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Fundamentals of Christian Education
vineyard of the Lord are not encouraged to do what they could do to
advance the cause of God. Many privileges are supplied to those who
already know the truth, and yet are not practicing the truth. Money and
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strength that should be expended in the highways and hedges of the
world, are expended on those who do not improve the light that they
already have by communicating that light to those who are in darkness.
When Philip received the light, he went and called Nathanael; but
many youths who might do a special work for the Master, will not
make a move until they have had multiplied opportunities.
Ministers of Jesus Christ should apportion some part of God’s
vineyard to men who are standing idle in the market place. If they
blunder, then correct their mistakes, and set them at work again. Many
more have been hindered from going forth into the work than have
been encouraged to trade upon their talents, and yet it is by using their
ability that they learn how to employ their talents. Many have gone
to Battle Creek to obtain an education who could have been better
instructed in their own country. Time has been lost, money has been
needlessly expended, a work has been left undone, and souls have been
lost, because of the miscalculations of those who thought they were
serving God. The Lord lives, and His Holy Spirit presides everywhere.
The impression must not prevail that Battle Creek is the Jerusalem of
the world, and that all must go up there to worship. Those who desire
to learn, and who make every possible effort to acquire knowledge,
walking conscientiously in the light of the truth, need not journey to
Battle Creek. God is our teacher; and those who would improve their
talents where they are, will be blessed with teachers sent of God to
instruct them,—teachers who have been preparing to do a work for
the Master. To spend more time, to expend more money, is to do
worse than to lose it; for those who seek to obtain an education at
the expense of practical godliness are on the losing side. That which
they acquire in educational lines during the time when they should
have entered upon the work, is mere waste and loss. The heavenly
intelligences are waiting for human agents with whom they can co-
operate as missionaries in the dark parts of the earth. God is waiting
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for men to engage in home missionary work in our large cities, and
men and women are retained in Battle Creek when they should be
distributed in the cities and towns, along the highways and hedges.
They should be calling and bidding men to come to the marriage