The Days of a Man 



1893 



Freedom 

 from en- 

 tanglements 

 of church 

 or party 



an epigram which, with his approval, we placed on 

 the title page of the University Register: 



The benevolence of the Creator toward man on earth, and 

 the possibilities of humanity, are one and the same. 



Afterward, a sentence in one of my early addresses, 

 "A generous education is the birthright of every 

 man and woman in America," caught his attention, 

 and he asked to have that appear with the other. 

 After his death, Mrs. Stanford wrote: 



If a firm belief in a beneficent Creator, a profound admira- 

 tion for Jesus of Nazareth and His teachings, and the certainty 

 of a personal life hereafter, constitute religion, then Leland 

 Stanford was a religious man. The narrow walls of a creed 

 could not confine him; therefore he was not a professed mem- 

 ber of any church, for in each confession of faith he found some- 

 thing to which he could not subscribe. But for the principles of 

 religion he had a profound veneration; in his heart were the true 

 sentiments of Christianity, and he often said that in his opinion 

 the Golden Rule was the corner stone of all religion. 



As a natural outcome of this attitude he provided 

 in the endowment grant that the University was to 

 be free from all ecclesiastic ties, while at the same 

 time it should teach the basic principles of religion 

 and morality. 



In the document he also directed that it should 

 be kept free from political as well as sectarian en- 

 tanglements. 1 



In other regards, the grant concerns only educa- 



1 The two provisions just noted were later more explicitly stated by Mrs. 

 Stanford : 



"The University must be forever maintained upon a strictly non-partisan 

 and non-sectarian basis. It must never become an instrument in the hands 

 of any political party or any religious sect or organization. . . . The moral and 

 religious development of the University will be better accomplished if utterly 

 free from all denominational alliances, however slight the bond may be. ... 



C484:] 



