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love. He who fashioned the flowers has said: “Consider the lilies of
the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I
say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like
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one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which
today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more
clothe you, O ye of little faith?” The Lord is our teacher, and under
His instruction we may learn the most precious lessons from nature.
The world is under the curse of sin, and yet even in its decay it
is very beautiful. If it were not defiled by the wicked, corrupt deeds
of the men who tread the soil, we could, with the blessing of God,
enjoy our world as it is. But ignorance, pleasure loving, and sinful
habits, corrupting soul, body, and spirit, make the world full of moral
leprosy; a deadly moral malaria is destroying thousands and tens of
thousands. What shall be done to save our youth? We can do little, but
God lives and reigns, and He can do much. The youth are our hope
for missionary labor.
Schools should be established where there is as much as possible to
be found in nature to delight the senses and give variety to the scenery.
While we shun the false and artificial, discarding horse racing, card
playing, lotteries, prize fights, liquor drinking, and tobacco using, we
must supply sources of pleasure that are pure and noble and elevating.
We should choose a location for our school apart from the cities, where
the eye will not rest continually upon the dwellings of men, but upon
the works of God; where there shall be places of interest for them
to visit, other than what the city affords. Let our students be placed
where nature can speak to the senses, and in her voice they may hear
the voice of God. Let them be where they can look upon His wondrous
works, and through nature behold her Creator.
The youth in this country require more earnest spiritual labor than
in any other country we have yet visited. Temptations are strong
and numerous; the many holidays and the habits of idleness are most
unfavorable for the young. Satan makes the idle man a partaker and co-
worker in his schemes, and the Lord Jesus does not abide in the heart
by faith. The children and youth are not educated to realize that their
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influence is a power for good or for evil. It should ever be kept before
them how much they can accomplish; they should be encouraged to
reach the highest standard of rectitude. But from their youth up they
have been educated to the popular idea that the appointed holidays