SABBATH-SCHOOL LESSONS.
By W. C. White
As the first object of the Sabbath-school is to interest and instruct in Bible knowledge, it is important that every school adopt the very best lessons. We now have Bible lessons from the careful pen of Prof. G. H. Bell, suited to the wants of every grade of S. S. scholars. For the little children we have the book, “Bible Lessons for Little Ones,” containing lessons for a year, which are admirably adapted to the wants of scholars under ten years of age. For the children between the ages of ten and fifteen, we have a series of lessons commencing with the history of Joshua and the children of Israel as they enter the promised land. For youth a series was begun in the REVIEW and is continued in the Instructor, treating on Bible history beginning with creation. The lesson for Sabbath, March 8, is on The First Covenant. For the Bible class we have a series of Lessons on Prophecy, also commenced in the REVIEW and continued in the Instructor in the form of a monthly supplement. The rapid growth of our Sabbath-school interest was unexpected, and has necessitated several changes in the plans relative to the manner of publishing lessons. The excellent books which we had used for several years, Progressive Lessons for Children and Progressive Lessons for Youth, were soon all sold out; and although it would have suited the interest of publishers and author better to reprint those just as they were, we saw that it would be more convenient and economical to the purchaser to have the lessons put into smaller books, each to contain one year’s study. This change led to others. The books must be rewritten in order to divide well into books of fifty-two lessons each; and as the author had not time and strength to revise enough for a book at once, we begun to print the lessons in the REVIEW, as that was the only weekly paper we then had. Although the REVIEW was crowded with other matter, the editor made room for the S. S. Department until the weekly Instructor was started. This paper, designed to interest the youth, and advance the interests of the Sabbath-school work, will now contain the matters of greatest interest to the workers in that cause. The quarterly reports of State Associations will be published in a quarterly supplement and the S. S. Department will be filled from week to week with articles that will interest scholars and teachers. The weekly Instructor should be read by every S. S. officer, as it is the organ of the General S. S. Association, and the facts that it contains lessons for every grade of scholars except the very little ones, and that these lessons are in some respects better than any we have previously had, make it desirable that it should be adopted as a lesson paper by all our schools. The fact that most of the schools that have used the Lesson Sheets for Youth prefer to use the Instructor, which has the same lessons, has led us to discontinue the Lesson Sheets. We have given those who have changed from Lesson Sheets to the Instructor full credit on their Instructor subscription for all they ever paid for Lesson Sheets, and if there are any now taking Lessons Sheets for Youth who are too poor or too stingy to pay the difference in the price for the sake of getting all the valuable reading in the Instructor, we will give them the Instructor for the remainder of the time of their subscription for Lesson Sheets. W. C. WHITE.