Westminster College - Blue Jay Yearbook (Fulton, MO)

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I 1 I I I I I I i I I Z 7 I I I I I I I I I I I'. The College Man in the Ministry. By reason of the more general training of men in other lines of employ, the ministry no longer enjoys the unique position of the learned profession, as it did a few centuries ago, when the minister was sought out whenever any matter of letters was at issue. But as the pendulum swings from one extreme to the other, so an erroneous idea, thoroughly antipodal to this, is gaining ground, that the minister need not be a college man, if he only be possessed of executive ability for the multitudinous affairs of the modern church, and be humanitarian in his philosophy. I I It will be readily admitted that college training as an end has no place in the making of a ministerg but that he is not better fitted for his work as a result of scholarly pursuits will be as readily denied. The minister of today faces questions and conditions of which his predecessors never dreamedg his re- sponsibility is in no sense lessened because he is no longer the neighborhood Oracle. The man who is most efficiently to measure up to these responsibil- ities needs as a means to an end the mental discipline of the college. He needs a mind trained for the work before him: now, whether this be attained by the routine work of the first year in Greek or Latin, whether by tracing God's hand in the philosophy of history, whether through the propositions of Euclid, the masterful reasonings of Plato, or the sublime flights of Demos- thenes, is immaterialg but from each and all these studies the college-bred man will bring to the sacred desk a habit of thought that will serve him well in his search after truth. ' Jesus sent men out to preach the Truth to men: the man sent must be able to read God's message written on the face of the heavens, to see it in the forms of nature about him, and then he must be of mind sufficiently humble to receive on evidence a Revelation through jesus Christ, regardless of his own ability thoroughly to understand it. Humanly speaking, it is the col- lege man who will most correctly translate this eternal Gospel of God's love into the language of men, and transmit it to them as a message of strength for the now, and of hope for the life that is to be! And this is the message for which the world is dying. Wliatevei' may be said,of the phenomenal success of notable men who Hnever saw the inside of a collegef' fails to take note of howthe efficiency of these same men might have been increased many fold by the privileges of a college education. The best equipped men are none too good for the great- est work ever committed to the hands of men, the ministry of God's Gospel of love! I LYNN F. Ross. if

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The College Man in Politics. The only qualification that I 'possess to write this article is that I ani a graduate of Westniinster and on account of my devotion to her in the past and the keen interest I feel for her present and future welfare, I should very much dislike to refuse to perform any duty that might be assigned to me by the student bod . The college man is, and ought to be, a factor in politics, because, by reason of his training in college, he should be capable of rendering greater public service than those who have not enjoyed the same benefits. It seems that in these times, the people generally are looking more at the records of their public officers than formerly and demanding stricter accountability for services rendered. Consequently, the demand for stronger men to fill public places has greatly increased and is becoming more intense all of the time. On account of the marvelous development of this country along business lines, there must be a corresponding development in governmental affairs, in respect to the making of laws, and their interpretation and execution. There must be men of brains and education somewhere in the runningof this great governmental machinery or bad government will necessarily follow. One argument that a great many people make against a college man enter- ing politics, that is running for public office, is that there is so much cor- ruption in politics. My opinion is that the politics of a country are just what the people of the country make them. Of course, in a political campaign, all of the people good, bad, or indifferent have to be dealt with, whether it is a campaign in a city, county or state, because they are all entitled to a vote and a bad man's vote looks the same on paper as a good manls. I do not believe it is more corrupting to deal with this class of citizens in politics than to deal with them in any other transaction where there is an opportunity for one to be infiuenced from the path of right and duty. If only such menrun for office as belong to that class, the honest voter would have no choice on the day of election. ' I do not think that a man of brains and education may in a legitimate way, be a politican and render a service to this country and to his fellow man that is worthy of his. ambition. We are often too quick to assail the good name of many of our public officers and it may be that when we have taken away from them their standing before the public, we have taken all that they have because they have looked at money as trash by the side of their reputation. Men can and I believe do, render public service to their country from a pure and unselfish motive and it is worthy ambition and one to be encouraged. 1 JOSHUA BARBER. 16 I

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The College Man in Law. The Law more than any other avocation or calling in life demands of its followers a thorough college education. The lawyer must be well fortified in all branches of human knowledge. He who desires to win fame in the legal profession should be possessed of that broad education which means broad-mindedness. No man, no matter how fine a judge of human nature he may be, no matter how much legal acumen he may acquire, can rise to the highest ideal of a successful practitioner of law without a thorough knowledge of art, literature, science, philosophy, mathematics and all the branches taught in a college. The science of law is multiform. As, Pomeroy says: lt reaches out and draws in its methods and materials from many departmentsg here it sends down a root into the undefined and almost hidden traditions of the past, and now suports itself upon the conclusions of the purest morasg its deductions are sometimes cast in themould of severest logic and again assume the form of historical narrative. It extends from the birth of a nation or race to the busy life of the present day. It demands a familiarity with history, with ethics and with logic. X1Vhatever we learn elsewhere will con- tribute its aid in our study of this comprehensive science. The more thorough our knowledge of other things, the greater the chance of success in law. Glanre over the field of lawyers and note those who have achieved honor and fame, and it will readily appear that those who have had a college education, and those alone, stand at the top. V The young man of today who wishes to take up the law as his life work and to be master in that work, should first equip himself with a thorough col- lege education such as VVestminster College affords. Vlfestminster men in the law are not surpassed by men who have received their early education at any other school. It is with pride tliat Vtfestminster can point to the lawyers, of high rank who acknowledge her as their alma mater. They stand at the head of their profession. u H It can be confidently .predicted that the young 1nan, sober and honest, equip- ped with a thorough college education, who enters the field of law, will attain a position therein commensurate with his native ability. I. W. TINCHER. T9 at,