their religion was adorned with beauty. There is no secret cause of the grandeur of Greece; it is expressed in a word-appreciation. No wonder they had their Euripides, Aristotle, Thucydides, Phidias, and Pericles, and a civilization that in ways is the envy of the ages. We must pause to emphasize the fact that the Greeks showed the highest power in making the most of a comparatively worthless religion. Says a noted commentator on Greek social life, "When I compare the religion of Christ with that of Zeus, Apollo, and Aphrodite, and consider the enormous, the unspeakable contrasts, I wonder not at the greatness, but at the smallness of the advance in public morality which has been attained. It is accordingly here, where the difference ought to be the greatest, that we are led to wonder most at the superiority of Greek genius which, in spite of an immoral and worthless theology, worked out in its higher manifestations a morality approaching in many points the best type of modern Christianity.' And elsewhere he points to a reason why we have not made the most of a superior element of civilizaton. "It is well-nigh incalculable what we have lost by this disastrous dissociation of beauty and goodness, how much on the one hand religion has suffered, by abandoning those elements which are its most essential features, and by casting aside the beauty, in order to pro

claim the uncompromising severity, of holiness." When we think of our Hebrew Bible, full of conceptions of the Deity, ethical insights, great visions, divine fire, poetry, prophecies, exalted literature, and of the Christianity foreshadowed by it and and in a sense growing out of it, and the infinite purity and promise of the teachings of Jesus offering hopes high as heaven, and when we see the possibilities of our Christian world exemplified by men like Phillips Brooks, who was in spirit a Greek Christianized, who instead of parading his dogmas, emphasized life in its fullness and completeness-intellect, heart, and will uniting harmoniously to develop a strong and beautiful soul-who made his religion add to the joy and beauty of the world and brought it into education and the business affairs of men, who was claimed by all denominations because of the universality of his character, whose doctrine might be made the creed and common ground of Christian unity,-the wonder grows that we have not seen more clearly in flaming characters across our sky the signs by which we shall conquer. While tempera

ment and conditions have much to do with views of life and choice of interests in any period of history, the spirit of the time which may be influenced by education and inspiring leadership also is an essential element-and herein lies the hope of the apostles of spiritual betterment. If

we, like Plato's cave-dwellers, see only the shadows of things and not the splendor of the reality, or are

66 -duller than the fat weed

That roots itself in ease on Lethe Wharf,"

if our wonderful land is exploited only for creature comforts, if all that we have done, and are, and can be, is viewed with uncomprehending mind, we shall not attain our richest possibilities in art and literature, in all ways shall fall short of the soul's fullest realization. If we too much divorce our religion from all, even legitimate, health-giving, and educative pleasures, and underestimate the Beautiful as an ally of Goodness, if we can not connect our Christian ideals more with our daily life, we shall lack in the joy of living and in harmony of conduct, and fail in the full and effective use of the most powerful element of true civilization and progress. O for a poet to sing the song of what is true in the glory of its truth in our world today and give us the vision of what might be!

The motto of the seal, "Let Your Light Shine," including the whole passage from which it is taken, is in more than fanciful accord with the Greek aim of realization and expression and the Platonic standard of the perfect man. It

typifies that spirit of the age which demands men of full stature and power to actualize. It emphasizes the Greek understanding of virtue, "achievement by men of what they have it in them to do, becoming the best they have it in them to become." It is the parable of the talents applied. It is the burden of the Missionary Hymn chanted so earnestly by the Christian world. It sets the mark for the coming education- -a healthy mind in a strong body achieving good works and thus apt to help men and fit to honor God.

The value of any picture of an ideal is the stimulus to realize it. What lessons has the Greek ideal for young men today? If the Greeks understood youth as no other people have done, if their method of training was notably sane and productive, if they had a minimum of waste and a maximum of working power in their civilization, they must be many and fruitful. And first is a knowledge of their literature, so available, in translations, to all whether students of their language or not. There is to be a new study of Greek, both the literature and appreciative interpretations of the education and the spirit of the institutions. In their myths, tales of their heroes, their poetry, their philosophy is material, attractive in form and rich in content, peculiarly adapted to youth. Next to our Bible

and perhaps our Shakespeare, the reading of Plato and Homer is full of culture value. Their tragedies are great moral lessons. Let the student take an excursion into Homer with a classical hand-book at his side, or listen to Plato's account of Socrates in conversation with eager Athenian young men, and he will have a new revelation. I apologize for the need to say these obvious and trite things to college students who have had sixteen to twenty years of training in our system of schools. Next is the personal ideal. Suppose it might be said of a typical student today-For health and strength and mental poise and growth as well as for recreation, he is an athlete. He has few morbid tendencies, since his manner of education and habits of life develop normal impulses that reach out toward whatever is good, or beautiful. He gladly converses with learned men that he may grow in knowledge and power. He studies political science that he may become a better and more responsible member of the commonwealth. He even turns to philosophy and gets a glimpse of ultimate ideas and a larger view of life. He makes his guiding principle a good that aims at complete mental growth and a virtue that calls for his best effort. When he becomes an active citizen, in the manner of the civic oath of the young Greek he resolves to defend the honor of his country, to disgrace no worthy