We have waited for Him, and He will save us:
This is the Lord; we have waited for Him,
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
“He will swallow up death in victory; ... and the rebuke of His people
shall He take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken
it.”[305]
“Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities; thine eyes shall see
Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken
down.... For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord
is our king.”[306]
“With righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for
the meek of the earth.”[307]
[Sidenote: _The Reign of Peace_]
Then will the purpose of God be fulfilled; the principles of His kingdom
will be honored by all beneath the sun.
“Violence shall no more be heard in thy land,
Wasting nor destruction within thy borders;
But thou shalt call thy walls Salvation,
And thy gates Praise.”
“In righteousness shalt thou be established:
Thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear:
And from terror; for it shall not come near thee.”[308]
[Sidenote: _Study of Prophecy_]
The prophets to whom these great scenes were revealed longed to
understand their import. They “inquired and searched diligently; ...
searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in
them did signify.... Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto
themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now
reported unto you; ... which things the angels desire to look
into.”[309]
To us who are standing on the very verge of their fulfilment, of what
deep moment, what living interest, are these delineations of the things
to come,—events for which, since our first parents turned their steps
from Eden, God’s children have watched and waited, longed and prayed!
At this time, before the great final crisis, as before the world’s first
destruction, men are absorbed in the pleasures and the pursuits of
sense. Engrossed with the seen and transitory, they have lost sight of
the unseen and eternal. For the things that perish with the using, they
are sacrificing imperishable riches. Their minds need to be uplifted,
their views of life to be broadened. They need to be aroused from the
lethargy of worldly dreaming.
[Sidenote: _A Lesson for To-Day_]
From the rise and fall of nations as made plain in the pages of Holy
Writ, they need to learn how worthless is mere outward and worldly
glory. Babylon, with all its power and its magnificence, the like of
which our world has never since beheld,—power and magnificence which to
the people of that day seemed so stable and enduring,—how completely has
it passed away! As “the flower of the grass,” it has perished. So
perishes all that has not God for its foundation. Only that which is
bound up with His purpose, and expresses His character, can endure. His
principles are the only steadfast things our world knows.
It is these great truths that old and young need to learn. We need to
study the working out of God’s purpose in the history of nations and in
the revelation of things to come, that we may estimate at their true
value things seen and things unseen; that we may learn what is the true
aim of life; that, viewing the things of time in the light of eternity,
we may put them to their truest and noblest use. Thus, learning here the
principles of His kingdom and becoming its subjects and citizens, we may
be prepared at His coming to enter with Him into its possession.
[Sidenote: _The End Is at Hand_]
The day is at hand. For the lessons to be learned, the work to be done,
the transformation of character to be effected, the time remaining is
but too brief a span.
“Behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is
for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.
Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: There shall none of My
words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be
done, saith the Lord God.”[310]
_Bible Teaching and Study_
“INCLINE THINE EAR UNTO
WISDOM; SEARCH FOR HER
AS FOR HID TREASURES”
[Sidenote: _A Bible Student_]
In childhood, youth, and manhood, Jesus studied the Scriptures. As a
little child, He was daily, at His mother’s knee, taught from the
scrolls of the prophets. In His youth the early morning and the evening
twilight often found Him alone on the mountainside or among the trees of
the forest, spending a quiet hour in prayer and the study of God’s word.
During His ministry His intimate acquaintance with the Scriptures
testifies to His diligence in their study. And since He gained knowledge
as we may gain it, His wonderful power, both mental and spiritual, is a
testimony to the value of the Bible as a means of education.
[Sidenote: _Stories for the Little Ones_]
Our heavenly Father, in giving His word, did not overlook the children.
In all that men have written, where can be found anything that has such
a hold upon the heart, anything so well adapted to awaken the interest
of the little ones, as the stories of the Bible?
In these simple stories may be made plain the great principles of the
law of God. Thus by illustrations best suited to the child’s
comprehension, parents and teachers may begin very early to fulfil the
Lord’s injunction concerning His precepts: “Thou shalt teach them
diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest
in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest
down, and when thou risest up.”[311]
[Sidenote: _Object Lessons_]
The use of object-lessons, blackboards, maps, and pictures, will be an
aid in explaining these lessons, and fixing them in the memory. Parents
and teachers should constantly seek for improved methods. The teaching
of the Bible should have our freshest thought, our best methods, and our
most earnest effort.
[Sidenote: _Family Study_]
In arousing and strengthening a love for Bible study, much depends on
the use of the hour of worship. The hours of morning and evening worship
should be the sweetest and most helpful of the day. Let it be understood
that into these hours no troubled, unkind thoughts are to intrude; that
parents and children assemble to meet with Jesus, and to invite into the
home the presence of holy angels. Let the services be brief and full of
life, adapted to the occasion, and varied from time to time. Let all
join in the Bible reading, and learn and often repeat God’s law. It will
add to the interest of the children if they are sometimes permitted to
select the reading. Question them upon it, and let them ask questions.
Mention anything that will serve to illustrate its meaning. When the
service is not thus made too lengthy, let the little ones take part in
prayer, and let them join in song, if it be but a single verse.
To make such a service what it should be, thought should be given to
preparation. And parents should take time daily for Bible study with
their children. No doubt it will require effort and planning and some
sacrifice to accomplish this; but the effort will be richly repaid.
[Sidenote: _Personal Influence and Example_]
As a preparation for teaching His precepts, God commands that they be
hidden in the hearts of the parents. “These words, which I command thee
this day, shall be in thine heart,” He says; “and thou shalt teach them
diligently.”[312] In order to interest our children in the Bible, we
ourselves must be interested in it. To awaken in them a love for its
study, we must love it. Our instruction to them will have only the
weight of influence given it by our own example and spirit.
[Sidenote: _Abraham an Illustration_]
God called Abraham to be a teacher of His word, He chose him to be the
father of a great nation, because He saw that Abraham would instruct his
children and his household in the principles of God’s law. And that
which gave power to Abraham’s teaching was the influence of his own
life. His great household consisted of more than a thousand souls, many
of them heads of families, and not a few but newly converted from
heathenism. Such a household required a firm hand at the helm. No weak,
vacillating methods would suffice. Of Abraham God said, “I know him,
that he will command his children and his household after him.”[313] Yet
his authority was exercised with such wisdom and tenderness that hearts
were won. The testimony of the divine Watcher is, “They shall keep the
way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment.”[313] And Abraham’s
influence extended beyond his own household. Wherever he pitched his
tent, he set up beside it the altar for sacrifice and worship. When the
tent was removed, the altar remained; and many a roving Canaanite, whose
knowledge of God had been gained from the life of Abraham His servant,
tarried at that altar to offer sacrifice to Jehovah.
No less effective to-day will be the teaching of God’s word when it
finds as faithful a reflection in the teacher’s life.
[Sidenote: _Original Study_]
It is not enough to know what others have thought or learned about the
Bible. Every one must in the judgment give account of himself to God,
and each should now learn for himself what is truth. But in order to
effective study, the interest of the pupil must be enlisted. Especially
by the one who has to deal with children and youth differing widely in
disposition, training, and habits of thought, this is a matter not to be
lost sight of. In teaching children the Bible, we may gain much by
observing the bent of their minds, the things in which they are
interested, and arousing their interest to see what the Bible says about
these things. He who created us, with our various aptitudes, has in His
word given something for every one. As the pupils see that the lessons
of the Bible apply to their own lives, teach them to look to it as a
counselor.
[Sidenote: _Beauty of Thought and Expression_]
Help them also to appreciate its wonderful beauty. Many books of no real
value, books that are exciting and unhealthful, are recommended, or at
least permitted to be used, because of their supposed literary value.
Why should we direct our children to drink of these polluted streams,
when they may have free access to the pure fountains of the word of God?
The Bible has a fulness, a strength, a depth of meaning, that is
inexhaustible. Encourage the children and youth to seek out its
treasures, both of thought and of expression.
As the beauty of these precious things attracts their minds, a
softening, subduing power will touch their hearts. They will be drawn to
Him who has thus revealed Himself to them. And there are few who will
not desire to know more of His works and ways.
[Sidenote: _Purpose in Study_]
The student of the Bible should be taught to approach it in the spirit
of a learner. We are to search its pages, not for proof to sustain our
opinions, but in order to know what God says.
A true knowledge of the Bible can be gained only through the aid of that
Spirit by whom the word was given. And in order to gain this knowledge
we must live by it. All that God’s word commands, we are to obey. All
that it promises, we may claim. The life which it enjoins is the life
that, through its power, we are to live. Only as the Bible is thus held
can it be studied effectively.
The study of the Bible demands our most diligent effort and persevering
thought. As the miner digs for the golden treasure in the earth, so
earnestly, persistently, must we seek for the treasure of God’s word.
[Sidenote: _Thoroughness and Concentration_]
In daily study the verse-by-verse method is often most helpful. Let the
student take one verse, and concentrate the mind on ascertaining the
thought that God has put into that verse for him, and then dwell upon
the thought until it becomes his own. One passage thus studied until its
significance is clear, is of more value than the perusal of many
chapters with no definite purpose in view, and no positive instruction
gained.
[Sidenote: _Unwholesome Literature_]
One of the chief causes of mental inefficiency and moral weakness is the
lack of concentration for worthy ends. We pride ourselves on the wide
distribution of literature; but the multiplication of books, even books
that in themselves are not harmful, may be a positive evil. With the
immense tide of printed matter constantly pouring from the press, old
and young form the habit of reading hastily and superficially, and the
mind loses its power of connected and vigorous thought. Furthermore, a
large share of the periodicals and books that, like the frogs of Egypt,
are overspreading the land, are not merely commonplace, idle, and
enervating, but unclean and degrading. Their effect is not merely to
intoxicate and ruin the mind, but to corrupt and destroy the soul. The
mind, the heart, that is indolent, aimless, falls an easy prey to evil.
It is on diseased, lifeless organisms that fungus roots. It is the idle
mind that is Satan’s workshop. Let the mind be directed to high and holy
ideals, let the life have a noble aim, an absorbing purpose, and evil
finds little foothold.
[Sidenote: _A Shield from Temptation_]
Let the youth, then, be taught to give close study to the word of God.
Received into the soul, it will prove a mighty barricade against
temptation. “Thy word,” the psalmist declares, “have I hid in mine
heart, that I might not sin against Thee.” “By the word of Thy lips I
have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.”[314]
[Sidenote: _Comprehensive Study_]
The Bible is its own expositor. Scripture is to be compared with
scripture. The student should learn to view the word as a whole, and to
see the relation of its parts. He should gain a knowledge of its grand
central theme, of God’s original purpose for the world, of the rise of
the great controversy, and of the work of redemption. He should
understand the nature of the two principles that are contending for
supremacy, and should learn to trace their working through the records
of history and prophecy, to the great consummation. He should see how
this controversy enters into every phase of human experience; how in
every act of life he himself reveals the one or the other of the two
antagonistic motives; and how, whether he will or not, he is even now
deciding upon which side of the controversy he will be found.
Every part of the Bible is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable. The Old Testament no less than the New should receive
attention. As we study the Old Testament, we shall find living springs
bubbling up where the careless reader discerns only a desert.
[Sidenote: _Daniel and the Revelation_]
The book of Revelation, in connection with the book of Daniel,
especially demands study. Let every God-fearing teacher consider how
most clearly to comprehend and to present the gospel that our Saviour
came in person to make known to His servant John,—“The Revelation of
Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things
which must shortly come to pass.”[315] None should become discouraged in
the study of the Revelation because of its apparently mystical symbols.
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all
liberally, and upbraideth not.”[316]
“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this
prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein; for the time
is at hand.”[317]
[Sidenote: _Continuous Study_]
When a real love for the Bible is awakened, and the student begins to
realize how vast is the field and how precious its treasure, he will
desire to seize upon every opportunity for acquainting himself with
God’s word. Its study will be restricted to no special time or place.
And this continuous study is one of the best means of cultivating a love
for the Scriptures. Let the student keep his Bible always with him. As
you have opportunity, read a text and meditate upon it. While walking
the streets, waiting at a railway station, waiting to meet an
engagement, improve the opportunity to gain some precious thought from
the treasure-house of truth.
[Sidenote: _Results of Study_]
The great motive powers of the soul are faith, hope, and love; and it is
to these that Bible study, rightly pursued, appeals. The outward beauty
of the Bible, the beauty of imagery and expression, is but the setting,
as it were, for its real treasure,—the beauty of holiness. In its record
of the men who walked with God, we may catch glimpses of His glory. In
the One “altogether lovely” we behold Him, of whom all beauty of earth
and heaven is but a dim reflection. “I, if I be lifted up,” He said,
“will draw all men unto Me.”[318] As the student of the Bible beholds
the Redeemer, there is awakened in the soul the mysterious power of
faith, adoration, and love. Upon the vision of Christ the gaze is fixed,
and the beholder grows into the likeness of that which he adores. The
words of the apostle Paul become the language of the soul: “I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord; ... that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and
the fellowship of His sufferings.”[319]
[Sidenote: _Streams of Blessing_]
The springs of heavenly peace and joy unsealed in the soul by the words
of Inspiration will become a mighty river of influence to bless all who
come within its reach. Let the youth of to-day, the youth who are
growing up with the Bible in their hands, become the recipients and the
channels of its life-giving energy, and what streams of blessing would
flow forth to the world!—influences of whose power to heal and comfort
we can scarcely conceive,—rivers of living water fountains “springing up
unto everlasting life.”
_PHYSICAL CULTURE_
“_Beloved, I wish above all things that thou
mayest prosper and be in health, even as
thy soul prospereth_”
_Study of Physiology_
“I AM FEARFULLY AND
WONDERFULLY MADE”
[Sidenote: _Importance of Physical Culture_]
Since the mind and the soul find expression through the body, both
mental and spiritual vigor are in great degree dependent upon physical
strength and activity; whatever promotes physical health, promotes the
development of a strong mind and a well-balanced character. Without
health, no one can as distinctly understand or as completely fulfil his
obligations to himself, to his fellow-beings, or to his Creator.
Therefore the health should be as faithfully guarded as the character. A
knowledge of physiology and hygiene should be the basis of all
educational effort.
[Sidenote: _Disregard of Principles_]
Though the facts of physiology are now so generally understood, there is
an alarming indifference in regard to the principles of health. Even of
those who have a knowledge of these principles, there are few who put
them in practise. Inclination or impulse is followed as blindly as if
life were controlled by mere chance rather than by definite and
unvarying laws.
[Sidenote: _A Cause of Failure_]
The youth, in the freshness and vigor of life, little realize the value
of their abounding energy. A treasure more precious than gold, more
essential to advancement than learning or rank or riches,—how lightly it
is held! how rashly squandered! How many a man, sacrificing health in
the struggle for riches or power, has almost reached the object of his
desire, only to fall helpless, while another, possessing superior
physical endurance, grasped the longed for prize! Through morbid
conditions, the result of neglecting the laws of health, how many have
been led into evil practises, to the sacrifice of every hope for this
world and the next!
In the study of physiology, pupils should be led to see the value of
physical energy, and how it can be so preserved and developed as to
contribute in the highest degree to success in life’s great struggle.
[Sidenote: _Teaching Physiology_]
Children should be early taught, in simple, easy lessons, the rudiments
of physiology and hygiene. The work should be begun by the mother in the
home, and should be faithfully carried forward in the school. As the
pupils advance in years, instruction in this line should be continued,
until they are qualified to care for the house they live in. They should
understand the importance of guarding against disease by preserving the
vigor of every organ, and should also be taught how to deal with common
diseases and accidents. Every school should give instruction in both
physiology and hygiene, and, so far as possible, should be provided with
facilities for illustrating the structure, use, and care of the body.
[Sidenote: _Nature’s Laws Divine_]
There are matters not usually included in the study of physiology that
should be considered,—matters of far greater value to the student than
are many of the technicalities commonly taught under this head. As the
foundation principle of all education in these lines, the youth should
be taught that the laws of nature are the laws of God,—as truly divine
as are the precepts of the decalogue. The laws that govern our physical
organism, God has written upon every nerve, muscle, and fiber of the
body. Every careless or wilful violation of these laws is a sin against
our Creator.
How necessary, then, that a thorough knowledge of these laws should be
imparted! The principles of hygiene as applied to diet, exercise, the
care of children, the treatment of the sick, and many like matters,
should be given much more attention than they ordinarily receive.
[Sidenote: _Influence of the Mind on the Body_]
The influence of the mind on the body, as well as of the body on the
mind, should be emphasized. The electric power of the brain, promoted by
mental activity, vitalizes the whole system, and is thus an invaluable
aid in resisting disease. This should be made plain. The power of the
will and the importance of self-control, both in the preservation and in
the recovery of health, the depressing and even ruinous effect of anger,
discontent, selfishness, or impurity, and, on the other hand, the
marvelous life-giving power to be found in cheerfulness, unselfishness,
gratitude, should also be shown.
There is a physiological truth—truth that we need to consider—in the
scripture, “A merry [rejoicing] heart doeth good like a medicine.”
[Sidenote: _Cheerfulness; Gratitude_]
“Let thine heart keep My commandments,” God says; “for length of days,
and years of life, and peace, shall they add to thee.” “They are life
unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.” “Pleasant
words” the Scriptures declare to be not only “sweet to the soul,” but
“health to the bones.”[320]
The youth need to understand the deep truth underlying the Bible
statement that with God “is the fountain of life.”[321] Not only is He
the originator of all, but He is the life of everything that lives. It
is His life that we receive in the sunshine, in the pure, sweet air, in
the food which builds up our bodies and sustains our strength. It is by
His life that we exist, hour by hour, moment by moment. Except as
perverted by sin, all His gifts tend to life, to health and joy.
“He hath made everything beautiful in its time;”[322] and true beauty
will be secured, not in marring God’s work, but in coming into harmony
with the laws of Him who created all things, and who finds pleasure in
their beauty and perfection.
[Sidenote: _Right Physical Habits_]
As the mechanism of the body is studied, attention should be directed to
its wonderful adaptation of means to ends, the harmonious action and
dependence of the various organs. As the interest of the student is thus
awakened, and he is led to see the importance of physical culture, much
can be done by the teacher to secure proper development and right
habits.
[Sidenote: _Position_]
Among the first things to be aimed at should be a correct position, both
in sitting and in standing. God made man upright, and He desires him to
possess not only the physical but the mental and moral benefit, the
grace and dignity and self-possession, the courage and self-reliance,
which an erect bearing so greatly tends to promote. Let the teacher give
instruction on this point by example and by precept. Show what a correct
position is, and insist that it shall be maintained.
[Sidenote: _Respiration_]