the most of ourselves, and to do the most for
humanity and God. The young must learn that it takes years of work to
get a college education. "If I am asked," says President J. W.
Bashford, "why Methodism does not produce more John Wesleys, I assign
as one reason of this failure the fact that none of us observe the
laws of mental development as John Wesley kept them, and devote the
time to mental growth which John Wesley gladly gave. I turn to
Arminius, and find that he spent between twelve and thirteen years at
the universities of Europe before he began to preach. Arminius died at
fifty-nine. Yet he left behind him a work on divinity which ranks him
with La Place and Newton, with Calvin and Augustine and Spinoza, as
one of the world's master minds. Calvin spent nine years at college,
and later was able to devote three years more to study. Augustine
devoted thirteen years to study after his father sent him away to
college before he accepted the professorship at Milan. It was eleven
years after Luther left home for college before he left the scholar's
bench for the professor's chair. Four years later, Luther took another
scholastic degree, showing that he was still pursuing his studies.
Five years more were required for Luther to reach clear convictions
on religion and theology. Paul was a student in the most celebrated
schools in Jerusalem for fifteen years. If, therefore, you do not seem
to have that mastery of truth, if you do not find yourself the
intellectual giant which you once thought you might become, do not
blame the Lord, do not depreciate your talent, until you have devoted
as many years to college studies as did Arminius, and Calvin, and
Augustine, and Wesley, and Luther, and Paul. If you would do a great
work in the world, fulfill the conditions by which men outgrow their
fellows." The student should be willing to begin at the bottom of the
ladder and work upward. It will take more time, but it will yield rich
returns and bring real satisfaction.

Again, if the college life is to be profitable and pleasant, the
student should refuse to enter an advanced class when his general
culture or discipline is so deficient as to render it difficult to
make reasonable progress in his studies. It is true that the entrance
examination is not always a fair test of the student's capacity or
promise. The difficulty cannot be corrected, and study be made a
pleasure, unless a student himself shows frankness, and is willing t