The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-08-14
SERMON TO THE TEACHERS.

White Teachers Of Abbeville Conn.
~ at the Baptist Church sunday
i Night and to the COlOred Tenchers
at williams Academy Monday
Morning.
CHI urch sunday evening for the teachers at
! tending the Summer institute now In session
here. most excellent sermon waS preached
TO them by Mr.. Gordon form the text us not
| the life more Than meat, and the body than
raimeDt?" He started out hy saying that
our public schools from subject worthy oil
the attention of every Christian pulpit In the
land. II would be helpful custom II all the
m nisters should give discourse upon them
annually al the opening of the school year.
The bases of our public school system 1s laid
deep in The Bible and In the work Of Christ.
The Jewish system was Chiefly domestic
Christianity Is essentially spirit OF educa-
tion, the drawing out Of man Godward for.
ever. AS such II is the uDdation OF all that
Is bent in our civilization and the public
school is only one among the many stars In
| the crown OF our Lord Christ. He believed
! our popular educat lon bad been the chief
means in the hands OF God In making us In
many respects the greatest nation on the
| earth.
| A comparison will show that no other
| nation equals US In public school advantages.
| Our American libraries have 20,OOO,OOO more
volumes than are In the libraries OF Great
Britain, and nearly all Europe com bined
Our colleges and universities Der over 4OO
anil have IN them over 100, 900 studenta. Eng
land has 900 students, Germany - OOO, ltaly
| 10 per cent OF ropu Iation, France, Is per cent
OF population and in United States 24% per
cent OF popu In lion are students. We nave
| over $4,000 teachers IN our com mon sohoois:
He said that ope of the great faults OF the
Am erican people today was the tendency 10
measure almost every thing by the dollar
standard. That we we're rapidly drifting into
think that education has for It's object or end
the accumulation OF fortune. He did not
wish any one TO misu understand him. That he
decried fortune. Fortune is good because OF
the possibilities that are wrapped up In IL,
but fortune as an end OF human attainment
is despicable. The man who possesses his
fortune is king the man who Is possessed
by his fortune 10 slave. The radius OF the
man who possesses his fortune Is as broad as
the universe OF God. The radius Of the man
who is possessed by his fortune is no greater
than the distance from the center to the cir
cumference OF the penny on which bis being
is based. The doctrine OF fortune Is doc
trine or little and littleness. II is u doctrine
which has no outlook. II begins In self and
ends In self. It. deceives all things which do
not tend 70 self advancement.
Suppose Il man gains both wealth and repu-
talon, the lessons OF this day III that fortune
may take itself wings and vanish In an hour
aud reputation may recede IN the ebb tide
passes out into the ocean and when these
things are gone and nothing left behln now
poor and piltiful and parvalant H. the patch
OF manhood that once called them his. Educa'
Lion, that is simply Knowledge possessed for
commercial advantages puts man but very
little higher In Gods universe than the
beasts of burden. An education which
reaches no higher and has no other out
look is fatal at Its fundamental point.
| II will be In time destructive to the best
| social interests. He said he most earnestly
protested against this com mercial view OF
| edu ducation which is all too common In Ameri
can life and which Ia the one fatal evil lying
| today at the foundation OF our public school
system. An education which has no higher
ba 4 Ia
| leaves out OF sight ethical training which ls
due to the fundamental fact OF manhood. II
| Ignores the great law Of social solidarity and
| Iinterdependence and makes no account OIL
| God In the building OF the structure OF society.
| He said he would rather be as poor as Lazarus
and as ignorant as black slave with Christ
in his soul and hope OF final resurrection
| than TO be the richest master OF affairs DRIFT
| ing downward and dedthward on the soule less
inderess, sparless. shoreless, cordless shallop
of an education That dethrones the God OF the
universe and gives no outlook for humanity.
The end of education is to prepare man TO full.
| I'll the purposes OF human existence, that is,
| TO live completely. The ultimate end OF edu.
cation Is character. Character is the result.
ant In the field OF moral choice OF the forces
that there operate. II Is condition not q
commodity. A man who has been through
the schools is not thereby necessarily educat.
ed and man who has been to no school al
ali is not thereby necessarily uneducated.
Some men find their educational center al
the anvil, at the plow, In the office, and In the
shop, Some men never find their education
center no matter how we'll they may be
| placed, That man or woman will be bless
| ing who lives TO fulfil the purpose for which
be or she were created, Character is real
manhood and what the world needs today Is
! real manhood and not money. A nation can
prosper with but little wealth II II has man.
hood, but II cannot prosper with hands full OF
wealth fit has no manhood. Take the bis
tory Of Rome ior example. Ii he 1s right that
character, which is another name for right
| relatious 10 God and man, iB the end OF edu.
cation. No small responsibility rests upon
the teacher In our public schools. The teach
| er has q very Important part in the building
OF the character OF the children. Many par.
ents leave this largely to the teacher. Teach
ers held largely the destiny OF this nation In
their hands. Therefore 1t Is expected OF them
to have no lower aim In teaching than the
real end of education. the building OF charac-
| ter in their pulpits. Teach not for the money
that is In it. but because OF the good that can
be done The one who teaches for the dollar
| In not worthy the name OF teacher. May the
Lord bless each teacher In their epduous
work and give them gllttering star.tlled
crown and the highest seat In the Kingdom
when time is no more.
The discourse Was attentlvely listened to by
q large congregation. But when Mr.. Gordon
was about two ehirds through his sermon the
fire bell rang and the cry Of fire was heard on
/ the street. and that caused about half OF his
congregation TO make aprecpitous rush for the
street to see where the fire was. Mr.. Gordon
Quit preaching and the choir sang hymn and
IN about ten minutes most OF those who lefl
the church came back when they found that
the fire WAS several miles la the country, and
the sermon was finished without any further
interruption.
At the request of the colored teachers MIR
Gordon delivered the same discourse at the
colored institute Monday morning, and al
the close all the teachers most graclously
gave him rising vote Of thanks. w. H. M.
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