Fragments
91
By request I spoke about thirty minutes, warning them against let-
ting their Sabbath-schools degenerate into a mere mechanical routine.
We should not seek to imitate Sunday-schools, nor keep up the interest
by offering prizes. The offering of rewards will create rivalry, envy,
and jealousy; and some who are the most diligent and worthy will
receive little credit. Scholars should not try to see how many verses
they can learn and repeat; for this brings too great a strain upon the
ambitious child, while the rest become discouraged.
Try none of these methods in your Sabbath-schools; but let su-
perintendents and teachers make every effort to have life and interest
in their schools. What a blessing it would be if all would teach as
Jesus taught! He did not aim to attract attention by eloquence or by
overwhelming grandeur of sentiment. On the contrary, His language
was plain, and His thoughts were expressed with greatest simplicity;
but He spoke with loving earnestness. In your teaching be as near like
Him as possible. Make your exercises interesting. Let the teachers
show that they have thoroughly learned the lesson, and are intensely
interested in it. Let there be no frivolous or superficial interpretations
of the Scriptures, but let each be prepared to go to the bottom of the
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subject presented.
Parents should feel it a sacred duty to instruct their children in
the statutes and requirements of God as well as in the prophecies.
They should educate their children at home, and should themselves be
interested in the Sabbath-school lessons. By studying with the children
they show that they attach importance to the truth brought out in the
lessons, and help to create a taste for Bible knowledge.—
The Review
and Herald, October 21, 1884
.
Our Sabbath-schools, which are to instruct the children and youth,
are too superficial. The managers of these need to plow deeper. They
need to put more thought and more hard work upon the work they are
doing. They need to be more thorough students of the Bible, and to
have a deeper religious experience, in order to know how to conduct
Sabbath-schools after the Lord’s order, and how to lead children and
youth to their Saviour. This is one of the branches of the work that is
crippling along for the want of efficient, discerning men and women,
who feel their accountability to God to use their powers, not to exhibit
self, not for vainglory, but to do good.—
The Review and Herald, June
21, 1887
.