PART VI

THE WILL--THE CONSCIENCE--THE DIVINE LIFE IN THE CHILD

I. THE WILL

Government of Mansoul--Executive power vested in the will--What is the will?--Persons may go through life without a deliberate act of will--Character the result of conduct regulated by will-- Three functions of the will--A limitation of the will disregarded by some novelists--Parents fall into this metaphysical blunder--Wilfulness indicates want of will-power-- What is wilfulness?--The will has superior and inferior functions--The will not a moral faculty--A disciplined will necessary to heroic Christian character--The sole practical faculty of man--How the will operates--The way of the will; Incentives--Diversion--Change of thought--The way of the will should be taught to children--Power of will implies power of attention--Habit may frustrate the will--Reasonable use of so effective an instrument--How to strengthen the will--Habit of self-management--Education of the will more important than of the intellect 317

II. THE CONSCIENCE

Conscience is judge and law-giver--I am, I ought, I can, I will--Inertness of parents not supplemented by Divine grace-- Conscience not an infallible guide--But a real power--That spiritual sense whereby we know good and evil--A child’s conscience an undeveloped capability rather than a supreme authority--The uninstructed conscience--The processes implied in a ‘conscientious’ decision--The _instructed_ conscience nearly always right--The good conscience of a child--Children play with moral questions--The Bible the chief source of moral ideas--Tales fix attention upon conduct--Ignorance of a child’s conscience--Instructing the conscience--Kindness--The conscience made effective by discipline 329

III. THE DIVINE LIFE IN THE CHILD

The ‘very pulse of the machine’--Parents have some power to enthrone the King--The functions and life of the soul--What is the life of the soul?--The parent must present the idea of God to the soul of the child--Must not make blundering efforts--God presented to the children as an exactor and punisher--Parents must select inspiring ideas--We must teach only what we know--Fitting and vital ideas--The knowledge of God distinct from morality--The times and the manner of religious instruction--The reading of the Bible--Father and Giver--The essence of Christianity is loyalty to a Person 341

APPENDICES

A. LIST OF BOOKS 353

B. QUESTIONS FOR THE USE OF STUDENTS 357

C. THE EXAMINATION OF A CHILD OF SEVEN UPON A TERM’S WORK ON THE LINES INDICATED IN THIS VOLUME 387

D. THE EXAMINATION OF A CHILD OF NINE UPON A TERM’S WORK 398

INDEX 420

Home Education

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