Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-06-20
% DIsAoP ". a. cANDLER

JOGAAG AHCAt anu yOGAh NWSAA~%A %~-'
ing out of our institutions of learning
to take their places in society. The
eyes of parents are turning towards
these educational centers with profound
interest and tender concern.
1t is a good time to consider the
value of the colleges to the country
Many good people do not estimate them
at their true worth. Their influ-
ence on the welfare of the nation is
not appreciated as 1t deserves to be-
The work done in the college OPP
crates so silently so gradually. and
so invisibly upon the life OF
the nation. for good or i'll, that 1t - ac-
counted by some as q negligible FACTOR
In measuring the forces that affect the
national welfare. Commercial and IN
dustrial enterprises are so bulky and
tangible in comparison with educational
enterprises that many imagine them to
be far more important and valuable
than institutions in which quiet, medita-
tive men impart instruction which does
much to mould public sentiment ana di-
rect public life for years to come
The older nations of Europe under
stand this matter better than do our
people Take for example the purpose
of German publicists in the estabIlsh-
ment of the University of Berlin That
1ISllluNlOn was lOuIAACQ III AoAN - =
trieve the national defeat at the battle
of Jena, by the creating center around
which to unity the national life. M
Ernest Lavisse in his interesting story
of it's foundation says that King Fred
erick William of Prussia declared the
reason for it's establishment by saying
TT is necessary that the State supply
by it's intellectual forces the physical
powers which it has lost. Schleirmach-
er said in support of the project, When
that scientific organization is FOUNDED
il will have no equal: thanks TO It's
interior force, it will exercise its benev-
client rule to the borders of the Prus-
sian monarchy. Berlin will become tne
center of the entire intellectual activity
Of Northern and Protestant Germany,
and a solid foundation will be prepared
| for the accomplishment of the mission
assigned to the Prussian government.
The history which has followed has
more than jusI.-led his words. Inc
University of Berlin did more tnan any
other one thing to unity the New Ger
many with which Napoleon III had 10
deal in 1870 and by which he was over
come and the Napoleonic dynasty was
destroyed.
In our own country Yale college at
one time saved the nation. When DR..
Timothy Dwight came to its presidency
he found a., in common with all the
other educational institutions OF the
young republic thoroughly infecte
with infidelity. The president-tae
| evil influence from the institution and
revived religion at its affairs. During
his stay at Yale he waged continuous
war against all scepticism and imm n
atty and held L4-4rteen revivais among
the students. BY consequence there
went out from the institution group
of able and incorruptible statesmen
| (John - Calhoun among others) who
served the country win conspicuous
ability and unselfish patriotism for hair
a century. Moreover. hundreds of the
young men educated at Yale during
DIR. Dwight's presidency became minis
| tiers of the gospel, who supplied the
| Northwest territory" with the word OF
life when it was in a most destitute ana
| dangerous condition religiously and
| morally The spirit which prevailed at
Yale was soon communicated to other
institutions, cleansing them Of the evll
Infection of infidelity and purging them
| from immortality; for 1t is a property
of one good college to constrain It's
competitors to follow it's lead In the
pursuit of truth and Righteousness. II
| is not saying too much to affirm that
to this hour the Influence of President
Dwight of Yale persists as wholesome
ana saving influence in the United
States 1t is impossible to over-esti-
mate the debt which the country owes
to him for the work he did during his
| presidency of that institution. With
all its wealth and power the Yale of to-
day does not exert half so great nor
half so good an influence Jpn our ma
| tional life as aid the poorer Yale OF Dr,
Dwight's time. Nevertheless Yale and
all our colleges are doing much to CO.
lour public opinion and control the
course of national life. He is a greatly
mistaken man who Is Indifferent TO
what is going on in these institutions.
The poorest of them may be setting In
motion now forces that will nightly
affect the Industrial commercial, polit-
ical and religious history of the futures
There is one class of them which some
| men among us affect to despise, put
which more than all other institutions OF
learning most vitality influence the life
of the nation. Reference is intended 70
the colleges of the churches. They are
more numerous than all others, and IN
them a majority of all the college stu
dents of America are found.
| They are important, not alone for their
| number. and for the extent of their pat
ronage, but still more for the character
of their work. Their courses of instruc-
ton in science, literature, and philoso-
ply, do not differ materially from the
courses offered in other institutions OF
like grade but religious atmosphere
llenvelopes them and religious life pre-
walls in them not found elsewhere. This
fact places them in a position of com
manding power. and imparts to them a
far-reaching influence. 1t was Guizot
who said, I'm order to make education
truly good and socially useful it must be
fundamentally religious 1t is necessary
that it should be given and received in
the midst of religious atmosphere, and
that religious Impressions and religious
observances should penetrate into all its
parts" This religious atmosphere and
these religious impressions, to which the
great historian makes reference, can not
be supplied at state schools under our
system of government, and the moral
| life of the state schools would be even
lower II there were no church schools
| in the land to AFFECT them by competition
Indeed our whole system of public edu-
cation would be most dangerously con-
stituted but for the existence of church
schools offsetting in many ways the ever
present tendency of secularism in our
THE ROOT AMENDM