educational process; which end is, according to Spencer, "to live
completely," or, as we usually say, to fit each one to live in the
exercise of all the power God made it possible for him to enjoy. To
realize this end teaching must proceed according to law.

#50.# The first law to be noted is that #the subject matter presented
to a growing soul must be adapted to the capacity of the learner#.
This law is so self-evident that we unconsciously observe it. We do
not give the same kind of lessons to a child in the primary grade that
we should and do give to the pupil in the adult Bible class. The whole
significance of graded exercises is based upon this fundamental
principle. This law rests upon the generally accepted fact that the
different powers of the soul change their relative activity during the
years of growth.

#51.# The second principle is equally important: #There is a natural
order in which the powers of the soul should be exercised.# This order
is the order of their activity. The earliest power to become
educationally active is sensation, the last is reason, and hence we
can phrase this law in the maxim "from sense to reason." Different
writers state the same thing in the following way: observation before
reasoning; the concrete before the abstract; sense knowledge before
thought knowledge; facts before definitions; processes before rules;
the particular before the general; the simple before the complex; from
the known to the next related unknown. All these maxims may be traced
to the same law of the soul, and they may all be summed up in the
maxim, _teaching must proceed from things to symbols_, since the
senses deal with things and reason deals with symbols. No wise teacher
will pass this law by until its full significance is understood. Jesus
was a masterful teacher. He observed this law frequently. Note the
examples in the Gospels, using the incident at Jacob's well as an
example. AEsop's fables are all built upon the principle here laid
down, as are the numerous fairy tales by the Grimms, Andersen, and
others.

#52.# Since the soul grows only by its own activity a third law
arises: #Knowledge can be acquired only by occasioning the proper
activity in the soul of the pupil.# It is always important to keep in
mind that it is not what the teacher thinks and does, but what he
causes the pupil to think and do, that makes for knowledge. The best
teaching secures the best mental activity on the part of the pup