Seite 125 - Testimonies for the Church Volume 6 (1901)

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Need of Educational Reform
121
than has hitherto been manifested. He has called us out from the
world that we may be witnesses for His truth, and all through our ranks
young men and women should be trained for positions of usefulness
and influence.
There is an urgent demand for laborers in the gospel field. Young
men are needed for this work; God calls for them. Their education
is of primary importance in our colleges, and in no case should it be
ignored or regarded as a secondary matter. It is entirely wrong for
teachers, by suggesting other occupations, to discourage young men
who might be qualified to do acceptable work in the ministry. Those
who present hindrances to prevent young men from fitting themselves
for this work are counterworking the plans of God, and they will have
to give an account of their course. There is among us more than an
average of men of ability. If their capabilities were brought into use,
we should have twenty ministers where we now have one.
Young men who design to enter the ministry should not spend a
number of years solely in obtaining an education. Teachers should be
able to comprehend the situation and to adapt their instruction to the
wants of this class, and special advantages should be given them for a
brief yet comprehensive study of the branches most needed to fit them
for their work. But this plan has not been followed. Too little attention
[136]
has been given to the education of young men for the ministry. We
have not many years to work, and teachers 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 the counsel of the Lord on these points.
In our schools missionary nurses should receive lessons from well-
qualified physicians, and as a part of their education should learn how
to battle with disease and to show the value of nature’s remedies. This
work is greatly needed. Cities and towns are steeped in sin and moral
corruption, yet there are Lots in every Sodom. The poison of sin is at
work at the heart of society, and God calls for reformers to stand in
defense of the law which He has established to govern the physical
system. They should at the same time maintain an elevated standard
in the training of the mind and the culture of the heart, that the Great
Physician may co-operate with the human helping hand in doing a
work of mercy and necessity in the relief of suffering.