The character of the work done in our church schools should be of the very highest order. Jesus Christ, the Restorer, is the only remedy for a wrong education, and the lessons taught in His word should ever be kept before the youth in the most attractive form. The school discipline should supplement in the home training, and both at home and at school simplicity and godliness should be maintained. Men and women will be found who have talent to work in these small schools, but who cannot work to advantage in the larger ones. As they practice the Bible lessons they will themselves receive an education of the highest value.
In selecting teachers we should use every
precaution, knowing that this is as solemn a matter as the selecting
of persons for the ministry. Wise men who can discern character
should make the selection, for the very best talent that can
be secured is needed to educate and mold the minds of the young
and to carry on successfully the many lines of work that will
need to be done by the teacher in our church schools. No person
of an inferior or narrow cast of mind should be placed in charge
of one of these schools. Do not
place over the children young and inexperienced teachers who
have no managing ability, for their efforts will tend to disorganization.
Order is heaven's first law, and every school should in this
respect be a model of heaven.
To place over young children teachers who
are proud and unloving is wicked. A teacher of this stamp will
do great harm to those who are rapidly developing character.
If teachers are not submissive to God, if they have no love for
the children over whom they preside, or if they show partiality
for those who please their fancy and manifest indifference to
those who are less attractive or to those who are restless and
nervous, they should not be employed; for the result of their
work will be a loss of souls for Christ.
Teachers are needed, especially for the
children, who are calm and kind, manifesting forbearance and
love for the very ones who most need it. Jesus loved the children;
He regarded them as younger members of the Lord's family. He
always treated them with kindness and respect, and teachers are
to follow His example. They should have the true missionary spirit,
for the children are to be trained to become missionaries. They
should feel that the Lord has committed to them as a solemn trust
the souls of the children and youth. Our church schools need
teachers who have high moral qualities, those who can be trusted,
those who are sound in the faith and who have tact and patience,
those who walk with God and abstain from the very appearance
of evil. In their work they will find clouds. There will be clouds
and darkness, storms and tempests, prejudice to meet from parents
who have incorrect ideas of the characters which their children
should form; for there are many who claim to believe the Bible,
while they fail to bring its principles into the home life. But
if the teachers are constant learners
in the school of Christ, these circumstances will never conquer
them.
Let parents seek the Lord with intense
earnestness, that they may not be stumbling blocks in the way
of their children. Let envy and jealousy be banished from the
heart, and let the peace of Christ come in to unite, the members
of the church in true Christian fellowship. Let the windows of
the soul be closed against the poisonous malaria of earth, and
let them be opened heavenward to receive the healing rays of
the sunshine of Christ's righteousness. Until the spirit of criticism
and suspicion is banished from the heart, the Lord cannot do
for the church that which He longs to do in opening the way for
the establishment of schools; until there is unity, He will not
move upon those to whom He has entrusted means and ability for
the carrying forward of this work. Parents must reach a higher
standard, keeping the way of the Lord and practicing righteousness,
that they may be light bearers. There must be an entire transformation
of mind and character. A spirit of disunion cherished in the
hearts of a few will communicate itself to others and undo the
influence for good that would be exerted by the school. Unless
parents are ready and anxious to co-operate with the teacher
for the salvation of their children, they are not prepared to
have a school established among them.
