An Imperative Necessity
By L. Flora Plummer
WHAT is it? — “There is the most imperative necessity of urging the injunction of Christ upon the minds and hearts of all believers, men and women, youth and children: ‘Search the Scriptures.’ Study your Bible as you have never studied it before. Unless you arise to a higher, holier state in your religious life, you will not be ready for the appearing of our Lord.” Thus speaks the Spirit of God. The Sabbath-school is a school which has for its avowed object the study of the word of God. That any Christian should ever complete the course of study, and be graduated from the school, is absurd. The Sabbath-school will always need the presence and help of each member of the church, and each church member will always need the help and blessing of the Sabbath-school. No other public service affords to those present of all ages so excellent an opportunity for the study of the things of God. Ideal as the general plan of the Sabbath-school is, and despite the fact that its influence has been in the past a strong factor for good, there is, perhaps, as much need of reformation in this line as in any other department of church work. That we may have a definite starting place in this reformation, I will mention two points in which our lack is very apparent:— First, the Sabbath-school membership is not nearly so large as our church membership, while it should be considerably larger. The membership of the schools as reported is about one fourth less than the church membership, and a large proportion of the Sabbath-school membership is made up of pupils too young to hold church membership. In this connection must be mentioned the average attendance of those who are members of the school. The very latest summary, which includes a report from every Conference in the home field, shows that of those whose names are enrolled upon the class books, there are over fifteen thousand absent each Sabbath. This is almost one fourth of the entire membership of the schools. The Conferences in other countries and the mission fields reporting, show a much better average attendance than do the reports from the home field. The second point is this: There is too little real study of the Sabbath-school lessons. Why is it that our young people who have attended Sabbath-school for years know so little about the word of God? Notwithstanding that most earnest appeals have been made to parents, teachers, and pupils, to study daily and thoroughly the Sabbath-school lessons, the fact still remains that the majority of the members in our schools have not an intelligent knowledge of those portions of Scripture that have formed the Sabbath-school lessons. We have been told that “young men and women are to come forth from our Sabbath-schools and colleges to become missionaries for God.” It is, then, the purpose of God that our Sabbath-schools should be real schools where the word of God is actually taught and actually learned, and where would-be workers may receive a training that will fit them for service. Do we see these results? Is not the lack of faithful study of the lessons one reason why we do not? Have we not all — officers, teachers, parents, children — been content with the most superficial study? The members of the classes, with the words of the hastily read Bible lesson ringing in their ears, answer the questions of the teacher in the briefest possible way; and the teacher, thinking to help them, asks the questions so that almost every answer is suggested. And this is called Bible study. If the teacher is a student, and the members of the class are not students, the teacher fills in the time by talking to the class on the subject of the lesson. But as telling a thing is not necessarily teaching that thing, in the majority of cases the pupils really learn nothing. To meet the condition of mental laziness and actual indifference to the gems of truth to be had for the searching, lesson-writers have been importuned to make the lessons “short and easy,” until many of us feel that a real injustice is done us if a lesson is so arranged that a half-hour’s glance at it is not sufficient to meet our ideas of what is required in the way of study. Let us away with all such ideas and practices. We have been told to take time for the study of the Sabbath-school lesson. Shall we not do it? “Parents, set apart a little time each day for the study of the Sabbath-school lesson with your children.” Is it safe for us to pass by unheeded this instruction? “Our time is precious. We have but a few, very few, days of probation in which to make ready for the future, immortal life. We have no time to spend in haphazard movements. We should fear to skim the surface of the word of God.” Now is the time to begin a reformation in both the lines I have mentioned. With the opening of the new quarter, the first Sabbath in April, we begin a series of “Studies in the Gospel Message.” The subject-matter of these lessons is of vital importance. Shall we not, one and all, be no longer content with the “milk” of the word, but reach out for “strong meat,” that our Sabbath-schools may develop strong workers for God? So let the message of reform reach out to every school, large and small, and to the isolated members as well. Every believer in the Sabbath-school, and every lesson thoroughly studied, should be our aim. Let every Sabbath-school worker in every place work for this end.