Your ShelfYour Projects

SACREDNESS AND POWER OF THE TEACHER'S WORK

8%

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, May 6, 1880

FromThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 55, No. 19

Read the full edition

SACREDNESS AND POWER OF THE TEACHER'S WORK.

By Evangeline Bell

BY EVANGELINE BELL.
Teaching the sublime truths of the Bible is a work of great dignity and importance, and teachers should feel that their duties are important and responsible.
The office of the teacher is clearly recognized in the word of God, and is as divinely appointed as that of the minister of the gospel. Teachers, as well as apostles and prophets, were set apart in the early church. Christ was a teacher; in his ministry he went forth “to teach and to preach in their cities.” “He opened his mouth and taught” the multitudes by the sea and in the desert places, his disciples by the wayside, the woman at the well of Samaria. His example sheds lustre on the learner; his practice adds tenfold sacredness to the teacher's office.
The teacher's work is one for which his position especially qualifies him,—a work which he can do better than any one else, however learned, can do without his opportunities. It is a work worthy the energies of the most exalted talents and the most devoted piety; and yet it is a field in which humble, earnest, lowly souls may find employment. The humblest teacher may, if he will, have a power for good, the results of which only the day of God will reveal.
The following paragraphs are to the point. They are from a work entitled “Preparing to Teach,” and bearing on its title-page the names of several of the ablest Sunday-school workers in the land.
The influence of the Sabbath-school teacher is facilitated by his close contact with the members of his class. There is no such effective method of presenting truth as this face-to-face teaching. Teacher and taught are brought into actual contact; the familiar conversation in which pupils join, the question and answer, illustrate and impress truth beyond all other known methods of presentation. One may doze listlessly or wander in thought to the ends of the earth during a sermon or lecture; but when he joins in the discussion, and gives expression to his ideas on the subject in his own language, he cannot well fail to carry something of the subject away with him.
Not least among the sources of the Sabbath-school teacher's influence, is the fact that his labor is gratuitous. A wise and competent secular teacher may, and often does; have a potential and far-reaching influence over his pupils. By virtue of superior knowledge of wholesome discipline, by tact, gentleness, and obliging good humor, such a teacher may secure a lasting hold on his scholars. But the duties of the secular teacher are more or less perfunctory, and his relations to the scholar assume, to a certain degree, a professional character.
On the other hand, the faithful Sabbath-school teacher's sole spring of action inheres in his Christian love. He sees in his pupil one for whom Christ died, one on whom his image is written; that image may be marred, defaced, and almost blotted out, but still it is there. He sees in every neglected child a possible disciple and heir of Heaven,—one whom the Father would not willingly leave to perish. He sees in the truth, the instrument of life and salvation. He sees in the Sabbath-school a convenient and efficient means of bringing the neglected, the lost, the wayward, into direct and vital contact with the saving power of the truth. This Christian love, akin to that which the Father exercises toward his creatures, is not only a powerfully impelling force; but when it finds warm and persistent voluntary expression, it commends itself to the confidence of the scholar, and becomes a source of vast and extended influence.
The teacher who really works for God, may trust in a divine source of influence. God in his wisdom never institutes a line of human duty or privilege, without conferring, at the same time, the requisite power to carry it forward. Our Lord sent forth as his first apostles, unlettered fishermen. They had to cope with bigotry and intolerance. They were to set themselves in opposition to their countrymen, to wealth and learning, and to customs which, in that changeless Oriental atmosphere, had gathered strength for centuries. They were charged with the difficult task of overturning the old and venerable, and of superseding the rites and ceremonies of the ancient and honored Jewish church, by the new and simple religion of the despised Nazarene. But our Lord did not leave them to their own unaided resources. Before sending them forth, he “first gave them power.” He conferred upon them all needed help,—precisely that which was necessary for their difficult work.
Having commissioned the army of Sabbath-school workers going forth in these latter days in his name, the Master stands ready to impart all requisite grace and power. Does any lack wisdom? Let him ask of God, “that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.” Do any lack strength? The strength of the praying, trusting soul shall be “made perfect in weakness.” Do any lack heart and hope? Let such cry continually, “Lord, increase our faith,” and they shall possess at length a faith that overcomes all obstacles. It is the teacher's glad privilege to say, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
The teacher may also trust in the power of the truth taught. God's truth is mighty, and must prevail. It is the good seed of the kingdom of Heaven, and has innate vitality. Sown by the wayside, among thorns, in stony places, it will not be utterly lost. Sown in good ground, carefully watched and cultivated—sown amid tears and prayers—it will certainly spring up and bear fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred-fold. The Sabbath-school teacher seeks not merely to interest or amuse for a passing hour,—not simply to instruct the intellect with curious and valuable lore; he deals in truths of grave import, that have to do with eternal interests. The truth he teaches is the revelation of God to man. It is a divine message, and is fraught with inherent authority. “It is mighty through God,” and carries with it a power more than human. It is the grand instrument of the world's deliverance and salvation. The teacher should rest upon the word as the warrior relies on his well-tried weapon. The word of God is the sword of the Spirit. Let him who wields it know that he is armed with a weapon of tremendous power. Panoplied with a complete armor, with the breast-plate of faith, and with the helmet of salvation, he may have all necessary and requisite power.