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Testimonies for the Church Volume 6
“Several teachers from Sunday schools attended the meetings and
expressed themselves as greatly pleased and benefited by the work
done. Parents sometimes came with their children and seemed as much
interested as the little ones. Others, though not in harmony with our
views, took the trouble to dress their children neatly and allowed them
to come. Some parents remarked that they did not know what we did
with their children, but one thing was certain, the children would come,
and they could not keep them at home. Some of the children came
long distances, and we have every reason to believe that much of the
seed sown fell into good ground.”
* * * * *
The good seed sown in these meetings should not be left to perish
for want of care. Many parents would rejoice if the instruction given
to their children at the camp meeting could be continued. They would
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gladly place their children in a school where the same principles were
taught and practiced. While the interest of both parents and children is
awakened, it is a golden opportunity for the establishment of a school
at which the work begun at the camp meeting can be carried forward.
And as believers are raised up and churches organized, such a
school will be found of great value in promoting the permanence and
stability of the work. Workers in new territory should not feel free to
leave their field of labor till the needed facilities have been provided
for the churches under their care. Not only should a humble house of
worship be erected, but all necessary arrangements should be made for
the permanent establishment of the church school.
This matter has been plainly presented before me. I saw in different
places new companies of believers being raised up and meetinghouses
being erected. Those newly come to the faith were helping with
willing hands, and those who had means were assisting with their
means. In the basement of the church, above ground, I was shown a
room provided for a school where the children could be educated in
the truths of God’s word. Consecrated teachers were selected to go to
these places. The numbers in the school were not large, but it was a
happy beginning.
As the work was being pressed forward, I heard the voices of
children and parents singing: