g children are first told the story of God creating
the world the main purpose of the lesson is _just to give them the
story_, and not to attempt instruction as to the power and wonder of
creative wisdom, nor even at this time to stress the seventh day as a
day of rest. When the story of Moses bringing his people out of Egypt is
told young children, the providence of God will be made evident, but the
facts of the story itself and its enjoyment just as a story should not
in early childhood be overshadowed by attempting to force the moral and
religious applications too closely.

It even happens that the indirect lesson, in which the child is left to
see for himself the application and meaning, is often the most effective
to teaching. The same principle holds when, later in the course, the
youth is first studying in its entirety the life of Jesus. The main
thing is to get a sympathetic, reverent, connected view of Jesus's life
as a whole. There will, of course, be a thousand lessons to be learned
and applications to be made from his teachings, but these should rest on
a fund of _accurate information about Jesus himself and what he taught_.

Danger of neglecting information.--It should be clear, then, that in
advocating the informational lesson there is no thought of asking that
we should teach our children _mere_ facts, or fill their heads with
_mere_ information. The intention is, rather, to stress the important
truth often seemingly forgotten, that to be intelligent in one's
religion there are certain, fundamental _things which must be known_;
that to be a worthy Christian there are certain facts, stories,
personages, and events with a knowledge of which the mind must be well
furnished. There can be little doubt that the common run of teaching in
our church schools has failed to give our children a _sufficient basis_
of information upon which to build their religious experience.

Informational instruction may be combined with other types of lessons,
or may be given as separate lessons which stress almost entirely the
informational aspect of the material. In the younger classes the
information will come to the children chiefly in the form of stories,
and the accounts of lives of great men and women. Later in the course,
Bible narrative, history, and biography will supply the chief sources of
informational material.

THE DEVELOPMENTAL LESSON

It is a safe principle in teaching not to give ready-made to children a
fa