p. 175 | GOD BLESS OUR COLLEGE by H. J. Spicer

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 6, 1877

GOD BLESS OUR COLLEGE.

By H. J. Spicer

Sabbaths are golden in Battle Creek nowadays. This is nothing unusual; for they have been hitherto; and elsewhere they are golden way-marks to true commandment-keepers. The late students’ social meetings at the commencement of the Sabbath have been cheering indeed; and the following services add encouragement, as it is seen that the old soldiers of the cross are unmistakably taking vantage ground, and that there is a general impression that a good time is soon coming.

Here the burden of our College rolls upon us; and what greater success can we wish for it, in view of coming events, than that it should become a veritable school of the prophets? How shall this object be attained? Can our College follow other schools and reach this success? Even in this school our youth are exposed to the assaults of the enemy. If their hearts were inclined toward the testimonies, it is to be feared that some might find too much of their short-lived fervor due to a supposed proper interest in an active Christian of the opposite sex. And others might see that what they supposed to be a practice of health reform in diet, with them partakes of the spirit of hearty self-indulgence to such a degree as to prove a positive curse. The foe is wily. Oh that the fear of the Lord might enter into all such hearts!

That the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light, will often occur to the mind while contemplating the fact that many, lured by vain ambitious aims, are enabled by Satan to subdue habits and passions that would impede their progress, living more temperately, and preserving more physical and intellectual energy for selfish designs, than many nominal health reformers do for the sacred work of the present time. Obedience cures these evils. These stirring times demand youth who will wed the truth, and have ears to hear the voice of the Spirit,—“Why stand ye here all the day idle?” It is necessary to make a practical application of the repeated resolutions for consecration. “Why do you not become a vigilant worker in the Tract and Missionary Society?” Many plead want of time. But let the needless every-day expense for faultless tie and neck wear and cuffs, and the constant fine polish of the shoes, be occasionally neglected, and the means and time employed in mailing the “truth leaves,” which are sent forth as “leaves of the tree of life for the healing” of the dying people.

Then there is an occasional card to write. No friend is more worthy the time bestowed for correspondence than a stranger who seeks the light of truth. Those friends are to be our joy in the Lord’s harvest home. It is reasonable to be so engaged in this work that there will be “want of time” to “seek our own” pleasure or profit.

Some have not confidence, or, having made their vows of consecration, are waiting for Providence to open the way. May it not be that these, together with some who are deprived of college privileges, need only take up the burden of work in the cause of God, to discover that Providence has been holding the way open? God may thus be testing some who shrink from the mission work, and who would afterward find ability to pursue study the more successfully. This is not an age for extensive courses of preparation, without making active light-bearing, meanwhile, a prominent feature of education.

Then gird on the armor while at school: let the truth become table-talk, and gracious opportunities are afforded on every hand. We ought meekly to accept burdens, until we cannot forsake our Saviour without experiencing their oppressive weight, and the perils of unconsecration. We all want a part in the message that shall lighten the earth with its glory; and our wish may be realized. If we love God with all the heart, and our neighbor as ourself, we shall be ready to obey the call of duty. The Vigilant Missionary Society seems to be especially appointed for sounding the last warning. None may find excuse. Let the maimed and poor be compelled to come in.

These suggestions are presented for such as may fail to realize that it is necessary to leave the paths before beaten for the youth of our land, in order to exemplify the theory of our truth.

Our faithful students will receive a blessing, but may we not fear that curses are in store for those who have no sacred sense of their obligations in view of their connection with our College? Although God may be glorified by “marrying and giving in marriage” now, as truly as by eating and drinking properly, is there any harm in following the serious conviction that God is pleased with the heart that nobly strives to surrender all to him, and let this matter rest while here disciplining for his army? View it carefully in the light of the Saviour’s present warning on this point, on surfeiting, and on the cares of life.

Comparatively few youth in this age will place the work of increasing the Lord’s goods in the way of securing a home, or friends, or a companion for the short earth-life that remains to us, when it may be evident that the cause would gain by this consecration. Of those who do thus honor him, it must be God has decreed: “On such young men and maidens will I pour out my Spirit in the latter day.” What a glory, too, must be for them in the joy of their Lord!

And as we pray for the latter rain, may we not properly reflect that, for the prayer to be effectual, consistency demands that we thankfully cherish in transformed lives the “gift” already given, renewing it daily?

O speed the day when all shall be restored! Friends of our College, pray for us. God bless our students.

H. J. SPICER.