EDUCATION IS SUPPOSED TO BE.
Every one who has to do with educating
the younger class of students, should consider that
these children are affected by, and feel
the impressions of, the atmosphere, whether it be pleasant
or unpleasant. If the teacher is
connected with God, if he has Christ abiding in his heart, the spirit that is
cherished by him is felt by the children. When a teacher manifests impatience
or fretfulness toward a child, the fault may not be with the child one half as
much as with the teacher. Teachers become tired with their work, then something
the children say or do does not accord with their feelings, but will they let
Satan’s spirit enter into them, and lead them to create feelings in the
children very unpleasant and disagreeable, through their own lack of tact and
wisdom from God? There should not be a teacher employed, unless you have
evidence by test and trial, that he loves, and fears to offend God. If teachers
are taught of God, if their lessons are daily learned in the school of Christ,
they will work in Christ’s lines. They will win and draw with Christ; for every
child and youth is precious. Every teacher needs Christ abiding in his heart by
faith, and to possess a true, self-denying, self-sacrificing spirit for
Christ’s sake. One may have sufficient education and knowledge in science to
instruct; but has it been ascertained that he has tact and wisdom to deal with
human minds? If instructors have not the love of Christ abiding in the heart,
they are not fit to be brought into connection with children, and to bear the
grave responsibilities placed upon them, of educating these children and youth.
They lack
the higher education and training in
themselves, and they know not how to deal with human minds. There is the spirit
of their own insubordinate, natural hearts that is striving for the control,
and to subject the plastic minds and characters of children to such a
discipline, is to leave scars and bruises upon the mind that will never be
effaced. If a teacher cannot be made to feel the responsibility and the
carefulness he should ever reveal in dealing with human minds, his education
has in some cases been very defective. In the home life the training has been
harmful to the character, and it is a sad thing to reproduce this defective
character and management in the children brought under his control. We are
standing before God on test and trial to see if we can individually be trusted
to be of the number of the family who shall compose the redeemed in heaven.
“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were
opened: and another book was opened; which is the book of life: and the dead
were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to
their works.” [Revelation 20:12.] Here are represented the great white throne
and He that sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away. Let
every teacher consider that he is doing his work in the sight of the universe
of heaven. Every child with whom the teacher is brought in contact has been
purchased by the blood of God’s only begotten Son, and he who has died for
these children would have them treated as his property. Be sure that your
contact, teachers, with every one of these children shall be of that character
that will not make you ashamed when you meet them in that great day when every
word and action is brought in review before God, and with its burden of results
laid open before you individually. “Bought
with a price,”—O what a price, eternity alone will reveal! The Lord Jesus
Christ has infinite tenderness for those whom he has purchased at the cost of
his own sufferings in the flesh, that they should not perish with the devil and
his angels, but that he may claim them as his chosen ones. They are the claim
of his love, of his own property; and he looks upon them with unutterable
affection, and the fragrance of his own righteousness he gives to his loved
ones who believe in him. It requires tact and wisdom and human love, and
sanctified affection for the precious lambs of the flock, to lead them to see
and appreciate their privilege in yielding themselves up to the tender guidance
of the faithful shepherds. The children of God will exercise the gentleness of
Jesus Christ.Teachers, Jesus is in your school every day. His great heart of
infinite love is drawn out, not only for the best-behaved children, who have
the most favorable surroundings, but for children who have by inheritance
objectionable traits of character. Even parents have not understood how much
they are responsible for the traits of character developed in their children,
and have not had the tenderness and wisdom to deal with these poor children,
whom they have made what they are. They fail to trace back the cause of these
discouraging developments which are a trial to them. But Jesus looks upon these
children with pity and with love, for he sees, he understands from cause to
effect.
The teacher may bind these children to
his or her heart by the love of Christ abiding in the soul-temple as a sweet
fragrance, a savor of life unto life. The teachers may, through the grace of
Christ imparted to them, be the living human agency—be laborers together with
God—to enlighten, lift up, encourage, and help to purify the soul from its
moral defilement; and the image of God shall be revealed in the soul of the
child, and the character become transformed by the grace of Christ. The gospel
is the power and wisdom of God, if it is correctly represented by those who
claim to be Christians. Christ crucified for our sins should humble every soul
before God in his own estimation. Christ risen from the dead, ascended on high,
our living Intercessor in the presence of God, is the science of salvation
which we need to learn and teach to children and youth. Said Christ, “I
sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified,” [John 17:19.] This is the
work that ever devolves upon every teacher. There must not be any hap-hazard
work in this matter, for even the work of educating the children in the day
schools requires very much of the grace of Christ and the subduing of self.
Those who naturally are fretful, easily provoked, and have cherished the habit
of criticism, of thinking evil, should find some other kind of work that will
not reproduce any of their unlovely traits of character in the children and
youth, for they have cost too much. Heaven sees in the child, the undeveloped
man or woman, with capabilities and powers that, if correctly guided and
developed with heavenly wisdom, will become the human agencies through whom the
divine influences can cooperate to be laborers together with God. Sharp words,
and continual censure bewilder the child, but never reform him. Keep back that
pettish word; keep your own spirit under discipline to Jesus Christ; then will
you learn how to pity and sympathize with those brought under your influence.
Do not exhibit impatience
and harshness, for if these children did
not need educating, they would not need the advantages of the school. They are
to be patiently, kindly, and in love brought up the ladder of progress,
climbing step by step in obtaining knowledge. It is a daily working agency that
is to be brought into exercise, a faith that works by love, and purifies the
soul of the educator. Is the revealed will of God placed as your highest
authority? If Christ is formed within, the hope of glory, then the truth of God
will so act upon your natural temperament, that its transforming agency will be
revealed in a changed character, and you will not by your influence through the
revealing of an unsanctified heart and temper, turn the truth of God into a lie
before any of your pupils; nor in your presentation of a selfish, impatient
un-Christ like temper in dealing with any human mind, reveal that the grace of
Christ is not sufficient for you at all times and in all places. Thus you will
show that the authority of God over you is not merely in name but in reality
and truth. There
must be a separation from all that is
objectionable or un-Christ like, however difficult it may be to the true believer.
Inquire, teachers, you who are doing your work not only for time but eternity,
Does the love of Christ constrain my heart and my soul, in dealing with the
precious souls for whom Jesus has given his own life? Under his constraining
discipline, do old traits of character, not in conformity to the will of God,
pass away and the opposite take their place? “A new heart also will I give
you.” [Ezekiel 36:26.] Have all things become new through your conversion to
the Lord Jesus Christ? In words and by pains-taking effort are you sowing such
seed in these young hearts that you can ask the Lord to water it, that it
shall, with his imputed righteousness, ripen into a rich harvest? Ask
yourselves, Am I by my own unsanctified words and impatience and want of that wisdom
that is from above, confirming these youth in their own perverse spirit,
because they see that their teacher has a spirit unlike Christ? If they should
die in their sins, shall I not be accountable for their souls? The soul who
loves Jesus, who appreciates the saving power of his grace, will feel such a
drawing near to Christ that he will desire to work in his lines. He cannot,
dare not, let Satan control his spirit and a poisonous miasma surround his
soul. Everything will be placed one side that will corrupt his influence,
because it opposes the will of God and endangers the souls of the precious
sheep and lambs; and he is required to watch for souls as they must give an
account. Wherever God has, in providence, placed us, he will keep us; as our day
our strength shall be. Whoever shall give way to his natural feelings and
impulses makes himself weak and untrustworthy, for he is a channel through
which Satan can communicate to taint and corrupt many souls, and these unholy
fits that control the person unswerve him, and shame and confusion are the sure
result. The spirit of Jesus Christ ever has a renewing, restoring power upon
the soul that has felt its own weakness and fled to the unchanging One who can
give grace and power to resist evil. Our Redeemer had a broad comprehensive
humanity. His heart was ever touched with the known helplessness of the little
child that is subject to rough usage; for he loved children. The feeblest cry
of human suffering never reached his ear in vain. And every one who assumes the
responsibility of instructing the youth will meet obdurate hearts, perverse
dispositions, and his work is to cooperate with God in restoring the moral
image of God in every child. Jesus, precious Jesus,—a whole fountain
of love was in his soul. Those who
instruct the children should be men and women of principle.
The religious life of a large number who
profess to be Christians is such as to show that they are not Christians. They
are constantly misrepresenting Christ, falsifying his character. They do not
feel the importance of this transformation of character, and that they must be
conformed to his divine likeness; and at times they will exhibit a false phase
of Christianity to the world, which will work ruin to the souls of those who
are brought into association with them, for the very reason that they are,
while professing to be Christians, not under the control of Jesus Christ. Their
own hereditary and cultivated traits of character are indulged as precious
qualifications when they are death-leading in their influence over other minds.
In plain, simple words, they walk in the sparks of their own kindling. They
have a religion subject to, and controlled by, circumstances. If everything
happens to move in a way that pleases them, and there are no irritating
circumstances that call to the surface their unsubdued, un-Christlike natures,
they are condescending and pleasant, and
will be very attractive. When there are things that occur in the family or in
their association with others which ruffle their peace and provoke their
tempers, if they lay every circumstance before God, and continue their request,
supplicating his grace before they shall engage in their daily work as
teachers, and know for themselves the power and grace and love of Christ
abiding in their own hearts before entering upon their labors, angels of God
are brought with them into the schoolroom. But if they go in a provoked,
irritated spirit into the schoolroom, the moral atmosphere surrounding their
souls is leaving its impression upon the children who are under their care, and
in the place of being fitted to instruct the children, they need one to teach
them the lessons of Jesus Christ.
Let every teacher who accepts the
responsibility of educating the children and youth, examine
himself, and study critically from cause
to effect. Has the truth of God taken possession of my soul? Has the wisdom
which cometh from Jesus Christ, which is first “pure, then peaceable, gentle,
and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partially and without
hypocrisy” been brought into my character? While I stand in the responsible
position of an
educator, do I cherish the principle
that “the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace”?
[James 3:17, 18.] The truth is not to be kept to be practiced when we feel just
like it, but at all times and in all places. Well balanced minds and
symmetrical characters are required as teachers in every line. Give not this
work into the hands of young women and young men who know not how to deal with
human minds. They know so little of the controlling power of grace upon their
own hearts and characters that they have to unlearn, and learn entirely new
lessons in Christian experience. They have never learned to keep their own soul
and character under discipline to Jesus Christ, and bring even the thoughts
into captivity to Jesus Christ. There are all kinds of characters to deal with
in the children and youth. Their minds are impressible. Anything like a hasty,
passionate exhibition on the part of the teacher may cut off her influence for
good over the students whom she is having the name of educating. And will this education
be for the present and future eternal good of the children and youth? There is
the correct influence to be exerted upon them for their spiritual good.
Instruction is to be constantly given to encourage the children in the
formation of correct habits in speech, in voice, in deportment. Many of those
children have not had proper training at home. They have been sadly neglected. Some
have been left to do as they pleased; others have been found fault with and
discouraged. But little pleasantness and cheerfulness have been shown toward
them, and but few words of approval have been spoken to them. The defective
characters of the parents have been inherited, and the discipline given by
these defective characters has been objectionable in the formation of
characters. Solid timbers have not been brought into the character building.
There is no more important work that can be done than the educating and
training of these youth and children.
The teachers who work in this part of
the Lord’s vineyard need to learn first how to be self-possessed, keeping their
own temper and feelings under control, in subjection to the Holy Spirit of God.
They should give evidence of having not a one-sided experience, but a well
balanced mind, a symmetrical character so that they can be trusted because they
are conscientious Christians, themselves under the chief Teacher, who has said,
“Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto
your souls.” [Matthew 11:29.] Then learning in Christ’s school daily they can
educate children and youth. Self-cultured, self-controlled, under discipline in
the school of Christ, having a living connection with the great Teacher, they
will have an intelligent knowledge of practical religion; and keeping their own
souls in the love of God, they will know how to exercise the grace of patience
and Christlike forbearance. The patience, love, long-forbearance, and tender
sympathies are called into activity. They will discern that they have a most
important field in the Lord’s vineyard to cultivate. They must lift up their
hearts unto God in sincere prayer, Be thou my pattern, and then by beholding
Jesus they will do
the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus said,
“The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do.” [John
5:19.] So with the sons and daughters of God; they steadfastly and teachably
look to Jesus, doing nothing in their own way and after their own will and
pleasure; but that which they have, in the lessons of Christ, seen him, their
pattern, do, they do also. Thus they represent to the students under their
instruction at all times and upon all occasions the character of Jesus Christ.
They catch the bright rays of the Sun of Righteousness and reflect these
precious beams upon the children and youth whom they are educating. The
formation of correct habits is to leave its impress upon the mind and
characters of the children, that they may practice the right way. It means much
to bring these children under the direct influence of the Spirit of God,
training and disciplining them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The
formation of correct habits, the exhibition of a right spirit, will call for
earnest efforts in the name and strength of Jesus. The instructor must
persevere, giving line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there
a little, in all long-suffering and patience, sympathy and love, binding these
children to his heart by the love of Christ revealed in himself. This truth can
in the highest sense be acted, and exemplified before the children. “Who can
have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that
he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason hereof, he ought as
for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.”
[Hebrews 5:2, 3.] Let teachers bear this
in mind, and never lose sight of it when they are inclined to have their feelings
stirred against the children and youth for any misbehavior; let them remember
that the angels of God are looking upon them sorrowfully; for if the children
do err and misbehave, then it is all the more essential that those who are
placed over them as teachers should be able to teach them by precept and
example. In no case are they to lose self-control, to manifest impatience and
harshness, and want of sympathy and love; for these children are the property
of Jesus Christ, and teachers must be very careful and God-fearing in regard to
the spirit they cherish and the words they utter, for the children will catch
the spirit manifested, be it good or evil. It is a heavy and a sacred
responsibility. There need to be teachers who are thoughtful, considerate of
their own weakness and infirmities and sins, and who will not be oppressive and
discourage the children and youth. There needs to be much praying, much faith,
much forbearance and courage, which the Lord is ready to bestow. ForGod sees
every trial, and a wonderful influence can be exerted by teachers, if they will
practice the lessons which Christ has given them. But will these teachers
consider their own wayward course, that they make very feeble efforts to learn
in the school of Christ and practice Christlike meekness and lowliness of
heart? The teachers should be themselves in obedience to Jesus Christ, and ever
practicing
his words, that they may exemplify the
character of Jesus Christ to the students. Let your light shine ingood works,
in faithful watching and caring for the lambs of the flock, with patience, with
tenderness, and the love of Jesus Christ in your own hearts. To place young men
and young women in such a field, who have not developed a deep, earnest love
for God and the souls for whom Christ has died, is making a mistake which will
result in the loss of many precious souls. The teacher needs to be susceptible
to the influences of the Spirit of God. Not one who will become impatient and
irritated, should be an educator. Teachers must consider that they are dealing
with children, not men and women. They are children who have everything to
learn, and it is much more difficult for some to learn than others. The dull
scholar needs much more encouragement than he receives. If teachers are placed
over these varied minds, who naturally love to order and dictate and magnify
themselves in their authority, who will deal with partiality, having favorites
to whom they will show preferences, while others are treated with exactitude
and severity, it will create a state of confusion and insubordination. Teachers
who have not
been blessed with a pleasant and well
balanced experience may be placed to take charge of children and youth, but a
great wrong is done to those whom they instruct. Parents must come to view this
matter in a different light. They must feel it their duty to co-operate with
the teacher, to encourage wise discipline, and to pray much for the one who is
teaching their children. You will not help the children by fretting, censuring,
or discouraging them; neither will you act a good part to help them to rebel,
and to be disobedient and unkind and unlovable, because of the spirit you
develop. If you are Christians indeed, you will have an abiding Christ, and the
spirit of him who gave his life for sinners; and the wisdom of God will teach
you in every emergency the course to pursue. Children are in need of having a
steady, firm, living principle of righteousness exercised over them and
practiced before them. Be sure you let the true light shine before your pupils.
The light of heaven is wanted. Never let the world have the impression that
your spirit and taste and longings are of no higher and purer order than that
of worldlings. If you in your actions leave this impression upon them, you let
a false, deceptive light lead them to ruin. The trumpet must give a certain
sound. There is a broad, clear, and deep line drawn by the eternal God between
the righteous and unrighteous, the godly and the ungodly; between those who are
obedient to God’s commandments and those who are disobedient. The ladder which
Jacob saw in the night vision, the base of it resting upon the earth and the
topmost round reaching unto the highest heavens; God himself above the ladder,
and his glory shining upon every round; angels ascending and descending upon
this ladder of shining brightness, is a symbol of constant communication kept
up between this world and heavenly places. God accomplishes his will through
the instrumentality of heavenly angels in continual intercourse with humanity.
This ladder reveals a direct and important channel of communication with the
inhabitants of this earth. The ladder represented to Jacob the world’s
Redeemer, who links earth and heaven together. Every one who has seen the
evidence and light of truth and accepts the truth, professing his faith in
Jesus Christ, is a missionary in the highest sense of the word. He is the
receiver of heavenly treasures, and it is his duty to impart them, to diffuse
that which he has received. Then to those who are accepted as teachers in our
schools is opened a field for labor and cultivation, for the sowing of the seed
and for the harvesting of the ripening grain. What can give greater satisfaction
than to be laborers together with God in educating and training the children
and youth to love God and keep his commandments? Lead the children whom you are
instructing in the day school and the Sabbath-school to Jesus. What can give
you greater joy than to see children and youth following Christ, the great
Shepherd, who calls, and the sheep and lambs hear his voice and follow him?
What can spread more sunshine through the soul of the interested, devoted
worker than to know that his persevering, patient labor is not in vain in the
Lord, and to see his pupils have the sunshine of joy in their souls because
Christ has forgiven their sins? What can be more satisfying to the worker together
with God, than to see children and youth receiving the impressions of the
spirit of God in true nobility of character and in the restoration of the moral
image of God—the children seeking the peace coming from the Prince of Peace?
The truth a bondage?—Yes, in one sense; it binds the willing souls in captivity
to Jesus Christ, bowing their hearts to the gentleness of Jesus Christ. O it
means so much more than finite minds can comprehend, to present in every
missionary effort Jesus Christ and him crucified. “But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our
peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.” [Isaiah 53:5.] “For he
hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him.” [2 Corinthians 5:21.] This is to be the burden of
our work. If any one thinks he is capable of teaching in the Sabbath-school or
in the day school the science of education, he needs first to learn the fear of
the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, that he may teach this the highest
of all sciences.
“And this is life eternal, that they
might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent.” [John 17:3.] “I have
given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them,
and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that
thou didst send me.” [John 17:8.] Here is the work laid before us, to be
representatives of Christ, as he in our world was the representative of the
Father. We are to teach the words given us in the lessons of Christ. “I have
given unto them the words which thou gavest me.” We have our work, and every
instructor of the youth in any capacity is to receive in a good and honest
heart what God has unfolded and recorded in his holy word in the lessons of
Christ, meekly to accept the words of life. We are in the antitypical day of
atonement, and not only are we to humble our hearts before God and confess our
sins, but we are, by all our educating talent, to seek to instruct those with
whom we are brought in contact, and to bring them by precept and example to
know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. O, I so much wish that the Lord of
heaven would open many eyes that are now blind, that they might see themselves
as God sees them, and give to them a sense of the work to be done in the fields
of labor. But I have no hope that all the appeals I make will avail, unless the
Lord speaks to the soul and writes his requirements upon the tablets of the
heart. Cannot every living human agent have a high and elevated sense of what
it means to have a large and important field of home missionary work
appointed to him, without the necessity
of going to far-off lands? And while some must proclaim the message of mercy to
them that are afar off, there are many who have to proclaim the message to
those who are nigh. Our schools are to be educating schools to qualify youth to
become missionaries both by precept and example. Let the one who is acting in
the capacity of teacher ever bear in mind that these children and youth are the
purchase of the blood of the Son of God. They must be led to believe in Christ
as their personal Saviour. The name of each separate believer is graven on the
palms of his hands. The Chief Shepherd is looking down from the heavenly
sanctuary upon the sheep of his pasture. “He calleth his own sheep by name and
leadeth them out.” [John 10:3.] “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” [1 John 2:1.] O precious, blessed truth!
He does not treat one case with indifference. His impressive parable of the
good shepherd represents the responsibility of every minister and of every
Christian who has accepted a position as teacher of children and youth and a
teacher of old and young, in opening to them the Scriptures. If one strays from
the fold, he is not followed with harsh words and with a whip, but with winning
invitations to return. The ninety and nine that had not strayed do not call for
the sympathy and tender, pitying love of the shepherd. But the shepherd follows
the sheep and lambs that have caused him the greatest anxiety and have
engrossed his sympathies. The disinterested, faithful shepherd leaves all the
rest of the sheep, and his whole heart and soul and energies are taxed to seek
the one that is lost. And then the figure—praise God—the shepherd returns with
the sheep, carrying him in his arms, rejoicing at every step; he says, “Rejoice
with me for I have found my sheep which was lost.” [Luke 15:6.] I am so
thankful we have in the parable, the sheep found. And this is the very lesson
the shepherd is to learn,—success in bringing the sheep and lambs back.
There is no picture presented before our
imagination of a sorrowful shepherd returning without
the sheep. And the Lord Jesus declares
the pleasure of the shepherd and his joy in finding the sheep causes pleasure
and rejoicing in heaven among the angels. The wisdom of God, his power and his love,
are without a parallel. It is the divine guarantee that not one, even, of the
straying sheep and lambs is overlooked and not one left unsuccored. A golden
chain—the mercy and compassion of divine power—is passed around every one of
these imperiled souls. Then shall not the human agent co-operate with God?
Shall he be sinful, failing, defective in character himself, regardless of the
soul ready to perish? Christ has linked him to his eternal throne by offering
his own life. Zechariah’s description of Joshua, the high priest, is a striking
representation of the sinner for whom Christ is mediating that he may be
brought to repentance. Satan is standing at the right hand of the Advocate,
resisting the work of Christ, and pleading against him that man is his property
since he has chosen him as his ruler. But the defender of man, the restorer,
mightier than the mightiest, hears the demands and claims of Satan, and answers
him: “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem
rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was
clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel. And he answered and
spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments
from him. And unto him he said, Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass
from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. And I said, Let them
set a fair mitre upon his head. So they
set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of
the Lord stood by.” [Zechariah 3:2-5.] Bear in mind, every teacher who takes
the responsibility of dealing with human minds, that every soul who is inclined
to err and is easily tempted, is the special object for whom Christ is
solicitor. They that are whole need not a physician, but those that are sick.
The compassionate Intercessor is pleading, and will sinful, finite men and
women repulse a single soul? Shall any man or woman be indifferent to the very
souls for whom Christ is pleading in the courts of heaven? Shall you in your
course of action, imitate the Pharisees, who would be merciless, and Satan, who
would accuse and destroy? O will you individually humble your own souls before
God, and let that stern nerve and iron will be subdued and broken? Step away
from Satan’s voice and from acting his will, and stand by the side of Jesus,
possessing his attributes, the possessor of keen and tender sensibilities, who
can make the cause of afflicted, suffering ones his own. The man who has had
much forgiven will love much. Jesus is a compassionate intercessor, a merciful
and faithful high priest. He, the Majesty of heaven—the King of glory—can look
upon finite man, subject to the temptations of Satan, knowing that he has felt
the power of Satan’s wiles. “Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made
like unto his brethren [clothing his divinity with humanity],
that he might be a merciful and faithful
high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of
the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to
succor them that are tempted.” [Hebrews 2:17, 18.] Then I call upon you, my
brethren, to practice working in lines in which Christ worked. You must never
put on the cloak of severity and condemn and denounce and drive away from the
fold, poor, tempted mortals; but as laborers together with God, heal the
spiritually diseased. This you will do if you have the mind of Christ. “For we
have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
[Hebrews 4:15.] “Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting
God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is
weary? There is no searching of his understanding.” [Isaiah 40:28.]—M.S.
Writen
by
Christian
Education
Ellen
G. White
1894
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