AS OF JERUSALEM, SO NOW OF THE CHURCHES, THEY ARE DESTROYED BECAUSE THE EDUCATION OF THE CHILDREN IS NEGLECTED. Wherein lies the safety of the Christian parent and his child? The child has a right to a Christian education. Where is it to be obtained? Can the state give it?—It could not if it would. Are the Protestant churches educating their own children? Few indeed are the Christian schools, and to-day the churches are reaping the result of their long period of retrogression. The words of Dr. James M. Buckley, editor of the _Christian Advocate_, the leading organ of Methodism, voice the general sentiment. He says in part:— “That the Methodist Episcopal Church, with nearly three million of communicants and a vast army of Sunday-school scholars, should add less than seven thousand to its membership in 1899, is startling. That in the same period it should show a decline of 28,595 in those avowed and accepted candidates known as probationers, is ominous. Such a situation has not been frequent in our history.... No reverent person can charge the decline to God the Father Almighty, to Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, or to the Holy Ghost, in whom the church ceaselessly declares its belief. It must therefore lie at the doors of every church.”[167] This statement is very true; and yet, while exonerating God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit from any blame in the matter, it is sad to note that prominent men in the ministry fail to see that the churches are losing their hold upon humanity because they have relinquished their right as Protestants to educate the children. The churches are to be pitied; but there is only one remedy, and that church which takes up its neglected duty in _education_ will receive the reward. To the students of prophecy it is a significant fact that this state of affairs has been growing deplorably worse since about the year 1843 or 1844. [Sidenote: Growth of elective system] The fluctuations which have occurred in the curricula of our leading schools has been referred to before, but is emphasized by a glance at the introduction of the elective courses. When the course of instruction became decidedly complex, requiring years for completion, and the multiplication of subjects made it impracticable for the majority of students to complete the course as outlined, there arose the privilege of option in the choice of the studies in many courses. This was also made necessary in the colleges by the organization of many technical schools throughout the land. “The early efforts to establish mechanics and manual-labor institutes are interesting as marking a reaction against the dominance of language and metaphysics, and an ingenious appeal for the large recognition of the physical sciences.” This has led in some cases to the substitution of German or some other modern language, and an increased amount of mathematics in place of the classics, the students being free to choose. [Sidenote: Freedom of Virginia University]