The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-12-08

reDSlOn IHeTe is no IIIIle lOI dlo-
cuSSion. l must be content with Sug-
gestion.
| 1t will have to be admitted that
during the middle decades the last
century passed rapidly from being re-
gretfully skeptical to being arrogantly
md superciliousy irrel gious. This was
due to the unexamDled extension of
scientific knowledge in that period.
Science seemed 20 be on the point of
Idissolving everything in its universal
retort. There was nothing left to be
authoritative except science itself. But
towards The close Of the century and
on to the present time the limitations
of the scientific method have become
more and more manifest. Men are see
ing that IT'S triumc1s concern surface
problems and really leave exposed, in
deed. but still untouched. the central
mysteries of life and nature. II do
not know" Il dc not know, is more
and more forced from the lips of
science, md Il striking change of
mien and bearing has spread over the
entire intellectual life OF the time
The threatened estranoeinent of Gull
ture and Christianity gave opportuni-
l ty for closer examination of founda-
TONS with the result of showing THEN
inherent affinitieS. Christianity has
dropped the Gntiuuated ;iew OF the
world which for centuries was ASS,
Iciated with it, and has now ANNEXED
the whole realm of culture, laying
under tribute its new knowledge, the
wealth of its literature. and the man
fold illumination of its ar. to quicken
the race OF the coming Kingdom.
And the Christian college IS at home
agHin n the world Of culture.
g.. The State. The great task and
| high calling of Christianity is the SAL
walton of organized humanity. the
Ecreatlon of Just societ.'. Its method
is the regeneration of The social unit.
| We hava seen that education under
EChfistian auspices and IN accordance
with Christian ideals produces the
highest power and the noplest charac-
ter in this same social unit Christi
anity supplies motive, education sup.
plies efficiency. Christianity gives
Eaim and Guidance, education insures
leadership We conclude therefore
THAT the Christian college stands side
by side with the Christian ministry
as an agency for the realization of
all social good.
But the Christian college has been,
1t must hc confessed. az too slow in
rec ognizing it's social mission. For a
long Tina 4 shut itself indoors from
the roaring vulgar world. and in the
refined SeculSion of academic shades
communed with the past. quite OBJ
livious Of the problems and needs of
the present What wonder that when
the last cord that binds him to his
shaltering Alma Mater IS cut the
graduate stands pale and helpless be.
fore the great rude world where ne
must. fight for standing room. His
nicturc well drawn by Montague In
the seventeenth century, answers
most accurately for his sucC essors
even &C the nineteenth. See but one
of these our universitie mon or book.
sh sch oilers 1eturne from schole. AFTER
he hath there spent ten or twelve
years under pedants charge; who so
inapt for any natter who so unfit for
any co,nnanie? who so to seake If he
come into :!le world? all the advaIi-
tage vou discover in him is that his
Latin and Greek have made him more
scottish more stupid. more presump-
tuous, than before he went from
home. Whereas he should return with
a mind full-fraught he returns with
Ia wird-puft conccit; instead of plum
feeding tho same he has only spunged
i m with vanitic.~ And vet, in spite
of this cloistral segregation, which
continues il must be admitted even
It;, The present IN some degree, the
leading men in our public life are Tor
the most part college bred men. Not
far from sixsv per cent OF the mem
Ibers of Congress are college men. THAT
percentages viii rise with the contin-
ued adwancc of the present tendency
in colleges to 4 wider life. That
tendency IS unmi stakaSie.
But more collegiate training In Our
State and national legislatures cannot
of itself purify politics and right our
social wrongs. 1t may. indeed, but
equip the forces of evil with a sharp
err intelligence and a higher efficiency
Culture IS no safeguard against an
archy for 1t does not touch the moral
root out of which anarchy springs. 1t
is commonplace of history that some
of the most intellectual periods in
the career of a people have been
marked by the disintegration of per-
Sonality and the decay of national life
AS has been remarked by one of the
abIest of writer's on the fundamental
conceptions of the State. the intellect
Invested of moral spirit is not a work.
ing force in the institution of right
eousness, which is the condition of
national life.
Here emerge the opportunity and
mission of the Christian college. The
Puritan projectors of the older edu-
cational foundation in our country
aimed only at the education of the
ministry, but later charters wideneG
its purpose and proposed that it should
fit persons not only for the church, but
"for civil employment as WE'LL. And
so the Christian college of today is
unfaithful to it's calling, If 1t is con-
tent with fitting persons for stations
in the distinctive work of the church
public or private 1t must fit men
for the service of the State The
medieval universities. from which our
institutions of today are descended,
were commemorative of learning COM
plete within themselves and, not
merely in education but also in adj
ministratiop and police regulation,
wholly Independent of the civil pow
err. Our inheritance from this system
shows itself in two features CT modern
college life.-isolation from the world
Of affairs and the special code of