572 History of Methodism 



At Spartanburg, twenty-three acres of ground have been given for 

 the erection of a female college. The site of the campus lias been 

 selected, lying one-half of a mile west of the campus of Wofford 

 College. A very advantageous contract has been made with Messrs. 

 Clayton & Burgess, and two professors' houses and a president's 

 house, all of brick, are in process of completion. This institution will 

 be ready to receive students at farthest by the middle of next year. 



The two last-named institutions having been originated by the 

 Conference, it is recommended that the remainder of the Centenary 

 Education Fund, amounting to §10,000, be divided between them. 



At the beautiful and growing village of Lenoir, Caldwell county, 

 North Carolina, a female college has been projected, and $12,000 

 subscribed toward the enterprise. This establishment, when com- 

 pleted, will be placed under the control of the Conference. The 

 committee have no doubt that it will be eminently successful, located 

 as it is in the midst of an intelligent and thriving population, and 

 in sight of the mountains. 



The committee refer with great pleasure to the energetic measures 

 which have been taken for -the erection of a similar institution at 

 Marion Court-house— a location which will supply the wants of an 

 important section of the Conference district. Upward of $20,000 

 has been already pledged to this enterprise. 



In December, 1860, the following report was adopted 

 by the Conference: 



The agency of the Church in the establishment of institutions for 

 the public education of the young has been recognized as of vital 

 importance to her interests in every age of Christianity. We may, 

 doubtless, attribute to the apostles themselves and their injunctions 

 to their disciples the erection of academies, in which instruction 

 was faithfully given in the different branches, both of human learn- 

 ing and sacred erudition. St. John established such, a school at 

 Ephesus, and one of the same nature was founded by Polycarp at 

 Smyrna. St. Mark taught at Alexandria, followed by Pantamus, 

 Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, and a succession of learned doctors, 

 who rendered that institution famous for Christian philosophy and 

 religious knowledge. Borne, Antioch, Cesarea, Edessa, and other 

 places, also had their schools under Church supervision. 



From the time of Constantine the Great (A.D. 306), the Chris- 

 tians applied themselves with more zeal and diligence to the study 



