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    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 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.PBE 217.3

    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?PBE 218.1

    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.PBE 218.2

    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.PBE 218.3

    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 Colossians 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.PBE 219.1

    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.PBE 221.1

    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.”PBE 221.2

    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.PBE 221.3

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