p. 449 | The Sabbath School by George I. Butler

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 14, 1880

The Sabbath School.

By George I. Butler

NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN.

ONE of the saddest things to meet is the breaking down of mental power long before the close of life. Many wrecks of this sort appear all around us, not because it need be so, but because of wrong habits. Many get the idea they can learn nothing important after they are forty or fifty years of age. No doubt it is difficult for those to do so who have never cultivated habits of study. After the mind has become rusty from inactivity, it requires a great effort to make it bright and clear. Like a rusty old sword, it requires a great effort to burnish it. Though it may never become what it might have been, yet patience and perseverance will accomplish wonders.

I recently cut from a paper some interesting and encouraging items, bearing on this point: "Socrates, at an extreme old age, learned to play on musical instruments. Cato, at eighty years of age, began to study the Greek language. Plutarch, when between seventy and eighty, commenced the study of Latin. Sir Henry Spellman neglected the sciences in his youth, but commenced the study of them when he was between fifty and sixty years of age. After this time he became a most learned antiquarian and lawyer. Dr. Johnson applied himself to the study of the Dutch language but a few years before his death. Ludovoico Mondaldesco, at the great age of one hundred and fifteen years, wrote the memoirs of his own times. Ogilby, the translator of Homer and Virgil, was unacquainted with Latin and Greek till he was past fifty. Franklin did not commence his philosophical pursuits till he had reached his fiftieth year. Dryden, in his sixty-eighth year, commenced the translation of the Ænead, his most pleasing production."

These are certainly very remarkable instances, but not more so than many others which might be mentioned. Baron Von Humboldt's mind seemed almost as bright and clear when he was ninety as it ever was, and he was one of the ablest men of the century. The present statesmen, whose names are most famous in Europe, such as Lord Beaconsfield, Bismarck, the Emperor William of Germany, Prince Gortschakoff of Russia, and others who might be mentioned, range from sixty-five to ninety years of age. These facts clearly show that it is not necessary for the mind to break down at forty or fifty. What a pity there are so many mental wrecks in middle life. What a loss to the world, and to the parties themselves. The mind is the noblest part of us, and should be cultivated by study, and kept strong by proper habits of thought.

It is a physical law of our existence that proper exercise gives increase of strength. This is so physically, mentally, or morally. If exercise gives strength to every limb, and every faculty, physically and mentally, is it not a duty for those entering the school of Christ to take advantage of this fact, and gain all the instruction and knowledge possible, and thus become intelligent Christians? I love that phrase, "intelligent Christians." Though ignorant and weak-minded people may be true Christians and be saved if they have a use to advantage the opportunities and gifts granted them, yet how much more satisfactory and useful to be intelligent, to have the mind filled with good thoughts, and thus be able to bless others.

Those who have given themselves up to the world, laboring earnestly for the things that perish, till in middle life, when they commence to serve God, have an important work to do. It will take an effort to turn their mind in the opposite direction, and cultivate those faculties so long neglected. They have no time to lose. It will not do for them to settle down to a lazy, listless life. He is under the more obligation now to be active, in order to redeem the past, and recover all the strength possible, which was lost in the past by the mind being perverted to a wrong object. Such should study the sacred Word earnestly, and other good books, and become intelligent concerning what the Lord says. Is it not a disgrace for men and women with mind and understanding, to be unable to give a reason why they believe as they do? Such matters relate to eternal things. They are all important. Yet how few professors are really intelligent in matters of faith. It is because the mind is not exercised, and the reasons of faith not studied.

All our people should cast their influence in favor of the Sabbath-school. They cannot do this without attending themselves, and learning the lessons. All should do this, not only for the encouragement of the children, but for personal improvement, to keep the mind sharpened up by exercise, bright and keen. It is a terrible shame for people who have not been greatly injured by sickness, to have their minds become a wreck in middle life. It is a confession of abuse of the noblest part of us. There is no need of it. We have heard of a good old German sister, who, at the age of eighty, could not read a word of English. Yet she studied till she could read Elder Andrew's "Sabbath History," containing several hundred pages, all through herself. What a record for those who think they never can learn anything because they are forty or fifty years of age. Let us put aside every habit that hinders us from becoming intelligent.

Geo. I. Butler.

Central City, Neb., Sept. 24, 1880.