and minds of the young. The method we pursue, however, is beyond question quite contrary to that adopted by the conventional Sunday school. Yet there is little in all these series of lessons which would contradict what is ordinarily taught in such schools, or be in opposition to their standpoint. The contrast is conspicuous mainly in regard to the way the emphasis is thrown in certain directions and not in others.

WHEN we come to the active side of the child's mind and endeavour to reach or develop the ethical side of his nature by making the mind think for itself, we have the more serious problems confronting us. Little by little we have been sketching the outlines for a series of studies covering a period of nine years, from the age of seven to about sixteen; and I shall endeavour in as terse a way as possible to give some idea of what kind of work we are trying to do in this course of instruction. It is the more important part of the work of the school, and the harder part. It means work, not only on the part of the young, but even more on the part of the teacher. It is not surprising that those who undertake to use such methods for ethical instruction should find difficulties in the way, and assert only too emphatically that the old method in the conventional Sunday school was much easier and gave more immediate results.

With the youngest of the children, from the ages

of seven to nine years, we begin with the Bible stories of the Old Testament, from the account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden down to David and Solomon and the establishment of the kingdom of Israel in Palestine. We do not undertake to have these taught in the conventional way, using the exact language of the Bible and giving all that we find there. The main point is to select such stories or tales as may have a meaning to the little ones and carry some sort of an ethical lesson. We tell these stories, as we have already said, not for the purpose of teaching the child about God, but about man, and what man has learned of life and about right and wrong through long ages of history and experience.

These tales are told as "stories," with no special discussion as to whether they are true or not true, whether they are history or not history. Problems of this kind may arise with adult classes dealing with the Bible; but at the outset we have another purpose in view. I think that any one can see why all children should learn the stories of the Bible in one form or another; if for no other reason, because these stories are the basis of the literature of Christendom. Many a grown man now-a-days is humiliated to find that he cannot understand some of the simplest allusions in what he reads, because of his ignorance of the stories

from the Bible. The young ought to know them, if on no other grounds, just because everybody all over the world is expected to know them. Fathers and mothers cannot afford to submit their children to the possible humiliation in later years of being ignorant on subjects about which all cultured persons are supposed to know at least something.

But the advantage is that these stories from the Bible are not mere "stories". They are not like the tales from Homer, or like most of the other stories from the classical literatures of the world. These tales from the Bible, beginning with Adam and Eve, down to David and Solomon, can be told in an interesting way as illustrating the simple elements of morality. But it will be found that we cannot always read these stories to the young exactly as they stand in the Bible. Such a statement may be a shock to orthodox minds. And yet it is surprising how many orthodox people are coming to admit this fact and to realise that the Bible as it stands is to be read by the adult mind and not by the child. Still, the moral thread is there, and it is this moral thread that we undertake to preserve and make use of by telling these stories or tales in simple language, leaving out such portions as are irrelevant, or such stories as may have no ethical import or may give a shock to the moral sense. As to the super

natural side, we do not have to talk about it. When it becomes necessary for us to introduce it, we can just let it stand and read it as a part of the tale. For myself, however, I prefer, in using these stories, to preserve the old Hebrew name of the Deity, "Yahweh," throughout, not positively connecting it with the higher conception of "God" such as comes out later on in the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah.

I may give a single illustration of one of these lessons, showing how we use these tales from the Bible, although the selection has to be made somewhat at random. Take, for instance, the story of "The Tower of Babel"

It was a long while ago, just how long I cannot say, and over in another part of the world, after the time of the great Flood-it may have been hundreds of years later, when Noah was no longer alive and there were again a great number of people on the earth. They had begun to build cities. They had riches once more, and they were giving themselves over to having a good time -seeking only after pleasures, and just those kind of pleasures which satisfy people for the moment and leave nothing behind.

They had so much wealth and they had been so successful in building their cities that they were overcome with pride. I suppose you know what that feeling means? In those days it seems that every man somehow felt as if he were better than any other man. now I am going to tell you of something extraordinary

So