The policy of consolidation, wherever pursued, tends to the exaltation of the human in place of the divine. Those who bear responsibilities in the different institutions look to the central authority for guidance and support. As the sense of personal responsibility is weakened, they lose the highest and most precious of all human experiences, the constant dependence of the soul upon God. Not realizing their need, they fail of maintaining that constant watchfulness and prayer, that constant surrender to God, which alone can enable men to hear and to obey the teaching of His Holy Spirit. Man is placed where God should be. Those who are called to act in this world as heaven’s ambassadors are content to seek wisdom from erring, finite men, when they might have the wisdom and strength of the unerring, infinite God.
(7T 172.1)
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VC