Chap. 3 - Our
College
[Read in College Hall,
December, 1881, before Conference delegates
and leading workers in
Review and Herald office, sanitarium, and
college.]
There is danger that our
college will be turned away from its original
design. God’s purpose has
been made known, that our people should have
an opportunity to study
the sciences and at the same time to learn the
requirements of His word.
Biblical lectures should be given; the study of
the Scriptures should have
the first place in our system of education.
Students are sent from a
great distance to attend the college at Battle
Creek for the very purpose
of receiving instruction from the lectures on
Bible subjects. But for
one or two years past there has been an effort to
mold our school after
other colleges. When this is done, we can give no
encouragement to parents
to send their children to Battle Creek College.
The moral and religious
influences should not be put in the background.
In times past, God has
worked with the efforts of the teachers, and many
souls have seen the truth
and embraced it,
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and have gone to their
homes to live henceforth for God, as the result of
their connection with the
college. As they saw that Bible study was made
a part of their education,
they were led to regard it as a matter of greater
interest and importance.
Too little attention has
been given to the education of young men
for the ministry. This was
the primary object to be secured in the
establishment of the
college. In no case should this be ignored or regarded
as a matter of secondary
importance. For several years, however, but
few have gone forth from
that institution prepared to teach the truth to
others. Some who came at
great expense, with the ministry in view, have
been encouraged by the
teachers to take a thorough course of study which
would occupy a number of
years, and, in order to obtain means to carry
out these plans, have
entered the canvassing field and given up all thought
of preaching. This is
entirely wrong. We have not many years to work,
and teachers and principal
should be imbued with the Spirit of God and
work in harmony with His
revealed will instead of carrying out their own
plans. We are losing much
every year because we do not heed what God
has said upon these points.
Our college is designed of
God to meet the advancing wants for this
time of peril and
demoralization. The study of books only cannot give
students the discipline
they need. A broader foundation must be laid. The
college was not brought
into existence to bear the stamp of any one man’s
mind. Teachers and
principal should work together as brethren. They
should consult together,
and also counsel with ministers and responsible
men, and, above all else,
seek wisdom from above, that all their decisions
in reference to the school
may be such as will be approved of God.
To give students a
knowledge of books merely is not the purpose of
the institution. Such
education can be obtained at any college in the land.
I was shown that it is
Satan’s purpose
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to prevent the attainment
of the very object for which the college was
established. Hindered by
his devices, its managers reason after the manner
of the world and copy its
plans and imitate its customs. But in thus doing,
they will not meet the
mind of the Spirit of God.
A more comprehensive
education is needed, an education which will
demand from teachers and
principal such thought and effort as mere
instruction in the
sciences does not require. The character must receive
proper discipline for its
fullest and noblest development. The students
should receive at college
such training as will enable them to maintain a
respectable, honest,
virtuous standing in society, against the demoralizing
influences which are
corrupting the youth.
It would be well could
there be connected with our college, land for
cultivation and also
workshops under the charge of men competent to
instruct the students in
the various departments of physical labor. Much is
lost by a neglect to unite
physical with mental taxation. The leisure hours
of the students are often
occupied with frivolous pleasures, which weaken
physical, mental, and
moral powers. Under the debasing power of sensual
indulgence, or the
untimely excitement of courtship and marriage, many
students fail to reach
that height of mental development which they might
otherwise have attained.
The young should every day
be impressed with a sense of their
obligation to God. His law
is continually violated, even by the children of
religious parents. Some of
these very youth frequent haunts of dissipation,
and the powers of the mind
and body suffer in consequence. This class
lead others to follow
their pernicious ways. Thus, while principal and
teachers are giving
instruction in the sciences, Satan, with hellish cunning,
is exerting every energy
to gain control of the minds of the pupils and lead
them down to ruin.
Generally speaking, the
youth have but little moral
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strength. This is the
result of neglected education in childhood. A
knowledge of the character
of God and our obligations to Him should
not be regarded as a
matter of minor consequence. The religion of the
Bible is the only
safeguard for the young. Morality and religion should
receive special attention in our educational instituti
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