June 17-27, 1904.
By Mrs. E. G. White.
What we need to keep the bodily machinery in running order is the physical and mental taxation combined so that all parts will be taxed proportionately. You go and sit down and study, study, study. I have known it to lay many in the grave.
Every portion of the living machinery is to act its part. That is why in Berrien Springs they came out here to clear the land, that the youth may have a fair understanding of what true education is, and we want all to help this work.
To the school that shall be carried on at Berrien Springs, and to the students that shall be here, we want to say, Work diligently for yourselves and those around you. To the teachers, If you take hold of the mighty power of God you will realize his power. O, that we might have that faith that works by love and purifies the soul! Christ's arms are open to you.
God has been in the work at Berrien Springs, and from the light given me the work has been such as God has approved. But some felt that they could not have it so. They wanted to find something to complain of. These men have struggled with all their might to come right up to the mark that God has given, but there have been accusing and discouragements from men who have come to them, but they are pressing it through, pressing it through. At the conference in Oakland this kept coming in. God sustained these men, and kept giving them light. They were walking in the light.
You see what has been done here. You see what the students have done. You see what the education has been. The education is carried forward in the right lines, and all that dissatisfaction and irritation was of the devil, every particle of it.
I will say to Brethren Sutherland and Magan if they are here, There is a field that is open before you. God has looked with pleasure upon the manner in which you have borne the irritation that has been kept up, and that you have had so much difficulty with. Now the work has come to a point where you can go and enter upon a work elsewhere. We have been looking and looking to see who could go into the Southern field, and now God will open the way so that you can go in there and have the sympathy and tenderness of the brethren and sisters.
Brother Sutherland and Brother Magan do not go out from this work as those who have made a failure, but as men who have made a success. The students that go from this school they have not to be ashamed of at all. They have taken them right to the Bible and the light that God has given in the Testimonies.
Students, you must be willing to let your teachers go. They have had a hard battle to fight, but they have had success attending their work. As they go, let me tell you the Lord will go with them. They can go where their work will be appreciated, but here the sore has been so great that they have little hope that it will be cured. When they have been managing to the best of their ability, and no words of encouragement have been spoken to them, they feel little hope that they can remain here. They feel now that others can come in and fill their places. They go as those who have made a success, and may God bless them as they go to a field where they will find rest to their souls.
We hope that every one who is here today will remember not to repeat the history of the past. I know about it, and it has been a terrible history.
I want to say to the teachers and students that shall labor in this school, Take hold of the work in the name of the Lord, and do not be discouraged with words that shall come in. Do not let anything depress you.
If these brethren leave here, as I believe it is their duty to do, then I beg of you, for Christ's sake, not to follow them with criticism wherever they go. And whoever comes in here to take their places, lift them up and help them. There is a great work to be done here and in the South. These brethren feel that they can glorify God better by going South, I have not persuaded them. Their heart is there, Now, let them go, and do not blame them for going.
God has a large field in the South, and it belongs to all America to sustain the workers there. God wants you to consider that the field has been before you for twenty years. He told you what to do and you have not done it. If these brethren can take some of their student workers with them, let them go and carry the light to those who have never heard the truth.
I know that Brethren Haskell and Butler will unite with these brethren, and will be glad to have their help.
Now, I am very thankful that a work has been done here in Berrien Springs, and it might be done a hundred places where there is one if there will be those who have the moral courage to take the Word of God and to practice it.
The Lord was in this school's being established. The Lord helped these brethren as they progressed with their school, and as they were teaching the very principles that were taught in the schools of the prophets. Do you think in the schools of the prophets they went back to all those books that are brought into the school to give an education? Do you think they took the study books that were in the common schools? No, No! What were they taught? To have a knowledge of Jesus Christ. If they have a practical knowledge of Jesus Christ, let me tell you, they understand that they must be partakers of the divine nature in order to escape corruption that is in the world through lust, and come out of the cities. It is the very thing to do today. Get them out of the cities into the rural places, where they may be educated in agriculture and the various lines of business and trade. Do you suppose that when the times are growing worse and worse that you will all be left together here in one company? No, we shall be scattered. If those who are helping educate in this place shall give the right kind of education, these students will be qualified to go out into new places and begin with ABC work to educate others. As they commence, the Holy Spirit of God will stand by their side.
The less you have of the powers of darkness in your education, the more you have of Christ, and you will have an education that you can carry to every part of the world.
We want to say to the students here, You are just where the Lord wants you to be. You have been obtaining an education, and the Lord wants you to go on from grace to grace, from point to point, not to settle down here, but to obtain an education to go out, you know not where.
We want these students to feel while they are here obtaining an education, that the eye of the Lord is upon them. If you will cooperate with the angels of God and be strictly temperate in your diet (and I have no reason to think that you are not), and be careful of the brain power, God will cooperate with you. Do not read novels. Put them right away. What we want is the Bible Truth. It is to be our foundation and our lesson book. We do not want any of the fallacies that come through the popular books that are brought into other schools.
Now, it is of no use for the teacher to give you lesson after lesson and try to instruct you, unless you cooperate with that instruction. There will be those who have taught in the schools out of the books who will be right on hand to tell you that you are losing, that you should have a knowledge of this, that, and something else. Tell them we have not time. We are getting ready to be translated into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We want to know what we must do to inherit eternal life. That lies at the very foundation of all education, and the more you are instructed in the Word, and understand the Word, the sooner you are prepared to take right hold to use your education. You do not want your mind all rumpled up with the errors of the books used in the schools of today, but you do want an education that is free from all rubbish, that you can use. You want to learn that you may be able to teach others. That which you receive from Christ Jesus you must impart. You want to learn how to educate.
Students, I want to tell you, I thank God that you have advanced as you have in your studies, that there are those today who, as these brethren shall leave the school, can accompany them and carry on their education right where they shall go. How carry it on? By using the very education they have to the very best account, and be going into the houses as evangelists, Bible workers. When teaching the Scriptures, you will find that there is a knowledge that comes to you which you never thought of. Words will come, ideas will come, sentiments will come. You can begin to work for the ignorant, those who need your help, and you have an Educator right by your side; that is, the precious Jesus. The angels of God will help you in education. You remember how it was with Daniel. You know all about how he gave God the glory. He gave him glory for the work that he had done for him. He and his three companions were taken away from their country, from their parents, from their educators, at a very young age. They were so kind, respectful, and polite in all their manners, that the one who had charge of them fell in love with them.
I want you to understand that Christ said that you shall be brought before kings and rulers to answer for your faith. If it is so that you are to be brought in before kings and rulers you want a clear brain. You want to understand what is truth and practice it. We must prepare for what is coming upon us. We must have the truth in wrought in nerve, in brain, in soul, in body.
Our perceptive facilities must be educated to learn what is truth and what is error, and we must plant our feet upon the platform of eternal truth. This is what God requires of us and of everyone. Respect and help your teachers, and do not worry them, but help them to help you. If you keep where they can see that their efforts are responded to, then they have courage and can help you, and you can all work together as members of Christ's family here below, and then you will become members of Christ's family above.
May the blessing of God rest upon you all.