Intellect alone does not make the man, according to the divine standard. There is a power in intellect if sanctified and controlled by the Spirit of God. It is superior to riches and to physical power, yet it must be cultivated in order to make the man. The right which one has to claim to be a man is determined by the use made of his intellect. Byron had intellectual conception and depth of thought, but he was not a man according to God’s standard. He was an agent of Satan. His passions were fierce and uncontrollable. Through his life he was sowing seed which blossomed into a harvest of corruption. His lifework lowered the standard of virtue. This man was one of the world’s distinguished men; still the Lord would not acknowledge him as a man, but only as one who had abused his God-given talents. Gibbon the skeptic, and many others whom God endowed with giant minds, and whom the world called great men, rallied under the banner of Satan and used the gifts of God for the perversion of truth and the destruction of the souls of men. Great intellect, when made a minister of vice, is a curse to the possessor and to all who come within the circle of its influence. {4T 519.3}

[Den guddommelige målestok vurderer ikke mennesket alene efter forstanden. Forstanden har magt, når den helliges og drives af Guds Ånd. Den overgår rigdom og fysisk styrke, men må forædles for at skabe mennesket. Den ret man har til at kalde sig menneske, afhænger af ens brug af forstanden. Byron havde en intelligent opfattelse og en dybdegående tankegang, men han var ikke et menneske efter Guds standart. Han var en af Satans engle. Hans lidenskaber var aggressive og ukontrollerede. Gennem hele livet såede han en høst af korruption. Hans livsværk sænkede dydens standart. Denne mand var en af verdens mest anerkende mænd, men (520) Herren ville ikke anerkende ham som et menneske, kun som en der har misbrugt sit Gudsgivne talent. Den skeptiske Gibbon og mange andre som Gud udrustede med en utrolig forstand og som verden kaldte store mænd, var samlet under Satans banner og brugte Guds talenter til forvrængninger af sandheden og ødelæggelse af menneskers sjæle. Hvis en stor intelligens bruges i den forkertes tjeneste, er en forbandelse for ejeren og for alle der kommer under dens indflydelse.