at 

 Cornell 



i8683 Above All Sects Is Truth 



He also often said, in substance, that 



the most precious possession of any nation is found in the 

 talents and genius of its youth, all other matters of politics 

 and government being comparatively of httle moment. Even 

 were all natural talent saved and augmented, we should still 

 have none too much of it in the land. Then give it a chance. 

 The university should be open to all, helpful to all, without 

 regard to caste, sex, color, or condition. 



Furthermore, in the matter of religion also, White Liberalism 

 took an advanced position distinctly rare at the 

 time, when most of the colleges were under some 

 form of denominational control and purely secular 

 education was viewed with suspicion. It was a 

 general custom, therefore, to denounce Cornell as 

 ''godless," the final argument with many, and to 

 label its president as a foe to religion because he 

 advocated the absolute separation of education from 

 sectarian bias as well as from domination by any 

 traditional form of discipline. To such minds, the 

 loftier the character of a man who stood out- 

 side the church, the greater menace he. In their 

 eyes, consequently, Emerson — Lincoln even — was 

 a stumbling-block. 



Cornell's position was clearly defined. White 

 eloquently defended religious and educational toler- 

 ance, as did also Goldwin Smith, — one of our first 

 and ablest professors, — who came from Oxford. 

 Among other gifts made by the latter to the uni- 

 versity is a stone seat inscribed with the motto, 

 "Above all sects is truth" — twin to Goethe's 

 famous phrase, "Above all nations is humanity." 

 The gripping power of these doctrines lay in their 

 embodiment in human personality; they were lived 

 before our eyes. 



C 83 3 



