3 Sermon Illustrations on Education

EDUCATION, Method of Knowledge is not to be crammed in by mere naked dictation; you must teach as Nature teaches,—geutly, softly, kindly; a little now, a little then; a little here, a little there; a little this way, a little that way. See how Nature trains her plants in the field! If you have gone into the cornfield early in the morning, you have seen the little drop of dew on the top of each wheat-ear, standing there and asking the sun to kiss it, and impart to it some new chemical virtue; and having been kissed by the sun, and invigorated, it looks for a little groove, a little canal, a little fissure, in the plant, and runs down that fissure to the root, and nourishes it. That takes place every morning; and what is the consequence? Why, there is the ear filling all round the top of the stalk,—a number of rows, in each row a number of little granular buds when the summer sun shines out; the dew drop is formed, and these little granular buds swell; they harden; they swell again, and harden again: the summer sun shines out still more bravely: and then you have the full corn in the ear, which bows its head, and asks the reaper to take it in.

— Dr. Beaumont

One evening not long since, as I was seated at my table busily engaged in sewing, my attention was attracted by a confused noise among a pile of school-books near me. I soon discovered that it was caused by a strife for pre-eminence among them. Each claimed to be most important to man. When my attention was first drawn to them, History had the floor. "I am the most useful book in the world," it exclaimed boastingly. "Who could give a knowledge of the past ages of the world were it not for me? What else contains a record of the warrior's fame, of the statesman's renown, of all great deeds in ages past? On the pages of History will the great deeds that have been transpiring for the past few years be written." — "Stop, vain boaster!" exclaimed Geography. "I think I can claim supremacy even over thee, great as thou art! Who would know even that there was a world, were it not for my pages? I describe countries, tell where different bodies of water lie, and even tell what different nations inhabit various portions of the earth. Were it not for me, would it be known even that the earth is round?" — "Enough, friend Geography!" exclaimed Natural Philosophy. "We acknowledge your importance; but, my friends, were it not for me, who would understand why the apple falls to the ground, instead of rising to the sky? Who could understand the law of gravitation, or the other laws which govern the earth? Who could tell how steam is made the servant of man; or how news is made to flash along the telegraph-wire, or how" — Up sprang a little blue-backed Spelling-Book. "Cease this squabbling!" it exclaimed. "Know ye that I am the greatest among you! Were it not for these twenty-six letters, not one of you would ever have had an existence; to me you owe all your greatness; without me, you are nothing." They all hung their heads abashed. Burke's Weekly.