"Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it."
Intermediate Schools
Intermediate schools are highly essential. In these schools thorough work is to be done; for many students will go forth from them directly into the great harvest field. They will go forth to use what they have learned, as canvassers and as helpers in various lines of evangelistic work. Many workers, after laboring for a time in the field, will feel the need of further study, and with the experience gained in the field will be prepared to value school privileges and to make rapid advancement. Some will desire an education in the higher branches of study. For these our colleges have been established.
The word of God is to lie at the foundation of all the work done in our intermediate schools. And the students are to be shown the true dignity of labor. They are to be taught that God is a constant worker. Let every teacher take hold heartily with a group of students, working with them, and teaching them how to work. As the teachers do this, they will gain a valuable experience. Their hearts will be bound up with the hearts of the students, and this will open the way for successful teaching.
It would be a sad mistake for us to fail to consider thoroughly the purpose for which each of our schools is established. This is a matter that should be faithfully studied by our responsible men in each union conference, in order that the youth may be surrounded by circumstances the most favorable for the formation of characters strong enough to withstand the evils of this world.
We have a great work before us, and there is need of many educated laborers who have fitted themselves for positions of trust. As our youth are trained for service in the cause of God, the Bible must lie at the foundation of their education. The principles of truth contained in the word of God will be a safeguard against the evil influences of the world.
Efforts to educate our children and youth in the fear of the Lord without making a study of the word prominent, are sadly misdirected. Unless there is such a training as will lead to a recognition and an abhorrence of sin, moral deformity will result. Our children should be removed from the evil influences of the public school and placed where thoroughly converted teachers may educate them in the Holy Scriptures. Thus students will be taught to make the word of God the grand rule of their lives.
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Some may ask, "How are such schools to be established?" We are not a rich people, but if we pray in faith, and let the Lord work in our behalf, He will open ways before us to establish small schools in retired places for the education of our youth, not only in the Scriptures and in book learnings, but in many lines of manual labor.
The necessity of establishing such schools is urged upon me very strongly because of the cruel neglect of many parents properly to educate their children in the home. Many fathers and mothers have seemed to think that if the lines of control were put into the hands of their children they would develop into useful young men and women. But the Lord has instructed me in regard to this matter. In the visions of the night I saw standing by the side of these neglected children the one who was cast out of the heavenly courts because he originated sin. He, the enemy of souls, was watching for opportunities to gain control of the mind of every child whose parents had not given faithful instruction in regard to Satan's snares.
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In planning for the education of their children outside the home, parents should realize that it is no longer safe to send them to the public school, and should endeavor to send them to schools where they will obtain an education based on a Scriptural foundation. Upon every Christian parent there rests the solemn obligation of giving to his children an education that will lead them to gain a knowledge of the Lord and to become partakers of the divine nature through obedience to God's will and way.
The Work of the Fernando School
The question has been asked, "What shall we teach in the Fernando school?"
Teach fundamentals. Teach that which is practical. You should not make a great parade before the world, telling what you expect to do, as if you were planning something wonderful. No, indeed. Boast neither of the branches of study you expect to teach nor of the industrial work you hope to do; but tell everyone who inquires, that you intend to do the best you can to give your students a physical, mental, and spiritual training that will fit them for usefulness in this life and prepare them for the future immortal life.
What influence do you think it would have to publish in your announcement of the school that you will endeavor to give the students a training that will prepare them for the future, immortal life because you desire to see them live throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity? I believe such a statement would have a far greater influence upon the brethren and sisters of this conference, and upon the community in the midst of which the school is established, than would the display of a number of courses of study in ancient and modern languages and other higher branches of study.
Let the school prove itself. Then the patrons will not be disappointed, and the students will not claim that they were promised instruction in certain studies which, after entering the school, they were not permitted to take up.
Let it be understood at the beginning that the Bible lies at the foundation of all education. An earnest study of God's word, resulting in transformation of character and in a fitness for service, will make the Fernando school a power for good. My brethren who are connected with this school, your strength lies not in the number of languages you may teach, or in telling how large a "college" you have. Keep silent on these points. Silence in regard to the great things you plan to do will help you more than all the positive assertions and all the promises that you might publish in your announcements. By faithfulness in the school you should demonstrate that you are working on foundation principles, principles that will prepare the students for entrance through the pearly gates into the heavenly city. The saving of souls is worth far more than mere intellectual training. A pretentious display of human learning, the manifestation of pride of personal appearance, is worthless. The Lord values obedience to His will; for only by walking humbly and obediently before Him, can man glorify God.
In giving us the privilege of studying His word, the Lord has set before us a rich banquet. Many are the benefits derived from feasting on His word, which is represented by Him as His flesh and blood, His spirit and life. By partaking of this word our spiritual strength is increased; we grow in grace and in a knowledge of the truth. Habits of self-control are formed and strengthened. The infirmities of childhood--fretfulness, willfulness, selfishness, hasty words, passionate acts--disappear, and in their place are developed the graces of Christian manhood and womanhood.
If your students, besides studying God's word, learn no more than how to use correctly the English language in reading, writing, and speaking, a great work will have been accomplished. Those who are trained for service in the Lord's cause should be taught how to talk properly in ordinary conversation and before congregations. Many a laborer's usefulness is marred by his ignorance in regard to correct breathing and clear, forcible speaking. Many have not learned to give the right emphasis to the words they read and speak. Often the enunciation is indistinct. A thorough training in the use of the English language is of far more value to a youth than a superficial study of foreign languages, to the neglect of his mother tongue.
Let the school be conducted along the lines of the ancient schools of the prophets, the word of God lying at the foundation of all the education given. Let not the students attempt to grasp the higher rounds of the ladder first. There are those who have attended other schools, thinking that they could obtain an advanced education; but they have been so intent on reaching the higher rounds of the ladder that they have not been humble enough to learn of Christ. Had they placed their feet on the lower rounds first, they would have made progress, learning more and still more of the Great Teacher.
The instructors will find it greatly to their advantage to take hold disinterestedly with the students in manual labor, showing them how to work. By co-operating with the youth in this practical way, the teachers can bind the hearts of the students to themselves by the cords of sympathy and brotherly love. Christian kindness and sociability are powerful factors in winning the affections of the youth.
Teachers, take hold of the schoolwork with diligence and patience. Realize that yours is not a common work. You are laboring for time and for eternity, molding the minds of your students for entrance into the higher school. Every right principle, every truth learned in an earthly school, will advance us just that much in the heavenly school. As Christ walked and talked with His disciples during His ministry on this earth, so will He teach us in the school above, leading us beside the river of living waters and revealing to us truths that in this life must remain hidden mysteries because of the limitations of the human mind, so marred by sin. In the heavenly school we shall have opportunity to attain, step by step, to the greatest heights of learning. There, as children of the heavenly King, we shall ever dwell with the members of the royal family; there we shall see the King in His beauty and behold His matchless charms.
The Training of Missionaries
It is important that we should have intermediate schools and academies. To us has been committed a great work--the work of proclaiming the third angel's message to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. We have but few missionaries. From home and abroad are coming many urgent calls for workers. Young men and women, the middle-aged, and in fact all who are able to engage in the Master's service, should be putting their minds to the stretch in an effort to prepare to meet these calls. From the light God has given me, I know that we do not use the faculties of the mind half as diligently as we should in an effort to fit ourselves for greater usefulness. If we consecrate mind and body to God's service, obeying His law, He will give us sanctified moral power for every undertaking.
Every man and woman in our ranks, whether a parent or not, ought to be intensely interested in the Lord's vineyard. We cannot afford to allow our children to drift away into the world and to fall under the control of the enemy. Let us come up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Let us do all in our power to make our schools a blessing to our youth. Teachers and students, you can do much to bring this about by wearing the yoke of Christ, daily learning of Him His meekness and lowliness. Those who are not directly connected with the school can help to make it a blessing by giving it their hearty support. Thus we shall all be "laborers together with God," and receive the reward of the faithful, even an entrance into the school above.[1]
Further Instruction
It is not wise for a new school to lift its banner and promise to do a high grade of work before proving that it is fully able to do preparatory work. It should be the great aim in every intermediate school to do most thorough work in the common branches.
In every school that is established among us, the teachers should begin humbly, not grasping the higher rounds off the ladder before they have climbed the lower ones. They are to climb round after round, beginning at the bottom. They are to be learners even as they teach the common branches. When they have learned the meaning of the simplicity of true education they will better understand how to prepare students for advanced studies. Teachers are to learn as they teach. Advancement is to be made, and by advancement experience is to be gained.
Our teachers should not think that their work ends with giving instruction from books. Several hours each day should be devoted to working with the students in some line of manual training. In no case should this be neglected.
In every school there should be those who have a store of patience and disciplinary talent, who will see to it that every line of work is kept up to the highest standard. Lessons in neatness, order, and thoroughness are to be given. Students should be taught how to keep in perfect order everything in the school and about the grounds.
Before he attempts to guide the youth, a teacher should learn to control himself. If he is not a constant learner in the school of Christ; if he has not the discernment and discrimination that would enable him to employ wise methods in his work; if he cannot govern those in his charge with firmness, yet pleasantly and kindly, how can he be successful in his teaching? The teacher who is not under the control of God needs to heed the invitation, "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:29, 30)
Every teacher should learn daily of Jesus, wearing His yoke of restraint, sitting in His school as a student, obeying the rules of Christian principle. The teacher who is not under the guidance of the Master Teacher will not be able to meet successfully the different developments that arise as the result of the natural perversity of childhood and youth.
Let the teacher bring peace and love and cheerfulness into his work. Let him not allow himself to become angry or provoked. The Lord is looking upon him with intense interest, to see if he is being molded by the divine Teacher. The child who loses his self-control is far more excusable than the teacher who allows himself to become angry and impatient. When a stern reproof is to be given, it may still be given in kindness. Let the teacher beware of making the child stubborn by speaking to him harshly. Let him follow every correction with drops of the oil of kindness. He should never forget that he is dealing with Christ in the person of one of Christ's little ones.
Let it be a settled maxim that in all school discipline, faithfulness and love are to reign. When a student is corrected in such a way that he is not made to feel that the teacher desires to humiliate him, love for the teacher springs up in his heart.[2]
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In the night season I was speaking earnestly to the brethren in Southern California in reference to the school at Fernando. Perplexing questions had arisen in reference to the school. One in authority was in the assembly, and He gave counsel in regard to the way in which the school should be conducted. Our Counselor said: "If you follow on to know the Lord, you will know that His going forth is prepared as the morning. The teachers in the school should be learners with the students in all the instruction given. They are constantly to receive grace and wisdom from the Source of all wisdom.
"You are just beginning your work. Not all your ideas are positively correct. Not all your methods are wise. It is not possible that your work at its beginning will be perfect. But as you advance, you will learn how to use to better advantage the knowledge that you are gaining. In order to do their work in harmony with the Lord's will, teachers must keep their minds open to receive instruction from the Great Teacher."[3]
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You will certainly make a serious mistake if you undertake, with a few students and a few teachers, to do the advanced work that is carried forward with so much difficulty and expense in our larger schools. It will be better for your students and for the school, for those who require the advanced studies, to go to the college, and thus leave your faculty free to devote their best energies to doing thorough work in teaching the common branches.
What is it that will make our schools a power? It is not the size of the buildings; it is not the number of advanced studies taught. It is the faithful work done by teachers and students, as they begin at the lower rounds of the ladder progress and climb diligently round by round.
Secure a strong man to stand as principal of your school, a man whose physical strength will support him in doing thorough work as a disciplinarian; a man who is qualified to train the students in habits of order, neatness, and industry. Do thorough work in whatever you undertake. If you are faithful in teaching the common branches, many of your students could go directly into the work as canvassers, colporteurs, and evangelists. We need not feel that all workers must have an advanced education.
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The youth in all our institutions are to be molded and fashioned and disciplined for God; and in this work the Lord's mercy and love and tenderness are ever to be revealed. This is not to degenerate into weakness and sentimentality. We are to be kind, yet firm. And let teachers remember that while decision is needful, they are never to be harsh or condemnatory, never to manifest an overbearing spirit. Let them keep calm, revealing the better way by refusing to be provoked to anger.
God wants us to demonstrate His love by showing a living interest in the youth under our care. Hold them up before the Lord, and ask Him to do for them what you cannot do. Let them see that you realize your need of divine help.
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The teacher should constantly aim at simplicity and effectiveness. He should teach largely by illustration, and even in dealing with older pupils should be careful to make every explanation plain and clear. Many pupils well advanced in years are but children in understanding.[4]
Value of the Common Branches
In education the work of climbing must begin at the lowest round of the ladder. The common branches should be fully and prayerfully taught. Many who feel that they have finished their education are faulty in spelling and in writing, and can neither read nor speak correctly. Not a few who study the classics and other higher branches of learning, and who reach certain standards, finally fail because they have neglected to do thorough work in the common branches. They have never obtained a good knowledge of the English language. They need to go back and begin to climb from the first round of the ladder.
It is a mistake to allow students in our preparatory schools to choose their own studies. This mistake has been made in the past, and as a result students who had not mastered the common branches have sought to climb higher than they were prepared to go. Some who could not speak the English language correctly have desired to take up the study of foreign languages.
Students who, on coming to school, ask to be allowed to take the higher studies, should first be examined in the elementary branches. I was talking with a teacher in one of our conference schools, and he told me that some had come to this school with diplomas showing that they had taken some of the higher studies in other schools.
"Did you examine every such student," I inquired, "to find out whether he had received proper instruction in those branches?"
"Why," said the teacher, "in all these cases we could not give the students full credit for the work done in the past, as represented by the diplomas. Their training even in the common branches had been very defective." And thus it is in many instances.
Teachers should be careful to give the students what they most need, instead of allowing them to take what studies they choose. They should test the accuracy and knowledge of the students; then they can tell whether they have reached the heights to which they think they have attained.
One of the fundamental branches of learning is language study. In all our schools special care should be taken to teach the students to use the English language correctly in speaking, reading, and writing. Too much cannot be said in regard to the importance of thoroughness in these lines. One of the most essential qualifications of a teacher is the ability to speak and read distinctly and forcibly. He who knows how to use the English language fluently and correctly can exert a far greater influence than one who is unable to express his thought readily and clearly.
Voice culture should be taught in the reading class; and in other classes the teacher should insist that the students speak distinctly and use words which express their thoughts clearly and forcibly. Students should be taught to use their abdominal muscles in breathing and speaking. This will make the tones more full and clear.
Let the students be made to understand that God has given to everyone a wonderful mechanism--the human body--which we are to use to glorify Him. The powers of the body are constantly working in our behalf, and if we choose we may bring them under control.
We may have knowledge, but unless the habit is acquired of using the voice correctly, our work will be a failure. Unless we can clothe our ideas in appropriate language, of what avail is our education? Knowledge will be of little value to us unless we cultivate the talent of speech; but it is a wonderful power when combined with the ability to speak wise, helpful words, and to speak them in a way that will command attention.
Let all guard against becoming annoyed in spirit because they have to be drilled in these common branches. It should be impressed upon students that they will themselves be educators of others, and for this reason they should strive earnestly to improve.
To learn to tell convincingly and impressively that which one knows is of especial value to those who desire to be workers in the cause of God. The more expression we can put into the words of truth, the more effective these words will be on those who hear. A proper presentation of the Lord's truth is worthy of our highest effort.
Unless students who are preparing for work in the cause of God are trained to speak in a clear, straightforward manner, they will be shorn of half their influence for good. Whatever his calling is to be, the student should learn to control the voice. The ability to speak plainly and distinctly, in full, round tones, is invaluable in any line of work, and it is indispensable to those who desire to become ministers, evangelists, Bible workers, or canvassers.
When voice culture, reading, writing, and spelling take their rightful place in our schools, there will be seen a great change for the better. These subjects have been neglected because teachers have not recognized their value. But they are more important than Latin and Greek. I do not say that it is wrong to study Latin and Greek, but I do say that it is wrong to neglect the subjects that lie at the foundation of education in order to tax the mind with the study of these higher branches.
It is a matter of great importance that students obtain an education that will fit them for successful business life. We must not be satisfied with the one-sided education given in many schools. The common branches must be thoroughly mastered, and a knowledge of bookkeeping should be considered as important as a knowledge of grammar. All who expect to engage in the work of the Lord should learn how to keep accounts. In the world there are many who have made a failure of business and are looked upon as dishonest, who are true at heart, but who have failed to succeed because they did not know how to keep accounts.
To spell correctly, to write a clear, fair hand, and to keep accounts, are necessary accomplishments. Bookkeeping has strangely dropped out of school work in many places but this should be regarded as a study of primary importance. A thorough preparation in these studies will fit students to stand in positions of trust.
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To every student I would say, Never rest satisfied with a low standard. In attending school, be sure that you have in view a noble, holy object. Go because you desire to fit yourselves for service in some part of the Lord's vineyard. Do all that you can to attain this object. You can do more for yourselves than anyone can do for you. And if you do all that you can for yourselves, what a burden you will lift from the principal and the teachers!
Before attempting to study the higher branches of literary knowledge, be sure that you thoroughly understand the simple rules of English grammar and have learned to read and write and spell correctly. Climb the lower rounds of the ladder before reaching for the higher rounds.
Do not spend time in learning that which will be of little use to you in your afterlife. Instead of reaching out for a knowledge of the classics, learn first to speak the English language correctly. 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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The instruction which the Lord has sent us, warning students and teachers against spending years of study in school, does not apply to young boys and girls. These need to go through the proper period of thorough discipline and study of the common branches and the Bible until they have reached an age of more mature and reliable judgment.
The Influence Of Association
God's word places great stress upon the influence of association, even on men and women. How much greater is its power on the developing mind and character of children and youth! The company they keep, the principles they adopt, the habits they form, will decide the question of their usefulness here and of their future destiny.
It is a terrible fact, and one that should make the hearts of parents tremble, that in so many schools and colleges to which the youth are sent for mental discipline and culture, influences prevail which misshape the character, divert the mind from life's true aims, and debase the morals. Through contact with the irreligious, the pleasure loving, and the corrupt, many youth lose the simplicity and purity, the faith in God, and the spirit of self-sacrifice that Christian fathers and mothers have cherished and guarded by careful instruction and earnest prayer.
It is inevitable that the youth will have associates, and they will necessarily feel their influence. There are mysterious links that bind souls together so that the heart of one answers to the heart of another. One catches the ideas, the sentiments, the spirit, of another. This association may be a blessing or a curse. The youth may help and strengthen one another, improving in deportment, in disposition, in knowledge; or, by permitting themselves to become careless and unfaithful, they may exert an influence that is demoralizing.
The matter of choosing associates is one which students should learn to consider seriously. Among the youth who attend our schools there will always be found two classes, those who seek to please God and to obey their teachers, and those who are filled with a spirit of lawlessness. If the youth go with the multitude to do evil, their influence will be cast on the side of the adversary of souls; they will mislead those who have not cherished principles of unswerving fidelity.
It has been truly said, "Show me your company, and I will show you your character." The youth fail to realize how sensibly both their character and their reputation are affected by their choice of associates. One seeks the company of those whose tastes and habits and practices are congenial. He who prefers the society of the ignorant and vicious to that of the wise and good shows that his own character is defective. His tastes and habits may at first be altogether dissimilar to the tastes and habits of those whose company he seeks; but as he mingles with this class, his thoughts and feelings change; he sacrifices right principles and insensibly yet unavoidably sinks to the level of his companions. As a stream always partakes of the property of the soil through which it runs, so the principles and habits of youth invariably become tinctured with the character of the company in which they mingle.
Students should be taught to resist firmly the allurements to evil which come through association with other youth. Compassed as they are by temptation, an indwelling Christ is their only safeguard against evil. They must learn to look to Jesus continually, to study His virtues, to make Him their daily pattern. Then truth, brought into the inner sanctuary of the soul, will sanctify the life. They must be trained to weigh their actions, to reason from cause to effect, to measure the eternal loss or gain to the life given to serve the purposes of the enemy or devoted to the service of righteousness. They should be taught to choose as their companions those who give evidence of uprightness of character, those who practice Bible truth. By association with those who walk according to principle, even the careless will learn to love righteousness. And by the practice of right doing there will be created in the heart a distaste for that which is cheap and common and at variance with the principles of God's word.
Strength of character consists of two things--power of will and power of self-control. Many youth mistake strong, uncontrolled passion for strength of character; but the truth is that he who is mastered by his passions is a weak man. The real greatness and nobility of the man is measured by his power to subdue his feelings, not by the power of his feelings to subdue him. The strongest man is he who, while sensitive to abuse, will yet restrain passion and forgive his enemies.
God has given us intellectual and moral power, but to a great extent everyone is the architect of his own character. Every day the structure more nearly approaches completion. The word of God warns us to take heed how we build, to see that our building is founded upon the eternal rock. The time is coming when our work will stand revealed just as it is. Now is the time for all to cultivate the powers that God has given them, that they may form characters for usefulness here and for a higher life hereafter.
Faith in Christ as a personal Saviour will give strength and solidity to the character. Those who have genuine faith in Christ will be sober-minded, remembering that God's eye is upon them, that the Judge of all men is weighing moral worth, that heavenly intelligences are watching to see what manner of character is being developed.
The reason that so grave mistakes are made by the youth is that they do not learn from the experience of those who have lived longer than they have. Students cannot afford to pass off with jest or ridicule the cautions and instruction of parents and teachers. They should cherish every lesson, realizing at the same time their need of deeper teaching than any human being can give. When Christ abides in the heart by faith, His Spirit becomes a power to purify and vivify the soul. Truth in the heart cannot fail of having a correcting influence upon the life. Let both teachers and students hold the truth of God as a treasure of the highest value, which must not be dimmed or tarnished by practices that are out of harmony with its holy character.
Let those students who are away from their homes, no longer under the direct influence of their parents, remember that the eye of their heavenly Father is upon them. He loves the youth. He knows their necessities, He understands their temptations. He sees in them great possibilities, and is ready to help them to reach the highest standard, if they will realize their need and seek Him for help.
Students, night and day the prayers of your parents are rising to God in your behalf; day by day their loving interest follows you. Listen to their entreaties and warnings, and determine that by every means in your power you will lift yourselves above the evil that surrounds you. You cannot discern how insidiously the enemy will work to corrupt your minds and habits, and develop in you unsound principles.
You may see no real danger in taking the first step in frivolity and pleasure seeking, and think that when you desire to change your course you will be able to do right as easily as before you yielded yourselves to do wrong. But this is a mistake. By the choice of evil companions many have been led step by step from the path of virtue into depths of disobedience and dissipation to which at one time they would have thought it impossible for them to sink.
The student who yields to temptation weakens his influence for good, and he who by a wrong course of action becomes the agent of the adversary of souls must render to God an account for the part he has acted in laying stumbling blocks in the way of others. Why should students link themselves with the great apostate? Why should they become his agents to tempt others? Rather, why should they not study to help and encourage their fellow students and their teachers? It is their privilege to help their teachers bear the burdens and meet the perplexities that Satan would make discouragingly heavy and trying. They may create an atmosphere that will be helpful, exhilarating. Every student may enjoy the consciousness that he has stood on Christ's side, showing respect for order, diligence, and obedience, and refusing to lend one jot of his ability or influence to the great enemy of all that is good and uplifting.
The student who has a conscientious regard for truth and a true conception of duty can do much to influence his fellow students for Christ. The youth who are yoked up with the Saviour will not be unruly; they will not study their own selfish pleasure and gratification. Because they are one with Christ in spirit, they will be one with Christ in action. The older students in our schools should remember that it is in their power to mold the habits and practices of the younger students; and they should seek to make the best of every opportunity. Let these students determine that they will not through their influence betray their companions into the hands of the enemy.
Jesus will be the helper of all who put their trust in Him. Those who are connected with Christ have happiness at their command. They follow the path where their Saviour leads, for His sake crucifying the flesh, with its affections and lusts. They have built their hopes on Christ, and the storms of earth are powerless to sweep them from the sure foundation.
It rests with you, young men and women, to decide whether you will become trustworthy and faithful, ready and resolute to take your stand for the right under all circumstances. Do you desire to form correct habits? Then seek the company of those who are sound in morals, and whose aim tends to that which is good. The precious hours of probation are granted that you may remove every defect from the character, and this you should seek to do, not only that you may obtain the future life, but that you may be useful in this life. A good character is a capital of more value than gold or silver. It is unaffected by panics or failures, and in that day when earthly possessions shall be swept away, it will bring rich returns. Integrity, firmness, and perseverance are qualities that all should seek earnestly to cultivate; for they clothe the possessor with a power which is irresistible--a power which makes him strong to do good, strong to resist evil, strong to bear adversity.
The love of truth, and a sense of the responsibility to glorify God, are the most powerful of all incentives to the improvement of the intellect. With this impulse to action the student cannot be a trifler. He will be always in earnest. He will study as under the eye of God, knowing that all heaven is enlisted in the work of his education. He will become noble-minded, generous, kind, courteous, Christlike, efficient. Heart and mind will work in harmony with the will of God.
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The youth who are in harmony with Christ will choose companions who will help them in right doing, and will shun society that gives no aid in the development of right principles and noble purposes. In every place are to be found youth whose minds are cast in an inferior mold. When brought into association with this class, those who have placed themselves without reserve on the side of Christ will stand firmly by that which reason and conscience tell them is right.
The Intermediate School -- For Further Study
Intermediate Schools
Child Guidance, 328-336.
Fundamentals of Christian Education, 488-491.
Value of the Common Branches
Education, 234-239.
Influence of Association
The Adventist Home, 455-471.
Messages to Young People, 419, 423, 424, 432.
Testimonies For The Church 1:400-405, 512, 513;
Testimonies For The Church 2:222, 407, 408;
Testimonies For The Church 3:41-47 (courtship), 362-367;
Testimonies For The Church 4:209, 435, 436, 587-591, 622-624;
Testimonies For The Church 5:111-113 (courtship), 222, 223, 542-546.
Notes: