(4) _The Teacher and His Class._ The peculiar relation already referred to as existing between the Sunday-school teacher and his class presents another incentive to training. His relation is not like that of the secular teacher, who speaks with authority, and can command attention and study. The teacher in Sunday school cannot require his scholars to learn the lesson; the authority of the parent is rarely employed to compel home study; and as a result most of our scholars come to the Sunday school unprepared. This is not the ideal or the ultimate condition, but unfortunately it is still the real condition in at least nine out of ten Sunday-school classes. This condition makes the demand upon the teacher all the greater. Because his scholars are unprepared he must be all the better prepared. He must be able to awaken and arouse his pupils; he must inspire them to an interest in the lesson; he must so teach as to lead them into knowledge of the truth and a desire to seek it for themselves. Anyone can teach the scholar who is eager to learn; but to teach those who come to the class unprepared and careless, to send them away with a clear-cut understanding of the lesson, and an awakened intelligence and conscience--all this, under the conditions of the Sunday-school teacher's task, and in his peculiar relation to his scholars, requires not only ability, but also thoroughly trained ability. In view of all these considerations, it is not surprising that at the opening of the twentieth century the demand of the Sunday schools everywhere is for better teaching, and for teachers who have themselves been taught and are able to teach others. XIV THE TRAINING AND TASK OF THE TEACHER 1. =The Training Needed.= Many faithful workers in the Sunday school realize their need of preparation; but, while conscious of unfitness, they have no clear conception of the equipment which they require. What are those fields of knowledge which should be traversed by one who has been called to teach in the Sunday school? They comprise four departments: (1) the Book, (2) the scholar, (3) the school, and (4) the work. (1) _The Book._ We have already noted that the Sunday school is differentiated from other systems of education in the fact that it uses mainly but one text-book, the Holy Scriptures. For that reason the teacher must first of all acquaint himself as thoroughly as possible with the contents of that wonderful volume. He should be a twentieth century Bible student; not a student or a scholar according to the light of the Middle Ages, or the seventeenth century, or even of the first half of the nineteenth century; for in all those periods the aims, the methods, and the scope of Bible study were different from those of the present time. He who is to teach the Bible successfully to-day must have some knowledge of the Bible in the following aspects: