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Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students
must be led to realize the greatness of the work; practical godliness
must be brought into their daily experience if they would be fitted
for any place of usefulness in the cause of God....
The School to Continue the Work of the Home
Those who attend our colleges are to have a training different
from that given by the common schools of the day. Our youth gen-
erally, if they have wise, God-fearing parents, have been taught the
principles of Christianity. The word of God has been respected in
their homes, and its teachings have been made the law of life. They
have been brought up in the nurture and admonition of the gospel.
When they enter school, this same education and training is to con-
tinue. The world’s maxims, the world’s customs and practices, are
not the teaching that they need. Let them see that the teachers in the
school care for their souls, that they have a decided interest in their
spiritual welfare. Religion is the great principle to be inculcated; for
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the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom....
Pleasure in Religion
Wherever a school is established, there should be warm hearts
to take a lively interest in the youth. Fathers and mothers are needed
who will give warm sympathy and kindly admonitions. All the
pleasantness possible should be brought into the religious exercises.
Those who prolong these exercises to weariness are leaving wrong
impressions upon the minds of the youth, leading them to associate
religion with that which is dry, unsocial, and uninteresting.... Ar-
dent, active piety in the teacher is essential. Unless constant care is
exercised, and unless vitalized by the Spirit of God, the morning and
evening service in the chapel and the Sabbath meetings will become
dry and formal, and to the youth the most burdensome and the least
attractive of the school exercises. The social meetings should be
managed in such a way as to make them seasons not only of profit,
but of positive pleasure.
Let those who teach the youth study for themselves in the school
of Christ, and learn lessons to communicate to their students. Sin-
cere, earnest, heartfelt devotion is needed. All narrowness should be