Teaching Children and Loving the Gospel

I am sure the Lord knows how hard it is for me to stand up before this vast congregation, and I sincerely trust that He will bless me with a portion of His Holy Spirit. I feel at home in a primary class, but this primary class is too large for me. ¶

I am going to tell you a little of my experience. But before doing so I want to thank you, my brethren and sisters, for sustaining me in the position to which I have been called. I thank the General Board and the presiding officers of the Church that they have considered me worthy to be identified with the Sunday school movement. I cannot believe my eyes. Why, it seems to me but a year or two since I was a little, barefoot boy, sitting on a bench in a Sunday school in the north of Ireland, listening to Bible stories told me by my teacher, and it seems almost incredible that I am here tonight before this great assembly. ¶

I want to speak a good word for my first Sunday school teacher. She did not belong to the Church, but she loved little boys. She used to come to Sunday school, gather us around her, and teach us the Gospel of Jesus Christ as far as she knew it. I have not seen her for twenty-five years, but a little while ago I sat down and wrote her a letter, in which I said, "Teacher, I haven't seen you for twenty-five years, and yet I see you all the time. I see myself as a boy, sitting at your feet in that Sunday school; I see your smiling face; I hear your loving voice, as you tell me of the love of God, and teach me to love Him and keep His commandments. And now I thank you for what you did for me. Some time, somewhere, in eternity I will find you, and then I will tell you face to face how much I appreciate the interest you took in me, and try to repay you tor all the kindness you bestowed upon me." ¶

Yes, that teacher loved us, and I believe she took a special interest in me; I believe the Lord inspired her to do so. She used to take her little class to her home, where she would serve us with lemonade and cake, and then tell us stories about the Lord Jesus. ¶

I learned to love her; I love her still. She is a member of the Presbyterian church, but I know that the Lord loves her, because she is a good woman. All women are good, but I believe some are just a little better than others, and I think she belonged to the latter class. ¶

I want to appeal to you teachers -- you teachers who sometimes get discouraged; you teachers who sometimes feel cross; you teachers who feel like sending the little boys home-- don't do it. Be patient with them a little longer. Take them to the Lord in prayer. You don't know who you are teaching. Let us try to remember that we were once boys and girls, some of us not near so good as the boys and girls we are teaching. But we have begun to look at things a little differently. We have acquired a little more common sense; we are not making the fools of ourselves we did then, and after a while we teachers will see the results of our labors and feel satisfied. ¶

A Religion class teacher came to me one day. She said she could not see any ¶

results from her work. I said to her, "You do not want to be always going around looking for results. When you do good you should go away back into the shade and lie down, and tell no one about it. All you have to do is to sow the seeds; God will take care of the crop." That day in the testimony exercise, after the teacher had borne her testimony, she said, "Do any of you little children feel like thanking God for the good things He gives you, or like bearing your testimony?" One little girl arose and said, "I want to say something." Let me say, before I tell you what she said, that the teacher had been teaching a memory gem -- "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." The little child continued, "Last Wednesday afternoon, when I went home from the. Religion class, my mama said to me, 'Will you go down to the store for me?' I said 'No, mama, I don't want to go to the store,' and mama said, 'Then I will go myself. Will you go down and feed the chickens for me?' I said. 'Yes, I will go down and feed the chickens. As I was on my way something said to me 'You are not honoring and obeying your parents,' so I came back and said, 'Mama, I will go to the store for you.' Then she put her arms around my neck and kissed me, and after that I felt better." ¶

I said to the teacher at the close of the session, '-'What better results do you wish to see than that? You have taught these children a little memory gem for three weeks, and today you have seen it bring forth fruit. You have taught a lesson which I believe will remain in that child's heart as long as she lives." ¶

We are making great progress in Sunday school work, and there are none who are more delighted with the work that is being accomplished than is the General Board. We are growing by leaps and bounds. We are far in advance of what we were a few years ago. Some of us teachers used to think that sufficient for the day was the lesson thereof; but we know better than that now. We have learned that we must grow and grow, and never cease to grow, for when growth ceases, death begins. ¶

But are not some of us going just to the other extreme? I believe that we are burning the midnight oil in making preparations, and studying very hard, and we are so concerned about the preparation of the lesson, and the very best method of presenting it that I fear we are not giving the proper attention to the spirit of the lesson. There is such a thing as being too careful, you know. I was in Sister Kesler's kindergarten class last week, and one of the members of the class illustrated how it was possible to be too careful. She said one day her mother sent her down into the cellar with a pitcher of cream, and said to her, "Be careful that you do not let the pitcher fall." She said, "I went out and I was holding that pitcher as tight as I could hold it, and just when I got on the first step of the cellar stairs I let the pitcher fall, and it broke into a dozen pieces. I was so concerned about the pitcher, and so careful that it shouldn't fall, that I actually let it fall." I believe there are a few teachers who are so much interested in the preparation of the lesson, in the method of presenting it, that they are losing sight of the spirit of it. I visited a Sunday school recently, and listened to some very good lessons, but there did not seem to be a soul in them. They were a compilation of cold, dry facts, and failed to touch the souls of the pupils. I believe that if our lessons are to accomplish the good we want them to accomplish they must touch the heart; the lesson that fails to in this has not accomplished its mission. I am afraid some Sunday school teachers do not let the lessons go through their own hearts. Every teacher should say, when he takes up a lesson: "What is there in this lesson for me? What is there in it that I can apply to myself, and make part of myself before attempting to present it to my class?" Our lessons ought to go through our own selves to our pupils. What I think is needed is the spirit of Sunday school work, the soul of the work. ¶

I was away from Zion some time ago, in a large city. It was Sunday morning. There were no Saints there, but I decided that I would go and worship somewhere, and I went to a Christian church. I listened to a minister who said many good things, and I accepted the good things which he said and let the others go. He said, "Some time ago a young man arrived at a port in America. When he landed an officer went up to him and said, 'How much money have you got!' I haven't got a dollar in the world' was the reply. 'Where are you going to?' asked the officer. 'I am going to Fall River,' he answered. 'Have you got any relatives here?' was the next question. 'No,' was the reply; 'but I have some in Fall River.' 'You must go back,' said the officer. 'Why?' asked the young man. 'Because you are without money and relatives here, and you are liable to become a public charge.' The young man looked at him and said, 'I will not become a public charge. Give me a chance and I will get down to Fall River all right.' 'How?' asked the officer. 'By this,' said the young man, as he tapped a little bag under his arm. 'What have you got there?' the officer questioned. Opening the bag, the young man drew out a beautiful cornet, and putting it to his lips he played a tune of one of the grand old masters, a tune that, brought tears to the eyes of all who heard it. When he had finished, the officer said to the captain of the vessel, 'Take this man down to Fall River at my expense.' 'No,' said the captain, 'he shall go to Fall River at my expense; I need just such a man on board,' and that young man went to Fall River because he put his soul into his instrument." I want to say teachers, that if we expect to make a success of our Sunday school work we must put our souls into it. ¶

One time a young artist painted a picture and took it to a critic for his inspection. The older artist inspected it, and then took up his brush and gave it a daub. The young man stared ¶

at him in astonishment and said, "Why did you do that?" "Your picture lacks one thing," said the artist. "And what does it lack," inquired the youth. "The touch of a master hand," was the reply. And that is just what your lessons sometimes lack, the touch of the Master's hand. ¶

God, in the beginning, decreed that man should eat his bread by the sweat of his brow. That was not a curse, it was one of the greatest blessings that God ever gave to man. And if God will not give bread to the man who spends his days in idleness, neither will He put words of wisdom and inspiration into the mouth of a mental drone. In sitting down to prepare our lessons we should invoke His divine assistance and then when we have finished we should go to Him and say, "Father, I have done what I could; now fill my soul with Your Spirit; inspire me for my work, give this picture the touch of Thy master hand."And he will do it. He will help us every time. ¶

Before taking my seat I wish to refer to a statement that was made in a Methodist convention held last week. I have traveled quite extensively over this country, and have associated a great deal with the young people of Zion, and I can say truthfully that there is no people in God's great world today who love their religion as the young people of the Latter-day Saints do. We have one hundred and thirty thousand members enrolled in our Sunday Schools, and we have not had to use "trading stamps" to get them there either. Brother Summerhays has an extract from a newspaper in his pocket which shows that some of the sectarian schools of the country have had to resort to the trading stamp system in order to get their young people to attend Sunday schools. We haven't got down as low as that yet. We never shall. ¶

We are not ashamed of the Gospel, of the Prophet Joseph Smith, nor of the glorious principles which he taught us, but I will tell you of whom we are ashamed. We are ashamed of ¶

men and women who claim to be followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, and at the same time go about speaking evil of their neighbors, and seeking to do them all the injury they can. That is what we are ashamed of. We are ashamed to see men who style themselves ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ, assemble in conventions and pass resolutions aiming at the persecution, the oppression, the annihilation of a little band of religious worshipers in their own land. A short time ago the ministers of the country shed crocodile tears because of the persecutions of the Jews by the Russians. They also passed resolutions condemning the latter for their treatment of the poor Hebrews. You remember that some of the nations were appealed to to arise and show their disapproval of the treatment accorded the Jews by the Russians, and now we find some of these ministers who were so strong in their denunciation of the Russians for persecuting the Jews, assemble in convention and pass resolutions by which they seek to persecute and overthrow a little band of religious worshipers out here in the desert. Think of it! That is what we are ashamed of, of such inconsistency. Sometimes I imagine I can see the devil, lying back in his easy chair and laughing at the inconsistency of these theological hypocrites. ¶

I pray God to bless the youth of Zion; to bless the boys and girls of the new and everlasting covenant. We have been called to teach these children; let us labor for their salvation. These little boys and girls in the kindergarten classes, these little boys and girls in the primary classes, will not be little boys and girls always... After a while they will be grown-ups, and will become great and good men and women. We shall see them bearing off the kingdom of God. I can see them, when you and I are laid away on the hillside, rising up and doing a thousand times better work than you and are doing today. We are teaching Apostles and Prophets of the Most High God. We do not know now who these little ones are, but God knows them, and the day will come when they will rise up and bless us, if we but do our duty to them and teach them to live pure and holy lives. ¶

May God bless this great work, and may we labor with our whole might, mind and strength for the upbuilding of the kingdom of God. And, finally, may we be redeemed, saved and exalted with the sanctified in the celestial kingdom of our Father, is my humble prayer for us all, in the name of Jesus Christ. ¶