Educational Influence of Surroundings
37
should be mingled a training in industrious, frugal habits. Let them
learn to appreciate the necessity of helping themselves.
[46]
There should be work for all students, whether they are able to
pay their way or not; the physical and mental powers should receive
proportionate attention. Students should learn to cultivate the land; for
this will bring them into close contact with nature.
There is a refining, subduing influence in nature that should be
taken into account in selecting the locality for a school. God has
regarded this principle in training men for his work. Moses spent forty
years in the wilds of Midian. John the Baptist was not fitted for his
high calling as the forerunner of Christ by association with the great
men of the nation in the schools at Jerusalem. He went out into the
wilderness, where the customs and doctrines of men could not mold
his mind, and where he could hold unobstructed communion with God.
When the persecutors of John, the beloved disciple, sought to still
his voice and destroy his influence among the people, they exiled him
to the Isle of Patmos. But they could not separate him from the Divine
Teacher. On lonely Patmos, John could study the things that God had
created. In the rugged rocks, in the waters that surrounded the island,
he could see the greatness and majesty of God. And while he was
communing with God, and studying the book of nature, he heard a
voice speaking to him, the voice of the Son of God. Jesus was John’s
teacher upon the Isle of Patmos, and he there unfolded to his servant
wonderful things that were to take place in time to come.
God would have us appreciate his blessings in his created works.
How many children there are in the crowded cities that have not even
a spot of green grass to set their feet upon. If they could be educated
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in the country, amid the beauty, peace, and purity of nature, it would
seem to them the spot nearest heaven. In retired places, where we are
farthest from the corrupting maxims, customs, and excitements of the
world, and nearest to the heart of nature, Christ makes his presence
real to us, and speaks to our souls of his peace and love.
May 11, 1896.
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