yet, or as rewards to stimulate curiosity for them later, but sacred things should
not become too familiar or be conventionalized before they can be felt or
understood.
The child's conception of God should not be personal or too familiar at first, but
He should appear distant and vague, inspiring awe and reverence far more than
love; in a word, as the God of nature rather than as devoted to serviceable
ministrations to the child's individual wants. The latter should be taught to be a
faithful servant rather than a favorite of God. The inestimable pedagogic value
of the God-idea consists in that it widens the child's glimpse of the whole, and
gives the first presentment of the universality of laws, such as are observed in its
experiences and that of others, so that all things seem comprehended under one
stable system or government. The slow realization that God's laws are not like
those of parents and teachers, evadible, suspensible, but changeless, and their
penalties sure as the laws of nature, is most important factor of moral training.
First the law, the schoolmaster, then the Gospel; first nature, then grace, is the
order of growth.
The pains or pleasures which follow many acts are immediate, while the results
that follow others are so remote or so serious that the child must utilize the
experience of others. Artificial rewards and punishments must be cunningly
devised so as to simulate and typify as closely as possible the real natural
penalty, and they must be administered uniformly and impartially like laws of
nature. As commands are just, and as they are gradually perceived to spring from
superior wisdom, respect arises, which Kant called the bottom motive of duty,
and defined as the immediate determination of the will by law, thwarting self-
love. Here the child reverences what is not understood as authority, and to the
childish "Why?" which always implies imperfect respect for the authority,
however displeasing its behest, the teacher or parent should always reply, "You
cannot understand why yet," unless quite sure that a convincing and controlling
insight can be given, such as shall make all future exercise of outward authority
in this particular unnecessary. From this standpoint the great importance of the
character and native dignity of the teacher is best seen. Daily contact with some
teachers is itself all-sided ethical education for the child without a spoken
precept. Here, too, the real advantage of male over female teachers, especially
for boys, is seen in their superior physical strength, which often, if highly
estimated, gives real dignity and commands real respect, and especially in the
unquestionably greater uniformity of their moods and their discipline.