The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-09-08
AMERICA THE LIGHT OF The
WORLD
(By Bishop Candler)

which follows. "The awful state OF
things in Europe is the ripened fruit
of secularism. We are reaping some
CT the fruits of secularism in u own
country. Men are inquiring the cause
of social restlessness and moral dis
order in our land. Whatever secon-
dairy causes may enter into the case,
we may be sure the final and fruitful
cause. is the departure of man from
Coda If the torch of civilization has
been handed to US let US see to it that
it burn with a pure and steady flame,
and guide the nations in safe and
holy paths of peace.
In a recent address at the Virginia
Hot Springs, the Hon. Myron T..
Herrick, who was the United States
ambassador to France at the out
break, of the war in Europe, said:
seThe light of Europe has gone out
and a torch has been handed down to
u.s." ..
A few days later in an address be-
fore the National Educational Asso-
citation Chancellor Frank Strong of
the University of Kansas declared
that american Universities must be-
come the centres of the intellectual
life of the next generation as result
of the European war;"
These utterances direct attention
to a most serious result of the Euro
pean war, and they point out a most
solemn responsibility which has come
to our country. No more weighty OBJ
legation has wei fallen upon a nation
than that which in this crisis has fall
len upon the United States.
In confirmation of the view express
sed by Ambassador Herrick and Chan
ceIlor Strong, there r at this time
thousands of students from Oriental
lands, in American institutions. 1t
is said that something like $4,000
CT bnese students are attending col
Ieges and universities in the United
States. It is impossible to say what
may be the number from other lands,
but we know there are many thous-
ands Of them. The influences, edu-
cational and otherwise, which are
now prevailing in America r reach
ing to the ends of the earth, and they
ere giving color to the thought and
Efe of all mankind. This condition
Of world wide influence is not a tenn
porary matter; it will abide for many
years, if not for many generations.
It behooves the American people
to pause and inquire what is the char
acter of the influence which we are
to impart to theworld. What is the
type of education which we are CIV
ing? Will it make for religion and
piety and peace or will it engender
selfshness and secularism and strife?
1t is to be feared that in many of
the strongest" institutions of learning
in the northern states, if strength be
measured by financial resources
alone, the type of education which is
being p%ropagated is by no means adj
mirable, but is such that it cannot
promote the welfare of mankind. In
recent issues of the publication cal
led "The Outlook" have been pub
lished sundry confessions" of under
graduates which exposed the weak
ness of these institutions. The first
of these confessions" appeared in
the Outlook of July %, and the writer
declared that his observations of COL
lege life led him to believe that it
begot San incapacity for work"
In the Outlook, issued on August
IS, appeared other confessions"
and criticisms of like import. One
father writing from a place in Illi-
nois says, "Many parents who think
they are giving their sons all oppor-
tunity of building a foundation for
the future in sending them to COL
lege, are simply sending them on a
vacation Of idleness that may spoil
them for the rest of their lives"
In the same issue of the Outlook
e2ppears a confession" from a stu
Dent in California which reads as fol-
lows:
81 myself am a third-year student
IN a Western college, which is one of
the largest in the world. I take it
that this article was written on an
Eastern University, and therefore
hasten to say that the same evils
which were set forth in it are true of
our Western institutions, and exist
in perhaps an even more aggravated
form,