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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
The young should every day be impressed with a sense of their
obligation to God. His law is continually violated, even by the children
of religious parents. Some of these very youth frequent haunts of
dissipation, and the powers of the mind and body suffer in consequence.
This class lead others to follow their pernicious ways. Thus, while
principal and teachers are giving instruction in the sciences, Satan,
with hellish cunning, is exerting every energy to gain control of the
minds of the pupils and lead them down to ruin.
Generally speaking, the youth have but little moral strength. This
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is the result of neglected education in childhood. A knowledge of the
character of God and our obligations to Him should not be regarded as
a matter of minor consequence. The religion of the Bible is the only
safeguard for the young. Morality and religion should receive special
attention in our educational institutions.
The Bible as a Textbook
No other study will so ennoble every thought, feeling, and aspi-
ration as the study of the Scriptures. This Sacred Word is the will of
God revealed to men. Here we may learn what God expects of the
beings formed in His image. Here we learn how to improve the present
life and how to secure the future life. No other book can satisfy the
questionings of the mind and the craving of the heart. By obtaining
a knowledge of God’s word, and giving heed thereto, men may rise
from the lowest depths of ignorance and degradation to become the
sons of God, the associates of sinless angels.
A clear conception of what God is, and what He requires us to be,
will give us humble views of self. He who studies aright the Sacred
Word will learn that human intellect is not omnipotent; that, without
the help which none but God can give, human strength and wisdom
are but weakness and ignorance.
As an educating power the Bible is without a rival. Nothing will
so impart vigor to all the faculties as requiring students to grasp the
stupendous truths of revelation. The mind gradually adapts itself
to the subjects upon which it is allowed to dwell. If occupied with
commonplace matters only, to the exclusion of grand and lofty themes,
it will become dwarfed and enfeebled. If never required to grapple