276
Fundamentals of Christian Education
Building has been added to building, simply to make things a little
more convenient and thorough. God is calling, and has been calling
for years, for a reform on these lines. He desires that there shall be
no unnecessary outlay of means. The Lord is not in favor of having
so much time and money expended upon a few persons who come
to Battle Creek to get a better preparation for the work. In all cases
there should be a most careful consideration as to the best manner of
expending money in the education of the students. While so much
is spent to put a few through an exhaustive course of study, there are
many who are thirsting for the knowledge they could get in a few
months; one or two years would be considered a great blessing. If all
[338]
the means are used in putting a few through several years of study,
many just as worthy young men and young women cannot be assisted
at all.
I hope the managers of the Battle Creek school and Sanitarium will
consider this matter prayerfully, intelligently, and without partiality.
Instead of over-educating a few, enlarge the sphere of your charities.
Resolve that the means which you mean to use in educating workers
for the cause shall not be expended simply upon one, enabling him to
get more than he really needs, while others are left without anything
at all. Give students a start, but do not feel that it is your duty to carry
them year after year. It is their duty to get out into the field to work,
and it is your place to extend your charities to others who are in need
of assistance.
Christ’s work was not done in such a way as to dazzle men with His
superior abilities. He came forth from the bosom of the All-wise, and
could have astonished the world with the great and glorious knowledge
which He possessed; yet He was reticent and uncommunicative. It
was not His mission to overwhelm them with the immensity of His
talents, but to walk in meekness and lowliness, that He might instruct
the ignorant in the ways of salvation. Too great devotion to study, even
of true science, creates an abnormal appetite, which increases as it is
fed. This creates a desire to secure more knowledge than is essential to
do the work of the Lord. The pursuit of knowledge merely for its own
sake diverts the mind from devotion to God, checks advance along the
path of practical holiness, and hinders souls from traveling in the way
which leads to a holier, happier life. The Lord Jesus imparted only
such a measure of instruction as could be utilized. My brethren, your