A Testimony to Students

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(Talk at the Opening of the Fernando School, October 1, 1902.) I am indeed glad to see so many here this morning. Students, will you remember that the prosperity of the school depends in a large degree on your endeavors. Will you remember that you are to help to make the school a success. Your teachers will find their task difficult as they try to understand for themselves and to help you to understand what the Word of God means and what its requirements comprehend. Will you resolve not to make the work of your teachers harder by your perversity. I plead with you as Christ’s purchased possession to help your teachers and your fellow-students by being so closely connected with God that into this school heavenly angels can enter and abide. Let everyone see what he can do to bring into the school sunshine and sweetness. Let everyone manifest that conformity to God’s will that brings His rich blessing.

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Students, you are here to fit yourselves to enter the higher school. You are here to obtain a knowledge of God, to learn how to obey His commandments. Obedience is our life in this world, and it will be our life in the world to come. And remember that a knowledge of God and of Christ is the sum of all science . God teaches us to count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. To know God and Christ-this is eternal life. Incorporated with the life, this knowledge fits us for heaven. And all other knowledge, however high and broad, unless charged with it, is valueless in God’s sight.

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You remember the experience of Daniel . He received wisdom and understanding because he placed himself in right relation with God. God has intelligence for you, just as He had for Daniel. He has knowledge for you that is far above all human knowledge. If you stand where Daniel stood, you will gain a progressive education, and a progressive education means a progressive sanctification . Such an education will prepare you to inherit the kingdom that from the foundation of the world has been prepared for God’s faithful ones. As you strive to obtain a knowledge of God, He will commune with you as He communed with Daniel and his companions, and will give you power that will prevail.

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Your teachers will do all that they can to help you. They will try to show you what you must do to inherit eternal life. They will try to show you how to become conversant with the living principles of truth , that you may stand before God and men on vantage ground. Will you co-operate with your teachers? Will you strive earnestly to become useful men and women? Christ is waiting to help you, and He is an all-powerful Helper. When God gave Him to our world, He gave all heaven. He placed in His hands every power, every facility of heaven, to give to those who receive Him. Christ came to our world to give us an example of what we may become, to show us that we may live a perfect life . He says to us, «Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.»

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What are you here for? Is it to obtain an education that will help you to stand by the side of Christ in unselfish service? This is the highest education that you can possibly obtain. The Word of God declares, «Ye are laborers together with God.» «Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.» As you stand firm for God, filled with courage and perseverance, constantly revealing self-denial, angels from heaven will come into this school. They will keep guard over you. Your health will be precious in God’s sight, because you keep His commandments .

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Do not let self-assertion mingle with your work. Remember the lesson that Christ gave to His disciples when they were contending as to who among them should be the greatest. Placing a little child in the midst of them, He said, «Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.»

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In your school work, do not spend time in learning that which will be of little use to you in your after life. Instead of trying to gain a knowledge of foreign languages, strive first to speak the English language correctly. Be sure to learn how to keep accounts . Gain a knowledge of those lines of study that will help you to be useful wherever you are.

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Remember constantly your need of a union with Christ. United with Him, you will bring into your work the fragrance of His character, and your well-ordered life will be a blessing to your teachers and your fellow-students. The sanctifying presence of God will be with you as you seek to do His will with a sincere desire to glorify Him.

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Among these students there are those who have come here to prepare themselves for missionary work. May the Lord help you, and bless your efforts. The number of our missionaries is not half large enough. The fields are white, ready to harvest, but the laborers are few. God is waiting to endow you with power from on high, that you may go forth to work for Him.

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I want to speak a few more words to you about helping one another . Not all are able to grasp ideas quickly. If you see that a fellow-student has difficulty in understanding his lessons, explain them to him. Be patient and persevering, and by-and-bye his hesitancy and dullness will disappear. He will gain courage and strength to endure trial. And in the effort to help him, you, too, will be helped. God will give you power to advance in your studies . He will co-operate with you in your efforts to help your fellow-students, and in heaven the words will be spoken of you, «Well done, good and faithful servant.»

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Let two or three students meet together, and ask God to help them to be missionaries in this school, a blessing and a help to their fellow-students. The lives of such ones will exert a powerful influence for good on those who scoff at religion.

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Let your faith be pure and strong and stedfast. Bring all the pleasantness you can into the school. Let gratitude to God fill your hearts. Remember the words, «Whoso offereth praise glorifieth God.» When you rise in the morning, kneel at your bedside and ask God to give you strength to fulfill the duties of the day and to meet its temptations. Ask Him to help you to bring into your work Christ’s sweetness of character. Ask Him to help you to speak words that will draw those around you nearer to Christ.

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Live in this world to some purpose . If you waste the life God has given you, when Christ comes to gather His children home you will have no place in the mansions that He is preparing for those that love Him.

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God wants you to receive the wisdom that He has for you. He wants you to be Bible students and Bible believers, living in obedience to the words, «Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.» Then He can bestow on you the power of His truth. Then He can mould and fashion you after the divine similitude. Living in conformity to Christ’s will, you will be changed into His likeness. You will grow up into Him, and at last the pearly gates of the holy city will for you swing back on their glittering hinges, and you will enter to hear the words, «Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.» In your hands will be placed a golden harp, and touching its strings, you will join with the redeemed host in filling all heaven with songs of praise to God and His Son.

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Students, do your best . This is all that God asks of you. He who has given His life for you will aid you in your efforts to win eternal life. God wants you to have a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Obey Him, and in this school His salvation will be revealed. I want to meet you all around the throne of God. Learn here the lessons God desires to teach you, and you will join in the song of triumph in the heavenly courts.