Spalding and Magan Collection

The School to be a Home

The school in Avondale is to be conducted upon no selfish plan. It is to be a home rather than a school like other schools. The teachers are to act as fathers and mothers. Let the teachers show an interest in the students one and all, such as fathers and mothers show in their children. The students are not to be educated to think that they are independent atoms, but that each one is a thread which is to unite with other threads in the web composing the fabric. SpM 129.4

The students are here for special training, to become acquainted with all lines of work, that should they go out as missionaries, they could in one sense be morally independent, and able to furnish themselves with conveniences because they have educated ability. Whether men or women, they should learn to mend, wash, and keep their own clothes in order. They should be able to cook their own meals. They should learn to act always from principles, and to pursue a course of Christian consistency. SpM 129.5

Many find this difficult, it may be because they did not receive their education at home. They did not sufficiently realize that they were a part of the family firm. They did not think it was their duty to bring all the help possible into the family, just as did our Saviour. They were not taught the importance of making the life of Christ their life, and the character of Christ their character. In many cases the natural inclination of the children has been left to flow at liberty. They have been allowed to neglect the little things which they should do without being told. They have not been taught to bear burdens and to contradict natural inclinations. SpM 130.1

It is not a mark of a lady or gentleman to disdain restraint, either in the home or in the school. Bear in mind that if you are children of God, you should be under subjection, whether it is at home or school authority. Christ will give grace in all things. Religion can only bless the life it influences. All who exclude its influence shut out also the blessing that ever follows well-doing. If we exclude the sunshine from our rooms, and then complain of darkness, who is to blame? If you long for joy and gladness, open the door of your heart to the sunbeams of the Sun of Righteousness. Happiness is yours if you will have it; for happiness is composed of little things, as well as of large. SpM 130.2

This school is to be a family school. Tenderness, sympathy, unity, and love are to be cherished. The teachers are to have a care for the health and happiness of the students, and seek to advance them in every essential branch of knowledge. Special care is to be shown for the souls of the students. The students should in no case be allowed to take so many studies that they will be prevented from assembling for prayer and religious exercise. This school is to be a training school, a school where every student will receive special help from his teachers, as a family should receive help in the home. If the number of studies forbids this special education in these lines, have fewer studies, and work by careful drawing, to bring students into the school of Christ, where they may learn of the great Teacher. SpM 130.3

The Lord has means for us in the hands of his stewards. We call upon all to consider the advance work that has been done since we came to Australia. We have not done the work, but the Lord has called upon us to be colaborers with Him, and this is what we desire to be. In this school, if all will act a part in sustaining it, a missionary work will be done, the far-reaching influence of which few can realize. I think we should all consider gratefully what the Lord has done. We have seen a good work done in Melbourne, and if the church members who have been long in the truth will wake up to their God-given responsibilities, and be converted and consecrated anew, God will make them a blessing to those newly come to the faith. SpM 130.4

The Bible is our Counsellor. We are educating students in the Scriptures. Every day we are seeking the Lord for wisdom. Debts must not be allowed to accumulate. We must have help with which to carry on our school. It will be so much better to make donations now, to lessen the principal, thus lessening the interest to be paid. A great work is to be done to give these precious souls, God's heritage, a true education, that they may reach the higher grade, and the heavenly family in the paradise of God, sons and daughters of the King. We are making the Word of God our study. We can not depend upon lesson books that breathe the breath of infidelity. Oh, how much we have lost by making the Word of the living God secondary! The writings of human inventions, human authors, whose sentiments are opposed to God, are as tares sown among wheat. SpM 130.5

Students are to be taught to understand that Book which should ever be represented as the book to study. The assertion that there are dark, mysterious, and incomprehensible things in the Word, things hard to understand, perplexing and uncertain, is a false one. Please read the first, second, and third chapters of Ephesians..... SpM 131.1

God will (not?) hold men responsible for that which they can not understand. The Scriptures were given to all men for the purpose of making them wise unto salvation. There is nothing left in obscurity, or hard to be understood. The lessons we are to learn involve the happiness, the holiness, the unselfishness of man, that he may be complete in Jesus Christ. The mystery referred to by the great apostle as hard to be understood is the existence of God. “Who by searching can find out God?” SpM 131.2

Much of that which is revealed is dark to human minds, because the jewels of truth are not searched for as for hidden treasure. The truth lies hidden beneath the rubbish of human systems, human wisdom and philosophy. Infinite, eternal truth, the revelation of God, is explained in the light of human conjectures. God's Word, they assert, is modified, remodeled to suit the changing times, to suit their own mind and ideas. They have been educated from wrong books, and have left a plain “Thus saith the Lord” which involves eternal interests, to adjust itself. Spiritual things can only be discerned by the Holy Spirit's power. SpM 131.3

The Lord has signified that a reform must be made by those who have placed man's human wisdom in the place of the living oracles. Human wisdom is foolishness; for it misses the whole of God's providence, which looks into eternity. “After that in the Wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” The Word must be searched, yea, eaten, in order to purify and prepare men to become members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King. From the first, the schools that are conducted by Seventh-day Adventists should take the Word of God as their lesson book, and in doing this, the teachers and students will find the higher education. In opening the Word of God and searching pages, they will find the hidden treasures. SpM 131.4

E. G. White