Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-06-26

sdcred to be remote from these, may DO |
regarded indifrerently. That is heresy !
against which the university must ever
protest. For depend upon II nothing |
can take the place of liberal oduca- |
ton. and utility itself will be tho better
served by the business or the. profess |
sional man whose mind has been en-
lnrged and his vision clarified by the
enrlching influences OF an education that
comprchcnded wider fields than those
of the utilities. The metropolitan centers
! have named have reverted to the
illustrious model and example of Athens.
They have declared that they will be
content with nothing short of the high
est. The opportunity Is ours in this
place to accomplish something OF the
same kind With us, as with them, the
zeal and resourcefulness of our urban
| communities, when once convinced, can
be relied upon to sustain the new
Renaissance.
| The protection and domestication of
! truth at any hazard and the acquisition
| of purely intellectual knowledge are
| decided gains But there are other
treasures TO be mined from this vein
| Civic and national ideals grow on the
came stem with the ultimate object Of
! all knowledge which is moral and not
merely intellectual. It answers the three
| queries of Kant: What can do? What
| ought | to do? What may | hope for?
| by replying, DO what you can to do
what you ought and leave hoping and
! fearing alone THAT man." said Huxley,
| has had a liberal education who has
been SO trained in his youth that his
| body Is the ready servant Of his will,
and does with ease and pleasure all the
! work that, as a mechanism, It IL capable
| Of whose intellect Is a clear. cold, logic
! engine, with all its parts of equal
| strength and in smooth working order,
! ready, Ike a steam-engine to be turned
| to any kind Of work. and spin the
gossamers as well as forge anchors of
! the mind; whose mind Is stored with a
KNOWLEDGE OF the great and fundamental
| truths of nature AMI .r the laws of her
! operations; one who. 49, stunted ascetic,
IS full Of life and fire. but whose pas
sions are trained to come to heel by a
! vigorous will the servant Of II tender
conscience; who has learnt to love all
, beauty whether of nature or OF art, to
! hate all vileness, and to respect others
! as himself Such a one, and no other,
| conceive, mas Il lDtIdi ca lltdllbI, III
he is, as completely as a man can be.
in harmony with nature He will make
the best of her, and she OF him. They
will get on together rarely; she as his
ever benofcent mother; he as her mouth
piece, her conscious self. her minister
and interpreter" This severe and
dignlned uttctance is as notable for what
IT omits as for what It includes
. DC
Huxley was quite aware of the
distinction between men of ability
and learning and mon Of character and
convictions. The former he held We're
common enough, the latter too rare for
his comfort. Who can doubt their in
crease when the selected youth of the ma
ton pass into an atmosphere where
honor self-respect, scorn of meanness
and sordincss breathe freely and prosper;
where the ethical nature and its capaci-
ties can be enlarged on every side without
regard to the shifty policies OF an unsta-
BILE world beyond. The student thus NOR
z alised, carries into his future vocation,
be it what it may, standards Of thought
and action which exact from him justice
. and courage. Long after his graduation
has passed. the fact that the arts and
! sciences are not the chief or frequent
. occupation of the mind will be verified by
) his experience. Integrity, a lucid sense
Of right and wrong, an unimpeachable
, devotion to the interests Of righteous
causes, however neglected or fOrsaken,
are the main outcome Of his formative
period. He recognizes that science by
, which is meant an organized knowledge
, of the world we live in is to be valued for
, its power to promote truthfulucss and
, that literary craftsmanship IS ultimately
- a spiritual mission. The use and aims of
these and kindred studies are to be found
beyond and above the material earth. The
subjects themselves concentrate In an
ethical capitalization. The. natural phe-
nomcna science disccrns. philosophy uni
hes under the governance Of certain prln-
cIples. Metaphysics weaves these prin-
ciplcs into a stlI higher unity, and "A ra-
tional faith clothes them with the doc
trine of a benevolent and experimenting
Deity I know that in saying this l run
counter to the opinions Of some experts
but the investigator, who, like the late
Professor Tyndal. so far forgets the
limitations Of his province as to use
his natural data as premises for religious
or irreligous conclusions Is just as illogi-
cal as the popular preacher who attacks
. scientific conclusions because they are not
consistent with his Theological presuppo.
sitions. Their harmony can come only
, when the higher principles of philosophy
have been fully developed. and when the
departmental ideas of the various sciences
are organized into a view of the world
as a whole. This task is always ir
process of performance: the forces from
below and above are meeting constantly
and when they DO, 1t is as friends anC
not foes. Moralists and scientists are
one at the goal toward which they movt
by different routes which end in that fina
/ destination. The poets have seen thl.
long since Their prescience chidcs tn,
higotries which have hindered It's coming
| and though the dream Of a great and in
2 elusive unity wherein the whole man ant
his wholesome environment are in mu
2 tual reciprocity may be Knocked by hare
- and fast materialists 1t is at once
= prophecy and n power. Mans immortal
ity and perfectlblity beckon US onward
I despite the cost, because in them is re
3 vealed the spiritual secret Of the uni
S verse. What is true in knowledge Il
thon true in ethics and In religion, ant
8 he who thinks deeply on these matter.
> thinks religiously. The moral possession.
Y of the university man and woman ar,
+ enriched by their conflict with tho evil!
S which they oppose and destroy The his
Y tory of such virtues signifies for them
d permanent rule over the future of III,