Chapter 4—Sabbath-School Duties in the
Camp-Meeting and at Home
Dear brethren and sisters who assemble at our camp-meetings, we
wish to address to you a few words in the interest of our Sabbath-
schools. This is one of the important branches of the work, and should
not be left to chance, or to haphazard management. If these schools are
conducted as they should be, the efforts made in the pulpit to present
the truth in a manner to win souls may be deepened; and if the labor
bestowed is followed up by interested workers in the Sabbath-school,
much good will be accomplished. But it is not enough to have the
Sabbath-school move like well-regulated machinery. There should be
practical workers; the teachers should be of that class who have a living
connection with God, who have an appetite for study themselves, who
will give time and moral earnestness to their work, and who will not
be satisfied unless they see something accomplished.
There should be a living, growing interest in storing the mind with
Bible truth. The precious knowledge thus gained will build a barrier
about the soul. Although assailed with temptation, there will be a
firm trust in Jesus, through the knowledge of Him who hath called
them to glory and to virtue. Let the teachers enter, heart and soul,
into the subject matter of the lesson. Let them lay plans to make a
practical application of the lesson, and awaken an interest in the minds
and hearts of the children under their charge. Let the activities of
the scholars find scope in solving the problems of Bible truth. The
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teachers may give character to the work, so that the exercises will not
be dry and uninteresting.
Teachers do not make as earnest work as they should of the
Sabbath-school exercises; they should come close to the hearts of
the scholars, by aptness, by sympathy, by patient and determined ef-
fort to interest every scholar in regard to the salvation of the soul.
These exercises should become altogether what the Lord would have
them,—seasons of deep conviction of sin, of heart reformation. If
the right work is done, in a skilful, Christ-like manner, souls will be
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