Bridges of Wood Over Rivers of Fire
By E. A. Sutherland
YEARS ago there was committed to the church a commission to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth. A great gulf was to be bridged, and men—earnest, God-fearing men—set about to accomplish the task. The gospel has been preached; companies of believers have been organized, and the workers have passed on to new fields. They felt that the bridge was being built. Soon it would be possible to encircle the world with the truth. Thirty, forty, and even fifty years have passed. Some of those first companies are still in existence, but it is a sad fact that many of them are almost wholly extinct. The children, born of Seventh-day Adventist parents, have grown to manhood and womanhood, and have6drifted into the world. The parents have died or apostatized, and if any trace of former organization remains, it is only the smoking embers of the burned bridge. What was wrong? That the river is one of fire, no one passing through this world can doubt. The “fiery trials” of which Peter speaks have tested our souls. But if the work is of God, if this gospel is to be preached to the world before Christ comes, then something more than wooden bridges must span this river of fire. An indestructible structure must be erected. If, thirty or forty years ago, those children, who should have become pillars of the church, had been educated in the truths of the gospel; if instead of training them for the world, parents had trained them for Christ and his kingdom, we should to-day be in the kingdom of God. If, to-day, we wish to do a constructive work, a work that will stand the test of fire, let us build as God has said. Let us do the first works by educating the children according to divine principles. What are we told, if not that the education of this world is as wood, hay, and stubble? Are you thus building? Are the faces of your children turned toward Sodom? If so, to you the injunction is given, “Remember Lot’s wife.” That the children may be saved,—the thirty thousand of those already in the church and the thousands outside,—we must have Christian teachers, hundreds of well-trained teachers, true to the principles of Christian education. The training of teachers is a serious matter. Bridge-builders must be master mechanics. The Southern Education says: “If the aldermen of a city or a town should employ an engineer to build a bridge, and should spend the people’s money in paying that engineer, and it should afterward turn out that the bridge was worthless, and that the so-called engineer was no engineer after all, what would the people say?—They would say that it was the duty of the aldermen to have employed a trained engineer, so that their money would not have been wasted. Is it not as important to employ a trained expert to deal with souls as it is to employ a trained man to build a bridge?” Many realize that this constructive work must be vigorously pushed. Conference presidents, educational superintendents, and all who feel the needs of the children, are working toward universal free Christian schools. But to carry into operation the plan for such schools, there must be a corps of well-trained teachers. The summer schools offer special advantages to teachers. Instead of spending the vacation in mere enjoyment, the energetic Christian teacher devotes those weeks to self-improvement. How will the young people in our churches spend the coming summer months? Do they receive any encouragement to prepare for teaching?