The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-08-31
The Beginlng Of the Univsrso
Henry E ShepheVd. LIZ D. In Char
lesion NaWa and Courrierl

The Beginlng Of the Univsrse
(Henry z shepheSd. Ii. D. in Char
lesion News and Courrier.)
In the mere question Of religious re-
form and development. contemplated
from whatever view point, colleges and
universities ave played q conspicuous
and determining part. John wicklifYe,
whose translation Of the English Bible
was the first complete version In our
vernacular tongue. was, like Professo.
Jowett Of u own day. an Oxford
scholar and master Of Balliol college,
one Of the most venerable shrines. even
In this centre Of traditions. clustering
associations and haIlowed memories.
Luther and Melancthon were profess
sors In the University Of Wittenbery.
where the German Reformation had
Its origin or, at least, its early develop
ment. John ard Charles Wesley were
educated at Oxford, and the Methodist
movement arose in the seclusion Of the
great sanctuary Of Anglican conse-v-
atism. Puritanism was a potent force
at Cambridge, and the founder Of
Harvard college was educated at the
Puritan stronghold, Emmanuel, found
ed by Sir Walter Midway, in 1854.
keble, Pussy and Newman, the three
inspirations Of the Anglo Catholic de-
velopment, were Oxenians, associated
with the university in important off,
cial relations. No more impressive
chapter in the history of human
thought has yet been unfolded than
the influences Of colleges and univer-
stiles in the moulding of religious Gull
ture and the development Of reform
ing spirit. The nature and constitu-
fIOn of 1lpiVdrcifidc ic a question that
spontaneously suggests itself to the
student of their life and growth. Tho
word universities war originally nothing
more than the recognized term of the
civil law for any corporate body or or
ganization; i: had no exclusive appli-
cation to Incorporated associations Of
students and scholars. By gradual
differentiation its meaning was re-
s%tricteo to such societies, which, by
reason of the Difference paid to learn
ing became universities in our accep-
tation--corporations par excellence or
pre-emiEently. Nor did the word sug-
gest the conception or imply the
thought, now so deeply associated with
it, of universal learning for some o the
Oldest and most famed Of the medieval
universities represented a single facul-
ty, or gave instruction in a special
science, as, for illustration, the Univer-
sity Of Bologna, in which, in its earlier
stages, Jurisprudence vas only taught
theology and medicine being introduced
at a subsequent period.
All the universities Of northern Eu-
rope were modelled upon that Of Paris,
including the great centres of English
scholarship, Oxford and Cambridge.
1t was in this mother Of universities,
Paris that the collegiate element arose,
and from Paris it found it's wan into
England. The colleges originally in
stituted within the university as homes
for the students, to promote the ends
Of discipline and insure restraint-the
system being largely modelled upon
monastic precedents-in the process of
growth steady ~encroached upon the
pr~erogatives of the universities, and at
Oxford and Cambridge for centuries
took almost complete precedence OF
them. 1t is in comparatively recent
times that in England the original
aim and character of her universities
has been r~ediscovered and is beginning
to be re-established. In Germany the
function of the university is more
clearly recognized and more intelli-
gently differentiated than in any other
country Of the elder world-a cOndi-
ton of academic excellence and a de-
gree of academic attainment which is
in large meaSur to be attributed 20
the Gymnasia, with their admirable
and efficient preparations for the
special faculties of the university.