Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-06-29
The Creed of College Class.


In last weeks issue of the Outlook
President Hyde of Bowdoin College re-
lated the results of an interesting ex-
pertinent which he made with the
Young men of the class of '03, which
graduated, last week, az the subjects.
It is the custom in the course in gov
student to write out his individual
political platform; SO that in case OF.
future Fullers, Frycs, and Reeds it will
be POSSIBLE to trace the development Of
their opinions from their college views.
Ones religious creed bears much the
same relation to the study of philoso-
phy that one political platform does to
the theoretical study Of government.
Accordingly, President Hyde asked his
class of 60 students, mostly seniors, to
write out their Individual creeds. In
these Individual creeds he asked each
man to state as exactly as possible
both his belief and his unbelief; and
to define as far as possible, the sense
in which he held the things in which
he belied and the sense in which he re-
jected the things he did not believe.
He then reduced these 60 creeds to
single composite creed. Into this COM
posite creed he put everything which
any student had affirmed, except what
some one of them had denied; aiming
in this way to get a class creed to
which each Individual member would
assent. He distributed copies of this
composite creed to each member of the
class, and invited criticism and amend
ment. The president and class then
spent two hours together in discussing
the articles of the creed one by one;
making such notifications and conces-
siors at each point as were necessary
to secure their unanimous acceptance
by the class. AT the end of the sec
ond hour the creed was adopted by
unanimous vote. OF the result he
writes az follows:
"Of course creed composed in this
way is by no means an ideal or model
creed. Many of the individual creeds
were far more positive and cOmprehen-
sive than this composite creed. AS
shaving, however, the things on which
typical college class can agree, this
creed may be Of interest. While many
things are of necessity left out which
we would like to see included, yet the
fact that a typical college class can
agree on as much as is included here
institution of Family State and Church
will be safe in their hands; and that
their fundamental attitude toward
God, duty, and life, if not quite the
traditional one, is yet positive. whole
some and reverent.' Following is the
composite creed as compiled by the
president and agreed upon by all the go
men in the class:
II believe in one God, present in ma
as beauty, in history as justice, in So
ciety as sympathy. in conscience as
duty, and supremacy in Christ as our
highest ideal.
II believe in the Bible as the express
sion of Gods will through man: in
prayer as the devotion of mans will to
God: and in the church as the fellow
ship of those who try to do Gods will
in the world.
II believe in worship as the highest
inspiration to work; in sacrifice as the
price we must pay to make right what
il wrong; in salvation as growth out of
selfshness into service; in eternal life
az the survival of what loves and is
lovable in each Individual; and in
judgment as the obvious fact that the
coalition of the gentle, the generous,
the modest, the pure and the true is
always and everywhere preferable to
that of the cruel, the sensual, the
mean, the proud and the false"