[24] Note X.
[25] Note Y.
CHAP. X.
On the Application of our Knowledge to the Common Affairs of Life.
There is another point connected with the practical use of our knowledge, which deserves a separate and careful consideration. It is the method of applying our knowledge, or rather the lessons derived from our knowledge, to the common and daily affairs of life. In this exercise both old and young are equally concerned;—but it is evident that youth is the proper time for training to its practice.
To acquire this valuable art, the pupils in every seminary ought to be regularly and frequently exercised in the application of their lessons;—first, when they have been drawn from a particular subject, which has occupied their attention for the day; and afterwards generally, from any part of their previous knowledge. To illustrate what we mean by this application of our knowledge, let us suppose a person placed in difficult circumstances, and that he is desirous of knowing the path of duty, and the particular line of conduct which he should pursue. If he is to trust to himself for the information required, it is evident that he must either fall back upon his previous knowledge, and the instructions he has already received; or he must go forward upon a mere conjecture, or on chance, which is always dangerous. All knowledge is given expressly for such cases, and especially Scripture knowledge; the great design of which is, "that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished to good works." But if the person has not been trained to make use of his knowledge in this way and for this purpose, he will be nearly as much at a loss as if his knowledge had never been received. Hence the great importance of training the young early and constantly to draw upon their knowledge for direction and guidance in every variety of situation in which the parent or teacher can suppose them to be placed in future life. By this means they will be prepared for encountering temptation, which is often more than the half of the battle;—they will form the habit of acting by rule, instead of being carried forward by fashion, by prejudice, or by chance;—and they will soon acquire a manly confidence, in deciding and acting, both as to the matter and the manner, of performing all that they are called upon to do, in every juncture, and whether the duty be important in the ordinary sense of that term or otherwise.
For this special mode of applying knowledge, we have not only the indications plainly given in Nature, which we have endeavoured to illustrate, but we have also Scripture precept, and Scripture example. Leaving the numerous instances in the Old Testament, we shall confine ourselves to a few given by our Lord himself, and his apostles. For example, he prepared his disciples for the temptations which the love of worldly goods would throw in the way of their escape from the destruction of Jerusalem, by enjoining them to "Remember Lot's wife." Now let us observe how a teacher, in communicating the history of Lot's wife for the first time, would have prepared these disciples for such a difficulty in the same way. When they had read, that while fleeing for her life, the love of her worldly goods made her sinfully look back, so that she was turned into a pillar of salt; the obvious lesson drawn from this would be, that "we ought to be on our guard against worldly mindedness;"—and the application of that lesson to the coming circumstances would have been something like this. "When you are commanded to flee from Jerusalem for your lives, and remember that your worldly goods are left behind, what should you do?"—"We should not turn back for them." "From what do you get that lesson?"—"From the conduct and fate of Lot's wife."
In a similar way, the apostle James prepared Christians for humble resignation and patient endurance under coming trials, by calling to their remembrance "the patience of Job." He stated the trials to which they were to be exposed, and then he directed their attention to the Scripture example which was to regulate them in their endurance of them. Now it is obvious that a teacher, in communicating the history of Job to the young, should follow this example, and should make the same use of it that the apostle did, not only by drawing the lesson, that he "ought to be patient," but in applying that lesson to temptations to which the child is likely to be exposed, as James did to the circumstances in which he knew Christians were to be placed. As for example, when the child had drawn the lesson, that "we should be patient under suffering," the teacher might apply it in a great variety of ways, each of which would be a delightful exercise of mind to the child,—would impress the lesson and its source more firmly upon the memory,—and would prepare him for the circumstances in which the lesson might be required. Were the teacher accordingly to ask, "If you were confined by long continued sickness;—or if you were suffering under great pain;—or if you were oppressed by the cruelty of others, and could not help yourself;—or, if you were grieved by being separated from your friends,—what would be your duty?" The answer to each would be, "We ought to be patient."—"From what do you get that lesson?"—"From the conduct of Job, who was patient under his sufferings."