INTRODUCTION 



IT was a saying of Borden Parker Bowne that, 

 although a sound philosophy might conceivably 

 be of no benefit to the world, there could be no 

 doubt of the real damage done by an unsound 

 philosophy. With even greater emphasis might 

 one say this of theological dogma ; for in no other 

 field has the lust for system at the expense of life 

 borne more bitter fruit. And good men have sel- 

 dom strayed further than when, under the ty- 

 ranny of the a priori, they have essayed to extend 

 their deductions to the moral and religious status 

 of the child. 



Not the least of the merits of the following 

 discussion, while the author makes no claim of be- 

 ing a specialist in psychology, is his appreciation 

 of the bearing of psychology upon his subject 

 The point of view and the method of approach 

 adopted by the psychologist bring to light ma- 

 terial that may be obtained in no other way. And 

 no safe theological structure can be built without 

 this material. The child-mind and the child-life 

 have their own secrets to tell, and they only learn 

 these who patiently ask what the facts are, and 

 not what the facts ought to be. 



But in these chapters there is more serious 



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