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Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students
God may use them as His instruments! Their Maker has claims upon
them which are paramount to all others.
It is God who has given life and every physical and mental
endowment that the youth possess. He has bestowed upon them
capabilities for wise improvement, that they may do a work which
will be as enduring as eternity. In return for His great gifts He claims
a due cultivation and exercise of the intellectual and moral faculties.
He did not give them these faculties merely for their amusement, or
to be abused in working against His will and His providence, but to
advance the knowledge of truth and holiness in the world. In return
for His continued kindness and infinite mercies He claims their
goodness, their veneration, their love. He justly requires obedience
to His laws and to all wise regulations which will restrain and guard
the youth from Satan’s devices and lead them in paths of peace.
The wild, reckless character of many of the youth in this age of
the world is heartsickening. If the youth could see that in complying
with the laws and regulations of our institutions, they are only doing
that which will improve their standing in society, elevate the charac-
ter, ennoble the mind, and increase their happiness, they would not
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rebel against just rules and wholesome requirements, nor engage in
creating suspicion and prejudice against these institutions.
With energy and fidelity our youth should meet the demands
upon them, and this will be a guarantee of success. Young men
who have never made a success in the temporal duties of life will
be equally unprepared to engage in the higher duties. A religious
experience is gained only through conflict, through disappointment,
through severe discipline of self, through earnest prayer. The steps
to heaven must be taken one at a time, and every advance step gives
strength for the next.
Association With Others
While at school, students should not allow their minds to become
confused by thoughts of courtship. They are there to gain a fitness
to work for God, and this thought is ever to be uppermost. Let all
students take as broad a view as possible of their obligations to God.
Let them study earnestly how they can do practical work for the
Master during their student life. Let them refuse to burden the souls