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Special Testimonies On Education
in all the things necessary for a general of armies? Had he not had
the greatest advantages of the best schools in the land?—Yes; he felt
that he was able to deliver them. He first set about his work by trying
to gain the favor of his own people by redressing their wrongs. He
killed an Egyptian who was imposing upon one of his brethren. In
this he manifested the spirit of him who was a murderer from the
beginning, and proved himself unfit to represent the God of mercy,
love, and tenderness. He made a miserable failure of his first attempt.
Like many another, he then immediately lost his confidence in God,
and turned his back upon his appointed work; he fled from the wrath
of Pharaoh. He concluded that because of his mistake, his great sin in
taking the life of the cruel Egyptian, God would not permit him to have
any part in the work of delivering his people from their cruel bondage.
But the Lord permitted these things that he might be able to teach
him the gentleness, goodness, long-suffering, which it is necessary for
every laborer for the Master to possess; for it is these characteristics
that constitute the successful workman in the Lord’s cause.
A knowledge of the attributes of the character of Christ Jesus can-
not be obtained by means of the highest education in the most scientific
schools. This wisdom is learned from the Great Teacher alone. The
lessons of Christ-like meekness, lowliness of heart, reverence for sa-
cred things, are taught nowhere effectively except in the school of
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Christ. Moses had been taught to expect flattery and praise because
of his superior abilities; but now he was to learn a different lesson.
As a shepherd of sheep, Moses was taught to care for the afflicted, to
nurse the sick, to seek patiently after the straying, to bear long with the
unruly, to supply with loving solicitude the wants of the young lambs
and the necessities of the old and feeble. As these phases of his char-
acter were developed, he was drawn nearer to his Chief Shepherd. He
became united to, submerged in, the Holy One of Israel. He believed
in the great God. He held communion with the Father through humble
prayer. He looked to the Highest for an education in spiritual things,
and for a knowledge of his duty as a faithful shepherd. His life became
so closely linked with heaven that God talked with him face to face.
Thus prepared, he was ready to heed the call of God to exchange
his shepherd’s crook for the rod of authority; to leave his flock of sheep
to take the leadership of more than a million idolatrous, rebellious
people. But he was to depend upon the invisible Leader. Even as the