Chapter 1—Source and Aim of True Education
“The knowledge of the holy is understanding; “Acquaint now thyself
with Him.”
Our ideas of education take too narrow and too low a range. There
is need of a broader scope, a higher aim. True education means more
than the pursual of a certain course of study. It means more than a
preparation for the life that now is. It has to do with the whole being,
and with the whole period of existence possible to man. It is the
harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual
powers. It prepares the student for the joy of service in this world and
for the higher joy of wider service in the world to come.
The source of such an education is brought to view in these words
of Holy Writ, pointing to the Infinite One: In Him “are hid all the
treasures of wisdom.”
Colossians 2:3
. “He hath counsel and under-
standing.”
Job 12:13
.
The world has had its great teachers, men of giant intellect and
extensive research, men whose utterances have stimulated thought and
opened to view vast fields of knowledge; and these men have been
honored as guides and benefactors of their race; but there is One who
stands higher than they. We can trace the line of the world’s teachers
as far back as human records extend; but the Light was before them.
[14]
As the moon and the stars of our solar system shine by the reflected
light of the sun, so, as far as their teaching is true, do the world’s great
thinkers reflect the rays of the Sun of Righteousness. Every gleam of
thought, every flash of the intellect, is from the Light of the world.
In these days much is said concerning the nature and importance
of “higher education.” The true “higher education” is that imparted by
Him with whom “is wisdom and strength” (
Job 12:13
), out of whose
mouth “cometh knowledge and understanding.”
Proverbs 2:6
.
In a knowledge of God all true knowledge and real development
have their source. Wherever we turn, in the physical, the mental, or
the spiritual realm; in whatever we behold, apart from the blight of sin,
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