The group had made great sacrifices to be able to teach their children the truth of why God made them, and of His plan for them. First, they had sold their farms in England---that had been in their families for generations---in order to be able to move to Holland, where they hoped to have the liberty to teach their children God’s truth. And while there was liberty to do it, there wasn’t the means to do it. The parents in this group (known later as the Pilgrims) were shut out by the Dutch economy to the point there wasn’t enough money to allow them to teach their children. So many hours were spent just scraping out a living that there was no time left to educate their families. So then, they made the second sacrifice: They got on a boat, the Mayflower, and crossed the Atlantic to come to America in order to be in a place where they could have the means and the liberty to teach their children God’s truth; and be able to teach all the academic subjects from the principles of God’s truth revealed in the Bible.
The Pilgrims were taught well the truth recorded in the Bible which states,
“as a man thinks, so is he…” (Proverbs 23:7)
They knew that whatever they allowed to go into their child’s mind was going to determine the direction of that child in life. They likewise knew that, without a Biblical education in history, government, and logic, their children would not know how to defend this new civil liberty they had established. Thus, they implemented Biblical methods of education, and developed textbooks that agreed with those Biblical methods.
One such textbook was The New England Primer. This was an amazing little book that taught thousands of children how to read and think. It’s Biblical approach to reading fixed in the minds of children God’s purpose for them. For example, they taught the letter A by showing how it was used in the Bible; it read: “In Adam’s fall, we sinned all.” The letter C was taught by using it in the sentence: “Christ crucified, for sinners died.” The letter R was used in the rhyme, “Young, pious Ruth, left all for Truth.” Beside these statements were pictures which illustrated the experience being used to teach the letter.
On over in the The New England Primer were questions that children learned to answer by memorizing the written answers given, thus fixing Biblical truths in their mind. For example the first question asked was:
“What has God done for you?”
The answer the children then gave was:
“God has made me, He keeps me, and He can save me”.
Later in the Primer, the concept of covenant was taught, since it is the most basic concept
that must be understood to maintain relationships, both to God and man. This concept would be the basis of church membership, marriage, and of civil government. The question was asked to the children:
“What does the Lord bind His people to in His covenant?”
The children were then to answer:
“To give up themselves and their [children] first to the Lord, then to the
elders and [brothers] of the church…”
Then the question was asked:
“How do they give up themselves and their children to the Lord?”
The children would then answer:
“By receiving through faith the Lord and His covenant to themselves, and
to their [children], and accordingly walking themselves and
training up their children in the ways of the covenant.”
Does this reveal how far we’ve slid from America’s original education system?
What would this region be like if our schools taught this way to our children?
Perhaps you should start one that does!
From "Think About It" by Don Pinson from Heritage Ministries of Kentucky
