The Place of the Bible in Education

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CHAPTER XIII. THE STUDY OF MENTAL SCIENCE

God alone is the Author of true science; and His Word is the only certain foundation of it for man. PBE 109.1

All Christian schools must teach science, which is knowledge. Being Christian schools, they are to teach divine science, divine knowledge—not human science. For Jesus, who is the great Teacher in every truly Christian school, “brought into His teaching none of the science of men.” “His majesty could not mingle with human science, which will disconnect from the great Source of all wisdom in a day. The topic of human science never escaped His hallowed lips.” PBE 109.2

In every field of thought or instruction there is a divine science, and there is a human science. And these are contrary the one to the other, because the constant tendency of human science is to separate from the Source of true wisdom. Indeed, the very nature of human science—which, bear in mind, is but human knowledge—is enmity against God. PBE 109.3

There are three great root-sciences,—mental science, moral science, and physical science. All conceivable phases of science are but branches of these. And these three are so closely related that neither is, nor can be, complete without the others. PBE 109.4

The first of all the sciences, in importance, and indeed in nature, is mental science. First, therefore, in every system of teaching comes naturally the teaching of mental science. PBE 110.1

Mental science, or psychology, if any would rather deal with it as an “ology,” is the science of the mind. And as it is the mind with which every conscious or intelligent thing is done, in the nature of things the knowledge and training of the mind lie first in all teaching. PBE 110.2

Again: the only true object of education “is to restore the image of God in the soul.” And it is with the mind that we serve the law of God. No greater gift can possibly be bestowed upon any soul than the service of the law of God. No higher nor more honorable position can ever be attained by any creature than to serve the law of God; that is, to be, in his whole being, so completely in harmony with God that every thought, every motive, and every action will be the perfect reflection of the will of God. And “with the mind” this service is accomplished. The mind is the root from which all else in the individual springs: the mind is the pivot, upon which all else turns. This being so, it is certain that, in the very nature of things in the existence of the individual, in all education the knowledge of the mind is first in importance. PBE 110.3

As “mental” is mind, mental science is mind science, or science of the mind. And as “science” is knowledge, science of the mind is knowledge of the mind. PBE 110.4

How then shall true knowledge of the mind be gained? Investigation of every other subject is made with the mind; knowledge of every other science is gained with the mind. Through the microscope the mind can study and know the most intricate complications, the most infinitesimal bodies, and the most subtle manifestations, in the natural world. Through the telescope the mind can study the planets in almost infinite distances, and learn their characteristics. Thus by these and other like means the mind can explore the whole realm of nature. But how shall the mind investigate the mind? How shall the mind explore the realm of the mind? Can the mind itself do all this concerning itself? Can the mind take a position back of itself, and put itself under a mental microscope composed of itself, and thus itself, through itself, investigate itself? Such a thing is not only mentally but physically impossible. PBE 110.5

With the mind we investigate all other things. But in order to investigate and to know the mind itself we must have another mind, as really as in order to investigate and to know anything else we must have the mind itself. The individual mind can not take a position back of itself, and examine and analyze itself; but the individual mind can find back of itself another Mind, by which true and certain knowledge of the individual mind can be attained. That Mind is the original and ultimate Mind; and so the Source of all knowledge and all true science of mind. Whosoever would find certain knowledge, the true science of the mind, let him ask of Him who is the Source of mind. When we find what God has said of the mind, in that we find the true knowledge of the mind. PBE 111.1

He has said that He made man in His own image. Man was made to represent, to reflect, to manifest God—not himself. God made the mind of man that each faculty should be the faculty of the divine Mind: should be the highest created means of expressing, of re-presenting the divine Mind. PBE 112.1

All created things are but the expression of the thought of God; for “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.” “For He spake, and it was.” By the Word of God “were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible.” Word is the expression of thought, and thought is the product of mind. All created things being the product of the word of God, are only so many forms of expression of the thought of God. The creation of man—the making of mind—was the crowning of creation; therefore the mind of man is the highest created means of reflecting, of re-presenting, of expressing, the thought of God. PBE 112.2

Note the divinely-given illustration of this: When God had made the man alone, He caused to pass before him all the beasts and the fowls, “to see what he would call them.” Not, as many misread it, to have him give names to them; but in truth “to see what he would call them.” It was a test of the mind of the man. All these created things, being the product of the word of God, were variant expressions of the thought of God. As each passed before the man, instantly his intellect pierced to the very core of its being, his mind read the thought of God therein expressed, and that thought he reproduced in speaking the word that defined the essential nature and characteristic of each. For “whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.” Whatsoever he called it, that was precisely what it is. This demonstrates that the mind of man was of such breadth that it compassed creation; that it was of such perfect versatility that it readily grasped the characteristics of the vastly varied creation; that it easily moved with such absolute precision as instantly to detect the essential and distinctive nature of each created thing, however subtle that distinction might be; and that his own personality in his own free will was so perfectly submitted to the divine Will, was so perfectly in harmony with the divine Mind, that the thought of that Mind, however expressed, was instantly caught by his mind and became his thought, and he thought the thoughts of God. PBE 112.3

Yet this was not all. It was not only in the word of God expressed in the visible creation, that the man found and thought the thoughts of God. The word of God came to the man direct. God spoke directly to the man; so that the man communed with God in the thoughts of God directly communicated in the word and by the Spirit of God. This in the highest possible sense made the mind of man the highest created means of reflecting the divine Mind, of expressing the thought of God, of glorifying God. This is the man, this is the mind, as the man was in the creation of God. PBE 113.1

But to the man there came another word, the opposite of the word of God, conveying the thought and mind of the one who is opposed to God. The man had the word of God. So long as he received and held that word, and in that the thought and mind of Him whose word it was, he would in that have held the mind of God as his guiding mind. One expression of that word was: “Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” This other word that now came to him was: “Ye shall not surely die:for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall become as gods, knowing good and evil.” This other word, the opposite of the word of God, was listened to, its thought was received, and in this was received the mind of him whose was the thought and the word. Then with this opposite mind everything was seen in reverse: the tree that was not in any sense good for food, nor to be desired to make one wise, was now seen to be exactly that which it was not. “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” Thus when Satan came speaking his words, conveying the thought and suggestion of his evil mind; and when there was accepted this strange word with its evil thought and suggestion, in place of the word and thought of the mind of God; then the evil mind of the enemy, instead of the mind of God, was received and became the man’s guiding mind. That mind being the mind of Satan is enmity against God, for it is not, and can not be, subject to the law of God. And this is how it is that the mind of man in sin, the natural, “the carnal mind is enmity against God,” and “is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” PBE 113.2

And now being filled with the evil mind of the enemy, with its perverse desires and bad ambitions, the man reflected the image and shame of him who had led him into sin; instead of as before reflecting the image and glory of Him who had created him in righteousness and true holiness. Just as certainly as before man sinned he reflected the image and glory of his Maker unto righteousness, so certainly after he sinned he reflected the image and shame of his seducer unto sin. 1 PBE 115.1

The truth of this is seen in every line of the man’s conduct immediately after his sinning. The glory had no sooner departed from him because of the sin, than they “were ashamed” before Him in whose presence they had formerly only delighted. Now when they heard the voice of God, instead of being filled with joy, they were afraid, and sought to hide from Him, and even thought that they could hide, and that they had kidden, themselves from Him. Such is not the mind that thinks the thoughts of God. It is instead the very reflection of the mind of Lucifer in heaven, who, not understanding the Lord’s purpose, thought that he could hide from the Lord his own purposes. PBE 115.2

Again: When the Lord asked the man, “Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” instead of answering directly and honestly, “I have,” he answered indirectly and evasively, and involved in the guilt both the Lord and the woman before himself. He said, “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” And when the Lord asked the woman, “What is this that thou hast done?” instead of answering plainly and frankly, she also involves another before herself, and shields herself, as had the man. She said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” PBE 115.3

No such mind as that was ever put into mankind by the Lord. Yet everybody knows that this very mind is that which is naturally in all mankind, even to this day. Everybody knows that it is not in the natural man, openly, frankly, and at once, to confess a fault. The spontaneous impulse in every human soul is to dodge and shelter self behind anything or anybody in the world, and seek to clear himself by involving another. And if by all this he can not fully escape, yet when he does come into it, it must be with the least possible degree of blame attaching to himself. Such disposition was never put into mankind by the Lord. It is not of the Lord. It is of Satan. It is the disposition, it is the very mind and spirit, of Lucifer, the original leader in the way of sin. PBE 116.1

But the Lord in His love and mercy would not, and did not, leave mankind enslaved and undone through the possession of such a mind. “The Lord God said unto the serpent, ... I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed.” By this gracious word, God penetrated and broke up the pall of total darkness that in the mind of Satan had enveloped mankind. By this word He caused the divine light to shine into the darkened mind of the enslaved captive sitting helpless. And this light is “the true Light which enlightens every man on his coming into the world.” For this enmity against Satan, this hatred of evil, which God by this word puts into the mind of every person who comes into the world, causes each soul to hate the evil and to desire the good, and to long for deliverance from the bondage of evil into the glorious rest and delight of the good. And as this deliverance is found alone in Christ, that promise to put enmity between Satan and mankind is the promise of the gift of Christ, “the Desire of all nations.” PBE 116.2

This is how it is that “the Son of God is come, and hath given us a mind.” This is how it is that ever since the hour when that gracious word was spoken to sinful man in the garden, the one first word of God to all mankind is, “Repent:” that is, change your mind. Change your mind from the guiding mind of Satan to the guiding mind of God; “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” This is why it is that men are exhorted by the Word of God, “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” And this is why it is and how it is that of all who receive this divine counsel it can be said, “We have the mind of Christ.” PBE 117.1

Thus the Ultimate of mind and the Author of the mind of man has spoken on the subject of the mind; and has plainly revealed that there are two minds that are bidding for the choice and study of men. And every man is free to choose which of these two minds he will have to be his guiding mind and the subject of his study in mental science. Which of these two is worthy of the choice of men as the field of mental science? PBE 117.2

Of the one mind, the mind of man as he is, the natural mind, the Source of mind has said: “The carnal mind is enmity against God.” That is the truth from Him who is the Fountain of knowledge. It therefore follows that any human science of the human mind, human psychology, can be only the science of enmity against God; and the study of any human science of the human mind, the study of human psychology, can be only the study of that which is enmity against God. PBE 118.1

But what profit is there, what profit can there possibly be, in the study of enmity against God? Suppose that this mind which is enmity against God be studied and analyzed and all its phenomena be marked, by this mind that is enmity against God, what will the student have by it all?—Only enmity against God. What does he know?—Only enmity against God. And even this he does not know; he thinks that it is something else. If he really knew that it is enmity against God, surely he would not study it at all. Surely, then, in no Christian school will any human science of the mind be studied. To know what that is, to know that it is enmity against God, is surely enough to know, without wasting time in any detailed study of it. PBE 118.2

Of the other mind, the mind of man as he was, the original and spiritual mind, the Source of mind has said that it is “the mind of Christ,” who is “God manifest,” in whom “dwelleth all the fulness of the God-head bodily,” and who is “God.” He has said that it is the mind of Him who is “merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin:” that it is the mind of Him who in a word is “Love;” and who is the Fountain of wisdom and knowledge—of philosophy and science. PBE 119.1

Here is a mind that is supremely worthy of the most devoted application in the most profound study. Here is a mind the knowledge of which is only a continual inspiration and an eternal blessing. It is the divine Mind itself. The knowledge of this Mind is in the nature of things divine knowledge. And this knowledge is freely open to us. Yea, this very Mind itself is freely given to us. For He has freely given to us His own eternal Spirit; and it is one of the offices of this eternal Spirit to make known to us the things of God, to take the things of God and show them to us, to fathom the infinite depths of the eternal purpose of God, and to bring forth the treasures of the love, the wisdom, and the knowledge of God and make them plain to our minds and seal them upon our understanding. Therefore the divine exhortation, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” This transformation of life and character, of body, soul, and spirit, through the renewing of the mind by faith in Jesus Christ,—this is a mental science, this is a psychology, that is a true science, and worthy of the most industrious and intense application of the powers of teachers and students. And this science is divine. There is, therefore, a divine science of the mind,—a divine psychology open to all the teachers and students in all schools. Shall not, then, this divine mental science be studied in all Christian schools? PBE 119.2

Knowledge of the mind must consist of a knowledge of the characteristics, operations, and phenomena of the mind. PBE 120.1

Human science of the mind would consist of a systematized knowledge of the characteristics, operations, and phenomena of the human mind. PBE 120.2

Divine science of the mind would consist of a systematized knowledge of the characteristics, operations, and phenomena of the divine mind. PBE 120.3

Now which of these fields of mental science—the human or the divine presents the fairest prospect for profitable study? PBE 120.4

With anybody who believes that there is a divine Mind, and that it is in anywise accessible to the investigation of man, can there be any possible ground of comparison between the human and the divine as a field of profitable study? PBE 120.5

Is it not perfectly plain that as certainly as there is a divine Mind, and that that Mind is in any way accessible to investigation by man, so certainly the science of that Mind presents a field as much more promising than does the human, as the divine is above the human? PBE 120.6

When one who believes that there is a divine Mind, and that it is accessible to investigation by man, makes the human mind the field of his study in mental science, he thereby puts the human in the place of the divine, places it practically above the divine, and so shows that his professed belief in the divine is but a mere assent, having no weight, and being without effect, in his life. PBE 121.1

“But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you.” Hebrews 6:9. There is a divine Mind. This divine Mind is open to the study of man. Man is invited and welcomed to investigate the nature and operations of this divine Mind. PBE 121.2

The operations of mind, whether divine or human, are solely through thought. And, primarily, thought is expressed in word. The divine thought is expressed in the divine Word. And in the expression of the divine thought, as in no other, words are indeed things. For “in the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1), and “the worlds were framed by the word of God” (Hebrews 11:3); “for He spake, and it was.” Psalm 33:9. PBE 121.3

It was by the word of the Lord that all things were made that are. And as word is the expression of thought, it is plain that all things that are, are but the different forms of the expression of the thought of God. Even so says the Scripture: “Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work; I will triumph in the works of Thy hands. O Lord, how great are Thy works! and Thy thoughts are very deep.” Psalm 92:4, 5. PBE 121.4

It therefore follows that the proper method of the study of all things that are, is to study them as expressions of the thought of God, and to discover what the thought is that is so expressed. This is but the study, obtaining the knowledge, of the divine Mind; and this, in itself, is divine mental science. Thus all creation is a field of mental science; and all nature-study, properly understood, is the study of the science of the divine Mind. PBE 122.1

Reading the thoughts of God, studying the phenomena of the divine Mind, in this vast and wonderful field, is the first occupation in which the newly-created, perfect, and upright man was ever engaged. To this occupation that man was distinctly called and appointed by the Creator Himself. And though there was more than this one thing in that event, this one thing is in itself divine instruction to all mankind that the first of all occupation that is becoming to man is, under the conscious and recognized divine guidance, the reading of the thoughts and the studying of the phenomena of the mind of God in His wonderful field of creation. PBE 122.2

Yet this field of all creation, wonderful as it is, is not all of this great field of mental science. There is another, even more wonderful: “The Lord thinketh upon me.” Psalm 40:17. And, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil.” Jeremiah 29:11. These thoughts are His thoughts of salvation to sinners, the redemption of the lost, and are expressed in the Word of His salvation, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. For this gospel is the revelation of “the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” PBE 122.3

These two great realms of mental science—the thoughts of God in creation and the thoughts of God in redemption—were the fields of study of Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived since Adam. But now, since man has become subject to sin, the field of the thought of God in redemption takes precedence; because man must be saved from the darkness and perversion of mind into which he was seduced by Satan, before he can correctly read the thoughts of God expressed in creation. Accordingly, though Solomon gave his heart to seek and to search out all things that are done under heaven, and was supremely successful in this, yet it was “by wisdom,” which is “the fear of the Lord,” that he did it. Accordingly also he exalts wisdom, the fear of the Lord, as the one chief thing of all things to be desired. Proverbs 3:15. PBE 123.1

For this reason, with Christ also, the one model Man of all the ages, and the last Adam, the thought of God in redemption was the field of transcendent importance for the occupation of the mind of man: not by any means to the exclusion of the field of creation, but because of its being the only true way into the light in which the thought of God in creation can be clearly seen and correctly read. PBE 123.2

Nor is it alone to men on the earth and in sin that the thought of God in the field of redemption, the gospel of Christ, is held to be of transcendent importance in understanding the depth of meaning in the other realm of God’s thought. It reaches even to unfallen worlds and to the bright intelligences of heaven itself. The thoughts of God, involved in His eternal purpose, and expressed in His Word of the gospel, are the chief science of the heavenly intelligences. For the preaching of “the unsearchable riches of Christ” is to “make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ; to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by [through, by means of] the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Ephesians 3:8-11. PBE 123.3

And when this is preached “with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,” “the angels desire,“ with intense interest, “to look into” it, that they may behold the manifold wisdom revealed in the operation of the divine Mind in working out that eternal purpose 1 Peter 1:12. PBE 124.1

Here, then, are two infinite realms of the science of the divine Mind, opened to the investigation of man. And both center in Jesus Christ; for in both, all the phenomena are the expressions of the thought of the divine Mind; and as thought is expressed in word, and Jesus Christ is the Word of God, so, whether in creation or in redemption, Jesus Christ, being the Word of God, is the expression of the thought of God. And as Jesus Christ is the expression of the thought of God in these two wonderful fields of the operation of the divine Mind, it is perfectly plain that without Him the thoughts expressed in these fields can not be understood. PBE 124.2

In view of these things, is it not perfectly plain, and easily understood, why “Jesus brought into His teaching none of the science of men”? why “His majesty could not mingle with human science”? why “the topic of human science never escaped His hallowed lips”? and why it is that “human science will disconnect from the great Source of all wisdom in a day”? PBE 125.1

And when men leave this wonderful double field of the science of the divine Mind, and spend their time and effort in the dark and narrow field of the operation of the human mind, which is enmity against God, is it not true that they have left the beautiful waters of the snow of Lebanon, which come from the Rock of the field, for “the murky waters of the valley”? yea, that they have turned even to “common sewers”? And when that is done, can there be any wonder that “the result” is “parched hearts in the school and in the church”? PBE 125.2

Shall not Christian schools, then, teach as mental science only the science of the divine Mind? PBE 125.3