Sense perception often incorrect
The shifting foundation upon which such knowledge rests is well illustrated by the tests which the human being is able to make with the organs of sense. Water of 98° is hot to the hand that has been accustomed to a temperature of 45°, but cool to the hand which is just taken from water of 112°. An orange is sweet to the man who has been eating a stronger acid, but sour to the palate accustomed to sugar. The eye which has been used in a dimly lighted room is dazzled by the noonday glare, and judging of the size of a star by sight we would not conceive it to be a sun. The knowledge gained by the senses is only partially true,—it is not absolute truth; and the scientific theories propounded by minds which have reasoned from these inaccurate data can not fail to fall short of absolute truth. It may be knowledge; it is not wisdom.
Faith is substance, not theory
Christian education approaches nature from the opposite direction. With a mind open to receive truth, it grasps by faith the statement of a universal principle. The spiritual law is the thing sought, and the corresponding physical law is compared with it. Once found, every fact which is learned, every observation made, but shows more clearly the working of that law in the spiritual world. For such teaching, faith is an indispensable attribute. Experiment is not discouraged, but strongly encouraged; reason is not laid aside, but the mind is called upon to reason on subjects grander and nobler than any deductions which can possibly result from the opposite manner of approaching truth.
This is the ideal in Christian education, the point toward which the Christian teacher is leading his pupils. In case of unbelief, or in dealing with the heathen, the mind must first be approached through the avenues of the senses, until the Spirit of God arouses the inner eye of faith. This is merely preliminary, and should not long continue. Children are not given credit for having the faith they really do possess, and are therefore held to the inductive method by educators long after their minds and hearts are capable of grasping truth, and when it would be found that the deductive method would produce a much more rapid growth of mental and spiritual power than is now seen.
The Christian teacher
This suggests the qualifications necessary on the part of a teacher. Remembering that this education is of a spiritual nature, the teacher himself must be connected with truth by an unwavering faith.
When Nicodemus, the representative of higher education in the schools of Jerusalem, interviewed Christ, the new Teacher who had appeared in their midst, and whose teaching was attended by a power unknown to the educators of the day, the learned man said, “Rabbi, we know Thou art a teacher sent of God.” “But how can these things be?” The heavenly Teacher outlined to him the secrets of His educational system, telling Nicodemus that it was not based on sight, but on faith; that the spiritual was first, and, when so made, the rest would follow. Then came the query, “How can it be?” To which Christ replied, “If I told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?” “Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these things?”
In view of these thoughts, it is not strange that the study of the sciences in a Christian school will differ widely from the course offered in the same department of learning in an institution where the object of education is wholly different.
Physiology the central science