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Mind, Character, and Personality Volume 1
vassers should first receive a suitable degree of mental training, as well
as special preparation for their calling. Those who are uneducated,
untrained, and unrefined are not prepared to enter a field in which
the powerful influences of talent and education combat the truths of
God’s Word. Neither can they successfully meet the strange forms of
error, religious and philosophical combined, to expose which requires
a knowledge of scientific as well as Scriptural truth.—
Testimonies for
the Church 5:390
(1885).
Brilliance No Assurance of Success—It is not true that brilliant
young men always make the greatest success. How often men of talent
and education have been placed in positions of trust and have proved
failures. Their glitter had the appearance of gold, but when it was tried,
it proved to be but tinsel and dross. They made a failure of their work
through unfaithfulness.
They were not industrious and persevering and did not go to the
bottom of things. They were not willing to begin at the bottom of the
[310]
ladder, and with patient toil, ascend round after round till they reached
the top. They walked in the sparks of their own kindling. They did
not depend on the wisdom which God alone can give. Their failure
was not because they did not have a chance, but because they were
not sober-minded. They did not feel that their educational advantages
were of value to them, and so did not advance as they might have
advanced in the knowledge of religion and science. Their mind and
character were not balanced by high principles of right.—
The Review
and Herald, December 8, 1891
. (
Fundamentals of Christian Education,
193
.)
No Virtue in Ignorance—You have thought that it was of the
highest importance to obtain an education in the sciences. There
is no virtue in ignorance, and knowledge will not necessarily dwarf
Christian growth; but if you seek for it from principle, having the
right object before you and feeling your obligation to God to use your
faculties to do good to others and promote His glory, knowledge will
aid you to accomplish this end; it will help you to bring into exercise
the powers which God has given you and to employ them in His
service.—
Testimonies for the Church 3:223
(1872).
Choosing the Side of Unbelief—The word of God will judge
every one of us at the last great day. Young men talk about science
and are wise above that which is written; they seek to explain the ways