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Counsels on Sabbath School Work
Christ’s Outstretched Arms
The divine Teacher bears with the erring through all their perversity.
His love does not grow cold; His efforts to win them do not cease.
With outstretched arms He waits to welcome again and again the
erring, the rebellious, and even the apostate. His heart is touched with
the helplessness of the little child subject to rough usage. The cry of
human suffering never reaches His ear in vain. Though all are precious
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in His sight, the rough, sullen, stubborn dispositions draw most heavily
upon His sympathy and love; for He traces from cause to effect. The
one who is most easily tempted, and is most inclined to err, is the
special object of his solicitude.
Every parent and every teacher should cherish the attributes of
Him who makes the cause of the afflicted, the suffering, and the
tempted, His own. He should be one who can have “compassion on
the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself
also is compassed with infirmity.” Jesus treats us far better than we
deserve; and as He has treated us, so we are to treat others. The
course of no parent or teacher is justifiable if it is unlike that which
under similar circumstances the Saviour would pursue.—
Testimonies
on Sabbath-School Work, 119-121
.
Discipline and Order Essential
There should be discipline and order in our Sabbath schools. Chil-
dren who attend these schools should prize the privileges they enjoy,
and should be required to observe the regulations of the school.—
Testimonies on Sabbath-School Work, 7, 8
.
If Christ is abiding in his [the teacher’s] heart by faith, sin appears
revolting. While he will have love, kindness, and tenderness for the
scholars under his charge, he will feel that as a faithful servant he must
discipline and preserve order in his class. If truth is cherished, the love
of the Saviour is revealed in his words and deportment. The word of
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God with him is not a dead letter; he will give not only lip service, but
heart service.—
Testimonies on Sabbath-School Work, 25, 26
,