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The Voice in Speech and Song
to get hold of things and get what you really mean. If they could have
the privilege of having it made a little plainer they would see that, and
would catch hold of that. And it would be like a nail fastened in a sure
place, and it would be written on the tablets of their hearts.
“When the great throngs would gather about Christ, He gave His
lessons of instruction. Then the disciples in different places and dif-
ferent positions after the discourse would repeat what Christ had said.
The people had misapplied Christ’s words; and the disciples would tell
the people what the Scriptures said, and what Christ said the Scriptures
said. They were learning to be educators. They were next to Christ,
getting lessons from Him and giving them to the people.”—
Manuscript
19b, 1890
.
Instruction in the People’s Homes—God’s servants have a great
work to do in addition to preaching in the pulpit. In the work of
the ministry there is altogether too much preaching, and too little
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real teaching the lessons of the Bible. Our ministers should visit the
members of the church more than they do, to talk and pray with them.
Their hearts need to be drawn out to those in their charge.
When our ministers are visiting in a family, let them seek to make
the hour of worship a great blessing, and let them when at the meal
table, seek to make the conversation a source of spiritual refreshing.
Let them talk on Bible subjects, and relate their experiences in hold-
ing meetings and in visiting among the people. The parents will be
benefited, the children will be impressed, and as the warmth and grace
of Christ are felt, the spiritual pulse will be quickened.
Often a minister is obliged to speak in a crowded, overheated room.
The listeners become drowsy, their senses are half paralyzed, and it is
almost impossible for them to grasp the subjects presented. If instead
of preaching to them, the speaker would try to teach them, asking
them questions, and speaking in a conversational tone, their minds
would be aroused to activity, and they would be able more clearly
to comprehend the truths opened before them. Their understanding
would take hold of the living reality of the truths necessary for the
quickening of the perception and for growth in knowledge. As he
goes over his discourse, point by point, allowing his hearers to ask
questions and make suggestions, he will himself obtain a better idea of
his subject. Unless the great truths of God’s Word are clearly opened
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