The Knowledge that Endures

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I am given words of caution for the teachers in our schools. The work of our schools should bear a different stamp from that borne by some of the most popular of our institutions of learning. Many of the textbooks used in these schools are unnecessary for the work of preparing students for the school above. As a result the youth are not receiving the most perfect Christian education. Those points of study are neglected that are most needed to fit them for missionary work in home and foreign fields, and to prepare them to stand in the last great examination. The education needed is that which will qualify students for practical service, by teaching them to bring every faculty under the control of the Spirit of God. The study book of the highest value is that which contains the instruction of Christ, the Teacher of teachers.

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The Lord requires our teachers to put away from our schools those books teaching sentiments which are not in accordance with His word, and to give place to those books that are of the highest value. He will be honored when they show to the world that a wisdom more than human is theirs, because the Master Teacher is standing as their instructor.

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There is need of separating from our educational work an erroneous, polluted literature, so that ideas which are the seeds of sin will not be received and cherished as the truth. Let not any suppose that a study of books which will lead to the reception of false ideas, is valuable education. Those ideas which, gaining entrance to the mind, 390 separate the youth from the Source of all wisdom, all efficiency, all power, leave them the sport of Satan’s temptations. A pure education for the youth in our schools, unmixed with heathen philosophy, is a positive necessity.

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We need to guard continually against those books which contain sophistry in regard to geology and other branches of science. Before the theories of men of science are presented to immature students, they need to be carefully sifted from every trace of infidel suggestions. One tiny seed of infidelity sown by a teacher in the heart of a student may spring up and bring forth a harvest of unbelief. The sophistries regarding God and nature that are flooding the world with skepticism are the inspiration of the fallen foe. Satan is a Bible student. He knows the truths that are essential for salvation, and it is his study to divert minds from these truths. Let our teachers beware lest they echo the falsehoods of the enemy of God and man.

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It is a mistake to put into the hands of the youth books that perplex and confuse them. The reason sometimes given for this study is that the teacher has passed over this ground, and the student must follow. But if teachers were receiving light and wisdom from the divine Teacher, they would look at this matter in a very different way. They would measure the relative importance of the things to be learned in school. The common, essential branches of education would be more thoroughly taught, and the word of God would be esteemed as the bread sent down from heaven, which sustains all spiritual life.

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We are slow to realize how much we need to understand the teachings of Christ and His methods of labor. If these were better understood, much of the instruction given in our schools would be counted as of no value. It would be seen that much that is now taught does not develop the simplicity of true godliness in the life of the student. Finite wisdom would receive less esteem, and the word of God would have a more honored place.

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If the teachers in our schools would search the Scriptures for the purpose of securing a better understanding for themselves, opening their hearts to the light given in the word, they would be taught of God. They would love and practice the truth, and would labor to bring in less of the theories and sentiments of men who have never had a connection with God, and more of the knowledge that endures. They would feel a deep soul hunger for the wisdom that comes from above.

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Studying to Useless Ends Often students spend many years in study that is conducted on wrong lines and to useless ends. The mind is trained to think in a wrong channel, taught to grasp those things that are not only utterly worthless, but an injury to the physical and mental health. The student obtains a slender store of information upon many subjects that are of little value to him, a limited knowledge along many lines that he will never use, when he might obtain knowledge that would be of the highest service in practical life, and which would be a storehouse of wisdom from which to draw in time of need. 392

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It is difficult to depart from old customs and established ideas. But few realize the loss that is sustained by many in long courses of study. Much that is crowded into the brain is of no value, yet students suppose this education to be all-sufficient, and after years of study they leave school with their diplomas, believing that they are men and women properly educated and ready for service. In many cases this preparation for service is nothing more than a farce, yet it will continue until teachers receive the wisdom of heaven through the influence of the Holy Spirit.

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Many a student has so long taxed the mind to learn that which his reason tells him will never be of any use, that his mental powers have become weakened and incapable of vigorous exertion and persevering effort to comprehend those things which are of vital importance. The money expended in his education, which perhaps was provided as the result of great sacrifice on the part of his parents, is well-nigh wasted; and a misapprehension as to what is of importance leads to a mistake in his lifework.

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What a fraud is that education obtained in literary or scientific lines, if it must be stripped from the learner before he is counted worthy to enter upon that life which measures with the life of God, himself saved as by fire. God has given us a probation in which to prepare for the school above. For this the youth are here to be educated, disciplined, and trained. In the lower school of earth they are to form characters that God can approve. They are to receive a training, not in the customs and amusements of worldly society, but in Christ’s lines, a training that will fit them to be colaborers with heavenly intelligences. The studies given the youth should be of a character to make them more successful in the service of God, to enable them to follow in the footsteps of Christ and to maintain the great principles that He maintained. Our standard is to be the character of Him who is pure, holy, undefiled….

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The knowledge of God is the real essence of education. The education that would supersede this knowledge, or dismiss it from the mind, as Felix dismissed Paul when he spoke to him of temperance, righteousness, and judgment to come, is not of God. Paul’s words made Felix tremble; but the governor dismissed the apostle with the words, «Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.» Acts 24:25. And today multitudes are saying the same. Their minds are called to the deep subjects of truth, problems as high as heaven and as broad as eternity; but they say, «I cannot bring these subjects into my daily studies; for they would so stir up my mind as to unfit me for the daily routine of study. I have never mastered Bible problems. I cannot take up this study now. Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.» Thus God’s great lesson book is set aside because it is not regarded as the one thing needful.

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The Highest Possible Development I do not wish anyone to receive from the words I have written the impression that the standard of education in our schools is to be in any way lowered. Every student should remember that the Lord requires him to make of himself all that is possible, that he may wisely teach others also. Our students should tax the mental powers; every faculty should reach the highest possible development.

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Many students come to college with intellectual habits that are a hindrance to them. One of the most difficult to manage is the habit of performing mental work as a matter of routine, instead of bringing to bear upon each study thoughtful, determined effort to master difficulties and to grasp the principles at the foundation of the subject under consideration. Indolence, apathy, irregularity, are to be dreaded, and the binding of oneself to routine is just as much to be dreaded. Through the grace of Christ it is in the power of students to change this habit of routine, and it is for their best interests and future usefulness rightly to direct the mental faculties, training them to do service under the guidance of the wisest of all teachers, whose power they may claim by faith. This will give them success in their intellectual efforts, in accordance with God’s promise.

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A thorough education, which will fit young men and women for service, is to be given in our schools. In order to secure such an education the wisdom that comes from God must be made first and most important. All who engage in the acquisition of knowledge should strive to reach the highest round of the ladder. Let students advance as fast and as far as they can; let the field of their study be as broad as their powers can compass; but let them make God their wisdom, clinging to Him who is infinite in knowledge, who can reveal secrets hidden for ages, and who can solve the most difficult problems for minds that believe in Him.

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We commend to every student the Book of books as the grandest study for human intelligence, the book that contains the knowledge essential for this life and for the life to come. But I do not encourage a letting down of the educational standard in the study of the sciences. The light that has been given on this subject is clear and should in no case be disregarded.

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Putting the Bible First In the instruction given in our schools, the natural and the spiritual are to be combined. The laws obeyed by the earth reveal the fact that it is under the masterly power of an infinite God. The same principles run through the spiritual and the natural world. Divorce God from the acquisition of knowledge, and you have a lame, one-sided education, dead to all the saving qualities that give true power to man. The Author of nature is the Author of the Bible. Creation and Christianity have one God. God is revealed in nature, and God is revealed in His word. In clear rays the light shines from the sacred page, showing us the living God, as represented in the laws of His government, in the creation of the world, in the heavens that He has garnished. His power is to be recognized as the only means of redeeming the world from the degrading superstitions that are so dishonoring to God and man.

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The student who in his school life becomes familiar with the truths of God’s word and feels their transforming power upon his heart will represent the character of Christ to the world in a well-ordered life and a godly conversation. God will do great things for those who will open the heart to His word and let it take possession of the soul temple. The departure from the simplicity of true godliness on the part of students has had an influence to weaken character and lessen mental vigor. Their advancement in the sciences has been retarded, while if they had been like Daniel, hearers and doers of the word of God, they would have advanced as he did in all branches of learning upon which they entered. Being pure-minded, they would have become strong-minded. Every intellectual faculty would have been sharpened.

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When the Bible is made the guide and counselor, it exerts an ennobling influence upon the mind. Its study more than any other will refine and elevate. It will enlarge the mind of the candid student, endowing it with new impulses and fresh vigor. It will give greater efficiency to the faculties by bringing them in contact with grand, far-reaching truths. If the mind becomes dwarfed and inefficient, it is because it is left to deal with commonplace subjects only. Let the Bible be received as the food of the soul, the best and most effectual means of purifying and strengthening the intellect. —

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Out of the heart are the issues of life; and the heart of the community, of the church, and of the nation is the household. The well-being of society, the success of the church, the prosperity of the nation, depend upon home influences.