COUNTRY BIBLE-SCHOOLS

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 22, 1877

“COUNTRY BIBLE-SCHOOLS.”

In the Sunday-School World for December, 1873, there appeared an article from the pen of Lewis E. Jackson, in which are some very sensible thoughts respecting Sabbath-schools, and the prominent position which the Bible should occupy in those schools. Mr. Jackson says:—

“In recent visits to country places, I have seen in the Sabbath-school the fathers and the mothers and the children of all ages, sitting down to the reverent study of God’s word, and I have therein seen a fulfillment of Ps. 78: 5, 6, where it is said, ‘For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children;’ and of that other word in Malachi, ‘And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.’

“In old-time country places, where the pure and simple gospel has been preached for two hundred and fifty years, I have seen the Sabbath-school, or as I prefer to term it, the Bible-school, take a firm hold of the heart of the church.

“A school I have visited more or less frequently for thirty-one years, gathers to its sessions the children and the youth not only, but the fathers and mothers in Israel, the aged men and women of threescore and fourscore years. It is literally a Bible-school; there is nothing in sight but Bible; no illuminated texts on the wall, no song roll, no blackboard, no maps, no pictures, no banners. The school has no excursions, no picnics, no festivals, no prizes nor rewards, nor any such thing. The scholars come to study the Bible and nothing else.

“The other evening, a number of visitors being in the place, the superintendent invited the parents and the children to come together, to listen to addresses on subjects connected with the interests of Sabbath-schools generally. The gentlemen speakers were from different parts of the country, and of various denominations; but in a practical, common-sense way, they spoke of the Bible lesson of the day; of the power of Sabbath-school hymns and music; and of the missionary feature of the Sabbath-school.

“Two of those who participated in the exercises spoke of the value of the instruction they received in their boyhood in that old-fashioned school. I wish to hold up these country Sabbath-schools to the notice of Sabbath-school men everywhere.

“The teachers in country schools, plain, matter-of-fact people, do not shine in conventions, and are seldom heard from, but they should be held in esteem for their work’s sake.

“Their pupils go out into the cities, and into high places of influence, and often refer with gratitude and respect to the good men and women who taught them their first lessons of Scripture truth in the country Sabbath-school.

“If we would raise up a bulwark against irreligion, let us see to it that our Sabbath-schools be not diverted from the one grand object, the instruction of the rising generation in the word of God. It is to be feared that, in some places, too much attention has been given to the accessories and auxiliaries of the Sabbath-school. We have only words of commendation for the modern improvement in Sabbath-school rooms, teaching, music, and lessons. But let the good and wise men who lead in these things remember that a true Sabbath-school is a Bible-school; a school where the Bible occupies the highest place.”