The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-10-09
RELIGION AND. EDUCATION.
The Argument Of . Distinguished Roman
Cat ole TMeoloyiaN.

To THE EDITOR OF The SuN-Sir: In an
article OF Sept. % you referred with approval
to those who still cling to the old fashioned
Idea that education, since II 10 INTENDED 10
turn out cultivated gentlemen ana mol simply
wage earners, must of necessity tpciude inc
humanites. You claimed that at least the
learned professions are vitality to De pene-
fitted by the preparation OF scholars TOT theiT
ranks.
Dr. Eliot Of Harvard. in his address before
the National Educational Association. enti.
tied THE New Definition Of the Cultivated
May" laid stress on the widening OF the In
tellect due to the scientific method. which.
he said, was as necessary for culture az the
humanities. In developing his thesis ne
spoke OF the great wells sunk in the soiio
rock below Niagara" and containing turbines
by means of which the water Is made 10 gen.
crate electric force that turns thousands OF
wheels. lights hundreds Of thousands OF
lamps. &c.
This illustration seems to me most I'M
fortunate one. To many. the sacrifice OF the
great cataract to unitarian purposes Is an
act so unworthy. so base, even. as 10 De al
most reckoned immoral Yet there be those
who maintain that so much water power
should not go to waste. that God surely never
intended it to be merely looked at. such
Falls Of Saint Anthony and the material i'm
pairing Of the beauty of Niagara. 1t is no
less than shocking for those who knew the
latter place a generation ago to notice the
diminished flow Of the waters, to be encount-
cred by those horrid red and black and smoky
factories, and to hear the once beautiful
Cataract Village now called Power City,
as II to cast into the teeth Of visitors from The
whole world that standards have changed
and that the materially useful carries 1t now
over the merely IDEAL
They who prefer the material or make
1t equal to the mental and spiritual, are likely
to upset the natural relation between the
soul and the body. If they do not come grad
ually to forget the souls existence, 1t is said
thot medical students need TO be warned
against this danger. Those. too, who make
a speciality of chemistry are likely to take
very narrow, partial ana wrong view OF things
1t is mistake to make professor OF chem;
istry president Of the National Educational
Association, or OF a university, in which his
speciality will form but sub-department;
In the North and iR the South, Harvard and
Johns Hopkins should each have an ex-pro-
lessor of chemistry for its head. Such men are
likely TO go far astray on religious, moral,
judicial, social and political questions, lor
these require knowledge OF the human heart
obtained chiefly through an ACQUAINTANCE
study of the human mind in the literatures
and the very languages Of the various nations
can supply.
The proper study of mankind first
God, then man, then matter. Chemistry is
very well in its place, but Harvard. Yale,
Columbia. Princeton. like all the old UNIVERSE,
ties OF Europe and America, were founded
and upbulded by clergymen. men learned IN
the things of God and humanity. not by chem
lists. Civilization and culture arose from
religion and its ministers; were preserved ~
them during the invasion of cultivated
Europe by our barbarian forefathers; are
maintained by them to-day and will be pre-
served by them for future ages. when ma,
terialism shall have destroyed first, faith and
morality then decency. law and order, and
brought wrack and ruin to this generation. y
The Catholic Church knows this by her ex;,
perence OF nineteen hundred years, and
therefore continues to make enormous sacri-
fees, under the eyes OF the American people.
to keep education under the only true, salutary
and safe influence. that of God and his priest
hood. EDWARD MCSwEENY.
MOUNT ST. MARY's. Md. Oct. q.