This WORD was the basis for the study of political science, and Abraham’s “methods of government” were “carried out in the households over which they [his students] should preside.” The equality of all men was a lesson first learned in the home. “Abraham’s affection for his children and his household led him ... to impart to them a knowledge of the divine statutes, as the most precious legacy he could transmit to them, and through them to the world. All were taught that they were under the rule of the God of heaven. There was to be no oppression on the part of parents, and no disobedience on the part of children.” His was not a school where theory alone was taught, but the practical was emphasized. In studying political science they formed the nucleus of a divine government; in the study of finances, they actually made the money and raised the flocks which brought recognition from surrounding nations. “The unswerving integrity, the benevolence and unselfish courtesy, which had won the admiration of kings, _were displayed in the home_.” [Sidenote: This school was the beginning of a nation] The influence of country life and direct contact with nature, in contrast with the enervating influence of the city with its idolatrous teaching and artificial methods, developed a hardy race, a people of faith whom God could use to lay the foundation for the Israelitish nation. We see, then, that when God founds a nation, he lays that foundation in a school. The nation of which Abraham and his followers formed the beginning, prefigured the earth redeemed, where Christ will reign as King of kings. The education of the school of Abraham symbolized Christian education. “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise,” not only of the kingdom, but of the education which prepares the inhabitants for that kingdom. As faith was the method employed in teaching in the days of the patriarch, so in the schools of to-day faith must be the motive for work, the avenue to the fountain of wisdom. There are to-day those who can not harmonize their feelings and their ideas of education with the plan which God has committed to his people. Likewise in the days of Abraham there was at least one family which withdrew from the influence of the school. [Sidenote: Lot chose a worldly school]