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Education
of knowledge of good and evil is manifest in every man’s experience.
There is in his nature a bent to evil, a force which, unaided, he cannot
resist. To withstand this force, to attain that ideal which in his inmost
soul he accepts as alone worthy, he can find help in but one power.
That power is Christ. Co-operation with that power is man’s greatest
need. In all educational effort should not this co-operation be the
highest aim?
The true teacher is not satisfied with second-rate work. He is
not satisfied with directing his students to a standard lower than the
highest which it is possible for them to attain. He cannot be content
with imparting to them only technical knowledge, with making them
merely clever accountants, skillful artisans, successful tradesmen. It is
his ambition to inspire them with principles of truth, obedience, honor,
integrity, and purity—principles that will make them a positive force
for the stability and uplifting of society. He desires them, above all
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else, to learn life’s great lesson of unselfish service.
These principles become a living power to shape the character,
through the acquaintance of the soul with Christ, through an acceptance
of His wisdom as the guide, His power as the strength, of heart and
life. This union formed, the student has found the Source of wisdom.
He has within his reach the power to realize in himself his noblest
ideals. The opportunities of the highest education for life in this world
are his. And in the training here gained, he is entering upon that course
which embraces eternity.
In the highest sense the work of education and the work of redemp-
tion are one, for in education, as in redemption, “other foundation can
no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” “It was the good
pleasure of the Father that in Him should all the fullness dwell.”
1
Corinthians 3:11
;
Colossians 1:19
, R.V.
Under changed conditions, true education is still conformed to the
Creator’s plan, the plan of the Eden school. Adam and Eve received
instruction through direct communion with God; we behold the light
of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Christ.
The great principles of education are unchanged. “They stand
fast for ever and ever” (
Psalm 3:8
); for they are the principles of the
character of God. To aid the student in comprehending these principles,
and in entering into that relation with Christ which will make them a
controlling power in the life, should be the teacher’s first effort and his