It is right for the youth to feel that
they must reach the highest development of their mental powers.
We would not restrict the education to which God has set no limit.
But our attainments will avail nothing if not put to use for
the honor of God and the good of humanity. Unless our knowledge
is a steppingstone to the accomplishment of the highest purposes,
it is worthless.
What we need is knowledge that will strengthen
mind and soul, that will make us better men and women.
Heart education is of more importance than
the education gained from books. It is well, even essential,
to obtain a knowledge of the world in which we live; but if we
leave eternity out of our reckoning, we shall make a failure
from which we can never recover.
It is not well to crowd the mind with a
class of studies that require intense application, but that are
not brought into use in practical life. An education of this
kind will be a loss to the student. For these studies take away
his desire and inclination for the studies that would fit him
for usefulness and enable him to fulfill his responsibilities.
If the youth understood their own weakness,
they would find in God their strength. If they seek to be taught
by Him, they will become wise in His wisdom, and their lives
will be fruitful of blessing to the world. But if they give up
their minds to mere worldly and speculative study, and thus separate
from God, they will lose all that enriches life.