Editorial July 22, 1911 Issue

THE MASTER'S METHOD

John B. Willis

Christ Jesus was the greatest of teachers. He had entire command of his subject, its Principle and rule, and he showed his ability therewith to solve every life-problem. Furthermore, he was considerate for circumstance, the spirit of the times, the pupil's point of view, his native bias and mental limitations, and he had the wisdom and tact so to adjust his statements and method thereto as to awaken and retain interest. The common people, it is said, "heard him gladly," and this is explained when we note the nicety of his regard for their approachable side, his readiness to take advantage of any human relation, impulse, disposition, or prejudice which might serve as an avenue of approach to their thought.

How clearly all this is revealed in his talk with the woman at Jacob's well. He not only perceived her need, and showed frank friendliness in his bearing toward her, but his approach was marvelously tactful, it exactly fitted the case and immediately opened the way to her heart. He won by the wisdom of his words as well as by the authority of the truth he uttered. Like the woman, the most of his auditors were humble, unlettered folk, who were wont to find entertainment in listening to the tale-tellers that today as of yore, in the East, ply their trade at the entry-way and market-place of the city. He therefore eschewed dogmatics and philosophy and "spoke to them in parables." The incidents of common life were constantly used, in pertinent and poetic ways, to illustrate redemptive truths. He was great both in what he said and in the way he said it.

For parents and teachers, all indeed who essay to "preach the word," this method of the Master merits that careful and continuous study which St. Paul must have given it, if we may judge by the cleverness of his appeal to Philemon and the wisdom of his address on Mars hill. The Athenians, as the apostle knew full well, were alert and inquiring, but volatile and disputatious. They were very ready to enter into an argument with any one, for the simple satisfaction of airing their sophistries and laughing at the confusion of those entrapped by them. Paul therefore avoided contention by beginning his address not with didactic statements, but with a compliment which had the winsome flavor of all genuine courtesy. Nothing their many altars, he called attention to them as an evidence that they were greatly given to deity reverencing, thus giving them credit for a most worthy instinct to which he would presently appeal. How wise thus to evoke their good will and stimulate their interest that he might win a hearing for the all-important things he had to say. This art of the true pedagogue is essential to our success as the exponents of Truth, and Mrs. Eddy has duly recognized its value in her saying that "the most just man can neither defend the innocent nor detect the guilty, unless he knows how to be just" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 112).

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