Speedy Preparation for the Work
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in advice and counsel. He would be delighted to have the workers
absorbed in years of preparation, so that education would become a
hindrance instead of an advancement.
The Holy Spirit of God has been striving with many youth, and
has been urging them to give themselves to the cause and work of God.
When they offer themselves to the Conference, they are advised to take
a course of study at Battle Creek before they shall enter the work. This
is all very well if the student is evenly balanced with principle; but it
is not consistent that the worker should be long delayed in preparation.
Most earnest work should be given to advance those who are to be
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missionaries. Every effort should tell to their advantage, so that they
shall be sent forth as speedily as possible. They cannot afford to
wait until their education is considered complete. This can never be
attained; for there will be a constant course of education carried on
throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity.
There is a large work to be done, and the vineyard of the Lord
needs laborers. Missionaries should enter the field before they shall
be compelled to cease labor. There are now open doors on every side;
they cannot afford to wait to complete years of training; for the years
before us are not many, and we need to work while the day lasts. It
is not best to advise men and women to take a course of study at Ann
Arbor. Many who have been there have not been benefited in the past,
and will not be in the future.
Mark the features of Christ’s work. He moved in the greatest
simplicity. Although His followers were fishermen, He did not advise
them to go first into the school of the rabbis before entering upon
the work. He called His disciples from their fishers’ nets, and said:
“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” He called Matthew
from the receipt of customs, and said, “Follow Me.” All that they were
required to do was to follow Jesus, to do as He commanded them, and
thus enter into His school, where God could be their teacher. As long
as time shall last, we shall have need of schools. There will always be
need for education; but we must be careful lest education shall absorb
every spiritual interest.
There is positive peril in advising students to pursue one line of
education after another, and to leave them to think that by so doing
they will attain perfection. The education that will be obtained will
only be deficient in every way. The Lord says: “I will destroy the