Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 11 (1896)
Ms 8, 1896
True Education
NP
March 26, 1896
This manuscript is published in entirety in FE 405-415.
“The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple”—to those who are not self-sufficient, but who are willing to learn. [Psalm 119:130.] What was the work of the God-given messenger to our world? The only begotten Son of God clothed His divinity with humanity and came to our world as a teacher, an instructor, to reveal truth in contrast with error. Truth, saving truth, never languished on His tongue, never suffered in His hands, but was made to stand out plainly and clearly defined amid the moral darkness prevailing in our world. For this work He left the heavenly courts. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 1
He said of Himself, “For this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.” [John 18:37.] The truth came from His lips with freshness and power, as a new revelation. He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life. His life, given for this sinful world, was full of earnestness and momentous results; for His work was to save perishing souls. He came forth to be the True Light, shining amid the moral darkness of superstition and error, and was announced by a voice from heaven, proclaiming, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” [Matthew 3:17.] And at His transfiguration this voice from heaven was again heard, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” [Matthew 17:5.] 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 2
“Moses truly said unto the fathers, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul, which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.” [Acts 3:22, 23.] Christ brought to our world a certain knowledge of God, and to all who received His Word and obeyed, gave He power to become the sons of God. He who came forth from God to our world gave instruction on every subject about which it is essential that man should know in order to find the pathway to heaven. To Him, truth was an ever present, self-evident reality; He uttered no suggestions, advanced no sentiments, notions, or opinions, but presented only solid, saving truth. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 3
Everything not comprehended in truth is the guess work of man. Professedly high and learned men may be fools in the sight of God, and if so, the high and learned statements of their doctrines, however they may please and humor the senses, and though they may have been handed down from age to age [and] rocked in the cradle of popular faith, are a delusion and a falsehood if not found in the inspired lessons of Christ. He is the source of all wisdom, for He placed Himself directly on a level with the eternal God. In His humanity the glory of heavenly illumination fell directly upon Him, and from Him to the world, to be reflected back by all who receive and believe on Him, mingled with His perfection of character and the luster of His own character. While Christ stood forth distinctly in His human personality and appealed in striking but simple language to humanity, He was in such perfect oneness with God that His voice came with authority, as the voice of God from the center of glory. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 4
In the record He was charged by the Holy Spirit to present, John says of Christ, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” [John 1:1-3.] This is the most precious unfolding of definite truth, flashing its divine light and glory upon all who will receive it. What more important knowledge can be received than that given in the Book which teaches of the fall of man and the consequences of that sin, which opened the floodgates of woe upon our world; which teaches also of the first advent of Christ, a helpless babe, born in a stable and cradled in a manger. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 5
The history of Christ is to be searched, comparing Scripture with Scripture, that we may learn the all-important lesson: What are the terms of salvation? As intelligent agents, invested with personal attributes and responsibilities, we can know in regard to our future, eternal destiny; for the Scripture record given by John, at the dictation of the Holy Spirit, contains no terms that cannot be easily comprehended and that will not bear the most searching and critical investigation. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 6
Christ was a teacher sent from God, and His words did not contain a particle of chaff or a semblance of that which is non-essential. But the force of much human instruction is comprised in assertion, not in truth. The teachers of the present day can only use the educated ability of previous teachers; and yet with all the weighty importance which may be attached to the words of the greatest authors, there is a conscious inability to trace them back to the first great principles, the source of unerring wisdom, from which teachers derive their authority. There is a painful uncertainty, a constant searching and reaching for assurances that can only be found in God. The trumpet of human greatness may be sounded, but it is with an uncertain sound; it is not reliable, and the salvation of human souls cannot be ventured upon it. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 7
A mass of tradition, with merely a semblance of truth, is being brought into education, which will never fit the learner to live in this life so that he may obtain the higher, immortal life. The literature placed in our schools, written by infidels and so-called wise men, does not contain the education that students should have. It is not essential that they shall be educated in these lines in order to graduate from these schools to the school which is in heaven. The mass of tradition taught will bear no comparison with the teachings of Him who came to show the way to heaven. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 8
Christ taught with authority. The sermon on the mount is a wonderful production, yet so simple that a child can study it without being misled. The mount of beatitudes is an emblem of the high elevation on which Christ ever stood. He spoke with an authority which was exclusively His own. Every sentence He uttered came from God. He was the word and the wisdom of God, and He ever presented truth with the authority of God. “The words that I speak unto you,” He said, “they are spirit, and they are life.” [John 6:63.] 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 9
That which in the councils of heaven the Father and the Son deemed essential for the salvation of man was defined from eternity by infinite truths which finite beings cannot fail to comprehend. Revelations have been made for their instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may glorify his own life and the lives of his fellow men, not only by the possession of truth, but by communicating it. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. I charge you therefore before the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word; be instant in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears.” [2 Timothy 3:16-4:3.] 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 10
Jesus brought into His teaching none of the science of men. His teaching is full of grand, ennobling, saving truth, to which man’s highest ambitions and proudest inventions can bear no comparison; and yet things of minor consequence engross the minds of men. The great plan of redemption of a fallen race was wrought out in the life of Christ in human flesh. This scheme of restoring the moral image of God in debased humanity entered into every purpose of the life and character of Christ. 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. By believing in and doing the words of God, He was severing the human family from Satan chariot car. He was alive to the terrible ruin hanging over the human race, and He came to save souls by His own righteousness, bringing to the world definite assurance of hope and complete relief. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 11
The knowledge current in the world may be acquired, for all men are God’s property, and are worked by God to fulfil His will in certain lines, even when they refuse the man Christ Jesus as their Saviour. The way in which God uses men is not always discerned, but He does use them. God entrusts men with talents and inventive genius, in order that His great work in our world may be accomplished. The inventions of human minds are supposed to spring from humanity, but God is behind all. He has caused that the means of rapid travelling shall have been invented, for the great day of His preparation. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 12
The use which men have made of their capabilities, by misusing and abusing their God-given talents has brought confusion into the world. They have left the guardianship of Christ for the guardianship of the great rebel, the prince of darkness. Man alone is accountable for the strange fire which has been mingled with the sacred. The accumulation of many things which minister [to] lust and ambition has brought upon the world the judgment of God. When in difficulty, philosophers and the great men of earth desire to satisfy their minds without appealing to God. They ventilate their philosophy in regard to the heavens and the earth, accounting for plagues, pestilences, epidemics, earthquakes, [and] famines by their supposed science. Hundreds of questions relating to creation and providence, they will attempt to solve by saying, This is a law of nature. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 13
There are laws of nature, but they are harmonious, and conform with all God’s working; but when the lords many and gods many set themselves to explain God’s own principles and providences, presenting to the world strange fire in the place of divine, there is confusion. The machinery of earth and heaven needs many faces to every wheel in order to see the hand beneath the wheels, bringing perfect order from confusion. The living and true God is a necessity everywhere. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 14
A most interesting and important history is given in Daniel 2. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, dreamed a dream which he could not bring to his remembrance when he awoke. “Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans,” those whom he had exalted and upon whom he depended, and relating the circumstances, demanded that they should tell him the dream. The wise men stood before the king in terror, for they had no ray of light in regard to his dream. They could only say, “O king, live forever; tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation.” [Verses 2-4.] 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 15
“The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me; if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses made a dunghill. But if ye will show the dream and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honor: therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof. Still the wise men returned the same answer, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation of it.” [Verses 5-7.] 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 16
Nebuchadnezzar began to see that the men whom he trusted to reveal mysteries through their boasted wisdom, failed him in his great perplexity, and he said, “I know of a certainly that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me. But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed; therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew the interpretation thereof. The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king’s matter. ... It is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” Then was the king “angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.” [Verses 8-12.] 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 17
Hearing of this decree, “Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the thing the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions; that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret.” [Verses 16-18.] The Spirit of the Lord rested upon Daniel and his fellows, and the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. As he related the facts, the dream came fresh to the king’s mind, and the interpretation was given, showing the remarkable events that were to transpire in prophetic history. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 18
The Lord was working in the Babylonian kingdom, communicating light to the four Hebrew captives, that He might represent His work before the people. He would reveal that He had power over the kingdoms of the world, to set up kings and to throw down kings. The King over all kings was communicating great truth to the king of Babylon, awakening in his mind a sense of his responsibility to God. He saw the contrast between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the most learned men in his kingdom. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 19
The Lord gave His faithful representatives lessons from heaven, and Daniel declared before the great men of the king of Babylon, “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding. He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.” [Verses 20-22.] “There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.” [Verse 28.] Glory was not given to the men who stood as oracles in the kingdom, but the men who put their entire trust in God, seeking for grace and strength and divine enlightenment, were chosen as representatives of the kingdom of God in wicked, idolatrous Babylon. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 20
The historic events relating in the king’s dream were of consequence to him; but the dream was taken from him that the wise men by their claimed understanding of mysteries should not place upon it a false interpretation. The lessons taught in it were given by God for those who live in our day. The inability of the wise men to tell the dream is a representation of the wise men of the present day, who have not discernment and learning and knowledge from the Most High, and therefore are unable to understand the prophecies. The most learned in the world’s lore who are not watching to hear what God says in His Word and opening their hearts to receive that Word and give it to others, are not representatives of His. It is not the great and learned men of the earth, kings and nobles, who will receive the truth unto eternal life, though it will be brought to them. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 21
Daniel’s exposition of the dream given by God to the king resulted in his receiving honor and dignity. “The king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors unto him. And the king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth ... your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 22
“Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.” [Verses 46-49.] “Daniel sat in the gate of the king”—a place where judgment was dispersed, and his three companions were made counselors, judges, and rulers in the midst of the land. These men were not puffed up with vanity, but they saw and rejoiced that God was recognized, above all earthly potentates, and that His kingdom was extolled above all earthly kingdoms. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 23
So we see that the highest line of earthly education may be obtained, and yet the men possessing it may be ignorant of the first principles which would make them subjects of the kingdom of God. Human learning cannot qualify for that kingdom. The subjects of Christ’s kingdom are not made thus by forms and ceremonies, by a large study of books. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” [John 17:3.] The members of Christ’s kingdom are members of His body, of which He Himself is the head. They are the elect sons of God, “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people” that they should show forth the praises of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. [1 Peter 2:9.] 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 24
“For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people. But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 25
“Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.” [Deuteronomy 7:6-11.] 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 26
If God’s commandments are to be binding for a thousand generations, it will take them into the kingdom of God, into the presence of God and His holy angels. This is an argument that cannot be controverted. The commandments of God will endure through all time and eternity. Are they, then, given us as a burden? No. “And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.” [Deuteronomy 6:24.] The Lord gave His people commandments in order that by obeying them they might preserve their physical, mental, and moral health. They were to live by obedience, but death is the sure result of the disobedience of the law of God. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 27
The Old and New Testament Scriptures need to be studied daily. The knowledge of God and the wisdom of God come to the student who is a constant learner of His ways and works. The Bible is to be our light, our educator. When we will acknowledge God in all our ways, when the youth are educated to believe that God sends the rain and the sunshine from heaven, causing vegetation to flourish, when they are taught that all blessings come from Him, and that thanksgiving and praise [are] due to Him, when with fidelity they acknowledge God and discharge their duties day by day, and God will be in all their thoughts; they can trust Him for tomorrow, and that anxious care that brings unhappiness to so many lives will be avoided. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” [Matthew 6:33.] 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 28
The first great lesson in all education is to know and understand the will of God. Take the knowledge of God with you through every day of life. Let it absorb the mind and the whole being. God gave Solomon wisdom, but this God-given wisdom was perverted when he turned from God to obtain wisdom from other sources. We need the wisdom of Solomon after we have learned the wisdom of One greater than Solomon. We are not to go through human wisdom, which is termed foolishness, to seek true wisdom. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 29
For men to learn science through men’s interpretation is to obtain a false education, but to learn of God and Jesus Christ is to learn the science of the Bible. The confusion in education has come because the wisdom and knowledge of God has not been honored and exalted by the religious world. The pure in heart see God in every providence, in every phase of true education. They vibrate to the first approach of light which radiates from the throne of God. Communications from heaven are made to those who will catch the first gleams of spiritual knowledge. 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 30
The students in our schools are to consider the knowledge of God as above everything else. Searching the Scriptures alone will bring the knowledge of the true God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent. “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness: but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” [1 Corinthians 1:18, 19, 25, 30, 31.] 11LtMs, Ms 8, 1896, par. 31