[Read in College Hall, December, 1881, before conference delegates and leading workers in Review and Herald office, sanitarium and college.]
(PH117 3)
There is danger that our College will be turned away from its original design. God’s purpose has been made known, that our people should have an opportunity to study the sciences, and at the same time to learn the requirements of his word. Biblical lectures should be given; the study of the Scriptures should have the first place in our system of education.
(PH117 3.1)
Students are sent from a great distance to attend the College at Battle Creek for the very purpose of receiving instructions from the lectures on Bible subjects. But for one or two years past there has been an effort to mold our school after other colleges. When this is done, we can give no encouragement to parents to send their children to Battle Creek College. The moral and religious influences should not be put in the background. In times past, God has worked with the efforts of the teachers, and many souls have seen the truth and embraced it, and have gone to their homes to live henceforth for God, as the result of their connection with the College. As they saw that Bible study was made a part of their education, they were led to regard it as a matter of greater interest and importance.
(PH117 3.2)
Too little attention has been given to the education of young men for the ministry. This was the primary object to be secured in the establishment of 4the College. In no case should this be ignored or regarded as a matter of secondary importance. For several years, however, but few have gone forth from that institution prepared to teach the truth to others. Some who came at great expense, with the ministry in view, have been encouraged by the teachers to take a thorough course of study which would occupy a number of years, and in order to obtain means to carry out these plans, have entered the canvassing field, and given up all thought of preaching. This is entirely wrong. We have not many years to work, and teachers and principal should be imbued with the Spirit of God, and work in harmony with his revealed will, instead of carrying out their own plans. We are losing much every year because we do not heed what God has said upon these points.
(PH117 3.3)
Our College is designed of God to meet the advancing wants for this time of peril and demoralization. The study of books only, cannot give students the discipline they need. A broader foundation must be laid. The College was not brought into existence to bear the stamp of any one man’s mind. Teachers and principal should work together as brethren. They should consult together, and also counsel with ministers and responsible men, and above all else, seek wisdom from above, that all their decisions in reference to the school may be such as will be approved of God.
(PH117 4.1)
To give students a knowledge of books merely, is not the purpose of the institution. Such education can be obtained at any college in the land. I was shown that it is Satan’s purpose to prevent the attainment of the very object for which the College was established. Hindered by his devices, its managers reason after the manner of the world, and copy its plans, and imitate its customs. But in thus doing, they will not meet the mind of the Spirit of God.
(PH117 4.2)
A more comprehensive education is needed,—an education which will demand from teachers and principal, 5such thought and effort as mere instruction in the sciences does not require. The character must receive proper discipline for its fullest and noblest development. The students should receive at College, such training as will enable them to maintain a respectable, honest, virtuous standing in society, against the demoralizing influences which are corrupting the youth.
(PH117 4.3)
It would be well could there be connected with our College, land for cultivation, and also work-shops, under the charge of men competent to instruct the students in the various departments of physical labor. Much is lost by a neglect to unite physical with mental taxation. The leisure hours of the students are often occupied with frivolous pleasures, which weaken physical, mental, and moral powers. Under the debasing power of sensual indulgence, or the untimely excitement of courtship and marriage, many students fail to reach that height of mental development which they might otherwise have attained.
(PH117 5.1)
The young should every day be impressed with a sense of their obligation to God. His law is continually violated, even by the children of religious parents. Some of these very youth frequent haunts of dissipation, and the powers of mind and body suffer in consequence. This class lead others to follow their pernicious ways. Thus, while principal and teachers are giving instruction in the sciences, Satan, with hellish cunning, is exerting every energy to gain control of the minds of the pupils, and lead them down to ruin.
(PH117 5.2)
Generally speaking, the youth have but little moral strength. This is the result of neglected education in childhood. A knowledge of the character of God, and our obligations to him, should not be regarded as a matter of minor consequence. The religion of the Bible is the only safeguard for the young. Morality and religion should receive special attention in our educational institutions.
(PH117 5.3)
The Bible as a Text Book
No other study will so ennoble every thought, feeling, and aspiration, as the study of the Scriptures. This sacred word is the will of God revealed to men. Here we may learn what God expects of the beings formed in his image. Here we learn how to improve the present life, and how to secure the future life. No other book can satisfy the questionings of the mind, and the craving of the heart. By obtaining a knowledge of God’s word, and giving heed thereto, men may rise from the lowest depths of ignorance and degradation, to become the sons of God, the associates of sinless angels.
(PH117 6.1)
A clear conception of what God is, and what he requires us to be, will give us humble views of self. He who studies aright the sacred word, will learn that human intellect is not omnipotent; that, without the help which none but God can give, human strength and wisdom are but weakness and ignorance.
(PH117 6.2)
As an educating power, the Bible is without a rival. Nothing will so impart vigor to all the faculties as requiring students to grasp the stupendous truths of revelation. The mind gradually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is allowed to dwell. If occupied with common-place matters only, to the exclusion of grand and lofty themes, it will become dwarfed and enfeebled. If never required to grapple with difficult problems, or put to the stretch to comprehend important truths, it will, after a time, almost lose the power of growth.
(PH117 6.3)
The Bible is the most comprehensive and the most instructive history which men possess. It came fresh from the fountain of eternal truth, and a Divine hand has preserved its purity through all the ages. Its bright rays shine into the far distant, past, where human research seeks vainly to penetrate. In God’s word alone we find an authentic account of creation. Here we behold the power that laid the foundation of the earth, and that stretched out the 7heavens. Here only, can we find a history of our race, unsullied by human prejudice or human pride.
(PH117 6.4)
In the word of God, the mind finds subject for the deepest thought, the loftiest aspiration. Here we may hold communion with patriarchs and prophets, and listen to the voice of the Eternal as he speaks with men. Here we behold the Majesty of Heaven, as he humbled himself to become our substitute and surety, to cope single-handed with the powers of darkness, and to gain the victory in our behalf. A reverent contemplation of such themes as these, cannot fail to soften, purify, and ennoble the heart, and, at the same time, to inspire the mind with new strength and vigor.
(PH117 7.1)
If morality and religion are to live in a school, it must be through a knowledge of God’s word. Some may urge that if religious teaching is to be made prominent, our school will become unpopular; that those who are not of our faith will not patronize the College. Very well, then, let them go to other colleges, where they will find a system of education that suits their taste. Our school was established, not merely to teach the sciences, but for the purpose of giving instruction in the great principles of God’s word, and in the practical duties of every-day life.
(PH117 7.2)
This is the education so much needed at the present time. If a worldly influence is to bear sway in our school, then sell it out to worldlings, and let them take the entire control; and those who have invested their means in that institution will establish another school, to be conducted, not upon the plan of popular schools, nor according to the desires of principal and teachers, but upon the plan which God has specified.
(PH117 7.3)
In the name of my Master, I entreat all who stand in responsible positions in that school, to be men of God. When the Lord requires us to be distinct and peculiar, how can we crave popularity, or seek to imitate the customs and practices of the world? God has declared his purpose to have one 8college in the land where the Bible shall have its proper place in the education of the youth. Will we do our part to carry out that purpose?
(PH117 7.4)
It may seem that the teaching of God’s word has but little effect on the minds and hearts of many students; but, if the teacher’s work has been wrought in God, some lessons of divine truth will linger in the memory of the most careless. The Holy Spirit will water the seed sown, and often it will spring up after many days, and bear fruit to the glory of God.
(PH117 8.1)
Satan is constantly seeking to divert the attention of the people from the Bible. The words of God to men, which should receive our first attention, are neglected for the utterances of human wisdom. How can He, who is infinite in power and wisdom, bear thus with the presumption and effrontery of men!
(PH117 8.2)
Through the medium of the press, knowledge of every kind is placed within the reach of all; and yet, how large a share of every community are depraved in morals, and superficial in mental attainments. If the people would but become Bible readers, Bible students, we would see a different state of things.
(PH117 8.3)
In an age like ours, in which iniquity abounds, and God’s character and his law are alike regarded with contempt, special care must be taken to teach the youth to study, to reverence and obey the divine will as revealed to man. The fear of the Lord is fading from the minds of our youth, because of their neglect of Bible study.
(PH117 8.4)
Principal and teachers should have a living connection with God, and should stand, firmly and fearlessly, as witnesses for him. Never from cowardice or worldly policy, let the word of God be placed in the background. Students will be profited intellectually, as well as morally and spiritually, by its study.
(PH117 8.5)