How Shall Our Youth Be Trained?
John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, received his early train-
ing from his parents. The greater portion of his life was spent in the
wilderness, that he might not be influenced by beholding the lax piety
of the priests and rabbis or by learning their maxims and traditions,
through which right principles were perverted and belittled. The re-
ligious teachers of the day had become so blind spiritually that they
could hardly recognize the virtues of heavenly origin. So long had
they cherished pride, envy, and jealousy that they interpreted the Old
Testament Scriptures in such a manner as to destroy their true meaning.
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 to John by his God-fearing parents. From
his childhood his mission had been kept before him, and he accepted
the holy trust. To him the solitude of the desert was a welcome es-
cape from the society in which suspicion, unbelief, and impurity had
become well-nigh all-pervading. He distrusted his own power to with-
stand temptation and shrank from constant contact with sin lest he
should lose the sense of its exceeding sinfulness.
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.
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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.
* * * * *
Christ lived the life of a genuine medical missionary. He desires us
to study His life diligently, that we may learn to labor as He labored.
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