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Testimonies for the Church Volume 7
In many places schools should be established, and those who are
tender and sympathetic, who, like the Saviour, are touched by the sight
of woe and suffering, should teach old and young. Let the word of
God be taught in a way that will enable all to understand it. Let the
pupils be encouraged to study the lessons of Christ. This will do more
to enlarge the mind and strengthen the intellect than any other study.
Nothing gives such vigor to the faculties as contact with the word of
God.
The cotton field is not to be the only means whereby the colored
people can gain a livelihood. They are to be taught how to till the soil,
how to cultivate various crops, and how to plant and care for orchards.
Painstaking effort is to be put forth to develop their capabilities. Thus
will be awakened in them the thought that they are of value with God,
because they are His property.
Among the colored people some will be found whose intellect has
been too long darkened for them to be speedily fitted for usefulness.
But they may be taught to know God. The bright beams of the Sun of
Righteousness may shine into the darkened chambers of their minds.
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It is their privilege to have the life that measures with the life of
God. Plant in their minds uplifting, ennobling thoughts. Live before
them lives that will make plain the difference between vice and purity,
darkness and light. Let them read in your lives what it means to be a
Christian. The chain that has been let down from the throne of God is
long enough to reach to the lowest depths. Christ is able to lift the most
sinful out of the pit of degradation, and to place them where they will
be acknowledged as children of God, heirs with Christ to an immortal
inheritance.
Many are utterly discouraged. Because they have been despised
and forsaken they have become stoical. They are looked upon as
unable to comprehend or to receive the gospel of Christ. Yet by the
miracle of divine grace they may be changed. Under the ministration
of the Holy Spirit the stupidity that makes their uplifting appear so
hopeless will pass away. The dull, clouded mind will awake. The slave
of sin will be set free. Spiritual life will revive and strengthen. Vice
will disappear, and ignorance will be overcome. Through the faith that
works by love the heart will be purified and the mind enlightened.
There are others among the colored people who have quick per-
ceptions and bright minds. Many of the colored race are rich in faith