aviour, it will be well for us now and then
momentarily to place these relations in the background and study him
just as a _teacher_.

Jesus possessed an attractive, inspiring, compelling personality. People
naturally came to him with their questions and problems. His quick
sympathy, ready understanding, and unerring insight invited friendship,
confidence, and devotion. He was ever sure of his "great objective," and
whether he was teaching his disciples stupendous truths about the
kingdom of God, or whether he was pointing the wayward woman the way to
a reconstructed life, the welfare of the _living soul before him_ was
his controlling thought. Jesus had a true sense of the value of a life,
and no life was too humble or too unpromising for him to lavish upon it
all the wealth of his interest and all the power of his sympathy and
helpfulness. He did not feel that his time was poorly spent when he was
teaching small groups, and many of the choicest gems of his teaching
were given to a mere handful of earnest listeners seated at his feet.

In all his teaching Jesus manifested a deep reverence for vital _truth_.
He told his disciples, "The truth shall make you free." He was never
afraid of truth, but accepted it reverently, even when it ran counter to
accepted authority. Nor did Jesus ever lose time or opportunity in
teaching trivial and unessential matters to his hearers; the knowledge
he gave them was always of such fruitful nature that they could at once
apply it to their living, Jesus's teaching carried over; it showed its
effect in changed attitudes of life, in new purposes, compelling ideals,
and great loyalties and devotions. Out of a band of commonplace
fishermen and ordinary men he made a company of evangelists and
reformers whose work and influence changed the course of civilization.
Every person who responded to his instruction felt the glow of a new
ambition and the desire to have a part in the great mission. Thus the
teaching of Jesus entered into the actual life and conduct of his
pupils. The truths he taught did not lie dormant as so much mere
attainment of knowledge. They took root and blossomed into action, into
transformed lives, and into heroic deeds of kindly service. The constant
keynote and demand of Jesus's teaching was shown forth in his, "He that
heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them"; he was never satisfied
without the doing.

Much is to be learned from the technique of Jesus's teaching, i