I have discovered a new hero of sorts…Gresham Machen, (1881-1937) theologian and Christian warrior.
He saw it coming, long before it came.
“Machen is one of many prominent American defenders of political liberty and economic freedom who have been largely forgotten by a people intent on abandoning its heritage of freedom.”
“Long before the federal Department of Education was finally created in the 1970s, efforts had been made to establish it in the 1920s. Machen vigorously opposed those efforts in published letters, essays in national magazines, speaking engagements, and in an appearance before a joint Congressional committee. There, Machen warned against government control over young people: “If you give the bureaucrats the children, you might as well give them everything else as well.”
A national department of education was not the only government intrusion into education which drew Machen’s opposition. The “Lusk Laws” of New York which would have compelled private schools to obtain state licenses, and Nebraska’s Language Law (ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court) which prohibited teaching a foreign language to any pre-9th grade student, were both cited by Machen as examples of improper but not unexpected government interference in the learning process. While not opposing locally operated public schools per se, Machen set forth his position regarding school and state in no uncertain terms:
“Place the lives of children in their formative years, despite the convictions of their parents, under the intimate control of experts appointed by the state, force them to attend schools where the higher aspirations of humanity are crushed out, and where the mind is filled with the materialism of the day, and it is difficult to see how even the remnants of liberty can subsist.” –Machen
Excerpt from FREEMAN
7 comments
The teacher should not be expected to do the parents’ work. My attention has been especially called to a work that has been strangely neglected,–the training of children. Parents have set aside the work that lies at the very foundation of soul saving. Child training is the grandest work ever committed to mortals. The child belongs to the Lord, and from the time it is an infant in its mother’s arms, it is to be trained for him, trained to enter his service. For the first years of a child’s life, the home is to be its school. In the home, parents and children are together to learn the way of the Lord. Carefully and untiringly parents are to watch the opening minds of their children, giving them the lessons they need in order to develop into Christian men and women. Parents should make all else subordinate to the work God has given them to do for their children. {RH, July 8, 1902 par. 1}
It is the mother’s privilege to bless the world by her influence, and in doing this, she will bring joy to her own heart. She may make straight paths for the feet of her children, through sunshine and shadow, to the glorious heights above. But it is only when she seeks in her own life to follow the teachings of Christ, that the mother can hope to form the character of her children after the divine example. The world teems with corrupting influences. Fashion and custom exert a strong power over the youth. If the mother fails in her duty to instruct, guide, and restrain, her children will naturally accept the evil, and turn from the good. Let every mother go often to God with the prayer, “How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?” Let her heed the instruction that God has given in his Word, and wisdom will be given her as she shall have need. {RH, July 8, 1902 par. 2}
Few parents realize as they should that child training is God’s appointed agency for the salvation of their children. They do not make it their first work to train their children for the Lord.
I agree totally with Gresham Machen-“Don’t give Your Children to the Bureaucrats”
the previous comments came out of EG Whites writings guided by God in the 1900s.
royalblood,
Very poignant words.
I have never heard of Gresham Machen before today. but the wisdom of this revolutionary thinker cannot be denied.
And yes, the quotes from royalblood are powerful and true as well.
And Kelly, thanks for popping in on my blog. I know that you don’t usually do that sort of thing. With 7 blessings and another on the way, who can blame you? So thanks again.
Words could not be truer. Why any Believer would think that placing their most precious possession in the hands of the government as a good thing is completely beyond my comprehension.
I love finding new things to read, i.e. I will have to look up Gresham Machen, as well as EG White.
The best part is if I can give my husband (who reads constantly) something new to digest! Thanks for the lead.
I found this G.K. Chesterton quote apt and fit to this post:
“The purpose of Compulsory Education is to deprive the common people of their commonsense.”