Chapter II: The Ministry of the God-Man (1)

[Sidenote: Jesus as a teacher]

One of the gifts of the Spirit is that of teaching, and Christ was a born teacher. Acquired ability amounts to but little where the spirit of teaching is wanting. Christ was a teacher both by virtue of His nationality, since all Jews were called to be teachers, and also by direct appointment; for He had to accomplish in His own life what the nation had refused to accomplish. He carried with Him no credentials, no statement of scholarship signed by the doctors of Israel, for none of these schools had known Him as a pupil; yet Nicodemus, a master teacher in Jerusalem, after listening to His words, sought Him in the quiet evening hours, and addressed Him as _Rabbi_,—TEACHER. In the course of the conversation this learned man said, “We know that thou art a divine teacher, for no man can do as Thou except God be with him.” It was as a teacher, and more, as a divine teacher, that He was known from the very beginning of His ministry. His ministry was a ministry of _teaching_. He was known as a teacher, not so much by the words He spoke as by the _life He lived_, and the works He did.

[Sidenote: As a teacher, success depended upon the life]

The words of Bushnell are true: “We can see for ourselves in the simple directions and freedom of His teachings, that whatever He advances is from Himself.” He was giving Himself, and that He had a self, a divine self, to give is _due to the education of the child and youth_. God’s image was perfect in Him, and when the time of ministry came, there shone from Him what previous years had been developing in Him. THIS IS THE OBJECT OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. The same author further says: “He is the high-priest ... of the divine nature, speaking as one that has come out from God, and _has nothing to borrow from the world_. It is not to be detected ... that the _human sphere in which He moved imparted anything to Him_. His teachings are just as full of _divine nature_, as Shakespeare’s of human.” What a commentary on the two systems of education, the one choosing _inspiration_ as a basis; the other, the product of the human brain!

[Sidenote: He taught as one having authority]

Bushnell continues: “In His teaching He does not speculate about God, as a school professor, drawing out conclusions by a practice on words, and deeming that the way of proof; He does not build up a frame of evidence from below, by some constructive process, such as the philosophers delight in; but He simply speaks of God and spiritual things as one who has come out from Him, _to tell us what He knows_. And His simple telling brings us the reality; proves it to us in its own sublime self-evidence; awakens even the consciousness of it in our own bosom; so that formal arguments or dialectic proofs _offend us by their coldness_, and seem, in fact, to be only opaque substances set between us and the light. Indeed, He makes even the world luminous by His words—fills it with an immediate and new sense of God, which nothing has ever been able to expel. The incense of the upper world is brought out in His garments, and flows abroad, as perfume, on the poisoned air.” And no wonder, for from a child He had breathed the atmosphere of heaven. _Every child should have the same privilege._

[Sidenote: Principles of Christ’s education]

When the two teachers, Christ and Nicodemus, the representatives of two systems of education, the divine and the worldly, met, Christ outlined to his questioner the principles upon which His system was based:[48]—

1. Its primary object is to prepare its pupils for the kingdom of God, a spiritual kingdom.

2. The first step is a spiritual birth; for “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship in spirit.” “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

3. This the natural man can not understand, for it is spiritually discerned. As well might I try to explain it to you, Nicodemus, as to explain the blowing of the winds; you can see the results, but the truth can not be grasped by the senses. Do you pose as a teacher in Israel, and know not these things? “If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?” I have but begun to tell you of the plan of the Father. There are yet many things, “but ye can not bear them now.”

4. The things I teach are as light in the darkness. “Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, ... but he that doeth truth cometh to the light.” It is thus that I distinguish true scholars from the false. When truth is offered, some believe, and whosoever believes in the Son of man shall have eternal life.

Nicodemus said: “How _can_ these things be?” He longed for proof, for demonstration. “_Proof_ is indeed the method of science, including theology; it has, no doubt, a function in religious teaching; but _it is not the method of the highest form of religious teaching_. The fundamental truths of religion are directly revealed to the human consciousness, and are not argued out or logically established.... _The greatest religious truths lie deeper than formal reasoning._ This is the reason why the _greatest religious teachers have worked below the proposition-and-proof level_; as said before, they have something of the prophetic gift. It may be added that no preacher [or teacher] who works mainly on this line will attract the most religious minds; he will not attract even those who have the piety of the intellect, to say nothing of the piety of the affections and the will. He may develop logical acumen, critical ability, and controversial power, but he will prove unequal to the generation of spirituality.... Such a minister will be sure to lead his flock into the error that is now far too common,—of assigning a disproportionate place in religious faith and life to the understanding, to the partial exclusion of the heart.”[49]

[Sidenote: His pupils]

His actual work as a teacher is seen in His dealings, first, with the apostles, His immediate followers, who were in training that they in turn might become teachers; second, with the multitudes who thronged His way; third, with the children who were brought to Him by mothers, and who were taught by Him, that mothers and apostles might the better know how to deal with youthful minds. Primarily, His was a training-school for workers, and His pupils represented every phase of human disposition. He chose humble fishermen, because their minds were unprejudiced, and they had less to unlearn before accepting the truth. “He knew what was in man.” That is, He had insight into the minds and hearts, and knew just what was needed to awaken the soul-life of each student. This is a necessary gift in the successful teacher. How much that is now taught would be dispensed with if teachers could read the soul conditions of pupils, and then feed them with only such food as would nourish. _This, too, is Christian education._ Before the teacher can have such an experience, however, he must have soul culture, and be in such close touch with the fountain of truth that he can draw whatever is needed. The well is deep, _and faith alone can bring the water of life to the surface_.[50]

[Sidenote: His schoolroom the country.]

With His chosen apostles, Christ “_withdrew from the confusion of the city to the quiet of the fields and hills_ as more in harmony with the lessons of self-abnegation he desired to teach them.... Here, surrounded by the works of his own creation, he could turn the thoughts of his hearers _from the artificial to the natural_.” Those schools to-day which are located in some quiet country place afford the best opportunities for education.

[Sidenote: Text-books]

The books used seem to be two, and only two: _the writings of the prophets_ and _the great book of nature_. Hinsdale says: “Scripture furnishes the basis of His teaching.... It is impossible to say how many distinct recognitions of Scripture are found in His teachings, but the number and range are both large.... One of the most interesting of these [methods] is his constant habit of expanding Scripture, or, as we might say, of reading into it new meanings. He thus treats not merely prophetic passages, but also dogmatic passages; moreover, His meanings are sometimes new, not merely to the Jewish teachers, but also to the authors of the passages themselves.”[51] This was because the teacher was led by the Spirit of truth, which guides into all truth.

[Sidenote: His system emphasized the practical]

It must be remembered that this instruction was given to men of mature minds, and tended to fit them to become teachers of all men in whatever station. Probably none of the apostles were under thirty. They were men who had become settled in a life work. John, the youngest, was most susceptible to spiritual teaching, and at length developed this nature so fully that his spirit left his body in vision.[52] Painter expresses well the method of instruction followed by Christ. He says: “He observes the order of nature, and seeks only a gradual development,—‘first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.’ With His disciples, He insists chiefly upon the _practical_ and _fundamental_ truths of religion, _building_, as it were, a substantial framework in the beginning, which the Holy Spirit was to conduct afterward to a harmonious and beautiful completion.”[53]

[Sidenote: Visible results of His teaching]

It was thus that all the truths we call doctrines were taught. The lesson on the resurrection was at the tomb of Lazarus; the one on Sabbath observance was in the synagogue, healing the withered hand, or bidding the dumb to speak. “One finds in His program,” says a French writer, “neither literary studies nor course of theology. And yet, strange as it may seem, when the moment of action arrives, the disciples—those unlettered fishermen—have become orators that move the multitudes and confound the doctors; profound thinkers that have sounded the Scriptures and the human heart; writers that give to the world immortal books in a language not their mother tongue.” If the worth of a system of education is to be judged by results, the world must hold its peace when looking upon the work of Christ. Astonishment will again take hold of men when Christians return to His methods. Of His reference to nature we have no need to write, for His parables are the wonder of the ages, and take a unique position in the literature of all times. Christ was not, as many other teachers, a writer of books. His writing was on the hearts of men. He spoke, and the vibratory waves set in motion have continued until to-day, and still beat upon our hearts. The soul of the spiritually minded hears, and men to-day become pupils of the Man of Nazareth as verily as did Peter, James, and John.

[Sidenote: Indications of a completed course]

A student was ready to go forth from Christ’s teachings to open the truth to others only when he could say, “Lo, now speakest Thou plainly.... Now we are sure that Thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask Thee. By this we believe that Thou camest forth from God.”[54] With the multitudes He did a work similar to that with the disciples; but because they were coming and going, He could not do the same thorough work. His teaching, however, was _always practical_, and the farmer went to his field a better man, seeing God in the growing grain; the fisherman returned to his nets with the thought ringing in his mind that he should be a fisher of men; the mother returned to her home recognizing her children as younger members of God’s family, and with a strong desire to teach as He taught. The tendency always in all His teaching was to arouse thought, to awaken soul-longings, and cause hearts to beat with a new life fed from above. Standing between heaven and earth of the musical scale, His life vibrated in unison with those higher notes of the universes circling round His Father’s throne, and with His human arm He encircled the world, imparting to beings here the same life, striving always to bring them into tune with the Infinite. “I, if I be lifted up,” He said, “will draw all men unto Me.”

IX

EDUCATION IN THE EARLY CHURCH

[Sidenote: The church to teach all nations]

“I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify [teach] them through Thy truth.”[55] As He lifted His eyes to heaven in those moments of quiet, just before entering Gethsemane, these words fell from the lips of the Son of man. Looking upon the little company of men clustering around Him, He saw in them the nucleus of the church which was to be called by His name, and His heart yearned for that body of Christians. Many and fierce would be their struggles; for He had breathed into the hearts of men a system of instruction which, because it was truth, would awaken all the bitterness of the enemy of truth; and the new system must be able to resist all the darts which human minds, swayed by the prince of evil, could hurl. _Divine philosophy must meet and vanquish human philosophy_. That was now the controversy, and it was left to a few weak men to start the work. What power was in that Spirit of truth with which they were baptized! His commission to this same company, as they watched Him recede from earth on the day of His ascension, was, “Go ye therefore, and _teach_ all nations.” They, the true Israel, were now to become teachers of nations.

Recognizing the difficulties to be met, He had, on another occasion, said: “I send you forth as sheep among wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and simple as doves.” In no boasted philosophy, no high-sounding words, but in _simplicity of truth, was to lie their strength_. Of the works of the apostles and those who believed on Christ through their teaching, we have this divine testimony, “I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast labored and hast not fainted.”[56] It is therefore evident that a great work was done, and that very speedily; for again Inspiration describes it: “Behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; ... and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.”[57] Men, though admonished to be as harmless as doves, were nevertheless, when teachers of truth, enabled to make themselves felt in the world.

[Sidenote: A call from popular education]

To accept Christianity in those early days meant the withdrawal from everything before cherished; it meant not only the separation from heathenism in worship, or Babylon, but also _from heathenism in thought_ and education, or _Egypt_. It was a second exodus. Justin Martyr, a Christian born near the close of the first century, is quoted by Painter, as he describes the life of a follower of Christ: “We who once delighted in lewdness now embrace chastity; we who once embraced magical arts, have consecrated ourselves to the good and unbegotten God; we who loved above all things the gain of money and possessions, now bring all that we have into one common stock, and give a portion to everyone that needs; we who once hated and killed one another, now pray for our enemies.”

With this spirit in the church we are not surprised to find that in the words of Coleman, “_The tender solicitude of these early Christians for the religious instruction of their children is one of their most beautiful characteristics._ They taught them, even at the earliest dawn of intelligence, the sacred names of God and the Saviour. They sought to lead the infant minds of their children up to God, by familiar narratives from Scripture, of Joseph, of young Samuel, of Josiah, and of the holy child Jesus. The history of the patriarchs and prophets, apostles, and men whose lives are narrated in the sacred volume, _were the nursery tales_ with which they sought to form the tender minds of their children. As the mind of the child expanded, the parents made it their sacred duty and delightful task daily to exercise him in the recital of select passages of scripture relating to the doctrines and duties of religion. The Bible was the entertainment of the fireside. It _was the first, the last, the only schoolbook almost, of the child_; and sacred psalmody, the only song with which his infant cry was hushed as he was lulled to rest on his mother’s arm. The sacred song and the rude melody of its music were, from the earliest periods of Christian antiquity, an important means of impressing the infant heart with sentiments of piety, and of imbuing the susceptible minds of the young with the knowledge and the faith of the Scriptures.”

[Sidenote: True education developed missionaries]

Painter writes: “The purpose of these early Christian parents, as of the ancient Jews, was to train up their children in the fear of God. In order that the children might be exposed as little as possible to the corrupting influence of heathen associations, _their education was conducted within the healthful precincts of home_. AS A RESULT, they grew up without a taste for debasing pleasures; they acquired simple domestic tastes; and when the time came, they took their place as consistent and earnest workers in the church.”[58] These words make several facts very prominent:—

_1._ _Christian education should begin in the home._

_2._ _Bible stories should be the basis for nursery tales and infant songs._

_3._ _Christians should carry out the plan of education which the Jews failed to obey, and which Christ revealed in a new light._

_4._ _The results of such Christian education in the home school will be elevated characters and workers in the cause of God._

Would that it could be said of Christian mothers to-day, as a heathen orator once exclaimed concerning those early followers of Christ, “What wives these Christians have!”

[Sidenote: The duty of parents]

One of the early Fathers thus expresses the danger of children and youth in the schools of the world, and shows the character of the education needed: “Mothers ought to care for the bodies of their children, but it is necessary also that they inspire their offspring with love for the good and with fear toward God. And fathers will not limit themselves to giving their children an earthly vocation, but will interest themselves also in their heavenly calling.

“The most beautiful heritage that can be given children is to teach them to govern their passions.... Let us have for our children the same fear that we have for our houses, when servants go with a light into places where there is inflammable material, as hay or straw. They should not be permitted to go where the fire of impurity may be kindled in their hearts, and do them an irreparable injury. A KNOWLEDGE OF THE SCRIPTURES IS AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST THE UNREASONABLE INCLINATIONS OF YOUTH AND AGAINST THE READING OF PAGAN AUTHORS, in which heroes, the slaves of every passion, are lauded. _The lessons of the Bible are springs that water the soul._ As our children are everywhere surrounded by bad examples, the monastic schools [what would correspond to-day with church schools] are the best for their education. _Bad habits once contracted, they can not be got rid of._ This is the reason God conducted Israel into the wilderness, ... that the vices of the Egyptians might be unlearned.... Now our children are surrounded by vice in our cities and are unable there to resist bad examples.... _Let us take care of the souls of our children_, that they may be formed for virtue, and not be degraded by vice.”

This writer might well address a modern audience, for he recognizes the influence of pagan authors, and states that the Bible alone can counteract this influence; _he recognizes the worldly schools as Egypt_, and says that Christians should take their children out; and finally he recognizes the value of having schools located in the country, and advises people to move out of the cities with their children.

[Sidenote: Church schools among early Christians]

Mosheim says: “There can be no doubt but that the children of Christians were carefully trained up from their infancy, and were early put to reading the sacred books and learning the principles of religion. For this purpose _schools_ were erected everywhere from the beginning.”[59]

[Sidenote: Training schools for missionaries]

From these schools for children, we must distinguish those _seminaries_ of the early Christians, erected extensively in the larger cities, at which adults, and especially _such as aspired to be public teachers_, were instructed and educated in all branches of learning, both human and divine. Such seminaries, in which young men devoted to the sacred office were taught whatever was necessary to qualify them properly for it, the apostles of Christ undoubtedly both set up themselves, and directed others to set up.[60] St. John, at Ephesus, and Polycarp, at Smyrna, established such schools. Among these seminaries, in subsequent times, none was more celebrated than that at Alexandria; which is commonly called a catechetic school.[61] In addition, then, to home and church schools for children, the early Christian church established seminaries for the education of workers. In reading the history of the times the course of instruction is seen to adhere closely to the Scriptures, and to draw a sharp distinction between the science of salvation and the Greek and Oriental philosophy as taught in the pagan schools.

[Sidenote: Pagans feared Christian schools]

Christian education was often regarded as narrow and limited by those who loved to study the mysteries of Greek wisdom; but as long as they adhered to their simple studies, and made faith the basis of their work, there was a power in the truths taught by the students of these schools, which made the pagan world, with all its great men, tremble. It is an interesting fact that as late as the fourth century, after the Christian schools had lost much of their power through the mingling of pagan with Christian methods, and the adoption of some of the pagan studies, they were still regarded as the stronghold of Christianity. When Julian, the apostate, began to reign, an attempt was made to revive paganism throughout the Roman Empire. One of his first acts was to _close the schools of the Christians_. “He contemptuously observes,” says Gibbon, “that the men who exalt the merit of implicit faith are unfit to claim or to enjoy the advantages of science; and he vainly contends that if they refuse to adore the gods of Homer and Demosthenes, they ought to content themselves with expounding Luke and Matthew in the church of the Galileans.

[Sidenote: The public schools of Julian]

“In all the cities of the Roman world, the education of the youth was intrusted to masters of grammar and rhetoric; who were _elected by the magistrates, maintained at the public expense_, and distinguished by many lucrative and honorable privileges.... As soon as the resignation of the more obstinate teachers had established the unrivaled dominion of the pagan sophists, Julian invited the rising generation to resort with freedom to the _public schools_, in a just confidence that their tender minds would receive the impressions of _literature and idolatry_. IF THE GREATEST PART OF THE CHRISTIAN YOUTH SHOULD BE DETERRED BY THEIR OWN SCRUPLES, OR BY THOSE OF THEIR PARENTS, FROM ACCEPTING THIS DANGEROUS MODE OF INSTRUCTION, THEY MUST, AT THE SAME TIME, RELINQUISH THE BENEFITS OF A LIBERAL EDUCATION. Julian had reason to expect that, in the space of a few years, the church would relapse into its primeval simplicity, and that the theologians, who possessed an adequate share of the learning and eloquence of the age, would be succeeded by a generation of blind and ignorant fanatics, incapable of defending the truth of their own principles, or of exposing the various follies of polytheism.”[62]

Julian can not be counted as a fool; for, wishing to make the world pagan, he proceeded to do so, (1) _By closing the Christian schools where the “merit of implicit faith” was taught_; (2) _By compelling attendance of the public schools, taught by pagan teachers_, and WHERE LITERATURE AND IDOLATRY WERE COMBINED.

As Gibbon says, he had _just reason_ to expect that in the course of a generation the Christians thus educated would lose their faith, cease to oppose paganism, and sink into insignificance. If a pagan emperor expected this in the fourth century, is it any wonder that Protestants to-day, allowing their children to remain in the public schools where precisely the same things are taught, in principle as Julian had his public instructors teach, should lose power and cease to be _Protestants_? From the words of Gibbon one would infer that in the days of Julian there were parents who refused to send their children to the public schools; some children who, “because of their own scruples,” refused to attend; and some teachers who ceased to teach rather than teach literature and idolatry in state schools.

[Sidenote: The seminary at Alexandria]

Special mention is made of the Alexandrian school, as it was located in an Egyptian city to which flocked many noted pagan scholars. Sad as it may be to do so, it is yet necessary to see how these schools, and especially this one at Alexandria, lost their simplicity as they came in contact with pagan scholars, and attempted to meet them on their own grounds.

[Sidenote: Alexandria adopts philosophy of Plato]

Mosheim says: “This philosophy [of Plato] was adopted by such of the learned at Alexandria as wished to be accounted Christians, and _yet to retain the name, garb, and the rank of philosophers_. In particular, all those who in this century presided in the schools of the Christians at Alexandria ... are said to have approved of it. These men were persuaded that true philosophy, the great and most salutary gift of God, lay in scattered fragments among all the sects of philosophers; and therefore that it was the duty of every wise man, and especially of a Christian teacher, to collect those fragments from all quarters, and to use them for the defense of religion and the confutation of impiety.”[63]

[Sidenote: Result of adopting worldly methods]

The lesson so dear to Paul—that the gospel of Christ is the “power of God unto salvation”—was lost sight of when these Christian teachers assumed the philosopher’s garb, and used the philosopher’s vocabulary to confute impiety. “I have somewhat against thee,” writes the divine historian of this age, “because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and _do the first works_; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place.”[64] The heaven-lit taper of Christian education in its purity was beginning to grow dim. Its flame must have a constant supply of truth, or, like the candle without oxygen, it burns low, and finally goes out. Paul, writing to the Corinthians who were placed in circumstances similar to those of the school at Alexandria, that is, pressed upon all sides by pagan philosophy, said: “I came toward you with weakness and fear and great timidity. And my thought and my statement was not clothed in captivating philosophical reasons; but in demonstrated spirit and power, so that your trust might not _be in human philosophy_, but in divine power.... What we speak is not in an artificial discussion of a human philosophy, but by spiritual teachings, comparing spiritualities with the spiritual.”[65]

[Sidenote: Dialectics versus the Scriptures]

Again, “Dialectic,” or logic, was that science of which Aristotle, the disciple of Plato, boasted as being the father. Says a writer of the church after the decline was well begun, it “is the queen of arts and sciences. _In it reason dwells_, and is manifested and developed. _It is dialectic alone that can give knowledge and wisdom;_ it alone shows WHAT AND WHENCE WE ARE, AND TEACHES US OUR DESTINY [human philosophy and evolution]; through it we learn to know good and evil. And _how necessary is it_ to a clergyman, in order that he may be able to meet and vanquish heretics!” Men have more than once reverted to logic to vanquish heretics, but it was only when the Spirit of truth was lacking.

[Sidenote: The educational question caused a division]

Error was rapidly creeping into the church, and it came principally through these schools, as has already been seen. However, truth was not abandoned for error without a struggle. Mosheim says: “The estimation in which human learning should be held was a question on which the Christians were about equally divided. For while many thought that the literature and writings of the Greeks ought to receive attention, _there were others who contended that true piety and religion were endangered by such studies_.”[66] People then, as now, looked to the leaders in the church for guidance; and it was hard, when these studies were popular, for the conscientious to withdraw entirely to what the others called a narrow, limited education. It often led to contention among members of the same church, and often even parents and children failed to agree on the subject.

[Sidenote: Wrong methods retained]

“But gradually,” continues Mosheim, “the _friends of philosophy and literature acquired the ascendency_. To this issue Origen contributed very much; for having early imbibed the principles of the NEW PLATONISM, _he inauspiciously applied them to theology_, and earnestly recommended them to the numerous youth who attended on his instruction. And the greater the influence of this man, which quickly spread over the whole Christian world, the more readily was his method of explaining the sacred doctrines propagated.”

[Sidenote: Origin of the papacy]

The days when the papacy should be recognized as the beast of Revelation 13 were fast approaching. Such experiences in the history of education in the Christian church show how rapidly the life of the Master, the Spirit of truth, was giving place to the form of godliness which denied the power thereof. One reading thus the pages of history can not fail to see that the papacy _was formed in the minds of men_, WAS PROPAGATED IN THE SCHOOLS, AND REALLY TOOK BIRTH IN THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM THEN DEVELOPED. The political power, which was called upon to help the church, simply carried out at the point of the sword those principles which were developed in the schools. The two streams—paganism and apostate Christianity—united; and in the mad current which flowed from their confluence, men’s souls were lost forever.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION is the pure water of life, clear and sparkling, which flows from the throne of God; but when mingled with the turbid waters of the valley, it is lost sight of, and the current is evil. The part played by Platonic philosophy can not be overlooked. The foundation had already been laid in the third century for the scholasticism of the Middle Ages, and that “noontide of the papacy which was the world’s moral midnight” was fast approaching.

X

THE PAPACY—AN EDUCATIONAL PROBLEM

Previous chapters have revealed these facts: 1. That the Jewish nation was set as a light to the world. This light was to shine by means of education, and the Jews were to be teachers of the nations. 2. The Jewish nation lost its position as leader in educational reform, and, consequently, in all other particulars, because it departed from the pure system of education delivered to the Fathers, and mingled with the heathen, especially with the Greeks and the Egyptians.

In substantiation of this fact we have these words of Neander: “The Jews, completely imbued with the elements of Hellenic culture, _endeavored to find a mean between it and the religion of their fathers_, which they had no wish to renounce. To this end they availed themselves of the system most in vogue with those who, in Alexandria, busied themselves with religious matters—that of the _Platonic philosophy_, which had already acquired a mighty influence over their own intellectual life.... On the one hand, they firmly adhered to the religion of their fathers.... On the other hand, their minds were possessed by a philosophical culture at variance with these convictions. They were themselves not unconscious of the conflicting elements that filled their minds, and must have felt constrained to seek some artificial method of combining them into a harmonious whole. Thus they would be involuntarily driven to intercalate in _the old records of religion_, which for them possessed the highest authority, a _sense foreign to their true spirit_, supposing all the while that they were thereby really exalting their dignity as the source of all wisdom.”[67] 3. _This intercalation of Greek philosophy_ with the truth delivered to the Jewish nation brought the schools of the Hebrews to such a position that the Son of man, when receiving His education, avoided them altogether, and in His public teaching warned His people against the schools of the doctors, who for the Word of God taught the traditions of men. _This mingling of education then meant the crucifixion of Christ and the ruin of the Jewish nation._ 4. The early Christian church, composed of members called out from the Jewish schools and from the purely pagan doctrines, at first taught their children truths based upon the Scriptures; but before the close of the first century, the tendency to commingle Christian teachings and heathen philosophy was already noticeable. Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, referring to this fact, said, “The _mystery of iniquity_ doth already work.”

[Sidenote: Papal education sophistry]

This tendency, seen in the days of Paul, grew into a habit; and as Christian youth prepared for gospel work by attending the schools at Alexandria and elsewhere, an entire change took place.

It now becomes our duty to follow this changed system of education, which is indeed but a mixture of Christian and pagan, and hence not a separate and distinct system at all. It was designated by the apostle to the Gentiles as “the mystery of iniquity.” As found in the third century, Mosheim described it thus: “It is necessary, however, to observe that the methods now used of defending Christianity, and attacking Judaism and idolatry, degenerated much from the primitive simplicity, and the true rule of controversy. The _Christian doctors_, who had been _educated in the schools of the rhetoricians and sophists_, rashly employed the arts and evasions of their subtle masters in the service of Christianity; and, intent only upon defeating the enemy, they were too little attentive to the means of victory, indifferent whether they acquired it by artifice or plain dealing. This method of disputing, which the ancients called economical, and which _had victory for its object, rather than truth_, was, in consequence of the prevailing taste for rhetoric and sophistry, almost universally approved.”[68]

The effect of the Christian schools’ teaching Greek literature, sophistry, and rhetoric was bearing its fruit in an unmistakable way. The simplicity of the gospel and of the man of God, who was the _truth_, was fast passing away. Even at this early date we find the germ of the order of Jesuits, who, in the Middle Ages, carried out the theory of the Platonists, and asserted “that it was no sin for a person to employ falsehood and fallacies for the support of truth, when it was in danger of being borne down.” It was at this time, and under the influence of these same doctors and teachers, that there arose the practice of attributing the writing of certain books to illustrious authors; “hence, the book of canons, which certain artful men ascribed falsely to the apostles, ... and many other productions of that nature, which, for a long time, were too much esteemed by credulous men.”[69] How far men had departed from the simplicity of the gospel is evident.

[Sidenote: Error introduced by teachers]

The spread of ideas contrary to the purity of the gospel was almost universally begun in the schools professing to be Christian; and teachers were, almost without exception, the leaders in these intellectual moves, which in reality form the basis for every change in government or religion. Throughout the history of the centuries, men have arisen who were noted for their intellectual prowess, men of strong mind, who were searching for truth. By tracing the work of a few representative teachers through the first three or four centuries, _we see the papacy appearing as the direct result of educational principles_.

In order to make this clear, let us begin with the teachings of Clement in the school of Alexandria. It may be hard to distinguish between truth and error, as we trace the intricate windings of philosophy in the days of the early church; but it is necessary to find the origin of those leading principles of the papacy against which the Reformation contended. In order to do so, we go to the source of the stream, which is usually found at Alexandria, in the schools conducted by Christian teachers, or doctors, as they are often called. The foremost, the all-absorbing doctrine of the papacy, is the substitution of works for faith. Christ’s one lesson, illustrated in hundreds of ways, to the multitudes and to the few, was wisdom by faith, eternal life by faith. The early church was founded upon this principle, and faith in God’s Word was the first maxim in the home school, in the church school, and in the seminaries of the early Christians. Faith gives the hearing ear, as in the case of Solomon; this gives the ability to _study_, which brings true wisdom.

[Sidenote: Corruption took place gradually]

How or where faith was lost can not be stated in positive terms. As wood, under favorable conditions, changes, bit by bit, into solid stone, one atom of wood giving place to a grain of sand, and so on till the form of the tree, once an embodiment of life, now lies a hard and lifeless stone, retaining, however, each scar of branch and leaf, each crack or wrinkle of the bark, yea, even the annual marks of growth and the grain of the wood; so faith in God’s Word was lost, atom by atom, and the lost faith was replaced by human philosophy. Alexandria was to the Christian school what the marsh is to the fallen tree. Much Greek philosophy contained elements of truth; many truths were by the Greeks put in brilliant settings. God himself had evidently revealed to the minds of men, such as Plato, Pythagoras, Aristotle, and others, principles of truth; but it was not supposed that men to whom had been opened the treasures of wisdom and knowledge through His word and through His Son should ever find it necessary to search for a few gems of truth amidst a mass of error. Turning from the pure light to search for these stray thoughts in Greek philosophy, _men lost their faith in God, failed to give His word its proper place_, and erelong the living, fruit-bearing tree was but an image of its former self, molded in stone.

That the reader may see that this mingling of truth and error was adopted in place of the pure word, he is referred to Neander’s description of Clement and his quotations of that eminent scholar’s reasoning.[70]

[Sidenote: Clement’s school work]

Without taking the space necessary to give this quotation, we pass to the thought that Clement introduced this Greek philosophy into the school he was teaching, and through his disciples paved the way for the papacy in its power. Of the Alexandrian school we read: “What was the original aim of the school itself? Was it at the outset merely an institution for communicating religious instruction to the heathen, or had there long existed in Alexandria a school for educating teachers for the Christian church—a sort of theological seminary for the clergy?... We find that originally a single person was appointed by the bishop of Alexandria to hold the office of catechist, whose business it was to give religious instruction to the heathen and probably _also to the children of the Christians in that place_.... Men were required for this office who possessed a perfect acquaintance with the Grecian religion, AND MOST ESPECIALLY MUST THEY HAVE RECEIVED A PHILOSOPHICAL EDUCATION, SO AS TO BE ABLE TO CONVERSE AND TO DISPUTE WITH ANY LEARNED PAGANS, who, after long investigation on other questions, might turn their attention to Christianity.

“_It was not enough to teach here, as in other churches, the main doctrines of Christianity...._ WITH THESE ENLIGHTENED CATECHUMENS, it was necessary to go back to the primitive sources of the religion in Scripture itself, and to seek to initiate them into the understanding of it—for such required a faith which would stand the _test of scientific examination_.”[71]

In order to meet the demands made by pagans and Greek philosophers the school stooped from its exalted position of teaching a wisdom acquired by faith, and substituted a course of study which “would _stand the test of scientific examination_.”

[Sidenote: Clement and higher criticism]

Clement, one of the earliest teachers in this school, “points out the need of high and rich talents in the holder of the catechetical office at Alexandria.” “The range of instruction imparted by these men,” says Neander, “gradually extended itself, for they were the first who ... attempted to satisfy a want deeply felt by numbers—the want of a _scientific exposition of the faith, and of a Christian_ science.” Here is perhaps the best place for one to attribute the change from faith to a scientific demonstration of the truths of the universe. Here is marked the time, so far as one is able to point it out with definiteness, of the transit from education by faith to education of the senses, from the spiritual to the intellectual and the physical. The fruit and the utter folly of the wisdom of the Greek and Egyptian sages (?) of this intellectual system are seen in its ripened state in the Dark Ages.

[Sidenote: Christian students fed on pagan ideas]

The same paragraph in Neander continues: “To their school were attracted not only those educated pagans, who, having by their teaching been converted to Christianity, and being seized with a desire to devote themselves and all they possessed to its service, chose ... the Alexandrian catechists for their guides, but also _those youths_, who, having been brought up within the Christian pale, were thirsting after a more profound knowledge, in order to prepare themselves for the office of _church teachers_.”[72]

[Sidenote: Opposing voices]

This school did not find its pathway always strewn with roses; for there were church teachers of the primitive class “who looked chiefly to the practical and real, ... and who were in continual dread of a corruption of Christianity by the admixture of foreign philosophical elements,” and these offered some opposition to the transit from an education of faith in God’s Word to one of scientific investigation and reason.

[Sidenote: Clement’s justification]

Those were days of lively debate, and the defenders of Christian education more than once contended for its principles. “‘Thus much,’ observes Clement, ‘I would say to those who are so fond of complaining: if the philosophy is unprofitable, still the study of it is profitable, if any good is to be derived from thoroughly demonstrating that it is an unprofitable thing.’” This argument is indulged in at the present time by those who espouse the cause of modern education, and wish to defend the study of the classics and the doctrine of evolution.

The words of Clement in his arguments sound doubly striking, when we remember that to-day the feeling that the education of the senses will ultimately tend to the grasping of eternal truth by faith is just as firmly held as then, notwithstanding the fact that a careful investigation shows that this can never be the case, and that the only avenue to _truth_ is through faith, first, last, and all the time. He says: “Perhaps the latter [philosophy] was given to the Greeks in a special sense, as preliminary to our Lord calling the Gentiles, since it educated them as the law did the Jews, for Christianity; and philosophy was a preparatory step for those who were to be conducted through Christ to perfection.”[73]

[Sidenote: Clement lost his faith]

Accordingly, we find Clement perpetually verging toward the gnostic or platonic position. “With an idea of faith which flowed from the very essence of Christianity, there was associated in his mind the still lingering notion, derived from the Platonic philosophy, of an opposition between a _religion of cultivated minds_, and arrived at by the medium of science, and a religion of the many, who were shackled by the senses and entangled in mere opinion.”[74]

[Sidenote: Birth of the papacy]

Here is distinctly seen the beginnings of that system of education which elevates the few and holds the masses in subjection. Herein lies the wellspring of a monarchical government and a papal hierarchy. It was the propagation of the system of education introduced into the Alexandrian school by Clement that formed the papacy. We are not surprised to read in history of the contest between the churches of Alexandria, Constantinople, and Rome. Rome as arbiter was called to decide between the Greek Catholics and the Alexandrians; and from the downfall of both her rivals she gained the pontifical throne; but it was only to crown the educational ideas of the Alexandrian school, and sway the world by the enforcement of the principles of that system of instruction _which substitutes scientific research for faith_.

God had once called his people out of Egypt; but the church, forsaking the purity of the gospel, returned thither for its education. The Reformation was its second call, and to-day the third call is sounding. Having followed with some care the ideas first introduced by Clement, and finding that the result of the position taken by this teacher was that faith was destroyed and scientific reason substituted, we turn to the further development of this educational idea as advocated by one of Clement’s most noted pupils and his successor in the Alexandrian school. I refer to Origen.

[Sidenote: Origen]

Origen was born 185 A.D., in Alexandria; he received a most liberal education, and was initiated at an early age into Hellenic science and art; the principles of Christianity were instilled into his mind by such teachers as Clement of Alexandria.[75] “He says himself that it was an outward motive that first led him to busy himself with the study of Platonic philosophy, and to make himself better acquainted generally with the systems of those who differed from himself. _The moving cause was his intercourse with heretics and pagans who had received a philosophical education._”

“Attracted by his great reputation, such persons” came often to him, and he thus defends himself for bestowing his time on the Greek philosophy: “When I had wholly devoted my time to the promulgation of the divine doctrines, and the fame of my skill in them began to be spread abroad, so that both heretics and others, such as had been conversant with the Greek sciences, and particularly men from the philosophical schools, came to visit me, it _seemed to me necessary that I should examine the doctrinal opinions of the heretics, and what the philosophers pretended to know of the truth_.”[76]

These facts concerning Origen are given because the argument is strikingly similar to that used by many ministers and teachers of the present day, and because it shows how the Platonic philosophy gained such a foothold in so-called Christian schools, and grew into the papacy.

[Sidenote: Representatives of three systems]

There are three individuals who stand as representatives of three systems of education. PLATO personifies heathen philosophy; CHRIST said of Himself, “I am the ... truth;” ORIGEN personifies the mixture of the two,—truth and error,—and hence stands, from an educational standpoint, as _the father of the papacy_, which is the mystery of iniquity. It behooves us now to follow carefully the work of this man. After doing so, one can more readily understand why the beast is represented as having several heads.[77]

[Sidenote: Faith displaced by speculation]

I quote extensively from Mosheim: “The principal doctrines of Christianity were now explained _to the people_ in their native purity and simplicity, without any mixture of abstract reasonings or subtile inventions; nor were the feeble minds of the multitude loaded with a great variety of precepts. But the CHRISTIAN DOCTORS who had applied themselves to the study of letters and philosophy, soon abandoned the frequented paths, and _struck out into the devious wilds of fancy_. The Egyptians distinguished themselves in this new method of explaining the truth. They looked upon it as a noble and glorious task to bring the doctrines of celestial wisdom into a certain subjection to the precepts of their philosophy, and to make deep and profound researches into the intimate and hidden nature of those truths which the divine Saviour had delivered to his disciples. ORIGEN WAS AT THE HEAD OF THIS SPECULATIVE TRIBE. This great man, enchanted by the charms of the _Platonic philosophy_, set it up as the test of all religion, and imagined, that the reasons of each doctrine were _to be found in that favorite philosophy, and their nature and extent to be determined by it_. It must be confessed that he handled this matter with modesty and with caution; but he still gave an example to his disciples, the abuse of which could not fail to be pernicious, and under the authority of which, they would naturally indulge themselves without restraint in every wanton fancy. And so, indeed, the case was; for the disciples of Origen, breaking forth from the limits fixed by their master, _interpreted, in the most licentious manner_, the divine truths of _religion according to the tenor of Platonic philosophy_. From these teachers the _philosophical or scholastic theology_ derives its origin.”[78]

[Sidenote: Beginning of higher criticism]

Mosheim says: “Origen unquestionably stands at the head of the interpreters of the Bible in this century. But with pain it must be added, he was first among those who have found in the Scriptures a secure retreat for all errors and idle fancies. _As this most ingenious man could see no possible method of vindicating all that is said in the Scriptures against the cavils of the heretics_ and the enemies of Christianity, PROVIDED HE INTERPRETED THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE LITERALLY, he concluded that he must expound the sacred volume _in the way in which the PLATONISTS WERE ACCUSTOMED TO EXPLAIN THE HISTORY OF THEIR GODS_.”[79]

[Sidenote: Higher criticism is Platonism]

Murdock, in his notes, says: “Origen perversely turned a large part of Biblical history into moral fables and many of the laws into allegories. Probably he learned this in the school of Ammonius, which expounded Hesiod, Homer, and the whole fabulous history of the Greeks allegorically. The predecessors of Origen, who searched after a mystical sense of Scripture, still set a high value on the _grammatical, or literal, sense;_ but he often expresses himself, as if he attached no value to it. Before him allegories were resorted to, only to discover predictions of future events and rules for moral conduct; but he betook himself to allegories _in order TO ESTABLISH THE PRINCIPLES OF HIS PHILOSOPHY_ on a Scriptural basis.... His propensity to allegories must be ascribed to the fertility of his invention, _the prevailing custom_ of the Egyptians, _his education, the instructions he received from his teachers_, and the example both of the philosophers, of whom he was an admirer, and of the Jews.... He hoped, by means of his allegories, more easily to convince the Jews, to confute the gnostics, and to silence the objections of both. But we must not forget his attachment to that system of philosophy which he embraced. _This philosophy could not be reconciled with the Scriptures; ... and therefore the Scriptures must be interpreted allegorically_, that they might not contradict his philosophy.... As the body is the baser part of man, so the literal is the less worthy sense of Scripture; and as the body often betrays good men into sin, so the literal sense often leads us into error.”

[Sidenote: Here is reason above faith]