Lessons from Scarisbrick Hall iii: Defence

Scarisbrick Hall is built in an over-the-top neo-gothic style, which is most ostentatious and wonderfully playful at the same time. For example, amid the arches and carvings are a number of armoured knights sitting atop chimneys, holding on by their legs.

Yet there are other sections of the building which are built to resemble a real fortress. The towers below would not be out of place in medieval France during the Hundred Years War. Though built as a home, and now used as a school, there is a sense in which this is place of defence, of protection, of security.

Certainly, a home owner wishes his goods and chattels to be preserved, and the parents who patronise this school surely do so in the hope and assurance than their children are being kept safe. Unfortunately, many state schools are currently places of danger. While they may have erected security fences to keep out gunmen and predators, these do not shield the children from the woke ideologies and transgender activists which much of the teaching profession seem to court and idolise. I suspect that the children at Scarisbrick are safer in this regard than their state-educated neighbours.

Paul writes in Philippians 4:6-8 (New King James Version):

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

We often emphasise the 'peace' of which that verse speaks, but less so the element of guarding our hearts and minds. The world’s lying whispers would come into both and retard our love for Christ. If a school represents the Christian’s mind, draw lessons from Scarisbrick. Our education must not just be pleasurable and productive, it must also be safe from Satanic sallies.