The Catholic bulletin., 1914-06-20

To you, whom the portals of uni
versities, the rostrums of the people,
the halls of legislation are calling to-
day, to you, who must meet with all
kinds of conflicting and pernicious
theories, desire to direct one ear
nest thought, to set forth one elemen-
tary principle.
Manhood is the essential, the funda-
mental attribute of any man. Before
any one can be a lawyer, doctor,
scientist, legislator, he must first OF
all be man. He must first Of all
have the height and breadth and
depth implied by the dramatist, when
he said, What piece of work is
man! How noble in reason! How
infinite in faculty! In form and NOV
ing, how express and admirable! In
action. how like an angel! In appre-
hension, how like a god!" Man exists
before the corporation, before the pro-
fession, before the state, before the
religious society. No matter into
what aggregation he moves, or what
dignity he dons, or with what endow-
ment he is enriched, he must retain
his manhood and he acquires no title
to be untrue to himself as man. 'It
matters little to me-" says Rousseau,
whether my pupil be designed for
the army, the pulpit, or the bar. Ma
ture has destined us to the offices of
human life antecedent to our destina-
ton to society" The Church, like
wise, with her age-long contest for
the right of reason and the power OF
the will has maintained the substan-
tial integrity of human nature, though
fallen. In view of all this, it is easy
to state what higher education is.
Higher education is the harmonious
development by study and research
of all the faculties of man and it is
the development along the lines,
which nature has writ in large
characters, -that@-cannot be effaced.
Let us take glance at them.
Beyond the confines of all colleges,
outside the halls of all the seats OF
learning, is the great university of
humanity without the warpings and
dwarfings of any theory. The mil
lions, who belong to this university
have a culture of their own. They
do not employ the crucible of the
physicist, but they themselves pass
through the crucible of experience
They gaze out on the world as on an
objective reality, because every day
they encounter in it, not dreams, but
the stern realities of life. Ever stand
ing by the dying bedside of their dear
ones and listening to their parting
words of hope to meet again, the next
world is a reality to them as distinct
as this. Their intuitions of God thun
dering in the conscience against
wrong, or assuaging the bruised SOU
suffering for the right, are clear as
the noon-tide sun. Here there may be
little book learning, but there is
continuous ferment of ideas,-ideas
which are held, as it were, in solution
and passed on from age to age witt
the same clearness and tenacity, be
cause confirmed by the same expert
ence and seen with the same light anC
in the case of Christians frightened
by the same grace. Nor are th'
means of study wanting.
The scholarly man may admire tht
Aeneid or the Paradise Lost-the ere
ations of man; the unlettered man ad
mires this brave over-hanging frma
ment fretted with golden fire, = tn
poem of God. The brightest legal ta
ent may expound the rights and obi
cations of government, but he can d
so only by enlarging on the rights an
obligations of the family, which ar
known of ALL The psychologist ma
argue with abstruse reasoning the e1
istence of the soul, but no argumen
is greater than that of our presen
identity with our past selves, whicl
every one perceives. The moralis
teaches his precepts with difficul
metaphysical reasoning, but the sin
plest and the divinest school of mora
ity is the nursery in every homt
There the father, returning from HI
toll, may see on the serene brow an
in the sparkling eye of innocence tn
eternal condemnation of wron
When, therefore, God created tn
world of singing birds and varie
flora, with lLS gorgeous sun anu 4
twinkling stars; when He designed tt
family with its ever recurring bio
SONS of innocence and the protectir
instincts of fatherhood and mothe
hood; when He created the soul wit
it's large discourse of reason look11
before and after, with its knowledt
of self throughout all vicissitudes, al
its consciousness of right and wron
He created the great university OF Il
human race. It's diploma is characte
and it's education is common sens
The Christian religion ennobles, san
titles and confirms its data and
grace makes man a true superma
1t is in this school that that true c.
ture is born, which should be enlarg'
and enriched, not dwarfed and impo
erished by theories concerning VIII
may have happened here hundr
million years ago. This limited G
ture so widespread and uniform,
peat, should be taken up by educ
ton, not to be destroyed, but to