Your long speeches on education in the sciences are painful to the angels of God, who are constantly and intensely active in seeking to call the thoughts and affections to heavenly things. Souls are perishing while you neglect to work with your entrusted talents as Christ has given you an example. Souls will be lost under your long, Christless speeches. Your own soul is dwarfed and crippled in the knowledge of Christ. You are losing very much because you are blinded by the spirit and customs of an education which will not save the soul. 5T 589.1 The youth need your labor. If you were a converted man, daily learning lessons in the school of Christ, then your labors would be a savor of life unto life. Then you could work with patience and love, and in the power of God, for the souls of youth who are exposed to temptation. Devote a portion of the time you consume in long addresses, to personal labor for the youth who need your help. Teach them the claims of God are upon them; pray with th…
"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
The EGW passage discusses the inability of some to focus on spiritual matters due to their focus on worldly education, which aligns with the verse's concept of the 'natural man' not understanding spiritual things.
"Shall the powers of mind and soul be misapplied? Shall opportunities be lost? Shall a form and routine be gone through day after day, with nothing gained? Oh, awake, awake! teachers and pupils, before it is too late. Awake before you hear from pale and agonized lips the terrible wail: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” 5T 589.3"
"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."
EGW directly quotes Jeremiah 8:20.