The Bible as a Text-book

November 21, 1899

“The Sermon. The Bible as a Text-book”  1 Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 76, 47, pp. 751, 752.

A.T. JONES

(Concluded).

WHOEVER understands the Bible best, knows most fully that it is the greatest and best book in the world. Its being the word of God, having the eternal thoughts of the eternal purpose of God,—the wisdom of God himself set down for our study and our education,—it could not be anything but the best book that there can possibly be—the greatest in every sense. And, then, whenever anybody gets the idea that to make the Bible first in all education would be a very small thing, that only says that to him the Bible has not yet become a very large thing. Only let all Seventh-day Adventists freely accept the fact that the Bible is the greatest thing in the world, and give it the place that it deserves in all education, then Christian education will soon show itself to be the greatest and best education in the world. ARSH November 21, 1899, page 751.1

Regard the Bible as the text-book, the basis of all study, in English literature. English literature as a study is regarded as essential in education to-day. I will not deny it. ARSH November 21, 1899, page 751.2

As to the language in which English literature is written, 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 the best English must study the English of the Bible. The Bible, being the purest English, should be the beginning and the basis of all study in English literature. In the Bible there is every phase of literature that is involved in expressing or describing human experience. This being true, it furnishes an immense advantage over all other matter in the study of English literature. ARSH November 21, 1899, page 751.3

Lord Macaulay speaks of 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 that there is in the Bible as the best English literature. ARSH November 21, 1899, page 751.4

But the transcendent value of the Bible as literature is that it is all true. Whereas, 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 prominence, even among people who profess the gospel, by simply preaching the gospel of the word of God, that can be gained by writing a novel: and especially if he writes two or three; and so demonstrates that he has special ability as a novelist. ARSH November 21, 1899, page 751.5

There is a notable instance of this just now before the American public. One of the most prominent of the novelists of the present day, before he became a novelist was a minister of the gospel. Secondarily he is yet a minister of the gospel. He had preached the gospel for years, and was just as able a preacher then as now; but, instead of his being then called from Europe to America, because he was an able preach of the gospel, it was never until he became a capital novelist that he had any special standing as a preacher of the gospel; that is, his standing as a minister of the gospel is made dependent on his popularity as a novelist. ARSH November 21, 1899, page 751.6

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 one who would receive a Christian education. ARSH November 21, 1899, page 751.7

Natural philosophy will be studied in Christian schools. Take, for instance, gravitation. The word “gravitation” is derived from the word gravitas, * signifying “weight.” The law of gravitation is the equilibrium—the system of balances—of the universe. It is the law by which each particle of matter in the universe draws with its full weight upon, attracts, or is balanced with, every other particle. Now a Bible text that is the basis of study on this whole subject is Isaiah 40:12, in which it is said that God has “comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance.” The hills are balanced with the mountains, the mountains with the earth, the earth with the tiny flower that grows from its bosom, and all with the grand universe throughout. ARSH November 21, 1899, page 751.8

Another text on this subject is Hebrews 1:1-3: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power.” His power is but another word for gravitation; for in science, gravitation is what holds all things up. Yet in the field of accepted science alone, that is as far as a student is generally allowed to go. He may ask, What holds all things up? The answer is, Gravitation. He then may ask, What is gravitation? And the answer usually is, That which holds all things up. But that is not a valid answer: it is only asking him to move in a circle, and find no goal. Now, in a Christian school, when it is taught that the law, or system of balances, according to which all things are held up and in their relative places, is gravitation, and then the question is asked, What is gravitation itself? the answer is, The power of God in his word. ARSH November 21, 1899, page 751.9

Then with these and other scriptures as the texts on gravitation, let the teacher lead the student as far afield in the vast realm of that subject as opportunity and facilities will allow. At every step of the way he is walking with God, and so is advancing in the way of true science and genuine philosophy. ARSH November 21, 1899, page 751.10

History, both national and church, is an essential study in Christian schools. And for universal history, national and church, from the flood until now and to the end of the world, the Bible is the one grand text-book. The Bible, as it stands from Genesis to the captivity to Babylon, 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 in national history, and Revelation in church history. ARSH November 21, 1899, page 751.11

You begin with the text in the Bible on the history of Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, or Rime, then all the history of that nation, whether in the Bible or out of it, is open to you for the study-book. And when once you really find this secret, you will be surprised to see how much history there is in the Bible alone. You will be surprised to find how much of the history of Babylon, of Medo-Persia, Grecia, or Rome, then all the history of that nation, whether in the Bible or out of it, is open to you for the study-book. And when once you really find this secret, you will be surprised to see how much history there is in the Bible alone. You will be surprised to find how much of the history of Babylon, of Medo-Persia, of Grecia, and of Rome is made plain in the Bible alone. Indeed, you will find that with the exception of the dates and the names of individuals, the whole history of the nation is told in a verse or two in the Bible. Take, for instance, Daniel 7:14: “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 tells the whole history of Babylon. ARSH November 21, 1899, page 751.12

Law is a subject that must be studied in Christian schools; and the Bible must be the only text-book. I do not mean law as the terms 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. 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 so plain in the Scriptures, especially in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. ARSH November 21, 1899, page 751.13

The truth is that every Seventh-day Adventist should read, over and over, simply for the principles of 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 re-read the sermon on the mount, and the first eight, and from the twelfth to the fourteenth, chapters of Romans. Every Seventh-day Adventist should read, over and over, these portions of Scripture. And especially should these portions be read over and over by every minister; every president of a Conference; every manager, superintendent, and foreman in every institution; every teacher in all the schools—especially by every one in responsible position in our ranks in all the world. ARSH November 21, 1899, page 751.14

This is essential. It is our life. It is only Christian education. Why should we slight it? ARSH November 21, 1899, page 751.15

Logic is a subject that must be studied in Christian schools. And the Bible must be the only text-book. I do not mean the logic of Aristotle, nor of any other man. I do not mean the logic that is in the books in the schools. I mean the logic that is manifested in the divine reasoning that is in the Bible.  I mean that 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 he not extended the invitation to all people, “Come now, and let us reason together”? What then shall be thought of professed Christian teachers and professed Christian schools that turn from the fountain of divine logic to drink from the turbid streams and stagnant pools of human reasoning? ARSH November 21, 1899, page 751.16

In these studies I have endeavored to set before you as fully as possible what is Christian education, and what is meant by the Bible as a text-book. I hope you begin to see that the thought of the Bible as a text-book in all Christian education has some consistency to it; and that the Bible as the basis of all education has the true philosophy in it. Not long ago a university graduate, who is now an editor of a prominent magazine in this country, was talking with me about this view of education. In a little while he caught the principle of it, and 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.” ARSH November 21, 1899, page 752.1

It is true. When we get God’s view of education, and carry it out in the Spirit and power of God, it is true that every Seventh-day Adventist school will be a university. It will not be called that, but it will be that; because the universal Book will be the text-book, and the universe itself will be the study-book. And with teachers who are guided and taught by the Spirit of the King and Author of the universe, what but universities can such schools be? ARSH November 21, 1899, page 752.2

Then, please do not allow any false alarm from those who do not understand the subject, to draw you away from your interest in Christian education in our schools. Instead, we need to put our whole souls into this, instead of holding it off at arm’s length, and eyeing it suspiciously. Take the Bible as the word of God; put your whole soul’s confidence in it, and trust God to lead you in his own way, into the education that he has chosen to give us in our own schools. It is high time that this were so. ARSH November 21, 1899, page 752.3

“He that is perfect in knowledge is with thee;” and “who teacheth like him?” ARSH November 21, 1899, page 752.4