Shakespeare & The Dragon

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Shakespeare walked quickly to Holy Trinity Church, to teach a catechism class to children. He did not want to be late. He had come to enjoy teaching this class.

He once disliked having to teach the class. When Vicar Barton first asked him to be the teacher, Shakespeare was excited. He was very eager to help his community in any way he could. The idea of teaching the children about the Bible appealed to him. He liked children very much, and he thought that discussing the stories from Scripture would be as much fun for him as it would be for them.

He loved the account of how the fearsome Goliath was defeated in battle by David—a shepherd who fought with only a sling and a stone. He loved how the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt by Nehemiah—who had been a cup-bearer to the Persian king. He loved how the Israelites were delivered out of slavery in Egypt by Moses, whom God chose as their shepherd. He loved how the dead man Lazarus was brought back to life by Jesus. He wanted to teach the children to love all of this history, too.

He thought at the time, Above all else, I want to help them to know the unchangeable God of love—and to know His Son, Christ Jesus, their loving Lord and Savior—and to know that the Holy Spirit is God Himself, as He comes to live within us.

Shakespeare could not think of a more important obligation than to teach children this most important lesson. He accepted Vicar Barton's offer without any hesitation.

When he arrived to teach his first class, however, the Vicar surprised him. He warned Shakespeare, "I have one rule. Don't teach them anything other than what is written in the Book of Common Prayer. They must know how to recite their answers properly. That is all. Teach them nothing else. Leave the ministering to me. If you teach them too much, they will have too many questions, which will lead them to having too many doubts."

Shakespeare was distressed. He thought, How can I teach the principles of our Christian religion without explaining the history of the Jews—God's chosen people—which culminated in the immaculate birth, the tragic death, and the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ? I can not imagine anything more dispiriting than teaching children how to become Christians without sharing with them why being a Christian is a cause for joyful and wonderful celebration.

But Shakespeare did as the Vicar said. He taught the children how to recite their answers. It was a horrible experience. The children were so curious. They looked at him with their eyes wide open. And yet he could not satisfy their curiosity and excitement. They asked so many questions—none of which he was permitted to answer.

Shakespeare hated forcing children to recite words without teaching them what the words meant. The children became very irritable at having to learn something that made no sense to them at all.

Then one day, he disobeyed the Vicar.

As he finished his lesson to the children, Shakespeare saw how their eyes drooped, and how sleepy and distracted they were.

Without even thinking, and before he knew what he was saying, he began to tell the children the story of how an angel of the Lord visited Philip the Evangelist.

It was his sister Anne's favorite part of the whole Bible. She had loved hearing him read it to her, and discussing what it meant. He must have told her the story dozens of times, and it never ceased to delight her. He knew the story so well, he did not even have to look it up, or read from the eighth chapter of the Book of Acts.

Shakespeare told the children how the angel told Philip to go to a barren and desolate desert. He told them how Philip met a very important and powerful man, the royal treasurer for Queen Candace of Ethiopia. Riding in his royal chariot, this African man was reading about the Hebrew prophet Isaiah.