EDUCATION
“_That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a palace_”
Education
BY ELLEN G. WHITE
“The knowledge of the Holy is understanding”
Pacific Press Publishing Company
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA NEW YORK SAN FRANCISCO LONDON
_Entered According to Act of Congress in the year 1903 by MRS. E. G. WHITE In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. All Rights Reserved_
Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London, England
TO PARENTS, TEACHERS, AND STUDENTS,
_all pupils in earth’s preparatory school, this book is dedicated. May it aid them in securing life’s greatest benefits, development and joy in service here, and thus a fitness for that wider service, the “higher course” open to every human being in the school of the hereafter._
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
Page FIRST PRINCIPLES
Source and Aim of True Education 13
The Eden School 20
The Knowledge of Good and Evil 23
Relation of Education to Redemption 28
ILLUSTRATIONS
The Education of Israel 33
The Schools of the Prophets 45
Lives of Great Men 51
THE MASTER TEACHER
The Teacher Sent from God 73
An Illustration of His Methods 84
NATURE TEACHING
God in Nature 99
Lessons of Life 102
Other Object Lessons 113
THE BIBLE AS AN EDUCATOR
Mental and Spiritual Culture 123
Science and the Bible 128
Business Principles and Methods 135
Bible Biographies 146
Poetry and Song 159
Mysteries of the Bible 169
History and Prophecy 173
Bible Teaching and Study 185
PHYSICAL CULTURE
Study of Physiology 195
Temperance and Dietetics 202
Recreation 207
Manual Training 214
CHARACTER-BUILDING
Education and Character 225
Methods of Teaching 230
Deportment 240
Relation of Dress to Education 246
The Sabbath 250
Faith and Prayer 253
The Life-Work 262
THE UNDER-TEACHER
Preparation 275
Co-operation 283
Discipline 287
THE HIGHER COURSE
The School of the Hereafter 301
SCRIPTURAL INDEX 311
GENERAL INDEX 315
FIRST PRINCIPLES
“_We, reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory_”
Source and Aim of True Education
“THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY IS UNDERSTANDING;” “ACQUAINT NOW THYSELF WITH HIM”
[Sidenote: _What Is Education?_]
Our ideas of education take too narrow and too low a range. There is need of a broader scope, a higher aim. True education means more than the pursual of a certain course of study. It means more than a preparation for the life that now is. It has to do with the whole being, and with the whole period of existence possible to man. It is the harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers. It prepares the student for the joy of service in this world, and for the higher joy of wider service in the world to come.
[Sidenote: _Its Source_]
The source of such an education is brought to view in these words of Holy Writ, pointing to the Infinite One: In Him “are hid all the treasures of wisdom.”[1] “He hath counsel and understanding.”[2]
The world has had its great teachers, men of giant intellect and extensive research, men whose utterances have stimulated thought, and opened to view vast fields of knowledge; and these men have been honored as guides and benefactors of their race; but there is One who stands higher than they. We can trace the line of the world’s teachers as far back as human records extend; but the Light was before them. As the moon and the stars of our solar system shine by the reflected light of the sun, so, as far as their teaching is true, do the world’s great thinkers reflect the rays of the Sun of Righteousness. Every gleam of thought, every flash of the intellect, is from the Light of the world.
[Sidenote: _The True “Higher Education”_]
In these days much is said concerning the nature and importance of “higher education.” The true “higher education” is that imparted by Him with whom “is wisdom and strength;”[3] out of whose mouth “cometh knowledge and understanding.”[4]
In a knowledge of God, all true knowledge and real development have their source. Wherever we turn, in the physical, the mental, or the spiritual realm; in whatever we behold, apart from the blight of sin, this knowledge is revealed. Whatever line of investigation we pursue, with a sincere purpose to arrive at truth, we are brought in touch with the unseen, mighty Intelligence that is working in and through all. The mind of man is brought into communion with the mind of God, the finite with the Infinite. The effect of such communion on body and mind and soul is beyond estimate.
[Sidenote: _Education in Eden_]
In this communion is found the highest education. It is God’s own method of development. “Acquaint now thyself with Him,”[5] is His message to mankind. The method outlined in these words was the method followed in the education of the father of our race. When in the glory of sinless manhood Adam stood in holy Eden, it was thus that God instructed him.
In order to understand what is comprehended in the work of education, we need to consider both the nature of man and the purpose of God in creating him. We need to consider also the change in man’s condition through the coming in of a knowledge of evil, and God’s plan for still fulfilling His glorious purpose in the education of the human race.
[Sidenote: _God’s Purpose for Man_]
When Adam came from the Creator’s hand, he bore, in his physical, mental, and spiritual nature, a likeness to his Maker. “God created man in His own image,”[6] and it was His purpose that the longer man lived, the more fully he should reveal this image,—the more fully reflect the glory of the Creator. All his faculties were capable of development; their capacity and vigor were continually to increase. Vast was the scope offered for their exercise; glorious the field opened to their research. The mysteries of the visible universe—the “wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge”[7]—invited man’s study. Face-to-face, heart-to-heart communion with his Maker was his high privilege. Had he remained loyal to God, all this would have been his forever. Throughout eternal ages he would have continued to gain new treasures of knowledge, to discover fresh springs of happiness, and to obtain clearer and yet clearer conceptions of the wisdom, the power, and the love of God. More and more fully would he have fulfilled the object of his creation, more and more fully have reflected the Creator’s glory.
[Sidenote: _Marred and Restored_]
But by disobedience this was forfeited. Through sin the divine likeness was marred, and well-nigh obliterated. Man’s physical powers were weakened, his mental capacity was lessened, his spiritual vision dimmed. He had become subject to death. Yet the race was not left without hope. By infinite love and mercy the plan of salvation had been devised, and a life of probation was granted. To restore in man the image of his Maker, to bring him back to the perfection in which he was created, to promote the development of body, mind, and soul, that the divine purpose in his creation might be realized,—this was to be the work of redemption. This is the object of education, the great object of life.
[Sidenote: _Love the Basis of Education_]
Love, the basis of creation and of redemption, is the basis of true education. This is made plain in the law that God has given as the guide of life. The first and great commandment is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.”[8] To love Him, the infinite, the omniscient One, with the whole strength, and mind, and heart, means the highest development of every power. It means that in the whole being—the body, the mind, as well as the soul—the image of God is to be restored.