LC3VJ n > SERIES *Y 6 THE CHURCH AHD HIGHER EDUCATION, if _ BY HON. WM. LAWRENCE. LL.D. I' . METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE 805 BROADWAY NY 2> ■ THE Relations of the Church HIGHEE EDUCATION. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY HON. WM. LAWRENCE, LL.D., of Bellefontaine, Ohio, Before the Faculty and Students of the Ohio Wesleyan University, and others, at Delaware, Ohio, June 24, 1879. "And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." — Matt, xv, 14. " Woe unto you, ye blind guides." — Matt, xxiii, 16. NEW YORK : PHILLIPS & HUNT CINCINNATI: HITCHCOCK & WALDEN. i8 79 . ..a*' cop y 3»- RELATIONS OF THE CHURCH TO HIGHEE EDUCATION Ladies and Gentlemen: I am conscious of the peril I encounter in attempting to speak to an audience so learned as that be- fore me and around me, on a subject which you have considered so much. But I hope I may be able to present some thoughts worthy of consideration on "The Rela- tion of the Church to Higher Educa- tion." When it is said there is a " higher education " it is necessarily assumed that there is education in a different degree. r And this is true. In the States of this Union, and in some of the nations of Europe, there are common schools. These in some localities bring the means of an ordinary 4 Relations of the Church education within the reach of every child of school age, while in others this result is but partially attained. The instruction afforded in these schools furnishes what is generally called a " Com- mon School Education," embracing the or- dinary branches of learning; sometimes ex- tended so as to include much that is called higher education. Then there is in this and other civilized nations a " higher education " which is taught almost exclusively in institutions for secondary instruction, in colleges and uni- versities. These, of course, vary in the ex- tent of their educational facilities, but they generally profess to teach something, and some of them teach all that is known of language, of history, of mental and moral and social and physical science, and math- ematics. This learning of the institutions for secondary instruction, and of the col- leges and universities, is designated as " hight r education" The inquiry which is now presented for consideration is this : What are, or rather to Higher Education. 5 what should be, the relations of the Church to this higher education?" Before this inquiry can be answered, I may state as a fundamental principle, that education — the higher and the common — is essential to advanced civilization, to prog- ress and perfection in the Church, the State, and the affairs of life. One of the most gifted of the Irish orators once put and answered the interrogatory: "With- out education, what is man ? A splendid slave, a reasoning savage, vacillating be- tween the dignity of an intelligence derived from God, and the degradation of passions participated in by brutes." The Almighty has bestowed upon man certain faculties, and it is just as rational to conclude that these are given to be im- proved to the extent of their capacity, as it is to infer that material physical powers or objects are created for use. Reason, then, teaches the duty to edu- cate, and this duty is proclaimed all through the word of God. Jeremiah closes his fifth chapter with a 6 Relations of the Church "melancholy picture" of the people, when he says: a Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not." Again it is said : " For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed ; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." Acts xxviii, 27. Reason and revelation alike enjoin upon all men the duty to exercise, to cultivate, and improve for good purposes the faculties which God has given us ; and this requires education. The necessity for teachers is well under- stood. He who imparts instruction in a common school is a teacher. He who edu- cates in a college is a teacher. He who in- structs in the science of government is a teacher. He who instructs in the mechan- ical ails is a teacher, who, especially in the present advanced condition of mechanical to Higher Education. 7 skill, must often call into exercise talent and learning of a higher order. He who ministers at the sacred desk, and undertakes to proclaim the doctrines of eternal life, the knowledge of God, and the duties of men, must be learned in the language by which instruction is imparted, in the profound truths displayed in the words and the works of the Creator, in the philosophy of the hu- man heart, in mental and social and moral science, and in the art of instruction. The teacher in our common schools, in our col- leges, in the science of government, in all the learned professions, will be vastly aided in his progress on the road to success bv an intimate knowledge of that " higher education" which constitutes the learning of the learned. There is in the mechanic arts a common education and a higher edu- cation, and they who assume to be teachers should be masters of all the learning on the subject. These are all plain truths, taught alike by reason and experience. And again we may appeal to the infallible source of all wisdom for information on this subject. 8 Relations of the Church Christ denouDced the scribes and the Phar- isees because of their faithless and false teaching, when he said : — " Woe unto you, ye blind guides." Matt, xxiii, 16. And he gave as a warning to the ages the consequences of such teaching, when lie said : — "And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Matt, xv, 14. Adam Clarke, in commenting on this pas- sage, says : " This was so self-evident a case that an after-parallel could not be found. If the minister be ignorant he cannot teach what he does not know, and the people cannot become wise unto salvation." Un- doubtedly it is true that men may be vastly useful as teachers, as ministers, in all the affairs of life, who are not college graduates. The teacher who only proposes to instruct in orthography may succeed without any great skill in mathematics. There are law- yers skillful in some branches of law who know little or nothing of others. There lire inviting fields in which to teach from the sacred desk where harvests may be to Higher Education. 9 gathered without the aid of extensive knowledge in higher education. But all who teach must, to the extent of that in which they profess to instruct, be learned themselves, or they cannot make others learned. And there are times and places and purposes for which the highest attain- able education is required. This cannot be denied, unless we are prepared to assert that God has given a capacity to reach the highest learning, but has given it without a purpose, and that in the providence of God that which is knowable by men should re- main unknown, and that useful knowledge should not be used. God is omniscient. His is the supreme knowledge. The nearer we can approach to the attainment of his attributes the nearer we shall be like him. If it be said the apostles were not all edu- cated men, I answer, that in the work to which they were called they did receive the "highest education." They were taught directly by the great Teacher. His per- sonal mission has been transferred to the Church which he established, and on it de- 10 Relations of the Church volves the duty of maintaining the higher education. I will assume, then, as proved, that the higher and the common education are essential, and that these require teach- ers of various degrees of learning. In or- der, now, to ascertain what the relations of the Church should be to higher education it may be well to see what they have been. Two theories have prevailed in the Church and in the State as to the objects of higher education, and the necessity and proper extent of the more common education. Through ages the prevailing idea in the Church was that there should be an educated class, learned in all that could be known of higher education ; that this class should monopolize the learning of the world ; that the Bible itself should be locked up in the dead languages, accessible to and read only by the privileged few; that to all but them it should be a sealed book ; that they should ex cathedra interpret and proclaim its teachings, and that the mass of mankind should, without thought or inquiry, accept all thus taught as true. These were ages to Higher Education. 11 of priestcraft, of corruption in high places, of ignorance and degradation among the masses. A writer who has thoroughly- studied the subject says : — "The fourteenth century was in morals the darkest of the Dark Ages. . . . Indul- gences for the commission of any crime ex- cept heresy could be purchased, . . . and over the extensive realms which acknowledged the power of the Papal See . . . vice and corruption reigned. . . . The peasantry of Europe were rarely or never taught to read. It was reserved, however, for Luther and Melanchthon to inaugurate a new era in education," and, it may also be said, a new era in religion and the policy of the world. In 1450 printing was invented. The col- leges and universities controlled by the Church had preserved in manuscript and in memory the sacred treasures of higher edu- cation, and men trained in these became the forerunners of the Reformation and the Reformers themselves. " The Universities of Prague and Wittenberg, of Basle and Lausanne, of Oxford and Cambridge, of 12 Relations of the Chuech Strasbnrg and St. Andrew's, were the birth- p lares of the Reformation." Wickliffe and Hubs, Reuchlin and Erasmus, Luther and Melanchthon, Bucer and Calvin, Tyndale and Bilney, Latimer and Knox, were men trained in the universities. Some of them prepared the way in the wilderness, and others per- fected the conquest of the Reformation. A new era dawned upon the world. The Re- formers demanded an open Bible for all, freedom of thought for all, and, as necessary to these, education for all. In 1524 Luther had published "An Address to the Council- men of all the Towns of Germany, calling upon them to establish and sustain schools." Out of this beginning has grown the Com- mon-school Systems, and general intelligence among the people of Protestant nations. And as a result we have general intelli- gence, freedom of thought, an open Bible, the wonders of steam and electricity, of labor-saving machinery, and the press, send- ing abroad its leaves for the instruction and healing of the nations. So in the States of the world there have to Higher Education. 13 been, and are, two theories of Government. One is, that a privileged class shall rule. This was the natural offspring of that theory of the Church which gave a monopoly of higher education to the few and no educa- tion to the masses. But as the old Church theory disappeared in some countries before the ideas of the Reformation, so the old theory of government has disappeared or is giving way to the ideas of our own, the Great Republic, that a common school edu- cation should be universal; that higher ed- ucation should be within the reach of all who desire it ; that all political power is in- herent in the people, with a right to intrust its exercise to officers adjudged by popular suffrage to have the requisite qualifications. A brief review may be said to summarize on these subjects the history of the Chris- tian era — nearly nineteen centuries — and from this we may see the relation which the Church has sustained to higher educa- tion : — 1. For fifteen centuries the Church was the exclusive custodian of the higher edu- 1-i Relations of the Church cation, and substantially of all the educa- tion of the civilized world. The universities, the teachers, and the learning were hers. 2. But for the Church — but for a religion — higher education, and all education, would have perished, and barbarism and savage life would have cursed the lands now blessed with Christian temples, with Chris- tian toleration, with Christian civilization, and all that these imply. Higher education has never in any nation been adequately maintained apart from the institutions of religion. 3. The prevailing ideas of the Church have found corresponding and analogous ideas in the affairs of State, the forms of government, the rights of the people, and in their social condition as well. When the Church was for free thought and free dis- cussion the State in its affairs accorded the same. When the Church demanded an open Bible, ample toleration, and that the people should be educated to understand, the State responds and concedes the de- mand. to Higher Education. 15 4. The men who have controlled the higher education of the world have controlled the Church, the State, and all thaf pertained to the affairs of mankind. This higher education has been used in Church and State to aid the purposes of despots; it has been employed to oppress the many and keep power in the hands of the few. But it has had within itself in the hands of reformers the power and the pur- pose to correct abuses, to demand and se- cure education for all and equal rights for all. With universal common education higher education has been controlled for universal good. With this view of the relations which the Church has sustained to higher education, we may inquire what they now are, and what they should be ? What these relations are, is a question of fact ; what they should be, is a question of duty. In the Report of the Bureau of Education for 1877 we find the following statistical summary : — 16 Relations of the Church Statistical Summary of Instructors and Stu- dents in Universities and Colleges op the United States by Religious Denomination: — Number Number Number Denomination. of Institu- of Instruct- of Sta- tions, ors. dents. Unsectarian 78 1,021 16,302 Roman Catholic 49 733 7,851 Methodist Episcopal 44 425 7,930 Baptist 40 299 5,085 Presbyterian 35 335 5,088 Congregational 20 239 3,878 Lutheran 16 127 2,073 Christian ' 14 112 2,043 Protestant Episcopal 11 127 911 Not reporting 10 36 514 Reformed 7 68 764 United Brethren 7 46 1,040 Friends 6 50 780 Methodist 6 54 1,036 Universalist 5 62 394 Jewish 1 4 24 Seventh Day Advent 1 15 281 New Church 1 6 41 Total *351 3,759 56,035 Of the universities and colleges it will be seen that 18 are nominally not under the pat- ronage or control of any religious denom- * The list shows 27 additional institutions of this class from which we have no recent information, making a grand total of 878. to Higher Education.. 17 iiiation, while 273 are under denominational control, and of 27 the ecclesiastical relation is not known. Of the whole number the history of which is ascertained, -^fe have been founded through the agency of differ- ent religious denominations, and of the re- maining -ffj it is quite certain that a large proportion have been founded and are sus- tained by religious influences. One of the most eminent statisticians, Edward D. Mansfield, says : " Nine tenths of all the colleges and universities are un- der Christian influence, and more than two thirds of them under evangelical influence, and it is settled that religion is and must be a part of higher education." Practically it may be said that the uni- versities and colleges have been founded mainly through the agency of the Churches, or from religious motives, and that they con- tinue to be sustained and controlled by these influences. The theological seminaries, as shown by the Report of the Bureau of Education for 1877, were as follows: — 18 Relations of the Church Statistical Summary of Theological Seminaries. Number Number Number Denomination. of Semi- of Pro- of Stu- naries. fessors. dents. Roman Catholic 18 96 575 Protestant Episcopal 16 65 263 Presbyterian 16 82 674 Baptist 16 62 772 Lutheran 13 38 252 Congregational 9 64 347 Methodist Episcopal 7 46 383 Christian 3 4 31 Reformed 3 8 62 United Presbyterian 3 11 65 Cumberland Presbyterian 2 11 61 Free Will Baptist 2 10 43 Methodist Episcopal (South). . . 2 8 68 Unsectarian 2 17 120 Reformed (Dutch) 2 5 40 Universalist 2 9 4S African Methodist Episcopal. . . 16 8 Mennonite 1 4 50 Methodist 1 Moravian 1 3 19 New Jerusalem 1 1 Union Evangelical 1 4 M Unitarian 1 6 19 United Brethren 1 2 33 Total 124 662 It may be proper to say, by way of ex- planation, that the Methodist Episcopal Church has a system of theological instruc- to Higher Education. 19 tion, under the care of the Annual Confer- ences, which to some extent supplies the place of theological seminaries ; some if not most of the Churches have additional modes of instruction. In 187V there were in the United States 1,226 institutions for secondary instruction, having 5,963 instructors and 98,371 students. Of these institutions 516 were nominally not under the patronage of any religious denominations, while over 700 have been founded and are sustained by denomina- tional influences. Of these 101 were Ro- man Catholic, 34 Methodist Episcopal, 60 Baptist, 76 Presbyterian, 44 Congregational, 17 Lutheran, 78 Protestant Episcopal, 35 Friends, and others of different denomina- tions — the whole number including institu- tions for both sexes. The Report of the Bureau of Education will show the number of instructors and students for each denomination. Without the " higher education " of the universities and colleges, common schools and institutions for secondary instruction 20 Relations of the Chuech could not permanently nourish, and without all these " a Government of the people by the people and for the people" could not endure. The Church as a whole, then, is the Atlas which to-day bears the Republic on its shoulders. True, it has not discovered the " mistakes of Moses," but, rather, following in his footsteps, it has led, or is leading, the nations from worse than Egyptian bondage to the promised land of liberty, and has brought and is bringing " life and immor- tality to light." Before it goes " the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night ;" op- position, like the Red Sea, opens to give it free course, and then closes to swallow up its enemies. In its onward march it bears an open Bible, and in its mission of mercy it proclaims the new commandment, "that ye love one another." It is to-day a pillar of fire in the desert of life, girt and beaming with the intelligence of heaven and the illu- minations of eternity, while opposition to it is but a foam-born bubble that bursts upon the wave. to Higher Education. 21 And now what are the duties of the Church in reference to higher education? After what has already been said I will assume that the higher education and col- leges or universities for its dissemination are a necessity. How can they be, and how should they be, established and sustained? They may be established and endowed, (1) by the State, (2) by private benevolence or enterprise, or (3) by the Church. These are the three sources to which they may look for support. If all these sources can be advantageously utilized, let it be so. If any one source can be more certainly relied upon, and will be more efficient and useful, then to that we must of necessity turn, and give it our sanc- tion. In a new country, where the Church, or individual effort, or both, are inadequate to the public wants, the State may properly establish or aid in the establishment of universities and colleges. But where this necessity does not exist, it may well be 22 Relations of the Church doubted whether such institutions under political control can be made permanently and eminently successful. Political parties change — sometimes from good to bad — and the power to control will change. In De- cember, 1876, I stood before the walls of the University of South Carolina. Some of its buildings were crumbling with decay — it was by no means prosperous — and a change in the political control of the State soon after drove out the professors and students who then occupied some of its apart- ments. The history of State universities and colleges for general higher education can- not be said to furnish the evidence of great success. Twenty-five years ago Professor Tyler, of Amherst College, said that "Slate policy, State patronage, exclusive of relig- ious influence, cannot show a single flour- ishing college from the Atlantic and the Great Lakes to the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico." What was true then is true now, almost without exception. Until political parties shall improve, they cannot be relied to Higher Education. 23 upon for the creation and proper care and management of universities and colleges. As a general rule it is safe to say, in the affairs of Government, that whatever can be safely and sufficiently done by private en- terprise should be left to its agency. The Government may properly do what individ- ual effort cannot or will not sufficiently do. John Stuart Mill has said : — "The objections to government inter- ference, when it is not such as to involve infringement of liberty, may be of three kinds. " The Jlrst is, when the thing to be done is likely to be better done by individuals than by the Government. Speaking generally, there is no one so fit to conduct any busi- ness, or to determine how or by whom it shall be conducted, as those who are per- sonally interested in it. This principle con- demns the interferences, once so common, of the Legislature, or the officers of govern- ment, with the ordinary processes of in- dustry. " The second objection : In many cases, 24 Relations of the Chukch though individuals may not do the particu- lar thing so well, on the average, as the officers of Government, it is, nevertheless, desirable that it should be done by them rather than by the Government as a means to their own mental education — a mode of strengthening their active faculties, exer- cising their judgment, and giving them a familiar knowledge of the subject with which they are thus left to deal. " The third and most cogent reason for restricting the interference of Government is the great evil of adding unnecessarily to its power. Every function superadded to those already exercised by the Government causes its influence over hopes and fears to be more widely diffused, and converts, more and more, the active and ambitious part of the public into hangers-on of the Govern- ment, or of some party which aims at be- coming the Government. If the roads, the railways, the banks, the insurance offices, the great joint stock companies, the univer- sities, and the public charities, were all of them branches of the Government ; if, in ad- to Higher Education. 25 dition, the municipal corporations and local boards, with all that now devolves on them, became the departments of the central ad- ministration; if the employ&s of all these different enterprises were appointed and paid by the Government, and looked to the Government for every rise in life ; not all the freedom of the press and popular consti- tution of the Legislature would make this or any other country free otherwise than in name." These are the weighty words of a great political economist and statesman. They prove abundantly that colleges and univer- sities should not be controlled by political influences. Private enterprise may establish a college with a view to pecuniary gain, just as it may erect a factory or run a line of steam- ers. But a college erected with this view alone would have no concern for the morals of its students or the profundity of their learning beyond the success of its own finances. Such a college could not hope for success. A college cannot command 26 Relations of the Church the respect of parents unless it is governed by conscience, and conducted by a sense of duty to care for the mental and moral ad- vancement of its students. Private enterprise has never yet supplied any material fraction of the public wants. Private benevolence has never yet founded and sustained colleges to any considerable extent, independent of Church control and patronage, and independent of religious motive. The efforts in this direction have not been eminently successful. Professor Tyler said twenty-five years ago that " Infidelity has yet to make its first successful enterprise of this sort." And this is true now. It has been so busily engaged in discovering errors in the Bi- ble, that it has had no time for this work. But skepticism has a right to erect its col- leges, and endow and support them. We believe in toleration. Its failure to do so is among the evidences that God in his providence confounds the purposes of those who would dethrone his power on earth. to Higher Education. 27 " The fool hath said in his heart there is no God." And if colleges be erected for a high- er education founded on the idea that there is no God, it will be all the more necessary that those who believe in "life and immor- tality " shall have control of a higher edu- cation which — 15 ' Lures to brighter worlds, and leads the way." It is the duty of the Church to found colleges ; and of Church members and all men to aid in their endowment. The American citizen, whom God has blessed "in basket and in store," is under a moral and religious duty to do all the good lie can in life, and then to leave behind him some memorial that he has not lived in vain — some "footprints on the sands of time." These are duties enjoined in the command to "love thy neighbor as thyself;" in the command "that ye love one another;" in the lesson taught when Cain was " cursed from the earth" and became a "fugitive and a vagabond" because he denied the duty to be his "brother's keeper." He 28 Relations of the Church who aids in the endowment of a college leaves behind him an ever speaking, acting agency for good among men, and thereby erects a monument to endure forever. Over every benefaction thus made the donor necessarily inscribes in words and works that live : Exegi monumentum cere 'perennius. His work, like " the quality of mercy," is " twice blessed ; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes." There is great need for aid to colleges. With our population of 45,000,000 in the United States there is now only one college to 124,000 people. The number of college students is not great, as compared with population, as Mansfield has shown by sta- tistics as follows : — State*. Colleges. Student*. Proportion. Six New England. 17 3,341 1 in 105 persons. New York 26 2,764 1 in 176 " Pennsylvania 27 2,359 1 in 150 " Ohio 36 2,139 1 in 124 Indiana 17 1,413 1 in 120 " Iowa 17 829 1 in 144 " Michigan 7 817 1 in 145 " Illinois 26 1,701 1 in 140 " to Highee Education". 29 It is better to increase the capacity and usefulness of existing institutions than to add to their number. While the college rolls show probably 60,000 as the annual attendance of students, the actual attendance at any one time is only about 32,000, of whom about 8,000 graduate annually. When we consider the vast and increasing demand in literary and business pursuits, it is certain the supply of thoroughly educated men and women is not at all sufficient. Let me sum- marize some of the reasons for maintaining higher education under Church control : — 1. The Church has been the chief reposi- tory of learning through the ages. It has been the principal founder of the institutions of higher education, and with- out its agency this could have existed only to a very limited extent. What has been will continue to be. The Church must es- tablish colleges, or there will not be a suffi- cient number of them. There is need of effort even now in this direction, as I have already shown. The aggregate wealth in the United 30 Relations of the Chukch States is probably $40,000,000,000, yet the value of university and college grounds and buildings is only $36,656,000 ; of pro- ductive funds $24,000,000; and the univer- sity and college revenues amount annual- ly to about $4,000,000, including a little over $2,000,000 in tuition fees and State ap- propriations. The benefactions for colleges have been but a meager fraction of the ag- gregate wealth, but it is encouraging to know that they are increasing. (Table xxv, Rep. Bureau Education, etc., 1874.) 2. The Church is a proper power to found, patronize, and control universities and col- leges, because it is enduring. It is a permanent, safe, controlling power, liable to less change than any other source to which we can look. And it is gratifying to know as a ques- tion of Chancery Law, that gifts for educa- tional purposes cannot be perverted to do- feat the design of the donors: that courts will see that charitable purposes are carried out, and that when unforeseen changes occur to Higher Education. 31 which may embarrass or render impractica- ble the literal execution of a charitable trust, the courts will not permit it to fail, but will protect and enforce its execution to carry out the design of the donor as nearly as may be practicable. (17 Ohio St. R., 365.) 3. The Churches should found, endow, and support universities and colleges to maintain the ascendency in givi?ig to ed- ucated men the impress of that moral and religious sentiment which pervades the civil- ization of our age. The thought of the world should be coined in the right mint, and go forth pure gold, stamped, " In God We Trust." The Constitution of Ohio declares that "religion, morality, and knowledge, are essential to good government." The Prot- estant colleges of the United States are not devoted to instruction in any narrow secta- rianism, but they are devoted to education based on religion in its broadest sense. From the universities and colleges come to a large extent the teachers in our com- 32 Relations of the Church mon schools, the men whose ministrations in the sacred desk make the Sabbath vocal with thanksgiving to God, the statesmen who control the destinies of empires and of States, the jurists who even more than legis- lators make law, and make the common law an admirable system of morals, vital with the forees of Christian precepts. From the same source to a large extent comes the all- pervading and ever-present power that con- trols the press and wields the "pen, more mighty than the sword." All these and more — all the moral and material forces of society, and its business agencies and inter- ests are largely controlled by men from the universities and colleges, or by influences there originated. There is an increasing demand for educated men in every depart- ment of business. It is a great mistake to suppose that the so-called learned profes- sions alone require higher education, or that these should be its principal recipients. Within a generation a revolution has been wrought in the modes of manufactures, com- merce, and agriculture. In manufactures to Higher Education. 33 great corporations or establishments have supplanted individual producers and smaller associations. The carrying trade has by evo- lution passed from rude methods to vast rail- road lines, and to-day five railroad presidents exert more power than any one of the early Presidents of the Republic. One great cor- poration — the Western Union — owns and controls ninety per cent, of all the tele- graph lines of the country. Its president and cabinet have become a mighty power in this and with other nations. All these great agencies of civilization require men of great intellect, of profound learning, able to grasp and deal with the operations of commerce and the statesmanship of empires. For them there are duties and honors which more than rival in magnitude the opera- tions of Governments. They are to have a place in history, which henceforth will record more the triumphs of peace than of arms. A distinguished personage once said, " If I can write the songs of a nation I care not who makes its laws." His idea was, that 3 34 Relations of the Church the power which controls the popular senti- ment will make its laws and govern all the movements of society. So far as there can be any one human agency or institution that exerts a pre-emi- nent influence and control it is the American college. This is the power that writes our songs. It has been well and truly said : " Re- move the colleges, and you take down the whole fabric of our social, political, and religious history. Extinguish [de- stroy] the colleges, and you put out the eyes both of the Church and the State. Take away the colleges, and you leave edu- cation, politics, and religion without com- petent guides — the school, the Church, and the State all without a suitable head." Mansfield declares that college graduates " furnish four fifths of all the ministers, law- yers, editors, men of science, and statesmen in the country. In one word, they furnish the mind of the nation — the orators, writers, savants, poets, and legislators of the land." His estimate may be overdrawn, but all to Higher Education. 35 must admit the great utility of higher edu- cation. 4. If it were possible that universities and colleges would be supplied without the aid of religious denominations, it is not desirable that the Churches should surrender the con- trol of all the agencies having such vast power for good. The Church cannot afford to surrender its power as a controlling element in science and in the education of those who are to direct the scientific mind of the world. By the test of science the Church and the Bible itself will be tried. True science is of God, and it cannot err. Whatever is in harmony with it will live; whatever is in conflict with it will perish. The Bible, in its his- tory of creation, has been tried by the eter- nal truths of geological science, and the rocks have testified that there are no " mis- takes of Moses" there. The Bridgewater Treatise demonstrates how Moses and geol- ogy clasp hands in cordial greeting over the chasm of the ages. Mental and moral and spiritual and nat- 36 Relations of the Church ural philosophy are demonstrating that life and spirit force, from the lowest protoplastic form to the highest known this side of the Almighty, are emanations from the power of God, the all-creative source of life. Chemical science can, indeed, combine ma- terial elements to resemble the outward form of protoplasm, but still it is not protoplasm. It is the play of Hamlet with Hamlet omit- ted. Science has tried its hand in combin- ing the elements that make animal organ- isms, but life h:is never yet been evolved, and Tyndall acknowledges that the effort at spontaneous animal organization is a failure, and that there is no evidence of life-existence except as the product of prior life-existence, which is the same as to admit that God alone can give life, and he alone made man. Darwin has profoundly studied the sci- ence of zoology, in its living and its extinct forms, as they are upon the earth, and as they are found in ocean beds or mountain strata or alluvial deposits, to find if lower forms of life have not by evolution grown into man, and thus to prove that Mosea was to Higher Education. 37 in error in affirming that " God created man." But the explanations of geology persistently refuse to supply the links be- tween the monkey and man, and Moses re- mains master of the situation. The theory that " death ends all" assumes that animal organization is the cause of life ; while reason and science alike demon- strate that life is the cause of organization. The cause must precede the effect, and life — the vital essence, the spiritual existence — must precede the material organism ; and if it may precede, it may survive it and exist outside of it. God breathed into man the material organism — the breath of life — the spiritual essence — and he became a living soul. Gen. ii, 7. Here is the historical gen- esis, and the first great lesson in spiritual science. If the grand climax of life on earth in man came even up through evolu- tion, still it is the progressive agency of God, and leaves the doctrine of immortality intact; for Tyndall and Huxley, Bain and Drysdale and Spencer, admit that chemical forces, or other innate qualities of inorganic 38 Relations op the Chuech or organic matter, cannot explain or account for protoplastic or bioplastic force, much less for the higher developments of intellectual or spiritual life. Huxley affirms in effect that life is as much a quality of matter as " aquacity " is a quality of the protoxide of hydrogen — water; but this is a mere as- sumption, unsupported even by the hazardous mode of drawing conclusions from analogy, much less by more satisfactory methods of reasoning. It is a chemical fact that oxy- gen and hydrogen combined in proper pro- portions produce water, with the so-called quality of " aquacity ; " but it is not true that any combination of mere matter ever did or can produce a vital force or life "Aquacity" is a quality of certain material elements combined in proper proportions; life is not a quality, but a superadded es- sence. "Aquacity" is the inevitable attri- bute of the designed combination, and en- dures so long as the combination endures. But life is not a quality of animal organism, for the organism may survive the absence of the life essence, and still maintain all its to Higher Education. 39 chemical elements and combinations. The logic of facts affirms that the life essence is as independent of the matter it vitalizes as the electric fluid is of the rugged oak which it rends, or of the telegraph wire which it in- spires to speak the English tongue. Matter exists ; it combines with spirit-essence and still exists; the combination is dissolved, and it continues to exist even in its organic but not living forms. It is independent of spirit- essence, and, so far as we can learn from reason and fact, it will last forever. Why, then, shall not life, the vital principle — the mind, the soul — be equally enduring? Combe, in his work on the constitution of man, insists that the Bible addresses man as phrenology sketches him, and hence anthro- pology and revelation are in accord. These are mere illustrations of some of the subjects and some of the forms in which the Church is interested in the science taught by higher education, but they dem- onstrate the necessity of preserving the control in the hands of those who can "Look through nature up to nature's God." 40 Relations of the Church If the Churches shall surrender all interest in colleges, there will still a limited number remain, and the professorships will be filled with scientists propagating the worst forms of the worst theories of Huxley, of Darwin, or other heresies still more dangerous. If the Churches shall surrender their hold on science, the philosophy of materialism, which proclaims that " death ends all," will sup- plant the philosophy which brings " life and immortality to light." The Methodist Episcopal Church should do its part — all the Churches should do their respective parts — in the grand work of higher education. Professor Tyler says : — "Methodism, which may well be called a second reformation, . . . took its rise, re- ceived its name, and began its conquests, in the University of Oxford. Wesley was for ten years a fellow of Lincoln College, and resisted all the import unities of his friends to leave his fellowship for a curacy." 5 . Universities and colleges must be ma i> i - tained by Protestant Churches to secure u ni- to Higher Education. 41 versal common school education, religious toleration, and republican government, and to maintain the Church itself. Of the 378 colleges in the United States to-day 49 are under the patronage of the Roman Catholic Church. This religious denomination has more colleges and large- ly more instructors than any other. The Baptists have 40 colleges; the Method- ist Episcopal Church, 44 ; the Presbyte- rian, 35, or perhaps more. The Protestant Churches combined have, as 'shown by the Bureau of Education, 224 colleges, but in. fact the number is greater. A generous, liberal rivalry among these may be useful. They are united in the great purposes which I have named. They are united in the sentiment of liberal toleration. But if they relax their efforts in behalf of higher education there will be dangers the extent of which may not now be readily foretold. There are many of those united with the Roman Catholic Church who have not fully learned, or if so, do not sanction all of its 42 Relations of the Church teachings. They should not be held respon- sible for that which they do not approve. But the Roman Catholic Church in its au- thoritative writings maintains that it has " the power of using force," as against or for a government, and that it has " temporal power " as well as spiritual. Here may be danger to the Government. This Church disapproves any "system of instructing youth which is separated from Catholic faith and the power of the Church." This is hostile to our common school sys- tem, which belongs to all the people, and must necessarily be unsectarian or it can- not endure; and this renders it all the more necessary that colleges should be under re- ligious influences. This Church maintains that it is " expe- dient that the Catholic religion should be recognized as the only religion of the State." This requires a union of Church and State, from which must follow intolerance and dangers the extent of which cannot be measured. No Church is more fully aware of the power of higher education. to Higher Education. 43 It has been said that " those world-re- nowned educators and conquerors, the Jesu- its, recovered the larger part of Europe to the papacy when it seemed lost forever. They seized upon the higher dep rtments of edu- cation, both private and public, and from these fountains, whether in universities or courts, or the families of the great, their in- fluence flowed naturally and necessarily down through the inferior schools and the lower classes, till at length it pervaded all the channels of thought and feeling and action. At some period of their history the Jesuits have had under their control nearly 600 colleges, scattered from China to the British Isles, through almost every nation on the globe." Again, it is said that " Austria herself was at one time essentially Protestant. Not one in 30 of the population adhered to pa- pacy, and for nearly a generation scarcely a man was found to enter the Romish priest- hood. But the Jesuits obtained a controll- ing influence in the universities, and in a single generation Austria was lost to the 44 Relations of the Church Reformation and regained to the papal hierarchy." Poland shared substantially the same his- tory. Here, then, are historical evidences of the power of higher education, and of the ne- cessity of maintaining a large and liberal share of it in Protestant hands. The Protestant Churches deny the power assumed by Rome to levy war, to build up or tear down Governments. Their mission is for peace on earth and good-will among men. Under their teachings republican government may endure for countless ages; without them the fate of the dead and buried republics will be ours. The Protestant Churches are the friends of common schools, open for every youth in the land, imbued with the spirit of religion, but with no sectarian control. This gives to the children of the poor and the rich an equal chance in the race of life, and admits of no aristocracy but that of intellectual and moral merit. Our Government sanctions toleration, and to Higher Education. 45 denies that a Church can be properly es- tablished by the State. These principles are safe in Protestant hands. Churches are ordained of God alone. 6. Colleg.es founded from, religious mo- tives give the greatest promise of permanent success. No work is so well done as that which is prompted by conscience and a sense of re- ligious duty. No zeal is so earnest, watchful, efficient, and powerful, as that which springs from religious motive. This is attested by the history of the world. No courage can surpass that inspired by religion, whose heroes and martyrs have given the highest evidence that men will live, and, if need be, die for the eternal truths of God. Colleges founded by political parties, or by private enterprise for mere gain, cannot feel or have the holy inspiration of those whose builders and controlling influences are prompted and led forward by love to God and love to man. Two centuries and a half are numbered with the buried past since the " Mayflower " 46 Relations of the Church. landed at Plymouth rock. On the rugged shores of New England the Pilgrim 1 :i- thers laid the foundations of a new empire. There they reared the church edifice, and close by its side the school-house. Within eighteen years after they had made their homes in the wilderness they established Harvard College for higher education. All honor to the Pilgrim Fathers ! " 'Tis heaven assigns their noble work, man's spirit to unbind ; They come not for themselves alone, they come for all mankind. And in the Empire of the West this glorious boon they bring; A Church [freed from State power,] a State without a king." "The lines have fallen to us in pleasant places." The heritage which the fathers left us is ours — ours to enjoy — ours to pre- serve — ours to transmit, unimpaired and im- proved, to posterity. Let us, then, add to the power and influ- ence of institutions of higher education in the interest of that Christian civilization which, as has been forcibly said, "had to Higher Education. 47 marched steadily on under the banner of faith, until now it governs the earth. The lands of the Veda are governed by a Chris- tian power ; the realms of Buddha are crumbling away ; dark Mohammedanism sullenly retreats, until the towers of an- cient Byzantium tremble, and the crescent fades before the cross. At this moment the missionaries are carrying the cross and the steamer side by side on the lakes of Africa, on the Congo, the Niger, and the Nile. It is this vital, aggressive indwelling power of Christianity which is one of the proofs of its divine origin. Buddha numbers more followers. Mohammedanism is propagand- ist with fire and sword from the days of the Prophet of Arabia to his latest disciples. Yet Buddha and Mohammed fade before the light of the cross, over which may be al- most seen the flaming sword of the angel which once drove sin from Paradise." LIBRARY OF CONGRESS llllllllllllllllllliilllll 020 775 939 9 In tl)c name of tlje 13 I, A B , of , do will and testament, as follows: Item First: I give and devise, etc. Item Second: I give and devise to the '-Trusters OF Tin: Wesleyan University," and its successors and forever, the following lands and tenements [description] in county, in the State of . Item Third: I give and bequeath to the •' Trustees of tui Wesleyan Univehsity" the sum of dollars, : paid by my Executor out of my estate within — .- months after my decease. In testimony whereof, I hereto Bnbscribe my name and afl seal, this day of . A.D. . A B . [Seal.] Signed and acknowledged by the above-named A U . testator, as his last will and testament in our presence; and - by us in his presence, and at his request, as subscribing t<> the foregoing last will and testament at the date la>t C D . Provision for the University by peisws who desire an Annuity for life. Any nvey real or personal est.v give money, bonds, etc., to the University, can do so on condition that ■■< jhall be paid by the University ! donor during life. Arrangements can be made by address REV. W. G. WILLIAMS, D.D.. DELAWARE, OHIO.