The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1905-01-10
RELIGIONS PRIMACY
AS IN EDUCATION.
Dr. John Rice Emphasizes Value Of Religious framing
in Life Of the Student-A FOrceful -
Argument Presented

~
chapter of Exodus, And Moses Went
down from the mount unto : -e peo-
ple," And Moses brought forth the
people out of the camp to meet COO.
This was a strategic moment IN the
education Of a race. The 1sraehtes,
after q checkered career, We're soon 10
be organized into state. Moses, seek
ing first amid Sinai's awful solitude,
his own preparation to be their teach
er. is swept out into the ecstatic fellow
ship of the upper world, comes back
to the people radiant with the glorles
of their supernal heights and brlng
them out Of their camps to meet 600
For they were to base all their social.
economic, industrial and religious nfe
upon personal fellowship with the one
eternal God and upon that Fellowship
stake their destiny as a people. sucn
was their first lesson in citizenship.
We are now to send forth the South
Carolina college-university, shall l
say?-to be to the citizens Of the new
Palmetto State, in part at least, what
Moses was to the Children OF 1Sraei,
and it is, therefore. fitting that we
should think tonight Of THE Primacy
Of Religion in Education And II IS
necessary first of all to seek to under
stand what we mean by education.
Viewed from one standpoint II is the
DEVELOPMENT, regulation and satisfac-
ton of the souls fundamental desires.
Back of all human motives and effort
are longingS native in every moral
heart for health, wealth, sociability,
knowledge, beauty. rightness. God.
The call made by the physical basis
of life for training in the art Of living
the most difficult and the least under
stood Of all the fine arts, need net de-
tain us and we pass to the desire for
wealth. The productive power of cul-
ture is only now beginning to be felt.
The business world is calling for col
lege men,
It is being discovered that those ele-
ments Of manhood which are brought
to their fullness by college training are
Eery-eacs that produce results in
every field Of endeavor: A year or SO
studied the list Of 1852 Americans Of
more than local note published in
Who's Who in Anerica?" with a
view Of determining what effect educa-
tion Of the various grades has had on
success in lie. It thus appears, says
DR.. Smith:
,lst. That an uneercated child has
one chance in 100000 Of attaining dis
tfnction as factor in the progress OF
the age.
"a. That a common school education
will increase his chances nearly four
times.
Sd. That a high school training will
increase the chances Of the common
school boy q times, giving him 81
times the chances of the uneducated.
4th. That e college education in
creases the chances Of the high school
boy nine times, giving him 219 times
and more than 500 times the chance OF
the unframed.
1t is a surprising fact that of 1852
'tnotables'' thus gathered. 4,S10 proved
to be full graduates of colleges.
While the making Of money is only
one kind Of success it IS still true that
those localities which have educated
most have held the supremacy in com
nerce and industry, which shows that
a States best investment is in her
sons and daughters. The present
growing ascendancy of labor over
capital is due to the dependence Of
great combinations upon the applica-
tion of science to practical problems
and the efficiency Of skilled labor in
managing these mammoth machines
But real wealth is not simply mn-
terial possessions No personality is
complete without that lordship over
things which orders them about,
moulds them at the caprice of its own
imagina tion," marshals them to its
service. The creative instinct, which
is in as all. is the psychological found
alton of all industrial education. The
blacksmith. the cabinetmaker is more
a master Of the world than many mil
honaires without this sense Of domln-
ion. |t,Thou madest him little lower
than God, is the scriptural estimate
of mans place in the universe. The
real poverty Of the Congo cannibal in
st. Louis that put his face against the
wire fence between me and him and
cried money. money" consisted not
in the lack Of money. but in helpless
ness before the lirnitless resources Of
nature. For wealth is mans first
realization Of independence among
world forces
Not less important in the progress Of
self achievement is the desire for So
ciability. for those spiritual reactions
of personality upon personality, which
belong to intercourse between indlvid-
ualS based upon a mutual recognition
of personal integrity and worth. TO
individualize and Socialize ''the down.
most man.. ought to be the passion OF
every state and Of every institution.
The infinite worth Of the worst calls
for the spirit Of Jesus, which assumes
that none are beyond the reach Of tire
less love and that the bringing of one
soul to itself were of more value than
all the world beside. You remember
Holmes story of the old desk-how on
a. visit to the old homestead he was
1istlessly fumbling about il and ac-
cidentally touched spring that re-
.eased a secret drawer never before
opened. The desk had been in the
iamily for generations but nobody ever
knew Of the drawer. The shavlnsS
.eft in it at the making were still!
fresh. So beneath the cyclonic Whirls
Of the outer life there is in US all a
hidden recess where precious treasures
lie hidden. 1t is the mission of the wise
educator to release them and bring
them to the service OF society. Some
years ago when I lived in Darlington
pennilesS, friendless. half idiotic
negro, alone in the world, was cutting
wood in our backyard one day when
our little blue-eyed boy standing by
looked up into his face and said.
George, love you" The negro
threw down the axe and went away.
muttering to himself as far as we
could hear him, Somebody loves me:
somebody loves ne. loves me; loves
mel" Five years after we had left
there while on visit to the town, I
met George on the street, and when he
recognized me he asked only one ques-
ton, "How's old Blue?" and went
sauntering off down the street, NUT
tering, 'eI must see old Blue some
time" His whole life had been made
-aSec BY one sentence from little curly
headed boy. boySo--ttAe-s touch Of lofty
spirits brings US to oursefs and creates