Article May 13, 1939 Issue

"They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament"

[Original article in German]

ELFRIEDE HOFFMANN

Sunday school pupils might be compared to young plants. We know with what solicitude and love a gardener nurses his seedlings, cultivates and cares for them; how he removes weeds, and keeps ever before him the needs of his plants, until they have attained the strength to be transplanted. Regular, untiring work and constant watchfulness are expressed by the wise gardener.

A gardener's work with young plants furnishes us with thoughts that are applicable to the work of the Sunday school. Does not every teacher try with great solicitude and love to nurse and cultivate the seedlings of good in the thoughts of his pupils? Does he not provide them with needed knowledge regarding God and the real man?

In the Manual of The Mother Church, Mrs. Eddy makes the following provision with regard to instruction in the Sunday school. She writes in Article XX, Section 2, "The Sabbath School children shall be taught the Scriptures, and they shall be instructed according to their understanding or ability to grasp the simpler meanings of the divine Principle that they are taught." The children's thinking is to be rooted in the Bible, and in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, according to their capacity. Thus their understanding will unfold in the light of spiritual truth, which should be presented to the children simply and clearly. Knowledge of the Bible is necessary; and the teacher who does not yet possess this knowledge in sufficient measure will have the opportunity to increase his knowledge while he teaches in Sunday school, so that the Word may be presented to the pupils in practical ways.

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