Counsels for the Church - Ellen G. White

teachers and professors in their efforts by discouraging every species of
unfaithfulness, of discord, and of neglect to comply with the rules and
regulations. Their influence will be saving, and their works will not perish in
the great day of God, but will follow them into the future world; and the
influence of their life here will tell throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity.
One earnest, conscientious, faithful young man in school is an
inestimable treasure. Angels of heaven look lovingly upon him. His precious
Saviour loves him, and in the Ledger of Heaven will be recorded every work
of righteousness, every temptation resisted, every evil overcome. He will
thus be laying up a good foundation against the time to come, that he may
lay hold on eternal life.
Upon Christian youth depend in a great measure the preservation and
perpetuity of the institutions which God has devised as means by which to
advance His work. This grave responsibility rests upon the youth of today
who are coming upon the stage of action. Never was there a period when
results so important depended upon a generation of men; then how important
that the young should be qualified for the great work, that God may use them
as His instruments. Their Maker has claims upon them which are paramount
to all others.
It is God that has given life and every physical and mental endowment
they possess. He has bestowed upon them capabilities for wise improvement,
that they may be entrusted with a work which will be as enduring as eternity.
In return for His great gifts He claims a due cultivation and exercise of their
intellectual and moral faculties. He did not give them these faculties merely
for their amusement, or to be abused in working against His will and His
providence, but that they might use them to advance the knowledge of truth
and holiness in the world. He claims their gratitude, their veneration and
love, for His continued kindness and infinite mercies. He justly requires
obedience to His laws and to all wise regulations which will restrain and
269