The English language and English literature must be studied in Christian schools: "Our own tongue, second to that of Greece alone in force and copiousness:" "our own literature, second to none that ever existed." And in this field, as in every other proper one, the Bible stands preeminent.
As to the language, the English of the Bible is the purest and best English that there is in the world. There are in the Bible more pure English words, and better English words, than in any other book in the English language. Then, whoever would become acquainted with the purest and best English must study the English of the Bible.
In the English of the Bible there is more said in fewer words than in any other writing in the world. This directness and forcefulness, this true weightiness, is the characteristic of the language of the Bible above that of all other writings. And the person whose vocabulary is composed most fully of the words, the phraseology, and the forthrightness of the Bible, will be the most, direct and forcible speaker or writer, will be able to say most in fewest words.
The Bible holds such an immense advantage over all other matter in English that to it belongs by true merit to be the beginning of all study in English literature, and the basis and guide of all study of English literature in other books. Yet this is not all. To say that the Bible is deservedly the beginning, basis, and guide in the study of English literature is not enough. The Bible in itself alone is a whole English Literature. This truth has been best expressed by Macaulay, in his allusion to the Bible as "that stupendous work, the English Bible-a Book which, if everything else in our language should perish, would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power."-Essay on Dryden." No one who is acquainted with the English Bible, and the spirit of it, and with other literature in English, will question for a moment this estimate of the wealth of the Bible as English Literature. In the Bible there is every phase of literature that is involved in the art of human expression, or in the portrayal of human feeling. And the transcendent merit of the Bible in all this is that it is all true. Its scenes are all adopted from real life, and are drawn to the life. They are not "founded on fact:" they are fact.
On the other hand, how much of that which is studied to-day as English literature, in the schools, colleges, and universities, is true? Is not nine-tenths of it fiction? And is it not the fictional that stands the highest in these schools, as literature? What can give a man prominence to-day in the world of English literature more quickly than the writing of a popular novel? Even a minister of the gospel, an earnest, godly, powerful minister of the gospel, never can gain the promirience, even among people who profess the gospel, by simply preaching the gospel of the Word of God, that he is assured of by the writing of a popular novel: and especially if he writes two or three, and so demonstrates that he has special ability as a novelist. That is to say, his standing as a minister of the Word of God, which is truth, is made to be dependent on his popularity as a producer of fiction !
Now which is better, which is the more Christian for Christians, or for a Christian school-to study English literature that is inferior in quality, and is fictional besides, or to study it in that "Book which, if everything else in our language should perish, would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power," and which, in addition, is all the very perfection of truth-the truth of God? To ask the question is certainly only to answer it, in the mind of every Christian and in the mind of every person who would receive a Christian education.
When this can all truly be said of the Bible as compared with the literature of Christendom, what shall not be said of it in contrast to the literature of paganism? "It has come to be generally recognized that the classics of Greece and Rome stand to us in the position of an ancestral literature,-the inspiration of our great masters, and bond of common association between our poets and their readers. But does not such a position belong equally to the literature of the Bible? If our intellect and imagination have been formed by the Greeks, have we not in similar fashion drawn our moral and emotional training from Hebrew thought? Whence, then, the neglect of the Bible in our higher schools and colleges?
"It is one of the curiosities of our civilization that we are content to go for our liberal education to literatures which, morally, are at an opposite pole from ourselves: literatures in which the most exalted tone is often an apotheosis of the sensuous, which degrade divinity, not only to the human level, but to the lowest level of humanity. Our hardest social problem being temperance, we study in Greek the glorification of intoxication. While in mature life we are occupied in tracing law to the remotest corner of the universe, we go at school for literary impulse to the poetry that dramatizes the burden of hopeless fate. Our highest politics aim at conserving the arts of peace; our first poetic lessons are in an Iliad that can not be appreciated without a bloodthirsty joy in killing. We seek to form a character in which delicacy and reserve shall be supreme, and at the same time are training our taste in literatures which, if published as English books, would be seized by the police.
"I recall these paradoxes, not to make objection, but to suggest the reasonableness of the claim that the one side of our liberal education should have another side to balance it. Prudish fears may be unwise, but there is no need to put an embargo upon decency. It is surely good that our youth, during the formative period, should have displayed to them, in a literary dress as brilliant as that of Greek literature-in lyrics which Pindar can not surpass, in rhetoric as forcible as that of Demosthenes, or contemplative prose not inferior to Plato's-a people dominated by an utter passion for righteousness, a people whom ideas of purity, of infinite good, of universal order, of faith in the irresistible downfall of all moral evil, moved to a poetic passion as fervid, and speech as musical, as when Sappho sang of love or Aeschylus thundered his deep notes of destiny."
It has been truly said of the book of Isaiah alone, that, "It may be safely asserted that nowhere else in the literature of the world have so many colossally great ideas been brought together within the limits of a single work." This can be extended to include the whole) Bible, and it still be equally true.
So also the following: "Even in literary form the world has produced nothing greater than Isaiah; and the very difficulty of determining its literary form is so much evidence how cramped and imperfect literary criticism has been made by the confinement of its out- look to the single type of literature which has come to monopolize the name 'classical.' But when we proceed to the matter and thought of Isaiah-the literary matter, quite apart from the theology founded on it- how can we explain the neglect of such a masterpiece in our plans of liberal education?
"It is the boast, of England and America that their higher education is religious in its spirit. Why is it, then, that our youth are taught to associate exquisiteness of expression, force of presentation, brilliance of imaginative picturing, only with literatures in which the prevailing matter and thought are on a low moral plane? Such a paradox is part of the paganism which came in with the Renaissance, and which our higher education is still too conservative to shake off."
Shall it be that Christians in their education will still refuse to shake off this paganism? Shall not the supreme Christian literature-the Bible-have its own supreme place alone at every stage and in every phase of Christian education?
History
History, both national and church, as separate, as related and as interrelated, is an essential study in all Christian schools. And for the study of universal history, of national history, and of church history, from the Flood until now, and to the end of the world, the Bible is the one grand text-book, the Book of fundamental and sure-guiding principles. There alone are given the origin and distribution of the race. There alone are given the origin and causes of history. There alone are given the origin and causes of civil government, of the state, of monarchy, of empire.
"The God of nature has written His existence in all His works, and His law in the heart of man." He has written His character in the Bible and His providence amongst the nations. He "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;" "He divided to the nations their inheritance;" "that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us." "God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God." "There is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God." "He is the Governor among the nations." "The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will." "He removeth kings, and setteth up kings;" "calling from a far country the man that executeth His counsel."
"History, therefore, with its dusty and moldering pages, is to us as sacred a volume as the book of nature;" for history properly studied is but the study of the progress of the grand purposes of God through all the vicissitudes of man and the nations. History thus studied is found to be far more than a record of marches, battles, and sieges in the rise and fall of nations: far more than the story of the Nimrods, the Pharaohs, the Alexanders, Caesars, and Napoleons. All these events and persons will be found to be but incidents in the far greater story of the significance of events, and of the real meaning of the life of man and nations on the earth: only incidental to the grand philosophy of things that is over all and through all and in all. "History" has been aptly defined as "philosophy teaching by example." But upon this as upon other subjects the important question is, What philosophy? Shall it be a human philosophy conjured up and read into the "example," or extracted from the example? or shall it be the divine philosophy revealed and preceding all, and so being really philosophy teaching, and philosophy really teaching, by example? In the Bible alone is found the philosophy of universal history.
In history as in other studies the Bible supplies the text, stating the principle, the leading fact, or a symbolical description, each of which contains a volume: this for the text and guide, then all that can be found in the Bible, in native inscriptions, or in any other writings on that subject, will be the study-book. The Bible, as it stands from Genesis to the captivity to Babylon, is the true text-book of the history, both, national and church, of that period. From the captivity to Babylon to the end of the world, that portion of the Bible from the captivity to Babylon unto the end of the Book is the text-book of the whole history, both national and church. And in this portion of the Bible the books of Daniel and Revelation are the keys: Daniel especially to national history, and Revelation especially to church history.
When once this secret of history is found, he who finds it will be surprised to find how much of the history of the world there is in the Bible alone. Instances will be found in which, with the exception of dates and individual names, the whole history of a nation is told in from one to half a dozen verses in the Bible. Take, for instance, Dan. 7:4: "The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it." That one verse tells the whole history of the Babylonian Empire. And when all that has been elsewhere written on that subject has been read, it will be found that, though more specific facts and details and the names of men are told, not more of the truth of the story is told than is couched in the symbolism of that one verse. Indeed it will be found that all that is elsewhere written of the history of the Babylonian Empire is truly but the filling in of the expressive outline thus drawn. There are in the Bible enough other such instances to make a book; but this is sufficient to illustrate the principle of the Bible as the text-book and guide in the study of history.
Law
Law is a subject that must be studied in Christian schools; and the Bible must be the only text-book- not law as the term is used and generally understood by lawyers and judges in earthly courts; but as the term is used and understood by the Judge in the Court of heaven-law as it is in the divine principles of justice and righteousness: law as it is involved in the guilt and the justification, the sin and the forgiveness, of man.
This study is also essential for the instruction of youth in the principles of daily conduct. It is painful to see the indifference of professed Christians to the principles of daily justice and righteousness between man and man as they are made perfectly plain in the Scriptures, especially in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.
The truth is that every Christian should read, over and over, simply for the principles of daily justice and fair and honest dealing, Exodus 20-24; Leviticus 19, 25; and the book of Deuteronomy; until these principles become his very life; then read and reread the sermon on the mount, and the first eight, and from the twelfth to the fourteenth, chapters of Romans. All this as the study of law as such, in the fundamental principles of law that must be manifested in the conduct of the daily affairs of Christian life and Christian business. Every Christian, and especially every Christian who occupies any position of responsibility or trust in institutions or business of either God or men, should read over and over these portions of Scripture. These principles faithfully inculcated upon the minds and graven upon the hearts of youth in school, will be worth a thousand times more both to them and to the world than can be all the human law in the world.
Logic
Logic must be studied in Christian schools. And the Bible must be the only text-book; not the logic of Aristotle, or of any other man; not the formal logic that is in the books; but the logic that is manifested in the divine reasoning that, is in the Bible. That is, the Word of God must be studied, until the very thoughts in that Word shall become the thoughts of the one who studies; until the reasoning, the logic, of the Word of God shall be his reasoning; yea, till the very mind that gave the Word of God shall become his mind.
This only is Christian logic. And only such study as this is the study of Christian logic. In this the Bible is not only the text-book, but also the study-book. For is it possible to find truer logic, sounder reasoning, than in the divine reasoning? And has not the Author of reason extended the invitation to all people, "Come now, and let us reason together"? What more blessed invitation, what higher honor, what, grander prospect, than this could ever be placed before a reasoning mind?
However, the time would fail us to take up every subject within the field of true knowledge and education : we can not exhaust the Bible as the true educational Book. But it is earnestly hoped that what has in these pages been presented may awaken attention, and turn the allegiance of Christians to the Bible in its true place in education. For it is literally true that there is nothing in the world that can create mental capacity and give intellectual power as will the study of the Word of God as pleaded for in this book.
One of the defenses that is offered in behalf of the study of the pagan "classics" in the face of their essential immorality, is that "the idea is not that the student shall gather the philosophy, or the instruction, that is in this literature; but it is used primarily as the best means of developing the mind, of creating mental vigor, of increasing intellectual power." For the occasion let the validity of this plea be admitted. A student is conducted through that course unto its completion. Suppose the impossible, that he has been successful in excluding from his mind the immoral substance of the matter studied; and has attained the full benefit of its power to create capacity. What must be the result? -A superior capacity; but what is in it? He has the capacity, if you will; but as for any real good, it is empty. And let nobody ever forget that with mankind as it is in this world, and especially in these days, every degree of capacity that is ever created and not filled with that which is good, will inevitably be occupied with that which is not good. And therein lies the perniciousness of the proposition that the years of the most receptive and formative period in the lives of youth can be largely spent in literatures that are essentially immoral, and yet the immorality that is in the very substance of the literature find no place in their minds! That can no more be so than that they can carry fire in their bosoms and they not be burned, or handle pitch and they not be defiled.
The true philosophy of education is to develop capacity only with the good; and to develop it no faster than can it be filled with the good, the useful, and the practical. Let Christians hold only to the education that will put into the mind only that which is good, true, useful, and practical. The Bible as the basis of all education and the text-book in every line of study, will assure this. The philosophy of it is this: Christian education, true education, is of faith. Faith comes by the Word of God. As this faith which comes by the Word of God is exercised in the Word of God and upon the Word of God, it "groweth exceedingly," and thus develops capacity on its own part. On the other side, the righteousness of God is revealed to each degree of the exercise and development of faith: "from faith to faith.'' And the righteousness of God is an expanding principle. Thus capacity is developed also from that side. And so the capacity being developed from the side of the individual by the exercise and exceeding growth of faith, and from the side of God by the expanding power of the righteousness of God revealed to each degree of exceedingly growing faith; with no degree of capacity developed that is not filled to the full with the supremely good and true; and this all accomplished through the Word of God; the Bible thus stands as the greatest educating power in the world. And the Scripture text that expresses the principle is Col. 1:9, 10: I cease not "to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." "Filled" and yet "increasing:" ever "filled" and ever "increasing," unto the being "filled with all the fulness of God." Thus the Bible as the basis of all education has the true philosophy in it.
Christian education is more than the cultivation of the intellectual part of man: it is the cultivation of the moral as supreme, and the highest possible cultivation of the intellectual only as tributary to the supremely moral. Yet neither is it the cultivation of only the intellectual and the moral: it is also the cultivation of the physical as well. And this, too, as tributary to both the intellectual and the moral. Morality is the only security in education. And Christianity is the only true morality. Christian education, therefore, is the symmetrical and the highest possible cultivation of every faculty,-physical, intellectual, and moral,-in order to glorify God on the earth, and finish the work that He has given Christians to do.
One day the writer and a graduate of a prominent university, who was at the time also the editor of a leading magazine in the United States, were talking together of the principles and view of education that are now presented in this book. When the principle of it was clearly caught, the university graduate and editor exclaimed: "Why, with such a system as that in full operation, every one of your schools will be a university; and every teacher will be a genius-he will have to be."
It is true. When Christians truly get God's view of education, and carry it out in the Spirit and power of God, it is true that every Christian school will be a university. It will not be called that, for those Christians will hold modest views of their abilities and attainments ; but it will be that. With the universal Book as the text-book; with the universe itself as the study-book; with the universal Teacher as the Head of each school; and with teachers who are guided and taught by the universal Spirit; what but true universities can such schools be? The greatest consideration in it all is that in this way the student is always living and thinking and walking and working with God. And that alone is a university.