p. 8 | Two Important Features in Teaching

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 20, 1906

Two Important Features in Teaching

By Stephen Nelson Haskell

S. N. HASKELL

The cause of God from the earliest times bears two characteristics. Every institution, every organization, that furthers the work of God on the earth has these two prominent features. When these are wanting, the work will fail of accomplishing the object it has in view. The institution that has these characteristics will be strictly religious and educational in its work. When God brought his people out of Egypt, they were to build a sanctuary that he might dwell among them. They were about a year in building it. It was built after the heavenly model. The building was educational, and was of great importance to Israel. It was to teach them that there was a personal God dwelling in a real place, and as sin had separated man from his Creator, the services and sacredness of the sanctuary were to educate man how to approach God. Sin was to be put away, for God was holy, and the sanctuary service taught men how to separate from sin; consequently the priests were teachers. They were to teach the people all the statutes of the Lord that had been given to Moses, and to put a difference between the holy and the profane, between the unclean and the clean. Lev. 10:8-11.

Instruction was given in regard to the following: their eating and drinking (Deut. 14:2, 3; Lev. 11:33-36); their garments, the material of which their garments were made (Deut. 22:11, 5); the seed they sowed in the field (verse 9); their manner of cultivating the soil (verse 10); building their houses (verse 8); their goings out and their comings in. Deut. 6:7. Their entire life was educational. The trades they followed and all they set their hands to contained lessons that pointed them to a life of holiness and to the Redeemer who would really take away the sins of the world. It has been Satan’s studied plan to break up this arrangement and separate the labor and work from the spiritual experience.

The medical profession has lost out of it the missionary spirit. It is a science of itself. It matters not in the eyes of the world whether a medical man has any regard for the religion of the Bible if he has passed certain examinations in that science. It is the same in the religious teaching; if a man has a certain theological training, and has passed certain examinations, he is educated, and can, if he chooses, be a minister,—a teacher of the people. When Israel was without a teaching priest, they suddenly relapsed into idolatry, and were without the true God or his law. Then the Lord taught them by trouble to turn unto him; for “nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.” 2 Chron. 15:3-7.

In the gospel of Christ is a resetting of all these principles. Every one of them centered in Christ. He became our example in all things. He was the greatest teacher that ever walked this earth. He was a foreign missionary sent from God to a planet that had severed its connection with the great continent of heaven. He was a home missionary; for he was born of humanity and took human nature with all its liability. He was a medical missionary; for he healed all manner of diseases wherever he went. He was an evangelist; for he brought salvation to every one who accepted him and followed in his steps. He was “the Apostle and High Priest of our profession.” Heb. 3:1. He taught the truth upon all these points in two ways,—first, by precept; second, by his life. It is a blending of all these principles that constitutes true religion.

There are lords many, and gods many. So there are many religions. They are seen in every community. Their adherents are found in every neighborhood. The Christian religion is after the pattern and model of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Christian physicians will exemplify their Founder. They will relieve the sick while preaching the word. “And he preached the word unto them. And they came unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.” Christ blended the healing of the sick one’s body and the forgiving of his sins. It was the same power that forgave the sins that healed the body. “Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (he saith to the sick of the palsy), . . . Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.” To acknowledge this and confess Christ, was to glorify God. “He rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to-day.” They said, “We never saw it on this fashion.” Mark 2:2-13; Luke 5:18-26.

Every physician ought to be a preacher after this heavenly model. Every true preacher or teacher in Israel ought to be a physician. This is in harmony with God’s method; but it would break up the present custom of society. It would revolutionize our medical schools. It would reform our preachers, and make health reformers of every one of them. When Christ sent forth his disciples, he said to them, “As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” This original commission given to the twelve was renewed to the seventy. Matt. 10:7-15; Luke 10:1-11. This commission was to continue to the end of the world.

This old, original commission is to be revived. Those who are Christ’s representatives are to blend these principles. They are to teach, and to preach, and to live the principles of health. Then Christ, through them, will heal the sick. So with our publishing houses, so with our schools, so with every institution to further the cause of God on the earth. Every principle of righteousness should be connected with them all. Many will say when this is the case, as they did in Christ’s day, “We never saw it on this fashion;” but it is God’s plan. God is even now at work in the world to bring about the accomplishment of his great purpose concerning man.

Oakland, Cal.