274
Counsels for the Church
Our church schools are ordained by God to prepare the children
for this great work. Here children are to be instructed in the special
truths for this time and in practical missionary work. They are to enlist
in the army of workers to help the sick and the suffering. Children can
take part in the medical missionary work and by their jots and tittles
can help to carry it forward. Their investments may be small, but every
little helps, and by their efforts many souls will be won to the truth.
By them God’s message will be made known and His saving health
to all nations. Then let the church carry a burden for the lambs of the
flock. Let the children be educated and trained to do service for God,
for they are the Lord’s heritage.
When properly conducted, church schools will be the means of
lifting the standard of truth in the places where they are established;
for children who are receiving a Christian education will be witnesses
for Christ. As Jesus in the temple solved the mysteries which priests
and rulers had not discerned, so in the closing work of this earth
children who have been rightly educated will in their simplicity speak
words which will be an astonishment to men who now talk of “higher
education.
I was shown that our college was designed of God to accomplish the
great work of saving souls. It is only when brought under full control
of the Spirit of God that the talents of an individual are rendered useful
to the fullest extent. The precepts and principles of religion are the first
steps in the acquisition of knowledge, and lie at the very foundation
of true education. Knowledge and science must be vitalized by the
Spirit of God in order to serve the noblest purposes. The Christian
alone can make the right use of knowledge. Science, in order to be
fully appreciated, must be viewed from a religious standpoint. The
heart which is ennobled by the grace of God can best comprehend the
real value of education. The attributes of God, as seen in His created
works, can be appreciated only as we have a knowledge of the Creator.
In order to lead the youth to the fountain of truth, to the Lamb of God
who taketh away the sins of the world, the teachers must not only be
acquainted with the theory of the truth, but must have an experimental
358
Testimonies for the Church 6:202, 203