| The Life of Dr. J.R. Miller |
Chapter 7 |
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As soon as it was known that Dr. Miller planned to remove to Philadelphia, overtures were made to him by one of the churches of the city which desired him to become pastor in connection with his new work. Dr. Miller looked with favour on the proposition, but Dr. Dulles, writing in behalf of the Board, urged that it would be impossible to do justice to the Board and that church at the same time. This was a perfectly natural suggestion; for Dr. Miller’s remarkable ability to do the work of three men had not yet been proved. The history of the next thirty years was to show that he was not to be judged by the standards set for the average man.
When Dr. Miller entered on his work the Board’s only periodicals were The Westminster Teacher, The Westminster Lesson Leaf, The Senior Quarterly, The Sabbath School Visitor, The Sunbeam and the Presbyterian Monthly Record. While he had something to do with all of these it was The Westminster Teacher that benefited most by his painstaking, sympathetic writing. The lesson pages were enriched by his extremely practical and spiritual comments on the lessons. His articles were soon eagerly awaited by pastors, superintendents and teachers all over the country. Soon workers in Great Britain asked for the Teacher, attracted most of all by his writing.
In 1890, in writing to a reader who thanked him for these lesson articles, he said:
“My only aim has been to make the Bible teaching plain and simple for ordinary Sunday school teachers, especially to suggest to them the practical applications which they may make in teaching. I have always felt myself, in reading commentaries and lesson helps, the lack of this practical character. That is, while men have made the meaning of the text clear enough, they have not given suggestions which will aid teachers in applying the words of inspiration to the common life of those they teach. Most Sunday school teachers lack the skill themselves to draw inferences and suggest applications, and therefore need, I think, such simple helps as I have tired in these years to give them.”
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