This does not mean the substitution of a class in Bible or sacred history for the former classics. As the classic literature has been the basis of all instruction in our schools since the Middle Ages, a reformation necessitates a decided breaking down of the old system, and the adoption of a new system built upon an entirely different foundation,—a system in which the Word of God shall be the basis of all education, and the text-book in every line of study. [Sidenote: Paganism and our children] Parents, reading this, may say that but a small proportion of the people ever obtain a classical education. But if you send your child only to the modern kindergarten, he is there told the story of Pluto; or of Ceres, goddess of the golden grain; Mercury, the winged messenger god; the wood nymphs; Æolus, who rules the winds and brings the storms; or Apollo, who is driven across the heavens in a chariot of fire. Or, if the real Greek names are dropped, _nature is personified_ in such a way as to give the childish mind a distorted idea of things which leads to anything but the pure and simple truth of God’s Word. He thus drinks in the myths and fables of the Greeks from very infancy. One of his First Readers has the story of Proserpina, who was stolen, and hidden under the earth for a season. Nature-studies are often made attractive to youthful minds by being associated with the ancient Greek gods and goddesses. But even in a more subtle way the ideas of classic lore are taught in the evolutionary theories of science and philosophy, through primary, grammar, and high-school grades. [Sidenote: Evolution] “Philosophy,” as before quoted, is defined to be “the account which the human mind gives to itself of the constitution of the world.” That philosophy is now termed _evolution_, for evolution is man’s way of accounting for the constitution of the world, and the creatures which inhabit it. Take notice of these words from the pen of Henry Drummond. In a paper prepared for the Parliament of Religions, entitled “Evolution of Christianity,” he says: “Working in its own field, science made the discovery of _how God made the world_.” “Through faith _we_ understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God,” writes Paul to the Hebrews.[44]