Chapter 17—Need of Consecrated Teachers
Those who engage in Sabbath-school work should be persons who
have consecrated themselves to God. They should be men and women
of strong faith and warm sympathies, who are fervent of spirit, and
interested in all that pertains to the cause of Christ. They should
give themselves to the work with unselfish endeavor, and at whatever
sacrifice it may require, laying themselves on the altar, and pleading,
with strong crying and tears, for the conversion of the youth who have
been committed to their charge. Among those who would work for
the Lord in the Sabbath-school, let all selfish ambition be crucified,
and “let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness
of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” Let it be the
Sabbath-school worker’s first ambition to educate the youth to do their
duty in the fear of God and with simplicity.
The great want in the Sabbath-school is not the want of machinery,
but the want of knowledge in spiritual things. How greatly do the
workers need a baptism of the Holy Spirit, that they may become true
missionaries for God. They should learn to tax their minds to the
utmost, that they may acquire a better knowledge of Bible truth. The
teachers in the Sabbath-school should pray daily for the enlightenment
of heaven, that they may be able to open to the minds of the youth the
treasures of the sacred Word. Why not humble yourselves before the
Lord, and let the impression of the Holy Spirit be manifested upon your
character and work? There is far too much self-complacency among
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those who engage in Sabbath-school work, too much machinery and
routine, and all this tends to lead the soul away from the Fountain of
living water.
There was a time in the history of our work when the workers felt
the necessity of counseling with those who had experience, when they
realized the need of the guidance of the Lord in all that pertained to
His work; but that time has passed, and the true missionary spirit has
departed from the hearts of many of our professed workers. The Lord
desires that those who are engaged in the Sabbath-school work should
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