Part 19

Charles W. Dabney, Jr., president of the University of Tennessee, in an address gave utterance to these words. “The Bible is the best text-book of education, as of many other sciences. In it we read where Paul tells Timothy, his ‘dearly beloved son in the faith,’ that ‘all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.’ Nowhere in literature or philosophy is there a better or clearer expression of the true purpose of education than this. The object of education is not pleasure, or comfort, or gain, though all these may and should result from it. The one true purpose in education is to prepare the man for ‘good works.’ It is a noble thing to develop a perfect soul, to thoroughly furnish a body, mind, and heart.... Character building, conscience forming, then, is the main object of education. The teacher dare not neglect character, nor the college to provide for its development. We must always and everywhere, in every course and scheme of study, provide those methods and agencies which shall develop the character of the pupil along with his other powers. How, then, shall we develop character in our pupils? What are the methods and the agencies for doing this? This is the crucial question of this age, as of every age. To this question all the ages give but one answer, and that is _Christianity_. The world has had many teachers of science, art, and philosophy, but only one teacher of righteousness, and He was Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

The many teachers of science, art, and philosophy, have, by their systems of education, led men away from the knowledge of God, the wisdom which is eternal life. If the education of Christ is to be accepted, as suggested by Professor Dabney, His word, the Bible, must be recognized as the Book of books, the guide in all investigation, the interpreter of all phenomena.

[Sidenote: Christian schools needed]

Much is said concerning the moral education which every child should receive. Parents realize that the boy or girl who grows to maturity with only a physical or intellectual education is either a pugilist or a fit subject for the penitentiary, and hence they insist that the spiritual nature should receive some attention. But where is this spiritual education to be obtained? State schools have no right to give such training; indeed, they can not do it. True, they have attempted it, but it is a miserable failure. Protestants should no longer make the demand. The time has come for them to see that they should establish schools, whose object it is to develop character. These schools should receive support independent of the state; they should be free to follow methods entirely different from the formalism of the papal system; their course of instruction should meet the individual needs of the pupils, and be of a character which will develop Christians. To accomplish such results, the Word of God must be taken from the dust, and placed in the curriculum, not as a mere reference book of Jewish antiquities, but, as it is in deed and in truth, the light whose rays encircle the world. “The Holy Scriptures must be the Alpha and Omega of Christian schools,” wrote Comenius. Christ must be the teacher.

The men thus far quoted have followed the light which shone upon their pathway. To-day we may gather the scattered gems of truth left by them; but, better far, we may go direct to the Word itself, and the Spirit of truth will guide into the paths of Christian education. As taught by Froebel, “The spiritual and physical development do not go on separately in childhood, but the two are closely bound up with each other.”

[Sidenote: Man’s threefold nature]

The human being has a threefold nature,—the physical, the mental, and the spiritual; and Christian education so develops these that they sustain the proper relation one to another. The spiritual nature was the controlling power in the man made in God’s image. In the degeneration of the race, he lost his spiritual insight, and passed first to the intellectual plane, then to the physical. This is seen in the history before the flood. Eden life was a spiritual existence; Adam’s life after the fall was less spiritual, and gradually his descendants came to live on the mental plane. There were master minds in the antediluvian world. Men had no need of books, so strong was the memory and so keen the insight. Through further disobedience, through an education which strengthened reason rather than faith, men sank to the physical plane instead of rising to the spiritual, until in due time the earth was destroyed by water.

[Sidenote: Education since the time of Christ]

The same planes of existence are distinguishable in all ages since the flood, but Christ alone rose to the purely spiritual level. Israel as a nation might have so lived had true educational methods been followed. Israel falling, the offer was made to the Christian church. Age by age that body has refused to live a spiritual life, or, accepting the proffered gift, has attempted to rise without complying with the necessary conditions,—absolute faith in God’s Word and strict compliance with his commands. The Reformation again turned men’s eyes toward a spiritual education, and American Protestants had the best opportunity ever offered man to return to the original design of the Creator. Failure is again the verdict of the recording angel. Time hastens on, and the last gospel message is going to the world; but before _a people can be prepared for the setting up of Christ’s kingdom, they must be educated according to the principles of Christian education_, for this is _the foundation_ of all government as well as of all religion.

What is Christian education? Since its object is the training of a human being for life eternal, and that existence is a spiritual life, the spiritual must be the predominating feature of the education. When the spiritual leads, the intellectual and physical take their proper positions. The inner or spiritual man feeds only upon truth, absolute truth; not theory nor speculation, but truth. “Thy word is truth.” _The Word of God must then be the basis_ of all Christian education, the science of salvation the central theme.

[Sidenote: The test]

Since God reveals his character in two ways, in his Word and in his works, the Bible must be the first book in Christian education, and the book of nature next. Many educators have seen the value of the book of nature, and to-day nature-study forms a large part of the course of instruction in all grades of schools. It may be asked, Is not this, then, Christian education? We reply, Does it restore in men the image of God? If so, it passes the test. But it can not be said to do this, and therefore it falls short. Wherein, then, lies the difficulty in modern nature-teaching, or the sciences in general? Read some of our modern text-books in science. They readily reveal the answer.

[Sidenote: Astronomy as taught denies the Bible]

Young’s General Astronomy reads: “Section 908. Origin of the Nebular Hypothesis.—Now this [the present condition] is evidently a good arrangement for a planetary system, and therefore _some have inferred_ that the Deity made it so, _perfect from the first_. But to one who considers the way in which other perfect works of nature usually come to perfection—their processes of growth and development—_this explanation seems improbable. It appears far more likely that the planetary system grew than that it was built outright_.... In its main idea that the solar system once existed as a nebulous mass, and has reached its present state as the result of a series of purely physical processes, it seems certain to prove correct, and _it forms the foundation of all the current speculations upon the subject_.

“Section 909. La Place’s Theory.—(_a_) He supposed that at some past time, which may be taken as a starting point of our system’s history, ... the matter collected in the sun and planets was in the form of a nebula. (_b_) This nebula was a cloud of intensely heated gas, perhaps hotter, _as he supposed_, than the sun is now. (_c_) This nebula, _under the action of its own gravitation_, assumed an approximately globular form, with a rotation around its axis,” etc., etc.

The student must decide whether he will base his study of the heavens and the earth—the study of astronomy, geography, and geology, as well as zoology, and botany indirectly—on this hypothesis, which, we are told, “forms the foundation of all current speculations upon the subject;” or whether he will turn from these _reasonable explanations_ for the existence of things, and take the plain Word of truth, which says, “By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made;” “He spake and it was; he commanded and it stood fast,” together with the explanation as given in Genesis and elsewhere in the Scriptures.

Faith and finite reason face each other; the education of the world takes reason; Christian education is based upon faith in God’s Word. Which will develop character? _Why is it that modern science-study does not lead to God?_—IN THE EVOLUTIONARY TEACHING OF THE NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS YOU HAVE ONE ANSWER.

[Sidenote: Evolution as taught in zoology]

Picking up an ordinary text-book in zoology, we read: “The earliest member of the _series directly leading up to the horse_ was eohippus, an older eocene form about as large as a fox, which had four well-developed toes and the rudiments of a fifth on each forefoot, and three toes behind. In later eocene beds appeared an animal of similar size, but with only four toes in front and three behind. In newer beds, i.e., lower miocene, are found the remains of mesohippus, which was as large as a sheep and had three toes and the splint of another in each forefoot.... The succeeding forms were still more horse-like.”[186] Next they find a donkey-like animal, and later “a true equus, as large as the existing horse, appears just above the horizon, and the series is complete.”[187]

If the horse tribe has evolved from a fox-like animal, it is little wonder that men trace their origin to the monkey tribe; but those who wish God’s character, take by faith the statement that “in the image of God created He him.”

Such theories form the basis for the generally adopted classification of the entire vegetable and animal worlds. Christian education demands new text-books, based upon the truths of God’s Word.

[Sidenote: Dana on origin of species]

From Dana, the recognized authority on geology, the following sentences are quoted: “Life commenced among plants, in _seaweeds_; and it ended in _palms_, _oaks_, _elms_, the _orange_, _rose_, etc. It commenced among animals in _lingulæ_ (mollusks standing on a stem like a plant), _crinoids_, _worms_, and _trilobites_, and probably earlier in the simple systemless protozoans; it ended in _man_.” For this development, he says, “Time is long.”

In a paragraph on “Progress Always the Gradual Unfolding of a System,” are the words: “There were higher and lower species appearing through _all the ages_, but the successive populations were still, in their general range, of higher and higher grade; and thus the progress was ever upward. The type or plan of vegetation, and the four grand types or plans of animal life, the radiate, molluscan, articulate, and vertebrate, were each displayed under multitudes of tribes and species, _rising in rank with the progress of time_.... Its progress should be, _as zoological history attests, a development, an unfolding, an evolution_.”

In the study of this evolution in animal life, he says, “The progress in the system of life is a progress in cephalization,” and he gives several illustrations, as the passage from tadpole to frog; from lobster to crab, from worm to insect, etc. Such teachers speak always of the evolution from the lower to the higher forms of life, but leave retrogression entirely out of their reckoning.

To those who offer the Sacred Record in opposition to his so-called geological proofs, Dana says: “The Biblical student finds, in the first chapter of Genesis, positive statement with regard to the creation of living beings. But these statements are often misunderstood; for they really leave the question as to the operation of natural causes for the most part an open one,—as asserted by Augustine, among the Fathers of the church and by some Biblical interpreters of the present day.... In view of the whole subject, the following appears to be the conclusions most likely to be sustained by further research: The evolution of the system of life went forward _through derivation of species from species, according to usual methods, not yet clearly understood, AND WITH FEW OCCASIONS FOR SUPERNATURAL INTERVENTION_,” etc.

Thus have the truths in God’s great lesson book of nature been misinterpreted. It was a step in the right direction when the mechanical drill of the classics was dropped, and nature studies substituted; but God’s Word must take its place as the interpreter of nature and natural phenomena, or the theory of evolution is the natural result, and this will form no part of Christian education.

Protestant parents, are your children learning to see in the visible things about them the emblems of the invisible, even the eternal power and godhead? If not, why do you not put them where they will? This is their salvation.

[Sidenote: Underlying principles neglected]

The exaltation of detail and the belittling of principles is a common error in educational systems. This is seen in all departments of learning. Not only is it exemplified in the exaltation of the mental and the physical above the spiritual, but the same method is employed in the detail work of the class room. This is in essence papal education. Christian education requires teachers to reverse the order throughout the whole course of instruction.

To illustrate the thought: There are a few fundamental principles which govern the universe. Such is the statement of the truth, “The love of Christ constraineth us,” which contains within it the whole explanation of the force of gravity, adhesion, cohesion, molecular attraction, chemical affinity, human love, and the law of sex, and is therefore illustrated in physics, chemistry, mineralogy, biology,—in fact, in all the sciences. Again the second great commandment, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” is the statement of a principle which underlies all history, civil government, and political and social science. If followed, it will solve all international difficulties, as well as prevent personal animosity; it will blot out the evils of society, breaking down the barrier between poverty and riches; trusts would never exist, trades unions would be unnecessary, and monopolies unknown, if the one law of Jehovah were only learned. Of how much greater value, then, is the study of such principles than all the theories which may be proposed by men for international arbitration, or all the laws which may be passed in legislative halls concerning the equal rights of men and the proper means of governing States, Territories, or acquired possessions.

But this is Christian education, and lessons such as this are learned only when the truth is written on the heart by the pen of the Spirit. It is thus that a spiritual education, the higher birth of which the Saviour spoke, rises above the education of the world as far as heaven is above the earth. When these and kindred principles are made the central thought, all the facts which the pupil may be able to learn in a lifetime, will but serve to impress the truth more firmly on his life.

[Sidenote: Deductions from facts not always correct]

All the facts which it is possible for man to gather in a lifetime, added to all that are gathered by generation after generation, are but illustrations of a few principles. Modern teaching deals almost wholly with facts; it requires children, from the time they enter school until they are graduated, to heap together facts. Process is the great theme in mathematics; facts, facts, facts, are the things sought for in the whole realm of natural science. History is but the study of still more facts, and where generalizations or classifications are made, they are theories formulated from the facts gathered. But man is never able to collect all the facts; he is never sure that his conclusions have reached absolute truth. The truth of the matter is, the classifications thus formed are only partially correct, and the discovery of a few more facts overthrows the finespun theories of the best of scientists. It is thus constantly in astronomy, in botany, in zoology, and in biology. Because of new discoveries, the physician of yesterday is wholly wrong in the eyes of the physician of to-day. To-morrow the bright light of to-day will be superseded by some other luminary. This is the result of inductive reasoning based on sense perception.

This thought is well expressed by Hinsdale, who says: “We observe and register phenomena, classify facts, deduce conclusions and laws, and build up systems; but in science and philosophy we return to the subject again and again; we seek to verify our facts and test our conclusions, and when we have finished, we are not sure, save in a limited sphere, of our results. Some of the best-known sciences have been largely reorganized within the last few years. We have the ‘new chemistry,’ the ‘new astronomy,’ the ‘new political economy,’ and even the ‘new mathematics.’ Particularly in the field of human conduct, where man’s will is the governing faculty, we are often uncertain of our way and sometimes are wholly lost.”[188]

[Sidenote: Sense perception often incorrect]

The shifting foundation upon which such knowledge rests is well illustrated by the tests which the human being is able to make with the organs of sense. Water of 98° is hot to the hand that has been accustomed to a temperature of 45°, but cool to the hand which is just taken from water of 112°. An orange is sweet to the man who has been eating a stronger acid, but sour to the palate accustomed to sugar. The eye which has been used in a dimly lighted room is dazzled by the noonday glare, and judging of the size of a star by sight we would not conceive it to be a sun. The knowledge gained by the senses is only partially true,—it is not absolute truth; and the scientific theories propounded by minds which have reasoned from these inaccurate data can not fail to fall short of absolute truth. It may be _knowledge_; it is not _wisdom_.

[Sidenote: Faith is substance, not theory]

Christian education approaches nature from the opposite direction. With a mind open to receive truth, it grasps _by faith_ the statement of a universal principle. The spiritual law is the thing sought, and the corresponding physical law is compared with it. Once found, every fact which is learned, every observation made, but shows more clearly the working of that law in the spiritual world. For such teaching, faith is an indispensable attribute. Experiment is not discouraged, but strongly encouraged; reason is not laid aside, but the mind is called upon to reason on subjects grander and nobler than any deductions which can possibly result from the opposite manner of approaching truth.

This is the ideal in Christian education, the point toward which the Christian teacher is leading his pupils. In case of unbelief, or in dealing with the heathen, the mind must first be approached through the avenues of the senses, until the Spirit of God arouses the inner eye of faith. This is merely preliminary, and should not long continue. Children are not given credit for having the faith they really do possess, and are therefore held to the inductive method by educators long after their minds and hearts are capable of grasping truth, and when it would be found that the deductive method would produce a much more rapid growth of mental and spiritual power than is now seen.

[Sidenote: The Christian teacher]

This suggests the qualifications necessary on the part of a teacher. Remembering that this education is of a spiritual nature, the teacher himself must be connected with truth by an unwavering faith.

When Nicodemus, the representative of higher education in the schools of Jerusalem, interviewed Christ, the new Teacher who had appeared in their midst, and whose teaching was attended by a power unknown to the educators of the day, the learned man said, “Rabbi, we know Thou art a teacher sent of God.” “But how can these things be?” The heavenly Teacher outlined to him the secrets of His educational system, telling Nicodemus that it was not based on sight, but on faith; that the spiritual was first, and, when so made, the rest would follow. Then came the query, “How can it be?” To which Christ replied, “If I told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?” “Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these things?”

In view of these thoughts, it is not strange that the study of the sciences in a Christian school will differ widely from the course offered in the same department of learning in an institution where the object of education is wholly different.

[Sidenote: Physiology the central science]

Discarding the evolutionary theory which pervades the teaching of all institutions where education is not wholly based on the Word of God, man, created in the image of God, is recognized as the highest manifestation of creative power. The life of God is the first study; that _life_, as manifested in man, is the next, and physiology takes its place as the center of all science-study. This is a study of life in all its manifestations, beginning with the spiritual, and extending to the mental and physical. Here, as elsewhere, the laws which govern the spiritual nature have their types in the other two natures; and when once the central truth of _life_, an abundance of life, is grasped, the study of physiology becomes not the study of dead forms, mere facts, but a soul-study, which includes the home of the inner man and all the machinery which the soul manipulates. Thus considered, from this center (physiology) extend rays, like the spokes of a wheel, each representing another science, until within that broad circle represented by these radii, are included all the physical as well as all the metaphysical sciences.

It will be seen that this mode of correlating the sciences cures at once the mistake of the age,—the cramming system,—which results from a neglect of manual training and from the study of a multiplicity of books, crowded with facts which must be stored in the mind of the student.

[Sidenote: Correlation of sciences]

By placing physiology as the center of the circle, and correlating therewith all other sciences, another advantage arises, for that circle includes within itself the languages and mathematics. These latter are but helps in the study of the thought-bearing subjects,—the Bible and the sciences,—and instead of being studied as primary subjects, should be _used as a means to an end_. Reading, writing, spelling, grammar, rhetoric, and literature, and mathematics, from arithmetic to general geometry and calculus, are but means of expressing truths gained in the study of the revealed Word and the book of nature. The simplicity of the system will appeal to the mind of any educator, for it is a plan long sought for. The one thing lacking among those who have experimented with such methods has been the central subject, God’s Word. Having truth as the basis for the correlation, the problem, so far as methods are concerned, is practically solved.