“In lowliness and humility,” writes Dr. Schaff, “in the form of a servant as to the flesh, yet effulgent with divine glory, the Saviour came forth from a despised corner of the earth; destroyed the power of evil in our nature; realized in His spotless life, and in His sufferings, the highest idea of virtue and piety, lifted the world with His pierced hands out of its distress; reconciled men to God, and gave a new direction to the whole current of history.”
It is the education which He taught, which was His very life even in the courts of heaven, which Protestants are now entreated to accept. “To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”
Where are the Protestants who are true to the name? Where are the schools which will teach the things of God? Where are the teachers who forsake secular methods, as did the Reformers, to become teachers for Christ?
Earth with its inhabitants is to the heart of God the most precious part of the creation. As a recreant child draws harder on the parent’s sympathy, so the world, because of the sinfulness of sin, has brought heaven and earth in touch. The universe sees streaming from the throne rays of light and love, pointing to the one spot in all creation where sin abounds. They tell the story of the cross. The perfect harmony which forms the “music of the spheres,” which was marred when man fell, will again pervade all space when the plan of salvation is complete, and our earth again joins in the great chorus of the sons of God.
Truth revealed in the last days
For six thousand years creation has groaned, waiting for our redemption. The completion of the plan draws nigh, and for the final struggle everything is now assuming an intensity never before seen. Principles of truth, for centuries hidden, or known only in part, will again shine forth in their original splendor. The wisdom of the ages will be manifest in the closing era of the world’s history. True, this wisdom will often appear but “foolishness” in the eyes of those who oppose truth; but spiritual things are spiritually discerned, and the Spirit of the Holy One will once more brood over the whole earth, taking up its abode in those hearts which beat in unison with the strains of heaven. Christian education binds earth to heaven. The wise in heart will return to the God-given system of education, choosing “the fountains of living waters” instead of hewing “them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”[193]
FOOTNOTES
[1] Job 28.