Reprint of the original, first published in 1882.

Excerpt from The Benevolent Spirit and the Higher Education: An Address Before the Educational Association of Virginia, at Norfolk, July 8, 1881 That grand educator, John Milton, began his famous Tractate on Education with these words: I am long since persuaded that to say and do aught worth memory and imitation, no purpose or respect should sooner move us than simply the love of God and Of mankind. And Shaftesbury has beautifully defined the benevolent spirit: To love the public; to study universal good, and to promote the interest of the whole world, as far as lies within our power, is the height of goodness, and makes that temper which we call divine. Love of family and friends may render a man, in a narrow circle, generous; pity for human suffering, charitable; attachment to his locality, public-spirited; and devotion to his country, patriotic; but a truly benevolent spirit will lift him above the narrow sphere of family, locality, state, section, and nation, and fill him with universal good-will and an active desire for the happiness and prosperity of the whole human family, of every nation, creed, race, color, or condition. A benevolent man cannot be indifferent to the welfare of nations, however distant, or to the happiness of individuals, however far removed above him by reason of birth, education, social position, or official station, or below him by ignorance, poverty, misfortune, vice, or even crime. While life lasts and the possibility of doing good remains, so long will benevolence feel interested in promoting the happiness of all - even of the unworthy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Many colleges with historical church ties experience significant tension between the desire to compete in the secularized world of higher education and the desire to remain connected to their religious commitments and communities. In this history of one such school, Roanoke College, Robert Benne not only explores the school's 175-year tradition of educational excellence but also lays bare its complicated and ongoing relationship with its religious heritage. Benne examines the vision of ten of Roanoke's presidents and how those visions played out in college life. As he tells the college's story, Benne points to specific strengths and weaknesses of Roanoke's strategies for keeping the soul in higher education and elaborates what other Christian colleges can learn from Roanoke's long quest.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1876.