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October 20, 1909. THE PRESBYTER!
Bible Study.
At Colorado, Michigan and Wisconsin, Hebrew and
Hellenistic Greek are in the curriculum. At Ohio,
university Bible study and missions are taught one
hour a week with credits, under the direction of the
Presbyterian and Christian pastors. Dr. J. W. Cochran
says, "There is no good reason why recognition
of the Bible as literature should not be given by all
universities. It should be no longer the one book
placed on the index cxpurgatorius of the university
curriculum. A strange situation, is it now, that one
specializing in belle lcttres and language should be
precluded from the study of what is acknowledged
to be the compendium of the greatest literature in the
world."
Lectureships.
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in 1093, at tne university ot Michigan, a lecture
foundation, called the Bible Chair, was erected by the
Woman's Board of Home Missions of the Christian
( Disciples') Church. Substantial buildings have been
erected there, and at the Universities of Kansas, Missouri,
Texas and Virginia. These buildings are used
for Bible classes and lectures, social gatherings, and
as a home for the student pastor. Some work of this
character has been done by the Episcopalians. Methodists
and Presbyterians at the University of Michigan
and bv the Congregationalists at California. For many
VearS. Dr FTedleston of our fhiirrli at I Wfnrrl ATJcc
lias advocated the plan of the church or churches, supporting
a capable teacher of the Bible with credits by
the university for work done. Such a plan has been
adopted by the University of Virginia, and the Bible
Chair of the Disciples' Church.
Guild Halls.
, The Roman Catholics have established chapels and
guild halls at the Universities of Michigan, Wisconsin,
California and Texas, with priests in charge. The
Presbyterians, U. S. A., own two houses at the University
of Michigan, with a student pastor teaching
in the Department of Semitics and working among
the Presbyterian students. The same church lias
Westminster House at Kansas with an endowment of
$30,000, and a gifted pastor in charge of the student
*\<>i K. i nis work is. ot course, very expensive and
should be undertaken only after a most thorough examination
of the field. It may prove to be the best
method of successfully carrying on the work; if so,
no expense should be counted too great.
The Local Church.
The local church is believed by many to hold the key
to the situation. The first essentials are a devoted
pastor, with special gifts and training for reaching the
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of work must be adapted to each field.
The church should be attractive, large enough to
accommodate the Presbyterian body, and each student
should be made to feel at home. The college pastor
should be notified of the presence of Presbyterian
students by the home pastor, and where convenient
the student should identify himself with the college
church. His aetivitv Hnrincr pr>11f?crp Have will t-lnic
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be increased and his devotion and service to the Church
at his future home enlarged.
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AN OF THE SOUTH. 7
The salary of the college pastor and his hope should
be the equal of the professors. He should be able
to entertain the students, and thus become better acquainted
with them, so that in times of trial and temptation,
whether physical, mental or spiritual, the young
man, away from father and mother, may have a true
friend to whom he can turn.
By enlisting them in Bible classes, the work of the
Brotherhood and other forms of activity, he can accomplish
much in helping the students maintain a
healthy. Christian life. The college pastor often has the
i>1>j^ui iimiiy 01 icacning ine leauers 01 me mnie classes
of the Y. M. C. A., thus multiplying his influence
many fold.
A large and an increasing number of'the choice
young men and young women of our Church are at
the State institutions. What shall our Synods do
for them?
"I have heard President Angell say," writes Dr. F.
W. Kelsey, of Ann Arbor, "that when our students
are crbwded into University Hall and he looks into
their faces, rising tier on tier, he can think of nothing
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uui so many mousanu locomotives, witn steam up,
ready to start. Let us carry out the figure?fifty-three
thousand locomotives, with steam up, ready to start?
but upon what track, and with what hand upon the
throttle?
Many of our own young people who enter these institutions
as consistent Christians lose interest in the
Church, become careless in their lives and lose the
faith of their fathers. The influences of some of the
teaching is fatal to a childlike trust in God. Shall we
pass by on the other side and refuse to render assistance?
Louisville, Ky.
ISRAEL'S PRAYER.
O God, our God of Israel
Be thou our strength frt?k uay to day.
And lead us safely o'er all the way;
Teach thou us hope and taith in thee,
Make and keen us true to thee
O God, our God of Israel
May we see thy grace divine;
Teach us faith in thee and thine,
And may our lives abound in love
And our trust forever prove.
O God, our God of Israel,
Keep us free from every sin;
I^ead us safely through and in.
And may we all thy teachings own
And yield to Christ the glory crown.
O (Jod, our God of Isrnel,
Our father's God and ours.
If we have sinned, and still
Perverse remain in sin,
Everything yields before the strong and earnest will.
It grows by exercise. It excites confidence in others,
while it takes to itself the lead. Difficulties, before
which mere cleverness fails, and which leaves the irresolute
prostrate and helpless, vanish before it. They
not only do not impede its progress, but it often makes
of them stepping-stones to a higher and more enduring
triumph.?Dr. Tulloch.