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Fundamentals of Christian Education
at His noncompliance with popular customs, His education seemed of
a higher type than their own.
The life of Jesus gave evidence that He expected much, and there-
fore He attempted much. From His very childhood He was the true
light shining amid the moral darkness of the world. He revealed Him-
self as the truth, and the guide of men. His conceptions of truth and His
power to resist temptation were proportionate to His conformity to that
word which He himself had inspired holy men to write. Communion
with God, a complete surrender of the soul to Him, in fulfilling His
word irrespective of false education or the customs or traditions of His
time, marked the life of Jesus.
To be ever in a bustle of activity, seeking by some outward per-
formance to show their superior piety, was, in the estimation of the
rabbis, the sum of religion; while at the same time, by their constant
disobedience to God’s word, they were perverting the way of the Lord.
But the education that has God back of it, will lead men to seek after
God, “if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him.” The infinite
is not, and never will be, bound about by human organizations or hu-
man plans. Every soul must have a personal experience in obtaining
a knowledge of the will and ways of God. In all who are under the
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training of God is to be revealed a life that is not in harmony with the
world, its customs, its practice, or its experiences. Through study of
the Scriptures, through earnest prayer, they may hear His message to
them, “Be still and know that I am God.” When every other voice is
hushed, when every earthly interest is turned aside, the silence of the
soul makes more distinct the voice of God. Here rest is found in Him.
The peace, the joy, the life of the soul, is God.
When the child seeks to get nearest to his father, above every other
person, he shows his love, his faith, his perfect trust. And in the father’s
wisdom and strength the child rests in safety. So with the children of
God. The Lord bids us, “Look unto Me, and be ye saved!” “Come
unto Me, ... and I will give you rest.” “If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not;
and it shall be given him.”
“Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and
maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For
he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good
cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a