The Church and Education by S. B. Horton

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · Jul 11, 1912

"The Church and Education"

By S. B. Horton

S. B. HORTON

ADMITTING that the universities are not in sufficiently close touch with the churches, and, therefore, do not devote sufficient time to the religious education of students, the dean of Brown University said, in an address at Emmanuel Baptist Church, Albany, N. Y., recently:—

"It is not the business of the college to teach boys to believe in any particular creed. It is the business of the college to teach boys to think, to point the eyes of boys to what are the problems of human experience, to let them see that this social life of ours is surrounded with difficulties and perplexities.

"In the world of politics you would not send your boy to a college that promised to bring him out a believer in tariff legislation. If you were the most stalwart Republican, would you send your boy to a college that obligated itself to bring him out a Republican?—No, you would not. In the department of economics, boys must be taught, not that this or that particular doctrine is true, but that there are considerations on one side, and other considerations on the other side, and that every intelligent man must weigh these considerations and decide for himself."

After stating that "if the church is to hold men together, it must teach them what they shall believe," the dean made the following statement, which is in keeping with the evident trend of university teaching to-day:—

"But the college can not give up its demands for thinking, questioning, and doubting. That is the science of education. Neither one can give up its mission, and there is no reason why it should. Men have no right to believe unless the beliefs have been questioned. On the one side is the church with its faith, and on the other, the college with its doubt; on the one side the church with its assurance, and on the other, the college with its investigation."

It would seem from this position that the basis and essence of education demand the ability to doubt; that is to say, education can not be acquired unless the facts connected with the imparting of knowledge are to be doubted until they are demonstrated to be true. If that rule were to be applied to Christian education, the student would never come to a knowledge of the truth as it is revealed in the Holy Scriptures.

That which must precede a knowledge of God and the gospel of his Son, is well stated by the apostle Paul in Heb. 11:6: "He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

How very important it is for the seeker after truth to plant his feet upon the platform of Christian education, and reject the apostate condition referred to in Jer. 2:12, 13: "Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water."

Washington, D. C.