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The Ministry of Health and Healing
This will give them spiritual strength. Then they will be prepared to
minister to all classes of people.
The Classics
In the colleges and universities thousands of youth devote a large
part of the best years of life to the study of Greek and Latin. And
while they are engaged in these studies, mind and character are
molded by the evil sentiments of pagan literature, the reading of
which is generally regarded as an essential part of the study of these
languages.
Those who are familiar with the classics declare that “the Greek
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tragedies are full of incest, murder, and human sacrifices to lustful
and revengeful gods.” It would be far better for the world if the
education gained from such sources were to be dispensed with. “Can
one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be seared?”
Proverbs 6:28
.
“‘Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!’”
Job
14:4
. Can we then expect the youth to develop Christian character
while their education is molded by the teaching of those who set at
defiance the principles of the law of God?
In casting off restraint and plunging into reckless amusement,
dissipation, and vice, students are but imitating that which is kept
before their minds by these studies. There are callings in which a
knowledge of Greek and Latin is needed. Some must study these
languages. But the knowledge of them essential for practical uses
might be gained without a study of literature that is corrupt and
corrupting.
And a knowledge of Greek and Latin is not needed by many.
The study of dead languages should be made secondary to a study of
those subjects that teach the right use of all the powers of body and
mind. It is folly for students to devote their time to the acquirement
of dead languages or of book knowledge in any line, to the neglect
of a training for life’s practical duties.
What do students carry with them when they leave school?
Where are they going? What are they to do? Have they the knowl-
edge that will enable them to teach others? Have they been educated
to be good fathers and mothers? Can they stand at the head of a
family as wise instructors? The only education worthy of the name