The Sabbath-School Index: Pointing out the history and progress of Sunday-schools, with approved modes of instruction.Pardee, R. G. (Richard Gay)
Religion
The Sabbath-School Index: Pointing out the history and progress of Sunday-schools, with approved modes of instruction.
Pardee, R. G. (Richard Gay)
Sunday schools
The superintendent should have good executive, business talents;
energy; perseverance; self-control; tact to govern; a love for
children; devotion to the cause; a warm, sympathetic heart; a
life-like, serious, yet cheerful manner; and, superadded to humble,
ardent piety, an ability to think, and to set others to thinking; and
withal, he should be able to express himself clearly, briefly, and
forcibly. He should never allow the least harsh or irritable
expression to escape from him, and he should repress every symptom of
lightness, stiffness, or discouragement, remembering that his look and
manner will give tone to the whole school.
He should know personally, and by name, and as far as may be, the
particular character of every teacher and pupil in the school; speak
to them, and always treat them with confidence and respect--neither
too coldly, nor too familiarly--and assure them each of his _personal_
interest in them, and respect for them all.
He should be wise to discern, select, and adjust proper teachers to
their places, classify and arrange the scholars, and in these things
he should not be overborne in his judgment. He is usually chosen by
the teachers annually, and will do well to take them for his
counsellors, and often consult them, collectively and individually;
for while he is the superintendent, the head of the school, and as
such a cheerful obedience should be tendered to him by all, yet, he is
_not the sovereign_. His authority is not magisterial nor parental,
but he is a _constitutional_ ruler, governed himself by the rules of
the school; and he should so rule that no one should ever question his
right to govern. He should never even speak of his "rights."
He should be _spiritually qualified_ for his work, and should become a
holier man of God from the hour in which he first receives the "call."
He should be in daily communion with God about the work, talking
freely with Him on all that concerns the school, about every teacher,
and about every scholar, and humbly watching for answers to his
prayers.
He should also engage in the work with a good measure of scriptural
_enthusiasm_. We do well to be very earnest and full of life, to be
glowing and animated in our looks, words, and actions, if we would
effectually reach the children, who are so full of life. Perhaps the word
unction would more worthily express the idea. The superintendent's
interest should rise to this high point.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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