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Fundamentals of Christian Education
When we aim at a low standard, we shall reach only a low standard.
We commend to every student the Book of books as the grandest
study for the human intelligence, as the education essential for this
life, and for eternal life. But I did not contemplate a letting down of
the educational standard in the study of the sciences. The light that
has been given on these subjects is clear, and should in no case be
disregarded. But if the word of God which giveth light, and giveth
understanding to the simple, had been welcomed into the mind and
the soul-temple, as a counselor, as a guide and instructor, the human
agent living by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,
there would have been no need of reproof because of the backslidings
of the students after the blessing of God had come to them in rich rays
of divine light, to glow in heaven’s holy fire upon the altar of their
hearts. Many allowed amusements to have the supremacy. This was
not the course that Daniel pursued in obtaining the education which
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revealed through him the supremacy of heavenly wisdom above all the
wisdom and knowledge of the highest schools in the courts of proud
Babylon. God opens the understanding of men in a marked manner
if His words are brought into the practical life of the student, and the
Bible is recognized as the precious, wonderful book that it is. Nothing
is to come between this book and the student as more essential; for it
is that wisdom which, brought into the practical life, makes men wise
through time and through eternity. God is revealed in nature; God is
revealed in His word. The Bible is the most wonderful of all histories,
for it is the production of God, not of the finite mind. It carries us back
through the centuries to the beginning of all things, presenting the
history of times and scenes which would otherwise never have been
known. It reveals the glory of God in the working of His providence
to save a fallen world. It presents in the simplest language the mighty
power of the gospel, which, received, would cut the chains that bind
men to Satan’s chariot.
The light shines from the sacred pages, in clear, glorious beams,
showing us God, the living God, as represented in the laws of His
government, in the creation of the world, in the heavens which He hath
garnished. His power is to be recognized as the only means of redeem-
ing a world from degrading superstitions which are so dishonoring
to God and man. Every student of the Bible who not only becomes
familiar with revealed truth through the education of the intellect, but