DEAL GENTLY by Eliza H. Morton

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · March 25, 1880

FromThe Review and Herald, Vol. 55, No. 13

“DEAL GENTLY.”

By Eliza H. Morton

BY ELIZA H. MORTON.

The human heart is strangely wrought, With good and evil ever fraught.

AND those who have the oversight of the young should be diligent students of human nature. Children differ in disposition, mental ability, moral power, and physical strength, even as the plants in the garden differ in variety, form, color, and perfume. What refreshing dew is to the tender flower, kindness is to the youthful heart. Sarcasm and ridicule, like sharp arrows, pierce the very soul, and sensitive natures are often made to suffer untold agony by careless, cutting words dropped from the lips of those who teach. It is not the fault but the misfortune of a dull child that he is stupid; and those teachers who by cutting words discourage such pupils, are not worthy of their calling. Revenge, hatred, and distrust, are among the evil passions of the soul, and harshness and severe censure awaken these emotions and crush out every noble and worthy element.

It is often necessary to point out errors, correct faults, and firmly enforce rules; but it is possible to do this in a manner calculated to awaken feelings of respect and love. Earnest, calm, and gentle words are more powerful than passionate, hasty expressions.

Christ rebuked sin, exposed iniquity and fearlessly upheld the right, yet his character was peculiarly gentle and loving. Teachers who look for perfection in their pupils, will be sadly disappointed; for “perfection is not of earth.”

The spirit of criticism, unmingled with encouraging words, may be cultivated to such an extent as to crush out every tender feeling of the heart, and at length lead the soul into infidelity. Children surrounded by such influences soon learn to watch for flaws in moral character, and detecting them, denounce the individuals and the truths they profess. Robertson says that “nothing chills the heart like universal distrust. Nothing freezes the genial current of the soul so much as doubts of human nature.”

When young people leave their homes and go among strangers to obtain an education, they need friends; and if they find them not among the good and the pure, they will find them in the lowest grades of society, and be led to ruin. Teachers should realize this, and be ever ready to sympathize with, advise, assist, and encourage those who need help. The loneliness of soul felt by sensitive natures in a strange land is touchingly described by another: “There are times when hands touch ours but only send an icy chill of unsympathizing indifference to the heart,—when eyes gaze into ours but with a glazed look that cannot read into the bottom of our souls,—when words pass from our lips but only come back as an echo reverberating without replying, through a dreary solitude,—when the multitudes throng and press us, and we cannot say, as Christ said, ‘Somebody hath touched me!’”

These are no doubt the feelings of many students, and happy is the teacher who has the magic power, the subtle influence, and the divine wisdom to guide, lead, mold, educate, and ennoble those with whom they come in contact.

We are all tending to “that quiet country where the voice of praise and the voice of blame are alike unheard;” and it is well to “deal gently,” for “earth’s dream will soon be done,” life’s labor ended, and in the great Tribunal we shall cry, “Deal gently” with us, O our God!

Battle Creek College.