and succeeding weeks. The class must avoid the 
 fragmentary study which has done so much to 
 degrade Sunday-school work for the past thirty 
 years. 
 
 10. The course or group of lessons should issue 
 in practical results. 
 
 This cannot always be the case with single 
 lessons. Sometimes a section of a book or the 
 whole book must be studied before its real relig- 
 ious value can be seen. It is not necessary to 
 "find the lesson" in every portion of Scripture, 
 but when the whole story or book has been care- 
 fully studied, a great truth will be revealed. The 
 class can then see the purpose of the writer, 
 although no single lesson has disclosed it. That 
 is Bible study worthy the name, and no adult class 
 ought to be satisfied with less. But it can seldom 
 be well done in the fragmentary way that the last 
 generation of Sunday-school study has inculcated. 
 
 11. Every lesson should have its individual 
 purpose. 
 
 A course of lessons may be a mosaic, the plan 
 only evident when it is completed, but the mosaic 
 is made of jewels. You are studying, for example, 
 the history of Israel told in the books of Samuel 
 and Kings. As a whole, it is a great sermon 
 on the relation of religion to national life. The 
 lesson is, perhaps, on Ahaz — a rather profitless 
 
PRINCIPLES OF STUDY 41 
 
 character, but his reign is an excellent example of 
 what happens when a weak man is placed in 
 a responsible position. Find in each lesson the 
 one thing of most value. Make it as strong as 
 possible. Make every minute of your time count. 
 Never putter over a lesson. It is not seemly to 
 ask grown people to come to a class and waste 
 time over what is not worth while. 
 
 12. A teacher must often subordinate subjects to 
 persons. 
 
 The greatest educational temptation is to teach 
 subjects and neglect persons. In the adult class 
 it is fatal to the class. One sometimes wishes that 
 with younger pupils it were fatal to the teacher. 
 You think you are to teach the life of Christ. 
 No. You are to teach Mrs. A and Mr. B and 
 Miss C. The life of Christ is only the means 
 by which you teach them; or, more properly, 
 they are teaching themselves with more or less 
 guidance and inspiration from their teacher. If 
 the members and not the subjects are emphasized, 
 the teacher becomes of less importance. 
 
 13. A teacher is not a necessity for all adult 
 classes. 
 
 A teacher has three functions: to plan the 
 work, to present subjects, and to lead the dis- 
 cussions. He is not always needed for the first; 
 a committee might often plan the work with 
 profit. Whether he is needed to present a subject 
 
42 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 depends upon the subject. If the class is study- 
 ing something with which the members are not 
 famiHar, then someone is needed to present it, 
 but in most cases at least half the class is as 
 familiar with the subject as the teacher himself. 
 He is not essential to guide the discussions. Other 
 members are usually competent. If a class can- 
 not find a teacher, it can do very well without. 
 It can call itself a club, appoint a committee of 
 arrangements, and elect a chairman. "We can't 
 find a teacher " is never a valid excuse for a group of 
 educated adults who really want to study the Bible. 
 
 14. The adult class study must he intellectually 
 dignified. 
 
 It must be worthy of an adult mind. The 
 name "class" implies intellectual means. It 
 must have religious values, but they are obtained 
 through intellectual means. The keenest, sharp- 
 est, most discriminating intellectual work in the 
 whole church ought to be done in the adult class, 
 for it need not be toned down nor diluted to suit 
 less mature minds, as more public services often 
 must. In this way it can best be made con- 
 tributory to spiritual growth. Remember that 
 the ideal relation between the intellectual and 
 the spiritual is never one of contrast, but one of 
 means and end. 
 
 15. Individuals may often he made responsihle 
 for particular parts of the lesson. . 
 
PRINCIPLES OF STUDY 43 
 
 Here lies the use of topics and papers. They 
 may be more or less elaborate, according as those 
 who prepare them have more or less opportu- 
 nity for study. These papers serve two purposes: 
 they set the members of the class at some definite 
 task; they contribute definite results to the class. 
 The task need not be very large nor the result 
 very scholarly to make it of great value. The 
 topic or paper may often be impromptu. A class 
 is discussing some subject. A question of fact 
 arises which the members of the class either do 
 not know or about which they disagree. Let 
 some person who is able to get the information 
 present it next week. The topic may, on the 
 contrary, be planned far ahead. Often a subject 
 assigned months beforehand is, especially to young 
 people, the open door to fresh intellectual interests 
 and a new life. Persons are often narrow because 
 no one ever suggested to them any broadening 
 influences. Many a Bible class has an intellectual 
 mission to fulfil. But the topic may also be of 
 rich spiritual value. How the religious life could 
 be enriched by the study and presentation of 
 such a topic as the prayers of Jesus, or the temp- 
 tations of the early church, or the outline of the 
 thought of Philippians, or the teaching of Paul 
 about food offered to idols as bearing on the 
 present day ! Other topics may come much closer 
 to practical daily life than any of these. Topics 
 
44 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 must not be made a burden. They must be 
 helpful, stimulating, welcomed by those who take 
 them; then the results will be helpful and stimu- 
 lating to the class. 
 
 The same results may be accomplished by 
 simpler means. Members may be asked before- 
 hand to contribute to discussions which will 
 arise; or to prepare a question on some portion 
 of the lesson. There are only two limitations: 
 the task asked must be large enough to be worth 
 while for an adult mind, and it must not be 
 beyond the capacity of the person to do or the 
 class to appreciate. 
 
IV 
 
 THE USE OF THE BIBLE BY THE 
 ADULT CLASS 
 
 The ordinary engine uses only a small propor- 
 tion of the power produced by the burning of 
 its coal. The ordinary adult class is 
 namic Force like the engine. Its use of its source 
 of the Adult ()f power is wasteful. It does not get 
 all the help and inspiration it might 
 from the Bible. 
 
 The adult class may use the Bible in two ways: 
 reading and study. Reading is like walking 
 Reading through a garden; one may go leisurely 
 and Study ^^^ even stop to see the flowers that 
 grow, but not bend his back to labor. Study is 
 like cultivating the garden; one needs to toil in 
 some measure, to dig beneath the surface, perhaps 
 to uproot some plants, and, if he will work effect- 
 ively, to use a few simple tools. It is curious 
 that, while there is much more careful study of 
 the Bible done by scholars than ever was done 
 before, there is less reading of it than there was a 
 few generations ago. This neglect is not natural 
 
 45 
 
46 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 and will be changed in time. The adult class 
 may well perform a great service in introducing 
 new and more fruitful habits of Bible reading. 
 
 But ought not the class always to study the 
 Bible? By no means. Many classes will find 
 Bible Read- their greatest use in only trying to read 
 ing Classes ^^^ gij^i^^ ^ot to study it. To be sure, 
 such classes will not be satisfied with reading ten 
 or a dozen verses. If systems which set only 
 such lessons are taken, the class will enlarge 
 the Bible sections used. A few classes have done 
 what many classes might do with profit — they 
 have met simply for Bible reading. Why not.^ 
 Clubs meet to read Milton and Browning and 
 Emerson and Longfellow; why not meet to read 
 the Bible? It is worth it. Classes have met, 
 with no limits of assignment, sometimes with no 
 teacher, to read and discuss informally a bibli- 
 cal book. The reading may be much or little, 
 depending on the amount of discussion to which 
 the reading gives rise. The plan lends itself to 
 the most informal of classes. It has been suc- 
 cessful in literary clubs and in such Bible classes 
 as have tried it. It can be used without elabo- 
 rate preparation or machinery of any kind. It 
 is specially adapted for classes with little or no 
 time to study, but with a desire to know the 
 content of the Bible. Few classes would not be 
 better for such a reading of some of the more 
 
USE OF THE BIBLE 47 
 
 important books. Will you stop and think for 
 a moment: how many of the members of your 
 class do you suppose have ever read through, in 
 such a way as to gain any sense of their unity and 
 general content, such important books as Job or 
 Proverbs or Romans or Hebrews? Some of them 
 can tell the story of the last novel they read. 
 How many of them can tell the story contained 
 in the books of Samuel or of Luke or of Acts? 
 
 The reading may be not only of single books, 
 but of groups of smaller books, with some com- 
 Connected parison between them: Paul's shorter 
 Reading epistles; the Minor Prophets; Mark 
 and Matthew or Luke. Short introductory talks 
 telling of the author, the purpose and the occasion 
 of their writing, are helpful, but even without 
 these the reading is valuable. One of the gravest 
 charges against the International Uniform Les- 
 son system is that its fragmentary character has 
 tended to destroy the habit and to some extent 
 the desire for consecutive Bible reading. The 
 Sunday-school has done the damage; it must lead 
 in providing the remedy. Nowhere can this be 
 done so well as in the adult class. 
 
 One may ask. Why should not the reading 
 be done at home? Why take up the time of 
 Reading in the class with it? If the purpose of 
 the Class ^jj^ ^j^gg |g ^^ become familiar with the 
 Bible, reading is not "taking up the time of the 
 
48 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 class." It is using the time properly. Why does 
 not a literary club read Browning at home, and 
 only come together to discuss it? Sometimes it 
 does, but often it wisely recognizes that there is 
 a stimulation to discussion in reading together. 
 An additional reason holds in a Sunday-school 
 class. Its occasional attendants, and even some 
 of its regular members, may have had no time 
 for home reading. 
 
 Occasionally a class may rely on home reading 
 and keep the class hour for discussion. This is 
 Home only in cases where all the class have 
 
 Reading some leisure and are thoroughly united 
 in their purpose, and where no obligation is felt 
 to the visitor or occasional attendant. Usually, 
 reading in the class is better. The discussion 
 must be free, spontaneous, with interruptions of 
 the reading at any point, as informal as among 
 a group of neighbors reading a novel on a summer 
 veranda. 
 
 One of the advantages of the reading class 
 
 lies in the possibility of the use of various ver- 
 
 TT ,,r . sions and the discussion of important 
 Use of Van- x • n 
 
 ousVer- differences between them. It is well 
 
 ^^°^^ to have among the members of the 
 
 class the Authorized Version and the English 
 
 and American revisions. The translation in the 
 
 Twentieth Century New Testament is put into 
 
 present day English, and is often very striking. 
 
USE OF THE BIBLE 49 
 
 The Douay version (Catholic) is much like the 
 Authorized Version, and is well worth compar- 
 ison. The translation in scholarly books like 
 Kent's "Students' Old Testament" may be used 
 with great profit. *'The New Testament in Braid 
 Scotts" is often very attractive to a person 
 of Scottish antecedents. The most important 
 version is the American Revision. It best 
 represents the agreement of modern scholar- 
 ship as to the text and interpretation of the 
 Bible. 
 
 The ordinary adult class is in effect a reading 
 class. Its use of the Bible can hardly be called 
 Points to be study. How may this reading be made 
 Considered ^f ^^^^ ^^j^^p gy attention to three 
 
 things: 1. The purpose of the book from which 
 the lessons are taken. This purpose ought to be- 
 come so familiar to the class that a mere allusion 
 to it will be sufficient. 2. The context. No story, 
 and very few sections in any books from which 
 Sunday-school lessons are usually taken, stands 
 by itself. The best commentary on a passage is 
 often its surrounding sections. 3. The meaning 
 of the passage itself. Not "the teaching of a 
 lesson," nor "its spiritual significance," nor any 
 other inference, legitimate or illegitimate, but the 
 answer to the simple question, "What point did 
 the writer mean to make in this section?" Often 
 this, which ought to be the easiest, is really the 
 
50 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 hardest thing for the Bible reader to see. We 
 have been so accustomed to "draw lessons" from 
 the Bible that it has become rather difficult for the 
 average Bible reader to hold himself down to 
 the plain and simple meaning of the Bible writer. 
 Often that meaning does not contain *' lessons" 
 and does not even seem religious. It does not 
 require study to see the meaning of a passage, 
 it only requires a reasonable amount of attention 
 in reading. Our very familiarity with the Bible 
 makes us careless of its meaning. The Bible is 
 the most thoughtlessly read book in the world. 
 To acknowledge that a class does not study the 
 Bible, but reads it, is no disgrace. A class which 
 reads carefully gets far more from its work than 
 one which studies carelessly. 
 
 The ordinary adult class reads the Bible. The 
 exceptional class studies it. The study of a great 
 The Bible piece of literature may take many 
 Study Class different forms, but it always means 
 work. Theclassmay study by proxy; the teacher 
 may do all the studying and impart his results 
 to the class. This is not always to be condemned. 
 Where the teacher has leisure and facilities for 
 study and the class has not, it may be a most 
 fruitful method. The members often learn, as 
 they could not otherwise do, what biblical study 
 is. The teacher must know the limitations of 
 his class and summarize where the details would 
 
USEOFTHEBIBLE 51 
 
 be barren and unprofitable to them. Rightly 
 used, this method may induce much personal 
 Bible study in a class. 
 
 Part of the class may study and part not, as 
 
 suggested on page 38, and yet the class need 
 
 not lose its sense of unity. A loves to 
 
 ^Uhe Class ^^^^y ^^^ ^^^ some time for it. B 
 of which does not love it and has no time for it 
 Studies ^^ if he did. Yet B may comment most 
 
 shrewdly and sensibly on the results of 
 A's study, and both may be equally valuable 
 members of the class. A composite class must 
 not be conducted wholly for the benefit of its 
 studying members, but a few such may be of 
 great assistance. They can look up matters 
 arising in the course of discussion which need 
 further study, can present subjects which throw 
 light upon the lessons, and can bring to the 
 class both results and methods of genuine study. 
 Happy is the teacher who hath a few of them. 
 But there is one condition. They must remem- 
 ber that they exist for the class, not the class for 
 them, else they are intolerable bores. 
 
 In a few classes everyone can study. Such 
 a class has certain advantages. It can attack 
 The Class ^^^ Bible study it chooses; Greek 
 that or Hebrew, if it likes. Some have. It 
 
 can lay out work far ahead. It can 
 study thoroughly. It can work for results which 
 
52 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 are intellectually worthy of adult minds. It can 
 be independent of the personal leadership of a 
 teacher, or it can use the services of a teacher 
 most profitably. To the lovers of study such a 
 class is a great delight. 
 
 It has its limitations, however. When there is 
 only one adult class in a school, it ought not to 
 do such special study that an occasional attend- 
 ant would feel out of place. It must never over- 
 load its more busy members. It must not pursue 
 lines of study of little interest to some members. 
 It must not fall into the fallacy of two volunteer 
 Bible classes in a certain college, one of which 
 called itself "religious" and the other *' intellec- 
 tual." Its most intellectual study must always 
 have an ultimate religious purpose. Under these 
 limitations a large Sunday-school might well form 
 a group of congenial and studious people into a 
 class that really studies. They need not be pro- 
 fessional students or highly educated people. A 
 taste for study is not limited to the educated. 
 The question is not, how much they already know, 
 but how much they are willing to learn. The 
 Sunday-schools need such classes to provide for 
 the legitimate intellectual tastes of some of their 
 choicest members. The knowledge that there are 
 classes which study in the Sunday-school adds 
 inspiration and dignity to the school and tends to 
 take away the stigma of superficiality which — 
 
USEOFTHEBIBLE 53 
 
 not always justly — rests at present on the term 
 "Sunday-school study." 
 
 But this is the very exceptional class. A class 
 which cannot command much time from its 
 How to In- members, nor aspire to courses which 
 spire Study demand close attention on the part of 
 all the members, may still hope to do genuine 
 Bible study. Many a class at present only 
 reading the Bible may well turn to its study. It 
 requires no elaborate paraphernalia, no profound 
 intellectuality to become a class which studies. 
 The class may begin very simply, with the resolve 
 to know the things of importance which lie beneath 
 the surface of the lessons. Some of these things 
 can be briefly stated. A class that studies ought 
 to know the characteristics of the kind of litera- 
 ture in which its lessons lie: Gospels, Prophets, 
 Epistles, wisdom or legal literature; the origin, 
 purpose, main contents and literary peculiarities 
 of the book studied; the relation of the particular 
 lesson to the book as a whole; the elements of 
 the explanation of any special difficulties in the 
 lesson. These things are introductory. For the 
 rest, each course and each lesson will present its 
 own topics of study. The Bible bristles with 
 them. What does the ordinary class really know 
 about such common subjects as the Pharisees, or 
 Paul's expectation of the second coming, or the 
 social teaching of the prophets, or Jesus' teaching 
 
54 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 about wealth? The fact is, exact knowledge on 
 any subject is rather rare. We do not expect 
 everybody to know the details of the tariff or 
 of irrigation in the West or of the history of the 
 Hohenstaufens. It is not fair to expect even 
 adults in Sunday-school to know the details of 
 biblical subjects. It is no disgrace if they do not. 
 But Christian people should aspire to exact knowl- 
 edge about the Bible. Every adult class may well 
 be urged to strive for it. The mere verbal knowl- 
 edge of the Bible which reading gives is not 
 sufficient. 
 
 Do not be misled by any distinction between 
 studying about the Bible and studying the Bible. 
 The distinction has a little truth, but is largely 
 fallacious. Studying the Bible is such a study of 
 the text as will make the Bible better understood. 
 Studying about the Bible is such a study of facts 
 pertaining to the Bible as will make it better under- 
 stood. The two are one in purpose. All study 
 which will make the Bible better known and better 
 appreciated belongs of right to the Bible class. 
 
 To the Bible class, too, belong the results of 
 modern Bible study. New light has been thrown 
 upon a score of biblical subjects. We 
 Bible study know better than did the earlier genera- 
 Adult^Class ^i^^^ ^^"^ *^^ gospels are related to 
 each other, what was the origin and 
 value of the apocalyptic literature, how the wis- 
 
USEOFTHEBIBLE 55 
 
 dom literature came into being, how the books 
 of history grew up, what the time after Malachi 
 contributed to the New Testament period. The 
 adult class is the most fitting place for the church 
 to familiarize itself with all the fruits of present 
 day biblical study. These fruits are the proper 
 heritage of all Bible students, and they make the 
 Bible richer and more valuable. An adult class 
 which is intelligent cares about the truth. For- 
 tunately for poor humanity, the truth is not neces- 
 sary for spiritual values. The negro preacher who 
 took for his text, "He maketh my feet like hens' 
 feet" (Ps. see 18:33), and preached of the faith 
 which clings to God as the hen clings to the roost, 
 had a great spiritual lesson ; but a true understand- 
 ing of the Bible would have furnished him other 
 texts with the same lesson. In the long run, the 
 soul never loses by learning the truth. Our spirit- 
 ual life will be the richer for finding out all we 
 can about the Bible. 
 
 We can express the sum of this chapter in one 
 statement: not all classes will use the Bible in 
 
 the same way, but all should use it so 
 Resume . « • i i mi 
 
 as to gam irom it the largest possible 
 spiritual power. 
 
THE ADULT CLASS AND EXTRA- 
 BIBLICAL SUBJECTS 
 
 May the adult class study extra-biblical sub- 
 jects? The answer to this is involved in the 
 
 answer to another question: What is 
 tion of the object of the class? The object is 
 ^Ts^l^^^ct" ^^^ same as that of the general church 
 
 service: the advancement of Christian 
 life in intelligence and efficiency. The Christian 
 life takes its start from the principles of the Bible, 
 but it is lived in the world of today. To many 
 adult classes the Bible and its principles are 
 fairly familiar. Such classes might well try to 
 apply the principles of the Bible to the life of 
 today, or to study the working of God's provi- 
 dence in history outside the Bible. The limita- 
 tion of extra-biblical study is clear. It must be 
 such study as will advance the efficiency of the 
 Christian life. To study the politics of the town 
 in order to learn how to win votes for a favorite 
 candidate is not legitimate Sunday-school work. 
 To study the same subject in order to learn how 
 
 56 
 
EXTRA-BIBLICAL SUBJECTS 57 
 
 political corruption may be suppressed is often 
 very proper. Our study of the Bible is too often 
 either merely academic, and touches life at no 
 point, or is only brought to bear upon the per- 
 sonal religious life. The social and civic life has 
 as yet been brought far too little in touch with 
 biblical principles. This is one result of the false 
 division of life into what is called religious and 
 secular. 
 
 Two extreme positions have sometimes been 
 taken on this subject. One is that the Sunday- 
 The Rea- ^chool should study only the Bible, 
 sonabie The other is that the Sunday-school 
 should study religion and morals from 
 any sources, using biblical material only when 
 it will illustrate the subject in hand better than 
 will anything else. Both these positions seem 
 extreme. Christian life can find most excellent 
 lessons outside the Bible, but after all, the Bible 
 is the body of literature upon which it is built. 
 The Sunday-school is the only institution whose 
 special function it is to teach the Bible. It should 
 not lightly reject this task. All its pupils should 
 receive a broad and, so far as it goes, a thorough 
 biblical training. But God has wrought elsewhere 
 than in Palestine and among the Hebrew people. 
 All history is his, and the study of the lives of 
 many men outside the Bible may lead to him. 
 Nor is it only the past which belongs to God. 
 
58 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 The present is his also. Christian Hfe must be 
 lived amid the complex problems of today. Social 
 and civic life calls for the application of the prin- 
 ciples of the prophets and of Jesus. Where can 
 all these things be studied more profitably than 
 in the adult class, with its freedom of discussion 
 and its religious atmosphere .^^ This class presents 
 a field for such study which as yet the Church 
 has only begun to utilize. Of all the subjects of 
 moral and religious application, only one has up 
 to the present time received any general recogni- 
 tion, and that is temperance. Even this is always 
 based, sometimes with very doubtful exegesis, 
 upon a biblical passage. The adult class at least 
 may well make the field of study much wider. 
 There are many subjects of practical reform which 
 are equally if not more pertinent to most adult 
 classes than temperance. 
 
 Extra-biblical subjects may often be treated 
 in short courses. Three months on the condition 
 Short of the city, sanitary, moral, religious; 
 
 Courses f^^j. ^eeks on the mission field in which 
 the individual church is interested; two months 
 on the public schools; a month on the history 
 of its own denomination — such courses are often 
 most useful to the class. Temporary classes for 
 those not usually attending the Sunday-school 
 may often be formed for such study. Every 
 regular class may well keep a short list of such 
 
EXTRA-BIBLICAL SUBJECTS 59 
 
 topics which it proposes to take up at some con- 
 venient time between longer courses, as a man 
 often keeps a Kst of books which he intends to 
 read as he has time. 
 
 Sometimes study is based in a merely formal 
 
 way upon the Bible. It is possible, for example, 
 
 to study the social problems of today 
 
 Should and to link each subject with some 
 Such Study i ., i- i , . o i • i 
 
 always be biblical utterance, bome where m the 
 
 BMiLr ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ th^ principle of 
 Passages? every needed social reform. It is more 
 profitable, however, to assume our basis 
 in general Christian morals and devote the atten- 
 tion of the class to the actual social problems. 
 The social teaching of the Bible is a topic large 
 enough for a course of its own. Pulpit traditions 
 may demand a biblical text of the preacher, but 
 nothing demands it of the adult class. The class 
 should never cut loose from the principles of the 
 Bible, but there is no reason why it should always 
 study its text. On the other hand, it is not well 
 to make extra-biblical courses the habitual study 
 of a class. There is in these days little danger 
 that our life will be too biblical. Unless in excep- 
 tional circumstances, a class will probably fulfil 
 its mission best by devoting not more than half 
 its time in any term of years to extra-biblical 
 courses. 
 
 What subjects are appropriate for study .^ One 
 
60 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 answers broadly: No subject is inappropriate 
 which makes the Christian Hfe better and more 
 . ._ efficient. Certain groups of subjects, 
 
 ate Sub- however, are specially fitted for adult 
 ^^^ ^ class use. 
 
 1. Church History. The divine guidance of 
 the Church did not cease with New Testament 
 times. Martyrs and reformers have lessons of 
 inspiration for today. It is of great value to 
 study how doctrines arose, how customs of worship 
 took shape, how movements rose and fell. A 
 certain pessimism often arises regarding religion. 
 A study of the past shows that religion has 
 weathered worse gales than those of the present. 
 Good people sometimes become alarmed at the 
 changes in Christian thought and practise now 
 going on. It is worth much for them to realize 
 that the Church has always been changing, and 
 that the very things for which they fear are them- 
 selves often only the products of past changes; 
 that religion itself is more stable than its special 
 forms, and that their fears are largely needless. 
 A class may study the history of its own denomina- 
 tion, not that its members may be more rigid 
 denominationalists, but more tolerant Christians. 
 The great periods of church history are always 
 fruitful — the early Church, the Reformation, the 
 time of the Puritans. The great characters of 
 the Church are inspiring: Augustine, St. Francis, 
 
EXTRA-BIBLICAL SUBJECTS 61 
 
 St. Bernard, Luther, Loyola, George Fox, Wesley. 
 The church to which he belonged makes little 
 difference; the man is the important thing. Few- 
 studies are more enlightening, more inspiring, 
 more calming to troubled fears for the religious 
 future than the study of the course of religion in 
 the past. 
 
 2. The Church in the Present Age. This is 
 really only a form of church history, for the doings 
 of yesterday have already entered into the record 
 of the past. No period of the history of the 
 Church is so full of great things as the present. 
 Do not let the class think that our own age is 
 commonplace. Far from it. The Church in our 
 own land, facing its problems in city and country, 
 ought to be an inspiration to every church member. 
 The whole subject of missions lies here. It is 
 the most glorious work in which any branch of 
 the Church in any age has ever engaged. It 
 ought to be a shame for a Christian not to know 
 two things about missions: the general facts of 
 the history, and the specific missions in which his 
 own denomination is engaged. There is no need 
 to organize special mission study classes for this 
 subject in the church. The senior and adult 
 classes, if properly managed, should attend to it. 
 In this busy day there is danger of the church 
 being fettered or becoming a nuisance by reason 
 of the multiplication of organizations. Between 
 
62 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 the regular missionary societies and occasional 
 courses in all grades of the Sunday-school, the 
 members of our churches ought to be well informed 
 on the subject of missions. The lives and work 
 of men in our own day, like Livingstone, Moody, 
 Paton, Grenfell, may be as inspiring as the lives 
 of Luther and Wesley. It is a great thing for 
 people to feel themselves part of a mighty move- 
 ment. This the humblest Christian of the present 
 day may do. The Spirit of God is in the Church 
 today as much as in New Testament times. 
 
 3. Social and Civic Problems. We study these 
 problems in Israel whenever we study the work 
 of prophets like Amos or Isaiah. Why should 
 we not study them in America as well.f^ Before 
 these problems can be settled rightly, Christian 
 men and women must know the facts regarding 
 them and Christian principles must be applied to 
 them. Labor and capital, trusts and monopolies, 
 municipal politics, water and light supply are all 
 capable of treatment from the standpoint of the 
 Christian principle of brotherly love. The Church 
 cannot shift its responsibility. The welfare of 
 homes, of women and of helpless children, lies at 
 its door. We must know the facts, not as they 
 may be luridly painted by unscrupulous agita- 
 tors, but as they may be discovered by a group 
 of calm and kindly Christian men and women, 
 eager only for truth. Ten years ago this could 
 
EXTRA-BIBLICAL SUBJECTS 63 
 
 not be done so easily. Facts about many things 
 in social life were not available. Today they are. 
 Any class may, according to its measure of inter- 
 est and ability, study social problems in the light 
 of Christian principles. 
 
 These subjects are the most difficult of all extra- 
 biblical subjects to handle, and require most skill 
 in the teacher and most good judgment in the 
 class. They are so full of explosive material, have 
 been made so much the shuttlecock of politics 
 and passion, that they require for Christian treat- 
 ment especial calmness and fair-mindedness. The 
 class must never be made the field of a tirade or 
 propaganda. Perhaps for that very reason these 
 are good subjects for an adult class to consider 
 frequently. Calmness and fair-mindedness are 
 excellent pagan virtues for Christians to adopt. 
 Here is, on the whole, the best place also to study 
 the remedies proposed for our social ills. Do 
 you ask. Shall we study single tax and socialism 
 and labor unions and prohibition in the Sunday- 
 school? Yes, in the adult class; provided always 
 that the class can do it with fairness; otherwise 
 not. These things must ultimately be tested by 
 Christian principles. Where can it be done better 
 than in the adult class? The entire range of 
 social and civic life has large moral issues. It all 
 belongs to Christ our Master. 
 
 4. Biography and Literature outside of Specific 
 
64 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 Church Circles. This opens the whole field of 
 history and of books. Moral teaching is not 
 limited to the lives of churchmen. The life of 
 Lincoln has its lessons as well as that of Luther. 
 The life and poetry of the gentle Whittier is 
 worthy the study of any class. Would you turn 
 the class into Shakespeare and Browning and 
 Tennyson? There are classes which have profited 
 by occasional courses in such studies. God speaks 
 through men outside the Bible, and we may listen 
 and hear his voice amid much that is often called 
 secular. A class may properly even take advan- 
 tage of passing popular interest in a subject. Put 
 together "The Servant in the House" and Ibsen's 
 "Pillars of Society" and see what a tremendous 
 sermon they make on Christian sincerity, how they 
 cut under all the smug hypocrisy and half -uncon- 
 scious Phariseeism of our common Christian life. 
 Given a class with the education and literary 
 tastes which make it appropriate, so that the work 
 is a pleasure and not a bore, and such subjects 
 will occasionally be most fruitful. They should 
 be studied, however, only after insuring the in- 
 terest of the class. Some subjects are adapted 
 to certain people and not to others. A popular 
 pastor, in his early ministry among working peo- 
 ple, took Omar Khayyam into a week-night meet- 
 ing and read the little audience all to sleep. The 
 adult class must not parallel this ineptness. 
 
EXTRA-BIBLICAL SUBJECTS 65 
 
 One limitation must always be kept in mind. 
 It is this: these subjects are to be studied with 
 relation to their moral and religious bearing. 
 They are to be held up to the light of religious 
 life, to be put to the test of Jesus' teaching of 
 love. A class is out of its realm if it studies 
 Browning as a type of English style. Browning 
 as a religious teacher is a fitting subject. This 
 applies with special force to social subjects. 
 Socialism as a purely social theory is not the con- 
 cern of the class; as bearing on the moral prob- 
 lems of life it is. What fulfils the law of love and 
 makes for righteousness is a question the Sunday- 
 school class may always ask. The class should 
 always listen for two things: the voice of God 
 out of the past; the call of God to present duty. 
 
VI 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS VALUE OF THE 
 STUDY 
 
 The Sunday-school is a religious institution. 
 It is also an educational agency. The primary 
 rru n^ mission of the Sunday-school is so to 
 
 1116 v^ld.SS 3. IIP! -i-»«i 1 
 
 Religious impart knowledge of the Bible as to 
 Institution -^gp-j^g i^g pupils to live a truly religious 
 life. The adult class also is a religious institution. 
 It differs from the rest of the Sunday-school in 
 that it need not always be educational, in the 
 sense of imparting information; but it ought to 
 be as much a religious force as the preaching ser- 
 vice of the church. Nothing should be used in 
 the class which does not have a definite religious 
 value. 
 
 What is religious value? There is a narrow 
 way of answering this question which would limit 
 Religious it to what we sometimes call the devo- 
 Value tional. It would only regard as of relig- 
 
 ious value that which rouses the emotions, makes 
 one feel the presence of God. This is only a small 
 part of religion. The ethical sense is also religious. 
 
 66 
 
VALUE OF STUDY 67 
 
 This is emphasized strongly in the Sermon on 
 the Mount. Rehgion is concerned with produ- 
 cing sincere righteousness in life. If the adult 
 class can promote this righteousness, it is fulfilling 
 its religious mission. This definition of religious 
 value passes, too, beyond the range of personal 
 life and has a large social significance. Anything 
 which tends to advance social righteousness has 
 religious value. The religious value of the adult 
 class, then, lies in aiding its members better to 
 serve God, and better to serve their fellowmen 
 for Christ's sake. 
 
 It is well for a class to keep Bible study upper- 
 most, else the temptation will be great to become 
 
 a picker-up of scraps. The predomi- 
 of making nance of the Bible will hold the class 
 Centeal^^ to the religious point of view; then 
 
 it may profitably look at a wide range 
 of subjects of vital significance in modern life. 
 The class may consider any subject with which 
 the Christian duty of its members, as parts of 
 modern society, is concerned. Often the Bible 
 study itself leads into such subjects. If not, the 
 class may always properly consider them apart 
 from any Bible lesson, but in the light of biblical 
 principles. We are not yet using the adult 
 classes as we should to answer the question, 
 What does God say about the problems of our 
 modern life.f^ The discussion of such problems 
 
68 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 does not lead to *' waves of heavenly bliss." If 
 it raises emotions, they are not usually of the 
 kind we call religious; but the success or failure 
 of Christianity in the world depends primarily 
 upon whether Christian people can deal with 
 these problems. Then there are the homely 
 problems of practical life: what attitude men and 
 women shall take to their daily work, to their 
 recreation and their reading; how their children 
 can best be trained; how common honesty and 
 the love of God and man can be kept in the midst 
 of the heavy pressure of daily life. If the adult 
 class does not help solve these questions it is not 
 fulfilling its religious duty. As a religious agency 
 it must discuss many things besides prayer and 
 faith and the four gospels. Its field is as wide as 
 the life of its members. Many things which may 
 not be wise subjects for the Christian pulpit can 
 and should be discussed in the free semi-privacy 
 of the class. The class, above all other agencies 
 of the church, furnishes the modern equivalent of 
 the Old Testament wisdom literature, the appli- 
 cation of religious principles to all departments 
 of life. 
 
 One sees now that both information and inspi- 
 ration play a part in religious value. Each fur- 
 Informa- nishes what is essential to religious life, 
 tion j£ yQ^ would correctly interpret the 
 
 Bible you must know it correctly. It is proper 
 
VALUEOFSTUDY 69 
 
 for the class to study what the best scholarship 
 of the day has to say about the origin and mean- 
 ing of the Bible. If you would judge rightly of 
 churches and missions, you must know something 
 of their history and present status. If you would 
 apply Christian principles to the solution of social 
 or industrial problems, you must know the facts 
 which underlie those problems. The adult class 
 ought to emphasize the Christian duty of know- 
 ing the real facts about the important problems 
 of life. 
 
 But religion needs inspiration as well as knowl- 
 edge. Inspiration touches the will and spurs it 
 
 . ^, on to action. Some classes, as suff- 
 Inspiration , ° 
 
 gested in Chapter II, may make their 
 
 chief aim inspiration rather than information. 
 Neither group of classes is more religious or 
 less religious than the other. Nor can either 
 meet the religious needs of their members by 
 being only informational or only inspirational. 
 The two factors are always mingled in life. No 
 teacher should be satisfied to deal with either 
 alone. 
 
 How can an informational class find inspira- 
 tion.? The study of any proper subject will 
 To Find yield it. The class may for weeks study 
 Inspiration hard, dry facts, as cold and clear as 
 mathematics. Then at last, when the bearing 
 of them on life is seen, the class stands in the 
 
70 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 presence of God and the facts become truths, 
 pulsing and throbbing with Hfe. Let the class 
 wait patiently. Do not try to force a "lesson" 
 in every day's study. If you really have a truth 
 that is related to life, the "lesson" will come in 
 good time, and come with all the more inspira- 
 tion because it has a rich store of information 
 behind it. 
 
 How can an inspirational class gain information? 
 By making sure that its premises and statements. 
 To Gain however superficial they may be, are 
 Information correct so far as they go. If the class 
 discusses prayer in the light of Jesus' example, 
 it will take pains first to find what Jesus' example 
 is. Facts may be correct, even if the study is not 
 very profound. It is much too easy to make a 
 general statement, without regard to its correct- 
 ness, if it is only thought to be edifying. An 
 adult class should stand like a rock against this 
 practise. The habit of correctness is essentially 
 connected with the virtue of truth-telling and is 
 itself a religious element. First true, then in- 
 spiring, should be the order for an adult class. 
 As to the rest, the subject matter with which 
 the class is dealing always presents something 
 new and inspiring. Information, like heaven, lies 
 about us in our infancy, but it also continues to 
 our old age. 
 
 May a class profitably use devotional forms? 
 
VALUEOFSTUDY 71 
 
 If the class is meeting in a separate room a brief 
 Use of prayer said or sung is most fitting. 
 Devotional It strikes the rehgious key to which 
 °^°^^ the class should always keep. If meet- 
 
 ing in a room with other classes, the common 
 devotional exercises of the school — usually too 
 long and elaborate — ought to do this. Some- 
 times when the class has been brought face to 
 face with some great truth or duty which has 
 clearly struck home, the common feeling may 
 fittingly voice itself in a closing prayer. There is, 
 however, one use of devotional forms which is 
 unfitted for the class: that is their use to arouse, 
 rather than to express, religious feeling. The 
 proper function of music at the opening of a 
 church service, for example, is to arouse a religious 
 feeling, and so place the worshiper in a receptive 
 mood for the worship which is to follow. In the 
 class this should be done by the class study 
 itself. The primary object of the class is not to 
 induce a devotional mood, but to think clearly 
 upon certain subjects. This may or may not 
 produce devotional feeling. The religious value 
 of the class is to be measured, not in terms of 
 feeling, but of eiSficiency. The Church has no 
 other agency so well fitted to produce this effi- 
 ciency in religion. The real test of religious value 
 is this: Does the class make its members more 
 efficient Christians? 
 
PART TWO 
 COURSES FOR ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
VII 
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM* 
 
 The International Uniform Lesson System 
 originated in 1872. It followed a period of 
 "Question Books" and various plans 
 of lesson study. It expressed the sense 
 of Sunday-school unity and of growing need for 
 better lessons than had yet been offered. Its 
 rapid adoption shows that it met that need. 
 Its use by a multitude of schools made possible 
 the very cheap publication of efficient helps, and 
 also tempted the publishers to issue helps which 
 were popular but not efficient. For twenty 
 years, in most of the denominations, the Inter- 
 national Uniform System completely held the 
 field, following always the same plan. Mean- 
 time the sciences of pedagogy and biblical study 
 had advanced. Criticism of the International 
 System arose. It was said to be unpedagogical 
 in its principles. Its uniformity and its frag- 
 mentary character were attacked. New systems 
 of study were produced, and occupied its field to 
 
 ^ On this subject see also another book in this series, Meyer, The 
 Graded Sunday School in Principle and Practice, Chap. X. 
 
 75 
 
76 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 some extent. The criticism of it became sharp, 
 especially among educators. Finally a separate 
 primary course was put forward, and still later an 
 adult course, with a recognition of the principle 
 of Sunday-school grading, is to be placed by the 
 side of the uniform course. As yet, however, the 
 great majority of schools hold to the uniform 
 course. This does not signify so much as it 
 would if the great majority of schools were not 
 small or unprogressive, or both. It does, how- 
 ever, indicate that the days of the usefulness of 
 the uniform system are not yet wholly past. 
 
 The principles of the International Uniform 
 System are (l) uniformity; (2) the covering of 
 the Bible in a six years' course; (3) 
 the selection of a small but significant 
 portion of Scripture for the lesson. Uniformity 
 undoubtedly has great advantages. It makes 
 possible the study of the lesson together by the 
 family. It unites the adult class with the school 
 in a greater sense of unity. It makes the adult 
 class more useful as the source of supply for 
 substitute teachers. An adult class in a Sun- 
 day-school which uses the International Uniform 
 Lessons should take these advantages into con- 
 sideration before adopting another system. It 
 may be a part of Christian duty to use a system 
 not in itself ideal for the sake of the school as 
 a whole. For certain classes, too, the system 
 
INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM 77 
 
 itself has advantages. Abundant and very cheap 
 helps are available. On the whole, the helps are 
 good. Publishers have sometimes toned down 
 their work to the lower half of their constituency, 
 rather than tried to lift that lower half up a little 
 higher, as newspapers have sometimes catered to 
 the populace and actors played to the galleries, 
 but even this indicates skill in supplying what 
 people want. Sometimes the lesson helps are 
 most excellent from every point of view. The 
 system has been in operation so long and is so 
 familiar that it may be used without much effort 
 on the part of the teacher. Most other systems 
 require work on the part of the teacher. It is 
 well adapted to classes without much time or 
 ability for study, or without ambition and pro- 
 gressiveness. Shall we deliberately plan to make 
 room for such classes .f^ Yes. We must meet 
 facts as they are, and many adult classes are 
 of this kind. Change the kind by all means, if 
 that is possible, but it is not always possible. 
 Many such classes must go on indefinitely under 
 these conditions. But do not despise them. 
 They may be accomplishing about the only work 
 which can be done for their members. Adults 
 are not children. Their days of training are 
 often over, they cannot always be lifted to new 
 methods, and they must have what they want. 
 So it happens that the old International System 
 
78 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 really meets the needs of a large number of 
 classes which are doing a work not to be despised. 
 Classes with time and ability for study, or even 
 with little time and much intellectual acuteness. 
 Its Limi- ought not to rest permanently con- 
 tations ^gj^j. ^ith the old International System. 
 
 Most of its courses of lessons are too frag- 
 mentary. It does not in itself suggest considera- 
 tion of books and sections of the Bible as literary 
 units, and so it tends to lose sight of both the 
 literary qualities and the religious purposes of 
 the biblical writers. Narrow views and even 
 misinterpretations are made easy by its frag- 
 mentariness. It is a great tribute to the Bible 
 that interest in it has survived this kind of study. 
 No system of teaching ever dared to subject any 
 other literature to this test. Fancy studying 
 Shakespeare by half -page extracts, with no lessons 
 on any one play as a whole ! No teacher of litera- 
 ture would subject himself for a day to such 
 limitations. The Bible is the worst printed, the 
 worst read, and the worst taught literature in the 
 world, and yet how it lives! The uniformity of 
 the International System makes impossible any 
 close adjustment of the lessons to the specific 
 needs of adult classes, or to the local conditions 
 of a particular class; and yet of all parts of the 
 Sunday-school the adult class ought to be most 
 closely adjusted to special needs. It varies most 
 
INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM 79 
 
 widely in intelligence, in taste, in needs of personal 
 religious life, and in the problems which present 
 themselves to the members. Adopting a uniform 
 lesson system is like cutting all coats from the 
 same pattern; the coats can be worn, but they do 
 not fit. No one need hesitate to arouse in an 
 adult class a spirit of discontent with the Inter- 
 national Uniform Lessons. At the same time, 
 there may be abundant reasons why it is best to 
 use them. In such cases discontented grumbling 
 is out of place. The class must give itself to the 
 task of finding out how to use the lessons to the 
 best advantage. 
 
 It is, the advocates of the system often say, 
 possible to use the lessons as the basis for any kind 
 
 of study a class may wish. In a measure 
 System this is true. A teacher and a class may 
 Sensed* ^^ adapt the lessons as to fit them to 
 
 a fairly wide range of class conditions. 
 Very good soup can be made out of pebbles, if 
 you put in enough else besides — a comparison 
 unfair to the lessons, because the Scripture por- 
 tions are by no means pebbles. The following 
 suggestions may be helpful: 
 
 1. A class with the International Lessons should 
 have definitely determined its purpose. This pre- 
 p liminary step, always necessary, is here 
 
 doubly urgent. Some other systems 
 provide a purpose with each course of lessons. 
 
80 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 This system only provides that the course of les- 
 sons shall be taken from some section of Scrip- 
 ture. Two elements will enter into the choice of 
 purpose. One is the needs of the class; and no 
 portion of the Sunday-school presents so various 
 needs as the adult class. The other is the course 
 of lessons. This leads to the second suggestion. 
 2. A course should be examined before study 
 with reference to what particular subjects it will 
 ^ ^. ^ best furnish. A six months' course 
 from the Gospel of Matthew will furnish 
 study centering about the character of Jesus, or 
 the teaching of Jesus about duties to God and 
 man, or the order of events in Jesus' life, or the 
 attitude of other men to Jesus, or a comparison 
 of the Gospel records, or Christian life today in 
 the light of Jesus' teaching. A course in the 
 Hebrew historical books may become a study of 
 historical events, or of the characters of Old 
 Testament men, or of the ways in which God led 
 Israel, or of the religion in the books, or of Hebrew 
 history as literature, or of present life in the light 
 of Old Testament teaching. A course ought to 
 circle about one set of ideas, so that directly or 
 indirectly a class will have some definite result 
 or some deep impression as the fruit of its study. 
 It is not wholly a disadvantage that the lessons 
 leave the choice of that to the class. Most 
 courses will supply some subject which fits the 
 
INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM 81 
 
 needs of the class; only the teacher, and usually 
 the class, should know definitely what that subject 
 is. That this is true for the classes which study, 
 all will admit. Some may question whether a 
 purpose is so much needed for the classes called 
 in a previous chapter reading classes, where the 
 aim is more indefinite and the work less thorough. 
 On the contrary, they need a purpose more than 
 the others, and a purpose which is more carefully 
 related to the course of lessons. The greatest 
 temptation of such a class is to ramble, waste 
 time, and get nothing out of the class which is 
 worth carrying away. Having some purpose def- 
 initely in mind removes this danger. If the class 
 is not to study, this purpose must lie very obvi- 
 ously on the surface. With a purpose adapted 
 to the class and the lesson course, a superficial 
 class can get much profit. 
 
 3. Some book study should always accompany 
 a series of lessons. It may come at the beginning. 
 Stud ^^^ middle, or the end of the course, 
 but the facts known about the author, 
 origin, divisions, and main purpose of the book, 
 if not already familiar to them, should be put 
 before the class. The review, often tedious to 
 an adult class, may be so used. The class may 
 look ahead and decide to drop the lesson which 
 seems least valuable and substitute the study of 
 the book from which the lessons are taken. It 
 
82 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 may be done incidentally, as the lessons proceed. 
 Merely to understand the purpose of a book 
 often throws the lessons taken from it into an 
 entirely new relief. On no account should book 
 study in some form be omitted. 
 
 4. If the lesson sections are not continuous, 
 the connecting matter should be familiar to the 
 
 class. In all cases the surrounding con- 
 tents should be a part of the lesson. 
 This is not always necessary for younger classes, 
 but the adult class should, and usually will, deal 
 with the larger relations of the lesson. It ought 
 to consider as its lesson the entire section to which 
 the prescribed lesson belongs. The short lesson 
 portions were never chosen with adult study in 
 view, but to fit the needs of younger pupils. 
 Adult classes ought to modify them. It is often 
 profitable to prepare a sheet for each member of 
 the class as follows: 
 
 The Wider Lesson 
 
 In our class we will study the 'prescribed lesson in the 
 light of the section in which it stands. 
 
 Date Lesson Section 
 
 5. Methods adapted to younger classes should 
 be avoided. This system has been used so long 
 Adult and lesson papers, questions, and other 
 Methods helps have been so generally prepared 
 with children in mind that the special temptation 
 
INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM 83 
 
 of the system for adult classes is to slip back into 
 childish things. Recent years have seen a great 
 increase of helps adapted to adult classes. The 
 class, and especially the teacher, should study 
 these helps, the methods suggested, the kind of 
 points made, and the subjects emphasized. It 
 will pay the teacher to make a study of adult 
 helps published by various houses, for suggestions 
 as to his own methods of teaching. On the whole, 
 the methods of adult class teaching in schools 
 using the International Uniform Lessons have been 
 poorer than those of any other department in the 
 Sunday-school. Both teachers and publishers of 
 lesson helps are beginning to see this, and a 
 needed reform is already well on the way. 
 
 6. The system should be unhesitatingly bent, 
 
 and if necessary, broken, to meet the needs of 
 
 the class. Systems were made for men. 
 
 Adjustment ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ systems. If a class becomes 
 
 interested in the discussion of a subject and wants 
 to continue it next week, why not do so, and let 
 next week's lesson come in as it can? If one 
 or more lessons ahead are relatively unprofitable, 
 why not drop them and put something else in 
 their place? A brief course on some related 
 subject will often send a class back to the les- 
 sons with renewed vigor and better appreciation 
 of the general course. Most adult classes, after 
 studying the International Uniform Lessons all 
 
84 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 their lives, are very ignorant of general bibli- 
 cal subjects. Short courses on such subjects as 
 the formation of the canon, the history of the 
 English Bible, the Apocrypha, the development 
 of prophecy, the relation of the synoptic gospels 
 to each other, prophetic, wisdom, or apocalyptic 
 writing, will often be as fresh as though the class 
 were newly converted pagans. There is an 
 amazing amount of ignorance about the Bible 
 among excellent Bible students. Short courses 
 on private, civic, and social Christian duties are 
 specially fruitful for adult life. The International 
 System provides lessons on temperance. Why not 
 occasionally put in their place or by the side of 
 them a lesson on political or business honesty, 
 trying to find what it demands and what it forbids 
 in modern life? In many ways the system may 
 well be bent to class needs, provided always 
 arrangements are so made beforehand that all 
 the members know what to expect. 
 
 No Sunday-school worker wishes to abolish 
 the International Uniform System, though many 
 think that recent improvements might be carried 
 still further, as they doubtless will be. For many 
 classes it is, and perhaps long will be, the best 
 system available. Excellent work is sometimes 
 done under its guidance. Any class using it may 
 find it profitable if thought and care are freely 
 given to the task of getting the most possible 
 
INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM 85 
 
 out of it. All progressive classes will welcome, 
 however, the new graded International courses 
 as a great forward step in the development of 
 the Sunday-school curriculum. 
 
VIII 
 
 THE BIBLE STUDY UNION LESSONS 
 
 The "Blakeslee" system of lessons originated 
 in the attempt of a pastor in Spencer, Massachu- 
 Their setts, to provide his Sunday-school with 
 
 Origin improved lessons. Pupils had come to 
 
 rely upon quarterlies. He wished to promote a 
 use of the Bible itself. He felt the need of larger 
 portions of Scripture than the fragmentary Inter- 
 national Lessons, of a more definite connection 
 between lessons, and of a certain amount of 
 grading. The courses he prepared were desired 
 by other schools. The demand was so great that 
 Mr. Blakeslee in time gave himself entirely to 
 the work of preparing and publishing lessons. 
 The courses were continually improved. In 
 1908 Mr. Blakeslee died, but the work has con- 
 tinued under the guidance of men who had been 
 associated with him, and who have enlisted others 
 to cooperate with them in realizing their aims. 
 The courses long ago outgrew their personal 
 origin, and now stand for an attempt to offer 
 
 86 
 
BIBLE STUDY LESSONS 87 
 
 the best and most practical courses which scholar- 
 ship and an intimate knowledge of Sunday-school 
 needs and conditions can devise. 
 
 The system offers to the adult classes, in common 
 with the rest of the school, two distinct types of 
 Types of courses. One type of courses was the 
 Courses product of the first period of develop- 
 ment. These courses deal with approximately the 
 same biblical matter as the corresponding courses 
 for the younger grades, but from a different point 
 of view. The younger pupils are directed to the 
 biography and history, the stories and the ele- 
 mental religious truths of the Bible. The Senior 
 and Adult grades "presuppose a good knowledge 
 of the content of the Scripture narrative, and 
 are devoted exclusively to a consideration of the 
 doctrinal and practical truths suggested by it." 
 Adults ought not to be called on to go continu- 
 ally over things already familiar to them. ** Bibli- 
 cal truth is exhaustless, and a way should be 
 provided by which classes of every grade can go 
 steadily forward to an ever-widening acquaint- 
 ance with it." 
 
 The method of all these courses is much the 
 same. They are based on portions of the Scrip- 
 The Older ture, usually more extended than the 
 Courses lessons of the International System. 
 From the Scripture are drawn topics for discus- 
 sion, with explanatory and suggestive notes, and 
 
98 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 questions for class discussion. In many of the 
 courses each lesson opens with a note, "The Ob- 
 ject of this Lesson." A Manual for the use of 
 teachers, and, if they choose, of the class, is fur- 
 nished with further explanatory and illustrative 
 material, including copious "literary extracts." 
 These courses are excellent for classes under 
 ordinary conditions of adult study. They are not 
 reading courses. They demand some study, but 
 not so great an amount as some other courses. 
 Few classes are so situated that they could not, 
 if they wish, give the time necessary for it. The 
 courses have been prepared by practical Sunday- 
 school men, with the limitations of the average 
 class in mind. For classes desirous of doing 
 more thorough work the other type of courses 
 is better, but for many classes this type meets 
 present needs most admirably. Some schools 
 find an advantage in their use in the fact that the 
 entire school may study the same general subject 
 in four grades, thus keeping, what some think 
 is a desirable element, essentially uniform lessons 
 for the whole school. The courses include the 
 following subjects: 
 
 Old Testament Teachings (Patriarchs, Kings, and 
 
 Prophets Series). 
 Foundation Truths (Gospel Series). 
 The Teachings of Christ (Gospel Series). 
 
BIBLE STUDY LESSONS 89 
 
 Gospel Teachings {Life of Christ Series). 
 Christian Doctrine and Duties {Apostolic Church 
 History Series). 
 
 The second type of courses is "The Completely 
 Graded Series." It is specially designed for 
 schools which are fully graded. It com- 
 Completely prises six grades, of which the Senior 
 Courses ^^^ Adult grades present work appro- 
 priate for adult classes. The Senior 
 grade offers a choice of two groups, each occupy- 
 ing four years. One group begins with the history, 
 of religion in the Old Testament, as a prepara- 
 tion for the New Testament period, and follows 
 with the Life of Christ and the history of the 
 Church. These occupy the first two years. The 
 third and fourth years are a study of the religions 
 of the world and the missionary activities of the 
 Church, and of the function, purpose, and work 
 of the modern Church. The other group is a 
 course in biblical history, making a careful and 
 systematic study of the history of Israel to the 
 birth of Christ. A variety of adult courses, in- 
 cluding some short courses on special subjects, 
 will be offered. The lessons are presented with 
 full notes, references for reading, questions, and 
 topics for discussion. Special manuals containing 
 fuller information and illustrative material with 
 directions for the conduct of the work are pre- 
 pared for teachers. 
 
90 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 The aim of the Senior grade is to "confirm 
 
 spiritual relation with God the Father and Christ 
 
 ^, . .. the Brother and Guide; to lay the his- 
 
 TheirAims . « , . « . , 
 
 tone foundation tor a strong, practical 
 
 faith; to inspire a genuine love for religion and 
 worship, and to ally the individual with modern 
 religious and social movements." The purpose is 
 to give more than mere information; it is to induce 
 participation in the great movements of our own 
 time which are bringing in the kingdom of God. 
 The aim of the Adult course is "to adapt the 
 teaching of the great religious teachers of the 
 race to practical needs of life; to develop normal, 
 intelligent, faithful, and efficient Christian char- 
 acter; to produce conscientious parents, loyal 
 citizens, effective teachers." In this aim, it will 
 be noted, information is entirely subordinated to 
 the practical ends of life. Another characteristic 
 is the fact that some of the courses, in all the 
 grades, use material from modern life as well as 
 from the Bible. There is a frank recognition that, 
 while the historic origin of our religion is in the 
 Bible, and nothing can be made a substitute for 
 the revelation of God which the Bible offers to 
 men, yet God is still in his world working in the 
 might of his Spirit. These courses attempt to 
 show how we may hear his voice and be workers 
 with him, finding instruction and inspiration in 
 the life of the present. They are adapted to 
 
BIBLE STUDY LESSONS 
 
 91 
 
 the various needs of the better equipped classes. 
 They will require for their best use somewhat 
 more work than the first type of courses, but no 
 more than literary clubs are usually willing to 
 put upon their studies. They are well adapted 
 to the best classes of the more advanced schools. 
 Classes and teachers who are willing to give the 
 time that the subject is worth need not turn 
 from them because of lack of education or of 
 habits of study. Adult classes contemplating the 
 "Blakeslee" system should not take the first 
 course that offers, but should choose with care 
 the courses best adapted for their own special 
 needs. Each course has been worked out with 
 great care to accomplish a particular purpose, 
 and the class and teacher owe it to the dignity 
 of their work to find the course which best suits 
 their own needs. 
 
IX 
 
 THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN 
 ASSOCIATION COURSES 
 
 The Young Men's Christian Association courses 
 are designed for the Bible study classes in the city 
 Puroose ^^^ college associations. They cover a 
 and wide variety of subjects, but are pre- 
 
 sented with some uniformity of method 
 and grade of work. The general plan is a course 
 of from twelve to twenty -five lessons. Each 
 lesson is divided into seven parts, one for each 
 day of the week, consisting of Scripture portions 
 and a page or so of comment and suggestion, in- 
 citing to reflection and some study. The object 
 is, in connection with the weekly class, to pro- 
 vide daily connected reading and so to keep young 
 men in touch with the Bible, prayer, and religious 
 thought. The courses are in the main admirable 
 for their purpose. They are practical and devo- 
 tional. They are all distinctly orthodox. Some 
 of them are prepared by scholars fully alive to 
 the present views of the Bible, but biblical criti- 
 cism is seldom intruded. They are as well fitted 
 
 92 
 
ASSOCIATION COURSES 93 
 
 for classes of young people in the Sunday-schools 
 as in the Associations. Classes whose members 
 are too busy for daily study would usually find 
 some other courses better. While not demanding 
 more than average ability for study, they do de- 
 mand thought and daily attention. When used, 
 the class hour should be spent in gathering up 
 and discussing the important things in the week's 
 study; so much is contained in the lessons that a 
 choice must be made and things of lesser impor- 
 tance omitted. The emphasis in most of the 
 courses on the personal Christian life will naturally 
 lead to the same emphasis in the class. Many 
 Sunday-schools might well organize classes among 
 young men and women for the study of these 
 ' courses, but for such classes teachers should be 
 chosen with special care. With most of these 
 lessons only those teachers will succeed who 
 combine a genuinely devotional religion with a 
 character which young people respect and find 
 attractive. A class of young people taking up a 
 course where emphasis is laid on devotional study 
 of the Bible demands a more careful selection of 
 teacher than does any other phase of Sunday- 
 school work. This is not because young people 
 of today are less devotional than formerly, but 
 because they are skilful in detecting cant. Now 
 cant is the avowed or tacit assumption of a 
 religious experience more or less unreal. Even 
 
94 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 well-meaning persons fall easily into its use. 
 Young people do not need teachers who have 
 sounded all the depths of religious life, but they 
 do need those who are perfectly honest in the 
 expression of their religious experience, whatever 
 it may be, and who are able to translate the 
 experience of biblical characters and the biblical 
 statements of religion into terms of twentieth 
 century every-day life. The teacher must also 
 have sympathy with this present life. The 
 teacher of young people must be optimistic. 
 The Christian to whom "the world is growing 
 evil" is not fitted to teach the Bible to young 
 people. If he is to inspire them for the winning 
 of the Kingdom, he must have eyes to see its 
 progress in the movements of thought and action 
 throughout the world of scholarship and politics 
 and business. He must belong, by instinct and 
 training, to the progressives. 
 
 I. Less Advanced Courses. 
 
 The following courses are somewhat elementary 
 and are well adapted to young people and to the 
 less advanced adult classes. Most of them con- 
 tain a large element of information as well as of 
 devotion. 
 
 Men of the Old Testament. 18 studies. L. K. 
 
 Willman. 
 Life and Letters of Paul. F, S. Goodman. 
 
association courses 95 
 
 Outline Studies in Biblical Facts and History. 
 26 lessons. /. N, Depuy and J. B, Travis. 
 
 Introduction to Biblical Study. Authorship, Con- 
 tents, Geography, Institutions, and Fundamental 
 Teachings of the Bible. J. W. Cook. 
 
 Outline Studies in the Life of Christ. 40 les- 
 sons which may be covered in 25 weeks. James 
 McConaughy. 
 
 The Great Events in the Life of Christ. 25 
 studies. James McConaughy. 
 
 Leaders of Israel. 25 lessons. G. L. Robinson. 
 
 Messages of the Twelve Prophets. 28 studies. 
 W. D. Murray. 
 
 Lessons from the Story op Jesus. Augustus Nash. 
 
 Main Lines in the Bible. Short studies for busy 
 men. 14 lessons. F. S. Goodman. 
 
 II. More Advanced Courses. 
 
 Studies in the Life of Christ. 25 lessons. W. H. 
 
 Salmon. 
 Studies in the Miracles. 20 lessons based on 
 
 Matthew. W. H. Salmon. 
 Studies in the Parables. 15 lessons based on 
 
 Matthew. W. H. Salmon. 
 The Social Teachings of Jesus. 12 lessons. 
 
 Jeremiah W. Jenks. 
 Studies in Jeremiah. 30 studies. W. W. White. 
 Studies in Old Testament Characters. 30 studies. 
 
 W. W. White. 
 New Studies in Acts. 19 studies. E. I. Bosworth. 
 The Life of Paul. 24 lessons. W. H. Salmon. 
 
96 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 Studies in Luke. 15 lessons. Robert E. Speer. 
 Studies in Acts. 31 lessons. Robert E. Speer. 
 Ten Studies in Psalms. 10 representative Psalms. 
 
 J. E. McFadyen. 
 Life Problems. 24 lessons, especially for young 
 
 men. Daggett, Burr, Ball, and Cooper. 
 Inductive Studies in John. 12 lessons. W. W. White. 
 Prayer, Principles and Examples. 25 lessons. 
 
 F. S. Goodman. 
 
 III. Special Courses of a More Advanced 
 Character than those Noted in II. 
 
 Studies in the Life of Jesus Christ. 30 studies. 
 
 E. I. Bosworth. 
 Studies in the Life of Christ. 30 studies based 
 
 upon the Harmony of the Gospels by Stevens and 
 
 Burton. H. L. Sharman. This course has been 
 
 extensively used in college Bible classes. 
 Teaching of Jesus and His Apostles. 30 lessons. 
 
 E. I. Bosworth. 
 Truth of the Apostolic Gospel. 30 studies. 
 
 R. A. Falconer. 
 Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament. Job, 
 
 Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. H. T. Fowler. 
 The Will of God. Self -surrender to the Will of 
 
 God as interpreted by Christ and the Apostles. 
 
 25 lessons. H. B. Wright. 
 
THE CONSTRUCTIVE BIBLE STUDIES 
 
 The University of Chicago has pubhshed a 
 graded series of lessons, called "The Constructive 
 Purpose Bible Studies." Adult classes will find 
 and Method jessons specially fitted for use in the 
 courses of the Adult Division, the Advanced and 
 Supplementary Series, and in some of the courses 
 for the Secondary Division. The studies are 
 carefully graded and aim to meet the needs of 
 the various departments of the school by lessons 
 prepared by educational experts. The particular 
 needs of the adult classes have received careful 
 attention in the system. The courses arranged 
 for adults keep two kinds of classes in mind: those 
 who are preparing for the position of teachers, 
 and those studying for their own personal profit. 
 For the first kind, courses emphasizing a knowl- 
 edge of the Bible and courses of religious peda- 
 gogy are provided; for the latter, a variety of 
 elective courses, to suit various tastes and differ- 
 ing needs. All the adult courses are embodied 
 in books of considerable size, in most cases cost- 
 
 97 
 
98 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 ing one dollar each. The biblical courses provide 
 
 very thorough study and are adapted to really 
 
 advanced classes, able to do concentrated and 
 
 careful work. 
 
 Churches with membership among intelligent 
 
 and educated people ought to have classes in 
 
 the Sunday-school willing to do work 
 
 Class to of the seriousness demanded by such 
 
 n^^^A^ii^tL courses. It is not to the credit of 
 are Adaptea 
 
 Christian intelligence that, while classes 
 for the study of languages, philosophies, and 
 literatures flourish, it is difficult to inspire a 
 Sunday-school class to study the Bible seriously. 
 It is encouraging that courses demanding con- 
 siderable study are offered. Adult classes ought 
 to be ambitious to do the best possible work. 
 For some classes the work here outlined is too 
 advanced. For others, it takes up too much 
 time, if well done; but a large number of classes 
 might do such work. There are also a large 
 number of people, not in classes, who have grown 
 tired of the lessons which Sunday-schools have 
 usually offered, but who would welcome a chance 
 to do some thorough Bible work. 
 
 The following courses are now prepared: 
 
 The Prophetic Element in the Old Testament. 
 President William R. Harper. 142 pages. The 
 principles of prophecy, with a study of its develop- 
 ment through the history of Israel down to Amos 
 
BIBLESTUDIES 99 
 
 and Hosea. Full literary references, careful study 
 of the prophetic elements in the historical books 
 from Genesis to Kings. The course is closely 
 packed with suggestions for work. It can be used 
 to best advantage under a teacher who is familiar 
 with the terms and the principles of modern 
 biblical criticism. The chapters should be divided 
 into convenient lessons, summing up the main 
 points after the study of each chapter. Most 
 classes will find it profitable to divide the sug- 
 gested work among the members. Only a few 
 members would have time to do all the work 
 individually, but by reports of work done the 
 entire class may get the benefit of each other's 
 study. 
 
 The Priestly Element in the Old Testament. 
 President William R. Harper. 292 pages. The 
 history of worship in the Old Testament; the 
 laws; the priestly element in the Hexateuch, 
 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, the Psalms; the 
 significance of this element. Of the same general 
 character as the volume mentioned above, but 
 covering more biblical material, and even more 
 completely and comprehensively presented. An 
 admirable study of a section of the Old Testament 
 not often studied. Classes would do well, unless 
 accustomed to advanced work, to precede this 
 book by that on the Prophetic Element. 
 
 The Life of Christ. Burton and Mathews, The 
 Gospel material is printed with each lesson. 
 Full notes follow, furnishing needed information. 
 
100 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 Abundant literary reference is made and oppor- 
 tunity given for written work. This course is 
 perhaps more elementary than some others of the 
 series. 
 A Short History of Christianity in the Apostolic 
 Age. George Holley Gilbert. Maps and illustra- 
 tions. 239 pages. A study of the life of the 
 early Church and of the New Testament, except 
 the Gospels. So arranged as to encourage the 
 study of the Bible text. Questions, supplementary 
 topics for study, and literary references. This 
 course is less condensed than those of President 
 Harper in the Old Testament, and adapted for 
 less advanced classes, but most adult classes will 
 find it as thorough as their time will allow. Some 
 of the twenty-five chapters may be divided into 
 two or more lessons; if so, the questions at the 
 end of the chapter should be divided correspond- 
 ingly. The topics may be reported on by indi- 
 viduals, or omitted if desired, without affecting 
 the unity of the work. This course is adapted to 
 a class which is willing to work, with some time 
 for study, though not necessarily familiar with 
 modern Bible study. 
 
 A series of supplemental and extra-biblical 
 courses is provided, especially adapted to classes 
 Special which wish to give thorough study to 
 Courses special subjects. The books are clearly 
 written, usually with suggestions for further 
 study. 
 
BIBLE STUDIES 101 
 
 The following courses are offered; 
 
 Christianity and its Bible. H. F. Waring. Twenty- 
 three chapters. "The origin of Old Testament 
 religion and of Christianity, the history of the 
 Christian Church, summary of present day Chris- 
 tianity," with suggestions for further study. 
 
 A Short Introduction to the Gospels. Ernest D. 
 Burton. A study of the separate gospels and the 
 synoptic problems. This is a subject with which 
 anyone who undertakes to teach the New Testa- 
 ment should be familiar. 
 
 A Handbook on the Life of the Apostle Paul. 
 Ernest D. Burton. An outline of the facts of the 
 life and letters of Paul, adapted to mature students. 
 
 Social Duties. Charles Richmond Henderson. A 
 careful study of present social problems from a 
 Christian point of view. Country and city prob- 
 lems, labor and capital, family, corporation, 
 civic, and church rights and obligations are 
 discussed. It is not too difficult for classes of 
 ordinary education. This subject, so much dis- 
 cussed at the present time, is here very skilfully 
 and wisely presented. 
 
 Great Men of the Christian Church. Williston 
 Walker. 378 pages. Twenty brief biographies 
 of the leaders of the Church, including Justin 
 Martyr, Athanasius, Augustine, Hildebrand, 
 Francis, Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Loyola, 
 Edwards, Bushnell. Questions and references for 
 additional reading. The biographies are com- 
 
102 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 pact and interesting, so chosen as to give a 
 connected view of the great movements of the 
 Church, providing an interesting course for a class 
 wishing a gUmpse of Church history. Any class 
 of fairly educated people might take the study 
 with profit. A chapter covers less space than an 
 ordinary magazine article. Supplementary read- 
 ing might profitably be done by some. The dis- 
 cussion in the class should concern itself with 
 the period, the character, the work of the man, 
 and his relation to the Church and the problems 
 of the present day. 
 
 The Outline Courses of the American 
 Institute of Sacred Literature 
 
 These are designed primarily for correspond- 
 ence work, but may easily be adapted to class 
 work. The text-books consist largely of direc- 
 tions for the study of biblical passages, with 
 topics for discussion, investigation, and reading. 
 In the hands of a skilful teacher who desires to 
 do somewhat independent work, and yet to have 
 a guide for the study of the class, they are admi- 
 rable. The courses are as follows: 
 
 The Foreshadowing s of the Christ. William R. 
 
 Harper. 
 The Life of the Christ. Ernest D. Burton. 
 The Founding of the Christian Church. Ernest 
 
 D. Burton. 
 
BIBLE STUDIES 103 
 
 The Work of the Old Testament Sages. William 
 
 R. Harper. 
 The Work of the Old Testament Priests. 
 
 William R. Harper. 
 The Social and Ethical Teachings of Jesus. 
 
 Shailer Mathews. 
 The Universal Element in the Psalter. John 
 
 M. P. Smith. 
 The Book of Job, or the Problem of Human 
 
 Suffering. William R. Harper. 
 Four Letters of Paul. Ernest D. Burton. 
 The Origin and Religious Teaching of the Old 
 
 Testament Books. Georgia Louise Chamherlin. 
 
XI 
 
 ADDITIONAL BIBLE STUDY COURSES 
 
 In addition to the courses of study mentioned 
 in the previous chapters, a constantly increasing 
 
 number of adult biblical courses are 
 'ment^oT^' ^^^^S prepared and published. This ac- 
 Special tivity in production is largely the result 
 Courses of the increased interest in the adult 
 
 class during the years since about 1905. 
 Before that time few adult class courses were 
 published except by certain denominations which 
 have never widely used the International Lesson 
 System. Even before 1900 a few adult classes 
 had tried to obtain independent lessons, but in 
 the main they had been obliged to make their 
 own outlines of study. This could only be done 
 where the class included some members more 
 familiar with biblical study than were most Sun- 
 day-school students. The English Bible Courses 
 of the American Institute of Sacred Literature 
 were used by some classes. Certain Diocesan 
 Commissions in the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
 the Friends' First Day School Association, several 
 
 104 
 
ADDITIONAL COURSES 105 
 
 of the Lutheran Synods into which the Lutheran 
 Church in America is divided, and the Unitarian 
 Sunday School Association were all working out 
 senior or adult courses of much excellence in con- 
 nection with general graded courses. Since 1905 
 other denominations, whose publishing houses 
 were in former years exclusively interested in 
 lesson helps for the International System, have 
 begun to recognize the need of independent courses 
 for the adult section of the Sunday-school. 
 
 The increase of independent courses has not 
 been at the expense of the older International 
 System. On the contrary the same period has 
 seen the rise, largely within the field of this 
 system itself, of a very remarkable "adult class 
 movement" and the preparation of adult class 
 helps of much greater abundance and excellence 
 than ever before. Many of the denominational 
 and other publishing houses which supply helps 
 for the International Lessons now publish maga- 
 zines devoted exclusively to the needs of the adult 
 class. It is doubtful if the field ever becomes so 
 thoroughly covered that the various adult courses 
 will intrude upon each other. At present any 
 course of study which can command the attention 
 of an adult class helps all other courses. 
 
 The International Graded Courses, the Construc- 
 tive Bible Study Courses, and the Young Men's 
 Christian Association Courses offer a wide variety 
 
106 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 of subject and method of study for adult classes. 
 In addition the following courses are published: 
 
 I. Introduction and General Courses. 
 
 The Sunday School Teachers' Bible (National 
 Teacher Training Institute Text-books). Griffith 
 and Rowland Press: Philadelphia. Paper, 30 
 cents; boards, 50 cents. Part I is a general intro- 
 duction to the Bible; Part II, the great vital 
 doctrines of the Bible. Twenty studies, with 
 topics for discussion and papers. The positions 
 taken are the traditional. Designed for teachers, 
 and somewhat too compact for most classes. 
 
 The Books of the Bible with Relation to their 
 Place in History. Hazard and Fowler. Pilgrim 
 Press: Boston. 50 cents. A book for advanced 
 classes, presenting a study of the books of the 
 Bible from a modern point of view. The study 
 is prepared for class work, with references, ques- 
 tions, and topics for discussion. Adapted for a 
 class which desires a compact presentation of the 
 Bible as seen by modern scholars. 
 
 The Making of the Bible. Rev. William Walter 
 Smith. Sunday School Commission, Diocese of 
 New York. 12 cents. Fifteen lessons on origin, 
 manuscripts, versions of the Bible, with special 
 attention to the English versions. Bibliography 
 and questions condensed but valuable. 
 
 Great Passages from the Bible. W. Hanson 
 Pulsford. Unitarian Sunday School Society : Bos- 
 ton. 25 cents. A study of the historical mean- 
 
ADDITIONAL COURSES 107 
 
 ing and religious significance of great passages 
 in the Old and New Testament. Prepared from 
 a modern point of view. 
 
 Bible Studies for Adult Classes. Philip A. 
 Nordell. American Baptist Publication Society: 
 Philadelphia. Three numbers, 20 cents each. 
 No. 1. Old Testament History; No. 2. The 
 Life of Christ; No. 3. The Apostolic Age. Scrip- 
 ture lessons, daily readings, questions for study 
 and for written answers. 
 
 The Bible as Literature; its Authorship, History, 
 AND Development. (Friends' Graded Series.) 
 Walter H. Jenkins: Philadelphia. Four quarter- 
 lies, 5 cents each. A simple study of the facts 
 regarding the Bible, which may be used as an 
 introductory course to other biblical study. 
 
 Bible History Series. (Friends' Graded Series.) 
 Walter H. Jenkins: Philadelphia. Eight quarter- 
 lies, 5 cents each. The history of the Hebrews 
 and of the early Church simply and clearly 
 told, with questions and suggestions for study. 
 Can be used by classes of limited time and 
 facilities. 
 
 II. Biblical Geography. 
 
 Home Travel through Bible Lands. J. T. Sunder- 
 land. Unitarian Sunday School Society: Boston. 
 15 cents. Thirty-eight lessons, making a journey 
 through Palestine, Egypt, Phoenicia, Syria, As- 
 syria, Babylonia, Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome, 
 with abundant references to descriptive literature 
 
108 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 and a bibliography. An interesting course for a 
 class with some leisure for reading. 
 
 Biblical Geography and History. Charles F. Kent. 
 Scribners. $1.50. Twenty-six chapters, with 
 an appendix containing general questions and 
 subjects for special research in connection with 
 each chapter. Part I deals concisely with the 
 physical geography of biblical lands. Part II 
 presents the successive periods of biblical history, 
 beginning with "Early Palestine" and concluding 
 with *'The Expansion of Christianity," in the 
 light of the geographical background. Adapted 
 for use by classes desiring to make a thorough 
 study of the historical geography of the Bible. 
 
 Biblical Geography. 7. F. Wood. Pilgrim Press: 
 Boston. 5 cents. An outline study comprising 
 twelve lessons, many of which may profitably 
 occupy more than one Sunday. The geography 
 of the different historical periods, giving subjects 
 and bibliography. Adapted to classes which can 
 provide any one of the hand-books suggested. 
 
 III. Old Testament. 
 
 Historical Bible. Charles F. Kent. Scribners. 6 
 vols. $1.00 per volume. Contains text in a fresh 
 translation, historical and critical notes, and 
 questions for further study and class discussion, 
 prepared from a modern point of view. Adapted 
 to either reading or study classes which wish to 
 get the text of the Bible in its historical setting 
 and chronological order. One or more volumes 
 
ADDITIONAL COURSES 109 
 
 may be used, as desired. Classes not specially 
 advanced could use them profitably, but advanced 
 classes would obtain more benefit from them. 
 
 The Early Days of Israel. Wood and Hall. 
 Pilgrim Press: Boston. 60 cents. Forty lessons 
 in three parts, covering the period to the Judges, 
 with a special study of Hebrew law. Directions 
 for study, references and topics for further study, 
 class questions. Adapted for advanced classes 
 who wish to study the biblical books as literature 
 and history and to note the legitimate connections 
 which may be made with modern life. 
 
 The Days of the Kings of Israel. Wood and Hall. 
 Pilgrim Press: Boston. 75 cents. Continues the 
 "Early Days of Israel." Covers history and 
 prophecy to the Exile. 
 
 The Minor Prophets. Frederick Carl Eiselen. Eaton 
 & Mains, New York. $2.00 net. A sympathetic 
 and scholarly, yet readable commentary on the 
 Minor Prophets, considered by many the best 
 single volume commentary on the subject in the 
 Enghsh language. Well suited for use by adult 
 classes desiring to consider seriously the problems 
 involved in Old Testament prophecy. 
 
 Prophecy and the Prophets. Frederick Carl Eiselen. 
 Eaton & Mains, New York. $1.50 net. A book 
 intended to be an aid toward a better appreciation 
 of the prophetic books and prophetic teaching in 
 general. In the pubUcation of this volume the 
 author has had in mind especially adult Bible 
 classes in the Sunday-school. 
 
110 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 Samuel, Saul, and David. W. J. Mutch. Ripon, 
 Wis. Privately published. 50 cents. Arranged 
 for the addition of notes, maps, or pictures. 
 
 The Prophets as Statesmen and Teachers. Henry 
 T. Fowler. Pilgrim Press: Boston. 30 cents. A 
 study of the prophets in their historical setting, 
 with references and questions for further study. 
 Adapted for thoughtful classes who desire to gain 
 a knowledge of the prophets from the point of 
 view of modern study. 
 
 A Study of the Prophets. (Friends' Graded Series.) 
 Walter H. Jenkins : Philadelphia. Four quarterlies, 
 5 cents each. The prophets from Amos to the 
 Exile, with information about their work and a 
 fresh translation of important passages from their 
 writings. Modern in point of view. The course 
 might be used with equal profit by classes of 
 various grades of advancement. 
 
 Great Thoughts of Israel. W. Hanson Pulsford. 
 Twenty lessons for advanced classes. Unitarian 
 Sunday School Society: Boston. 12 cents. This 
 course studies the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Ecclesi- 
 astes. Chronicles, Ruth, Esther, Jonah, and some 
 apocryphal books, dealing with their authorship, 
 meaning, and usefulness, in the light of modern 
 study. Adapted for advanced classes with some 
 knowledge of modern views of the Bible. 
 
 From the Exile to the Advent. Rev. William Walter 
 Smith. The Young Churchman Co., Milwaukee. 
 20 cents. 15 lessons, many of which may be 
 profitably divided to make a longer course. Con- 
 
ADDITIONAL COURSES 111 
 
 densed chapters in history, with references to lit- 
 erature and to biblical and apocryphal books, and 
 questions. An excellent presentation of a subject 
 too little known. May be used without previous 
 advanced study. 
 Between the Testaments. C. M. Grant. Revell: 
 New York. 75 cents. Deals with a period which 
 adult classes will always find profit in studying. 
 The book may be used in connection with the 
 reading of the later Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Daniel, 
 and the apocryphal books. 
 
 IV. New Testament. 
 
 The New Testament and its Contents. J. A, 
 McClymont. Revell: New York. (Guild Text- 
 book.) Paper, 25 cents; boards, 40 cents. A 
 simple outline study of New Testament literature. 
 
 New Testament Authors and Their Works. 
 Richard Morse Hodge. A. G. Seiler: New York. 
 Covers New Testament Introduction, with recog- 
 nition of the modern point of view. Adapted 
 for advanced classes. 
 
 Study of the Life of Jesus. George B. Stewart. 
 Pilgrim Press : Boston. 40 cents. A year's course 
 prepared for class use, with suggestions for study, 
 questions, and references. A scholarly course 
 adapted for classes of average leisure. 
 
 A Reasonable Way to Study the Bible. The Acts 
 of the Apostles and Epistles. Isabella T. Redfield, 
 Pittsfield, Mass. Privately published. 50 cents. 
 A book composed entirely of suggestions for study 
 
112 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 and questions. It has the advantage of being 
 based almost solely upon the biblical text, making 
 it possible to use it with classes where reference 
 facilities are meager. 
 
 The Life and Work of Paul. Augustus T. Murray. 
 (Friends' Graded Series.) Walter H. Jenkins: 
 Philadelphia. The story of Paul and his letters, 
 clearly written, with questions and topics for class 
 use. An excellent course for a general survey of 
 Paul's work. 
 
 Epistles of the New Testament. The Young 
 Churchman Co. of Milwaukee. Two parts, 10 
 cents each. Teachers' Notes, two parts, 25 
 cents each. Summaries of origin, purpose, and 
 content of the Epistles, with questions and maps. 
 A clear and simple presentation. 
 
XII 
 
 BIBLE READING COURSES 
 
 The chapters in the first part of this book have 
 mentioned Bible reading classes. By that term 
 is meant classes which do not try to study, in 
 any formal way, but to read the Bible. It was 
 said that a large proportion of our adult classes 
 are really reading classes, although they nominally 
 rank as classes for study. Many Sunday-schools 
 would find it profitable to organize reading classes, 
 which should not pretend to engage in any study, 
 but should purpose to read the Bible and to dis- 
 cuss in the class what they had read. Such 
 classes have a distinct place in the Sunday-school 
 economy. Many who do not care for study 
 might be attracted by the proposition to read 
 the Bible. 
 
 There is danger that, amid the multiplicity of 
 other reading, Bible reading will become almost 
 
 The Inter- ^ ^^^^ ^^^' '^^^ danger is the greater 
 
 est of Bible because there is a widespread idea, 
 
 ^^ current even among Christian people, 
 
 that the Bible is not interesting. Few people 
 
 113 
 
114 ADULTCLASSSTUDY 
 
 state it so frankly as that, but the idea is there 
 nevertheless. There is a certain amount of 
 truth in it. It is quite true that the Bible is 
 hardly interesting reading matter to those whose 
 tastes are formed by the "best sellers" and the 
 Sunday papers. It is also true that, for many 
 Christian people, a general, even if somewhat 
 superficial, familiarity has taken the edge of 
 novelty off the interest of Bible reading. The 
 same thing is true of Dickens or Scott or Tenny- 
 son, but the same interest which sends one to 
 reread Oliver Twist or Ivanhoe or The Idylls of 
 the King might well be appealed to in favor of 
 rereading Genesis or Samuel or Job. The Bible 
 is interesting reading to thoughtful readers. It 
 is not uniform in its interest. Some parts are 
 much more interesting than others. There are 
 good reasons why they should be. The Bible is a 
 literature, not a single book, and it differs within 
 itself as widely as any other literature. People 
 have distinct tastes in literature. Some care 
 nothing for poetry, and others find no pleasure in 
 biography. To most people, however, almost any 
 literature has a certain measure of attraction, 
 dependent not so much upon its kind as upon the 
 interest in its content. The content of all kinds 
 of literature in the Bible is religious. For the re- 
 ligious person, interest in Bible reading is largely 
 measured, not so much by the question of whether 
 
BIBLE READING COURSES 115 
 
 it is poetry or biography, narration or oration, as 
 by the question of how close the rehgious expe- 
 rience which it narrates comes to his own life. 
 
 This gives us the key to the work of the read- 
 ing class. Its chief purpose is to interpret the 
 The religious experience which is expressed 
 
 Purpose [^ ^Y^Q book read. That does not mean 
 that the literary or historical values are to be 
 ignored, but it means that these, while having 
 their own interest, are secondary and subordinate 
 to the religious values. In fact, the literary 
 values can be realized only through the religious 
 values, as the intellectual significance of a great 
 picture can only be seen through its artistic 
 significance. 
 
 Sunday-school publishers have never recognized 
 the reading class. Nearly all the helps published 
 have in mind classes which are designed 
 sites of a for study, albeit the amount of study 
 Course^ required has sometimes been very small. 
 But merely to avoid study is not to read. 
 Reading and study are two quite different things. 
 Reading courses should be as carefully planned 
 as study courses. They do not need as much in 
 the way of helps, but they imperatively need 
 certain aids. Often the wise pastor, if he has a 
 well-furnished library, can give all the assistance 
 necessary. Sometimes the purchase of one or 
 two books by the class or the teacher will be all 
 
116 ADULT CLASS STUD^ 
 
 that is needed to put the reading class in possession 
 of the desired knowledge. In any case, however, 
 the class should lay out a definite course of Bible 
 reading. It may be very simple and may adjust 
 itself to change as the course proceeds, but it 
 should have some objective point, clearly seen 
 and well considered, some definite, recognized 
 purpose, toward which it proceeds in an orderly 
 way. In all cases, as suggested on page 53, 
 some knowledge of the biblical books read should 
 be gained by the class. Such knowledge should 
 include the date, purpose, and, when known, the 
 historical background of the books, with some 
 consideration of the literary qualities, divisions 
 of the books, and any special subjects which 
 are of interest. One may sum up this require- 
 ment of knowledge thus: those things must be 
 known which will make it possible to understand 
 what the author meant by the book. In most 
 cases this requirement is neither complex nor 
 abstruse. 
 
 A great variety of reading courses may be 
 Courses for ^^^^^S^^- The whole field of biblical 
 Bible literature lies open to such a class, 
 
 ea ing There is no need of great scholarship 
 or even much education to plan a profitable 
 course of Bible reading. Since, however, such 
 courses are not familiar to most classes, a few 
 courses may be outlined. These courses may be 
 
BIBLE READING COURSES 117 
 
 regarded as examples suggesting what may be 
 done in other parts of the Bible. 
 
 I. Old Testament Courses. 
 
 1. Stories of the Early National Period in 
 
 Israel; Judges and Samuel. Strong, vigorous 
 pictures of an early civilization and the struggle 
 from a tribal into a national life, with strongly 
 drawn character sketches. Judges 17-21 and 
 II Sam. 22-24 may be omitted, being appendices 
 to the books. Notice how the purpose of Judges 
 is shown in the preface (2: 10-21); the author 
 wishes to show how the nation suffered when it 
 forsook Jehovah, and was prosperous when it 
 followed him. Samuel is a study in a kindred 
 subject: sin brings suffering. Observe how the 
 author brings out that lesson in his stories of 
 Saul and of David and how he applies his lesson 
 both to the nation and to individuals. Do not, 
 however, in seeking the religious values, miss the 
 splendid story-telling of these books. 
 
 2. The History of the Divided Kingdoms in Kings, 
 
 with Chronicles used only for comparison. Notice 
 the formulas continually recurring in beginning 
 and closing the accounts of the kings, the rapidly 
 varying fortunes of the kingdoms, the little 
 vignettes of character and national life which 
 ' often occur, the author's purpose through it all, 
 as in Judges, to measure prosperity and adversity 
 by obedience to the laws of God. Note the dif- 
 ferent kind of literature in the stories of Elijah 
 
118 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 and Elisha, which read like popular tales in the 
 midst of history. 
 
 3. The Traditions of the Nation. Genesis, Exo- 
 
 dus i-xx. These books also contain much splendid 
 story-telling. Read them as the stories that came 
 down to the Hebrew race out of the olden 
 time, not puzzling over the problems of his- 
 tory which they present. Read them rather as 
 you would stories from Homer, if Homer were 
 retold with a strongly religious purpose. Notice 
 how all these stories of old time have been 
 made to teach a lesson, and how often that 
 lesson is: sin brings suffering. Do not fail to 
 appreciate the fine character drawing in the tales 
 of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses. Did the 
 author mean to hold them up as models to his 
 readers? 
 
 4. The Wisdom Books; Proverbs, Job, Ecclesi- 
 
 astes. These may all be read in one course, 
 comparing the purpose and the style of the 
 different books. More valuable for many classes 
 would be the reading of each book separately, 
 in a short course. The keen observation of life 
 and human nature, the clear statement of a com- 
 mon-sense ethics, often the sharp wit of these 
 books, makes them particularly attractive to the 
 modern age. Job and Ecclesiastes especially need 
 some accompanying information as to the pur- 
 pose and problems of the books, and all will be 
 read with keener enjoyment if the class can bring 
 to them some literary appreciation. Few biblical 
 
BIBLE READING COURSES 119 
 
 books offer richer rewards for intelligent reading 
 than do these books. 
 
 5. The Prophets. These present a great variety of 
 
 profitable courses. Classes with patience for a 
 long course may well read them all, arranged in 
 a chronological order. Their variety is so great 
 that such a course would not suffer from monotony. 
 Most classes will wish to take groups or single 
 books. The following are natural group-divisions: 
 (A) The early prophets: Amos, Hosea, Isaiah 
 (Chs. 1-30 only), Micah. (B) The prophets of 
 the later kingdom: Jeremiah, with Zephaniah, 
 Nahum, Habakkuk. (C) The prophets of the 
 Exile: Ezekiel, Isaiah 40-66. (D) The prophets 
 after the Exile: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Joel. 
 In all cases the reading should be accompanied 
 by some information as to the historical situa- 
 tion of the prophet, his main purpose, and the 
 peculiarities of the book. Most prophetic books 
 are rather collections of fragments than logically 
 arranged literature. The interest lies in their 
 great vigor and power of expression, and in their 
 uncompromising statement of religious and moral 
 principles. The books must not be read or 
 judged as polished literature, but as stray leaves 
 of the words of earnest reformers, often wonder- 
 fully eloquent, strong hammer-strokes at great 
 evils. Read in this way they are very fascinating. 
 
 6. The Biblical Short Stories; Ruth, Esther, 
 
 AND Jonah. A group of tales, each excellent of 
 its kind, and each different from the others. To 
 
120 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 read them as a group and note comparisons and 
 contrasts is most interesting. The class should 
 be encouraged to discuss them with perfect free- 
 dom as pieces of literature. 
 7. The Apocrypha. Most Protestant Christians 
 would find the Apocrypha new ground. Much 
 of it is very valuable both as literature and as 
 religious teaching. The best material for class 
 reading falls into two groups: (1) Wisdom: Ec- 
 clesiasticus and The Wisdom of Solomon, (2) 
 History: Esdras, land II Maccabees. The Mac- 
 cabees present the most heroic age of Hebrew his- 
 tory, an age which possesses an interest and value 
 equal to any whose story is told in the biblical 
 books. 
 
 II. New Testament Courses. 
 
 1. The Life of Christ, as outUned in a Harmony, 
 
 such as Stevens and Burton's. 
 
 2. Any of the Synoptic Gospels. The Gospel may 
 
 be read alone, but it will be found more profitable 
 to compare the parallel material in other Synoptics. 
 In any case the study should be preceded by some 
 knowledge of the relation of the Synoptic Gospels 
 to each other. The following minimum of knowl- 
 edge should be familiar: Mark is one of the 
 sources of Matthew and Luke. The last two 
 also had other sources in common besides Mark 
 (compare, for example, the Sermon on the Mount, 
 which is not in Mark), as well as separate sources. 
 Even so little knowledge as this will often throw 
 
BIBLE READING COURSES 121 
 
 great light on the Gospel narratives, but an intel- 
 ligent reading class will seek in Bible dictionaries 
 and elsewhere for further knowledge. 
 
 3. The Gospel of John. This stands so independent 
 
 of the Synoptics that only at certain points, as 
 in Chs. 6, 13, 18-20, is it necessary to read them in 
 connection with the Fourth Gospel. The Gospel 
 of John may be read, not so much for a knowledge 
 of the life of Jesus, as for the interpretation of 
 the mission and character of Jesus which it gives. 
 Notice the growth of the disciples' faith; of the 
 Jews' enmity; the relation of Christ to God; 
 the purpose of his mission in the world; his love 
 for his disciples. Read the Gospel in the light 
 of the author's statement of his purpose (20:31). 
 After the Gospel read I John, as another expres- 
 sion of the author's idea of the mission of Christ 
 and the duties and privileges of the Christian life. 
 
 4. The Book of Acts, as an expression of two things: 
 
 (1) The geographical expansion of Christianity 
 (see 1:8), (2) The growth of the Church as 
 planned by God and not by man (note how often 
 in the book man's plans are supplemented or 
 changed by providential guidance). Raise the 
 question of whether God still guides the Church 
 in its parish and mission work, and the Christian 
 in his personal service of God and man. 
 
 5. Acts and the Pauline Epistles. This may be 
 
 done with only the Bible, or with the help of some 
 Life of Paul. A good aid is Burton's Records 
 and Letters of the Apostolic Age, which covers all 
 
122 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 the New Testament except the Gospels. Such 
 a reading might aim to give a general knowl- 
 edge of Paul's life and of the characteristics and 
 difficulties of the early churches. The point of 
 practical comparison will be between Paul's relig- 
 ious life and ours, and between the religious life 
 of the churches to which his letters were written 
 and that of today. Of course no close study 
 of the system of Paul's theology will be made in 
 such a general course. 
 6. Special Letters of Paul. A short course of 
 reading may be taken with any one of the Pauline 
 letters, prefaced with brief statements of the 
 place of the letter in Paul's life, its occasion and 
 general content, and the characteristics of the 
 church addressed. A better plan would be to 
 group the letters: as Galatians and Romans; 
 the Corinthian letters; the letters of the impris- 
 onment (Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, Philip- 
 pians). Classes using such courses may well try 
 to gain a more full knowledge of Paul's thought 
 than in course 5 ; but here also the chief aim should 
 be the interpretation of the religious experience 
 and life of Paul and of the churches to which he 
 wrote. Paul may have been great as a theologian, 
 but he was greater as a religious man. No class 
 can come under the spell of this spirit without 
 breathing in a desire for a more fully devoted 
 religious life. 
 
 Outline Bible Class Courses. 5 cents 
 each. Pilgrim Press: Boston. These consist of 
 
BIBLE READING COURSES 123 
 
 small pamphlets with bibliography and suggestions 
 for reading. The biblical material is divided into 
 convenient sections, with brief notes and questions 
 to bring out the most important points of the 
 section. 
 
 New Testament Courses: 
 
 "The Life of Christ in the Four Gospels." Wood, 
 "The Book of Acts." Wriston, 
 "The Life of Paul." Hall. 
 "The Epistles of Paul." Wood. 
 
 Old Testament Courses: 
 
 "Joshua and Judges." Wood. 
 "The Book of First Samuel." Wriston, 
 "The Prophets of Israel." Noyes. 
 "Hebrew Laws." Wood. 
 "The Wisdom Literature." Wood. 
 "The Old Testament Apocrypha." Wood. 
 "The Apocalyptic Literature" (Daniel and Revelation, 
 with Mark 13 and II Thes. 2: 1-12). Wood. 
 
 The following editions of the Bible are of interest 
 to the reading class: 
 
 " The Modern Readers' Bible." Moulton. Text of the 
 English Revised Version, arranged in paragraphs 
 to show literary structure. 
 
 "The Historical Bible." Kent. Small volumes giving 
 the text in a fresh translation, with notes, intro- 
 ductions, and historical explanations. Specially 
 
124 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 valuable for its chronological arrangement of the 
 biblical books. 
 "The Students' Old Testament." Kent. Larger vol- 
 umes than the "Historical Bible,'* with more 
 scholastic and critical notes. For those able to 
 do thorough biblical study. 
 
XIII 
 
 EXTRA-BIBLICAL COURSES 
 
 In one respect extra-biblical courses of religious 
 instruction are older than the Sunday-school itself. 
 The teaching of catechisms far antedates the 
 founding of Sunday-schools, or even the use of 
 the Bible in formal religious teaching. Sunday- 
 schools in the Episcopal, Catholic, and Lutheran 
 churches, and to a less extent in Presbyterian, 
 Methodist, and some other churches, have always 
 kept a certain amount of extra-biblical teaching. 
 It has, however, usually been confined to mem- 
 orizing catechetical questions and answers with 
 some explanation of their meaning, and has been 
 arranged for the early adolescent age and designed 
 as part of the preparation for confirmation in 
 churches which use that ceremony. 
 
 The courses noted in this chapter are intended 
 for a totally different purpose than that of teaching 
 in condensed form the doctrines of the church. 
 During the last few years various courses of extra- 
 biblical study for adult classes have appeared. 
 More are likely^ to follow, as the demand for 
 
 125 
 
126 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 greater variety of adult class work grows. No 
 energetic class, however, needs to wait the pleasure 
 of editors and publishers. A class may make its 
 own course. All that is needed is the guidance 
 of someone measurably familiar with the field 
 chosen for study, or even the possession of a book, 
 not necessarily designed for class use, which will 
 form the basis for further class reading and dis- 
 cussion. The class can often form a course 
 better adapted to its particular needs than any 
 which would be prepared for general use. In this 
 time of transition in Sunday-school subjects and 
 methods, adult classes should be encouraged to 
 choose their own subjects of study and plan their 
 own courses. The pastor may well regard it as 
 a most profitable part of his labor to assist in 
 such plans. Often, however, the subject which 
 a class of thoughtful men or women wish to study 
 will be most familiar, not to the pastor, but to 
 some business or professional man in the town. 
 This is particularly true of those civic and social 
 subjects which adult classes ought to study much 
 more than they do at present, in order that their 
 members may be efficient Christians, politically 
 and socially. 
 
 I. Courses in Religious History. 
 
 Religions before Christianity. C. C. Everett. 
 Unitarian Sunday School Society: Boston. 
 
EXTRA -BIBLICAL COURSES 127 
 
 Paper, 15 cents; boards, 20 cents. A brief de- 
 scription of Comparative Religion by a master, 
 prepared for class use, with questions and bibli- 
 ography. Treats briefly of the earliest religion, 
 Hinduism, Buddhism, the reUgions of the Parsees, 
 the Chinese, the Egyptians, the Greeks, and 
 Romans, and the comparison of these religions 
 with each other and with Christianity. A good 
 course. 
 Religions of the World. G. M. Grant. (Guild 
 Textbooks.) Revell : New York. 40 cents. Deals 
 with only four of the great religions — Moham- 
 medanism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and Bud- 
 dhism — and compares each with Christianity. 
 The Early Church, its History and Literature. 
 James Orr. (Christian Study Manuals.) Arm- 
 strong: New York. 60 cents. A brief book, 
 with topics and references. 
 Church History Handbooks. Henry C. Vedder. 
 Baptist Publication Society: Philadelphia. 40 
 cents per volume. Vol. I. The Early Period. 
 Vol. II. The Period of the Reformation. Vol. III. 
 Baptist History. Compact manuals with bibliog- 
 raphy and questions on each chapter. Volumes 
 I and II may profitably be used by classes in 
 any denomination. Their clearness makes them 
 specially adapted for classes desiring a simple 
 presentation of church history. 
 Landmarks of Church History. Henry Cowan. 
 (Guild Textbooks.) Revell: New York. Paper, 
 25 cents; boards, 40 cents. The book covers 
 
128 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 the history of the Church to the Reformation. 
 Adapted for advanced classes. 
 
 History of the Christian Church. Rev. George 
 R. Van de Water. Young Churchman Co., New 
 York. Two parts, 15 cents each. Part I, Gen- 
 eral History; Part II, The Church in England. 
 Very brief chapters, with questions. Prepared 
 from the Episcopal point of view. 
 
 Outline Bible-class Courses. Pilgrim Press: Bos- 
 ton. 5 cents each. 
 
 "Church History." /. F. Wood. "The Church 
 in the Reformation." N. M. Hall. "The His- 
 tory of Missions." I. F. Wood. "The History 
 of the Bible Versions." I. F. Wood. 
 A set of pamphlets, with bibliographies and brief 
 suggestions for their use. Each lesson suggests 
 a series of the most important topics to be con- 
 sidered. The courses are designed for classes so 
 situated that they have access to a small amount 
 of literature and can use these pamphlets to 
 outline their reading and class discussion. The 
 course on the History of Missions is general and 
 designed to be introductory to the study of the 
 missions in which the class itself is interested. 
 
 II. Mission Courses. 
 
 The various denominational Mission Boards 
 can supply any class with programs and text- 
 books for the study of the missions in which the 
 church is interested. The following are from 
 interdenominational series of mission study: 
 
EXTRA-BIBLICAL COURSES 129 
 
 The Student Volunteer Movement (125 E. 27th St., 
 New York) publish a long list of Text-books 
 OF Mission Study, covering the general subject, 
 methods and needs, and India, China, Japan, 
 Islam, South America, missionary biographies, 
 religions of mission fields. The books are de- 
 signed for college student classes, but might 
 often be used with profit by adult Sunday-school 
 classes. The detailed list, which is enlarged 
 yearly, may be had from the Student Volunteer 
 Movement. 25 cents or 30 cents each. 
 
 The Forward Mission Study Courses. Prepared 
 for the Young Peoples' Missionary Movement 
 and published by various denominational pub- 
 lishing houses. Books designed for young peoples' 
 study, attractively written, with questions, sug- 
 gestions for further reading, and illustrations. 
 The books would be of special value to classes 
 desiring a somewhat popular treatment of the 
 subject. The course offers books of mission 
 biography, general history, and missions in 
 Japan, Africa, and Home Missions. 35 cents 
 and 50 cents. 
 
 Handbooks for the United Study of Missions. 
 Prepared by the Central Committee on the United 
 Study of Missions. Macmillan : New York. Used 
 largely by Women's Missionary Societies, but not 
 less useful to Sunday-school classes. Adapted to 
 classes who wish something more advanced than 
 the Forward Mission Study Courses. Carefully 
 prepared text-books, with topics for further study. 
 
130 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 and illustrations, but without questions on the 
 chapters. Series one includes books on the Begin- 
 nings of Missions, India, China, Japan, Africa, 
 The Island World of the Pacific, Missions and 
 Social Progress. Series two has at present The 
 Nearer and Farther East (Moslem lands, 
 Siam, Burma, and Korea), The Gospel in Latin 
 Lands. Others will be added. Paper, 30 cents; 
 cloth, 50 cents. 
 
 III. Denominational Courses. 
 
 A study which every adult class of long stand- 
 ing ought to take up at some time in its career 
 is the history of its own denomination. 
 Importance This should not be done in the spirit 
 Study of of denominational boastfulness, nor of 
 t^onal'ffis." "apology" or "defense." It should be 
 tory a calm study of facts, with frank 
 
 acknowledgments of any mistakes and 
 defects in the past. Few denominations exist 
 which have not some dark pages in their history. 
 Usually the reasons for former mistakes are now 
 perfectly obvious, and the subject may be studied 
 not in the spirit of captious criticism, but as a 
 warning for the future. The same feeling which 
 leads people at present to take a larger interest 
 in the history of their families may well be in- 
 voked in behalf of the religious family to which 
 they belong. A frank, candid study of the his- 
 tory of their own denomination can hardly fail 
 
EXTRA-BIBLICAL COURSES 131 
 
 to make them more generous and sympathetic 
 toward other denominations. So interlocked is 
 all the history of the modern Church that any 
 influence which has affected one has affected 
 others. Denominations differ very much in mate- 
 rial adapted for their use. Congregationalists, for 
 example, have little. Methodists, Baptists, Pres- 
 byterians, and Unitarians have somewhat more. 
 Generally the pastor can help a class to what- 
 ever literature is available, but, as that literature 
 A General is seldom designed for class use, a plan 
 Outline must be worked out. The following 
 outline can usually be adapted to special needs: 
 (1) The beginning of the denomination; early 
 great characters; occasion for separation from 
 other churches; points of contact with earlier 
 churches; (2) periods of growth, characteristics 
 of each; (3) what the denomination has stood 
 for; (4) its contributions to American life and 
 religion; (5) its organization; (6) the history of 
 its missions, educational movements, relation to 
 civic and social reform movements; (7) its 
 theology and theological growth; (8) its present 
 size compared with other Christian bodies; 
 (9) its recent growth, the elements which develop 
 or retard its growth; strength and weakness of 
 its present position in the country; (10) present 
 trend in its theology and organization; relation 
 to other denominations; prospects of unity with 
 
132 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 any; (11) present extent, places, prospects, and 
 home support of missions; (12) the duty of the 
 individual to the denomination; (13) what can 
 reasonably be expected of the denomination in 
 the future; what changes are needed for its 
 improvement and what historic elements ought 
 to be strengthened to fit it for the best service 
 in the advancing kingdom of God. The course 
 might well close with one or two lessons on 
 the history and present needs and problems of 
 the individual church with which the class is 
 connected. 
 
 IV. Courses on Doctrine. 
 
 There is a deep interest among the most intel- 
 ligent people in the history and present condition 
 of Christian thought. Theology is not popular, 
 but we are, in fact, more interested in theology 
 than we think we are. One great reason for this 
 interest is the widespread idea, which is quite 
 correct, that theological thought is at present 
 undergoing profound changes. In this age of 
 progress anything which is changing commands 
 interest. It is recognized as being not dead, but 
 living and dynamic. Christian people do not 
 quite know what the trend of change in theology 
 is. They are sometimes suspicious of theological 
 changes; more often they would welcome them, if 
 they felt sure they knew what the changes were; 
 
EXTRA-BIBLICAL COURSES 133 
 
 but usually they are at least interested in the 
 subject. There is no place in the church or out 
 of it more fitting and profitable for a study of the 
 past and present religious thinking than the adult 
 class. The subject divides into two parts: 
 
 1. The Teaching of the Bible. 
 
 It ought always to be remembered that on 
 many subjects the Bible teaching is not a unity. 
 On the great subjects, like the power and love of 
 God, man's need of divine help, the revelation 
 of God through prophets and finally through 
 Christ — "those things needful for salvation" — 
 the Bible speaks with a single voice, but on many 
 subjects about which the Christian Church has 
 wrangled, the writers of the Bible are either not 
 clear or not in seeming harmony. On these sub- 
 jects one speaks not of the teaching of the Bible, 
 but of the teaching of Paul, of John, of the syn- 
 optic writers. 
 
 A simple series of great value, with emphasis on 
 the ethical side of biblical teaching, is the Bible 
 Study Union Courses on Old Testament Teach- 
 ings, Foundation Truths, Gospel Teachings, and 
 Christian Doctrines and Duties (see page 88). 
 The Truth of Christianity. James Iverach. (Bible 
 Class Primers.) T. & T. Clark: Edinburgh. 
 20 cents. The rise of Christianity and its dis- 
 tinguishing features. 
 Protestant Principles. J. Munro Gibson. (Chris- 
 
134 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 tian Study Manuals.) Armstrong: New York. 
 60 cents, A manual of Protestant beliefs arranged 
 for class use. 
 
 2. Historic Beliefs of the Christian 
 Church. 
 
 A good study of the growth of belief may be 
 made by classes of the more advanced sort through 
 the great creeds of the Church, taken in chrono- 
 logical order; the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene 
 Creed, the Augsburg Confession, the Creed of 
 the Council of Trent, the Thirty-nine Articles, 
 the Westminster Catechism and Confession, the 
 Arminian Creed, and any other creeds belonging 
 to the denomination which the class represents. 
 Copies of these creeds may be obtained from the 
 various denominational publishing houses. The 
 class should aim to find out what the creeds meant 
 when they were written; what were the con- 
 troversies out of which they arose; what views 
 they were intended to emphasize; how they have 
 been used by the churches, and how strictly they 
 are to be construed at present. This last brings 
 up the interesting question of the relation of 
 historic creeds to living Christianity; whether a 
 creed is a report of progress in Christian thought 
 or the permanent statement of an abiding truth. 
 Some classes would be interested to read with 
 their study selections from Athanasius, Augustine, 
 
EXTRA-BIBLICAL COURSES 135 
 
 Anselm {Cur Deus Homo), Luther, Calvin, 
 Edwards, and some books of the present day. 
 Most literary clubs could easily find time for 
 an equivalent amount of reading. We ought to 
 expect as much of the adult class as we do of the 
 ordinary literary club. 
 
 IV. Courses on Civic and Social Christian 
 Duties. 
 
 This subject ought to be the crown of all adult 
 class work. How to apply religion to practical 
 life is, for the adult class, vocational teaching. 
 It is our business to be efficient in the kingdom of 
 God; and there is no better place to discuss the 
 subjects which pertain to this efficiency than in 
 the adult class. The present interest in social 
 religion will without doubt produce many more 
 courses than can at present be listed. 
 
 A field of social study just beginning to attract 
 attention is "The Parents' Department." The 
 church has done little to help parents meet the 
 problems of moral and religious training. The 
 best place to provide such help is in parents' 
 classes in the Sunday-schools. Courses may be 
 arranged on the basis of some of the best books 
 of child-study, or of informal and practical dis- 
 cussion of the phases of religious and moral 
 training in the modern home. Plans for such 
 courses are outlined in a small pamphlet, The 
 
136 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 Home and the Sunday School, by Edward P. 
 St. John (Pilgrim Press: Boston). An excellent 
 course prepared by Professor St. John appears in 
 the Sunday-school magazines of the Congrega- 
 tional, Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal, and 
 Southern Methodist denominations for 1911, and 
 will probably be published later in permanent 
 form. 
 
 Social Service Series. American Baptist Publica- 
 tion Society: Philadelphia. 10 cents and 15 cents. 
 The topics to be treated include The Church and 
 the Family; The Church and the Community; 
 The Church and Wealth and Industry; The 
 Church and Politics; The Church and Social 
 Waste. A series of pamphlets by authorities in 
 social study, 30 to 50 pages, each complete in 
 itself and dealing with a special phase of the 
 social question, but without questions or other 
 devices for class use. The series is edited by 
 Prof. Shailer Mathews. These pamphlets are 
 admirable presentations of the present social sit- 
 uation. They may be used in any order, and as 
 much time given to each publication as the subject 
 demands. It will be most profitable if the class 
 studies the various subjects in the light of local 
 conditions, using their own church and town 
 as a touchstone for the facts and ideas put for- 
 ward in the pamphlets. There have been pub- 
 lished : 
 
 Jesus Christ and the Social Question. Francis G. 
 
EXTRA-BIBLICAL COURSES 137 
 
 Peahody. Macmillan: New York. $1.50. A 
 careful and comprehensive study of social prob- 
 lems in the light of Jesus' teaching. One of the 
 best books on the subject. 
 
 The Social Teaching of Jesus. Shailer Mathews. 
 Macmillan: New York. $1.50. A clear, simple, 
 and scholarly study of the social elements of 
 Jesus* teaching in the light of the modern situa- 
 tion. An excellent book. 
 
 A Reasonable Social Policy for Christian People. 
 Charles R. Henderson. 
 
 Ethical and Religious Significance of the State. 
 James Quayle Dealey. 
 
 A Working Temperance Program. Samuel Zane 
 Batten. 
 
 The Church and the Labor Movement. Charles 
 Stelzle. 
 
 The City: As it Is and as it Is to Be. Clinton 
 Rogers Woodruff. 
 
 The Churches Outside the Church. George W. 
 Coleman. 
 
 The Home as the School for Social Living. 
 H. F. Cope. 
 Other numbers are in preparation. 
 
 I. Christian Character. II. Christian Conduct. 
 T. B. Kilpatrick. (Bible Class Primers.) T. & T. 
 Clark: Edinburgh. 20 cents each. Two small 
 books showing how Christian ethics grew out of 
 the teachings of Jesus, how it applied in the early 
 Church and how it applies today. 
 
 The Gospel at Work in Modern Life. Robert 
 
138 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 Whitaker. The Griffith and Rowland Press: 
 Philadelphia. 50 cents. A book of twelve lessons 
 prepared for the Sacred Literature Course in 
 Baptist Young Peoples' Societies. It discusses 
 the modern Christian's problems, the relation of 
 the Gospel to the home, the church, social better- 
 ment, business, and recreations. Each chapter 
 is followed by questions and topics for further 
 study. The book is interestingly written in an 
 easy style, and could be well used in classes desir- 
 ing a course not too advanced. 
 
 The Citizen and the Neighbor. Rev. Charles F. Dole. 
 Unitarian Sunday School Society: Boston. Paper, 
 20 cents; boards, 25 cents. The topics considered 
 are Government: its Purpose and its Abuses, the 
 Good Citizen, Wealth, Crime, War, Arbitration, 
 etc. Questions for class use are appended. A good 
 presentation of general civic rights and duties. 
 A class might well use it as a basis for a study 
 of the meaning and obligations of citizenship. 
 
 Studies in Local Philanthropy. The Race 
 Problem. Lessons on Present Day Problems 
 — THE Land, Transportation, Government 
 Questions. (Friends' Graded Series.) Walter H. 
 Jenkins: Philadelphia. 5 cents each. Outlines 
 prepared for adult classes, with questions and 
 suggested readings. Clear statements of fact in 
 social and economic conditions. 
 
 Outline Bible Class Courses. Pilgrim Press: 
 Boston. 5 cents each. 
 The Problems of a Twentieth Century City. 
 
EXTRA-BIBLICAL COURSES 139 
 
 Outlines of a course in Philanthropy. H. M. Burr. 
 A Study of the City. N. M. Hall. Small 
 pamphlets with outlines of lessons, suggestions for 
 study, and unusually extensive and valuable bibli- 
 ographies. The outline of study will apply to 
 any city or large town. Most excellent for any 
 town class, whether advanced or elementary, 
 which wishes to make a good study of its own 
 social environment. A class composed largely 
 of men ought to be formed once in every five 
 years in every progressive church to study this 
 subject. 
 
 Unitarian Social Series. American Unitarian 
 Association: Boston. A set of pamphlets and 
 text-books (the text-books 25 cents each), covering 
 such subjects as child labor, immigration, the 
 negro problem, the labor problem, the liquor 
 problem, poverty, concentrated wealth. A series 
 of compact studies by specialists. 
 
 The Gospel of the Kingdom. Edited by Josiah 
 Strong. The American Institute of Social Service 
 Bible House, Astor Place, New York. 5 cents a 
 number, 50 cents a year. "A course of study 
 for men and women on living social problems in 
 the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.'* Each 
 number is devoted to a distinct topic and contains 
 four or five lessons which include a Scripture 
 basis, facts, subjects for study and discussion. 
 The subjects include child labor, women in indus- 
 try, wealth, organization of labor, civic corruption, 
 public utilities, socialism, immigration, prison re- 
 
140 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 form, intemperance, the race question, and other 
 subjects. Compact and judicious statements of 
 the actual conditions are given. The class may- 
 choose from the list of subjects those in which it 
 is specially interested, and so arrange a course of 
 such content and length as may seem best. The 
 "biblical basis" makes the study suitable for 
 classes which wish to keep their work connected 
 with the Bible. A good course with which to 
 begin social study. 
 
 V. Biography and Literature Outside of 
 Specific Church Circles. 
 
 This broad field is properly open to the class 
 under certain restrictions (see chapter V) . Very 
 few such courses for Sunday-schools have been 
 published, but Chautauqua and reading club 
 courses may be adapted, provided only that the 
 religious values of the subjects chosen be kept in 
 the foreground. The following unpublished course 
 by Rev. Newton M. Hall, D.D., is an excellent 
 example of how literature may be used to serve a 
 religious purpose: 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS POETRY OF WHITTIER 
 
 1. Early Training. Quaker parentage. Country 
 environment. Early religious itifluences. Hardships 
 and self-denial. Limited school privilege. Few books, 
 mostly of a religious nature. Influence of visitors at 
 homestead. Early attempts at literature. Brief time 
 
EXTRA-BIBLICAL COURSES 141 
 
 spent at Haverhill Academy. (See "Snow Bound,'* 
 "The Barefoot Boy," for biographical details.) 
 
 2. Development of Manhood. Editorial and 
 literary work. Patriotism. Desire for political life. 
 Early absorption in anti-slavery movement. The 
 active campaign against slavery. High moral motive. 
 Literary activity of middle life. Serene and gracious 
 old age. 
 
 3. Personal Characteristics. Retiring disposi- 
 tion yet genial nature. Love of intimate friends. 
 Love of books. Love of nature. Strong religious 
 nature. Liberal views. Intense moral indignation 
 against wrong. Well-balanced nature. Devout and 
 blameless private life. 
 
 Religious Poems. The religious spirit breathes 
 through all Whittier's poetry. Even in his treatment 
 of the most secular themes it appears. The close of 
 "Snow Bound" with the beautiful thoughts upon im- 
 mortality is an illustration. We may, however, group 
 the distinctly religious and moral poems as follows: 
 
 1. Poems upon Slavery. This division may profit- 
 ably be prefaced by a discussion of the moral inten- 
 sity of the anti-slavery movement. The utterances 
 of the great leaders had a prophetic quality. The 
 following are the most significant poems of the group: 
 "The Slave Ships"; "Expostulation"; "Stanzas for 
 the Times"; "A Summons"; "Pennsylvania Hall"; 
 "The New Year"; "The World's Convention"; 
 "Massachusetts to Virginia"; "New Hampshire"; 
 "Song of Slaves in the Desert"; "Moloch in State 
 Street"; "The Panorama"; "The Watchers." 
 
142 ADULT CLASS STUDY 
 
 2. Poems of Labor. While not definitely enlisted 
 in any sociological movement, Whittier after the war 
 became deeply interested in the development of de- 
 mocracy toward the betterment of social conditions. 
 The poems along this line are "Democracy"; '*The 
 Gallows"; ''Songs of Labor"; "The Prisoner for 
 Debt"; **The Poor Voter on Election Day"; "The 
 Eve of Election"; "After Election"; "Disarmament." 
 
 3. Distinctly Religious Poems. 
 
 (1) Poems descriptive of the Holy Land : "The Star 
 of Bethlehem"; "The Cities of the Plain"; "The 
 Call of the Christian"; "The Crucifixion"; "Pales- 
 tine"; "Ezekiel"; "The Wife of Manoah to her 
 Husband"; "The Holy Land." 
 
 (2) Poems of the Spiritual Life: "My Soul and I"; 
 "Questions of Life"; "First Day Thoughts"; "Trini- 
 tas"; "The Over Heart"; "The Shadow and the 
 Light"; "Andrew Rykman's Prayer"; "The Eternal 
 Goodness"; "Our Master"; "The Meeting"; "The 
 Prayer Seeker"; "The Prayer of Agassiz"; "In 
 Quest"; "The Friend's Burial"; "The Healer"; 
 "The Vision of Echard"; "At Last"; "The Mystic's 
 Christmas"; "The Light that is Felt"; "Adjustment." 
 
 4. Characteristics of Religious Poetry. Simplicity 
 of faith; devout spirit; the present Christ; breadth of 
 thought; freedom from conventionality; appeal to the 
 common religious consciousness; the religion of the 
 heart; absolute reliance upon God; lack of definite 
 theological system; strong belief in immortality. 
 
 Suggestions for Topic Study. "Whittier and the 
 Quakers." "Whittier and the Anti-Slavery Move- 
 
EXTRA-BIBLICAL COURSES 143 
 
 ment." The Effect of Whittier's Environment upon 
 his Development." "The Place of Moral Ideas in 
 Poetry." "Whittier's Theology." "Whittier's Idea 
 of Christ." "Whittier's Service to Humanity." 
 
 Bibliography. Life and Letters of John Greenleaf 
 Whittier. Samuel T. Pickard, Houghton Miffin Co. 
 

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