That which in the counsels of heaven the Father and the Son deemed essential for man’s salvation is clearly presented in the Holy Scriptures. The infinite truths of salvation are stated so plainly that finite beings who desire to know the truth cannot fail to understand. Divine revelations have been made for their instruction in righteousness, that they may glorify God and help their fellow men.
(CT 438.1)
These truths are found in the word of God—the standard by which we are to judge between right and wrong. Obedience to this word is the best shield for the youth against the temptations to which they are exposed while acquiring an education. From this word they learn how to honor God and how to be faithful to humanity, cheerfully performing the duties and meeting the trials that each day brings, and courageously bearing its burdens.
(CT 438.2)
Christ, the Great Teacher, sought to win the minds of men from the contemplation of earthly things, that He might teach them of heavenly things. Had the teachers of His day been willing to be instructed by Him, had they united with Him in sowing the world with the seeds of truth, the world would be far different from what it now is. Had the scribes and Pharisees joined their forces with the Saviour, the knowledge of Christ would have restored the moral image of God in their souls.
(CT 438.3)
But the leaders of Israel turned from the fountain of true knowledge. They studied the Scriptures only to sustain their traditions and enforce their man-made observances. By their interpretation they made them express sentiments that God had never given. Their mystical construction made indistinct that which He had made plain. They disputed over technicalities and practically denied the most essential truths. God’s word was robbed of its power, and evil spirits worked their will.
(CT 438.4)
Christ’s words contain nothing that is nonessential. The Sermon on the Mount is a wonderful production, yet so simple that a child can study it without misunderstanding. The mount of beatitudes is a symbol of the spiritual elevation on which Christ ever stood. Every word He uttered came from God, and He spoke with the authority of heaven. “The words that I speak unto you,” He said, “they are spirit, and they are life.”John 6:63. His teaching is full of ennobling, saving truth, to which men’s highest ambitions and most profound investigations can bear no comparison. He was alive to the terrible ruin hanging over the race, and He came to save souls by His own righteousness, bringing to the world definite assurance of hope and complete relief.
(CT 439.1)
It is because Christ’s words are disregarded, because the word of God is given a second place in education, that infidelity is riot and iniquity is rife. Things of minor consequence occupy the minds of many of the teachers of today. A mass of tradition, containing merely a semblance of truth, is brought into the courses of study given in the schools of the world. The force of much human teaching is found in assertion, not in truth. The teachers of the present day can use only the ability of previous teachers; and yet with all the weighty importance that may be attached to the words of the greatest human authors there is a conscious inability to trace back to the first great principle, the Source of unerring wisdom. There is a painful uncertainty, a constant searching, a reaching for assurance, that can be found only in God. The trumpet of human greatness may be sounded, but it is with an uncertain sound; it is not reliable, and the salvation of souls cannot be assured by it.
(CT 439.2)
In acquiring earthly knowledge, men have thought to gain a treasure; and they have laid the Bible aside, ignorant that it contains a treasure worth everything else. A failure to study and obey God’s word has brought confusion into the world. Men have left the guardianship of Christ for the guardianship of the great rebel, the prince of darkness. Strange fire has been mingled with the sacred. The accumulation of things that minister to lust and ambition has brought upon the world the judgment of heaven.
(CT 440.1)
When in difficulty, philosophers and men of science try to satisfy their minds without appealing to God. They ventilate their philosophy in regard to the heavens and the earth, accounting for plagues, pestilences, epidemics, earthquakes, and famines by their supposed science. Questions relating to creation and providence they attempt to solve by saying, This is a law of nature.
(CT 440.2)
Knowledge Through Obedience
Disobedience has closed the door to a vast amount of knowledge that might have been gained from the word of God. Had men been obedient, they would have understood the plan of God’s government. The heavenly world would have opened its chambers of grace and glory for exploration. In form, in speech, in song, human beings would have been altogether superior to what they are now. The mystery of redemption, the incarnation of Christ, His atoning sacrifice, would not be vague in our minds. They would be not only better understood, but altogether more highly appreciated.
(CT 440.3)
A failure to study God’s word is the great cause of mental weakness and inefficiency. In turning from this word to feed on the writings of uninspired men, the mind becomes dwarfed and cheapened. It is not brought in contact with deep, broad principles of eternal truth. The understanding adapts itself to the comprehension of the things with which it is familiar, and in this devotion to finite things it is weakened, its power is contracted, and after a time it becomes unable to expand.
(CT 441.1)
All this is false education. The work of every teacher should be to fasten the minds of the youth upon the grand truths of the word of Inspiration. This is the education essential for this life and the life to come.
(CT 441.2)
And let it not be thought that this will prevent the study of the sciences or cause a lower standard in education. The knowledge of God is as high as heaven and as broad as the universe. There is nothing so ennobling and invigorating as a study of the great themes which concern our eternal life. Let the youth seek to grasp these God-given truths, and their minds will expand and grow strong in the effort. It will bring every student who is a doer of the word into a broader field of thought and secure for him a wealth of knowledge that is imperishable.
(CT 441.3)
The ignorance that now curses the world in regard to the binding claims of the law of God is the result of neglecting the study of the Scriptures. It is Satan’s studied plan so to absorb and engage the mind that God’s great Guidebook shall not be regarded as the Book of books and that the sinner shall not be led from the path of transgression into the path of obedience.
(CT 442.1)
Why is it that our youth, and even those of more mature years, are so easily led into temptation and sin? It is because the Bible is not studied and meditated upon as it should be. If it were made the daily study, there would be an inward rectitude, a strength of spirit, that would resist the temptations of the enemy. A firm, decided effort to turn from evil is not seen in the life, because the instruction given by God is disregarded. There is not put forth the effort that there should be to fill the mind with pure, holy thoughts and to rid it of all that is impure and untrue. There is not the choosing of the better part, the sitting at the feet of Jesus, as did Mary, to learn lessons from the divine Teacher.
(CT 442.2)
When God’s word is made the man of our counsel, when we search the Scriptures for light, heavenly angels come near to impress the mind and to enlighten the understanding so that it can be truly said, “The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”Psalm 119:130. It is no marvel that there is not more heavenly-mindedness seen among the youth who profess Christianity, when so little attention is given to the word of God. The divine counsels are not heeded; the divine admonitions are not obeyed. Grace and heavenly wisdom are not sought, that every taint of corruption may be cleansed from the life.
(CT 442.3)
Into Forbidden Paths
If the minds of the youth were directed aright, their conversation would be upon exalted themes. When the mind is pure and the thoughts ennobled by the truth of God, the words will be of the same character, “like apples of gold in baskets of silver.”Proverbs 25:11, R.V. But with the present understanding and the present practices, with the low standard that Christians are content to reach, the conversation is cheap and profitless. It is of the earth, earthy, and does not reach even the standard of the more cultured class of worldlings. When Christ and heaven are the theme of contemplation, the conversation will give evidence of the fact. The speech will be seasoned with grace, and the speaker will show that he has been obtaining an education in the school of the divine Teacher.
(CT 443.1)
We are to regard the Bible as God’s disclosure to us of eternal things—the things of most consequence for us to know. By the world it is thrown aside as if the perusal of it were finished, but a thousand years of research would not exhaust the hidden treasure it contains. Eternity alone will disclose the wisdom of this Book, for it is the wisdom of an infinite mind. Shall we, then, cultivate a deep hunger for the productions of human authors and disregard the word of God? It is this longing for something they never ought to crave that makes men substitute for true knowledge that which can never make them wise unto salvation. Let not man’s assertions be regarded as truth when they are contrary to the word of God.
(CT 443.2)
The Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Source of all wisdom, is second to none. But supposedly great authors, whose works are used as textbooks for study, are received and glorified, though they have no vital connection with God. By such study man has been led into forbidden paths. Minds have been wearied to death through unnecessary work in trying to obtain that which is to them as the knowledge which Adam and Eve disobeyed God in obtaining.
(CT 444.1)
Today young men and women spend years in acquiring an education which is as wood and stubble, to be consumed in the last great conflagration. Upon such an education God places no value. Many students leave school unable to receive the word of God with the reverence and respect which they gave it before they entered. Their faith has been eclipsed in the effort to excel in the various studies. The Bible has not been made a vital matter in their education, but books tainted with infidelity and propagating unsound theories have been placed before them.
(CT 444.2)
All unnecessary matters should be weeded from the courses of study, and only such studies placed before the student as will be of real value to him. With these alone he needs to become familiar, that he may secure the life which measures with the life of God. As the mind is summoned to the consideration of the great themes of salvation, it will rise higher and higher in the comprehension of these subjects, leaving cheap and insignificant matters behind.
(CT 444.3)
An Illustration
What was it that made John the Baptist great? He closed his mind to the mass of tradition presented by the teachers of the Jewish nation, and opened it to the wisdom which comes from above. Before his birth the Holy Spirit testified of John: “He shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.... And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”Luke 1:15-17.
(CT 445.1)
In his prophecy Zacharias said of John, “Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”Luke 1:76-79. And Luke adds, “The child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel.”Luke 1:80.
(CT 445.2)
It was John’s choice to forgo the enjoyments and luxuries of city life for the stern discipline of the wilderness. Here his surroundings were favorable to habits of simplicity and self-denial. Uninterrupted by the clamor of the world, he could here study the lessons of nature, of revelation, and of providence. The words of the angel to Zacharias had been often repeated by his God-fearing parents. From childhood his mission had been kept before him, and he accepted the holy trust. To him the solitude of the desert was a welcome escape from society in which suspicion, unbelief, and impurity had become well-nigh all-pervading. He distrusted his own power to withstand temptation and shrank from constant contact with sin lest he should lose the sense of its exceeding sinfulness.
(CT 445.3)
But the life of John was not spent in idleness, in ascetic gloom, or in selfish isolation. From time to time he went forth to mingle with men, and he was ever an interested observer of what was passing in the world. From his quiet retreat he watched the unfolding of events. With vision illuminated by the divine Spirit, he studied the characters of men, that he might understand how to reach their hearts with the message of heaven.
(CT 446.1)
Of Christ, Simeon said, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.” And the record declares, “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”Luke 2:29-32, 52.
(CT 446.2)
Jesus and John were represented by the educators of that day as ignorant because they had not learned in the schools of the rabbis; but the God of heaven was their Teacher, and all who heard were astonished at their knowledge of the Scriptures.
(CT 446.3)
The first great lesson in all education is to know and understand the will of God. We should bring into every day of life the effort to gain this knowledge. To learn science through human interpretation alone is to obtain a false education, but to learn of God and Christ is to learn the science of heaven. The confusion in education has come because the wisdom and knowledge of God have not been exalted.
(CT 447.1)
The students in our schools are to regard the knowledge of God as above everything else. “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”“The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”“But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”1 Corinthians 1:18, 19, 25, 30, 31.
(CT 447.2)
Those who profess to believe the word should daily pray for the light of the Holy Spirit to shine upon the pages of the Sacred Book, that they may be enabled to comprehend the things of the Spirit of God.... The words of men, however great, are not able to make us “perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”2 Timothy 3:17.
(CT 447.3)