Following a Suggestion by M. Bessie De Graw

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Nov 12, 1903

Following a Suggestion

By M. Bessie De Graw

M. BESSIE DE GRAW

ALL great movements have resulted from following what was at first a mere suggestion. God thinks thoughts toward men, and fortunate is that man whose ears are keen enough to catch those divine thoughts. Comparatively few men are so fortunate, but all great ideas come as a result of the recognition of such thoughts by some mind while all the rest of the world is apparently asleep. It was the ability to think the thoughts of God after him that made King David of ancient Israel a mighty man. One thought which found lodgment in his brain was that a house of worship should be built for his God. And although David was not permitted fully to develop the idea, he was blessed for even harboring it, and his posterity was still more blessed because he harbored it.

But King David is not the only man who has had a “listening ear” for God’s thoughts. And the building of a temple is not the only thought God has sent earthward. That magnificent temple reared three thousand years ago is but a type of a more enduring temple with which we have to do, and for the building of which we are held responsible.

“Know ye not that your body is the temple?” The work of education is temple building. Some temples are reared for, and dedicated to, the worship of false gods. Such education is false education. Other temples are fashioned for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This preparation is Christian education.

The temple builders are called teachers, and Christian teachers have much careful work to do. The pattern for their building is in heaven. “See . . . that thou make all things,” says the Master Mechanic, “according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.”

True principles of education are made known in the Word of God. They can be understood only by those whose ears are attuned to hear divinely spoken thoughts. It was the ability to hear that made Christ so great a teacher, such a true character-builder. “I do always those things that please him.” “I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak.”

So must every Christian teacher live and work. With one ear he hears the world’s needs; with the other he listens to his Father’s commands. This is Christian education. And every student under such a teacher assumes the same attitude. He becomes a living temple, an active missionary.

One of the suggestions which every Christian teacher has the privilege of hearing and following may be worded thus: Children should be trained in the country; they should be so trained that they will flee from the city and seek the simplicity of country life.

Have all our teachers heard this suggestion? It is abroad in the world. It is an idea worth developing. Moreover, it is an idea now being developed, and is destined to make famous those schools which build upon it.

Manual training, properly correlated with mental and physical training, gives the ideal education. This is one of the problems of the day. The development of the idea is equally applicable in the elementary, the intermediate, and the training school. Are you acting upon the suggestion?