RELIGION, EDUCATION, FINE ARTS. 



557 



The history of the world presents no phe- 

 nomenon so striking as the rise and early 

 progress of Christianity. Originating in a 

 country not remarkable for any political, com- 

 mercial, or literary influence, emanating from 

 One who occupied an humble sphere in the 

 community amidst which he appeared, and 

 announced in the first instance by men of 

 mean extraction, of no literary culture, and 

 not endowed with any surpassing gifts of in- 

 tellect, it nevertheless spread so rapidly that 

 in an incredibly short time it had been diffused 

 throughout the whole civilized world, and in 

 the fourth century of its existence became 

 recognized as the established religion of the 

 Roman Empire. When it is remembered that 

 this result was achieved not only without the 

 aid of any worldly influence, but in the face of 

 the keenest opposition on the part of all the 

 learning, wealth, and power of the most en- 

 lightened and mightiest nations, the conclu- 

 sion is strongly forced upon us that a power 

 beyond that of man was concerned in its suc- 

 cess, and that its early and unexampled tri- 

 iimphs afford an incontestible proof of its 

 inherent truth and its divine origin. The 

 continual and steady growth of Christianity, 

 its vigorous life in spite of various seasons of 

 unavoidable ebb, and notwithstanding the 

 presence of many forms of corruption, and its 

 continual rejuvenescence, are no ordinary 

 proof of its supreme fitness for the position in 

 the world which it claims to occupy. 



Harvard University, the oldest school 

 in America, was founded in 1636, six years 

 after the first settlement of 'Boston. The 

 Commonwealth of Massachusetts, through its 

 General Court, in that year made a grant of 

 400 pounds " to advance learning and perpet- 

 uate it to posterity," and in the following year 

 appointed twelve of the principal men in the 

 colony ' ' to take order for a college at New- 

 town." Two years afterward the Rev. John 

 Harvard, a Non-Conformist clergyman of 

 Charlestown, who the year before had gradu- 

 ated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge Uni- 

 versity, England, gave by his will the sum of 

 779 pounds-, and 300 books, more than half of 

 his estate. Nine students entered the first 

 class. All of these distinguished themselves 

 in after life, one of them, Sir George Down- 

 ing, achieving the unenviable distinction of 

 serving both the Commonwealth and the king 

 in the English Revolution. John Harvard's 

 bequest was followed by other gifts, such as a 

 font of letters, books, silver spoons, cooking 

 utensils, garden tools, and others, varying in 

 value from 3 shillings to 200. The first 

 gift of real estate was two and one half acres of 

 land given by the town of Cambridge, thereby 



changing the nominal location from Newtown 

 to Cambridge. The General Court, in lieu of 

 the money it had promised, granted to Har- 

 vard College the right of ferry between Charles- 

 town and Boston. In 1642, the board of 

 overseers, consisting of the governor and dep- 

 uty governor of the colony, the magistrates 

 then in jurisdiction, the president of the col- 

 lege, and the teaching elders, was constituted. 

 In 1643 the present seal of the University and 

 its motto, " Christoet Ecclesine," was adopted. 

 The college charter was granted in 1650, and 

 the college corporation created. In 1653 Rev. 

 Henry Dunster, the first president, fell under 

 suspicion of favoring the Anti-psedo Baptists 

 and as a consequence was indicted by the 

 grand jury for disturbing the ordinance of in- 

 fant baptism in the Cambridge church. He 

 was tried, convicted, and besides being com- 

 pelled to resign, and being laid under bonds 

 for good behavior, was sentenced to receive 

 an admonition once a year. Previous to this, 

 Nathaniel Eaton, the first person in charge of 

 the institution, was dismissed for beating his 

 usher. The presidents in succession, with 

 their terms of office, have been as follows : 

 Henry Dunster, 1640-1654; Charles Chauncy, 

 1654-1672 ; Leonard Hoar, 1672-1675 ; Urian 

 Oakes, acting president, 1675-1679 ; president, 

 1679-1681; John Rogers, 1682-1684 ; Increase 

 Mather, acting president, 1685-1686 ; rector, 

 1686-1692 ; president, 1692-1701 ; Charles 

 Morton, vice-president, 1697-1698; Samuel 

 Willard, vice-president, 1700-1707 ; John 

 Leverett, 1707-1724 ; Benjamin Wadsworth, 

 1725-1737; Edward Holyoke, 1737-1769; 

 Samuel Locke, 1770-1773 ; Samuel Langdon, 

 1774-1780 ; Joseph Willard, 1781-1804 ; Sam- 

 uel Webber, 1806-1810 ; John Thornton Kirk- 

 land, 1810-1828 ; Josiah Quincy, 1829-1845; 

 Edward Everett, 1846-1849 ; Jared Sparks, 

 1849-1853; James Walker, 1853-1860; Cor- 

 nelius Conway Felton, 1860-1862; Thomas 

 Hill, 1862-1868 ; Charles William Eliot, 1869 

 to the present time. 



During the term of the second president, -a 

 hall, costing 350, was erected, for the pur- 

 pose of giving instruction to Indians, but 

 one Indian only applied for admittance and was 

 graduated by the college. Before this, a single 

 building had served all the purposes of the col- 

 lege. All the college halls that were erected after 

 this during the seventeenth century were sub- 

 sequently razed or destroyed, so that the oldest 

 building now standing on the Harvard yard is 

 Massachusetts Hall, erected in 1720. Harvard 

 College, from that. time on, prospered, and now 

 has property and endowment aggregating 

 almost fifteen million dollars. The University 

 is divided into the following departments, with 



