III

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE RISE OF

PROTESTANTISM

1. BRIEF SURVEY OF THE PERIOD

IMPERFECT DEVELOPMENT.-The first period of Christian education extends to the sixteenth century. During this long period Christianity did not completely control society and education. Always encountering determined opposition, and having weak and fallible men as its representatives, it has never achieved faultless results. At first its violent contrast with existing customs and morals, and afterward its union with the State, gave it one-sided tendencies and crippled its efficiency.

WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED.-Notwithstanding unfortunate tendencies in the Church during the first period of Christian education, indispensable work was accomplished. The greatest political power of the earth was brought under the influence of Christianity. The young and vigorous nations of the north of Europe, which at a later time were to be the representatives and bearers of Christian culture, were converted to Christianity. The relics of ancient literature, which were to perform an important office in quickening and forming modern Christian culture, were preserved in the monasteries, and multiplied by tireless copyists. The beginnings of popular education were made. A thirst for knowledge was disseminated

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among the higher classes, and universities were founded as centers of intellectual culture. In part, the course of study, both for primary and secondary education, was fixed; and the mistakes and one-sidedness of educational effort have remained for our instruction.

THE TEUTONIC RACE.-The Teutonic race, which received the precious boon of civilization from falling Rome, possessed at the beginning of our era certain characteristics that brought it into sympathy with Christianity, and prepared it for the hearty adoption of the new faith. As compared with the Romans in point of culture, those brave German tribes ranked as barbarous; but, in force of character, purity of morals, and nobility of feeling, they were far above the Romans. They recognized, in a high degree, the worth of the individual, and were warm defenders of personal freedom. They possessed a deep religious nature and great reverence and love for the truth. Women were held in high esteem. Their respect for marriage and their purity of morals were portrayed by Tacitus, in order to shame the licentiousness of Rome. In addition to all this, the Teutonic races possessed great physical and intellectual vigor, which fitted them to take up the world's development at the point where antiquity, with strength exhausted, had left it. They were to become, in due time, the leaders in art, science, commerce, government, religion, and culture, in all which they made new and extended conquests. It is the Teutonic nations that are chiefly to claim our attention hereafter. They are the great leaders in education, as they are in every other weighty human interest.

2. THE RELATION OF CHRISTIANITY TO

EDUCATION

THE NEW ERA.-Though much in the education of pagan antiquity was admirable, it still remained defective. It was controlled by wrong principles and confined within too narrow limits. It did not grasp the worth of the individual in all its fulness, and never freed itself from the narrowness of national boundaries. Grecian education, as we have seen, aimed at forming the beautiful Greek; Roman education, at forming the practical Roman. If philosophers sometimes rose to larger and juster views, their teachings remained without practical results in the education of their day. But, with the advent of Christ into the world, there came a new era in history. New truths were thrown into the world which were destined to change its character and culture. With his coming mankind started upon the period of its final development; for when the truths announced by him have been fully realized the kingdom of heaven will cover the earth.

CHRISTIANITY AND EDUCATION.-The wide-reaching influences of Christianity have profoundly affected education. Christianity has placed education upon a new and immovable foundation. In teaching that God is the common Father of all men, it removes from education the fetters of national limits and prejudices. It gives the world the great thought of the brotherhood of mankind—a thought whose benign effects have not yet been fully realized. In making every one a child of God, stamped with the impress of the divine image, Christianity attaches due importance to the individual. It makes him the object of redemption, the steward of God,

the heir of eternal life. He is made to possess an endless worth in himself. Christianity teaches that all men are alike before God, who "is no respecter of persons." With this mighty truth it sweeps away the false distinctions. of class and caste which have weighed so heavily upon Oriental countries. It abolishes slavery. In enforcing the law of brotherly love, Christianity seeks to overthrow the injustice and oppressions of society. Inculcating the duty of personal holiness, it seeks to abolish vices which were sanctioned by the philosophy, religion, and society of the ancient world, and which polluted and undermined Grecian and Roman civilization. It elevates marriage into a divine rite. It makes the wife the friend and companion of her husband, their union symbolizing that of Christ with his Church. Children are looked upon as the gift of God. Christ took them up in his arms and blessed them. So far from having the right to expose his children to death, according to the universal custom among pagan nations, the parent is required to "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." These are some of the great truths of Christianity which have changed the character both of civilization and of education.

3. THE FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANITY

GRANDEUR OF HIS LIFE.-The life of Christ, apart from its religious significance in the world's redemption, is well worth a careful study. It is now more than nineteen centuries since his birth. During this vast period the world has moved forward in its gigantic process of development. The sum of human knowledge has been immeasurably increased, new arts and sciences have arisen,

yet the life of Christ stands forth in unapproachable beauty. The greatest minds of modern times, with the docility of the Galilean fishermen, have paid him the tribute of reverent admiration. The brilliant and skeptical Rousseau acknowledged that "the life and death of Jesus Christ are those of a God." The great German, Herder, said, "Jesus Christ is in the noblest and most perfect sense the realized ideal of humanity." No one will deny the intellectual greatness of Napoleon, yet he has said of Christ: "His birth and the story of his life, the profoundness of his doctrine, which overthrows all difficulties, and is their most complete solution; his gospel, the singularity of his mysterious being, his appearance, his empire, his progress through all centuries and kingdoms-all this is to me a prodigy, an unfathomable mystery. I defy you to cite another life like that of Christ."

HIS TRAINING.-As the Jewish system of education had changed but little, the domestic circle at Nazareth was probably his only school. From Joseph he received formal instruction in the Jewish law, while the gentleness and piety of Mary were not without influence in molding his character. He profited, no doubt, by the weekly synagogue service, and, on his annual visits to the holy city, dwelt fondly upon its wondrous associations. He studied the Scriptures of the Old Testament in the original Hebrew, and stored his memory with their historical facts, moral precepts, and inspired prophecies. Unlike the professional religious teachers of his day, he penetrated beneath the surface of temporary forms and took his stand on selfevidencing and eternal truth.

The results of this training, with its deep religious significance, are apparent throughout Christ's subsequent