ditions and speculations. The worship of God
“in Spirit and in truth” had been supplanted by the glorification of
men in an endless round of man-made ceremonies. Throughout the
world all systems of religion were losing their hold on mind and
soul. Disgusted with fable and falsehood, seeking to drown thought,
men turned to infidelity and materialism. Leaving eternity out of
their reckoning, they lived for the present.
As they ceased to recognize the Divine, they ceased to regard
the human. Truth, honor, integrity, confidence, compassion, were
departing from the earth. Relentless greed and absorbing ambition
gave birth to universal distrust. The idea of duty, of the obligation of
strength to weakness, of human dignity and human rights, was cast
aside as a dream or a fable. The common people were regarded as
beasts of burden or as the tools and the steppingstones for ambition.
Wealth and power, ease and self-indulgence, were sought as the
highest good. Physical degeneracy, mental stupor, spiritual death,
characterized the age.
As the evil passions and purposes of men banished God from
their thoughts, so forgetfulness of Him inclined them more strongly
to evil. The heart in love with sin clothed Him with its own attributes,
56 Education
and this conception strengthened the power of sin. Bent on selfpleasing,
men came to regard God as such a one as themselves—a
Being whose aim was self-glory, whose requirements were suited to
His own pleasure; a Being by whom men were lifted up or cast down
according as they helped or hindered His selfish purpose. The lower
[76] classes regarded the Supreme Being as one scarcely differing from
their oppressors, save by exceeding them in power. By these ideas
every form of religion was molded. Each was a system of exaction.
By gifts and ceremonies, the worshipers sought to propitiate the
Deity in order to secure His favor for their own ends. Such religion,
having no power upon the heart or the conscience, could be but a
round of forms, of which men wearied, and from which, except
for such gain as it might offer, they longed to be free. So evil,
unrestrained, grew stronger, while the appreciation and desire for
good diminished. Men lost the image of God and received the
impress of the demoniacal power by which they were controlled.
The whole world was becoming a sink of corruption.
There was but one hope for the human race—that into this mass
of discordant and corrupting elements might be cast a new leaven;
that there might be brought to mankind the power of a new life; that
the knowledge of God might be restored to the world.
Christ came to restore this knowledge. He came to set aside
the false teaching by which those who claimed to know God had
misrepresented Him. He came to manifest the nature of His law, to
reveal in His own character the beauty of holiness.
Christ came to the world with the accumulated love of eternity.
Sweeping away the exactions which had encumbered the law of
God, He showed that the law is a law of love, an expression of the
Divine Goodness. He showed that in obedience to its principles is
involved the happiness of mankind, and with it the stability, the very
foundation and framework, of human society.
[77] So far from making arbitrary requirements, God’s law is given
to men as a hedge, a shield. Whoever accepts its principles is
preserved from evil. Fidelity to God involves fidelity to man. Thus
the law guards the rights, the individuality, of every human being.
It restrains the superior from oppression, and the subordinate from
disobedience. It ensures man’s well-being, both for this world and
Chapter 8—The Teacher Sent From God 57
for the world to come. To the obedient it is the pledge of eternal life,
for it expresses the principles that endure forever.
Christ came to demonstrate the value of the divine principles by
revealing their power for the regeneration of humanity. He came to
teach how these principles are to be developed and applied.
With the people of that age the value of all things was determined
by outward show. As religion had declined in power, it had increased
in pomp. The educators of the time sought to command respect by
display and ostentation. To all this the life of Jesus presented a
marked contrast. His life demonstrated the worthlessness of those
things that men regarded as life’s great essentials. Born amidst
surroundings the rudest, sharing a peasant’s home, a peasant’s fare, a
craftsman’s occupation, living a life of obscurity, identifying Himself
with the world’s unknown toilers,—amidst these conditions and
surroundings,—Jesus followed the divine plan of education. The
schools of His time, with their magnifying of things small and their
belittling of things great, He did not seek. His education was gained
directly from the Heaven-appointed sources; from useful work, from
the study of the Scriptures and of nature, and from the experiences
of life—God’s lesson books, full of instruction to all who bring to
them the willing hand, the seeing eye, and the understanding heart. [78]
“The Child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom:
and the grace of God was upon Him.” Luke 2:40.
Thus prepared, He went forth to His mission, in every moment
of His contact with men exerting upon them an influence to bless, a
power to transform, such as the world had never witnessed.
He who seeks to transform humanity must himself understand
humanity. Only through sympathy, faith, and love can men be
reached and uplifted. Here Christ stands revealed as the master
teacher; of all that ever dwelt on the earth, He alone has perfect
understanding of the human soul.
“We have not a high priest”—master teacher, for the priests were
teachers—“we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities; but One that hath been in all points
tempted like as we are.” Hebrews 4:15, R.V.
“In that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to
succor them that are tempted.” Hebrews 2:18.
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Christ alone had experience in all the sorrows and temptations
that befall human beings. Never another of woman born was so
fiercely beset by temptation; never another bore so heavy a burden
of the world’s sin and pain. Never was there another whose sympathies
were so broad or so tender. A sharer in all the experiences of
humanity, He could feel not only for, but with, every burdened and
tempted and struggling one.
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What He taught, He lived. “I have given you an example,” He
said to His disciples; “that ye should do as I have done.” “I have kept
My Father’s commandments.” John 13:15; 15:10. Thus in His life,
Christ’s words had perfect illustration and support. And more than
[79] this; what He taught, He was. His words were the expression, not
only of His own life experience, but of His own character. Not only
did He teach the truth, but He was the truth