486                 A. M. E. REVIEW.

as followed the union of Church and State. On the con-
trary, there has been a great softening of the strictly denom-
inational idea, and the motive to propagate the strictly de-
nominational phase of Christian truth has become less prom-
inent than it was a generation ago. There has been an in-
crease in breadth, and not in narrowness, and the wish to
bring Christian influences and ideals into college life has
very largely submerged any narrow denominational propa-
ganda.
  But suppose we agree that the prime motive underlying
the establishment and the maintenance of an American
Protestant college is the advancement of the denomination,
the increase of its influence, the spread of its belief, and the
development of leaders. What would be the effect upon the
State of Virginia or the State of Alabama if there should
be an advancement of Southern Methodism, an increase of
its influence, and a spread of its belief in these states?
Would it result in an increase of vice and crime, of disorder
and immorality, of ignorance and superstition; or would it
result in an increase in peace and prosperity, in righteous
ness and intelligence, in knowledge and good citizenship?
Who can doubt the answer?
  But Dr. Pritchett's estimate of the motive underlying the
present-day attitude of the Christian denominations toward
their colleges is too narrow. He does not give them credit
for the breadth they possess. The writer has been thrown
with Christian educators for thirty years. He knows they
are not perfect, that they are not free from all prejudice
and partisanship, but the great motive underlying their ef-
fort has been a desire to measure up to their responsibility
and to furnish to our young people opportunities for thor-
ough instruction under positively Christian influences, with
an education that is truly Christian, in that it develops the
physical, intellectual, and moral nature, and places the de-
veloped man in right relation to God and to the temporal
and the eternal things of life.




			

OHS/National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center Serial Collection

African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, Vol. 28, Num. 1

Volume:  28
Issue Number:  01
Date:  07/1911