THE RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION 



made, a belated and necessarily ineffectual effort 

 is made to win them back. 



Says Dr. David G. Downey : ' ' The child holds 

 the future, and the only way to save the future 

 is to save the child. We can not save the child 

 by allowing him to go to the devil in his youth- 

 hood, and then attempt by special and spectacu- 

 lar methods to win him back to God in his man- 

 hood. Our method of approach to the child-heart 

 and mind must be in harmony with the well-estab- 

 lished laws and principles that govern the child's 

 growth. Religious development must be made 

 not a matter of miracle and magic, but a part 

 of the child's normal development, just as nat- 

 ural and normal as his development physically or 

 mentally. God has ordained a right time and a 

 right way for developing a child's physical life. 

 It is not a matter of chance, caprice, or magic. 

 It is a matter of care, feeding, exercise, and en- 

 vironment. Every parent understands, and up 

 to the measure of his understanding co-operates 

 with the divine law. God also has ordained a 

 right time and a right way for developing the 

 child's mental life. It is not a matter of chance, 

 caprice, or magic. It is simply a matter of in- 

 struction, guidance, and teaching at the right 

 time. Every parent and every teacher under- 

 stands, and as far as possible co-operates with 

 the divine law. . . . Let that time pass unim- 

 proved, and the child is intellectually lost. . . . 

 Has God ordained a right time and a right way 



