LAWTON CHURCH OF GOD, LAWTON OKLAHOMA

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CHAPTER 16

EDUCATION

A TRUE education must be physical, mental, moral, and spiritual. True education is the training and developing of all one’s powers. One’s education should make him a good citizen and a good member of his family. Education does not mean merely the filling of the mind with information, or a collection of facts, however well-ordered these may be. A child should learn to think and act for himself by degrees, else he will have no independence of action when he becomes a man. The development of the reasoning faculty is one of the most important results of a right education, and the power of independent decision must be developed with it. The information of the judgment is a vital part of education. To enter upon life full of accomplishments and with a highly cultivated mind, but without the judgment formed, is like entering an arena unarmed, without any weapon of defense.

The habit of weighing and balancing opinions and theories, a habit that can be acquired during education, prepares the mind to consider courses of action in the same manner, and also to judge of others by their conduct and circumstances. When the judgment is untrained, the last book read is the most wonderful, the newest theory the truest, the latest acquaintance the most valuable

The mere task-work of education has a greater result than the acquirement of a particular form of detail knowledge—it induces the virtue of patience.

The memory, which is continually in use during education, is one of your most important faculties. Train it steadily as you would a restive horse, and you will have a servant whose value can not be overrated.

Do not acquire any knowledge whatever of a subject or a language partially or imperfectly. Whatever you learn, learn thoroughly, and then you will always be able to hold your own among others.

You should use every opportunity of such mental education as the study of arts, music, or anything else that is elevating and uplifting. By gaining a good education you will have your reward in the rich stores of knowledge you have thus collected, and which will ever be at your command, more valuable than earthly treasure. Fleets may sink and storehouses burn, banks may fail and riches flee, but the intellectual investments you have thus made will be permanent and enduring, unfailing as the constant flow of Niagara or Amazon. Nor will you be able to fill these storehouses to their full. Pour into a glass a stream of water, and at last it fills to the brim and will not hold another drop. But you may pour into your mind through a whole lifetime streams of knowledge from every conceivable quarter, and not only will it never be full, but it will constantly thirst for more and welcome each fresh supply with a greater joy. The beginning of wisdom is to fear God, but the end of it is to love him. The highest learning is to be wise, and the greatest wisdom is to be good. Use your education to the glory of God.