School for Bible Study
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ability; it demands that you shall bring into requisition every available
help, that you shall direct your noblest impulses to the propagation
of the truth. The exalted, sacred character of the work requires the
enlistment of the highest intellectual and spiritual powers, that it may
be properly represented before those who sit in darkness and in the
shadow of death.
If you are called to be a teacher in any branch of the work of God,
you are called also to be a learner in the school of Christ. If you take
upon you the sacred responsibility of teaching others, you take upon
you the duty of going to the bottom of every subject you seek to teach.
If you present a subject from the word of God to your pupils in the
Sabbath school, you should make the reasons for your faith so plain
that your scholars shall be convinced of its truth. You should diligently
search and compare the evidences of the word of God on messages
that He sends to the church, that you may know what is truth, and be
able to direct those who look to you into the way of righteousness.
To Listen With Candor
When asked to hear the reasons of a doctrine that you do not
understand, do not condemn the message until you have given it a
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thorough investigation, and know from the word of God that it is not
tenable. If I had an opportunity, I would speak to the students of
every Sabbath school in the land, lifting up my voice in earnest appeal
that they go to the word of God, seeking for truth and light. God has
precious light to come to His people at this very time, and you should
strive earnestly in your investigations to aim at nothing less than a
thorough knowledge of every point of truth, that you may not be found
in the day of God among those who have not lived by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
The momentous issues at stake through neglect of the word of God
should be carefully considered. The study of the Bible is worthy of
the best mental effort, the most sanctified ability. When new light is
presented to the church, it is perilous to shut yourselves away from it.
Refusing to hear because you are prejudiced against the message to the
messenger will not make your case excusable before God. To condemn
that which you have not heard and do not understand will not exalt
your wisdom in the eyes of those who are candid in their investigations