The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-12-10

place where there ID q more tolerant
spirit, or freer discussion OF the re-
ligious questions. or q stronger. more
unrestrained, and healthier religious
life than in the state universities"
There Is nothing connected with edu-
cation tina is falser than the cry
against the moral influences in state
schools The charge that they are vi
cious and irreligious and even anti
Christian Is stupid in its ignorance and
infatuated in its application. There are
bad men in all the churches. There Is
not a church in North Carolina all Of
whose members are pious and living a
profoundly religious life. There is not
a church of the half Of whose member
ship this can be truly said. Is there a
church with 200 members OF which 1t
can be affirmed with truth that one
fourth are spiritually minded, God IN
oring, consecrated members? So in
the state universities as in the denom-
national colleges there are bad. i'm
moral, depraved students. weak or vi
cious men who go astray," to quote
from the Atlantic. President Angel,
in the Andover Review, makes this re-
ference:
In twenty OF the state institutions
all from which l have facts on this
point-it appears that seventy-one per
cent of the teachers are members of
churches, n not a few of the others
are earnestly and ever actively religi-
nJ1S mon u-hn have not f0rmpraIfv iOin-
ed any communion. When we remem-
Der that colleges not under state con-
trol-certainly this is true Of the larger
ones-do not 10Y always insist on
church membership as the condition Of
an appointment to a place in the facul-
ties, and that no board Of regents or
trustees Of any state university will
knowing a point to a chair OF instruc-
ton a man who is not supposed to be
of elevated moral character, it must be
conceded that the pupils in the state
institutions are not exposed to much
peril from their teachers"
Read that statement again. 1t is i'm
portant. 1t really seems hat state uni
versities over the land generally are
holding their own excellently in con-
tra~' with UNCONVENTIONAL colleges, in
ira. men in the moral walks as
wel as in we'll equipping them for fu-
ture usefulness. We do not see, view
ign the whole field, that the state
schools are one whit behind the other
schools either in efficiency, moral equip
ment or religious life. We wish to see
the state universities in full equipment
in all departments of human learning,
and particularly possessed of 1.-The vi
TALKING touch of spiritual forces" 1t
is not urged they are now any more
than the UNCONVENTIONAL schools, all
that they need to be or can be, for they
all need "a concentration of spiritual
light, a gathering Of the forces that
make for Righteousness" We suppose
that the professors in the great state
schools are as moral and correct in life,
and as free from religious scepticism,
as are the professors in UNCONVENTIONAL
schools. We know that some of the de-
nominational schools have had in their
faculties sappers and miners warning
against the eternal verities and seeking
W llllllC LAC oSAApluAS VI Ah-
spiration. Let the state schools become
more and NOR, teachers and guides in
the higher life while imparting the
higher scholastic education. We make
one more quotation from the timely dis
cussion in the Atlantic:
Cant and time serving ecclesiastical
connections are not likely to be en-
cOuraged in the atmosphere of freedom
and frankness in a state university, but
no class of students anywhere are more
open-hearted or more ready to respond
to the quickening and uplifting influ-
ence Of the highest moral and spiritual
ideals.
The churches have a duty toward the
state universities 1t grows out of the
general duty of the churches as guard
ians of the highest interests Of society.
= = Should the churches approach
the state universities in a spirit Of crit
icism, or with a deep feeling ofresponsi-
bility and willingness to cooperate in
the promotion Of the supreme interests
Of youth? = = Is it eXpedient for a
church to give attention to the spiritual
welfare of those only who are affiliated
with it in the UNCONVENTIONAL schools,
and to neglect perhaps a far greater
number of members and adherents in
a state uniVerSity?"