Indirectly all this is to say that our first care in teaching the young child religion should be to lead him to form religious habits.  For our lives are controlled by a great network of habits which come to us as the result of acts often repeated, until they have become as second nature.  There are many things about the child’s religion that should become second nature; that is, should become habit—­and which are not certain and secure until they have grown into habits.  For example, it is wholly desirable to have the habit of attending church, of personal devotions, and of resisting temptation, so well fixed that the acts required for each take care of themselves with a minimum of struggle and decision each time the occasion arises.  Not only will this method require less strain and compulsion on our part, but it will result in more uniform churchgoing, attention to devotions, and the overcoming of temptation.

The age for habit forming.—­The principle, then, is simple and clear.  At the beginning of the child’s contact with the church school he cannot grasp the broader and deeper meanings of religion; but he can during this period be led into the doing of right acts and deeds, and thus have his religious habits started.  At a time when his brain is yet unripe, and hence unready for the more difficult truths or the more exalted emotions of religion, the child is at his best in the matter of habit-forming.  For habits grounded in early childhood are more easily formed and more deeply imbedded than those acquired at any later time, and they exert a stronger control over the life.

How habits grow.—­But habits do not come of their own accord; they must be gradually acquired.  Immediately back of every habit lies a chain of acts out of which the habit grows.  Given the acts, and the habit is as sure to follow as night the day.  Hence the great thing in religious instruction of the young is to afford opportunity for our teaching to be carried as immediately as may be over into deeds.

As we make the desired impressions upon the minds of our pupils, we must see that the way is reasonably open for expression.  The lessons should be so direct, simple, and clear that there is no difficulty in connecting them immediately with the daily life, and then we should do our best to see that the connection is made.

As we teach we should have in mind the week that lies ahead in the child’s life—­in the home, the school, on the playground, in the community, and in whatever personal situations and problems we may know are being met.  Then we should use every power as a teacher to make sure that we help the child meet the challenge of his daily life with the finest acts, best deeds, and noblest conduct possible for him to command.

APPLICATION OF RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION TO THE DAILY LIFE