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EDUCATION

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 15, 1876

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 47, No. 24.

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EDUCATION

By Eliza H. Morton

Many Christians have an idea that an education glues the mind to earthly things, and causes its possessor to seek after fame and worldly honor till he loses sight of Heaven and immortal glory. This I think is a mistake. God has given man certain faculties which are susceptible of infinite improvement, and has spread out before the “children of men” his great book of nature—the whole universe. Nothing can be more evident than that the all-wise Creator designed that man should improve all the powers of his mind, exercise all the members of his body, cultivate all the emotions of his heart, round all his energies into a harmonious whole and become a perfect human being.
Superior natural abilities do not lessen the necessity for education. Genius and stupidity are inexcusable if they neglect the means of culture within their reach.
Our happiness in this life is greatly enhanced by an education. The fields of knowledge are wide, rich, and beautiful, and the hills of science, though steep, contain rich treasures and present glorious views of the surrounding country. The cultivated intellect takes pleasure in the minutest atoms of God’s creation. Nothing is too small to escape its notice. It holds communion with the great minds of all ages and drinks deep draughts from the fountain of truth.
Combine with intellectual culture a tender conscience, a healthy body, and correct religious and moral sentiments, and man becomes a noble being, and has within himself sources of happiness which the ignorant know not of. Fine feelings and great susceptibility to pain or pleasure always accompany mental culture. This being the case, the beauties of religion are seen more clearly and its comforting realities felt more forcibly by the learned than by the unlearned.
As to the future life, we know not how our happiness there may be affected by the right use of our talents here, but we do know that the purpose of God in creating man, is so vast and sublime that its glories can only be faintly conceived by the most cultivated mind. Let us then improve all our powers, that we may hereafter become glad citizens of the eternal kingdom of God.
ELIZA H. MORTON.
Allen’s Corner, Me.