The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1911-01-09

The Annual Educational Sermon of
the Epworth NJ. E. church, was
preached Sunday morning by DR.. Her
bert Welch, of Ohio Wesleyan Uni
versity. Said DIR. Welch: "1f / were
to take a text it would be chosen
from the old Scripture lesson on
wisdom. "Get Wisdom and with all
thy wisdom get understanding" 1
suppose that before such a congrega-
tion as this, it is unnecessary for me
to say anything about education in
general. For, education, as has been
said, is the passion of the American
people. / shall say nothing of higher
education for the institutions MAIN
| tanned by the state bear witness TO
| the faith of the state in higher edu-
| cation.
Then comes the question, Since the
state has gone In for higher education
why should the church take the mat
| ter up? Why not turn everything over
| to the state? Why when we pay taxes
| should the church maintain colleges?
| We may rest the case for Christian
| colleges on two statements. First, the
education of college either creates or
| discovers leaders of our time. 1t rs
| possible that college makes leaders OF
| those who otherwise would not have
| been among the foremost. 1t is also
possible that those who are fitted for
leaders naturally go to college. Again,
| it is possible to point out leaders
| who have not been college men. Take
| for instance-W Washington or Lincoln.
| These bulwarlks of our nation, were
possessed of but ordinary education.
1t may be possible to point out leaders
| among business men, such as-Rocke-
/ feller Pullman and Vanderbilt These
| men never went to college. Yet, one
| single instance will establish, the
| power of the college mans life In the
| worlds history. For instance, take
| the little book who's Who. In this
| you find inscribed the names of
| over Is. or 5000 men and women
/ of America who today are regarded
i as leaders of men-In busincss-in
| poitics-in church. What proportion
do you suppose consists of college
educated people? What proportion do
you think 1t ought to consist Of? Sup
pose college neither helps nor him
ders? We have been told that of all
the grown up men one out of one
hundred is college educated. If the
college then sent out its own proper
tion, we should find not one out of
one hundred, but seventy out of one
hundred in this book are college
men. Seven tenths of the leaders
come to us from college. Then, on
this basis four out of every five, are
college men.
Remember these people are leaders
in church as well as in other walks
of life. There are men here who are
to be guides of religion. l have some
times thought that in our church
there is antagonism between religion
and learning. Often it has seemed To
me that our good people think the
more education that comes into "a
mans life, the more religion leaves
It. But, this is not true. II l should
take Il vote here today, upon who
was the greatest man of the Old
Testament | venture to say the unani
nous consent would be upon the name
of Moses. Moses, the founder of
nation, the giver of laws for all
time the shapcr of the history out
Of which our Lord Jesus Christ came.
| And who was Moses?-A man called
learned in all the wisdom of Egypt.
L
| and educational advantages of his
day, Again If should ask the name
| of the greatest man of the new Tes-
| lament the answer would he. Saul or
Tarsus. That Paul, who sat at the
| feet of Gamaliel, the Greek philosO-
pher the man who when he went
to Athens, that seat of learning.
could talk to the people In their own
words What are the outstanding
names of the great men of Bible his
tory? All men of great culture and
learning. Who was the founder of
the Methodist church, A college pro-
fessor. Why, the very foundation of
Methodism is in a college. John Wes-
ley said it was impossible for religion
to grow without reading. Now all
over the country there are fifty four
| colleges to be "a witness to the faith
of the Methodists in learning.
My second statement is, If we
take Jesus Christ seriously If we
really believe that Jesus Christ Is
to conquer this world then we must
have those leaders of men for him.
Leadership counts every whore, In
the church-in politics-in business.
| one man endowed with the gift of
| divine leadership can do more than
one thousand ordinary men. In busi-
| ness two enterprises may stand side
| by side at the beginning. Each poss-
essed of the same capital-one fails
| the other goes on to advancement
| There are three elements in its sue
cess. Capital-labor- management.
Management-leade counts tre-