Discarding the evolutionary theory which pervades the teaching of all institutions where education is not wholly based on the Word of God, man, created in the image of God, is recognized as the highest manifestation of creative power. The life of God is the first study; that life, as manifested in man, is the next, and physiology takes its place as the center of all science-study. This is a study of life in all its manifestations, beginning with the spiritual, and extending to the mental and physical. Here, as elsewhere, the laws which govern the spiritual nature have their types in the other two natures; and when once the central truth of life, an abundance of life, is grasped, the study of physiology becomes not the study of dead forms, mere facts, but a soul-study, which includes the home of the inner man and all the machinery which the soul manipulates. Thus considered, from this center (physiology) extend rays, like the spokes of a wheel, each representing another science, until within that broad circle represented by these radii, are included all the physical as well as all the metaphysical sciences.
It will be seen that this mode of correlating the sciences cures at once the mistake of the age,—the cramming system,—which results from a neglect of manual training and from the study of a multiplicity of books, crowded with facts which must be stored in the mind of the student.
Correlation of sciences
By placing physiology as the center of the circle, and correlating therewith all other sciences, another advantage arises, for that circle includes within itself the languages and mathematics. These latter are but helps in the study of the thought-bearing subjects,—the Bible and the sciences,—and instead of being studied as primary subjects, should be used as a means to an end. Reading, writing, spelling, grammar, rhetoric, and literature, and mathematics, from arithmetic to general geometry and calculus, are but means of expressing truths gained in the study of the revealed Word and the book of nature. The simplicity of the system will appeal to the mind of any educator, for it is a plan long sought for. The one thing lacking among those who have experimented with such methods has been the central subject, God’s Word. Having truth as the basis for the correlation, the problem, so far as methods are concerned, is practically solved.
The great and pressing need is for teachers who can execute the plan. No narrow mind will be equal to the task. Again, as a system of true education is approached, is seen the exalted position to which those who teach are called.
The basis of every educational effort
Before passing the subject of physiology it is well to consider the meaning of the expression that this subject “should be the basis of every educational effort.” Text-book study of physiology, it is clear, can not cover this requirement. The fact is that book-study is but a small part of Christian education. True education is life, and he who learns much must live much. The food eaten, the manner of clothing the body, the study, exercise, mental habits, physical habits, manual training, in fact, every phase of life is a part of the study of physiology and hygiene, and these subjects must one and all receive due consideration by the Christian educator.
Manual training and education